The chimney sweep is in the building this morning. This means that we all have to be home so that they have access to our water heaters and flues, otherwise we get a nasty little reprimand and have to be here the next time they come.
They come once a year to carry out various checks that are closely tied to safety issues. Most people in Vienna have what is called a “Durchlauferhitzer” (what my father, a Brit, called a “geyser” and leo.org calls, more precisely, a “continuous flow water heater” or, simply, a “continuous flow heater”), which are a wonderfully efficient way to heat your apartment and your water because they only heat the water as you use it but occasionally, when incorrectly installed, badly maintained, or when used with a blocked flue can cause serious accidents. Thus the annual visits from the chimney sweeps.
Before I came to Vienna I associated chimney sweeps with Dickens (six-year-old boys being sent up chimneys with brushes) and, on the opposite end of the spectrum, with P.L. Travers (men dancing cheerfully across the rooftops in London). Here it is simply one of the trades, and a good trade at that. One of my colleague’s sons has chosen it as a pleasant, steady way to earn a living. And, thanks to a good PR campaign, people are usually glad to see the chimney sweeps. They are supposed to bring luck–as I suppose they do if they prevent grisly accidents!
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