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Archive for 'Driving off the grid'

The deed is done

And I am not talking about slaying a Scottish King to seize the throne! We have had our heat pump going for three days! So, everyone should be thanking us for the more than clement weather we’ve been having. Little note to the manufacturer: in normal operation, it is perfectly reasonable to prevent the heating […]

All change, please.

When you DIY a project, preparation is key. If someone is coming in for you, making sure the decks are clear saves valuable time. The heat pump is coming and the old boiler and water tank are disappearing. With luck, the old gas pipe too. How do we know which is the gas feed? Well, […]

Finding a balance

I like to be busy. It drives my son up the wall: but if I am sitting down and see a task that needs doing, I am on my feet and looking for the means of getting it done. This has some issues – I love my job but, if I’m not careful my “overly […]

An air source design

I swear, this April has been one of the coolest I can remember, not helped by the fact we currently have no central heating! The boiler, rest in peace from 28th March, has been switched off, with all our water heating happening via our Solar iBoost. We’re spending 130kWh on heating the water on a […]

Life is pretty cheap round here

Of course, that’s compared to three professionals living in a single house. We do our own cleaning, keep extravagances down to a minimum, and do most of our own cooking. If you weren’t already aware, and this has made several news channels, last year’s cocoa crop fell well short of expected quantities and quality. That […]

And the lesson for today is…

We have to go back a couple of years now, to when the “energy crisis” first hit. Our electricity was locked but the smart meter reader we had in the house didn’t even have that latest report on it, so the price doubling per unit had no reflection to what our “smart meter” was reporting […]

What I’ve learnt the past few days.

Thankfully, I got a whole seven and half hours sleep last night and finally got my blood sugar behaving itself.  Looks like the bug is on its way out, I now get to recover.  I’m taking a couple of days to gently get back some stamina before starting work again – the idea is not […]

Number crunching while I cannot do much else

I did a maths degree and computer science because I love the synergy of what can be done with number processing. Computers can chew through series without pausing to take a breath: what’s not to like? While I’m physically laid up, and 45 minutes playing with these numbers, I am shattered – I am supposed […]

A bit of a waste of an extra hour…

We are now in British winter time and, as per every year, we get our longest day of the year today as our clocks go back an hour. I have to admit, I spent mine sleeping. I walked to the local corner shop and got my Sunday newspaper before going back home to cook a […]

Not what you say, but what you do

It is Sunday afternoon, and I am watching a download of James Martin’s Saturday Morning which I really enjoy but rarely find something there that I can have – it’s definitely treat food not everyday food. I love food, I love tastes and textures. Combinations of ingredients, some contrasting and some complimentary. Herbs and spices, […]