Monday 28 November 2016

Irritating news.

I am sure that in the giant scheme of things it is not all that important, but why do these things always happen at inconvenient times?   We are just entering a cold snap of weather - tonight is set to be the coldest night of the year so far - and what has happened?   The Aga has decided to go on strike.



Yesterday morning I put on the lunch to cook - chicken thighs with Mediterranean vegetables - and suddenly realised that the oven temperature was going down quite rapidly.   By tea time the Aga had gone out.   The farmer cleaned it out this morning, but it has made no  difference so now I am waiting for the Aga engineer to ring.   Luckily we have the wood burner on in the back room and the central heating throughout the house, but it is quite a big house with high ceilings, so it will be good when it is going again.

It runs on oil, as does the central heating.   When I think of my parents with just one fire in the living room and hot water bottles in the beds, we really don't know we are born, do we?

In fact this afternoon has been a sunny afternoon, and as most of our windows face due South there has been some warmth from the sun.   In fact, driving home from town the temperature on the car dashboard registered nine degrees and the sky was a clear blue. 

So now it is fingers crossed that the engineer rings later tonight to arrange to come.

23 comments:

Jennytc said...

Hope it is soon fixed. I well remember growing up in a house without central heating - not something I would like to go back to!

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Perhaps your engineer will be The Aga Khan.
You might need to don your thermals. Good luck!

Rachel Phillips said...

Just put a pullover on and go to bed early. The electric blanket still works.

John Going Gently said...

Yes I remember the days of my childhood when the only warm area was the square in front of the living room fire ...( with the sofa preventing the warmth seeping into the far corners of the room

Anonymous said...

That's known as Sod's law :o). I remember freezing cold bedrooms in our farmhouse growing up and ice on the inside of the windows. Hope it's all fixed soon.

Gwil W said...

We are big softies nowadays with our central heating, double glazing and all manner of heater plug-ins. I haven't seen Jack Frost decorate the window panes since I don't know when.

Joanne Noragon said...

Oh, I hope you have heat by now. I was without a car today, but without heat would be far worse.

Bovey Belle said...

"You don't know you're born" is an expression my boss used to use back in the late 1970s (in Wiltshire - I had never heard it in Hampshire). Lovely to hear it again.

I think we are used to being warm these days - back in 2010 when our central heating boiler broke, we had a foot of snow on the ground and it was SO COLD. Without our wood burner, I think we would have frozen solid. I would NEVER live in a house without one in the future. I hope your Aga is fixed soon.

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

It's a good thing you could take advantage of some passive solar heating with your windows, but hopefully you will get things fixed quickly. I've never heard the expression, "you don't know you're born", and in fact I read it twice thinking I had misread it. Well, "funny for that!" (that's an Eastern expression if you are looking for a new one). -Jenn

donna baker said...

Things that break cause extreme distress for me. I have a leaky faucet on the outside of the house and it is cemented into the brick. I guess I'll cover it with insulation anyway. Mostly small things, but they sure complicate my days when I need to be doing other things. Such is life.

Terry and Linda said...

Oh! I hope by the time you read this you are back up and running! Heat is a major need this time of year.

Linda

mrsnesbitt said...

I could go on...............but I feel so out of the loop Pat Dxxxxxx I miss you - got to get myself sorted but so busy with business and village stuff xxx

angryparsnip said...

Goodness things like this always happen at the worst times.
Hope it will be fixed soon.

cheers, parsnip

Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe said...

I hope your repairman came out and you and the farmer are now toasty warm.

Cro Magnon said...

My UK Aga ran of nuts of coal (Thermacite ?), and during the miners strike the fuel had to be imported from Poland. The stuff was full of tar and completely clogged it up. I sold the house soon after, but for ever blame Scargill.

Librarian said...

Oh dear! Good job you still have other sources of heat. I don't know what I'd do if my hot water and central heating would stop working - I guess I'd move in with my parents or my sister until it was fixed! I'm really not good with cold, and we have now entered a cold spell, too; perfectly normal for this time of year, but we've all been spoiled by the unseasonably warm Octoer and November and not yet used to the colder temperatures.

Dawn said...

Oh dear thats not good, fingers crossed he can come out quickly

The Weaver of Grass said...

Jack Frost on the window panes Gwil - he used to leave lovely patterns didn't he? That was in the days when you had a jug of water and a bowl in your bedroom for morning ablutions (I still have the bowl) and if the water froze overnight (as it often did) you used the still warm water from your hot water bottle.
Rachel - we always go to bed early and always have the blankey on (I often top mine up in the middle of the night if I wake up cold).
Thanks for all the tips. No word from the engineer yet but the wood burner has stayed in all night and is glowing as I write this - warming the whole house - as is the central heating.
Thanks for popping by.

Heather said...

I do hope your Aga will be up and running again soon. There was an Aga in the kitchen of one of the houses we bought many years ago. I was scared of it at first, never having met one before, but we soon became friends and sadly had to part when we were moved once again, all too soon. They are such a comfort in the winter. We have certainly become softened by central heating and I wouldn't relish a return to a single fireplace, no radiators, frost on the inside of windows and coats on beds for extra warmth.

Elizabeth said...

Do hope your Aga woes are at an end!
Yes, I do recall the misery of the old pre-central heating days - when I was allowed to go up to my bedroom half an hour before bedtime to put on the gas fire - so I could undress without freezing.
Then into bed with my 'hotty'.We are very spoiled today.
Yesterday our shower/bath controls broke......so I will have to wash my hair in the washbasin unless the plumbers can fix it this s morning.
But on the whole we are very fortunate indeed!

Derek Faulkner said...

Gawd, I'm amazed that people still use electric blankets, or indeed need to, thought they went out with the ark. I sleep on my own in a double bed, with a 10 tog duvet over me and the window slightly ajar and I'm never cold. That's despite it being -3 overnight here in the warm south last night. My only concession to the cold it putting a "hotty" in the bed to take the chill off before I get in.

thelma said...

Hope it is soon fixed, the joy of having a continuous source of heating in the kitchen, the aga is worth every penny.

shadypinesqltr said...

As a child in Co. Durham I was always jealous of my brother who's small bedroom had the airing cupboard with the hot water heater in it and, therefore, some heat. I had to share a room and bed with my older sister but had our own hot water bottles! Every winter I suffered from chillblains. All day in school my toes would be hot and itchy inside my shoes. You don't hear of them anymore.
I hope your Aga is working again.