Necessity is the Mother of Invention - Friday, 12 April

Cafes often have freestanding electric or gas heating umbrellas, or building-mounted heating lamps, under the canopy that shields their sidewalk tables.  These are very welcome on a cold and rainy day when one wants to eat or drink outside in the fresh air.  But I saw this new invention a couple days ago, and just had to test it on my way back home from dinner tonight.

It might be hard to see from this photo, but it's an electric heater that wraps around the pedestal of the table!  I'll take another shot of it from a distance and add it here so that you have a better perspective.

For now, though, I can tell you that it was nice and warming!  My kneecap next to the heater was much warmer than the other one by the time I finished my espresso. Quite a few people stopped to admire the table and ask me if I was warm and (I'm sure) wish that I would move on pretty soon so that they could try it!

And I need to modify (a bit) what I said in my last post about people not entertaining friends in their apartments.  It was about 11:30 when I got back to my apartment, and there was a large (from the sounds of things) party going on in the apartment next door!  I should have crashed it so that I could see how these things work, but - duh - I just let myself into my own door.  The party suddenly stopped at midnight and everyone left and the music ended.  I normally like quiet, but I actually found myself missing the music and the laughter!