'The DSM' Editorial - Issue 93 A Winter's Tale

We said goodbye to central heating and comprehensive insulation when we moved to rural France permanently in March, we now have to rely on log burners.

Okay it’s December...but it’s not really cold. Anna has become obsessed with the log burners at either end of our house. She is like Casey Jones on the footplate stoking the engine, or both engines in our case. As I look out of the window, I watch her going back and forth with barrow-loads of wood. We are going to get through our winter supply of logs within a fortnight!

Being Scottish you would have thought she would be used to a chill wind. The log burners have replaced the remote control for living room-based disagreements. “It’s a bit nippy in here” she‘ll say “I’ll just pop another log in”. I plead with her not to, the dog has passed out.

The log burner in the lounge is a sizable beast and when it gets going it cranks out some serious heat...like the fires of Mordor it rages. When I look through the glass I can see Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego looking back at me sweltering in my underpants, moving the sofa further and further away. If you look to the north of the department this winter you might think it’s the aurora borealis you can see, but no, it is the thermo-nuclear energy radiating from a small hamlet 15 minutes drive north of Parthenay.

A big thankyou to all our advertisers, contributors, distributors and readership who have given us so much support since we took over in March. Stay warm this winter, I will, and we will meet back here in February (no magazine in January). 








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