Winter hates me. Truly.
When we moved into our house nineteen years ago the heating was inadequate to say the least. We immediately decided to install a wood burner. But there was a problem. We wanted it in an existing fireplace and it turned out the mortar between the bricks in the chimney could be scratched out with a finger nail. Wood burner was not going into that fireplace according to the building inspector.
No problem. We would get a free standing wood burner and place it in the corner. But we had to wait until after the weekend. And they had already removed the old heater. And over the weekend the temperatures plummeted.
My first experience of a bitter New Zealand winter.
Fast forward fifteen years. We were renovating and the wall behind the wood burner had to be removed and exposed to the elements. Little did I expect (for I hadn't yet learnt that Winter hates me) that the day the builders would remove the wall would turn out to be one of the coldest days on record and while we missed the snow that many others in the family were privileged to experience, we did have sleet.
Move forward to the present day. We are about to leave for Australia - a trip that I have joked will see us escaping the cold for warmer climes. Except - except - record low temperatures have been forecast for South East Australia, with the possibility of snow extending as far north as Queensland!
This is just so not fair.
And I'm sure it's all because Winter hates me.
When we moved into our house nineteen years ago the heating was inadequate to say the least. We immediately decided to install a wood burner. But there was a problem. We wanted it in an existing fireplace and it turned out the mortar between the bricks in the chimney could be scratched out with a finger nail. Wood burner was not going into that fireplace according to the building inspector.
No problem. We would get a free standing wood burner and place it in the corner. But we had to wait until after the weekend. And they had already removed the old heater. And over the weekend the temperatures plummeted.
My first experience of a bitter New Zealand winter.
Fast forward fifteen years. We were renovating and the wall behind the wood burner had to be removed and exposed to the elements. Little did I expect (for I hadn't yet learnt that Winter hates me) that the day the builders would remove the wall would turn out to be one of the coldest days on record and while we missed the snow that many others in the family were privileged to experience, we did have sleet.
Move forward to the present day. We are about to leave for Australia - a trip that I have joked will see us escaping the cold for warmer climes. Except - except - record low temperatures have been forecast for South East Australia, with the possibility of snow extending as far north as Queensland!
This is just so not fair.
And I'm sure it's all because Winter hates me.
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| [Photo taken by Son#1 two days ago as he was travelling home from up north. (He doesn't know I've 'borrowed' it yet. Oops.)] |
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