"[On the British winter of 1962–1963] The snow began just after Christmas and would not let up. By New Year the whole country had ground to a halt. The trains froze on the tracks, the abandoned trucks froze on the roads. The power stations, overloaded by million upon pathetic million of hopeless electric fires, broke down continually; not that the fires mattered, since the electricians were mostly out on strike. Water pipes froze solid; for a bath you had to scheme and cajole those rare friends with centrally heated houses, who became rarer and less friendly as the weeks dragged on. Doing the dishes became a major operation. The gastric rumble of water in outdated plumbing was sweeter than the sound of mandolins. Weight for weight, plumbers were as expensive as smoked salmon and harder to find. The gas failed and Sunday roasts were raw. The lights failed and candles, of course, were unobtainable. Nerves failed and marriages crumbled. Finally, the heart failed. It seemed the cold would never end. Nag, nag, nag."
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Jews from the United KingdomLiterary criticsPoets from EnglandJournalists from EnglandBiographers from England
Original Language: English
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p. 48 (2013 Bloomsbury edition)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Al_Alvarez
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Al Alvarez
Alfred Alvarez (5 August 1929 – 23 September 2019) was an English poet, literary critic and writer of non-fiction on many subjects. His 1962 anthology The New Poetry featured contemporary American poetry, as well as British poets of The Movement and The Group.
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