Cold Snap

As Maggie mentioned, we're in our first cold snap of the winter. By Boston standards, it isn't much: highs in the low 30s, at night it gets down into the low 20s, and if we're lucky we might even see some snow showers.

It turns out, though, that a difference of 10 degrees (the winter average high for Paris is about 44) is both seen and felt in Paris. For instance, those gutter gushers seem to have been turned off. Finally! It makes sense: this morning, on my way back from walking Panda in the park, I saw the frozen trickle of one that had been left on a little too long. I even stopped to take a picture (imagine Panda straining at the far end of the leash, me trying to hold the camera steady with one hand, both of us shaking from the cold). Unfortunately the picture didn't look great, but it inspired some conversation - a woman standing a few feet away asked why I had taken a picture, and I got to rant (live! in French!) about the city's wasteful street-cleaning techniques. I pointed out that they have to turn off the spigots when it goes below freezing because otherwise there'd be ice everywhere, and the spigots would probably break. The woman admitted she'd never thought about any of it before, and I walked away proud that I'd helped her see the light.

We notice the temperature difference in our apartment, especially, since we've finally been forced to turn the heaters on. No, that wasn't a typo - each room has a separate thermostat that runs a single electric radiator, which doesn't quite warm a whole room like baseboard heating, and especially not like central air heating. Oh well - it's not like it's going to be like this all winter. Forecast for Christmas: high of 48. Balmy!