15.02.2024 Water, water everywhere.

 ~o~

  Thursday 15th 45F/7C. Mild, overcast and wet. Risk of thick mist.

 Up at 7am after a false start at 6am. I am aching all over! I don't remember doing much heavy lifting at the museum yesterday. 64F/18C in the room.

 14.10 Back from cooking class in light rain. 61F/16C in the room after the stove wasn't lit this morning.
I halved and hollowed out four spidskål. Pointy, spring cabbages. [Or sweetheart cabbages] Eight halves. 

 Then produced a huge pot of mince and veg mix for stuffing the cabbages. Lots of fine chopping of various vegetables. It tasted fine but it took ages to get the cabbages to soften in the oven. Nor did it look appetising. I didn't eat much of mine. The celery soup, which we had first, was really excellent. Tasty though very filling. We finished with an orange sponge cake with topping.

The main roads are closed for extensions to the district heating system to more local villages. So I had to drive via the narrow lanes. The fields were flooded in every hollow. The water was running over the roads in places. 

 No need for dinner.

 21.30 It is 49F/9.4C outside!

 

  ~o~

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~

13.02.2024 A Minor drive to the city.

 ~o~

 Tuesday 13th 39F/4C.  Overcast but dry. Slept well. Up at 7am. Only one interruption. 

 Today's demolition assistance to my friend was called off. The thatcher has arrived to seal the ridge with new straw. I am planning on a bike ride. Destination yet to be announced. 

 9.30 Back from a short walk. The wind was unpleasantly cold and there was drizzle in the air. Far too cold for bare hands! The overcast started to break up and then reformed. 

 15.00 Returned from a drive to the city. Returned empty handed. After early rain it was sunny. So it was a shame I didn't cycle there. Though it might have been too far without a build up to longer distances. 

 The river I crossed was swollen into broad lakes. The river passes through the city zoo. Where otters have been seen playing in the river, within the zoo's boundaries.   

 I looked at a Juliana, lean-to greenhouse at their indoor display. The Veranda model would serve as a useful rear porch. Providing shelter to the main entrance door at the rear of the house. Available in a range of sizes. This one is six square metres. They are available right up to an impressive, 12 m^2.

 The stable style, hinged doors can be locked into single units. Superior to the sliding doors I always struggle with. In the much bigger lean-to greenhouse on the sunny, southern side of the house. 

 I wouldn't need the right side wall of the Veranda. Because the porch would sit in a corner against the block built workshop. Such a fully glazed porch would not block light to a new, all-glass, entrance door. While both would provide key locking security. I considered a new, wooden door but it would block light to the rear hall. Just as does the present one.

 Dinner was beans on toast. You know what that looks like. 

~o~