OK so it is REALLY cold here now. And in usual Pakistani style, there is no gas. Yeah, I know just earlier in the week I was blogging about the virtues of living in Pakistan – but I am not feeling so positive about Pakistan today. NOW I JUST WANT A HEATER THAT WORKS.

For those who dont know, I live in a house with 15 other people… a large assortment of parents in law, brothers and sisters in law and tonnes of kids. We have ONE gas connection for the whole house and that connection has to service the 4-burner stove (that runs for most of the day), 6 gas heaters (one for each bedroom), and three hot water heaters. Right now the gas supply in our one pipe is only just enough to boil water in about 15 minutes. That is because in this country, there is a shortage of EVERYTHING (most urgently a shortage of FORESIGHT in our cherished leaders). In summer there is not enough electricity to meet the country’s needs so we suffer from long long hours of load shedding. In winter there is not enough gas so we end up with gas shortages – even the gas service stations are closed for a couple of days a week (and ALL our cars run on gas).

So here I sit, with my hands INSIDE the heater, with enough heat to warm one finger at a time (which actually just seems to make me feel colder), and wish for the luxury of gas.

But hang on a minute! The solution to this is surely to get smarter and think outside the whingeing mentality. What we need is electric heaters in the winter and gas airconditioners in the summer! Well I am not sure if there is such thing as a gas AC, but there sure are electric heaters.

So who cares if our electricity rate is the highest in the world… I’m going heater SHOPPING!

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