Its not just football and horse racing that are affected by the weather. Other pastimes such as blogging are affected also. I have not blogged for the last couple of days because at present we have no heating. It has simply been too cold to sit in the office for very long. We still have no heating. We misread the gauge on the oil tank and allowed it to run out. Well Barbara didn’t realise there was a little switch on the bottom that stops the level falling! This morning I was going to stay in bed until mid morning in an attempt to keep warm. However, boredom over came me and I have finally made my way into the office and I am now typing furiously in a bid to keep warm. This week my old friend pleurisy has returned. Well at least it’s a faithful pal and never stays away for to long. I am a right old whinge bag this morning. I’m thinking I might have turned in to Arsene Wenger over night. Having no heating this week has taken me back to my childhood on the Janet’s Corner housing estate. We certainly had no central heating back in those days. I haven’t coped nearly as well this week as we did then. We had just one open coal fire in the living room. When you woke up on a winter’s morning there was often ice on the bedroom windows. We would dress in double quick time. The bathroom was an ice box. There would be no hot water first thing in the morning, as the fire had not been lit for long enough. I remember my two brother racing up the stairs at break neck speed in a bid to have the only bath going, as one bath would drain the hot water tank. Often only to find that I had already bathed earlier in the day and the hot water was gone. Later as young adults, Friday evenings were always something of a scramble. I and my two brothers would race home from work to grab the hot water. Whoever got there first also got the pick of the clothes and shoes. I usually got home last as working in Douglas put me at a disadvantage.

Well once again the cold has beaten me and I am going to have to leave this office. If a blog appears tomorrow, then that will mean the oil man has been.

Tom Glassey, on the banks of the icy Silverburn River.