Autumnal resonance

In unconscious homage to the season of mellow fruitfulness, my employer has just issued me with a Blackberry. There it goes, buzzing again. Apparently one of its functions is to demonstrate that my boss sends out emails at 9.30pm. (So do I, but mine are social, not work-related.)

Despite the recession, we did switch on the central heating today for the first time this autumn. Danielle pointed out that, earlier today, she could see her breath inside the house. (That kind of thing takes me back to the house where I grew up. In winter, ice formed inside the windows, which also shook when aeroplanes took off from the nearby airport. When the wind blew southerly, the rain came in too. Of course we didn't have central heating, nor did most of our neighbours.)

The recession is not uniform. Yesterday I happened to speak to a manager at my bank, HSBC, who commented that they had always assessed affordability before issuing loans. So they are still lending, and showing derision for certain failed and failing banks which idiotically offered "self-certified" mortgages for over 100% of property value. Three of my colleagues have obtained mortgages during the past couple of weeks alone. I guess that we railway managers are not sub-prime.  

Comments

[Nick]

I've known someone who used to have a blackberry for work. I've heard them referred to as "crack berries," when you have one, work can infect your whole life.

[Callie]

I have to know just how chilly is it there that you could see your breath?...LOL...Oh and tell me in farenheight. I only do celcius on child temps. It's been Lows at night about 38*F over here and a high of 58*F to 60*F during the day. This is the northern midwest and we get cold, but I refuse to put the heat on right now. We're trying to hold out until November and may even put in a second pellet burning stove.

[White Horse Pilgrim]

Nick, yes, and when I mentioned this at work, they said "oh yes, it will go off all night when there are contractors on site". I'll leave it in another room!

Callie, not sure, say 35F? It's beautiful in the sun, however the house is badly insulated. It's also so damp that my saddles have all gone mouldy. The rent finishes on 25 October, when hopefully we shall move into a new home that we shall be buying. (God willing.) I'd wear another sweater, however one can only ask so much of a New Yorker. Luckily I work in a nice air conditioned office.

[Scarlett]

One can only ask so much of a New Yorker? Just remember I can kick your ass buddy!

Convenient that you don't take into account:

a) that I spend a lot more time in the house [you know, where I do pretty much ALL the cooking and cleaning and laundry] than you do

b) that our monthly heating costs are a fraction of the cost of keeping the horses, something that is predominantly your hobby

So perhaps we should split our living costs 50/50 and then pay for our individual hobbies? And we can each cook our own meals and do our own laundry.

I wonder who will come out ahead in that scenario?

[White Horse Pilgrim]

Never mind, I "only" commute 120 miles a day and "only" have the stress of managing day to day progress of some 65 design contracts for works totalling 2.3 billion sterling.

Oh, and soon enough that Blackberry will be going off at any hour, and I will have to reply or see a project go wrong and my bonus evaporate. Another manager just reminded me that, on his last project - smaller than this one - he spent months on end working 7am to 8pm just to stay on top of things.

So I guess that I will need to employ someone to ride my horses, and give me weekly progress reports just like the contractors are supposed to do.

[Nor'dzin]

I love this photograph. Here the trees are not showing so much colour yet. We abandoned central heating when our gas boiler died and we couldn't afford a new one. Now we have an open fire in the lounge and various small heaters around the house when we need them. We're thinking of buying a multi-fuel stove to replace the open fire as we've heard they are more efficient. As I work from home I'm here to tend the fire during the day, but it would be harder to manage if we both went out to work. Hope you are keeping warm okay - it certainly is cold.

[White Horse Pilgrim]

An open fire can be quite efficient. In the middle ages, introduction of the chimney increased consumption of firewood, hence its price. The old method of a bonfire in the midst of a hall, if smokey (there would be a hole in the roof somewhere), was effective. There are also some excellent terracotta tiled stoves in Eastern Europe. These hold their heat all night from just burning a few logs in the evening. A good facsimile can be produced using bricks and mortar, so long as care is taken to make it smoke-tight. With a metal plate on top, one can cook food or brew tea too - rather like a brick-built Aga.