1st May 2026 Happy Birthday Sue!

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  Friday 1st 47F/8C [7.30] Yet another sunny day. Peaking at 19C this afternoon. Light SW breeze.

 Up at 6am after a typical night. My back feels slightly improved for the moment.

 Happy Birthday to my sister Sue!  🎉🥳

 I have been wandering up and down the drive. Taking pictures of the next door's overgrown hedge. The white building in the foreground is a shed. The house is lost behind the hedge.

 Then I sent a secure email to the county council asking for advice. With attached images to show the problem. It is a bank holiday today. So it will be a few days before I hear anything.

 A walk should be possible this morning. Followed by a ride. It would be a shame to waste such a pleasant day.

 8.30 Back from a loop around the neighbours' drives on the back field. Warm sunshine and no wind. I even sprinted down the drive! 

 9.00 Bike battery still on charge. The hedges are beginning to rock in the wind. It's only supposed to gust to 6m/s. I haven't decided where to go yet. I might ride to Ringe. Along the old railway cycle path. Gorgeous countryside and very unspoilt. About 36km each way. I had better wear my padded bibs! [Cycle shorts with braces] I will take two batteries. It's a shame the best garden center on Fyn has closed. 

 10.30 Almost ready to go. I have decided to ride to Korinth. To explore the lakes.

 

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30.04.2026 PC disaster!

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  Thursday 30th 8.30 Last night my PC started playing up. I couldn't get any mouse or keyboard to work. The Desktop Icons had also disappeared. When the keyboard and mouse did occasionally worked. The apps I opened from the taskbar didn't expand onto the screen. Just tiny windows along the bottom. With no way to make them function normally. 

 Searching Chrome for the problem on my phone didn't help. The suggestions all needed normal screen and input access.

 This morning I wasted two more hours without success. So I have connected up my mini-PC. Which I normally only use for video astronomy. Finally I have Internet access, a mouse and a keyboard. The LG monitor continues to misbehave. So I have connected up an old 28" monitor.

 I am expecting the new house doors to be delivered today. Which added to the stress. In case I needed my email service. Which I have avoided using on the mini-PC. In case it distracted from my capturing astronomical videos.

 I closed the mini-PC and connected my 32" LG 4K monitor via HDMI. On restarting it woke up with normal behaviour. Except for re-scaling. The security cameras have stopped working on the mini-PC after a software update. The old PC is still working fine with the cameras.

 10.00 59F/15C. Up at 6.45. Back still hurting. Bright sunshine. Another sunny day is promised. 66F/18C in the room. 72F/22C in the greenhouse.

 11.00 I walked slowly to the end of the drive and back. The old PC is still working with the old 28" monitor. The almost new HP keyboard is now misbehaving on the mini-PC! Now replaced by an old Logitech keyboard with the letters worn away.

 11.45 The doors have arrived. The lorry was struggling for width as it fought the overhanging larch hedge of the absent neighbour. The driver suggested I get in touch with the kommune [council] planning department. To get permission to cut the towering hedge much lower. There is still no sign of a return to work by the builders. Who stripped the thatch off last year. Then left the drive in front covered in old toilets, sinks and bags of demolition debris! Obviously avoiding paying for recycling as a commercial business!

 Having backed the lorry down the drive to the boundary. We managed to drag the doors around to the rear of the house. Where they will be fitted. This was on his ordinary, factory style, pallet truck. With me pushing from behind it rolled quite well. Even on the gravel parking space. The driver was really very cheerful and helpful.

 Both doors are mounted upright on a single pallet and well wrapped. Looking rather like a modern Tardis. The question now is whether I am willing to pay hundreds of pounds equivalent for the doors to be fitted to the hovel. With my back in its present state. I am rather unfit to be doing the job myself. 

12.00 I have opened the internal doors and windows to get some free heat from the greenhouse. Already 100F/38C out there! 

 14.00 I am going to drive into the city. I am one mouse, one keyboard and a printer short of a set.

 17.00 65F/18C in warm sunshine. Back again. The first shop which claimed to have five Logitech mice in stock had none. Which was fine if you had driven 30km and just wanted to talk to a spaced out, hippy nerd. So I didn't buy the new printer and keyboard there either. I drove into the heavy traffic in the center and beyond. Welcome to Odense. Denmark's largest red light district!

