Still frozen

We got up yesterday morning to find that the temperature by the back door was a mighty minus 8.  It was minus 11 down in the garden.  The temperature hadn't broken 0 all weekend.

I got to work to find the office absolutely arctic-like.  I wasn't dressed for arctic conditions :-(  We had our little heater on but it was struggling to make any difference under the conditions.  It was freezing in the rest of the building.  Why is this so?

Peter endeavoured to find out.  Apparently they turn the heating off at weekends to save money.  Even in the Adsetts Centre which is open at weekends.  And, it seems, even on weekends where the forecast was for sub-zero temperatures all weekend.  It didn't really warm up in our office at all, all day.

Got home to find our house nice and toasty warm.  But with no cold water in the kitchen.  The pipe to the sink had frozen again.  Alas, this time the hair dryer and the little heater had no effect.  The piping is something of a mystery, because we do have running water in the bathroom, and the hot water in the kitchen is also flowing.  We think that the pipes must come into the house from next door and make their way immediately upstairs and that the cold water for the kitchen must come down the back wall somehow.  We can't get in to lag the pipes because that would involve taking the kitchen out.  Don't really know what to do, other than get someone in to investigate during the summer.

It's cold again in the office today.  Apparently the heating in the Adsetts Centre tripped off overnight.  It's been reset and we now have an additional free-standing heater.  And today I am wearing my snow clothes.  Winter walking trousers, thick knitted sweater, Dr Who scarf, possum gloves.  But today's very bad news is that they are forecasting a substantial increase in the price of hot chocolate because of a smaller harvest of cocoa beans than usual coupled with a much higher demand :-S 

I went into town yesterday at lunchtime.  It wasn't too bad, considering we are less than a week from Christmas.  Only problem was that I was oh-so nearly knocked over several times by small, fast-moving, darting creatures.  I have to go back into town today. The jug I bought was broken when I got it home.  I shall take a stick to keep the small, darting things at bay