3.02.2025 It's not funny! 😏

 ~o~

  Monday 3rd 31F/-1C[9.00] Overcast but with a threat of some sunshine later.

 Up at 7.15 after a weird night. I woke to use the fire bucket at 3am. Then suddenly remembered I hadn't attended to the recycling bins. So, at 3.15am our hero was trundling the 100m along the muddied, gravel drive in the pitch dark. To park the two bins where they are picked up to be emptied into the oversized, dustbin lorry. It was so dark I overshot the end of my drive and nearly ended up in the field beyond. After going back to bed I couldn't sleep for an hour and half. I was going to get up at 6 and 7am but fell asleep again.

 9.30 61F/16C in the room. Lit the stove. Not sure I have any concrete plans for today. I could be tidying up outside. Perhaps strimming back my wife's badly overgrown flower bed. Or I could be dismantling the observatory. It is cold, damp and grey out there. So not remotely inviting.

 I could start washing up more of my wife's ornaments. To put in the matching pair of vintage, kitchen display cabinets. Which I have recently acquired inexpensively from charity shops. Sadly, the wall behind them needs to be totally refurbished. For want of a better term. For hiding the present hideousness of bare and damaged plasterboard. Once hidden by vertical, recycled, profiled boarding. Which I put up myself two decades ago. Only for it to become riddled with woodworm. I would need to apply a whole new layer of plasterboard. Then make good the joints with plaster or filler and paint.

 Or, I could tidy the balcony storage room. Removing the bulky subwoofer boxes and cardboard box storage has provided lots more room. Which would allow it be much better used than currently abused. I could even put some steel shelving out there. To greatly[?] increase the storage volume. Rather than mixed stuff just lying about on the floor. The 45º, down to the floor ceilings, rather inhibit maximum utilization of the available space. 

 It could become an attractive space to sit when temperatures allow. Perhaps to admire the brambles presently invading the horribly untidy garden below. However, the balcony room freezes in winter and bakes in summer. The large, recycled windows are badly misted between the panes. Their frames slowly rotting. 

 Having gained twenty years. Since I struggled to lift them up a ladder while working alone. I am in no position to buy new and replace them myself. They keep the weather out. One can ask no more of them. Not after them having been removed from blocks of council flats so very long ago. Having already given their half lives to creature comfort. 

 10.00 It has soared to 64F/17.8C in the room and I have done nothing but waffle. Thank goodness for morning coffee. That will kill another 20 minutes of irretrievable time.

 11.30 I decided to stay indoors and remove the old washing machine. A nice, simple job requiring no brain power. I immediately discovered the tiled floor beneath was black. While everything was covered in soft focus, spider's webs. First I vacuumed. Then I scrubbed the floor with soap. Then with scouring fluid. Still without total success. I presume it is a chemical stain.

 So I have now tried black mould remover and will leave it to soak. The before picture looks far worse than it is. Because I spilled some water while moving the machine. A lot of the mess was dark fluff from the laundry work over the years. Vacuuming and then a wipe with a cloth was enough to remove most of the dark stuff.

 The manifold on the left is for underfloor heating which was never used. Due to a lack of a suitable heater. The wood stove's internal boiler wasn't up to the job. It ran with wood tar whenever I switched on the circulation pump.

An awful lot of work and expense for nothing. So the bathroom and kitchen went unheated for probably 25 years. I used a fan heater but my wife refused to use it. On the grounds of noise. Over 20 years later there is still no low temperature, heating technology available under £10,000 equivalent installed.

 11.45 It is looking much cleaner but the blackened tiles are still not responding. I have moved onto bleach and a fresh scouring pad.  The idea is to have a small cupboard in this corner. Just to hold spare toilet rolls. Presently kept in the airing cupboard and always too far away when [usually] forgotten! 

 Though the protruding plumbing would be a hindrance. Unless it could be hidden within the cupboard. I can rotate the thermostat to flatten it against the wall. That would help a little. That side and the back of the cupboard would still need to be inset. Or there would be large gaps against the walls. An open invitation to the spiders. 

 I could invest in loads of end closure fittings. To get rid of the ugly manifolds altogether. Available in chrome or stainless steel as well the familiar brass. The Pex pipes could be cut much lower and terminated much more neatly. Though that risks losing the water supply to the sink and toilet. One manifold is for warm water and the other for cold. Far too many years have passed. For me remember why I felt the need for nine pipes in the bathroom.

 I need a cap for the compression "T" too. To close off the old washing machine's water supply. Is that a valid excuse to go for a ride this afternoon? I have run out of Kleenex for my runny nose. Though the 3-layer, "supersoft" bog paper is quite a suitable substitute. I had better start looking for a suitable cupboard in the charity shops too. 

 15.30 31F/-1C and remaining overcast all day. Back from a 24km ride. To buy a cap for the water pipe and some more industrial gloves. Bitterly cold at times. Worse when riding into the light breeze at 30+ kph. My face felt particularly cold. My gloved fingertips were feeling cold almost from the start but grew no worse. Tolerable was probably the right word. Rather than comfortable.

 Dinner was an organic pork chop, mushrooms and chips. I used the oven fan again at a lower temperature. To try and make the chips softer. Not much change. The instructions on the chops called for 2½ minutes each side at modest heat in the pan. I gave it five minutes each side and it browned nicely but it still seems inadequate. The chop was 18mm or 3/4" of an inch thick!

