~o~
Tuesday 22nd 60F/15.6C [6.35] Heavy overcast with continuous heavy rain forecast. Increasing in intensity until 22.00 tonight. When 14mm per hour is possible. Cloudbursts are embedded in the near stationary deluge with the potential for flooding. The rain continuing but steadily diminishing overnight and tomorrow. South east Denmark had a Double Cloudburst of 77mm yesterday. That's 3" in olde monie.
Up at 6.00 after a fairly quiet night.
I have had two, identical, email notifications, from FedEx, at two different email addresses. With contradicting dates for delivery. The latest [by 7 minutes] remains unchanged and the parcel is out for delivery today. The same as the two email notifications yesterday. The earlier mail [by seven minutes] says tomorrow delivery. So? On which day do I stay in all day? In anticipation of non-delivery. Eeny meany miny mo.
10.20 Yet another email saying out for delivery today. [Before 18.00!]
10.30 My parcel was just delivered! And, he cleverly turned his box van around on the parking space! Very pleased indeed with the packaging, presentation and quality of the workmanship. 21 days from first contact to delivery. Including several weekends. This included shearing four plates to size from unscratched stock and drilling five fairly large holes per plate.
I am expecting a visit from my English friend later. Once he gets rid of his latest B&B guests. He has a cut-off time. By which his guests should have left. To make room for the next "victims" of his warm and well polished hospitality. The bedding must be changed and the rooms thoroughly cleaned. He has developed an efficient system but is at the mercy. Of tardy guests who won't leave on time. To be rude to guests, in order to be rid of them on time, might cause his excellent rating to become tarnished. So it's a fine balance between etiquette, diplomacy and recalcitrant hangers on.
We have been joking about the need for flotation devices on his car in today's torrential rain We shall not be sitting out in my capacious, Halls Silverline, lean-to greenhouse. All 22' x 8' of it. The "automatic sprinkler system" is working all too well today. In other words: It is leaking all over!
I never took the option of using silicone. To seal the long, roof panes. In case of a storm breakage. We had one early on! Silicone would have made it all but impossible to remove the broken pane! Halls introduced new rubber strip seals at one point. However the cost and difficulty of total renewal made it a complete non-starter.
How do you reach the roof from outside to remove the glass clips? It would need overhanging scaffolding! Cheap cherry pickers weren't a thing 30 year ago. I have never been able to access the leaking house gutter, rubber joints. For exactly the same reason. The rood slope means I'd need a ladder 15 meters long to lie fat on the roof.
The greenhouse skylights are the worst offenders. Even when closed. Sieve and constantly leaking are the most appropriate terms here. The rainwater gets inside and then runs down the undersides of the sloping roof spars. To drip randomly on everything below. I haven't yet found suitably narrow, mini-gutters. To direct the flow safely to the front, inside wall.
I quickly discarded the white, lightweight tarpaulins of my late wife's, tyrannical reign out there. They were impossible to fix high enough to avoid my head constantly rubbing against the chalky undersides. They didn't stop the heat getting in either. Once inside the glass the UV converts to the now familiar infra red. To which glass [and Earth's atmosphere] are opaque.
Halls sell these greenhouses as a pleasant place to sit out in comfort. Which might be true. If the temperature did not swing wildly between -6C and +40C! That it is intolerable to sit [or stand] under bare glass with the merest hint of sunshine. No matter how much they may heavily bribe the decorative models in their brochures.
Plus the aforementioned, completely free, completely automatic, hydroponic watering system. It works even in the lightest of dew. I strongly suggest your visit to a Halls greenhouse display is done on a hot day. Or a very wet one. Don't be fooled by the open doors. It WILL constantly steam up inside if closed. Soar in temperature in sunshine.
Except in winter. When you will struggle to gain any warmth [whatsoever] from opening the doors to the house. This trick only works in mild weather in spring and autumn. Free winter heat would require double glazing and proper sealing to the house. Hall's missed a trick in not selling sou'westers, wellies, down jackets and umbrellas. With their own designer logo.
I had a letter from the UK demanding proof of life to continue receiving my pension. A "prepaid" business envelope was provided. For use within the UK only. It didn't even have the name of the country printed on it. This is for an exclusively foreign living client base. So it cost me 50kr [minimum charge] from the Danish Post Office. To send the letter back to Gravely Blighted. 50 Danish kroner is £5.81.
It would never happen in Denmark. Where, for years, everything has been done online. All thanks to everybody having a national ID and secure websites. The plebs in the UK are terrified of having an official ID. For completely paranoid reasons. Only to carry a driving license, bank and payment cards and a phone. Not to mention and a passport while on holiday.
In Denmark the ID card [National Insurance Card] is the pass too all the official services. It is of course conveniently identical in size and shape to all your other plastic cards. Bank, driving license, residence permit, etc. It's uses include the health services of course.
You log in by swiping your card at the machine in reception. The same for appointments in the hospitals. Or the town hall. Where lots of public services are concentrated. A quick swipe and it welcomes you by name. Without needing to queue at the receptionist's window. It will often tell you precisely where to go to wait for service. Any relevant messages and reminders can be shown on the machine's screen.
You don't like being followed around digitally? Do you still pay cash for everything? Your bank card can identify you and your precise location. At any time of day or night anywhere in the world. Whenever you make a payment. Are you still using a landline to make all your phone calls? Do you watch TV streaming services? Do you always wear a mask out of doors? So the millions of security cameras can't identify you.
My apologies for my wittering on. I am stuck indoors with rain falling steadily. I just realised that I can use the carport as a well lit, sheltered workshop. Great for my power tools in all weathers. When, I finally get the carport to stand up. That's if it isn't already filled to the gunnels with junk!
12.30 61F/16C Raining hard. Easily visible against the dark background of trees through the windows. My friend has just left.
Dinner will be sausage, mushrooms and an egg. Too much fried food!
~o~