 Guinness has had a 1000 sleeper spies observing and still cannot confirm a single, green traffic light. I watched and waited for five changes of light and didn't move two meters. Odense cannot build roundabouts. Because throughout history, no native Odenseonion inhabitant has ever independently invented the roundabout.

 So Odense is singularly responsible for 98% of Denmark's entire petrol consumption. While cars wait for hours for the lights to change from red. You'd think that electric cars would be the answer but Odenseonions are terrified  of their batteries going flat at a red light. Thereby making international
headlines. 

  With shops exceeding the size of several football fields. You'd think they'd have electric wheelchairs. For old farts like me with bad backs. The nice young man in the vast electronics store carried my new printer out to the car. 

 We were chatting in English too. Such service! I expect he was afraid I'd be on my hands and knees by then. Pushing the printer box ahead of me. As I crawled across the car park. Not a good look! Mind you, people would probably think I was just another drama queen influencer. 😊

 Dinner was mackerel in sunflower oil on toast with tomatoes. 

  

  ~?~

29.04.2026 Sprung spring.

 ~?~

  Wednesday 29th 42F/5.6C [7.30] Yet another sunny day. Expected to peak at 15C/59F in the late afternoon. 69F/21C in the room with the heat pump on all night. Remotely set to 17C/62F. Greenhouse at 44F/6.7C. Northerly breeze light and increasing as it becomes variable in direction.

 Up at 6.45 after a rather busy night with more weird dreams. 

 A visit to my English friend was postponed yesterday due to his B&B business demands. However tempting it might be to ride there today I shall be sensible and drive over. 64km[40miles] is a two battery ride at these lower temperatures. EV car owners who complain about 600kms per charge take note. Bosch e-bike batteries are a pitiful joke when it comes to range in Sport mode. Lighter bike batteries, with modern chemistry, are said to be decades away.

 Sport mode provides enough assistance for me [aged 79 and 70kg] to manage average pedal bicycle speeds on the flat  Using Turbo mode, for me to average the speed of a fit racing cyclist, would reduce the range even further. 

 Remember that the motor has to drag a massive all-up bicycle weight with it. The "Speed" models can supposedly reach 28mph or 45kph with motor assistance while continuously pedaling. A speed I very rarely see. Even on long, steep descents! They say extra weight helps here. I haven't noticed. 

 You can buy a complete racing bike. Which is lighter than a bare, Bosch battery alone. The Moustache Friday 27FS "Speed" bike weighs in excess of 30kg or 66lbs. Even more with panniers and enough spare kit for a modest ride. Including the vital ABUS U-lock. 

 I ought to weigh my normally loaded Moustache e-bike again with my digital scales. To get an accurate measurement. I can vaguely remember having done so. But when? Aha! Blog of 29th June last year in 2025. 

 https://pedal-trikes.blogspot.com/2025/06/29062025.html

 Let's call it 40kg with a spare battery, panniers and kit but without me aboard. 88lbs! A Tour de France bike weighs about 7.5kg or 16lbs. 5x times lighter! 

 13.30 Back from visiting my friend. On the way there I chose the most scenic and quietest route. Choosing narrow rural lanes over main roads. The Danish countryside is absolutely gorgeous at the moment. With early flowering trees and shrubs. Adding to the overall wash of fresh green leaves. 

 We sat and chatted in the warmth of his large new greenhouse. While enjoying the Danish pastries I had bought on the way. With a flask of coffee on the table fresh from the machine indoors. Later we had our traditional stroll around his extensive garden. Where lawns dominate. Still decorated by a multitude of spring bulbs. Like tulips and a whole variety of daffodils. The lack of recent rain meant the natural stream was running low. My hip was hurting but I survived.

 After taking my leave I shopped on the way home as usual. Where the heat pump had been running in my absence. So that I returned to a comfortably warm house. Rather than cool. 

 I fell asleep after lunch. While pretending to watch YouTube. Which meant I missed the chance to warm the house. With free heat from the greenhouse at the hottest time of the day. An error quickly corrected. By switching off the heat pump and opening the interior windows and doors.  

 Dinner was a pork chop fry-up. With mushrooms, tomatoes, and tweggs on toast.  

  

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