14.02.2024 Whoops! 😳

 ~o~

  Wednesday 14th 40F/4.4C. Several wet days in a row are now promised. 61F/1C in the room but feels cooler. I have no idea what I'd do in the rain at the museum. Or even which of my recycled jackets to wear. I'll have to go in the car. No fun in the rain on a bike. I am fairly waterproof but it's still not comfortable.

 Up at 6am. My bed collapsed as I climbed out! There is slightly too much clearance for the slatted platform in the base. Under rare circumstances the whole slat unit moves sideways just enough to drop through. All it needs is some spacers on either side to keep it central. Lifting the pocket spring mattress is very hard work! The IKEA over-mattress isn't much easier. I dragged the sprung one away and lay down on the over-mattress alone on the slatted base. Just to see what it felt like. Rock hard! Like lying on a thin, foam, camping mattress. 

 I'll wait for daylight before looking for suitable wooden spacers. Also to check the fixing bolts of the wooden bed frame. It is just possible that I have been given a different slatted base. Though it looks identical to the illustrations on the manufacturer's website. With adjustable slats towards one end. To allow changes in hardness directly under the user's bod. I can't feel the difference through the hard, box sprung mattress.

 7.30 Getting light enough to see the gloom outside. I have finally lit the stove. The Danes had a [temporary] rule that official offices were not to be heated above 19C/66F. There were so many complaints from the office workers that the idea was soon dropped. Now the various departments are desperately trying to find the millions of kroner that the extra 2C [to heat up to 21C/70F] has cost them in heating bills. Well, at least they now know how many ordinary Danes feel every winter. 

 Energy poverty is very real in Denmark. Only recently built homes are insulated to a modern standard. The millions of legacy homes are difficult to heat. Difficult means costly. The basic electricity bill would be affordable. However Denmark has umpteen "green taxes" laid on top of the basic electricity supply charges. Which seems completely at odds with the claimed green energy supply. From all those windmills and solar farms. 

 I am still waiting for the announcement of a Nobel prize. Going to the inventor of a paint-on insulation as good as 8" of Rockwool! Or an affordable, air sourced heat pump. Which can feed radiators and underfloor heating. The air/water systems cost so much it would take generations before they pay for themselves. Particularly when the owners of the systems raise their standards and expectations. To match those of the government, office workers.  

 8.00 Time for a shower. After that I rebuilt the bed. I had lots of beech slats left over from the changes in the airing cupboard. The immersion water heater was moved down from upstairs. These slats dropped in perfectly on either side of the slatted base. No more nasty surprises in the dark!    

14.30 Returning from the museum. An easy day repairing a trailer with a new baseboard. It stayed dry in the morning but started raining after lunch.

 

I went shopping later and brought back a Minor car full.

 Dinner was boiled potatoes with sausage, mushrooms and a fried egg. It was perfectly cooked and tasted great.

 

 

  ~o~