Chilly damp winter days (and nights) in Mallorca – yes, we do have them – are made bearable with the help of five Important Things. In my most recent posts, three of these have been revealed: our generator, dehumidifier, and the woodburning stove.

And so to the final two items:  Firstly, there’s the electric slow-cooker. Mine is quite old now, but works a treat – without using much electricity (an important consideration when using solar power). Not only can I produce delicious casseroles that have been burbling happily all day, I can also warm my hands on it if my fingers get too cold to type properly!

March 2010 – colder than usual!

Warm Hands and Feet

And, finally, there’s the electric underblanket. Our first winter visit to the finca, before we’d moved to Mallorca, was a week’s ‘holiday’ to do some decorating. Fortunately, the previous owners had left us a double bed in the property (with mattress), so we had something to sleep on. After months of being closed up,  the house – and the mattress – were both very damp, which made for a very unpleasant first night’s sleep. The next day we went to town and bought a new mattress and some hot water bottles. I’d never felt so cold . . .

Once we had electricity, we bought ourselves an electric underblanket. How does anyone manage without one here? If the generator, dehumidifier, logburner and slow-cooker were all to fail, you’d know where to find me. In bed, warm and cosy – hibernating until the worst of the cold weather had passed.

Jan Edwards copyright 2012