Two weeks ago I was cycling around in a pair of shorts and a vest and now I am wearing every piece of clothing I own while still inside my house.
The Suzhou cold is not a Scottish cold. It's a cold that gradually sneaks into your bones and before you know it, you can never remember having been warm. Summer is a distant memory. IT'S ONLY BEEN TWO WEEKS! In Scotland, houses have central heating and double glazing. Apparently that is unheard of Suzhou way. I don't know how. In so many ways China is futuristic and modern and ground-breaking but when it comes to heating: not so much. South of the Yangtze = not very much heating. North of the Yangtze = heating, but only after a certain day of the year specified by the government. All the flashy, modern apartments of Suzhou have all mod-cons. Bar heating.
Some apartments have underfloor heating (not ours) but due to a current shortage of natural gas in China, you are only allowed a certain amount of gas every month to work it. If you run out, you aren't allowed to buy more. Otherwise, you have to turn your air conditioning unit onto 'hot'. You have to have it on all day to have any effect. If it's a particularly cold day, your bones stay cold and your face heats up like you've got a bad fever. The effect on your skin is not dissimilar to nuclear fallout (I expect.) Various other things are also working against us. When it rains, water pours in through the bathroom window. All our clothes are damp. There is a problem with our boiler which means that we have to keep the window beside our kitchen open ALL THE TIME.
Coffee gets cold as soon as you pour it because the cups are so cold. I kid you not.
Hot water bottle central, 50 layers of clothes and a look out at the amazing view from our apartment and i'm sure the winter won't be too long. Please God.
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