31.01.2023 Keep on cookin'!

 ~~

 Tuesday 31st 37F. A grey, wet and very windy day is forecast. Gusting to 28m/s [63mph] at 17.00! 

 Up at 6.45 after an earlier attempt at 5.00 failed to reach escape velocity.  Tuesday cooking class today. 

 I am experimenting with a lot of dark screen modes on W11. Now I am worried about  SAD. [Seasonal Affective Disorder.]  There is an identical dormer window facing south. So I could sit there. Of course I would be blinded by the sun for most of the day. Though I could pull the blind down halfway. Then I could watch the distant traffic racing along the road. I ought to try sitting in that spot first. Before uprooting all the computer stuff. I don't think it will be very practical.

 I am used to the present position, facing north. The big TV screen to my left. My wife could see my daily collection of pictures on the monitor from her TV chair. I have even moved the shelving units upstairs. To flank my computer chair on either side. Do I really want to move everything again? What would I really gain?

 I could move the computer downstairs on a seasonal basis. To match the best comfort temperatures. Or face west to look through the glazed balcony. Or east, to watch the birds in the overgrown, abandoned back garden, next door. Even more depressing! So many options. Too much time to think about the past.

 8.15 Stove lit. Twirly for a shower. I could start gathering some clothes together in readiness. Have another look at the laundry?  A fresh load of towels is arranged on the rack to dry. The washing machine could run while I am not at home. Isn't that what normal people do? 

 15.00 6C/43F  Just back from cooking class and shopping on the way home. Had a good time as usual. They are a nice lot of people. Major detours due to road works.

 No dinner because I had eaten at the class.

~~

30.01.2023 Reverse Robin Hood taxation.

 ~~

 Monday 30th 38F, gales. Up at 6am. The wind was causing a noise outside. I'll probably have to wait for daylight to find the source. It could be something being blown about. I need better outside lighting.

 There was massive hike in solid fuel prices after the gas central heating owners lit their stoves. Due to Pootin weaponising gas price inflation. The price for solid fuel still hasn't come down. Now there is going to be a refund to gas central heating owners from a windfall tax on profiteering gas supply companies. 

 Meanwhile, solid fuel users are paying 250% higher charges for their vital fuel supplies. Subsidising the central heating owners is called a Reverse Robin Hood attack on the Danish poor. Because the poor can't afford to have gas central heating installed let alone heat with gas. Many are splitting old industrial pallets to keep warm in their uninsulated homes and hovels. 

 Gas causes climate change. It puts bullets in Russian guns and explosives in Russian missiles. Solid [wood] fuel is largely CO2 neutral. Pootin can't destroy Ukraine's housing blocks with profits from solid fuel. Subsidised gas consumers are subsidising war crimes. Keep taking the money! 

Why does Firefox routinely ignore added and set languages for spelling checker? Always reverting to US English and deleting GB English and Danish as options. I have added the GB dictionary countless times. Is it blogger ignoring language preferences? Nope. Blogger settings show GB English as the default language. Yet it throws spelling faults every time I use "s" instead of "z." Thunderbird has no problem with GB English spelling checks. 

 My morning walk began with a heavy shower driven by the wind. I quickly exited the main road to avoid further drenching by traffic spray. The neighbours' shared drive is becoming a safer option in wet weather. Albeit shorter than my usual walks at 220 meters each way. As soon a I turned back towards home the rain stopped. My back was aching. No doubt due to two days shoveling gravel for the drive. I should take it easy today. A grocery shopping trip beckons.

 13.25 5C/41F Lunch over. Mostly grey, but with brief brighter periods. I have had a lazy morning browsing on the computer. I have swapped my old 28" Samsung TV for my observatory monitor.  Though slightly smaller at 27" the AOC monitor is a clear improvement on the 1080HD TV. Text is much clearer using the 2560x1440 setting. Though it required 175% scaling to make the text readable at 90cm viewing distance. 17º visual angle on the diagonal.

 16.00 Returned from a shopping trip to restock. The drive looks no better for all my efforts. Puddles hiding the new gravel. I have finally trimmed my beard.

 Dinner was a fry up. Chicken, mushrooms, egg and beans. Mopped up with a bread roll. The egg got stuck again. The chicken and mushrooms were overcooked as I struggled with the egg. 

~~

29.01.2023 Swing that shovel!

 ~~

 Sunday 29th 34F. Another grey day is forecast. January joins a long line of mildest ever recorded. Now very close to wettest ever recorded. 

 Up at 4.30 after having nightmares. Went back to bed for an an hour at 7am and slept on and off. 

 9.30. 39F I am going for a late walk. 

 10.30 10C/40F. Morning walk and coffee over. There was low cloud causing patchy mist. The tops of the windmills and the telephone mast were hidden at times. Several bunches of cyclists were out training. 

 I am off to collect more gravel for the drive.

 11.15 It is trying to brighten up after a light drizzle shower. I have just finished spreading more gravel on the drive. I collected and used crushed concrete for the last potholes. These carry slightly less traffic but I wanted a fair comparison with the black and crumbly asphalt for future reference. 

 The problem is not only the few cars and the occasional post van, but the dustbin lorry. Which is so heavy it makes deep tracks in soft surfaces. It only calls once, or twice, per fortnight but often shows. It reverses into the 'T' where my drive joins the main run. Often leaving deep puddles at the junction.  

 14.45 5C/41F and a cold westerly wind. I just did 6 journeys back and forth to the road. About 250m each way. There are a pair of convex mirrors on a pole. On the opposite side of the road from the drive. Which is on the inside of a blind corner. The mirrors help drivers exit between the 80Kph/50mph speeding traffic. When the mirrors are clear. Which isn't often the case in winter.

 The top mirror had sagged and made it impossible to see traffic approaching from the right. So I took a tall stepladder and adjustable spanners along. To tip the mirror back a bit. I also rotated it to get a better view along the road. After that I fetched a bucket of soapy water and washed years of algae from the mirrors. A wipe over with tissues, to dry them and it should be a lot safer now. 

 Dinner was baked fish fingers with organic pasta and organic tinned tomatoes.

~~

28.01.2023 Pot-holing.

 ~~

 Saturday 28th -1C/29F. Starting with a white frost. A cool, grey day is forecast. Up at 5.50. It feels cooler indoors too.

 07.00 The stove is lit and going well. 

 I should make a trip to the recycling yard. Now that the trailer is empty of firewood and available for other uses again. 

 Predawn drama.

 Some asphalt road scrapings would be useful for the heavily potholed drive. The same material is the longest lasting so far. On my stretch of the drive. It doesn't seem to turn to mud quite so quickly after repeated rain.

 9.10 Back from my walk and morning coffee is over. It felt cold at first so I increased my pace to brisk+. The frost provided a white coat over most things. A gentle westerly breeze made naked hands painful for photography. I was treated to a gorgeous, blood red sunrise! Even the sunlit hedges looked briefly maroon. It wasn't to last though. The grey lid slid over and that was that. There is even a very light pretense at snowfall now.

 12.15. I delivered a load to the recycling yard. Including the felled conifers from the front garden. Then collected a trailer full of asphalt scrapings. The local sand and gravel man has sold his huge front loader. So I had to fill my own trailer with a shovel! Before returning  home to fill the potholes on the shared drive. The material is dirt cheap but very tiring doing double the work! 

 I emptied the trailer but will need time to recover. Before collecting more asphalt. Or possibly crushed concrete instead. It doesn't go far when the potholes are so big and so numerous. The previous neighbour had a tractor. So he scraped the gravel drive smooth at regular intervals. By towing a length of RSJ as a transverse blade. It worked well.

 17.00 3C/38F Grey and damp. Lunch, an afternoon nap and some browsing completed.

 Dinner was mackerel on toast. Followed by soup and a roll. 

 It probably sounds nuts but I have been following several Korean dramas series. These dealt with death and aging in quite an accessible way. Which allows me to question and analyze my own behaviour and feelings. Whether any of this can be claimed as therapy I am not sure but I found them quite helpful. 

 Watching films and series using subtitles in a foreign language simplifies the characters. Where a series in English would not have the same value. Being too direct and triggering too many subtle auto-responses to the characters, their voices and the story development.

~~

27.01.2023 A friend in need.

 ~~

 Friday 27th +1C/34F. Another sunny day is forecast. 

 Up at 6am after a fairly quiet night. 

 7.00 The stove is lit. 

 8.00 Time for a short, early walk? I need to loosen muscles from yesterday's efforts with firewood. There was some splitting to do and lots of carrying of heavy baskets of logs. Not to mention dragging the heavy trailer uphill! 

