25.03.2026 All change!

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  Wednesday 25th 43F/6C [8.00] A cloudy day with the possibility of rain and some sunshine. Rather windy from the SW going westerly. Gusting to 20m/s or over 52mph at 10am before easing slowly to 16m/s by lunchtime. Then increasing again. Not a good day for cycling. 63F/17C in the room. 49F/9C in the greenhouse.

 Up at 7am after a typical night. Where I saw every hour from 1-6am on the big, red digital clock.

 Some tidying to do before the heat pump surveyor calls on Friday. My recent purchase of a [recycled] white shelving unit. To fit under the wall mounted TV. Needs to find a new home. I plan to place the floor mounted heat pump unit under the TV. 

 I'll measure the shelving again. To see if it will replace the present [and very untidy] supports for the printer, router, assorted multi-sockets and a big rubber plant. Which is currently a hideous mess of cables.  

 The white shelving unit, very helpfully, has holes in the vertical partitions. Between the six large, pigeon holes. So cables can be readily fed through as needed. Most of the cables are white. So they won't stand out so badly as they do now. I may have to drill some holes at the sides to let the cables enter neatly.

 8.00 Flashes of early sunshine are finding blue holes as the trees rock in the wind. 

 8.45 Time for a walk.  

 9.15 Back again. It stayed dry but grey. I wore my fluffy fleece jacket under the Ventile. The wind was indeed strong. Roaring in the trees. Fortunately I had the shelter of the roadside hedges for most of the time. Another bird of prey identification problem. A rather plain bird of buff and brown. Nowhere near the size of a Red kite. Only a slight V-tail. Not the usual deep V. None of the strong coloration of the Red kite. 

 Soaring just above me for quite some time. Before the wind relented and it could gain forward momentum. I'm going with a Black kite. Though I was convinced it was much smaller. The females are slightly larger but coloration similar. 

 9.30 Pouring with rain. I was lucky to have missed it!

 12.00 Almost finished unraveling the cable "knitting." The white shelving unit fitted perfectly under the eastern window.  Moreover it brought a lot of light into the room. I am still struggling with the Reolink POE security switch. Problem solved. I hadn't connected a missing cable. All back to normal. 

 I haven't had to drill any holes. I'll get rid of the junk on the shelves elsewhere. Then drop all the cables behind the shelving. Out of sight. Then I can reinstate some ornaments on the shelves. Just to make it look purposeful.

 The IKEA bamboo shelving. Which was previously holding the computer accessories. Proved to be almost exactly the same size as the Panasonic indoor heat pump unit. Quite a bit bigger than it looked online. 

 I really ought to invest in some cable conduit. A 10m HDMI cable will provide more flexibility in routing. The 5m is presently too stretched and hanging at 45º. A piece of white conduit can drop straight down beside the new heat pump unit. Without drawing attention. I still have to solve the cosmetic problem of the bare and damaged plasterboard. That blue carpet runner must go too. I should be able to find something smarter in the charity shops.

 

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24.03.2026 Stop that veering!

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  Tuesday 24th 41F/5C. Overcast with light rain expected. Three days of rain are forecast. 64F/18C in the room. 47F/8.C in the greenhouse.

 Up at 7am after a typical night.

 I shall be visiting my English friend. 

 12.15 Back from my visit. Still overcast. Light rain earlier. Three cars all veered towards me on the way home. I was beginning to think the Morris had become magnetized! Very odd indeed. At least one of the drivers was on the phone. One looked ancient. The other was invisible behind their windscreen.

 17.00 63F/17C. I finally decided to light the stove. I have been cleaning the glass in the indoor glazed doors. Long overdue. So had no need of extra heat. 

 After that I have been doing online homework about specific heat pumps. Floor mounted indoor units in particular. I have no desire to be sitting in a gale emanating from a typical, high level blower. Heat needs to be released low down. So that it washes across the floor before rising naturally.

Dinner was fish fingers and chips. I washed up while it cooked. Well, somebody had to do it. The robot home help has a night off. 

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23.03.2026 Heat pump update.

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  Monday 23rd 40F/4.4C [8.15] A cloudier day with veiled sunshine. A chilly 62F/16.7C in the room. 47F/8.3C in the greenhouse. I ought to light the stove but will leave it until later. The sun might yet surprise me with some free warmth.

Up at 6.25 after a typical night. Once in the upright position I had to keep clearing my throat. That has passed. Riding in the cold wind must have given me toothache yesterday. However, that too faded overnight. 

 8.30 Time for a walk. Reset to default. 

 9.00 Back from my walk. It wasn't very warm but the traffic was light. The sun broke through the dappled sky. The greenhouse is already up to 58F/14C. 

 I decided to clean the pond pump in the greenhouse. It was covered in algae. Brushing and spraying finally cleared it. 

 I have also been outside dismantling an old telescope mounting. The shafts had become very fixed. So I needed patience and ingenuity to remove them. 

 13.30 Lunch over. I have just had a pleasant phone call from a local heating company. About my installing a heat pump. The office lady spoke excellent English. Which made it remarkably easy for me to discuss my plans. Their surveyor is coming at 7.30am on Friday. I hope he will be experienced enough to make some useful suggestions. Installation will probably occur in April. Excellent news!

 I have the greenhouse door open to warm the house. The temperature out there was in the mid 90s F. Now dropped to 88F. With the house having risen to 65F. It is bright but not really sunny. It became more overcast. So I closed all the doors again.  

 The stove has lifted the room to 70F/21C using a total of three split logs. Two laid on the bottom plate to start. A third log placed on top when the base logs were burning well. 

 Dinner ought to be the second piece of chicken breast. I might add fried chicken to bread rolls. Like I did with the sausage.  Or just have another fry-up to use some of the eggs. 

 The eggs still had some days left. So I went with the sliced fried chicken on wholemeal bread rolls. 

 

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