Is the heater on?

From our Go F***ing Insulate your House department.

A friend stopped by yesterday said hi, and then made a beeline for the closest radiator in the living room. She put her hand on it and with a surprised expression said: "You don't have the heating on? It's so warm in here."

"No, don't need it yet, the work is finally paying off."

"It was 3 C when I got up at 2 AM for work."

This was the kind of conversation TheEditor had hoped to have after years of working on the old house.

The months spent clinging to the outside walls like an oversized gecko, though much less elegant than the sticky creature, had made a big difference in last winter's heating bill but there was a lot of work left.

With the remaining 60 square meters of facade done, the old house has not needed any heating during the cold spell of the past week.

Unlike the friend's house, less than twenty years old, our building has maintained a pretty toasty 19 to 20 C with several consecutive nights between 5 and 9 C and days under 20 C.

While the joking "I want to be able to heat the whole house with a single candle" is a tad ambitious, we are looking forward to the winter for the first time since we arrived in Germany.

The "before and after" pictures will follow when the finishing touches are done.