Central Heating is Not to be Taken for Granted

The second best thing apart from the view in the apartment, is that we have central heating!

This may sound strange for you, most of you think that Israel is a warm country and if you look at the weather on the news you’ll see that the temperatures in winter are usually above +15.

They don’t tell you that at night it is sometimes below zero.
They also forget to mention that there is no insulation in the buildings or that the windows only have one pane of glass nor do they mention the cracks in the walls where the draft whizzes through.
Oh, and another small detail they refrain from talking about: The floors are nearly always made of polished ice cold stone.
And no one that I know has central heating! They will have a small portable heater or if you are a little more posh - air conditioner with hot fuzzy air - like in a car.

So, if you are out in the evening you put on some warm clothes, a hat and gloves. And when you go indoors, you take your jacket, gloves, hat and shoes off – cause you are indoors, it is warmer indoors, right?

WRONG!

When you go indoors, you put the kettle on, to fill the hot water bottle; you wrap two or three blankets around you; roll on an extra pair of thick woollen socks; and keep the hat and gloves on. Then you drag your small protable heater around with you where ever you may go even and probably most importantly to the bathroom. But you have to keep moving it around cause it is so very hot that it will burn you toes off if you aren't careful (although your heels will still be stone cold).

That is how it was last year when I was here during the winter.

But not this year! And not in our home!
Cause we’ve got wonderfully hot central heating!