 I bought a new trailer winch but it is hidden in the shed. So requires too much effort to make use of it. If I attach the winch to the trailer it would be much more useful but probably rust. Perhaps they are designed to be constantly out of doors? That would make sense for boat trailers. The last winch I bought at a flea market, years ago, was already worn out.

 8.30 A brisk walk along the shared drives avoided the rush hour traffic.

 14.30 Still sunny. Safely returned from a visit to my English friend. Where he fixed some computer problems due to the W11 update.

 Dinner was another fry-up. The eggs are still sticking to the pan. Tasted alright though.

~~

26.01.2023 Tote that log!

 ~~

 Thursday 26th 3C/38F. Up at all hours. Had a strange episode at 5.00. Extreme dizziness, nausea and fever. Sat on the freezing toilet for half an hour and then went back to bed until 7.30. The stove is lit after the lounge fell to 14C/57F overnight. 17C/63F upstairs.

 8.42 Heavy overcast but light enough for a walk.

 10.00  Cool, with an eye watering breeze. The fast moving sky was carrying blue smudges at times. Even a hint of brightness now. The roads were wet. So I was dodging traffic. 

 After morning coffee I started carrying in more firewood from the greenhouse. One heavy basket at a time. Until there was about 1m^2 against the wall near the stove but at a safe distance. It is time consuming having to handle the logs several times. 

 I can't think of a more direct way without it spending some time drying out in the greenhouse. Which means bringing it all in from the trailer. Stacking it against the house wall. Moving it to the left when there is room. Then carrying it indoors when the stock in the lounge is depleted. The trailer is still half full of smaller logs from the last load. Which fortunately don't need splitting. I need the trailer for the recycling yard and gravel for the drive. 

 12.45  5C/41F  Solid sunshine. Nearly lunch time. 

 I  moved the contents of the trailer into the greenhouse. Lots of containers of small stuff too. Which can be used to boost the stove if it sulks.

 Dinner was poached eggs on toast with tomato soup to follow.

 ~~

25.01.2023 Making sawdust.

 ~~

 Wednesday 25th +1C/33F. A grey day with rain this evening. Up at 6.15. 19C/67F upstairs. 15C/60F in the lounge. 9C/48F in the bathroom/hall. Museum day. I had better dress warmly. In case I am working out of doors. Which is most likely.

 At the museum I was using a circular saw to make battens to hide the new heat pump. Moved some old sofas. Then had a haircut after lunch. 

 Back at home I cloned the C drive onto the new 1TB SSD. Which was then inserted in place of the old one and is now working fine. Still finding my way around W11.

 Dinner was a fry up of chicken, mushrooms and eggs. With tinned tomatoes. The eggs stuck to the frying pan. As can be seen.

~~

24.01.2023 Endless, painful choices.

 ~~

 Tuesday 24th +1C/34F and heavily overcast. Up at 6.30 after a reasonable night. The painful "waterworks" problem seems to have gone away again. With a return to normal flow over the course of yesterday.

 This is the odd week with no cooking classes. Just the museum tomorrow. 

 The house seems to be easier to heat. Perhaps thanks to the smaller, drier logs. Or lack of wind? It was up to 23C/74F last night in the lounge! 21C/70F upstairs. I had the doors to the kitchen open to spread the heat. I am not sure there is any point in heating the bathroom and entrance hall. I spend so little time out there. It would just increase the heat loss for no real gain in comfort. 

Thanks to reinsertion of the SSD  I have lost most of what was on the PC. At least since I had a mobile phone. There should have been cross linking with Calendar and Outlook but I can't find either. Even when I plug the external SSD back in. I went to great lengths to list all the cooking classes, museum and appointments just as a familiarization exercise. None of it appears on the phone. I probably didn't check if it had been linked at the time. 

 Back from my walk. The SW breeze made it feel decidedly chillier. Jackdaws foraged in the fields and verges. Before moving away when their tolerance for proximity was exceeded. The usual small birds in the hedgerows and trees.

 I have been tidying the lounge. Boxes and boxes of stuff earmarked for charity shop donation. Glass ornaments and containers. China ornaments, crockery and neither of the above. Tubs of important and unimportant papers. 

 What initially triggered the clearance was losing my box of cycling sunglasses. They had been standing on top of the chest of drawers for probably over 12 years. I was going to go shopping in the village on my trike but had nothing to protect my eyes from the cold wind. 

 Now they are found and safely discoverable again. The front hall is suddenly full of empty boxes, cardboard and unwanted cloth. All recycling yard fodder. To be joined by the heap outside the greenhouse. When the trailer is emptied of firewood into the greenhouse. An infinite series of Catch 22 rules my life. 

 The variety of stuff to be sorted just goes on and on. What to do with it all? It is never ending! I catch glimpses of display cabinets full of my wife's collection. The glass and china can't stand unprotected on open shelves or it will collect dust. 

 Little of it was ever on display while my wife was alive. The dresser in the kitchen and couple of glass fronted cabinets on top of the fridge. Window sills stuffed with oddly mixed ornaments. Highly impractical, because they were rarely within easy reach. For attending to the thick layer of dust and cobwebs. The tall display cabinet in the lounge remains untouched. Full to the brim with countless china cats. All different from each other.

 12.30 First signs of brightness outside. Sunshine on the distant ridge. I'd better make lunch while I have a rest from my labours. It is horribly depressing to handle my wife's possessions for hours on end. Making constant decisions on keeping or discard. Charity shop or recycling yard? Or just the bin. I found her old and worn, wooden hairbrush. Cracked with age and the bristles still viciously sharp. What choice do I have but to discard it? It wasn't her last brush. That was a plastic thing with scalp friendly, plastic blobs on the bristles. I had my own. Colour coded to avoid confusion.

 My wife had a long pony tail for decades. I was occasionally called upon to trim it. Even after She no longer ventured out. She always demanded I cut just so much and no more. She would be perched on a stool in the kitchen. So any fallen hair could be easily gathered from the tiled floor. The light was better in there as well. Despite the yellowed, translucent tarpaulin over the kitchen window. Which denied her a view of her colourful shrubs. A golden Cornus with red stems and several others.

 The last time she perched on that stool was when she supervised my making pancakes. By then She was too weak to stand unaided. My only formal, cooking lesson. She was unusually complimentary on my efforts. Even managed to consume probably more bulk. Than she had in all the previous months put together. 

15.00 +1.5C/35F. Cold and mostly cloudy. I have just returned from a 10 mile ride to buy some fish fingers. Went by the hilly route and the forest. Hard work on the long climbs. Not my legs but my laboured breathing. Returned by the busy main road. I wore the GripGrab split mitts and found them comfortable at this air temperature. 

 Long, thermal underwear under a cycling jersey, shorts, cardigan and windproof cycling jacket were ideal. No danger of sweating on the climbs. To be tortured by icy cold on the descents. Total overkill for a ten mile ride I suppose. Layers and wind-proofing are essential. I keep in mind that I might have to walk for an hour in the event of a mechanical failure. 

 I usually ride on with a rear wheel puncture. To avoid being chilled beside the road. While I change the inner tube. Unless there is some distance to get home. Then the constant bumping of the valve on the road soon becomes too tiresome. Schwalbe Durano Plus tires have proved superb at avoiding punctures. Even on flint strewn roads. 

 I made an appointment to have a haircut after the museum. A message and email tell me that my computer parts will be delivered tomorrow. To a pickup point in the same village. The Danish post office has warned that it is closing a couple of hundred parcel pick up points. Thereby threatening the survival of many small, rural shops. Which often rely on people collecting their parcels. Doing some shopping at the same time. The Post office says that the number of parcels being sent is shrinking due to inflation. Making it uneconomical to continue delivering to some outlets.

 Dinner was fish fingers, pasta and tinned tomatoes. I didn't make quite enough pasta but it was still fine.

 W11 installed but the tiny, internal, SSD is on the brink. My hearing aids are streaming audio directly from YT on the mobile phone. Yet doesn't stream from the PC. Perhaps a Bluetooth setting needs to be changed? 

 I  notice my ad blocker is no longer visible nor functioning. YouTube without an ad blocker is an insane form of torture designed by a raving, sociopathic AI. Or just another predatory, serial psychopath within the Google asylum for the criminally insane.

