Fire

"Note for Americans and other city-dwelling life-forms: the rural British, having eschewed central heating as being far too complicated and in any case weakening moral fiber, prefer a system of piling small pieces of wood and lumps of coal, topped by large, wet logs, possibly made of asbestos, into small, smoldering heaps, known as “There’s nothing like a roaring open fire is there?” Since none of these ingredients are naturally inclined to burn, underneath all this they apply a small, rectangular, waxy white lump, which burns cheerfully until the weight of the fire puts it out. These little white blocks are called firelighters. No one knows why." - Neil Gaimen and Terry Pratchett.

My family have a little house in Boat of Garten, which is in the middle of nowhere in Scotland and always leaves me feeling inspired and relaxed. The main attraction- other than the beautiful scenery- is the big roaring fire and a large supply of novels.