Winter is here

I woke up feeling rather cold this morning, as there'd been a sharp
frost overnight. Recently we've been keeping our central heating off
a lot of the time, mainly switching it on in the mornings on getting
out of bed, to give the house including the bathroom, a quick boost.

Our house is an end-terrace one, with three floors. We tend to live on
the middle floor, which is level with our (back) garden, as our house
was built into a hillside. From a heating viewpoint, the upper two
floors are the warmest, the top floor even more so, so we don't need
the central heating on much ... until this morning when our middle
floor felt very cold.

And ... you might guess what's coming next ... our central heating
boiler is playing up. In the last two days, it's been switching itself
off ... a red flashing light comes on on the boiler, saying there's a
fault ... rectified by re-setting the boiler (switching it on and off).

When I phoned our usual plumber today to come and have a look, he said
he'd come round tomorrow morning, which is very lucky for us. Better than
a common response from plumbers, which is none at all, too busy to call,
or saying they'll come but don't, or the advice: "Take two aspirins and
call me in the morning".

So I've got several extra layers of clothing today, as the boiler cut out
yet again mid-afternoon, despite being set for "on all day".

I'll be filling two hot water bottles tonight and will be putting an
extra blanket on the bed. All I need is a night-cap, the sort worn by
Scrooge.