For Helen Rendall, the mod cons of her temporary home - which so many of us would struggle to live without - hold little appeal.
She has cooked on a coal range stove in her Toronto St house all her life and the house was heated by the range and an open fire.
''I cooked on a coal range for 70 years, and I will cook on one again.''
Her Toronto St home which she shared with her son Geoffrey was gutted on April 29 when a fire started by hot ashes tore through the weatherboard house.
On May 22 - her 101st birthday - she moved into a rented home in Duke St she said had too many ''electrical things''.
Her new home has ''every mod con available'' including a heat pump, and was a ''nice wee place'', she said.
She said the insurance company planned to rebuild the three-bedroom house which was extensively damaged.
Two bedrooms escaped significant damage as the doors were closed when the fire broke out, but the rest of the house was not as fortunate.
Mrs Rendall's son, Geoffrey (58) who has Down syndrome, spent two weeks in Dunedin Hospital suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation after volunteer firemen rescued him from the fire last month.
He has since been transferred to Southland Hospital.
''He looks much better now. He is having trouble walking though - his feet must have been burned.''
Mrs Rendall said the fire had been a stressful event.
''I don't think I will ever get over it.''
She lost the bulk of her possessions in the fire, and was particularly upset to lose the 200 or more cards received on her 100th birthday last year, including those from the Queen and Prime Minister John Key.
''I will miss some of my things; they are gone forever now.''
Last year, on her 100th birthday, the fiercely independent Mrs Rendall told the ODT she still mowed her lawns and brought in her own coal.
