Tuesday, November 13, 2007

The heat is on


After weeks of freezing my bits off, the heat has finally been turned on in my Beijing apartment block.
The heat is centrally controlled and we're at the mercy of a bureaucrats whim when it comes to deciding the date for flicking the heat switch.
November 15th was rumoured to be the big day but the radiator's started emitting a gentle warmth this afternoon.
The trouble is that the government like to regulate home heating to save money and, they say, the environment.
This means the 'target' temperature is 16 degrees. Not a very toasty target. Could they not aim for 30 degrees?
That way, even if they fall short by a few degrees we can still enjoy Mediterranean winter in the Chinese capital.
Luckily I've taken the precaution of buying myself some Chinese long johns. It's like a giant baby grow but damn it's cold.
I'm off to slip into the long johns and sit on the radiator while drinking green tea.
Wake me up in spring.

1 comment:

Anne said...

How I'd love to see you in those (very) long johns. Let's hope the radiator is hot enough to dry them after laundering.