30.11.2023 Cop 28: Barrel Boys open for business: Roll up! Roll up! Get your cheap oil here now!

 ~o~

 Thursday 30th 22F/-6C. No sign of any more snow. Though more forecast for late morning. Room at 60F/15C. Greenhouse 29F/-2C.  Up at 5.45.

  COP 28: Barrel Boys open for business: Free Lambo with every billion barrels! Got a Lambo already? You want boys? Young girls? All very clean. You want missiles? Drones? Mercenaries for your coup? F35s? Slave workforce for your new palace? Enriched Uranium? No problem! Going cheap! Get them all here!

 7.00 The stove is lit. 62F/17C already! 😎 Now I have to start using the latest batch of logs. Last year's have all gone. 

 8.30 23F/-5C. Dark overcast. 65F in the room. Going for a walk.

 9.00 25F/-4C. Back from my short walk. It felt cold but there was no wind again. Patchy mist was forming while I was out. One of the [several] empty houses locally has been sold. 

 13.00 Lunch. Have returned from visiting my friend in my old car. I had to use jump leads to get it started from the MM. It was snowing lightly for most of the time. With the roads mostly salted. Except for the rural lanes. I saw several cyclists risking life and limb. I was sensible and shopped for groceries on the way home. The newer logs are burning fine so far. I shall bring a rack full indoors from the greenhouse to give then a better chance to dry out some more. 66F/19C in the room thanks to adding several logs before going out. There was still a good bed of red embers to light the next load of logs to go in.

 16.30 31F/-1C. I woke from a nap to find a couple of inches [50mm] of fresh snow has fallen. It was lucky I went out this morning. Though I did check the forecast before deciding to go. The news reports chaos from snow and icy roads elsewhere in Denmark and Sweden. The lowest temperature in 30 years, for November, was recorded somewhere  in Denmark. Snow depths in Denmark vary up to 8" or 20cm this morning. The cold weather is supposed to continue for some time.

 19.00 Dinner was salad.

~o~

29.11.2023 Free heat is always a delusion.

 ~o~

 Wednesday 29th 26F/-3C. Slightly more overnight snow. Up at 5.45 after a reasonable night. I was too warm at one point. As the room temperature dropped from 67F/19C at bedtime to 60F/15C this morning. 33F/1C in the greenhouse. 35F in the balcony room.

 7.00 I just checked and it is snowing lightly now. I am warmly dressed but ought to light the stove. Not sure what to do about the museum. What could I do if I did go? The fallen leaves will be under the snow. Or frozen in place. The forecast shows little or no new snow for Fyn. There could be up to 15cm/6" elsewhere. I won't risk a ride on the e-bike on icy roads. The trike could get there but what is the point? Somebody else might lose patience and control, on ice and run into me. The advice, from above, is to stay at home.

 8.45 I was waiting for it to get light enough for a walk. So I watched some tests of wood stove fuel on YouTube. Interestingly, they filled the stove and let it burn for four hours. I have tended to burn one log a at a time. Whereas my English friend fills his stove. There is no doubting how warm his room becomes. While I am getting lower room temperatures until hours after lighting it. 

 My fuzzy logic says I will burn more wood if I fill the stove. Though that means I must be present to ensure it doesn't burn right down or even go out. This happens too often! 

 Wood fuel blocks burn hotter but my stove maker doesn't recommend them. As I had so little of them left I haven't bothered to buy more. We used them for years in our large Jøtul stove. They were far more convenient and my wife could manage the loading and tending of the stove. In fact she insisted on it. So I had no say in the matter. Most of the winter it wasn't warm enough indoors. I would shop around for lowest price and buy 20 bags of briquettes at a time. They were sold in supermarkets and farm supply shops. Which meant there was no need to take the trailer to the timber yard. 

 The Jøtul box stove was designed for long logs of softwood like pine. It was also made horribly inefficient because I fitted a Jøtul water heating, insert tank to provide hot water. Which it managed but at the hideous expense of losing most of its heat to warm the house. "Free" hot water was a costly delusion. Once I had fitted the tank to the stove. Then assembled the large bore, iron pipe, "gravity" plumbing system. It was far too late to go back. 

 I only had the new stove fitted while my wife was in hospital. The stove had been sitting in the hall for months. She was livid but at least it was a professional job. Installed by our kind, master, chimney sweep. The heat from the new stove was immediate and shocking. Sadly my wife could not enjoy it for long. She died within a few short days. On a hospital bed brought into the newly emptied living room. While the mobile nurses and home helps attended to her needs.

 9.00. No museum today. Time for a therapeutic walk instead!

 10.00 28F/-2C. A warm, 67F/19C in the room. I made it to my usual turning point in the lanes. The lack of wind made it quite pleasant. I was too warm on the last leg in my down sweater and undid the zip. Bullfinches moved away, along the hedgerows, as I walked briskly. Flocks and groups of redwings were moving around the neighbourhood. The roads were largely dry and salted.

 It would not have been a problem to have gone to the museum. Though there are headline warnings about respiratory illnesses going the rounds. China is reported to be hiding a pandemic of pneumonia amongst children. So, packing a large group of elderly persons into a small room for morning coffee. May not be very healthy! My own, recent cough and snotty nose soon vanished thankfully.

 18.00 I have started making dinner. Boiled potatoes, chicken, mushrooms and peas.

 18.30 The potatoes have been peeled, boiled and turned down to simmer.   

~o~

28.11.2023 Trike ride.

 ~o~

 Tuesday 28th 28F/-2C. Overcast. Up at 6.15 after a disturbed night. Probably due to napping during the day. 57F/14C in the room. Bright moonlight was shining through the glazed gable end. Then down the stairs onto the living room floor. It was so bright I thought I'd left a light on.

 8.45 The stove is lit, It has just started snowing lightly. As I prepare for my walk. Snow and icy roads in east Jylland have caused serious problems on the roads and motorways. It is snowing harder now.

  10.45 28F. Steady sunshine. The stove is struggling to get the room up to 64F/18C. 38F/3C in the greenhouse. I am going to ride the trike into the village to shop. With icy roads, my other means of transport would not be be as safe. While I could survive on toast. It would become boring and quite a problem if the snow becomes serious over the next few days. [As forecast] More importantly, I need more bread to freeze for toast. I have also run out of bread rolls. 

 12.00 Returned in snow falling steadily. The larder and fridge are restocked. Riding the trike wasn't too bad. No suspension made it feel like it had square wheels after the full suspension e-bike. I had pumped up the almost flat HP tires before leaving. The rear gears were most reluctant to change. The PVC Outlander duffle bag was so stiff it was difficult to load with shopping. 