~~

23.01.2023 Computer chaos!

 ~~

 Monday 23rd +1C/33F. Up at 6am after another all-nighter peeing in the bucket. I think the infection is back Along with the pain. I have messaged the doctor in the hope of more antibiotics. Without having to wait for a physical appointment. I lit the stove early to keep the house warm.

 Been for my walk to the lanes. With detour to the top of the hill. To be rewarded by glimpses of the distant sea. With gashes of orange for dramatic effect. Solitary flakes of snow fell at intervals.

 Morning coffee over. W11 was offered. So I downloaded it and it tried to install. Black screen and refused to accept my external SSD to reboot. So I had to find my original internal 256GB SSD and re-insert it. It is very out of date and close to full but worked. I have ordered a 1TB internal SSD to replace it. No idea what happened to W11. Probably lost in translation. 

 14.00 Had a nap, finished lunch, about to shop. The fridge and cupboard are bare! I am warming the kitchen. As it has reached 20C upstairs and down. The kitchen soon rose from 14C/57F to 17C/63F in a few minutes.

  Dinner was cheese on toast. I had been shopping but bought nothing I could cook for dinner. I needed to be in another village! They don't all sell everything I need and not every village has the correct supermarkets.

~~

22.01.2023 Tidying the greenhouse.

 ~~

 Sunday 21st -1C/30F. It feels much colder indoors overnight. 15C/60F upstairs. 14C/57F in the kitchen and lounge. 7C/45F in the unheated bathroom. 

 I loaded the stove last night. To keep it going after bedtime. It had burnt right down to ashes this morning. That "somebody" actually did the washing up! I had time to kill while I made sure the stove was going to burn unattended. I just hope I don't become nocturnal!

 Up at 6.30. My shoulders were aching slightly. I lit the stove at 7.30. Going well. Nose bleed. Probably the exertion from hours of splitting logs and pushing heavy barrows uphill. I had moved my splitting activities to the "patio." Where I could toss batches of logs directly from the trailer to near my splitting anvil: A hefty, forked length of chestnut tree trunk. The greater the resistance to the heavy splitting axe/maul the better.

 Straight logs make very poor anvils. Because they themselves split so easily. I placed the barrow for split logs alongside. To stop the smaller firewood from flying everywhere. Though it was a bit noisy at times. As chunks of wood ricocheted off the side of the barrow! 😎  

 My morning walk became a climb as I decided to reach the forest by the direct route. Which involved climbing on ploughed fields. With just the right amount of frost to make them navigable. Albeit decidedly lumpy. Requiring care in placing my feet to avoid injury. 

 One I had reached the summit I escaped back down the steep track to the next village. Image above is about 1000 yards from the summit back down to the road. Where I am standing. It remained grey overhead with few birds visible. Though fifty-odd, noisy geese crossed in a chevron. A thin, cold breeze came and went. The prairies of bare soil did not help to lift my mood. 

 Fortunately I had built up the logs in the stove before leaving. So a good bed of red hot ashes remained. Allowing instant recovery. Once a few more logs were added. I suppose I was gone for about an hour. The soles of my walking boots were still clean on my return. 

 10.20. Morning coffee over. I have half a trailer full of smaller firewood but nowhere handy to stack it.
If I stack in front of the existing pile. As I have done in the past. Then it blocks access for the wheelbarrow. If I tidy up the greenhouse there would be loads of room. What then do I do with all my wife's gardening stuff? Which seems to be taking up most of the space.

 I am highly unlikely to use use any of it myself. Nobody is going to want to fill a trailer even if it were free. The recycling yard isn't open until Wednesday. I hate treating it as recyclable waste plastic and metal. Yet it has to go somewhere. I had better have a look at it as individual items. Bung anything useful in the shed for another day.

 11.15 Well, I managed to make a huge dent in the contents of the greenhouse. Leaving mostly scraps of firewood in full, plastic baskets. The pile outside is mostly cardboard and needs a tour to the recycling yard. Which can't be earlier than Wednesday afternoon after my stint at the museum. 

 The decades of algae growth on the outside of the greenhouse glass needs attention. In the past it was in deep shade for most of the year. Due to the conifers and high beech hedge. Now cut back hard or removed altogether. Vinegar and warm water is recommended as a cleaning solution.

 I discovered enough insect net and a gutter leaf net in boxes to last a lifetime. There were lightweight tarpaulins hidden out there too. Which could be covering the chestnut firewood against the western, gable end of the house. One box of charity shop fodder will be easy enough to dispose of. All Her small gardening tools and other stuff can go in the tool shed. Which I still have to attend to. 

 All Her long handled tools have been out in the open for years. They face east and are sheltered by the shed roof overhang to some degree. They still look a complete mess. There are so many of them just resting haphazardly against the wall. The space under the overhang has been full of junk for as long as I can remember. I got rid of the rusting luggage trunk months ago.

 I have had an idea! There is an old, outdoor, bin bag holder in galvanized steel. The sort of thing they once had in lay-bys. It was here in the garden when we moved in. The tools could all stand up neatly in that under the overhang.

 Getting a tool out may prove slightly more difficult but rarely needed. The bottom of the basket is open. With only a few steel slats. So everything will rest on the ground unless I add something. A circle of fine mesh, steel net will do. Drainage, proper support and open to the air. I'll have to make do with the concrete slab underneath. Lots more cleared from the area. Now I need a rest.

 16.00 +1C/33F. Thanks to the smaller logs the lounge climbed to over 21C/70F. So I have opened the internal doors to the kitchen to spread the warmth. 

 Meanwhile I was finally clearing the manageable branches from the remains of the chestnut. Everything left behind needs the chainsaw to make it moveable. It is pretending to be slices over 45cm/18" in diameter. Though the cuts were never quite deep enough to become severed from the rest. One never likes to saw into the ground because stones can soon dull the chain. I shall have to do some levering to lift them clear.

 16.15 Quite a busy and useful day. It is already becoming dark enough for switching on the indoor lights. To lift the gloom.

 Dinner was a mushroom omelette. Followed by tomato soup and a bread roll. I am having an early night after my strenuous activities.

~~

21.01.2023 Wall to wall sunshine.

 ~~

  Saturday 21st 0C/32F. Frost on the grass. Ice on the puddles. Cloud clearing to bright sunshine. Up at 7.00 

 Morning walk as the sun rose. A little chilly on the hands when I took my gloves off but not unpleasant. First photos taken in over a week.

 Had a chat with my English friend online. Always cheerful and a fund of useful information. 

 10.30. 34F. Time to split more logs!  

 12.00  36F. Clear sky and bright sunshine. Had to take a break from splitting. I am beginning to ache. Probably half finished the latest trailer load. With three full barrows going into the greenhouse this morning. It feels very warm in the greenhouse in direct sunshine. 

 I would escape to the observatory to do some solar imaging. However I dismantled the telescopes for the recent storm. With much delayed work needed on the observatory urgently required I haven't put it back together. 

 13.30  Lunch over. A breeze is picking up as it clouds over. It had reached 15C/60F in the greenhouse. Which had pushed the kitchen up to 64F/18C with the help of the sunshine.  

 15.00 Cloudy afternoon. I completed splitting all the oversized logs. They have been barrowed into the greenhouse and stacked against the house wall. Approximately four square meters in all. About a quarter of the trailer is still full of useful log sizes. Plus the smaller pieces suitable for kindling or just boosting the fire. 

 I shall have to empty the trailer soon. To be able to fetch some gravel for the shared drive. The trailer is safely covered with its fitted tarpaulin for the moment.

 Dinner was poached eggs on toast. Slightly overdone. So the yolks were only marginally runny. My fault for going away to put another log in the stove.

~~

20.01.2023 Mauling the firewood.

 ~~

 Friday 20th 34F. Overcast. Up at 7.am. I have finished the last of the antibiotics.

 10.30 2C/35F. Morning coffee. 17C/63F upstairs.

 I was fed up with trying to burn oversized logs. They would usually sulk in the stove even with full air. Nor do they dry out quickly in such large sizes. So I brought the large wheelbarrow into the greenhouse and wheeled away four full loads to be split. Each load took the tour around the house to the back lawn. Where splitting is most practical and least dangerous to the buildings. The halved logs fly for yards and I have the scars to prove it!

 Once I had split the logs with the sledgehammer/splitting maul they were collected from the debris field. Then went back into the barrow. So they could be wheeled back around the house and in through the greenhouse. Then reloaded into a basket and brought indoors for stacking to dry out. I was soon sweating despite the outdoor temperature. It is still early in the Danish winter. So I really should fetch another load of logs from the furniture factory/timber yard. For which I'll need cash. 

