Keeping Warm in Winter in West Cork
Having bought your property in West Cork, or, as in my case, the general Bantry area, there are always logistical things to consider. These include where to shop, where to eat, where to drink, where to excercise, etc. You get the general idea: I’m talking about where to do things. Besides that, you also need to know where to order fuel for your heating system.
In Ireland, the majority of households use home heating oil as the main source of heating. With the way that oil prices are climbing at the moment, this may change in the future, but for now, oil is king. So, if like me, you’ve gone and bought yourself a house and don’t the first thing about how the ruddy oil boiler works, well I suppose, consider it part of the joys of moving to a strange but beautiful country. You see, I don’t know the first or last thing about these machines neither. But, I do know about where to get the oil. If you’re in and around Bantry, there area two main suppliers. The first one is Biggs & Co. in Bantry. No, this isn’t a little sideline set up by the great train robber of the same name while hiding out in the wilds of West Cork! In fact, to cause further confusion, there is no Mr. Biggs: His name’s Mr. O’Keefe, but that’s a story for another time and another place. Anyhow, the Biggs people are based in Bantry itself. The other main mojo in these parts when it comes to oil supply to keep the old burner burning is a company by the name of Carbery Oil. Their prices are pretty much similar and they both give you a good service and a nice desk calendar at the end of the year!
When I was in the Uk, I used to have gas central heating, which I thought was great, but here in Ireland it’s considered expensive. A lot of houses builts in the 1970’s do have gas central heating on account of the fact that there was an oil crisis back then of serious proportions (for those of you out there what are too young to remember). Mind you, that said, if this isn’t an oil crisis we’re living in right now, I don’t know what is! One of the many properties I looked at when I was scouring West Cork did have the old gas central heating, but it was a bit of a kip otherwise. If I was 30 years younger, I wouldn’t mind taking on a kip – you know, pottering away at it, doing it up. Anyways, that’s about all I have to say for the moment. I’m going to have a look at last nights episode of Eastenders, what the missus taped for me while I was at the doctor’s (nothing serious). I’ll be posting another one of these shortly to keep you all amused on my adventures while buying a property in West Cork.
Chester Harrington.
