Winter is Upon Us

Sometimes I wear this coat in the house. Today I wore it in Biot.

When you live in someone else's house like we do, sometimes you can't figure out how things work. Like today, for example, when it was so cold outside it was raining ice. The small mountains that hold the nearby village of Grasse were subsequently covered in snow. It sure got cold in this house that has ALL tile floors and the walls are made of stone.

For a couple of weeks I have been asking Dave to turn up the heat because I walk around the house fully dressed, with socks, shoes and at minimum a sweater and often in a parka. Granted, I am always a little colder than most people, but when you have to wear your hooded sweatshirt to bed with the hood UP, it is time to crank up the heater.

The first problem with turning up the heat is that the thermostat is outside. That's right--if you are too cold INSIDE the house, you must go OUTSIDE to turn up the heat. The second problem is that we have no idea how to program the unit so that we don't have to go outside at night when it gets even colder than in the day. Dave said there was an instruction manual, but seeing as how I can barely read the French instructions on a package of ready-made pizza crust, it is unlikely we can understand a manual for a piece of electronic equipment.

So when we reluctantly slip into our icy beds tonight and wait for the combined powers of my new bedspread and body heat to kick in, we will imagine August in Arizona and maybe thoughts of 117 degree weather will warm us as we drift off to sleep.