 14.30 3.5C/38F, overcast. I have shopped. Where the manager refused to allow me £50 equivalent in cash over and above my purchase. "We are not a bank!" He said. How ironic! Those were the very last words the village dragon said to me at the huge village coop before they closed down. She was a constant feature on the checkout. So one presumes the racist bitch was specially chosen to force the closure of that branch.

Getting cash over and above one's purchases [using one's debit/credit card] is extremely commonplace in Denmark. Many tills have a notice asking that customers choose a round figure to avoid holding up the queue when they are busy. Many village bank branches have now closed. Taking their "hole in the wall" with them. So obtaining cash can be a serious problem. 

 Fortunately the nice girl on the checkout at the coop, in another village, was delighted to provide the necessary cash for purchasing my logs. I duly turned up at the timber yard to collect more logs. Smaller wasn't an option apparently. So more splitting to do. I

 'll split them straight from the trailer to avoid triple handling. I can work at the east end of the house if I am careful. I fetched my big Horse chestnut splitting stump on the sack truck. That will save a lot of toing and froing.

 15.30 Weak sunshine. I have split about 1/3 of the trailer load. Then ferried it into the greenhouse. I covered the rest in the trailer and moved it into the back garden/parking space. Which involved some shovelling and raking of gravel to ensure a firm surface for the car to reverse over. Quite a busy day so far. Time for a rest! 

18.30 0C/32F.  It is so much easier being able to put smaller logs in the stove. They don't need the air supply to be boosted just to catch fire. Now 20C/68F upstairs. I have the internal doors closed. The stove is heating the lounge and attic. The larger 1kw radiator is managing the kitchen quite easily. 

 Note that it has reached freezing point outside. With the internal doors open it was very difficult to keep the place warm with the smaller 500W radiator sharing kitchen duties with the stove. There were some losses through the front hall/greenhouse doors.

 19.00 and I should be preparing dinner. I have no appetite. Made fish fingers, mushrooms and baked beans. Tidied up with a bread roll.

~~

19.01.2023 Danish Greenshitting [Lite.]

 ~~

 Thursday 19th +2C/35F. Early rain promised and supplied in abundance. Up at 6.20 after an earlier false start or two. The house is cooling but the kitchen responded to the new heater. 13C/55F in the lounge. 15C/59F in the kitchen. Albeit at twice the expense for electricity. 

 The stove is lit but I just used the last stick of kindling. Hopefully I can get more on the way home. I have lots of scrap bits and pieces of wood in the greenhouse. Which will make do if needed. Thursday cooking class today.

 The post title refers to the bullshit surrounding local government erection of solar panels. More specifically the ridiculous rules foisted downwards by the "Light green tinted glasses" Danish government. 

 While the government may freely add solar cells to its buildings. Local government must set up an independent business to control every single solar cell. Even if it is only a solar cell on a lamp post.

 This week's environment minister [Lite] sees no need for change. Which sound's about right. I expect he's hoping for promotion to the sports minister post. In the next round of musical chairs on the perpetual gravy train. I'd link to the fiasco but the [supposed] newspapers [Aka. advertising bureaus] are hiding behind paywalls. Or in Danish: DR is the Danish equivalent of the BBC but less trivial.

 'Administrativt bøvl' spolerer kommuners grønne solcelle-drømme | Indland | DR

 This story shows this week's Danish environment minister [Lite] admitting that no new wind turbines will be set up this year, nor the next, on Danish soil.

https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/viden/klima/en-falliterklaering-de-naeste-aar-ser-der-ikke-ud-til-blive-sat-eneste

 14.00 +2C/36F Safely home from cooking class. Curry soup with chicken. Meatballs in a complex tomato sauce. Our hero was responsible for the latter. Two sacks of kindling went into the boot on the way home. 14C/57F in the lounge. 15C/59F in the kitchen. 15C/59F upstairs. Stove relit from scratch.

 23.00  Had a chat with my English friend on WhatsApp. No dinner required as I ate at the cooking class.

~~

18.01.2023 Nocturnal bin movements.

 ~~

 Wednesday 18th +1C/34F. Cold and breezy but sunny periods promised. Only 10C/50F in the lounge.  15C/59F upstairs. Ice on the car and greenhouse roof.

 8..00 The stove is lit but I can't be here all day to feed it logs. First museum day of the year. I will have to dress warmly. I was freezing at times outdoors at the museum. It's  balance between looking like a complete scruff and needing to do different manual work.

 Thick down jacket and long thermal underwear. Too warm!

 Hearing aid follow-up, in town, after lunch.

 12.30 Safely home after a morning of brushing rehabilitated rooms after the builders had been busy. Then raking leaves and fallen twigs and trundling full barrows to the woods. Had a nice chat [in Danish] with one of the volunteers about thatched roofing. Then a chat with another about heat pumps. The offer I had to install a heat pump was a complete rip-off!  New volunteer arrived. One not coming any more. +1 -1 = 0? No change.

 The house had cooled to 14C this morning with the stove not being fed. Weak sunshine will help the greenhouse warm a little. Though the sun was soon gone again. I need more kindling.

 Afternoon in town. There were roadworks everywhere. So parking and access was very difficult.

 I bought a larger and more powerful oil-filled radiator. As the small one was really struggling to keep the kitchen warm enough for the fridge-freezer to work. The new one can manage 1kw. The old one only 500W.

 I fell asleep on my return intending to have half an hour. I slept for an hour and half!

 Dinner was mackerel on toast followed by soup and a roll. I wish I hadn't had anything! I feel full and nauseous.

 21.30 +1C/33F. Most of the contents of the fridge-freezer has gone into the bin. So I had no excuse not to remember take the black bin along the drive to the pickup point. The sky was clear and a light frost sparkled in the torchlight.

~~

17.01.2023 Burp!

 ~~

 Tuesday 17th 2C/36F. Definitely getting colder. A wet day with possible sleet is forecast. Up at 6.40. First Tuesday cooking class this year. I hope I am up to it.

 I was and the leader was sympathetic to my plea for more basic information on cooking. We made and baked woven garlic bread plaits. Supported by a tomato salad.  I fried the large chunks of beef in a ribbed pan. It snowed continuously all morning without settling. Now it is weakly sunny.

 I have to go out again. No porridge oats left for tomorrow's breakfast! 

 18.15 Back home from the shops. No cheap reading glasses in the supermarkets. The other shops were closed.

 I don't need any dinner because I ate at the cooking class. The hearing aids were helpful but not as much as I hoped. Needs more work.

 Still feeling full at bedtime.

~~

16.01.2023 Coffee? Black, white.. or spider?

 ~~

 Monday 16th 3C/38F. Dark strips of cloud against clear sky. Cooler outdoors and in. Up at 6am. Breakfast and then lit the stove. 

 Is there a forensic pathologist in the house? I took my kick-starter coffee mug back downstairs to make a first cup of tea. As I held the mug under the running tap I noticed a large, foreign body. A spider with a body size similar to one of my fingernails! 

 Had it been in there from the very start? Had it been scalded to death as I made my first and only black coffee of the day? Had it bumped up against my teeth and tonsils in the consumption of said cup off coffee? Or had it fallen into the empty cup afterwards? While the mug was idling on the shelving unit. Beside my computer/casual dining chair. How will I ever know? 😱 

 I am expecting a phone call from the doctor with the result of my urine analysis. Fortunately, the tablets he gave me have cleared most of the symptoms. Further plans are afoot today but I'll add the details later. How do I shop when I still have no appetite? Should I attend this week's cooking classes and the museum? I ought to get back into the routine after the holiday break. It all feels a bit distant and almost unreal. 

 9.15 Morning coffee. I have sorted the laundry basket. For more victims of the rough and tumble of the washing machine. I finally brought the large, unused storage tubs into play. They were meant for storing my wife's clothes but those have all been recycled.

 So now I have clear tubs of jumpers, casual/work trousers, cycling clothing and winter underwear. To name but four. Instantly recognisable without labelling or turfing the contents out to find anything. 

 Storage is another matter. They are all holding down the floor in what still loosely passes for a bedroom. A bed surrounded on all sides with storage. I would actually prefer drawers in cabinets but that means finding something new. It would have to be capacious and reasonably attractive. I am sick of worm-eaten cast-offs from the charity shops. Chipboard and plastic is the stock-in-trade of the discount big sheds like IKEA and Jysk. Is it sturdy enough for a reasonable working life?