 Not too breathless or any pain from pedalling entirely manually. Except that I was only marginally quicker than the other shopping cyclists. The dropped [racing] handlebars felt very low and far away even on the hoods. Only about seven miles in total. Fitting flat MTB pedals and handlebars to the trike might be sensible. That would be much more comfortable and save me having to wear SPD MTB boots. How often would I ride the trike for the considerable expense in conversion? It would need all new brake and 11 speed gear levers for straight bars.

 13.30 The snow soon stopped falling after I came home. Being replaced by sunshine. The Greenhouse has risen to 44F/7C. Or 50F/10C if you believe the sensor in the insulating block. It doesn't need to be in the block. It could easily be fixed to the back of a bit of polystyrene foam. Just to block direct solar heating.

 17.00 24F/-4C. Only 64F/18C in the room despite the stove going all day. Albeit at a low air supply setting to try and save on logs. I am now trying two split logs at a time to boost output. Increasing the air lever setting for a hotter burn should help. The greenhouse is reading 34F/1C outside the kitchen. 41F/5C outside the living room. Museum day tomorrow. I might go on the trike. The old car doesn't have winter tires. It depends on snow conditions by tomorrow. Overnight snow is forecast. The route to the museum is fairly flat. I just need to allow more travelling time.

 That was very odd. By sheer accident I clicked on the MSN news page symbol. Which I never normally do. I'd forgotten what it was.  Only to find a sad story about my former neighbours of nearly 30 years ago. The same surname. So presumably their son had taken over the business.

 17.45 The room has now risen to a much more comfortable 67F/19C.

~o~

 

27.11.2023 See that fire!

 ~o~

 Monday 27th 34F/1C. Overcast. Up at 6.30. Room at 60F/15C. Greenhouse at 38F/3C. Balcony room 41F. I have two thermometers reading the greenhouse temperatures. The sensor outside the living room is reading much higher than that outside the kitchen. The latter is only heated to 55F. While the living room sometime reaches 70F//21C. This suggests the 9" solid brick wall is conducting more heat away than from the cooler kitchen. 

 Both outside sensors are placed near floor level behind the logs for solar shade. The gaps between and behind the logs should be enabling free air movement. I have just moved the kitchen wall sensor to a more exposed place behind the logs and it now reads 41F instead of 37F. I shall continue to monitor the greenhouse readings for agreement. 

 The living room is only at 60F this morning. So the indoor temperatures are presently much closer than during the day. However, heat loss can be considered as time related. How long does it take for the heat to cross a barrier? Whether it being poorly conducting or insulating. 

 7.45. I have lit the stove. Thank goodness for reliable kindling which actually burns! Still far too dark for a walk.

 10.00 Still overcast. Morning coffee after returning from a walk to the lanes. I had to force myself to keep going to my usual turning point. My morning walks have been getting shorter and shorter.  I saw several small groups of pretty bullfinches and a brown bird of prey. Which was being threatened by a noisy crow. The back field flooding looked worse. Only because the thin snow was still sitting on the icy surfaces. The room has only risen to 64F/18C so far. The light NE wind may not be helping. By increasing draughts and removing more heat from the roof insulation and wall surfaces.

 11.30 I felt so depressed and tired that I went back to bed for half an hour. The continuous heavy overcast was making me unhappy. I woke to bright sunshine and immediately sprang into action. Starting with reloading the log rack in the room. Last year's logs are already gone. With only a few thin sticks left for encouraging the fire when the stove is reluctant to burn. Or was, when the kindling was worthless.

 At this point I really ought to buy more logs. To fill the space now made available. Moving the existing logs to the empty space would be double handling. When I could be using a wheelbarrow to bring new logs straight to the space under the kitchen window. Amounting to perhaps 1/3 of the area of the south facing wall. As there is no need for easy access I could double or triple stack in depth. This would provide a reserve of medium dry logs for next time. Instead of starting from scratch with damp logs once the previous load is used up. Fetching logs in sunny weather is a waste of useful outdoor time in winter.

 Then I had another idea. I could make tall racks to go between the living room windows. This would greatly increase the potential height of stacked logs. While providing modest insulation using the logs. Then it occurred to me that I  could insulate behind the log racks. The problem is that this is the wall least in need of insulation. It is already protected by the greenhouse and enjoys the most sunshine. So I'll keep the rack idea in mind and do something more pressing. Than sitting on the computer making up more daft ideas.

13.00 35F/2C. Lunch. I have removed lots of stuff from indoors and the greenhouse. Which has been waiting to go to the sheds. Even went up to check the observatory for the first time in months. I need to shop. 

15.00 31F/-1C. I had another nap instead. Then cleaned the glass door of the stove while it was cool. Now relit. It is amazing how the glass completely disappears when it is clean. Quite magical. Like an open fire but safely and efficiently enclosed. Open fires lose most of their heat up the chimney. I used ceramic hotplate cleaner and microfibre cloth on the glass.

The sun is now sinking behind the neighbour's barn roof.  I have found a block of white, expanded polythene packaging and bored a small hole opposite a larger one. The block is hanging midway up the kitchen window. Hopefully the sensor will now read the air temperature out there without being affected by the sun or local heating of surfaces. 

 The small, white, naked sensor absorbed heat when the sun was out. Making my readings too high and irrelevant. The insulating block should reject solar warmth white still exposing the sensor to the air. I may need to enlarge the ventilation hole to allow more air to reach the sensor. The small hole just grips the fine flex leading to the sensor. So I can hang the block from the lead. Which is simply hooked over a window hinge.

 If the sun didn't shine on the sensor it would read correctly. This is why my outside thermometer sensor has hung freely under the northern eaves for years. The sun can't reach it at any time of year. Nor does the sun hit the northern roof slope in summer. Grazing incidence perhaps, around mid day, but not enough to warm the air a couple of feet below the roof surface. Another potential problem is radiation to the night sky. Which would/might make a naked sensor read low.

 19.00 27F/-3C. Dinner was poached eggs on toast and is already over. Along with a small glass of milk. There was never any reason to eat so late as I have been. So I decided to start dinner at 18.00 instead of 19.00 or later. I have been repeatedly dozing off during the day. Which must be because of my disturbed sleep patterns. Hopefully an earlier dinner will help to reduce that problem.

~o~

26.11.2023 Dusting of snow.

 ~o~

 Sunday 26th 24F/-4C. A dusting of rather granular snow. The room has dropped to 60F/15C overnight. It was 70F/21C at bedtime. I was warm and comfortable during the night. Up at 7am. I had a beer with dinner and paid for it with a couple of trips to the fire bucket. 

 The kitchen and bathroom have dropped just below the nominal 55F/13C. Despite having one, small, oil-filled radiator in each. Doors and windows closed. The greenhouse is frosted all over and showing 39F/4C. Even that small differential makes it a useful thermal barrier. To protect most of the the southern facade including four windows. Insulation might be more efficient but you can't store junk or logs in insulation. I could do more to reduce draughts out there. The balcony room is at a chilly 36F/2C.

