Was chatting with some friends last night at a last-minute Mah Jongg game. It's become a bit chilly at night now, but most of us are resisting turning on the heat. We were talking about it last night and I was reminded of an odd tradition that I have...for no good reason. :-) I'm amused that I hang on to it.
Many years ago, when I was in my apartment rental phase, I had an apartment where the landlord controlled the heat. The heat was turned on October 15th and shut off on April 15th. If you were cold or hot at any other time of the year...tough luck. You put on a sweater or opened the windows. Now, this was quite a long time ago, before there was any real awareness about energy use, so if the heat was blasting and you had to have the windows wide open, no big deal.
To this day, I follow the tradition. I do my very best to wait until October 15th rolls around to turn on the heat. Which is incredibly ridiculous as I can control my heat, all by myself. But, still, I wrap myself in sweaters, and keep checking the internal temperature. Because, even with this odd clinging to an old tradition, if the temperature drops low enough, I'll give in and flip the switch. And if this happens before October 15th, I feel a slight twinge of disappointment. And the same thing happens on the other end of the year. If I feel compelled to keep the heat on after April 15th (and in New England, April can be a very chilly month), I feel that I've fallen short on my goal of keeping my heating dates.
The really amusing thing about this is that I don't even recall which apartment had this rule and there are no particularly fond memories that I carry with me about the place. And yet, it's as if some golden rule was written in my head regarding heat. And when I break the rule, I feel ever so slightly like a rebel. :-)
Maybe this year, I'll break the tradition for good and pick a new criteria for the heat switch on. Just to be different. Just to be a rebel.
It really doesn't take much for me to amuse myself...
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