After about a week of sustained cold weather (below –15°C) we’re reaching the limits of our old house’s capability to hold the warmth inside and keep the cold out. The temperature in most parts of the house is now down to around 17°C. On the floor, in the chilliest corners, it’s more like 10°C.

For next year we really need to buy a tile stove. For this year, it’ll probably be another electric heater. Or maybe not, because the weather report promises warmer weather from Saturday night onwards, and the house has been quite OK during most of the winter.

Washing dishes, with hot water, becomes an unusually pleasant activity in this kind of environment.

In other news, Ingrid has done the thing that most kids do once and never again: licked a cold metal bar. Blood and tears. (What is it that makes freezing cold metal look so lickable?)