Warmth
The UK is fucking freezing. It’s rained nearly every day that I’ve been here, a few nights the temperature dipped below 32 degrees, the field frosted over, and being warm was all I could think of. I pressed against radiators willing my pores to vacuum up any heat that came off it. I turned the electric bed pads to maximum to put feeling back into my numb, chilled toes. With the high cost of utilities, my hosts didn’t have the heater going all day. I did as the local did and wore layers and drank copious amounts of tea.
I’ve been this cold a couple of times before, once during my Peace Corps stint in Paraguay. The temperature was 40 degrees with 75 percent humidity, and the houses aren’t built to be weatherproof, so I was in HELL. I coped by wearing 4 layers of clothes which I rotated, then turned inside out and rotated again. I gave my PTA (pits, tits and ass) a quick splash in the morning and evening. I embraced the grittiness of my grubby feet and spent days sitting by the smoking fire in the kitchen. My host sisters offered to heat water for a bath for me (a tea potful in a 5 gallon bucket) but I declined saying that I was waiting for Spring. Finally, I couldn’t stand how filthy I was, and made the 4 hour trip to the capital to rent a hotel room. That was THE BEST half hour shower I’ve ever taken in my life! In another scenario, I sprayed myself with bathroom airfreshener to defunkify a bit because I couldn’t stand to wash my PTA with cold water.
Whenever I turn up the thermostat at home, I say a silent prayer of thanks to the folks who keep the gas and electric going. I’m grateful for the labor that Valentin put into splitting and stacking firewood every Fall. I give thanks for the local thrift store full of warm sweaters available for me to choose from.
This is a photo of the bathroom in the London AirBnB I stayed in. I called it my Happy Place. The heated floor tiles were a sweet kiss to my feet every time I stepped in there. The light was dim. The small space enveloped me like a hug. I found myself sitting on the toilet just to be warm. When I do my bathroom remodel at home, I’ll be sure to include underfloor heating and a heated towel bar to the design.