 17.45 After a visit to my English friend this morning I went to town this afternoon. Hoping to find new washing up bowls but returned empty handed. The doctor rang to tell me my bugs were normal. He was happy to hear I was on the mend. I am trying to find a better setting for receiving phone calls. 

 The hearing aids take over the audio via Bluetooth but put a quiet, distant voice somewhere off to my left. I had to quickly remove the aids just to be able to answer the phone. Not ideal! In retrospect my better right ear would have done the job without help but it was muted in the aids. 

 I'll ring myself from the landline. Hmm. I should [probably] have chosen "Phone" on the mobile phone screen. I was able to hear myself clearly then. Why was it so weird earlier?

 Dinner was baked fish fingers, pasta and tinned tomatoes. 

 

~~

15.01.2023 Storm!

 ~~

 Sunday 15th 5C/41F. A storm is promised for early this afternoon and on through this evening. Bringing showers and winds gusting to around 60mph. Peaking around 4pm. The SW, going westward, wind direction is increasingly favourable. Provided no tall trees or large branches come down. 

 I have removed some trees and tall hedges since the last bad weather and hope it hasn't increased my vulnerability to gusts. I have a highly beneficial shelter belt of oak, larch and other trees to my west. Though the low lying ground is marshy just there. So prone to uprooting of some trees over the years. The marshy ground is probably the only reason for the trees' existence. Otherwise it would have been ploughed in the past. Now increasingly unlikely with new landowners.

 Up at 6am to escape from reliving memories of my dear wife. Feeling tired and aching. The "waterworks" pain continues to improve with rapidly decreasing frequency. The shoulder pains have subsided. I had an early breakfast. 

 The stove had to be lit because the wind is dragging the heat out of the house. Only 14C/57F in the lounge. A more comfortable 17C/62F upstairs. Still lower than the recent average. I have put on a fleece jacket over a thick jumper and have plenty of warmer clothing if/when needed.

 8.30 Light enough to see clearly. I am going to risk a walk. 

 9.20  Morning coffee. I made it to the junction with the lanes. Had I continued it would have meant turning straight into the wind. Further reinforced by the saddle just there. So back I came. The traffic was light as befits a Sunday morning. The near half moon hung in the southern sky. Which was mostly clear. 

 10.50 I have been attending to the observatory. 60mph gusts can do a lot of damage. So I checked all around and secured some plywood panels. Back indoors just in time. Before a cloudburst with hail and fierce gusts passed over. I have parked the car in the shelter of the house. Just in case there is any flying debris. 

 12.00 I need a nap.

 13.00 Lunch over. It should be gusting to 23m/s already. Average wind speeds do not seem high until a gust comes along. With peaks of 27m/s between 16.00 and 17.00. The wind vane hasn't a clue were the wind is coming from at times. As it rotates unsteadily over 360º. Then it settles on the SW and the anemometer spins to a blur. Rain is expected between 14.00 and 20.00.

 19.00 No problems with the wind as far as I know. I have been watching Netflix under a blanket all afternoon. The stove has been really struggling. I'll probably have toast for dinner again.

 Poached eggs. I couldn't face anything else.

~~

14.01.2023 Laundry and kitchen woes.

 ~~

 Saturday14th 6C/41F. Showers this morning. With more solid rain this afternoon. A storm warning for tomorrow afternoon with continuous rain.

 Up at 7 after a restless night. My shoulders are already starting to hurt from restarting the tablets.

 8.45 Breakfast consumed, stove lit and the sky is/was clear in places. A half moon hung low to the south earlier. Now swallowed up by an increasingly leaden overcast. I really ought to have a walk before the rain starts.

  9.45 Back from a short walk around the neighbourhood. It was breezy but dry. A large bird of prey was calling and drifting around the area. The stove was still going well on my return. Weak sunshine is trying  to break through. I keep getting pains right across my shoulders. Last time I had built up to ten tablets before the pain became intolerable. This time only two before the pains started again.

 12.15 I was feeling very sorry for myself when I returned from my walk. I tried having a nap but sleep eluded me. So I launched into deep mining the laundry basket. Several pairs of fleece trousers were dragged screaming to the washing machine and treated to the "Delicates" cycle. Closely followed by a full load of jumpers. Duly handled by the "Wool and hand-wash" whir-bang-whir cycle. The machine is currently imitating a knackered, 1950s diesel, dump truck.

 The results are still waiting to be assessed. I haven't had the nerve to try tormenting either garment type. Until I hit a particularly low ebb and no longer cared. Many of the jumpers were brought with us when we moved away from Gravely Blighted in '96. They were surely long overdue for retirement. There are many more jumpers to be found in the charity shops. Provided I am patient and picky. 

 Talking of replacement. The washing up bowl is horribly discoloured inside and out. My minor obsession with tinned tomatoes and soup has rendered a rust belt. The previous bowl doubled for laundry duties until it was befouled by the toilet adhesion saga.

 I must start a search for several bowls of similar proportions and variations in colour. Not out of vanity but for identification purposes. I wouldn't mind a new plastic draining board/tray. I found one amongst the detritus but is permanently stained. With rust I think. Resisting all my attempt with a scouring pad to appear pristine again. 

 Silicone mats are sold for the purpose but I have no official draining board. The present lash-up involves the aforesaid, ribbed plastic tray. Underpinned by a series of scouring pads. To bring it up to level with the inset sink. Adding a silicon tray on top might deform the pads into submission. Besides it would be even more clumsy that the present palaver. It is fortunate that I have no regular visitors to my kitchen. I couldn't stand the shame!

 The draining board is essential to house the assorted saucepans. I tried draping the pans over the crockery. This always resulted in the complete collapse of the drain rack. It took only a month [or two] of such idiocy before I finally found the old, plastic draining board in the greenhouse. 

 12.50 I had better think about making some lunch.  

 14.00 I was going to go shopping but couldn't summon up the will.

  Dinner was beans on toast. Still no appetite for an evening meal.       

~~

13.01.2023 Another long, grey day.

 ~~

 Friday 13th 42F. Another wet and windy day. With more queuing to go over. It is cooler indoors because the stove wasn't going until late.

 Up at 7.00 after a better night, I woke only twice to pee in the bucket. The pain is receding but only slowly. Remaining seated avoids the signal to dash off to the bathroom. That mustn't prevent me from lighting the stove. I have absolutely no desire for a walk in this weather! Besides, I feel exhausted both mentally and physically.

9.15. 6C/43F.Stove lit by the new method. [Criss-crossed kindling sticks and a fire lighter] The recalcitrant log, left from last night, took a while to ignite. Soon, however, the Stove's voluminous combustion chamber was full of dancing flames. Resulting in a need to steadily reduce the air supply.

 Researching "the enlarged prostate" issue raised some interesting questions. One YT doctor wanted us to massage our prostate glands internally! There is no way in this life I am going to follow that advice! Though it did make me think:

 Cycling must provide deep prostate massage on an almost unlimited scale. Simply from road bumps through the narrow, rock hard saddle. It is completely unavoidable. Do elderly cyclists tend to suffer from reduced prostate enlargement statistically? This should not be too difficult to prove. So I checked online. Cycling can irritate an enlarged prostate but the exercise is considered beneficial.

 Pumpkin seeds were also extolled as a magic elixir for prostate reduction. Not yet with proven effectiveness, in large scale tests, according to "medical science." Though its use does have a long history. 

 My wife was keen on my chomping though a few grams of pumpkin seeds. At daily intervals as a beneficial nibble. I had almost forgotten about that. So I bought some organic pumpkin seeds while I was in the village supermarkets. Easily found and inexpensive. I shall try 10g per day to see if it helps. Nothing ventured... 

 Further research suggests cutting down on dairy and meat. I am no longer a red meat eater but have milk, Yoghurt, butter and cheese daily. I eat hardly any vegetables any more. How do I change that sorry state of affairs?

 12.15 A miserably dark, wet and windy day continues. The frequency of my toilet visits is subsiding rapidly. Provided I remain seated. I napped while watching the stove but it wasn't really warm enough at 13C. So I retreated back to the computer upstairs at 17C/64F and donned my down jacket. Just in case.

 Dinner was perfect poached eggs on toast. Which really struggled to stay down! Resulting in another glass of bicarbonate of soda at bedtime. Lying down soon afterwards was not a good idea!

~~

12.01.2023 Under Doctor's orders.

 ~~

 Thursday 12th 5C/41F. Up at 6am after waking every hour to pee in the bucket. Doctor's appointment at 8.15.  

 The fire lit quickly using the new method. Sweeping the chimney and the stove worked wonders. I had a shower and changed into outdoor clothes.

