Our off grid, self sufficient living is gathering pace as we target our oil consumption and install the Rolls Royce of wood burners into the kitchen. It had been sitting in the corner of the room for at least six weeks, making it a useful rest for a cup of tea whilst we contemplated its installation. Numerous drawings were hastily scribbled on scraps of paper in an attempt to establish the best way of connecting the dratted thing into our rather temperamental hot water system.
Despite coming up with some interesting sketches more akin to modern art we chickened out and called the plumber. Hey presto! The old wood burner is out and the new one in and no doubt you can now picture us languishing in a bath brimming with hot water courtesy of our log pile, smugly grinning as we wonder what all the fuss was about – well not quite!
On being given two options for the installation we naturally opted for the cheapest – we are in a credit crunch after all! What we failed to take account of was the implication of disconnecting Stan the range from the hot water pipe-work – the whole purpose of the exercise! It has transpired that despite Stan having two boilers – one for cooking –the other hot water, he does not like running the cooking boiler on its own. The plumber has been summoned to work his magic (we are assured of an easy solution!) but in the meantime we have resorted to cooking on the ‘camp bistro’ – a single gas ring rather than a French café full of men who are a little light on their feet!
I am feeling particularly proud of myself having cooked a three course supper for six on Saturday evening courtesy of camp bistro and the top of the wood burner. Now questioning the need for Stan – certainly if we removed and sold him we could pay off the plumber but selling oil fired appliances in the real countryside is a no go! Aga is becoming a dirty word as our friends switch them off and resort to ugly, gas or electric cookers, a far cry from the lifestyle status the aga and others have gained in recent years.
Am city bound today to an over-warm office (bliss), the train journey at each end of the day providing a much needed opportunity to sleep or write my blog, greatly assisted in the evening by my usual tin of Greenalls ready mixed G&T and a bag of cheese and onion! It may only be 8 o clock in the morning but I am looking forward to it already! Toodle pip for now.