 8.15 Time for a walk? 

 8.45. Sunshine. Time to go. I had to light the stove first to start warming the place. 

 9.45 28F/-2C. The sunshine is often masked by dappled cloud. Just a short walk again. I wore my Scarpa walking boots and enjoyed much superior grip. The roads were no longer dangerously slippery. As they were yesterday with the Sorel boots. 

 A heron crossed the road. Slowly flapping its wings ahead of me. Small flocks of sparrows moved about. I see redwings quite often at this time of year. It didn't feel as cold today thanks to the complete lack of perceptible wind. Though that didn't stop the wind turbines from turning.

 21.00 32F/0C. Another lazy day. Dinner was chicken, mushrooms and beans. I didn't feel like making a full Sunday dinner. 

10.30 I have just been along with a recycling bin. There has been a little more snow but not much.

~o~

25.11.2023

 ~o~

 Saturday 25th 33F/1C. Some sunshine is forecast for this morning. Cold all day with northerly winds. Up at 5am after tormenting myself with memories. Up twice in the night. 62F/17C in the room. 

7.45. The sky is clear but still not light enough to go for a walk. The cars are frosted but dark. Not the white of a recent frost. I have just lit the stove. The new kindling is fine. It burns as expected.

 10.00. Returned from a short walk. The usual collective drives to stay away from the tyre spray on the roads. The Sorel boots felt lethal on the black ice! Even after the roads had been sprayed it took great care to remain upright. I mostly kept to the verges or loose gravel.

 Even our own, puddled drive was dangerous. Where even the roughest gravel was coated in invisible ice. The sun is out now . Which will hopefully raise the temperature in the greenhouse. Currently showing 44F with the outside at 34F. [7C & 1C] This is before the sun reaches the greenhouse. 

 It eventually reached 45F/7C out there. 10F over the outside temperature.

 21.30 32F/0C. A light dusting of snow has fallen since it became dark. A day of inactivity. Mostly watching YouTube videos. Dinner was chips and fish fingers.

~o~ 

24.11.2023 Snow is forecast.

  ~o~

 Friday 24th. 36F/2C. Another grey day with showers and gales. Hovering just above freezing. 65F/18C in the room.

Up at 6.15 after weird dreams and two visits to the fire bucket. I drank nothing after tea at 6pm. Slightly snotty nose again. Wet cough when I try to clear my wet throat. The cars are plastered in larch needles.

 9.30 Morning coffee over. I went for walk along the local drives. To avoid the wet roads and tyre spray as much as possible. The drainage beck is down. The flooding on the field about the same. The cold NW wind had my eyes streaming at first but passed off as I turned downwind. Brief weak sunshine at times.

 There is snow forecast. Which means I have to ensure I have shopped for the basics. The 200m of drive means access may be very limited for a while. Though the e-bike may be able to get out it risks riding on icy roads. Temperatures are not expected to rise above freezing. Which will prolong the snow lying and possibly blocking the drive. I feel too old to clear deep snow manually. As I had to so often in the past. When neighbours showed no interest in snow clearing. Until I had finished and they could safely drive along to reach their beer stocks. Now those neighbours are absent and nobody left around to clear snow.

 Another option is to ride the trike to the shops. It is very stable on ice and snow from my extended experience. The Trykit two wheel drive means it can progress on most surfaces. I rode for miles on snow and ice in the past. One disadvantage is my holding up the traffic. When the road width is reduced by snowplough moraines at the verges. I was always very aware off this and would pull off the road. To let balked traffic pass as soon as possible. 

 I had better check the Trykit is roadworthy. The big yellow bag needs to go back on the rear rack. To hold the vital shopping. There are home delivery services at some supermarkets. I could try those if things get too bad. I could have the shopping dumped at the entrance to the shared drive. Walk along and collect it when I get an SMS notice of delivery. Which is the usual signal to make payment.

 Failing all else I can walk to the shops. 5km each way isn't unmanageable if I take it steadily. Though it wont be much fun being sprayed by salt. From long experience I know the verges will be covered by deep ridges of snow from repeated ploughing. So I'd have to walk through deep puddles on the asphalt. 

 I'll have to look for a suitable rucksack in the charity shops. I have assorted sports bags but they aren't suitable for carrying anything for longer distances. Than from the car park to the gym.

 11.15 Lots of bright sunshine. Returned from the shops in the MM. No rucksacks. 

 An afternoon wasted dozing, napping and browsing.

 Dinner was beans on toast.

~o~

23.11.2023 [2] Buzzrack e-Scorpion 1 e-bike rack.

 ~o~ 

2nd post today.

 12.45. My car, tow hook mounted, cycle rack has arrived. The young driver was pleasant and carried the heavy box over to the door. Before taking a confirmation of delivery picture and departing into the rain. 

 The Buzzrack e-Scorpion 1 was well packed. Ensuring an immediate sense of confidence in my purchase. I quickly unboxed the rack and experimented with its adjustment. 

 It seems very sturdy at the expense of some considerable weight. [13.5kg] It is designed specifically for a single, large and heavy, long wheelbase e-bike weighing a maximum of 30kg. A two e-bike model [e-Scorpion 2] is also available and able to carry double the load.

 A handle and wheels are provided. To make light work of moving the folded rack about on smooth surfaces. Lifting it into a car boot with a high threshold might tax a small woman. Though the comfortable handle will help. The rack will also be required to be lifted onto the tow hook ball of course. Though it is supposed to be immediately stable once lowered into place on the ball. I bought the matching steel ramp to aid loading the heavy Moustache e-bike onto the rack. The ramp is telescopic in three sections for compactness.

 The inclement weather does not readily lend itself to a photography session. So I will keep an eye out for a break between showers.  

 The two light units are separated for delivery. These are mounted on a generous length of cable terminated in a 13pin plug. I need a 7 pin plug for my shiny new tow hook on the Morris Minor. 

 Though readily available, the 13-7 pin adapters are considered a poor, long term choice. Clips are provided to dress the cable neatly. I won't bother adding them. Until I know how I'll proceed on the 7-pin plug problem.

https://youtu.be/tUeoT3JWnLs?si=BALbhC5Dv9cxlhEY

 A brief pause in the rain under a heavy overcast was just a teaser. As soon as I had the rack safely on the car it started raining hard! Not a great image but you get the general idea. I will even try to get it straight on the car next time. More to follow once the weather allows normal outdoor service as usual.

_______________

 I used the last log so reloaded the ring rack from the older greenhouse stack. Being sited indoors, near the stove [at a safe distance] ensures the logs get a last chance to dry before being used. Prior to that they live in the greenhouse. Where they dry over the summer heat to around 5%. Then slowly reabsorb moisture as the seasons change to cooler and wetter weather. I recently found 20% moisture content in the greenhouse stack when tested with the Morsø tester. 

