Something Not Quite Right...

I suffer from the cold. I have done ever since I had a major altercation with a motor car in my very distant teens: the car bonnet was, I am told, seriously dented. Flying teenager landing on top of bonnet is not in the manufacturer's rcommendations. Anyway, since that time, I get cold really easily. I wear polo neck jumpers during the summer (under a blouse) My core temperature is totally normal, I just feel cold.

So, I am inordinately fond of hot water bottles. One year I was given a duck shaped one: "Egg" proved to be very popular on the Winter Conference that year. We were in Upholland instead of Stonyhurst, and they hadn't turned on the heating before we arrived. There was a heater in the chapel which looked like the engines on a jumbo jet. You had to sit right in front of it (and risk being crisped) or you would freeze. Quite a few people wanted to hold Egg for me...

This year, as well as getting a new hot water bottle from my mother, I also acquired "Sleepy Bear" - she had two, and I cast covetous eyes upon one of them...

Now Sleepy Bear is designed to go into the microwave. He comes out all warm, and smelling sort of oatmealy. And he's more "clutchable" than a hot water bottle... and he retains the heat really well...

But... In order to get him to fit into the microwave, you have to make him sit up... and I have to confess to feeling a bit mean when turning it on...