How beautiful is this sky – first week in March.

The very British tradition of talking about the weather at every opportunity doesn’t stop when you leave the country, in fact it just amplifies the situation. In the UK we have very little weather to talk about really, unless you count the summer of 1976 when we had sun once, but the moment you move abroad you have a whole host of things to fill those awkward conversational voids.

I love to wax lyrical to my friends stuck back in old blighty about how we have four proper seasons and brag about our 70 degree temperature shift throughout the year, but in fact the weather here actually does dictate everything you do.

Even the festivals are governed by mother nature. Where else in the world do we substitute the commercially recognised Valentines Day with cutting back vines and trying out home-made plonk, or wear red and white bracelets until we see our first blossom or stork and I, for one, have not had a harvest festival since I took a tin of baked beans into primary school.

This basket was a wonderful gift from a friend.

It is almost spring here now and I have potted up some seeds, which I duly put out and bring back in again at night (just in case) and thoughts naturally turn to winter…. No longer is it over, than we start planning for the next one…get wood while it’s cheap, give it time to dry and season, clean the flues ready…It is also time to come out of hibernation, lose your winter comfort blanket and get to work.

For me this year means a new kitchen. For most people this means a quick trip to Ikea, a plate full of meatballs, selecting a fancy new set of cabinets and advertising the old ones on Ebay.

By now you may have gathered I do things a little differently, so I’ll take you through my plans! Four years I have toiled over a hot stove in what is, essentially, a hallway. Four years I have put up with my water freezing when it drops below -15C, just because it enters the house on the north-facing, outside wall. No more!

I am breaking it down into small chunks for you so you can follow along as I solve these issues and create my new space…click here to watch part 1 of Operation Kitchen.

Stage one is to hook up some sort of hot water to the outside sink. So get your thinking caps on and send me your suggestions on how to do this…so I can demolish the sink in the ‘hall’ and relocate that pesky water source.

Comment below!

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2 Comments

  • Shirley

    If it’s a purely temporary measure. I’ve seen Bulgarians rig up a barrel you fill with water and it could possibly be set up above the sink as it needs to be higher than the tap for water flow! The heat from the sun heats up the water giving you nice hot water!! Downside is. It’ll only work when we have the hot weather

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