Have you ever spent Christmas in a freezer? I have. I have now, that is. You know, it wasn’t quite as bad as it sounds. It was one of those freezers that shuts from the outside, and if you’re inside you can’t get out. I did some research, and yep, they’re illegal now. The grandparents aren’t really big on updating things though, so there I was, in the walk-in freezer while everyone else was making merry. Notably, they did not notice that I wasn’t there. Probably should follow up on that later.
Doesn’t help that we’ve spent most of our time here fixing stuff that Grandma and Granddad should’ve fixed ages ago. “We can do without it!” No, actually you’re both 85 and you have no air conditioning in the summer. Not that I’m an expert at air conditioning repair. Melbourne has enough skilled technicians that service air cons all day long. At least we knew who to call, and just before Christmas as well. You know, the time when plenty of people would’ve gone on holiday. Fortunately we managed to convince them to get THAT fixed, so we didn’t spend the entirety of Christmas dinner sweltering with no climate control.
I certainly didn’t. In fact, I was jogging on the spot to try to keep myself from freezing. It worked fairly well, because like most of the stuff in our grandparents’ home, the freezer isn’t really up to scratch despite being absolutely massive. I just tucked some leftover soup from Christmas Eve under my arm, and within half an hour of jogging it was defrosted enough for me to eat. Wasn’t really in the mood for frozen food, especially since it was still half frozen, but it kept me going.
I was pretty glad of the warmth when my sister finally let me out. Because of course, despite hunting right across Melbourne, air conditioning technicians are apparently too much for my grandparents to deal with. They straight up refused to put the AC on except in short bursts in case it ‘overloaded in the hot weather’. Because that’s what air con is for, right? Just mild weather.