The car didn't want to start! For the first time in ages. It had been standing in the rain and mist for days without an outing. Fortunately I checked it well before having to leave. It fired eventually and I left it to warm up for a few minutes to dry off. 

 The doctor gave me an antibiotic on the spot and asked for a urine sample. Despite my best efforts and agony. I could only manage a little finger depth in the disposable cup. The precious sample has gone off to be analysed for the specific bacteria in my system. Hopefully to allow it to be more closely targeted by antibiotics. I am exhausted from so many sleepless nights!

 9.30 Raining. Morning coffee. Back home after doing a bit of essential grocery shopping on the way home. The stove is still going well. The car keeps missing. Believed to be water in the fuel filter. Which I haven't found yet. I need a nap!

14.20 Brief sunshine. I had a long chat via Bluetooth, my hearing aids and my mobile phone [on speaker] with my British friend. Then prepared and ate lunch while we continued to chat. 

 Now I have to go out to fetch my antibiotic prescription. I have restarted taking the original tablets which I believe caused my severe shoulder pain. It was that, or start a course of something I might like even less! Think Friar Tuck, no beard and with boobies! 😱

 17.00 I had another nap as I tried to catch up. No doubt leading to difficulty in sleeping later. 

 Dinner was the second half of the tinned soup and a roll. It struggled to stay down for a while.

 Bed at 10.30. The stove had gone out while I was watching TV upstairs.

~~

11.01.2023 Firelighting breakthrough thanks to the sweep.

 ~~

 Wednesday 11th 7C/45F. There was wind in the night. I could hear things banging around. Which is very unusual since I fitted the new bedroom window. It seems to block almost everything which goes on outside. The old window passed traffic noise and car doors closing even at a great distance. 

 Up at 5.30 after nightmares and the agony of trying to trickle into the bucket at frequent intervals. At least I wasn't wet with sweat this morning. The temperature had dropped overnight from 68F to 64F. [20C-18C] I have a gnawing stomach ache again.

 I can't light the stove because the very kind sweep is coming between 8&9am. I now have a lot of the firewood stacked against the rough southern wall. In the lounge nearest the stove. Anything which helps to dry it out will be helpful. 

 In retrospect it would have been far more useful if the logs were slimmer. Larger logs hold their moisture for far longer. Fatter logs need far more air to combust. While two smaller logs of the same overall volume enjoy more air around them and catch light readily. Smaller logs are also far easier to load through the stove door. The logistics of taking the logs outside to split them with a maul are not inspiring. So I am using the rubbish, timber scraps from the racist timber yard to boost the larger logs.

 6.00. A cup of tea with a bowl of muesli. I had better make an effort to tidy the lounge. There are lots of boxes of potential charity shop stuff littering the floor. Perhaps I can stack the boxes and throw a curtain over them? It's not as if I can go anywhere even if I do sort it all. I'm stuck at home until I have my health issues fixed.  

 8.00 Had a shower and cleaned the bathroom floor afterwards. Muddy footprints on the tiles. Tidied a little in the lounge so the thoroughfare is clear.

 8.40. The sweep is delayed for an hour. So I'll have morning coffee.

 9.40 Brightening up and the wind is dropping. I'll bring in more logs from the greenhouse.

 10.40 The gentleman sweep has been. Performing his usual thorough sweeping of the chimney. Followed by a full clean of the new stove. He showed me how the firebricks come out and where to clean behind them. Then the curved stove pipe access hatch. 

 He showed me an amazing way to light the stove without a scrap of paper. Criss crossed kindling sticks. Lit a firelighter block and placed it in the middle of the kindling. Then place a log on top and we watched it catch fire! He agreed that my latest trailer load of firewood was too big and still too damp. I shall have to split the largest pieces in manageable batches. I can barrow them outside the greenhouse to somewhere safe from flying logs.

 The heavy cloud has cleared to watery sunshine between the clouds. 

 11.20 I'm going to risk a short walk. The wind was stronger than I would have liked. So I limited myself to the neighbourhood. 

 14.30 I ate a normal, bread roll lunch and then had a nap.

 Dinner was half a tin of soup and a roll.

 

~~

 

10.01.2023 Stove watching.

 ~~

Tuesday 10th 4C/39F. A patchy sky of clear and cloud. Up at 6.00. I had to pee in the bucket almost every hour during the night. Sweating like a pig and smelling worse when I got finally up. My T-shirt was sopping wet. I managed half a bowl of muesli and a cup of coffee. Then two cups of tea at intervals to keep up my fluids. I had a stomach ache and queasiness almost all day yesterday. Particularly after eating. Now I just don't feel hungry. Nor ready for a walk.

 The sweep is coming tomorrow, Wednesday, between 8 & 9am. The stove has been struggling at times. So it will be useful to have the expert's advice. I opened up the bend fitting of the stovepipe. To check if it was clear. It was certainly sooty but didn't suggest enough obstruction to cause any problems. The large diameter leaves plenty of room for air and smoke to reach the main chimney.

 16.30 43F. A day spent watching non-existent flames in the stove. It's about as exciting as watching an old B&W TV when there is no signal. Other than that I haven't eaten anything much but keep having cups of tea. Had a nap. "Somebody" is going to do some washing up soon. Preferably before it gets up and walks away on its own.

 No dinner tonight. I ate a couple of biscuits.

~~

9.01.2023 Housebound, for the lack of a camouflaged bucket!

 ~~

Monday 9th 5C/41F. Early rain should clear to another grey day. Up at 6.15 after waking every half hour throughout the night to pea a dribble of brown, sulphuric acid. All night I was dripping with sweat despite the light, summer duvet. 19C/66F upstairs. I couldn't face breakfast. So just had a cup of coffee. Still wobbly and fuzzy. I haven't eaten anything since yesterday's morning muesli. So I ought to eat something.

 8.00 Still very dark. I managed half a bowl of muesli washed down with tea.

 My British friend arrived with short notice. Just time for a shower and he was there at the door. We had a good long chat on all the things which interest us both. There was much discussion on why the stove was sulking. Eventually it stopped pretending to go out but far too late. It had disgraced itself and it's owner!

 11.00 What now? I feel a bit better but not 100%.

 13.00  I've had a lie down to rest.

 13.15 6C/43F. Heavy overcast. Finished lunch. Two "multi-grain" bread rolls. With cheese, honey, jam and a cup of tea. Now I am wondering whether a walk would be a good idea. Fresh air and some exercise. It might do me good. Or not. I didn't have the strength. Nor a camouflaged bucket. I have several neighbours to pass within my frequency limits.

  19.00 Doctor's appointment for Thursday. Will I survive that long? Will I make it from the car to the surgery waiting room without my white bucket? Will I make it back again afterwards [with or without my bucket?] How do I avoid being arrested as a flasher? Possibly even deported as an undesirable alien? These are important questions! As I sit here sweating and shivering by turns in a semi-tropical 21C/70F.

 20.00  I managed half a tin of tomato soup for dinner. It was a struggle.

~~

8.01.2023 Unwell.

 ~~

 Sunday 8th 7C/44F. Up at 5.45 after a sleepless night. I had a salmon pasty for dinner last night and soon felt hot and queasy. Then I spent the entire night waking at 20 minute intervals to pee in a bucket. A burning dribble every time. I am still feeling queasy this morning. The freezer has been hovering below -20C. So I don't think there is a problem there. I baked the pasty at 220C for an extra 5 minutes.

 7.45 Had a glass of water with sodium bicarbonate. Fell asleep for an hour in the chair.

 I was still feeling unwell. So I went back to bed. Woke up at 11.30! I hadn't lit the stove. It was only 15C/60F in the lounge. A more comfortable 18C/65F upstairs.

 18.40. Still feeling unwell, Been back to bed again. I have been drinking water and tea to keep up my fluids. Nothing to eat. Having to relight the stove when I wake. 20C/68F upstairs.

 20.00 Still unwell. Slept in the chair again. Quite wobbly when I move about. My face, arms and legs feel fuzzy. Like pins and needles. I'll make a cup of tea.

 Went to bed at 10.30. 

 ~~

7.01.2023 Making a pig's ear out of a toilet bowl. 🙄

 ~~

 Saturday 7th 6C/42F. Early rain clearing to cloud and quite windy. Up at 7.15 after earlier wakening.

