At least that’s what the new bedroom heater thermostat says.
Which means that is the usual temperature in casa az during the winter – and believe me, that is cold! Hence this new heater stuck on the wall next to the bed, plus another one in the living room. To paraphrase Scarlett … “As Bob is my witness, I will never be cold again!” (obviously paraphrasing, as anyone who has seen recent(ish) photos or the Sevilla Tapas blog can confirm that I clearly don’t ever go hungry).
So after about 14 winters of shivering at home, even after putting on three sweaters, it has been decided to heat casa az as much as is possible, given that the balcony doors don’t close properly (all six of them – double doors with several single-paned glass panels each) so that it’s often warmer outside than inside, especially at midday. And hang the expense!
Last winter Nog and I often stayed warm in the evenings by watching films on his laptop in bed, which was quite cosy. But now that we have the nice big television we’d rather watch stuff on that. Then yesterday we were both feeling a bit under the weather (I think I’m getting the cold that he’s almost recovered from) so we made up the Ikea sofabed in the evening, brought out the extra duvet and piled up cushions and pillows behind us … and it was fabulous! Really comfy being able to stretch my legs out in front of me and the cats loved it too. And so we did it again tonight – I think this is going to become a new cosy winter habit.
What do you do to stay warm?
casa azahar 
Heating on full blast, duvet and laptop on the sofa. The laptop is actually very nicely warming. 🙂 I need all this in my icy cold draughty flat (although the weather is not too bad at the moment).
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Proper weather stripping. We have been replacing our old windows and it makes a big difference. Wear more layers, I especially like the polypropylene underwear I got from Patagonia, but silk works too. Get out and work hard. Sit in front of the fireplace insert and soak up the heat. Love my down comforter in the bedroom which is not all that warm since we try to heat the house with the wood fireplace insert in the living room. Drink hot tea.
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I drink lots of hot beverages. (In addition to wearing sweaters and socks.) (Oh, and in addition to keeping the heat on.)
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13 is cold?
When it actually does get cold (and so far this winter has been unnaturally mild), I might turn the heating up.
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13ºC inside the house is cold, Blues – outside with a coat on it’s just fine. And these days it’s still getting up to 18-20º during the afternoon, so we often go outside to warm up.
Sounds like your Paris flat is similar to my Sevilla one, Dan. There is this myth that it never gets cold in Sevilla but overnight temps have been about 7-8º lately (and 13º in the bedroom with the heat off).
Proper weather stripping would certainly make a difference, hmh, but really all the balcony doors need replacing as there are even gaps in the wood panels at the bottom.
Yeah, I’m back to drinking tila tea again, alejna, as holding the cup helps keep my hands warm.
You see, the other thing is that you seldom find central heating in older apartments in Sevilla, and they also tend to have quite high ceilings. So space heaters and draughty windows end up with the place being quite chilly most of the time. But these new wall heaters seem to work quite well … not looking forward to the next electricity bill though (eep!).
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ps to Blues … so when are you gonna start that blog, eh?
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No time soon. Like the time but simply ain’t gonna happen atm.
As to cold – the flat I had in Sunderland where the temperature regularly hit below freezing and icicles formed from the condensation on the skylight – now that was cold.
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Ah, but you’re a hardy Brit (are you sure you’re not one of the four Yorkshiremen? 😉 ). I’m just a wimpy Canadian who grew up with double-glazed windows, insulated walls and central heating.
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Yup, 13 is pretty cold for indoors. It is regularly that in our bedroom, but we aren’t trying to sit around watching tv there. Interesting, I just remembered the house in the mountains of Colorado that I grew up in. We used to think it was warm when it got up to 10 in there. It had the same sort of draft issues that you are describing with your balcony. Plus it was 8000 feet up in the Rockies with snow and wind.
I hope you didn’t think I was telling you to weatherstrip your ill-fitting balcony doors. (I did actually read your post.) I was answering your question of what it was we do to keep warm.
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If weatherstripping would help I’d certainly do it, hmh. No, I knew you were answering the question.
I had a flat in Bristol once that was so draughty I ended up stuffing plastic bags into the gaps between the windows and the frames, and my (then) husband and I used to take turns getting out of bed half an hour early to turn the heat on. Brrr…
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One of the good things living up in the Far North is that you seldom freeze indoors during wintertime. Our houses are built to keep the heat indoors and central heating is quite handy.
At work it’s different though. The advanced computerized AC and ventilation system cools us in winter and heats us in the summer.
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Ah, the sofa bed in front of the TV sounds wonderfully cosy!
When I was a student, living in a draughty and un-heated flat in Edinburgh, I used to hop around the house in my sleeping bag, pretty much only getting out of it to go to lectures. Oddly, the lecture halls were heated to optimal dozing temperature.
Keep snug!
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13ºC is way too cold. It is illegal if you are renting and the heat is included.
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This morning the thermostat said 10º – brrrrr!.
I don’t think there are any laws like that here, markps2. Most older apartments don’t come with any heating at all and tenants have to buy their own space heaters.
People also often have a mesa camilla, which has a little electric brassiere under it (used to be hot coals), but I find these only tend to make your legs too hot while the rest of you is still freezing.
Anyhow, I’m staying here tucked up under the duvet while I have some hot coffee and wait for the place to warm up a bit (just turned the heater on).
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