severe weather conditions

Sometimes the human being is just a fragile and frightened animal in the cruel hands of Mother Nature. The draughts of sub-Saharan countries comes to mind, but also victims of hurricanes in the Caribbean. Those are the times when it is better to huddle down behind a rock, not trying go about one's business as if nothing had happened.

Now. What actually IS "severe wether conditions" is of course something debatable. An Eskimo would not have the same preferences as a native African.

At Heathrow airport "Severe weather conditions" is snow and freezing conditions. Not half a meter of snow and two days of snowstorm. No - two days ago approximately 10-15 cm of snow fell, followed by subzero temperatures - not -20 or -30, no: -3... It wasn't until this morning some traffic started anew at the airport.

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When I woke up this morning my flat was cold. I have, on occasion, been somewhat dismissive of the local art of engineering, so I wasn't too surprised. My flat has four windows but only one radiator so if it gets chilly outside... well...

But when stood up I realized it was colder than usually and I went to check my only radiator. Cold.

I have a heater/boiler but it is localized outside of my flat so I put on clothes and went to check. A big blue light that usually shines with a reassuring dimmed glow now blinked. Beside it a knob blinked red: "restart" it said.

Ok, I thought. I pressed the button. Nothing. I stood there and looked at the button for a while, but it wasn't interested in a staring contest. It just kept on blinking.

I tried again, this time I kept the button pressed firmly to the bottom for 10 seconds...

The heater started with a low humming noise and content I started to close the cupboards door where the heater/boiler is hidden. Then there was more sound, more like a rumble. Then the whole thing started to shake. There was cause for concern. My heater/boiler works on gas. In my mind flashed stories bye of gas-explosions in the wake of the San Francisco earth-quake of 1905. More buildings were destroyed by the ensuing fires than by the actual quake...

Then the rumbling and the shaking stopped. Again there was a red blinking knob saying "restart"

Hmmm...

An assortment of mails and phone-calls later John arrived. John had built the heating-system four months earlier. He pressed the button, listened to the rumble, made a phone-call and disappeared out into the back-yard. After two minutes he was back and pressed "restart". No rumble. No shaking. Just a hum accompanied by a blue glow.

Of course I was to blame. A lot of people in Britain only use their heater a couple of hours a day to save money. This is one of the reasons pipes freeze here in wintertime. Being an engineer I understood this and kept my heating on, albeit not at its maximum. I thought I was doing the right thing.

However. Whenever I burn my heater/boiler there is condense-water. The more you use it the more condense. But where does this water go? To an internal sewage? No. The condensed water is led through a small pipe under the tiles of my bathroom. The pipe continues through the outside brick wall and continues down for 2 meters. Outside. The plastic tube has diameter of roughly 3 cm. Again - to emphasize - outside. If (=when) it freezes, pressure builds in the heater and... Well you know the rest. To "fix" this John disjointed the pipe at a "knee" just where the pipe went outside. I now know where it is.

So. In short. When it is cold you shouldn't use your heater. John emphasized that I should NOT leave the heating on when I returned to Scandinavia for the Holidays.

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At Heathrow's webpage you can read a lot about the severe weather conditions. Apparently some flights are operating but...: "It is snowing and conditions are freezing"

My flight is tomorrow. If weather continues to be this severe I might have to stay in London this Christmas.

Having written this blog in a café in Kingston I walk outside. It's ca -1 and a few flakes of snow dance in the air. Hopefully there is a bus. Otherwise it will be a nice but long walk by the Thames. I will think long and hard on what is relative in man's perception of nature.

I may even have to think severely.

(today in English for my non-Swedish friends. Hugs. You know who you are)