 The place is steadily reducing in the volume of its "excess baggage." I just need to organise it more efficiently. So I can steadily plough through it all and bring some useful order over time. Unless it is sorted it has little value to anyone. The time involved in finding anything makes it much easier to go out and buy something. Which is a huge waste of a potentially useful resource. Particularly if car fuel is involved.

 What the world needs now. After a paint-on super insulation. Is a high efficiency air-water heat pump at low cost. I would be wasting my money buying an air-air heat pump when I have underfloor piping unused. 

 Yet the air-air system uses a liquid between the outer pump unit and the inner fan circulation unit. It just needs that fluid to become universal and cheap. So that it can be pumped around a standard domestic heating system. Heat pumps are best suited to underfloor heating. Because of the low working temperatures involved. Radiators have to be much larger to make use of these lower temperatures.

 I am being fairly successful at spreading the warmth from the stove in the lounge, Though it isn't very efficient and needs my presence to function at all. Nor does it maintain its warmth overnight. When outdoor temperatures are usually lower. The well insulated attic is at a cosy 20C/68F this morning. While the lounge has dropped from 21C/70F to 17C/62F overnight. This is based on a remarkably mild [for Denmark] 6C/42F minimum outdoor temperature. 

 If there had been an overnight frost then the indoor temperatures would have dropped dramatically. The difference is very noticeable indeed. It is all down to the levels of insulation in the walls. Or rather lack of them. 

 I have another thermometer in the window nearest the stove. It reads higher than the thermometer placed more distantly but drops much further overnight. The 7m/22' long, lean-to greenhouse clearly has only very limited value in maintaining warmth in the southern wall it covers. 

 This was discussed way back on Abusenet discussion groups on "alternative energy" years ago. Lean-to greenhouses are undeniably attractive. However, a thin layer of insulation is far better at keeping the adjoining house warm. Particularly at night or when there is no sunshine falling on the glazed enclosure. 

 At the same time you can't grow tomatoes. Nor sit warming yourself in the sunshine with wall insulation. The greenhouse enclosure obviously has many other desirable features. However, depending on its construction costs, its "payback period" for solar heating alone may stretch indefinitely. Unless, of course, its value as a growing and relaxing space is also taken into account. Anybody hoping for useful heat gain had better live in a desert. Where winter sunshine is practically guaranteed.

 It is far better to fit insulation on the back [house] wall of the lean-to greenhouse. To keep the house warm overnight or in cold/overcast conditions. However, if the insulation is removable. Or built in the form of a folding, slatted or roller blind. Then it could be adjusted for solar infall [including angle] and temperature. 

 Or even become a solar heat absorber when the sun is available. The warmed air from the collector[s] then has to be brought indoors to make use of the "free" solar heat. During the summer the back wall insulation can protect the house wall from being baked. Though layers of shade netting can help here. The high angle of the sun makes shading of the rear wall and floor much easier.

 10.00 44F. Thick mist. 200m. Stove lit. Internal doors open. Washing up done. Morning coffee over. What next? 

 Using silicone to fix the new toilet bowl down. It had been rocking since I installed it. The problem was that I was afraid to use the long screws provided. They risked penetrating the underfloor heating hose. So now I am going to use silicone sanitation adhesive to fix it down.

 First I cleaned round the toilet bowl and then marked the footprint with a pencil. To guide my silicone application. Then carefully lifted the heavy toilet bowl clear of the drainage fitting [muff] in the floor. Having already removed the water supply hose. I lifted it over an old washing up bowl to empty the water in the trap. Only to discover that it was far too heavy and awkward. For me to manage tilting it over in the very confined space. 

So now there was water on the tiled bathroom floor! I put the toilet bowl down again and fetched a load of newspapers. Mopped up as much of the water as I could and discarded the paper. Then laid more paper to soak up the remaining water. By now my pencil outline had been rubbed away. Nor could I guarantee the floor or WC bowl were dry enough to safely apply the silicone. 😬

 My plan is to use paper towels to dry the floor tiles in the area of the toilet. Stand the bowl on battens. So I can dry around its base with more paper towels. Then carefully replace the toilet bowl to mark the footprint [again] with the pencil. Lift off again onto the battens to double check it is still dry. Before I apply a generous run of silicone all around just inside the pencilled footprint. Finally replacing the toilet bowl in place, tidying the silicone and leaving it to set, cure or whatever.

 12.00 9C/48F. Fortunately it all went to plan this time. I brought in a furniture trolley and two battens. This made moving and checking the bowl much easier. With only one lift. I had to find a poly bag and clothes peg to enclose the dripping water hose still attached to the toilet tank. 

 The silicone bead I applied was much too generous but better safe than sorry. I cleaned up the excess with paper towels. 

 The width of the base of the bowl's ceramic casting will provide a large surface area. For secure adhesion to the floor. 

 I ran a bead of silicone along the back of the new basin as well. Against the tiled wall while I was there. Next time I will do it before I fit the mixer tap. 

 Dinner was a salmon pasty, with tinned tomatoes and pasta.

 ~~

6.1.2023 Save lives. Share a smile often.

 ~~

  Friday 6th 42F. A very wet and windy morning is promised. Up at 7.20 after several false starts. My lower back is aching a little but my legs are the same as usual. So 15 miles/20km is still within my cycling range. I have lit the stove.

 How we view things really is malleable over time. A rock cannot learn anything. It  sits and sulks at the utter meaningless of its life. While a willow can learn to adapt to unexpected changes in the wind. 

 My journey to the city stirred up so many memories and emotions. Should I could go on feeling sorry for myself? That my wife was ripped away from me, with little warning, after 55 years of marriage? Or, should I be grateful that I had her kindness and companionship? Through thick and thin for all of those 55 years.

 I could go on feeling sad and nostalgic at every new memory which pops up, of our being together. Or, I could learn to warm to those countless memories. Of our long, complex and mostly enjoyable life together. 

 What if there is some meaning to everything which crosses our path? That everybody we meet has some lesson for us. If only we are open to that possibility. What can we learn from a neighbour who fills his land with rusting vehicles and equipment? That he is a raving lunatic and to be condemned for his foolishness? Or that we should keep a more honest eye on our own, hoarding behaviour? However trivial. Or completely life changing.

 What if we view almost everybody we meet as a passive teacher by example? A strong character actor. Or a mere extra on the stage of life. Dealing with their own issues or failing to do so. Whether their example is negative or positive. That person gives us free clues about our own behaviour. About how life can, or should not be lived. At the very least their role can be held up to the light. As an example for our own contemplation. 

 Without knowing in advance. How will we know if the picture is a strange negative? Leaving us baffled as to its meaning. Or a colourful slide? For projection into a much wider understanding of life. 

 Negativity closes doors to opportunity and potential. Positivity allows growth from greater insight. If we prejudge the message contained in every small picture. Or personal role presented to us. Then its true value is already lost. Before we can even examine its content. 

 Save lives: Share a smile often. You have no idea how desperately it might be needed. Often by a complete stranger. Yesterday I smiled as I passed two elderly ladies on my trike. One smiled back and warmly greeted a complete stranger. To which I replied with my own, cheerful "Hi!" I rode on grinning to myself. Both of our days were lifted and improved by that simple and open, human interaction. 

 The front hall by artificial light. It is too dark outside to achieve anything useful.

  My mother-in-law told me off for greeting strangers during my stay at her rural home. "The Danes don't greet strangers!" She admonished. I still went on nodding and smiling at every stranger I passed on my bike rides. How was I to judge if their day was cursed or improved? By my simple, human acts of recognition. I offered the greeting openly and without charge. What they made of it was their choice entirely.

 My mother-in-law descended ever deeper into solitary confinement. Entirely of her own making. Thirty years later I met a former neighbour at a party. She remembered a sour old woman. With large and dangerous dogs.     

 9.20 7C/44F. pouring with rain as the trees rock. No real point in a morning walk. I might as well have morning coffee instead. It is already warm indoors and I am spreading the heat.

 When a person wears two hearing aids. For correcting very different hearing loss, between each ear. How do I know what is my normal hearing level? Is it 0dB? Not a daft question. The brain has to adapt to new stimuli. Coming from an ear which has been almost deaf for decades. Suddenly everything sounds louder and high pitched in particular. 

 I have no useful memory of the sounds I now hear through my left ear. The theory is that the frequency response of each ear has been adjusted and amplified [by the aids] to some adjustable but [presumably optimum level. I can use the app on my phone to play with balance and level independently. I also have three programs to cope with different, background noise levels.             

10.45 8C/46F Dark overcast and pouring down. The drive is almost continuous puddle. I have all the internal doors open to take advantage of the mild conditions to warm the house. Several logs are burning well. To compensate for the greater heat loss in the entrance hall and bathroom. 