 The vast stack at the timber merchants is in a huge, open-ended shed but showed around 26% moisture content. 5% would be considered very low. Leading to rapid burning. This low reading would be at a time when the stove would not normally be lit. Winter air humidity will automatically produce a more normal moisture content in under cover storage. Provided there is free air movement. Knocking two split logs together should produce a clear, ringing sound. Wet wood just sounds dull when knocked together.

 Stacking in the open out of doors would raise the moisture content dramatically. Though it is suggested that freshly cut, "green" wood spends at least a year [or two] exposed to the weather on dry ground. This helps to wash the natural oils out of the timber. It then needs to be stacked under ventilated cover to ensure it dries for burning. 

 Wet wood burns slowly and coats the stove and chimney with smelly, inflammable tar. As the fire has to evaporate the moisture content before it can burn properly. This moisture mixes with oils in the wood and condenses out onto available surfaces. Most chimney fires are caused by burning wet wood. The smoke from dry wood should be invisible as it exits the chimney.

 Dinner was chicken, mushrooms and two fried eggs.

~o~

23.11.2023 [1] Thermal OCD

 ~o~

 Thursday 23rd 50F/10C. Heavy overcast. A whole day of gales from the NW is in the forecast. With showers. Gusting to 24m/s. [54mph] Arguably the best direction for protection from the wind thanks to the tree, shelter belt.

 Up at 6am after having weird dreams and getting up twice in the night. I have a problem clearing my throat, an intermittent wet cough and slightly runny nose. Should I go to the cooking class and risk passing it on to the other guys? It started yesterday morning at the museum. I didn't notice it during the afternoon. It returned this morning. I have decided to stay at home to protect my fellow cooks. 

 It was 63F/17C in the room this morning. I had put another log on at bedtime. 50F outside and in the greenhouse. I lit the stove at 7am. The kindling is burning normally at the first attempt. I asked the supervisor at the sheltered workshop about it. Where they split the kindling from used pallets. He said nobody else had mentioned kindling which would not burn. The logs are going down rapidly now. I have all but used the last rack load.

 8.30 51F/11C. It is unusually dark indoors but the room is warming nicely. Now reached 68F/20C. I have a slight headache. The tow bar rack for the e-bike is out for delivery today. According to track and trace. 

 The self-opening [gravity] louvre on the kitchen, extractor fan is letting too much air in when it is windy. I hear it rattling and can feel the wind blowing through the fan housing. Not good. 

 I have just swapped the battery in the balcony room thermometer. Presently reading 14C/57F. These coin type cells only last about a year. The large, digital thermometers were heavily discounted. So I bought half a dozen and placed them strategically around the hovel. They can be easily read from several yards away. The old digital thermometers had small display screens. Requiring close reading wearing glasses.

 The west facing, double glazed, gable end of the old balcony must lose heat in winter. The ceiling out there is newly covered in strawboard panels. With 30-40cm of rockwool above. It is unheated except for heat loss from the cool bathroom/kitchen below. The bathroom ceiling has 4" of glass fibre insulation. Intended to reduce heat loss when the balcony above was wide open. I left it in place when re-boarding the bathroom ceiling.

 The downstairs warmth could be felt rising up my face as I walked back down the stairs. Suggesting there is no serious heat loss up the open stairwell. Perhaps the stairwells distance from the stove is helping? The far end of our old bedroom is at 62F/17C. 

 We lived upstairs, year round, for a quarter of a century before my wife died. It felt more comfortable up there in winter. The new stove is far more powerful and should be circulating the warmth better. Thanks to its convection design. So it makes no sense that it is so cool upstairs. All the windows are firmly closed. The stove in the living room is right under the old bedroom area of the open plan attic.

 The balcony room has a large pair of ill-fitting, single glazed doors. [French windows] Separating it from the rest of the attic. Triangular windows are readily available and could increase the light into the attic. If one were placed on either side of the doors under the 45º roof/ceiling slope. This would give a much more open and airy feeling to that end of the attic. With views out over the westerly garden to the boundary trees. Without increased heat loss in winter. 

 I took down the faded velvet curtains. Which hid the old glazed doors for most of the time. The balcony room was and remains an untidy storage area. Plans to clear all the junk. To allow me to sit out there are on hold. It would need solar protection of the huge glazed area. Temperatures soar out there in summer. I imagined making louvres for the entire gable end but the motivation is lacking. 

 A large, triangular, solar sail would work. Provided a 20m long guy line was affixed high up to one of the boundary trees. It would need somebody to go up a ladder. To fix hooks for the other two edges of the sail. A skylight, placed as high as possible on the north ceiling out in the balcony room, would help to shed unwanted heat.

 9.15 Morning coffee. I can see rain on the greenhouse roof. 

 10.00 72F/22C in the room. I feels too hot! Making me feel unwell. I'll have to let the stove go out for a while. Or open the intervening doors to the kitchen and warm it up out there? Upstairs now at 64F/18C. The balcony room is at 52F/11C. Exactly the same as the greenhouse and out of doors. If there is no extra  warmth out there then it can't lose heat. It is just acting as a thermal barrier or air lock. Much as do the small entrance halls.

  A closed, glazed porch around the back door would reduce draughts. Provided the main entrance door is replaced with a glazed door with modern seals. To let direct light into the hall.

 12.30 The room remains at 70F/21C. Though it feels cooler. While the kitchen has risen to 63F/17C from 55F/13C earlier. It is still raining. With the wet, greenhouse roof covered in larch needles carried by the wind.  

I have started a second post for today. To discuss the arrival of the Buzzrack e-Scorpion e-bike rack.

~o~

22.11.2023 Sniff! Cough! Hack?

 ~o~

 Wednesday 22nd. 32F/0C. A grey morning is forecast and increasingly windy. Rain from this afternoon with gales. Up at 6.00 after a quiet night. Museum day. I'll go in the MM. I hope the roads aren't slippery or salted. 

 I put another log on at bedtime. Because it had dropped to freezing point last night. There was still a glow this morning because I had turned the air control right down. Perhaps too far. The room is at 61F/16C but feels colder than normal. So I have relit the stove. I can't be here to monitor it and add more logs. So I'll have to warm the room and hope it lasts.

 7.40 The sky seems clear. The cars are snow white with frost. There is a crimson, fiery glow, low in the south east. Framed by the woods and overlying cloud. It is lightening to orange along the visible, eastern horizon over the low hill. I can feel the warmth from the stove from yards away. Like sunshine on my face. 

 8.00 The eastern and southern sky is bright orange as the sun's glow is filtered though cloud. It is becoming increasingly overcast.

