Oh the frozen pipes and fun inventions

There are many small adventures unfortunately eluded by city life. The smalls surprises of reverse drains, strange air-flows and funny sounds in the night. Over past few months, I have been exposed to many small surprises that both amused and confused me...

Have you ever wondered how a pipe 5cm in diameter that drains my sink, does not extend beyond the caravan base, all wide, all clean, often results in icicles? No, there is no 'tip'-'tip'-'tip'-'tip' from my tap, no waste bits, ... just this strange Swedish winter that freezes water in the strangest places...

This bucket collects water from my sink pipes

Usually the bucket turns into a big block of ice within few hours. An electric kettle is one of my best friends here. Half liter of boiling water at the proper angles and you'll watch it go 'plop'! Little things that I never know I'll be pondering about. I tell you one thing, my day dreaming sessions are so well spent coming up with smallest innovations that no one cares about. I think Vilhelm and I can write a book on 101 uses of common toilet paper and styrofoam.

One of the fun things living like this is finding and experimenting with the alternatives to our city luxuries... the fridge. I spent weeks and weeks of figuring out ways to keep my food from spoiling indoors and freezing outdoors. One idea was to open one of the base ventilators that I had previously closed to keep the cold air coming in (as my caravan was heated with gas in the past, there are a lot of ventilators to clear out accumulated carbon monoxide) and stick a box with the hole. But that didn't seem fool proof. It is too cold to put food outside. One day, I forgot my milk and took a whole day to thaw it.

Frigolit fridge

Eventually, Vilhelm finds a big box of styrofoam with a lid, we put my food in it, put it outside, and viola! It's perfect. Only when the nights are below -20C that the milk freezes a little bit. Otherwise, it's brilliant! My cheese, butter, milk and leftovers love it. It's incredible how much insulation there is in a 5cm thick polystyrene foam provides. So much garbage being thrown out everyday... so much building material being wasted with it. Anyone here heard of Dan Philips? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9JkPk0CIo4).

Here is another valuable advise passed through a friend's grandmother to me...keeping butter soft and fresh as room temperature for weeks... Put your butter in a bowl, make sure it sticks well to the bowl it's in. Take a bigger bowl and put some water (about a centimeter) in it. Place the butter bowl upside down in the water. The water makes a tight seal and becomes a temperature regulator...

The butter fridge

Small little things that make life easier... Pay attention to your grandparents stories... there is a lot there we dismiss. They had different lives from us, minus most the inventions we have. They are a walking-talking encyclopedia on survival. And they don't even know it.