Tuesday 16 March 2010

Have you got wood?

It's the time of year in New Zealand when people's thoughts turn to wood. The nights are closing in and the first Southerlies remind us of what awaits in winter. I could blog for pages about the Kiwi unwillingness to heat homes, but I'll spare you, for now.

We are relatively lucky. We have a system that recover heat from the roof space and recirculates it through the house, it also removes moisture, which is good for Anthony's asthma. To complement that we also have a wood burner in the living room. To quote my colleague Nathan, we 'live like kings'.

Wood is generally the fuel of choice for those who bother to heat their homes at all. This is the time of year when you start to see piles of it appearing at the end of driveways and the tops of stairs. We were very organised this year and got our winter wood delivered in December. One reason, it's cheaper then, the other that we would have the whole summer to move it down the 100 steps to our house. Good plan? Turned out that the supplier's promise to deliver it to the top of our section translated into dumping it in the middle of the road. Two days and the help of some good friend later and it was stacked outside the house.

There is a downside to having the wood delivered in ready to burn chunks - no wielding of the axe this year. Chopping wood was something that I'd never done, but I don't suppose that I'll miss it on those wet winter evenings.

We're ready for you winter, whatever you decide to throw at us!

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