14.07.2026 Backwards and forwards.

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  Tuesday 14th 61F/16C [6.50] Bright but milky sky as we are promised wall to wall sunshine. 22C/71F in the room. Heat pump on all night set to 22C. 16.5C/62F in the greenhouse.

 The Danish news reports that our area suffered the heaviest cloudburst in Denmark yesterday afternoon. With 31.5mm. What is referred to as a Double Cloudburst. I watched as the run-off flowed down the gentle incline of the drive towards the house. Easily visible because it reflects the sky at a low angle. Contrasting with the dark gravel of the traffic tracks.

 Up at 6.10 after a quiet night. With the inevitable breaks. I am feeling more normal this morning. 

 The neighbours cat was sniffing the new molehills on The West lawn. Scratching at the tallest it could find. Then promptly squatted on the heap and unburdened itself. I glared at it through the bathroom window and it glared back. Where's the respect? 

 There were several examples yesterday. Where I caught up with an electric bike. Ridden in all cases by a pensioner. Overtaking these e-bikes proved to be quite problematic. They were traveling just fast enough. To greatly extend the overtaking period and ground covered while doing so. Which meant very careful timing on the winding, narrow lanes. Which I was enjoying at the time.

 With many drivers being totally unaware. Or not caring  damn. About the meaning of braking distance at speed. Relative to their visibility ahead. It could be quite hazardous to overtake with many a blind corner coming up. So that I, and other drivers, found ourselves following these e-bikes for quite some time and some distance. Which may itself cause cause fear and trepidation in the e-cyclist. 

 The high street in one village had a lengthy procession. Where some relaxed, elderly e-biker, was using a lot of road. A total air head. While weaving about as he passed and admired points of interest. He was completely unaware that he had a long stream of cars following him. All unable to risk overtaking. Due to oncoming traffic and the village speed limit.

 My own e-bike is capable of higher speeds than most. Which puts a much greater burden on me. To allow following traffic to overtake as soon and as safely as possible. The same held true with my trikes. So that I would often use the next pull-in, layby or junction to allow a vehicle or [worse] a queue to pass. Which would often produce a wave of thanks or a toot on their horn. 

 The phenomenal acceleration of many EVs [like Teslas] Is worth every penny for overtaking on crowded roads. Provided they do not exceed the speed limit of course. As I potter about. Usually at the speed limit in the Morris. I am regularly overtaken by Teslas and their kin. They go past me like a dragster. Before settling down again in the traffic flow. 

 One must  always be aware of other traffic and their different needs. Despite the ever increasing volume of traffic on the roads. My journeys are increasingly for pleasure and can usually be enjoyed at a slower pace. Others are often working to a timetable. Where dawdling is apt to cause upset and impatience. So again, I make every effort not to be a hindrance. Even though it does seem odd. That the local speed limits have become compulsory for all vehicles. Rather than merely optional. "Sunday drivers" were being criticized at least as far back as the 1960s.  

Enough waffling. It is pleasantly warm outside. I have stretched out the network cable and hose. To see how long they really are. I need a meter of bare cable to reach the POE switch indoors from the outside of the house wall. So chop the hose at 19m? Some leeway? 18.5m? 

 08.30 Still struggling to push the draw wire through the hose. I am standing on a tall stepladder to get some tension on the hose.  With several bricks resting on the far end. To stop it from sliding towards me. Nearly there. I hope. Pulling the cable through will be much easier. I should have pulled out the draw wire to match the length of hose. So that I could easily tell if I was getting close. Or wasting my time. I can see that there only a few turns of the 3mm nylon left on the spool. Pi x D? 

 11.30 76F/24.4C. Sweating buckets. I had to cut the hose in half. It proved impossible to push the 3mm draw wire through 18m of hose. I wasted a lot of time trying. Too much friction. Whereas pulling the cable through 9m was relatively easy. I finally have the end of the cable indoors. Just walking backwards and forwards is hard work in this hot sunshine! I had better sink a few glasses of water. And have a rest.

 13.30 78F/26C. Lunch over. I am staying indoors to avoid being baked. It is quite breezy but I find the heat unpleasant. There is no shelter from the sun where I am working. The heat pump is keeping the ground floor at a comfortable 22C/72F. 

 I cleaned the fish tank of algae.  

 18.30 75F/24C. Still hot. Back from the shops with two bags well stuffed. An immaculate Morris Minor shopping trolley was in the car park. It is surprising how rarely I see another. 

 Dinner was fish fingers and cauliflower. Which was perfect. 

 I fetched the recycling bin from the end of the drive and tidied up outside.

 

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13.07.2025 Back to work?

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  Monday 13th 62F/17C [6.30] 23C/73F in the room. 17C/ 63F in the greenhouse. Some sunshine promised but thundery showers are likely. Leading to 16mm or 3/4" of rain.

  Up at 5.50 after a quiet night with some sleeplessness and weird dreams. I tried the single bed sheet and quickly went back to the lightweight, down duvet. 

 Still feeling a bit rough. My temperature is 35.6C. I don't think I was exposed to excess heat but I must get away from the screen. Before it triggers dizziness. 

 Dehydration and high temperatures must be taken seriously when one has a weak, heart circulation system. Dizziness is a symptom of overheating. Where the brain is denied blood circulation. I don't believe I have risked myself by overdoing it in hot weather. I usually retreat indoors. Simply because it is unpleasant to be active in what feels like being in an oven.  

  7.15 I have assembled the garden roller. With difficulty. Despite 70 years of experience dealing with mechanical problems. The handlebar tubes were inaccurately bent. So I had to resort to a Stillson wrench to press the overlapping joints together. Just to get the screws through the prepared holes.