 8.15 Morning coffee with a toasted marmalade roll. The MM started okay and the frost has already lifted. I will have to dress very warmly. It feels very cold outside and the wind is rising.

12.00 39F/4C. Overcast, slightly misty and breezy but dry so far. Home again after clearing fallen leaves. I developed a wet cough and runny nose during the morning So I shan't be going back today. 

63F/17C in the room. I have relit the stove. Whoops! Not a stick of kindling left! Another example of poor organisational skills shown by my supervisor. 

 15.45 I had to go shopping for more kindling. Then on to the supermarket. While in the supermarket my hearing aids suddenly started playing very loud Xmas jingles. Then they ran a very long, very obvious scam purporting to be by Elon Musk. Register your email address and get $1000 per day for the rest of your life. Free of charge for an initial 45 people! Except that he didn't know how to pronounce his own name. Despite it being [supposedly] his voice. Deep fake? There was mention of continuing to watch the whole video. YouTube? No idea.

 This was followed by what sounded like a Danish radio pop channel mentioning Århus. With the DJs clearly on hallucinatory drugs. I was driving along a busy main road with zero stopping places. So I could do nothing to switch it off except to drive on.

 Once I arrived at home I discovered  my phone was lit up. I switched it off and the ridiculous racket stopped. I have no idea how this happened. I used my phone only to pay for the kindling. My hearing aids are linked to the phone by the manufacturer's own app. Have I or they been hacked? A little research showed that Elon Musk scams are as common as thieves. 

 Dinner was fish fingers and chips. No photos please. The wind is making it difficult to keep the house warm. The stove is struggling to maintain 65F/18C.

~o~

21.11.2023 Flutes and the MM is back.

 ~o~

 Tuesday 21st 40F/4.4C. A grey but dry morning is forecast. With possible brightening around lunch time. Light winds from the NE. Got up only once again. Then decided to stay up at 6.30 after a quiet night.

 My old car is misbehaving. So it is a good excuse to go to my cooking class on the e-bike. Such opportunities, of dry and relatively quiet conditions, are rare enough at this time of year.  It is cold. So I shall have to dress warmly for the ride. Then change into normal, indoor clothing when I get there. 

 There is a warning for severe gales for the entire west coast of Jylland. [Aka: Jutland] Reaching Fyn on Wednesday and Thursday. Hopefully I shall have the Morris Minor back by then. 

  I am trying to accurately monitor the temperature out in the greenhouse. It feels very cold out there this morning. I am using the digital thermometer's outdoor sensor on a long lead. Finding somewhere to place the sensor. Where it isn't affected by the house warmth or sunshine is a problem. 

 I have moved the sensor to hang down behind the logs leaning against the house wall. This ensures shade from the sun but will read high from the warmer house wall. Perhaps I should place the sensor in a polystyrene block but open to the air at top and bottom. The outside thermometer is presently showing 39F. The greenhouse is showing 45F.

 14.30 Returned from the cooking class. Where I made flutes. Long loaves of bread. Others made potato soup and we each made potato and garnish on rye bread. All very tasty. The Carlsberg is zero alcohol. I don't drink and drive. Nor drink and ride.

 I stopped on my way home to chat to the Morris Minor specialist. My car has passed official inspection [Syn] without a problem. It will be delivered to my home some time after 15.00. When I shall have to drive him home again. Though I might learn far more about driving these cars. If I let him drive us both back to his garage/workshop. I can then go on to the shops.

 16.30 Returned from the shops. The car is a great improvement. Quiet without the leaking exhaust. The heater is amazing now. Having the other rear view mirror fitted lets me see the width of the vehicle. Not to mention greater safety when reversing.

 20.00 Dinner was a toasted bread roll with marmalade and a small cup of milk. I had eaten at lunch time so shouldn't have needed anything but I suddenly felt hungry.

~o~

20.11.2023 Greenhouse clearance. Or else!

 ~o~

 Monday 20th 47F/8C. Another wet day is forecast. Up at 6.15. Slept well. Got up once. I was thinking my diet is too greasy. Too much fried stuff. Not nearly enough fruit and vegetables. Not too much meat though. Apart from weekly chicken. The minimum pack size means two meals. 

 The first broccoli I tried was great. The second lot was undercooked and bitter. Salad was a new discovery without access to salad cream. Tasty and interesting when all mixed together. I would still like salad cream. If it was available on the shelves in Danish supermarkets. I tried different mayonnaise but didn't like it much. Another waste of money.

 I have to do something about the logs in the trailer. There wasn't room for them in the greenhouse. So I left half a trailer full with the cover clipped over it. Then it rained. And then tipped down some more. With huge puddles pulling the tarpaulin cover away from the trailer's edge. 

 No doubt some water got inside. Which was really stupid of me. After making such a fuss about dryness of the firewood. Yesterday there was a huge bang outside. The weight of the accumulated rainwater had tipped the tail of the trailer downwards! The tow bar and pilot wheel were up in the air!

 The image below shows the inexcusably, untidy greenhouse a year ago. Warts and all! I lost a lot of the image width due to correcting phone camera lens distortion. There are actually eleven bays of 60cm or 2' in the 22' [6.7m] length. 8' [2.4m]  in width. I'll take a better picture later. If it ever gets light enough today. There might even be a before and after image. 

 My sharing an image of the greenhouse is quite deliberate. Unless I go back and delete everything, so far, I have no choice but to tidy up out there. I am using my few blog readers as virtual visitors. To force myself to actually do something.

 I can't double stack the new logs without blocking the greenhouse door to the drive. So I will finally have to tidy the greenhouse and make room further along. I consider it important not to double handle logs too much. It wastes so much time. I try to load wheelbarrows to bring the logs into the greenhouse. Close to where they will be stacked. Keeping the trailer loads separate avoids taking damp logs indoors. I am still very reluctant to handle the remaining stuff my wife left in the greenhouse. 

 Something must be done out there. Time is just passing without any real progress. It is now over 18 months since my wife died. Yet I am still struggling mentally. When so many of the things I must handle remind me of her. 

 She did not encourage me to go out into the greenhouse. It was packed with junk wood, pots, seed trays, old bamboo furniture and smaller gardening tools. The greenhouse was lined with tattered, white, shower curtains on the walls. To block the hot sun in summer. Equally tattered, lightweight tarpaulins hung from the roof. Loads of flattened cardboard boxes were leaning against the house wall. Perhaps in anticipation of a fantasy house move?

 Because of the hanging tarpaulins I could not stand upright anywhere out there. So it became her private sanctuary. She would sew her seeds in recycled meat trays on the remaining corner of an overloaded, folding table. Which is still there. Doing nothing useful except holding more junk. 

