England And A Not So Warm Welcome
Eighteen hours after leaving Lindsay’s house in California we are walking the few yards from the car to our front door, jogging with backpacks on for those few paces to get out of the cold as quickly as possible. After seven weeks in the sun a February English evening doesn’t feel great.
“Phil?”, calls Michaela from upstairs, “the screen’s blank”.
“What screen?”.
“The heating system”.
The house is utterly perishing cold. It’s becoming plain that the heating – and hot water – must have failed weeks ago; carpets don’t get to feel like sheets of ice in a few days. Frantic fuse changing brings no joy, we’re going to have to call someone out but let’s get a Chinese meal too, this could be the second long haul job of the day.
Thankfully, Trevor the boiler man plays ball and agrees to come out despite the cold evening. We light the log fire, put on the back-up water system, and wait – not the best first hour home, it’s bloody cold despite the fire. It seems an age before the welcome sound of the doorbell makes us leap from our respective huddles.
Michaela ushers him in, thanks him for coming and begins to talk him through the boiler failure, addressing his nonplussed face for quite a few seconds before realising that he has a food box in his right hand, not a toolbox. Cue embarrassment. Nice Chinese though.
Trevor is next to ring the doorbell, then toiling for three hours until 11pm before tiredness beats him and he has to admit defeat, and as for us, we have to face a very cold bedroom.
“I’ll be back tomorrow, with Andy”, he says.
“Andy?”.
“Electrician”.
Sure enough, Reliable Trevor and new-kid-on-the-block Andy bowl up early Tuesday afternoon, the upshot of which is that there’s now two of them scratching their heads instead of one. Another two hours of testing, re-testing and muffled comments along the lines of “well how can that be happening” and “yeah I suppose it could be that” until eventually the consensus is that we need a part. A part which won’t be fitted till tomorrow.
Trevor speeds off in one direction, Andy in the other, and as for us, we have to face a very cold bedroom.
Of the few things we look forward to when returning home from our travels, snuggling into our own bed and diving into our own hot shower are fairly high on the list. Neither hunching around the hot water bottle in a cold bed nor waiting an hour for the back-up to provide a hot shower are part of this plan. Michaela is extra rueful as she scrolls through the Costa Rica photos in woolly jumper AND dressing gown.
By Wednesday morning Michaela is getting edgy. It’s not just the cold, it’s the washing: drying clothes outdoors in England in February is by no means a guaranteed success and, with no heating, lots of our travel stuff is still waiting to go through “the system”.
Trevor returns, the part turns up an hour or so later, and hey presto after 48 hours everything is back on and at last it feels like home. Towards the end of those 48 hours we found ourselves discussing two topics…
One, what wimps we’ve become. As children, we didn’t have central heating and a log fire would have been perfectly ample, yet somehow we’ve morphed into adults who whinge about something as unimportant as a temporarily cold house!
Two, where shall we travel to next, given that there seems to be more and more relaxation of border controls worldwide. And by the time the heating was back on, we’d booked our next flights….
21 Comments
wetanddustyroads
Well, you are hopefully on your way to another warm place on earth … that beautiful picture of Costa Rica is more than enough encouragement!
Monkey's Tale
What an awful welcome home! The lack of my own hot shower would get me the most. Maggie
Andrew Petcher
On the positive side, it is a relatively warm February.
Phil & Michaela
So much so that it was warmer outdoors than in on Tuesday morning!
Christie
Coming back to the real world is not always welcome LOL But I only hope your next destination will be in another warm place🙂 I can’t wait to hear about!
Phil & Michaela
The sunshine is calling already….
Christie
🙂🙂
Heyjude
You don’t waste much time do you! A round—the—world ticket?
Phil & Michaela
After all the interruptions to our plans we don’t want to waste any more time. In fact we’re coming down to Cornwall again first before we head abroad!
Sue v B
Great to see you’re travelling again. We are hoping to go to Borneo later in the year. Wondering if you’ve been there? It seems like independent travel there is difficult as almost everything seems to be based on group tours.
Any thoughts?
Sue
Phil & Michaela
No we haven’t been there Sue so can’t offer much advice unfortunately. The orang-utans are a big attraction so it’s on “the list” but not ventured there yet.
WanderingCanadians
Ugh. Sorry to hear that you went from warm weather back to a freezing cold house. Glad to hear the issue was fixed though. I’m looking forward to hearing about your next travel adventures.
Toonsarah
Oh dear, what a horrible homecoming! I feel for you. The only bad thing about getting abroad for some heat in the winter is coming back home to the cold, so to have no heating must have been a real blow! You have me hoping the same won’t happen to us 😕
And of course I’m dying to hear where you’re off to next! We’re thinking some short European breaks after CR and then perhaps Nepal.
Phil & Michaela
We’ve booked outward flights but that’s all…in the hope that crossing borders becomes easier by then! So looking forward to reading your Costa Rica experiences. It’s all very fresh in our minds.
giacomoasinello
I hear you! The cold was one of the reasons I left the UK!
leightontravels
Two days without heating is a bit grim, don’t think you’re that wimpy. Yet another cliffhanger in your latest blog, not sure where you’re going, but confident that it’s going to be nice and warm.
grandmisadventures
what a welcome home to have such a stark contrast to the warm weather of Costa Rica! Excited to see where you’re heading next! 🙂
Phil & Michaela
You can guarantee it will be a bit warmer!
Annie Berger
Amused and smiled at Michaela’s welcome of the boiler man who turned out to be the bearer of Chinese food instead! Hope the food was warm if not your home for the first couple of days on your return. Looking forward to “Where in the World are Phil and Michaela” next AND how long it’ll be before we’re all treated to more great posts.
Phil & Michaela
Thank you Annie, that’s a nice thing to say xx
Lookoom
When you are in a warm country, it takes a bit of imagination to accept the idea that elsewhere it is cold. I am sometimes amused to see Canadians coming home in flip-flops and shorts in the middle of winter. Reality catches up with them quickly. For me, your heating failure is a sign telling you to leave again as soon as possible.