 11.15  It is brightening up! Sunshine! I am tidying potential, charity shop fodder in the lounge. I moved a mirror from the lounge to the front hall.

 13.15 Lunch over. I had a short walk before lunch. Lots of puddles and minor flooding on the fields. Now I am going shopping. With some more charity stuff to distribute.

 14.30 Returned from the shops. A long, rural, traffic detour due to roadworks. Lots of flooding elsewhere. What was very unusual was seeing sheep in the fields. Indoor cattle and pigs are the norm as far I was aware.

 I took a box of my wife's knitting and sewing bits and pieces to a village wool shop. Her customers have been delighted with my wife's many knitting books. It is better that others can enjoy my wife's things. Rather than their remaining unused in boxes at home. Or worse, being discarded. If the wool shop gains or retains customers, because of my donations, then all the better.  Another village shop survives against all the odds. 

 18.15. Still tidying. Found more china cats. Collecting everything electrical together in clear tubs. To save searching when I need something. I seem to have wasted a lifetime searching for "stuff!"

 Dinner was mackerel on toast. Followed by soup and a roll. I kept feeding the stove until bedtime with all the internal doors open.

~~

5.01.2023 Nocturnal wheelie bin rambles.

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 Thursday 5th 43F. Up at 5.15. Constantly reliving the past. 

 I dragged the wheelie dustbin along the drive at 11.30 last night. Another oversight in my horribly chaotic existence. The drive was covered in deep puddles. Sandals are not the ideal footwear for outdoor rambles. Neither the nocturnal variety or otherwise. The bins are usually cleared at about 5.30. Much too early for a mad sprint. While dragging a heavy and recalcitrant bin over the regulation 120m!

 I keep thinking about where the wheeled dustbins should reside. In some [still as yet unplanned] exterior makeover. [Paved patio, et al.] Preferably somewhere else. Not just beside the rear entrance door to Chez Hovel. Frequent and easy access is not required due to appropriate indoor containers. Though even this [recent upgrade] may change.

 There will be three wheeled bins soon. As [more] serious recycling finally reaches our patch of rural Denmark. Which will make the posh homeowner's, endangered hardwood, timber clad, exterior, wheeled bin receptacles completely obsolete. They were always built for two. Never three large and ugly plastic bins. 

 One may well imagine a sudden demand on local carpenter's valuable time for even larger carbuncles. With appropriate taxpayer "hand-worker" subsidies of course. Last time it was wine cellars and indoor saunas. When the [completely fictitious] reason given for the [upper middle classes] handout [by the politicooze] was "essential environmental improvement, maintenance and repairs," Supposedly aimed at the typically impoverished Danish homeowner. But that's just the national sociopathy of organised Danish corruption for you.

 It could be worse. There were headlines about ten bins per household at one point. They have settled on three bins for the moment. With dividers and re-purposing of existing bins and using highly variable emptying routines. Depending not only on the time of year but weekly, fortnightly and monthly intervals. A sort of moveable feast. Based on the same irrationalities as the religious cults of yore.

 I struggle to remember collection days now. Even with a bin emptying calendar on my Desktop. Expect complete chaos unless something serious is done about collection dates. (By the commercial, refuse and recycling company.) Emphasis on "refuse!" Any householder contravening the rules concerning the recycling bin's contents would find their overflowing bin un-emptied! 😱

 Worse, was the large, colourful, printed card. Left publicly hanging by its hooked outline. From the green bin's handle by the refuse operatives. As a terrifying warning against further crime's against recycling! I am still shocked that they didn't paint large crosses on the bin as well!

 Given the usual, roadside accessibility of the bins. One can well imagine the risks of an errant passer-by. Innocently dropping a piece of un-sorted litter into the wrong bin! Or neighbourhood enemies undermining the pristine contents of their rival's bin with a deliberately placed item. Ouch! This would certainly call for the installation of umpteen, external, security cameras. If only to avoid an action replay.

 I can feel the printer being fired up again. Not that it will help if it never occurs to me to check the damned calendar. Perhaps I should staple it to the inside of the newly painted, back door? Even that would require my strongest reading glasses. If the reminder is not printed on fine quality A3 in large, bold capitals. I might even need a second wall light. Or a large magnifying glass. Hanging opportunely on an appropriately placed hook. Though I can well imagine difficulties arising, even then.

 Getting back to the cushion cover headrests... I think I would really have preferred something in a coarse, Irish tweed. Cotton cord material hasn't quite the panache to pull it off. Not on my [recycled] quality, leather furnishings. I wonder if hessian sacking might work?  Only the authentic look, for me. In my faux "cottagey," interior design scheme. I might just ask the local seamstress. To run something up for me. 😎

  11.00 A belated, morning coffee over. My walk had been into an eye-watering nor-westerly. Definitely a "hoods up" affair today. Albeit with a relaxation of the rigour on the return leg. A [completely delusional] black and white cat was walking purposefully along the verge towards me. Until, alas too late, it spotted me at a few yards. Then lay as flat in the long grass as a well fed mouser can manage. 

 I spoke as I passed. Just to ensure it understood its empty subterfuge had been noted for posterity. Cats do seem to enter a dream state when they are out hunting. Often completely ignoring my presence until their very last moment. It is no wonder they suffer such huge losses on the roads! I doubt they even register the approaching vehicle which finally flattens them.

 11.43. Fleeting watery sunshine. Three more zips removed from the cushion covers. Another job completed. I shall practice [hitherto unknown] patience and let the creases drop out. Before resorting to more brutal artifice. 

 An SMS has arrived. To notify me of my first, Tuesday cooking class this year. Still a fortnight away. So my precious freedom to roam aimlessly is not yet curtailed. 

 It is dry today. So I actually considered a ride. Until I remembered the wind. There must be some route. Which avoids my having to tack. Just to gain a few extra yards. There was a time when no wind would deter me from going out. Why cannot I draw on that same stupidity? Now that I really need it? Where do I really want to be? That isn't right here in the warm?

 Well, that was disappointing! I'd bought a hideously expensive pair of GripGrab Polaris 2 gloves while I was in the city. Today they proved to perform well below the hype on the packaging. After 15 undulating miles of riding at 2C/36F my hands were aching with the cold!

 Had I taken the GripGrab Nordic 2 divided mitts I'd probably have been perfectly comfortable. The Polaris 2 gloves are pleasant to wear and do not cause sweaty hands. The thickness  provides extra comfort on the handlebars but they still aren't clumsy or bulky. I checked online and it us suggested -5+5C as their ideal range even in wet conditions. They are guaranteed to keep your hands dry.

 From today's limited experience  I'd suggest the Polaris 2 Primaloft gloves should be rated at 5C/41F. As a safe minimum on a bike unless you have excellent circulation. They may be warmer when walking in still air. I'll check that aspect when winter conditions demand gloves on my morning walk.   

 Not unexpectedly, given the lull in activity, my cycling fitness has definitely taken a tumble. I kept up the cadence, even on the hills, but my chest was soon aching. From unaccustomed deep breathing. My hearing aids were being squashed by the cycling helmet straps. 

 So my ears were a bit sore but not cold under the GripGrab Aviator winter [medieval] cap. A great product! I have several. Lesson learned. Leave the cycling helmet at home! It will only encourage the crash test dummies to drive closer than the law allows. 1.5m/5' minimum!

 I am now well into the new load of logs. Those I checked measured between 19 and 22% humidity. They burn well when added to a red hot bed in the stove. I am working through the oddballs and shorter stumps first. Burning several at a time when outside temperatures drop. With all the internal doors wide open to spread the warmth. Rather than raising the lounge and attic to uncomfortable levels. [Over 20C/68F] While leaving the rest of the house cool or cold. The attic [entire upstairs] is being warmed via the lounge, kitchen and the open stairwell. 

 The kitchen is partially below the attic but also half of the balcony. The bathroom is under the other half of the balcony. I am not attempting to heat the balcony. Except by accident through the floors and closed, double doors in the attic. 

 In theory it should help to keep the kitchen and bathroom warm. If it were warmer in the balcony room. Details of its sloping ceilings and insulation still need my attention. So I am treating it as a buffer zone. Rather than active living quarters. Which saves me actually having to do anything in there. 🙄

  Dinner was fried chicken chunks, mushrooms and poached eggs. Nothing else was needed. The joy of tasting each individual mouthful of perfection is a lesson to us all. Well me at least. 😋

~~