 Today is the day I finally start to make a real effort out there. It is fortunate I have so few visitors. Because the greenhouse is highly visible on the final approach to the house. In my wife's time it was almost completely hidden by towering hedges and ragged tarpaulins. Now all cleared. Except for all the junk on the floor. Much of which is now my own fault. It is forecast to be a wet day so I have no excuse not to do something useful. Instead of only writing about it.

8.15. Misty. Light enough for a short walk. Still 64F/18C in the room. I shan't bother to light the stove yet.

 9.15 Back from my walk. It was quite misty. My nice neighbour and I met and chatted about our respective "new" cars. Then I carried out my usual check of the back field flooding. The beck had gone down a little. So was no longer flooding. The water on the field was higher and covered more ground. Though still well above the beck. So it has the potential to drain that way if a channel should form. Had the beck been higher than the flooding it [the beck] would add to the flooding.

 12.00 I am not sure bringing the rest of the logs in from the trailer is classed as tidying. Though I did remove some boxes and stuff. I folded the table at the far end and put the driest logs in its place. It was obvious that I had a short load of logs from the timber yard. The stack didn't even reach up to the windowsills. My friend is threatening to come over and make me clear everything out. So I'd better finish the job before he visits!😉

 15.00 Light rain, heavy overcast. Lots of stuff to go but the recycling yard is only open on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

15.30 Progress. All sorted but only half empty. The image above doesn't show the stuff ready to go to the recycling yard. There are leaks from every skylight. Drips from the several opening handles. Getting up there to run some silicone is a problem. The drips at the front are due to the curved, plastic shoulder panels. Which age and weather over time. Causing them to leak wind and rain.

 The ants are burrowing under the front of the greenhouse. Undermining the 6"x6" [150x150mm] green oak foundations. Which I replaced at intervals. I found hundreds of my wife's seed labels in a tub on the floor. They have all gone into the bag for plastic recycling.

20.15 41F/5C. Dinner was fish fingers, pasta, peas and tinned tomatoes. 21C/69F in the room all evening.

~o~

19.11.2023 Having a good moan.

 ~o~

 Sunday 19th 41F/5C. A very wet day is forecast with over 20mm of rain expected. 64F/18C in the room. 70F/21C at bedtime last night. Up at 4.45 after tormenting myself with memories. My efforts to escape the past, via the e-bike and MM and expanded social commitments, are fine, while I am actively engaged. 

 Alone at home I feel sad, lost and completely unmotivated. There are so many things I should attend to. When all I want to do is run away. Everything feels like a series of increasingly large hurdles looming ahead. Just tidying the place to keep it presentable is becoming an increasing chore.   

 Yesterday I had a look online at houses for sale at the very bottom of the price range. Apart from their situation, many on main roads, all of them were better looking than my hovel.

 My isolation on the end of the long drive continues to protect me from reality. Or the need to do anything much at all. I keep imagining pulling my two storey observatory over with the car and a rope. With it lying on its side I should help me to dismantle it safely. Without my being too far off the ground. I just need to unbolt the uprights from the foundation blocks and hey presto! Or not.

 The problem is doing so with a large dome parked right in front of the planned fall line. The shed beside the observatory is not immune from external damage if anything goes horribly wrong. The observatory building forms a circle in plan. It could easily roll sideways. So another Catch22 situation prevents progress. Towards a simple, home built carport to protect the MM. [Morris Minor.]

 The loss of the towering observatory would smarten up the place no end. To what purpose? The hovel would not sell and I have no plans to move anyway. So the observatory looms. Reminding me of my endless escaping from reality. While my wife suffered the long years alone, indoors. Enveloped in the detritus and beauty. Of our years of collecting and hoarding. So that it was difficult to reach most of the space available.

 That which I haven't donated to charity is now inefficiently and untidily filling the upstairs spaces. My small, early victories in tidying and removing the unwanted now seems utterly pointless. I don't even like going up there any more. Where we lived together for over a quarter of a century. In heat and in cold. As the downstairs became ever more full of excess storage and the furniture to house and hide it all. If it were not for my clothes and laundry up there. I would no longer have to climb the steep stairs. To suffer the countless memories it brings. 

 7.00  I have just been out in the dark. With the outside light on. To empty the overfull recycling waste bin from the kitchen. It was already pouring with rain. I return to the brightly lit kitchen and the glaring untidiness. The tubs of decorating materials and bags of cement and tile adhesive. All untouched in probably over a year. I'll ignore it, as usual. Light the stove instead. Return to the familiar keyboard. To pour out my petty woes. When, in reality, I am more fortunate than most other people on the planet. Get a grip!   

 12.00 21C/70F in the room. I wanted to go for a walk but it has been raining all morning. Am I waterproof? Some of my clothes are. Excuses? None that matter. So I went anyway. The Gore-Tex jacket darkening with the rainfall at every step. There was a traffic jam at the entrance to the new drive. The drainage beck had overflowed its banks. While the standing water around the pond was much increased in area and depth. I took a few snaps and retreated back to the warmth of the stove.

 21.30 Dinner was sausages, brown mushrooms, boiled potatoes, mini carrots, peas and gravy. 

~o~

18.11.2023 Excellent progress on the MM.

 ~o~

 Saturday 18th 35F/2C. Heavy overcast. Still struggling to get light at 7.45. Some sunshine is promised this morning. Light winds. Could manage a ride suitably dressed. Up at 6.15 after one visit to the fire bucket. 60F/15C in the room. Though it feels cooler. It reached 20C/68F last night. The old car is white with frost. Including the windows. 

 The little oil-filled radiators are each keeping the kitchen and bathroom at 55F. Though both had to have their controls reset as it became cooler outside. All internal doors are closed. All windows are firmly closed. The room surfaces are all at ambient temperature. I'll need to restock the ring log rack form the greenhouse.

 08.00. Just waiting for the stove fire to take hold before going for a walk. The overcast is breaking into pink blobs.

 8.15. The stove is finally well alight. 

 9.15 Returned from an unusually long walk. Down to the village. Then followed the soggy track along the marsh past the lake. Only two herons visible and they were leaving. There were lots of tire tracks traversing the steeply sloping field. Presumably hunters. I was able to use these tracks to pass the flooding lower down. The beck was very full as it neared the lake. 

 Eventually I crossed the field to the forest and returned via the main track back the village. A shortcut across the next field, via the spray tracks brought me home. The low sun shone almost continuously. My hands were cold in the GripGrab gloves at first but I took them off on the return leg. There was no sense of a breeze but the turbines were turning briskly.

 Three small birds of prey were flying together near home. I thought one was attacking another but it may have been offering food. I could only see them in silhouette against the blinding sun. So couldn't identify them. About kestrel size with one smaller. Male/female/young mix?

