Calling It: Heat Watch 2011 is over

This morning I resolved that one way or another I was going to conclude heat watch soon. The radiators were not getting any warmer since earlier this week, and we were still running the space heater at night. Our next step was to investigate possible reasons we were not as toasty as we thought we would be--like air in the radiators (as suggested in the comments in this post, and thank you, de-lurking Canadian reader) or problems with the plumbing coming into the apartment (something I was dreading as a possibility because it would mean    getting my landlord involved).

We were out of the house today from just after 9 this morning until almost 10 tonight. It was a very long day in Sanlitun with Myles' art class and supper at the Bookworm. When we finally did arrive at our building, we were greeted by thick air and a smokiness so strong that if I were inside a building that smelled like that, I would evacuate. All I could hope was that we would our compensation for this was real heat at last.

The apartment did not feel cold when we first came in. I went around and touched radiators and pipes.  Since November 15 I have been compulsively touching the radiators in every room on entering. I have until tonight been unable to discern if there were any changes in temperature. Is it warmer, I would wonder. Is it a teeny bit warmer now? I wonder about my perception no longer. When as recently as this morning the radiators were only slightly warm to the tough, tonight they were actually hot.

WE. HAVE. HEAT.

Thank you everyone for playing our annual Beijing game, Heat Watch. Like last year, it's been fun in that make-it-fun-before-it-makes-me-crazy kind of way.

Comments

Unknown said…
Thank Goodness!
Jen Ambrose said…
Well, there was a few hours on Friday I thought I would have to add a retraction to this post. It was warmer during the day but something happened that I did not expect---all the smokestacks in Changping were shut off. I thought there may have been a problem, especially since the pollution was so unbelievably bad the night before. More likely it was to conserve coal, and they were back in business that evening. I kept thinking, "Dude. You just turned it on!"