HEATING

At 9:30am, Sammy connected her finger with the ‘boost’ button on the thermostat. She pushed. Electrical circuits fired into motion as a tiny pulse ignited in the wires.

Within a fraction of a second, the pulse zipped through the system, telling relays to fire, signalling valves to open and the boiler to wake up. An LED light flicked on, just next to her finger. It lit up the grey morning, a small square of bright luminescent orange.

Almost immediately, the boiler began to click. Somewhere a blue pilot light woofed into life as the tank remembered its strength. We heard it - the sound of old winter, the roar of cosy nights and chilly mornings.

Sammy looked at the display, glowing next to the LED. ‘Heating’ - so long reduced to ‘OFF’ while we boiled through the summer, now read ‘ON’. And the system was whirring and clicking to prove it.