18.02.2024 Delayed hypothermia?

 ~o~

  Sunday 18th 39F/4C. Rain and wind. A long, very wet day is forecast. Rain until after midnight tonight. 

 Up at 6.30. I was up earlier for an hour. 3.30-4.30. Became too cold sitting at the computer. Despite wearing a fleece jacket over my clothes. 64F/18C in the room at the time. Now dropped to 62F/17C. 

 The online medical advice is for a room to be maintained above 68F/20C. I can only rarely manage that. It takes hours to get the room up to that heat. The young and elderly are most at risk of hypothermia. Being an old fart and childish puts me firmly in both camps! I went back to bed fully clothed except for the jacket. Still felt cold under the duvet. I was literally shivering.

 I am wondering if it isn't delayed hypothermia from my cycle rides. The Endura jacket is almost windproof apart from the full length, front zip. Though not at all warm. Which it should not be for active manual cycling. I can feel the cold on my arms and chest while riding. 

 Perhaps I should wear a warm jumper under the jacket for insulation? Or even two, thinner jumpers for layering. I am not working remotely so hard on the e-bike as I was on the trike. My higher speed is also causing much greater wind chill. So I need to seriously rethink my dress code for colder rides. The two large panniers can easily hold any surplus clothes I might need to take off.

 8.45 I have lit the stove. I have also gone upstairs to fetch some long underwear. I have not been wearing it indoors this year. Because I have moved downstairs. To be nearer the stove. I have put a warm hat on too. The activity has stopped my shivering! 

 Talk about energy poverty! I resent paying 1000kr/£115 per month for logs when I am still not warm enough. I try to make the logs last. Which is probably hindering the stove's heat output. I would probably double my log consumption to maintain 68F/20C. 

 I keep thinking about getting a heat pump but it makes zero financial sense. An air to air heat pump is cheapest but cannot heat my [unused] underfloor pipes in the bathroom and kitchen. So I continue to rely on the oil filled radiators and the stove.

 The Danish TV2 weather website was showing how crazy global temperatures already are. After a record breaking 2023. High temperature records are being broken all over the world and it is still only February. Though this may help those who are struggling to warm their homes. 

 Meanwhile the pampered elite are forcing increased expense on those who cannot afford the latest cars. Pollution charges in cities and passing laws to limit car repairs? This will only hit those on lower incomes. They cannot afford an e-Porsche? Then let them have a Tesla?  

 8.30 64F/18C in the room. Three logs at once on the stove to boost temperatures. I have fetched some more logs indoors from the greenhouse.

14.30 Another rainy day spent on YouTube. Where I came across the channel of a London cyclist. Who actively seeks out mobile phone users behind the wheel. He reports them to the police and presents his video evidence. Resulting in 1000 prosecutions so far. 

 I immediately thought of that lunatic lorry driver. Using his handheld phone on my morning walk. Swerving wide on a sharp, blind bend. Where most vehicles drivers, going the opposite way, cut the same sharp, blind corner. Resulting in a possibly catastrophic overlapping, head on crash. Probably with deep penetration if the collision involved a bus. Collision with a school bus [of which there are many on this road] would probably kill more than half the occupants. Leaving the rest fighting for their lives and suffering a lifetime of PTSD. But hey, it's only worth a 1500kr/£172 fine for phone use while driving.

 Were I to film mobile phone users behind the wheel in Denmark. Then share the videos online. It is I who would be prosecuted and heavily fined. Probably fined more than the absolutely pitiful 1500kr [£172] fixed penalty fine. For illegal phone use behind the wheel. 

 That is, if the police accepted my video evidence of an alleged crime being committed. I would be invading a person's privacy by sharing a video online of their alleged, criminal behaviour. Even if they were a deranged terrorist. Beheading school children outside the village school. It is I who would be prosecuted and my video evidence probably dismissed as inadmissible.

 Meanwhile, CyclingMikey, in London, provides a public service. In filming and appearing in court whenever he catches one of the countless, illegal, mobile phone users. His campaign was instigated by the death of his father to a driver breaking the law. He claims there are thousands of like-minded cyclists using cameras to film alleged criminal behaviour. Sadly the publicity of their activities does not seem to reduce mobile phone use.

https://www.youtube.com/@CyclingMikey

 Dinner was chicken, pasta, peas and tinned tomatoes. There was an odd smell in the kitchen when the recycled, frying pan was heated. If my decomposed body is found in several months then we know what to blame.

  ~o~