  

 ~o~

2.02.2025 Gone to a good home.

 ~o~

  Sunday 2nd 32F/0C. Thick mist and overcast. 

 Up at 7.15 after a disturbed night and clock watching. I have a wet chest and keep coughing and blowing my nose.

 The subwoofer buyer is supposed to come at 11.00 to pick up his haul. It may be later if the mist doesn't clear quickly. Though the national fog warning has shrunk to Jylland. I had better use the barrow to bring the large and heavy boxes around to the greenhouse. I can't have him mired in the parking space mud! I have kept the boxes in the living room so far. To avoid the risk of mice hiding in the greenhouse. I shall have to go shopping after he has gone. I have no bread rolls left for lunch.

 10.45  33F/+1C. Still waiting. I don't think the mist is bad enough to limit normal driving. 80kph/50mph. Unless it is patchy. I have moved the boxes around to the greenhouse in the wheelbarrow. Where access will be much easier for loading their car. Without walking more than a few feet. Nor risking them trying to turn around on the mud on the parking space. I have placed the wheelbarrow across the drive. Just beyond the greenhouse. To prevent that happening. 

 11.25. Excellent timing. My buyer turned up in a Tesla. Well, that's the end of another chapter in my busy creative life. I have a couple of audio items left with relatively low resale value om the secondhand market. It would be easier to donate them to charity. Rather than to go through the rigmarole of selling online.

 I am getting an error message that somebody is messing about with my blog. 

 12.25 Back from the shops. I went in the Morris out of respect for the mist. Which was highly variable. After driving through 150m visibility in the woods and between the fields the village was almost clear.

 17.30 Almost time to make dinner. When I noticed the fish tank was slightly cloudy. The internal filter was clogged. A quick rinse of the filter sponges under the bath tap and all is well again. There is no chlorine in the drinking water. So there should not have been a complete loss of the beneficial bacteria. 

 Diner was extra mature cheese on toast. With halved, cherry tomatoes. Followed by an organic apple for pudding. 

 ~o~

1st February 2025 What price warm hands?

 ~o~

  Saturday 1st 36F/2C[8.00] Rather cloudy but mostly dry with some sunshine. It could reach 6C/43F.

 Up at 6am after another quiet night. What plans for today? 64F/18C feels a bit chilly.

 8.15 Light enough for a walk. My phone battery was flat again. Time for a quick charge.

 8.40. Off we go.       

 9.00 Back again. The sun came out as I pottered around the loop of the neighbour' drives. 

 10.00 The brightness was short lived. A grey overcast. I am going to ride into town. About a 20km round trip plus detours.

12.30 Back from town. Where I bought the warmest gloves from a car spares discount store at £25 equivalent. Then rode on into town to buy the warmest skiing gloves from a sports clothing shops. Which cost me £45 after a double discount from £80. Having had cold hands on the way there I wore these home. The GripGrab lobster claw mitts. With thin, synthetic liner gloves. Which I had worn into town weren't warm enough. My fingertips were aching before I got there. That was after a 15km ride with a light crosswind and ~40F/4C.

 Thankfully I arrived home with my hands comfortably warm. I lost a little dexterity but nothing to complain about. I bought the largest pair they had at 3XL. About a size 13? I am usually an 11 but though I might need liner gloves. I didn't today.

 The size of the Bosch Nyon button pad must have been a fierce battle between sizing for little girls and little boys. The little girls obviously won.  The Bosch Head of Design had clearly never ridden a bike in his entire life. Let alone an e-bike. He got his petite secretary to handle the control pad mock up for a few seconds and that was good enough. It never occurred to him that men might actually ride their e-bikes in winter. While wearing warm, winter gloves.

 How could he possibly know? He is constantly chauffeured around in a warm limousine. The idea that men might ride their EMTBs under tough conditions, while wearing protective gloves, would never occur to him. When a junior piped up about the foolish size of the control pad they were sent to clean the toilets. As punishment for rising above their station. Gotta maintain the strict hierarchy. 

 Now I need to find a way to make the gloves touch screen sensitive. One website suggested anti-static fluid. Or sewing conductive threads into the fingertips. The Goretex membrane isn't going to like the latter! I am not about to send SMSs at lightning speed while on the fly. I just want to be able to swipe the Bosch Nyon screen.

Nobody bats an eyelid at the extortionate prices of mass produced, bicycle parts. Why worry about the price of the clothing? Which makes riding a bike in winter even remotely possible. I could have spent the £200 on some fancy "Label" gloves. Recommended as Best Buy by a cycling test website. When these same bejeweled and mink lined gloves only rated a 7 out of 10 for warmth? If it smells like corruption, sounds like corruption and looks like corruption then it must be online cycle wear reviews.

 Dinner was a salmon pasty. With pasta and peas. I finally discovered the correct symbol for full oven with fan. Surprise! It worked! The downside was the absence of tinned tomatoes to throw onto the pasta. I had somehow overlooked a large gap in my supposed Danish, .Gov recommended, prepper's larder. I sprinkled some salt and pepper on top and that made it quite edible. Even tasty.

  ~o~