How cold is cold?

We had a plumber spend four hours trying to fix our central heating system today without luck. What started as a simple job to replace a leaking valve has resulted in us needing an entirely new boiler. This won't be available until December 24. As a result, we're stuck with life in a cold house until we go away on Sunday. Fortunately, the plumber has promised to replace our boiler while we're gone.

I've also had a terrible dose of flu since Monday. As a result I've been holed up at home feeling rather sore and sad. Sitting in a cold house feeling ill certainly isn't my idea of a fun time. Roll on Oman I say!

UPDATE
Our new boiler was successfully installed. We now have oodles of central heating again. We also think our heating system has been working overtime for the last couple of years thanks to the slow leaks and low pressure in the system. We suspect this had a lot to do with the incredibly high gas bills we've had for the last couple of winters.