 Perhaps it truly was the work of a great designer genius. Hoping the plain nuts would still hold beyond the first use due to tension alone. The threads on the scraper bar were already rusty. Yet were supplied with Nylock nuts. Luxury beyond the dreams of avarice!  

 In practice the nuts were entirely unnecessary. Since the scraper bar was captive between the handlebars. Next, I have to fill the drum with sand. Or water. It's dry [tare] weight would hardly handle pastry. Not with any sense of urgency. That scraper will take ages before it is useful. It needs to rock into contact with the drum.

 My dual computer screens are still playing silly bøgers. Certain apps open on the second screen. Others on the first. Some Windows features and queries open on either screen seemingly at random. Yes, I have clicked the box to say "This is my main display." I even swapped them around to no obvious benefit. 

 10.50 Back from two builders merchants. The first had no large masonry bits [drills.] The second added 20 miles, had lots of drills but were horribly expensive. I wasn't going to pay £90 British pounds
equivalent for a 40cm x 22mm. Just to drill one hole to the great outdoors. I ended up paying £35 for a similar 18mm drill. Big enough for my needs.

 The DeWalt uses the SDS-Plus bayonet system in the chuck. Which made a number of the bigger  masonry drills in my collection obsolete. Though they still fit normal hammer drills of course. The smaller drills lack the torque and brutal hammer effect. Which makes the big drill so incredibly quick and useful. Plus the non-rotating hammer effect for chisel use. Which isn't available on the DIY sized hammer drills. 

 I have discovered, somewhat belatedly, that the Morris Minor has air conditioning. A Tesla in a matching colour parked right next to me. There was a large notice inside. Stating that the car was a comfortable 70F. So no panic should kids or dogs be ensconced therein. I thought to myself: I can do that too! By fully opening the quarterlights a strong, cool wind is blown across the driver's naked arms and legs while underway. Nice! 

 11.45 Drilling the brick wall to 18mm was quick and effortless. Using the big hammer drill. I ran a 40cm x 10mm pilot and then a series of larger drills. 40cm was a good guess. It only just broke through. I had drilled downwards to avoid water finding itself inside. 

 The hammer drill was an excellent investment. I used it to drill through the kitchen floor for the 4" drainpipe for the washing machine. The drill was invaluable for clearing the cement and concrete below the new glazed door using chisel bits. The door is proving much easier to navigate with the telescope tripod. Instead of struggling through the entrance hall. 

 12.45 Running in and out and moving the furniture made me very breathless. My vision was disturbed. Everything was going white! So I had a half hour nap with the heat pump going. It had reached 24C/75F indoors. Already dropped to 22C and still falling. 

 A rather interesting design of 20m draw wire. The handle rotates freely around a peripheral slot. About £10 in a big shed DIY outlet.  

 13.15 78F/26C. It feels like an oven outside. Had lunch. Ready to start again. I need to find a length of tube. To sleeve over a joint midway along the 20mm garden hose. Which I am using as a protective conduit for the POE 20m network cable out of doors.

 An old, tubular curtain rail will do nicely. It will be easier to pull 10m lengths of cable through the conduit than the entire length of 20m. Minus the  naked cable at each end of course. 

 The required conduit length is 18m measured in straight lines with a taut fiberglass tape. 1.5m of bare cable. To have enough length indoors. Including the 40cm thickness of the wall.  There is plenty of room in the hose. So I could try pulling the full length first. I found some very long zip ties to hold the hose firmly to the 3m tall, wooden pole. 

 14.35 Suddenly dark outside.

 14.44 Tidying up outside and the first clap of thunder! Dash around to collect all the tools. Close the car windows.  

 14.55 First rain. 

 15.02 Torrential! The woods have disappeared completely. More thunder. The whole drive is bright with reflective water. 

 Dinner was  salad. I had to wash up for half an hour first. Or there would be no clean plates, pans or cutlery. I forgot to buy cucumber.It didn't seem to matter.

  

 

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12.07.2026 Dizziness without spinning?

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 Sunday 12th 

 Up at 8.10 after a quiet night. Heat pump working and holding it to a comfortable 22C indoors overnight.

 Had breakfast and then a chat online and feeling fine. Talking about going for ride.

Then I suddenly started feeling dizzy as I was reading a news story in text. 

 10.30 Went back to bed for about an hour. Still feeling dizzy. The weird thing is the dizziness is worse with my eyes closed. No visual disturbance or spinning with my eyes open. No morning coffee or a roll. I sat for ages in the computer chair staring out of the window. It seemed to help to avoid looking at closer objects. 

 12.00 Woke feeling wobbly. So I sat outside for a while. I was getting strange effects with my eyes closed. Until my vision went fuzzy when my eyes were open. I felt hot and cold simultaneously. I retreated indoors and sat in an armchair. Constant feeling of mild nauseousness. Kept a bucket handy nearby. I have been sipping tap water to avoid dehydration. 

 13.45 Woke with pins and needles in my arms. Presumably from resting on the wooden arms of the chair. Feeling fuzzy but a bit better. It is 23C in the room after turning off the heat pump. I can use the computer again without causing dizziness. Are the new progressive "screen" glasses responsible?

14.00 I am going to try a cup of tea. Nothing to eat. Now I am struggling to focus on the computer screen again. Trying my 2-year-old screen glasses. Better. The tea did not taste as expected. Yuk! Is it the water?

 No dinner. I had a sub-micro apple juice and a 3nm Corny bar.  Still feeling rough. Chest still clogged. Get very dizzy when I cough. 

 In the meantime I managed to get dual screens working of the Mini-PC. Now I can have the security cameras on the second screen without needing a second PC running. Save the planet. 

 There is talk of thunderstorms overnight. Mostly elsewhere. North and east. It might miss us altogether.

 I dragged a recycling bin along at 20.00. The cat was in the drive but it ran away. 

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