13.07.2024 Bidenitus comes to us all!

 ~o~

  Saturday 13th 59F/15C. Heavy overcast and breezy. Dire warnings of  "100 year" deluges are being downgraded. There is still the chance of local cloudbursts but the heaviest rain is forecast to be mostly to the eastern and northern areas of Denmark. The forecasters admit they are struggling to pinpoint the likely, worst affected areas. Though Århus and Copenhagen seem to have most offended the weather gods.

 My insurance company has kindly sent an email full of useful advice. Though I don't currently own any waders. Nor have any pressing plans to dig a cellar. Given the high water table in winter. It would be more akin to deliberately installing an indoor swimming pool. My neighbour's plastic drainage pipe, under their massive new drive/embankment/dam, may give me cause for concern. Though we recently survived "the wettest spring" without urgent need of an ark.

 Up at 5.50 after a quiet night. My lower back was very painful on rising but slowly easing. 

 7.15 I feel the need of a walk before it rains again. 

 7.50 I made it to the lanes before my back stopped complaining. The traffic was light. As befits a Saturday morning. Where only the lower orders are required to work at weekends. It stayed dry with a cooling breeze. I had worn my brightest walking jacket. Just in case the habitual drunks were driving to the supermarket for a refill.

 I decided I must have a bad case of Bidenitus today. After reading the global news I really couldn't tell one genocidal megalomaniac from another. Not, and still walk at the same time. We don't need Artificial Intelligence. We just need far fewer of the lower intelligent. I know zombies are vital to do all the hard, physical work. But do we really need the elite to exercise? By repeatedly lifting huge sacks of our money? 

 I went shopping in the Morris.

 14.30 After lunch I started filling the bigger fish tank. 100x50x50cm = 250 liters. It is an older version of the Akvastabil Fusion. It is taking about five minutes per large bucket full. Filling, carrying and bailing with a 1litre plastic measuring jug. Though I was only filling the bucket half way. To avoid too heavy a load and spilling it. As I carried it repeatedly from the bathroom 10m away. No ill effects so far. Not even out of breath.

 15.00 62F/17C. The tank is now well past half full. I am checking constantly for leakage with a torch. The water is still murky and the glass covered in condensation. The tapwater is cold at only 58F/14C. The room at 70F/21C. 

 That volume of water will take some time to warm to room temperature. Fish cannot tolerate sudden changes of temperature. No do they like raw tap water. Though our deep borehole water is not chlorinated. There are countless tiny bubbles collected on the inside of the glass.

 I was given a bottle of aquarium starter fluid with the tank. This is supposed to neutralize anything harmful before the fish go in. Though it is advised that a tank be left to mature before any fish are introduced. I have started the air pump and have one stone in the under-gravel filter column working. I no longer have any accessories to connect up the second stone. Not that I remember seeing. It is nearly 40 years since I last kept fish.       

 I a not too sure about the garish background poster. Which came with the tank. I will probably cover the back of the tank with black cloth. The two columns are air lifts for an overall, under-gravel filter. I have fitted a cheap, internal filter I was given with the tank. Just to get some circulation going.

 17.30 The tank is full and the water is already clearing. I have fitted the lid with its twin florescent tubes. It needs some metalwork to fit the front and back covers securely. The hinge location screws are inactive. Though they can be fitted in place. I'll attend to that later.

 Dinner is chicken, mushrooms and peas with boiled potatoes. I had to throw out an unopened bag of rotten organic potatoes. An unopened bag of two rotten organic lettuces and a rotten cucumber.

  

 ~o~