Freezing your ass off
It's nearly 10:00pm and I'm finally starting to get warm. I've been freezing all day it was about 55 degrees F. I woke up at 7:00am today to a house that was an ice box and it's just never recovered. Why am I freezing my ass off?
"Because in New Zealand we heat a room not the house mate!"
That is a true quote I heard from someone along the way in my nearly 7 years down under. I can accept that things are different in this country but this one still baffles me. Why should I and my children have to walk around like Eskimos to stay warm?
Believe it or not I'm one of the lucky ones. We have a heat pump in our house, most have just portable electric or propane space heaters. Some homes have fire places or wood burning stoves and believe it or not many homes don't have insulation. Hello McFly?
I have 2 words for New Zealand....Central heating! WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY...Yet the concept of central heating eludes this country.
I keep 2 portable oil heaters going though the winter in the kids rooms and run the heat pump most of the day but it's still cold. To give you and idea how cold it is:
This morning there was ice on the van and it had to defrost. Not unusual for me growing up in Colorado. One just starts the car and gets out the ice scraper for the windows. We don't own an ice scraper. In fact I don't think I've seen one in 8 years! LOL So Brendon gets warm water from the kitchen (which took 2 minutes to come though the pipe) and pours on the windshield.
There are 2 winter duvets on my bed, a blanket and flannel sheets and that big hot water bottle I call Brendon. (hehehe)
This morning the Pepsi and the beer in my kitchen pantry needed no refridgeration to keep cold, it was perfectly chilled.
It takes 3 days to dry the clothes on the line
I've got me and the kids dressed in 2-3 layers of clothing.
Winter just started 6 days ago...it's gonna be a long winter. Anyone got an extra set of long-johns I can borrow?
posted by Michelle @ Tuesday, June 06, 2006
5 Comments:
Heck, I hope it's not a long winter! You just need to move north! I'm afraid of moving down there now. I've only had to use our living room OIL winter twice so far. We've had some pretty good days with the windows open and such cause it was too hot lol. Weird weather. I agree too that we don't need to be dressing like Eskimos in our homes. I have never understood this. This is why we run our dryer, to help heat lol. Lauryn has a heater in her room. I have to say though we don't have much on our bed in the way of blankets and we do have windows open and a fan running lol.
I'm with you, I want another mild winter like last year. Last October the kids were playing in the sprinkler in the front yard. It will be colder in the Waikato as it's much more damp. The whole Waikato is old swamp I'm told so be prepared!! Enjoy the weather up north while you can....:-)
Yep, we were at the beach in September last year, would love for that to be the case this year so we can get some prime beach time in before we move!
Okay, all I can say is WOW!! I had no idea that there isn't central heating!
Yea, I think insulation and a central heating system would be a necessity for me...but then again you're bills are probably lower than here in the states :)
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for checking out my blog! Yep, central heating isn't a big deal to NZ'ers they just add a few extra layers of clothes instead. However it's not totally unheard of. On the south island it's much colder so you will find it I'm told. They have things like oil heating. You have a huge tank near your house full of diesel and it heats the oil around your house like central heating does. I'm told it's extremely expensive though. Don't know about the lower electric bills though.
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