I woke up this morning to find my heating had stopped working. Called heating engineers. They will arrived to fix it at some indeterminate time in the future.To get me by, I dragged out an old convector heater from the cupboard. Plugged it in. It didn't work. Damn. Was plunged into crisis. Though last week was pleasantly sunny, today is cold. I can't stand the cold. I have no warmth inside me. I need a source of heat. Sometimes when I've arrived home after being cold outside, I've found it impossible to warm up again, and needed to make a hot water bottle.
So on a cold day, with no heating, things were looking grim. I dealt with the crisis by hurrying to the cheap shop which sells everything, and buying a new convection heater. It warms up the room nicely. Probably at ruinous expense, but it will get me by till the heating is fixed. I can't stand being cold. Hmm. Maybe I should live somewhere warmer.
Have abandoned all efforts at working. Till my heating is repaired I'm lying on the couch wrapped in a quilt, with the convection heater beside me. Fortunately, I have a new bundle of manga to read. I really like Naruto, It's a great comic. I wish I was a ninja with amazing ninja powers.
Or maybe I wish I was Catiline, a strong and rebellious figure in Ancient Rome who, I remember, was described by Cicero as being completely indifferent to the effects of either great heat or great cold. That would be good. You wouldn't catch Catiline shivering under a quilt. Still, Catiline was killed when his rebellion failed, so maybe he'd have been better off just lying on a couch anyway. Which, of course, Romans were keen on doing.
Tor will publish its mass-market paperback of The Good Fairies of New York in America in June. The Soft Skull edition of The Good Fairies has already sold more copies than any book I've had published before, and this will make it more widely available. Soon you won't be able to move anywhere without bumping into a copy. Tor are a very large publisher, so I hope it works out well. Here is some Good Fairies wallpaper, from Pablo Defendini's cover art for the book.1024x768
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Now that's amusing. I'm incredibly glad I moved into a place with AC not too long ago, and you're worried about the heat being out. I think I'd rather live there, rather than Florida...
ReplyDeleteGreat news about Good Fairies! I still maintain that the first paragraph of that book is one of the best first paragraphs ever written,
ReplyDeleteI lost my heat this winter too. Got by with my fireplace. Got the gas bill. Not amused. Went to my hottub today to find a cold tub. What sort of weird nexus is this???? Heat going off all over..
Stay warm!
I remember going to London last summer and being told that the weather was lovely and warm. I turned up with a flimsy hoodie, lots of short skirts and flip flops. Only to have it rain and be miserably cold the entire time I was there. You have my sympathies. xxx
ReplyDeleteLove the new cover!
ReplyDeletehi Martin. You may try and come to live in Italy for a while, then! Spring is very pleasant,although in the summer you could find it too hot to keep working... you would probably need a air conditioner! New cover of the book is GREAT, I may buy a new copy just for that!!! Daniela
ReplyDeleteYes, you can't trust the weather in London. It's best just to assume the worst. There's certainly never any need for air conditioning, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased people like the new cover, I'm looking forward to this coming out.