In The Northern Hemisphere You Need A Chimney Sweep.

Even Chimneys need a service !

In the thirty years we lived in South Africa, we never had central heating. Well, apart from the odd electrical mobile bar heater every now and again. Most of those winters were spent with layers of warm clothing and plenty of warm blankets. It was enough and winter only lasted about 3 months.

Well, blankets and warm clothing on their own won't cut it here. We need proper heating and we are fortunate enough to have a pellet oven to warm our house. Yet old habits die hard, and Bob and I only switch it on for 6 hours a day. Winter is just not the same if we don't huddle under a layer of blankets in front of the TV !

I hardly ever think about where the smoke goes to, but of course it escapes through the chimney. This chimney of ours had its service on Thursday. You wondering why I can remember so clearly ? Well, the chimney sweeps of today are different.

Surely you all remember Keanu Reeves in Speed ( Amazon.com: Speed [Blu-ray] ), when he is dressed in this swat uniform and has that ( at the time ) uncool yet soon to be cool crew cut. Yes, well, our chimney sweep is like him. All dressed in a black swat uniform and a crew cut.

Whereas Keanu had a gun on his belt, our chimney sweep has a torch and a brush...but a steel brush ! But he still looks like a member of the swat team. I was telling a friend of mine about the very cool chimney sweep and had promised to take a picture for her...but, just now he gets the wrong idea and thinks I want his picture as a pin-up !

The chimney gets serviced four times a year, and last year even Bob thought that the chimney sweeps uniform was ultra-cool. Well, now our chimney is sorted for a few months and we have racked up yet another new and fun experience here in our Burgenland...

Biggi