 10.00  36F/2C. Still sunny. I had to relight the stove as the fire had burnt down in my absence. Only birch logs indoors. Beech would have lasted better but I had no plans for a longer walk when I left. I fancy a ride. I could go to the MM man to check on progress. Not to bother him. Just to see if I need to wait for an exhaust from the UK. I didn't see any frost or ice on the roads. Nor anywhere else for that matter.   

 13.00 Just returned from a [cold] 31km ride. My Morris Minor now has a tow hook, [with working lights on a 7 pin trailer socket] a complete new exhaust and a nearside rear view mirror. It still needs the heater valve to be replaced with a better one and an official safety test. I have emphasised with the MM expert that there is no hurry. So I might get the car back by next Wednesday. 

 The flooding was almost all in the fields and marshes. Sometimes showing huge areas of water where there is usually none to be seen. Often close to road level but not quite. The flooding I avoided the other day had all but gone. 

 There was no ice anywhere but I became slightly too cold again. The fur lined, Puma boots/trainers were fine for warmth. Fortunately I carry GripGrab's excellent, split mitts and clear [safety] glass. Sunglasses make me horribly depressed when it is grey. The SE-southerly wind was far more noticeable as time passed. The sunshine eventually succumbed to encroaching cloud. My chest and hands felt increasingly cold. The mitts quickly solved the cold hands. However three layers of clothing under the Endura jacket were still not enough.

 Perhaps the tiny wind flap isn't broad enough to protect the full length zip? I should try the old cycling trick of arranging a newspaper down the front inside my jacket. I used to do that in my youth. When I commuted between Bath and Bristol on an assortment of bikes and a trike in winter. Back then I had only old jumpers for riding my bikes. So I bought a cagoule and quickly discovered the meaning of condensed sweat. The mobile sauna was mine!   

 Tomorrow's forecast is for another 25mm or 1" of rain. This on top of record rainfall, existing flooding and waterlogged ground. It might be a good time to invest in a decent rubber dinghy. Particularly as a climate report suggests the Antarctic will be ice free in summer by 2050. With the Antarctic following on behind. 

 An unprecedented sea level rise is considered unavoidable. At present global temperatures of only 1.2C above pre-industrial levels. It is already far too late to limit global warming to 1.5C. You'll need a pair of Wellies 20m tall in the leg. That's about 65'. Twice as high as ordinary houses. Most of northern Europe will be underwater. Denmark only a vague memory. 

 Dinner was cheese on toast with tomatoes.

~o~

17.11.2023 Stayin' afloat.

 ~o~

 Friday 17th 39F/4C. Overcast. The forecast is confusing. Showers and windy. Meanwhile the hourly chart shows very light winds and no rain. The Copenhagen area has had record rainfall. [Since 1874] With the [underground] Metro out of action due to flooding. Up at 6.15 after one visit to the fire bucket in the night.

 7.30 Just beginning to get light. I have a shopping list. I have an e-bike. I'll see what the weather looks like in daylight. Before committing to pedalling to the shops. The retail services of a slightly more distant village are required. I may have to use my old car if it is too, unpleasantly wet for the bike. It's not just the stuff falling out of the sky. More the spray off passing vehicles. I'll have to have a search for my waterproof trousers. They may be hanging in the shed.

 I will assume I don't have to be at home this morning. To accept the MM back already. It may need a new exhaust. Which would have to be ordered from England. Or, it may simply be leaking at the manifold joint. As they often do.[Allegedly.] The car has to go for an official inspection after having a tow hook fitted. The noisy exhaust would be an automatic fail. 

9.45 Back from my walk in light drizzle. Two lighter blocks and some newspaper later the kindling in the stove is showing signs of small flames. I'll just have to add more newspaper. Not much sign of change on the minor flooding. Elsewhere there are roads and motorways closed following record rainfall. More rain promised for the weekend. I had better go shopping in the old car.

12.00 42F/6C. It is brightening up a little. I had to bring one lot of shopping home before moving onto another village. The first had no bread rolls [for today's lunch] and the air hose at one garage wasn't working. The second garage had no air at all.  

13.00 Lunch. I shopped at the second village and topped up the tyres.

21.00 Dinner was sausage, mushrooms and broccoli. The broccoli was underdone after ten minutes but still edible.

~o~

16.11.2023 MM in the garage.

 ~o~

 Thursday 16th 38F/3C. Overcast and blowing a gale. It looks dry at the moment but showers and rain are forecast. Heavy rain warnings further east. Turning to sleet or snow. 60F/15C in the room. So I have lit the stove. Woke several times in the night.

 The Morris is going to have some work done by a specialist. So I have to deliver it. 

 9.45 MM delivered. I had to change my familiar route because of flooding on a lane. After a chat about the work to be done I was driven home by the MM restorer. Via the flooded lane. As I watched the huge bow wave, from the passenger seat of his car, I was glad I had not risked it myself.

 11.15 Google says that I have dysesthesia or peripheral neuropathy. A sensation of one foot feeing cold and wet when it isn't. I should apologise for any discomfort caused to Sorel. I am going to risk a short walk. Despite the forecast showers and wind.

 Flooding on the back field is increasing in depth and area. The beck [in the foreground] is much risen. Copenhagen had 60mm of rain. Pumps were brought in to clear the flooded metro. Countries around the globe are suffering from flooding. 

Had a video chat with my friend.

 19.00 I should have gone shopping but didn't. I shan't starve.

 20.3021C/70F. Chips, fish fingers and cherry tomatoes. Followed by a small glass of milk.

~o~

15.11.2023

 ~o~

 Wednesday 15th 41F/ 5C. Up twice in the night. Got up at at 4.45. Nothing to drink after 17.15. I had an apple to clean my palate after dinner. 

 It is museum day. Possible showers so I shall go in the MM. First, I had better go back to bed to catch up on my sleep.

 8.15  Went back to bed and slept for an hour. Breakfast over. Had a shower. 

 I drove to the museum because the forecast was showers. It was sunny all day. There was a lot of water passing through the old millpond due to record rainfall. The grill leading to the drain passing under the road had to be cleared to avoid flooding. A pile of twigs and leaves had dammed the flow.

 My task today was gathering fallen leaves. Then wheelbarrowing them to the compost area up in the woods. I was aching all over by lunchtime! The multi-tined fork was unnecessarily heavy but there was no choice.

 The museum director had dressed in period costume as a teacher. A number of schoolchildren arrived to spend time in the old classroom. I hope he didn't use the cane on them! 

Dinner was poached eggs on toast. Followed by an apple and a small glass of milk.

The forecast is for 25mm of rain overnight. Sjælland will get up to 50mm! With storm force winds.

~o~

14.11.2023 Do I need an ark?

 ~o~

 Tuesday 14th 48F/9C [at 8.15] Heavy overcast. Overnight rain should clear soon. Then grey, dry and windy until this evening. Up at 7.30 after getting up three times in the night. High water content of salad?

