(no subject)

So what did we do before central heating? I've been without it for five days at this point after it packed up at the weekend. At first we thought the boiler had died, on account of how it wasn't firing up, but then it started firing up again late Sunday. However, it only made hot water, which is fine for washing up and baths and showers and so on, but I like my radiators to be on as well. Despite the central heating programme on the controller working to schedule, we were only getting hot water.

So several handily positioned fan heaters and a lot of jumpers later, and the landlord's husband - amenable chap and also apparently an electrical engineer, flips a little switch in the airing cupboard. 'This is the manual override,' he says. 'The heating will work now.' Except that, of course, it doesn't. It only works when the hot water is on. And when the system decides the hot water is hot enough, it shuts off everything. Including the central heating. So at most we have two hours of radiators a day until whatever the problem with the controller is can be sorted out.

I have had damp. I have had cowboy builders. I have had an arsehole flatmate. I have had a leaky roof over my bed. I have had more damp. Now I have no heating. Is it really too much to ask for a place that works?

My fleece-lined thermal winter cycling kit is starting to look attractive as everyday wear at this point.