The phases of freezing

I got to work early this morning and thought I would use my extra 30-40 minutes to write. Unfortunately I can already tell that this is not going to be a very good post because I've been trying to write for about ten minutes now and all I can think about is the cold.

It is a nice balmy 0 degrees Celsius outside today and my office is not much warmer. Apparently they've taken to switching the central heating off over night, so that we can all start our day in rooms that feel more like meat lockers than offices or classrooms. So I sit here freezing, huddled over the space heater bequeathed to me by the other ladies in the office (who took pity on me after seeing me typing at my desk with my coat and mittens on).

Despite the little space heater working it's hardest, I have moved onto phase 2 of freezing, where I start abusing the electric kettle and its magical boiling powers. I'm not looking for a cup of tea or coffee; I just want to defrost my frozen purple fingers in the hot steam... I know, it's sad.

During Phase 3 I become delusional and start obsessively searching for the open window that I'm convinced is responsible for the cold draft in my office. It will usually take 20 minutes before I give up and concede that the windows are just thin.

They say that after you live in a place for a while you get used to the climate. It's been two and a half years and I don't know what 'getting used to the climate' entails, but I don't think it has happened for me. The only thing left to do is take another trip to kettle and put the coat, scarf and mittens back on until the heating clicks on.