Sunday, December 16, 2007

Sunday, not in the park, without George

Not yet at least. If the weather holds fine, I shall walk down to the river this afternoon.

I bought a pair of pyjamas yesterday, the first that I've worn in thirty-three years if not longer (though I do wear a t-shirt in bed, and often socks, and in winter sometimes even long-johns). I got into the habit of sleeping naked when I was in Italy on a summer study session, learning how to drink alcohol and coffee and a few quite fascinating things about the human anatomy, and carried on until fairly recently. It was only after moving here that I started wearing t-shirts in bed, because of the miserably damp winters; they bothered me even more here than in London which is not known for aridity.

Interrupting myself for a moment: I have a Norman Stove*. The four burners and single oven are controlled by a total of six rotary knobs, and at least once a month I nearly burn the house down by turning the wrong one on. I've developed the habit of checking and counterchecking which burner is on, but this doesn't help when I turn the knob in the wrong direction, causing the water in the pot to boil away rapidly rather than simmering slowly—as I just did. The year is 2007 CE, nearly 2008. Why is this still so damned difficult? Do the people who make ovens never cook for themselves? Have they no wives or husbands or parents or children? Have they never even watched anyone cook anything? Or have they merely no commonsense? Bah.

So, yes: pyjamas. It was purely wonderful, I was toasty warm practically in the instant that I put them on cold from the drawer. Those were by far the best 30 Euros I've spent lately.

"Cold" being the operative word. The heating seems not to be working properly, apart from the living room = office and bathroom, the radiators appear not to be receiving any hot water from the boiler. I thought this might have been due to low water pressure, but having topped that up this morning I realize that it's not the case. Something is grievously wrong.

And how has your weekend been?

* Named for Donald A. Norman, useability expert and author of "The design of everyday things" (among other books), in which he discusses (among other things) the particularly egregious and all too common form of bad design that has come to be known as Norman doors: doors that cannot be opened by performing the visually-obvious operation. Things that don't work the way that their appearance indicates that they should, or whose appearance gives no clues to their workings, are now generically known as Norman Whatevers.

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10 Comments:

Blogger Jenni said...

I've had a wonderful weekend, thanks for asking....purchased a new vehicle for myself yesterday as an early Christmas present! so exciting.

December 16, 2007 at 2:31:00 p.m. GMT+1  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Will you post a photo of the pyjamas?

I don't like classic pyjamas. I sleep in cotton pants of the type that is used for modern dance (wide at the end of the leg) and a long-sleeved shirt, both black. I have several of them. Recently I bought a nice outfit from Tezenis, black with a little gold.

December 16, 2007 at 8:59:00 p.m. GMT+1  
Blogger Zhoen said...

Had a stove like that in my second to last apartment. Never did figure out how to keep the oven on, not accidentally shut it off. (If you didn't listen to the long alarm, but tied to shut it up, you wound up turning the oven off.)

I like really stretchy knit top and pants for pjs. Any T-shirt will do, as long as it's big.

December 16, 2007 at 11:17:00 p.m. GMT+1  
Blogger JoeinVegas said...

How about an electric blanket? I preferred a warming matress cover, so the heat came from underneath instead of on top, but either makes it really challenging to get out of bed in the morning.

December 17, 2007 at 6:03:00 a.m. GMT+1  
Blogger Pacian said...

It must kind of suck to write about making things useable and end up as a term for things that are counter-intuitive.

December 18, 2007 at 1:34:00 p.m. GMT+1  
Blogger Seraphine said...

I don't know you but the
thought
of you in tee and socks...
well, let me say I'm glad you
got some
Pjs...

December 18, 2007 at 6:15:00 p.m. GMT+1  
Blogger Udge said...

Jenni: Well done! I approve of self-presenting.

May: I hadn't intended to post a photo, but perhaps I will. They are surely not as fashionable as yours.

Zhoen: must be very roomy, indeed. The worst thing about falling asleep in one's normal clothes (for me) is that they are comparatively so tight-fitting.

Joe: I've been considering it, actually. For now the PJs are so warm that I don't need to improve the warmth of the bed itself.

Pacian: if one took it that way, it would indeed suck quite intensely. One might choose to see the naming as a sign of having introduced a new concept into the world, enabling people to see what had previously been unnoticeable.

Seraphine: welcome aboard, nice to see you here. The image of my SL body wearing only t-shirts and socks would be distressing even to myself; rest assured that the RL me is quite dissimilar :-)

December 18, 2007 at 7:40:00 p.m. GMT+1  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

UDGE, NO ELECTRIC BLANKET!
IT IS YOUR MOTHER WHO IS SPEAKING.

December 18, 2007 at 8:13:00 p.m. GMT+1  
Blogger Udge said...

Er, Mom? How did you get in here? I thought I locked the door.

December 18, 2007 at 9:27:00 p.m. GMT+1  
Blogger SavtaDotty said...

Mothers are not stopped by locked doors.

December 26, 2007 at 9:51:00 p.m. GMT+1  

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