It took more visits, but the michty Man of heating fixed the boiler, replacing the timer. We are back to normality. Hopefully even better, as we have a somewhat more programmable timer, and can do all kinds of fancy things like having it come on later at weekends and so on.
Temperatures are dropping this weekend. Certainly waiting in the station tonight to come back to Edinburgh, I was glad to know that we were going back to a house with heat. A somewhat expensive lesson in the usefulness of monthly payments for boiler checks, but we reckon in the end that, had we had this kind of plan since we moved in, we’d have paid more in total than we did to get things fixed this time. But we’re sure as anything getting one for the future…
There were some great thoughts for posts in the last couple of days, but they seem to have dropped off somewhere. Friday was my last day at work - a full three weeks off now, which is bound to make some people sick. Sadly, it did to me too - one of these sick headaches came on at the end of the work day that means you just want to get home very fast and lie down in a darkened room. (Now I understand what darkened rooms are for. Any more stimulation when you feel like you want to throw up, but can’t, would be more to deal with than I was prepared for at that time.)
Two hours’ sleep got me back to normal, but then, stupidly, couldn’t sleep when it was actually time to go to bed. Too many questions of what to do over the next few weeks. That’s the only thing with holidays. Look forward to them for ages, build them up in your mind, and then they finally arrive, and you expect to feel wonderful. And clearly I felt anything but…
Still, it’s a reminder that a certain amount of what I want at the moment is to do not very much. Perhaps this early hiatus was in fact the beginning of the rest. At least it’ll be easier to retain warm memories, however the holidays turn out.
December 15th, 2007
Another Christmas party today, combined with a house warming do. Our friends Alison and David have recently moved to Dunfermline, and had a general open house party.
So far, so good. We drank the mulled wine, admired the large greenhouse, views of the golf course behind, and tried to stop their (currently) youngest from eating the entire contents of the coffee table. (Actually, if he ate the lot, that would be worrying, given the toys stored in the boxes that are part of the table. Anyway, you get the picture.)
In good pedestrian mode, we got there by public transport, and trecked up through town from the train station. Dunfermline needs to market its ownership of a Primark to inhabitants of Edinburgh. Why go to Glasgow, and pay lots more on the train, when you can go to Dunfermline? And, indeed, continue your shopping in Peacocks next door? (Peacocks is particularly favoured by 9 year old girls who have an eye for current fashion trends, but I’m pretty sure it would say its appeal is wider than that.)
Heading back, all going fine, until we hear that points failure a couple of stops up the line mean that trains are all quite delayed. The nice station guard arranges taxis, and by the time we are at the head of the queue, they are running them all the way through to Edinburgh. However, this move, while generous, means that all but two of Dunfermline’s taxi fleet has been pressed into service to get people back over to Edinburgh. On a Saturday night in December (a rather chilly one by that time), this would probably not be popular among other evening party goers.
On our way over to Edinburgh, the lady on the taxi radio service was heard to enquire who was ‘back over the water yet?’ Clearly we will have to learn the lingo for further visits. But it was quite a reminder that it is quite a journey between the two toons, and that we have two mighty bridges that allow us to take these things for granted.
On the train over the rail bridge, it is rather ominous looking at the girders, some showing paint, and some clearly showing rust that bit more. Hopefully they’ll hold out a bit longer, even for the sake of keeping up auld aquaintances.
December 15th, 2007