I have been working all day at the TLS. I love it but oh what a responsibility? It's a good thing I'm not more eclectic than I am or I would be in real trouble. As it is I have clippings to file, notes to absorb and books to order, not to mention people and books to check online. I have stayed all day within four feet of my radiant heater. Without it, I congeal. I dread going to bed at night, but I pile on the blankets and I have a small heating pad andI huddle.

I have been thinking of going to a pub on the Danforth that has a real working fireplace and renting a seat by the fire with red wine to keep coming, OR to rent a hotel room and be warm all night. I can't afford either of these solutions. I have not heard from my unchallenged son since I asked for his advice about what kind of heater to buy; that was last week. He said talk to my super - yes, of course, why didn't I think of that? I think he's challenged, too. I did, but it was a long, new year weekend and not all the apartments are affected. So who cares? Certainly not my son.

Well, I have discovered another use of a blog. Kvetching, the participle of the verb to kvetch.

kvetch noun: a person who complains a great deal. she emerges as something of a kvetch, constantly nagging Rick.• a complaint. ‘They don't make 'em like they used to’ has become an all-purpose kvetch. verb [ no obj. ]complain persistently. Jane's kvetching about her crummy existence. ORIGIN 1960s: from Yiddish kvetsh (noun), kvetshn (verb), from Middle High German quetschen, literally ‘crush’.

The verb kind of denigrates the kvetcher, don't you think? Ah well, at least the blog doesn't argue; And no one reads it. So - it's like that fable (Aesop?) - remember? - someone witnessed something - a weird feature of a king or someone - and didn't comment and kept a straight face, but later, he/she picked up a shell - from the sea? - and told the secret to the shell. Ah, but the secret came oujt....I wonder if I can find that online.

Soon. It will take some searching.