Defining Comfort.

I’m told that houses in Britain are built with underfloor heating as standard these days. I would hate that. ‘But it’s more efficient,’ say Those In The Know, ‘and because the heat is distributed evenly, it’s more comfortable, too.’

I have to agree that it’s probably more efficient, although it seems to me that ‘efficient’ is often used to cover the ever-increasing process of drab sanitization that’s going on in our oh-so-sophisticated culture. But more comfortable?

After the weather forecast had finished tonight, I switched off the TV set and sat quietly for forty minutes close to the coal fire in my living room – musing, reflecting and being warmed in nature’s time honoured manner. There is something gently insistent about dancing yellow flames and the pulsating glow of deep orange embers. It has a way of transporting you into a subtly different version of reality. Sarah was right when she said that life looks less threatening by a coal fire. And that’s what I call comfortable.