 The back field is already suffering from the drainage beck overflowing its banks. This is the "absorbent soil" the council mentions. In its response to my query about local flooding following the major earthworks.

 8.30 A grey tabby cat is hunting on the back lawn. Sitting and listening for movement in the leaf litter. 

 Time for a walk. There is something wrong with the Sorel insoles. I am going to experiment with alternatives. The right foot feels far more uncomfortable. As if walking barefoot on gravel. Is this what is causing the sensation of cold and damp only on the right foot?

  I have an excuse for a ride to another village to the north. Which would expose me to crosswinds. Rather oddly there is no sign of a breeze. It should already be gusting to 11m/s from the west. 

 9.15. No perceptible wind. The heavy, overnight rain has left lots of puddles on the drive and minor flooding on the fields. The speeding lorries were dragging huge clouds of tire spray. I just looped along the neighbours drives to photograph the increased water levels. The drainage beck has already overflowed its banks and turned brown.  

 The natural pond is tripled in size. With lots of outlying, connected puddles. Only the protruding grass gave the illusion of separation. It is difficult to see the new inlet to the pipe from above. Though it looks to be running at about half its diameter. Rather than the third depth only yesterday. 

 The new pasture [image left] was flooded over a large area. Not to any great depth but already lapping the edge of the old drive. As the geographical low point locally, it would need quite some drainage system. To carry the water away to the beck's old inlet drain. Assuming it could cope.

 This is still early in the winter. So there is plenty of time for the expected rainfall to increase the flooding. This autumn has already been record wet. I saw lots of standing water out on the fields on my ride yesterday. Not the flooding one sees on the news but damaging to crops and pasture. 

 Rather than rush of for another ride I did some small chores at home. The bottom of the postbox now has gained a raised galvanised net on the inside. To keep the post above the rainwater. Which blows into the exposed, metal box. Leaving the increasingly rare post sopping wet. I do check every day just in case. Everything is done online in Denmark. So it can easily go a week. Without any physical post being delivered.

 The trailer tarpaulin cover was filling with water too. So I bailed it empty. Then added new buttons where the originals had fallen off. The elastic rope, which tensions the edge of the cover needed all the help it could get. Missing buttons allowed the rope to slacken off. Under the immense weight of the collected rainwater. Meanwhile I continue to try and stay on top of the laundry. Even though the indoor airers are fully loaded. 

17.00  I went shopping in the MM as it became dark and drizzling. The demister/screen of the heater is very poor. No discernible warmth or airflow blowing up the screen. The blower fan is in the engine bay. With a long, corrugated hose feeding the heater assembly under the dash. Fishtails should blow air up the screen but don't. The control is very simple. A metal flap. Three positions stop the airflow, allow air to the screen or to the car. 

 One problem I discovered early on was welding spray [?] on the inside of the windscreen. Trying to use a squeegee was like running it over coarse sandpaper. A ceramic hob, razor blade scraper removed the grit from the windscreen. I ran my hand over the glass and it was now free of adhering particles. The squeegee now worked as it should. The next problem is directing the air to the screen. Otherwise I can't see out for condensation! 

 I have watched numerous videos on the Morris Minor/Mini heater. Though these were earlier models with a motor onboard the heater. The basic design remains the same. The simple flap and assorted corrugated hoses directing the air appropriately. Or not. As in this case. More homework required. The Haynes manual doesn't cover the heater. Which is odd. The forums have numerous posts on improving the heater.

 Dinner was chicken and mushrooms, a fried egg and baked beans. Along with a buttered bread roll and followed by an apple for desert. I had to use up the chicken so diced and fried the whole pack. Burp! 😋

~o~

13.11.2023 Backwards progress.

 ~o~

 Monday 13th 41F/5C. Overcast, still and misty. Buildings and trees are soft silhouettes at 150m. Possible heavy rain forecast for overnight tonight from 18.00.

 The room is at a typical 62F/17C. Got up only once in the night after having no drink with dinner. Got up at 7.30am. 

 I have to go to the bank in town. To have them sign a "Life Certificate" for my British pension. To prove I am still, more or less, upright. I could ride there as it's dry and the mist is slowly clearing. A trip I have made probably hundreds of times over the years. I can choose one of the several routes along the quiet country lanes. Do some shopping while I am in town. Most shops and several supermarket chains are no longer present locally.

 9.00 A breeze just blew through the garden. It was quite still before and afterwards. I had better have a walk.    

 10.00 Dark overcast and still quite misty. It is amusing to suggest that cars should show rear fog lights, by law, in poor visibility. Many modern cars have no rear lights lit these days. Which means they aren't showing any rear lights at all in fog! Many drivers use only side lights when the law calls for headlights to be lit 24 x 365 in Denmark. 

 It was cool but not cold on my hands. I looped around the parallel drives before plodding on to reach the lanes. The traffic was fairly quiet. I was passed by a low, BMW sports car painted in large black and white patches. Google suggests an i8 hybrid. And who am I to argue?  

 The right Sorel boot felt cool and damp almost from the start. I checked my socks on my return and both were dry. Both boots felt normally dry on the inside when I pushed my fingers up to the toes. It makes no sense. I don't have this problem with my other boots and shoes. There were no puddles but the ground was damp. I discovered a YT video questioning the thermal properties of the soles of Sorel boots.

 I brought the two, recycling, wheely bins back from the corner of the drive. The sky was half clear last night when I went along in the dark. My purchase of a large, flip top bin for the kitchen has become completely pointless. I hardly have any real refuse left after sorting into the other recycling bins. The large polythene, bin liners are a waste of money too. Now that I have only a bread bag's worth of rubbish after a fortnight. 

 The bin is too tall and narrow to use as a main bin in the kitchen. It is easier to dump paper and plastic waste straight into a large, open, metal, waste paper basket. Which is much easier to handle and sort from into the large, recycling bins outside.   

 12.00 I finally managed to get the Bosch Nyon to connect to its own Connect app on my Android phone. Now I can see yesterday's rides.

 12.45 47F/8C. Lunch. It is brightening up but increasingly windy. Apart from refilling the log rack and some laundry, I wasted the morning on the computer. At least it will be brighter for a ride this afternoon.

 16.15 Mission accomplished. I rode to town, visited the bank and shopped while I was there. Rode back in  the dark. Which gave me a chance to play with the dip switch for the headlights. Amazing power! The slipperiness of the Puma boots on the pedals. Was only present when they were wet.

 21.00 41F/5C When I came home I had to light the stove as it had dropped to 15C/60F in the room. It has now reached 67F/19C after several attempts to light the new kindling. 

 Dinner was salad. I  mixed it all together in a colander. Then dropped the tuna into the middle of the loaded plate. Delicious! I was going to add poached eggs but there wasn't any room.

~o~