cold inside

Cheers from chilly Edinburgh. As Lynn pointed out today, it's not really that cold (even considering the dampness)-- if you bundle up, you can be quite comfortable walking around. After all, it's about 2-5C (34-42F), and even with the windchill it's nothing like a Wisconsin winter. And it really won't get much colder than this.

That's not the problem.

The problem is that it's cold INSIDE. We can't keep the flat warm. My guess is that it's about 60F in most of the flat, and more like 50F (or colder) in the North facing rooms on the 2nd floor. The wind comes off the Firth, up the hill and THROUGH the single-pane, paint-insulation-only windows directly into the rest of the flat. The estimate from British Gas to heat the flat for a year was £3600 (yes, that's around $5000). Clearly, we aren't spending that much, mostly because we're just living with the cold for now. The kids don't seem particularly bothered (Taran tends to run around barefoot), but Lynn and I can really feel it. There's just not much we can do-- 14' ceilings are quite grand, but the windows wouldn't pass inspection in any Midwestern city.

In any case-- a busy few days, and then Friday I leave for 1 day in Venice to work with my co-authors on a paper. Back Saturday night (late). All else seems good, but very very busy.

Stanford is 6th in the BCS, Wisconsin 7th. Who'd have thunk it?

Check out the text from a climate website-- note that the "rainiest months" in the description don't actually match the data...

"Edinburgh has very unpredictable weather, sunny summer days sometimes rapidly changing into damp, showery conditions or vice versa. Summers are generally fine though, with mild temperatures and bright sunshine, although days might start out misty. Winters are long and damp with many frosty days. December, January and February are the rainiest months, but snow in winter is infrequent. The best time to travel to Edinburgh is during spring when parks are a riot of colour and the weather pleasant."