11.01.2025 Still shedding.

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  Saturday 11th 29F/-2C. A light dusting of frost. Blue sky with small clouds. Some sunshine is promised.

 Up at 8.30. It was 5am one minute and the next it was much later than expected. Only 58F/14C in the room. Stove lit and going well. Brought in another basket of logs.

 I ought to get rid of some of the packaging I have accumulated. IKEA boxes and fillers most recently. Though there must be a cubic meter of different boxes going back for years. Nothing ever thrown away in case it had to be returned. Though it never was. Enough for a trailer full. To go to the recycling yard. 

 If I can make a dent in the balcony room cardboard box collection I could make more space for more useful stuff. The 45º sloping roof/ceiling doesn't allow for taller storage. So it needs to be arranged sequentially. The best access only for frequently used "stuff" like tools. Which begs the question for why keep the rest? 

 The are large boxes full of cables collected over the long years. Audio, TV, computer, even telephone, you name it. Would anybody buy and collect a large box full of cables? USB, network, HDMI, specialist loudspeaker, phono, live music, XLR. I still have my eight 15" subwoofer drivers, power amplifier, mixers and all the cables. Might suit an impoverished rock band or soloist? 

 How to reach them with an online advert? Cheap enough to attract attention. Who cares if a reseller wants a profit? I just need them to be gone. Without feeling I was robbed. I have had the years of enjoyment from their use. They owe me little more. Let somebody else play with them now. 

 12.45 34F/+1C. Continuous sunshine with a northerly breeze. I have posted the offer of free IB parts for collection on my subwoofer blog and a subwoofer forum I once contributed to. Both filled me with memories and the pain of loss. The realization that all of this was in the past. In another life. One that can never be recaptured. That's what the therapist meant by "living my own life." Which roughly translates into: Use your days wisely while you still have them.

 https://ibsubwoofer.blogspot.com/2025/free-ib-subwoofer-parts-for.html

 While I was doing this I have done nothing about clearing the excess packaging problem. 

 Bugger it! I am going for a ride on my e-bike. 

 14.45 Returned from a ride to the village with a detour. Only 11km. It was bitterly cold into the wind on the way back. The headwind was over 10m/s. 36km/hr. I was riding at mid 20's km/hr. So the wind chill factor was over 50km/hr. Making it feel like -8C. A few more kilometers more and I would have had hypothermia of the fingers! The GripGrab gloves are only useful above 50F/10C. My fingers were aching with cold and are still pink after 15 minutes back in the warm.

 Dinner was an omelette. With chicken and mushrooms. I was determined not to make it into a badly scrambled egg. So I turned it twice using a large plate. I should have turned it brown side up for the photo. The underside was perfect. The chicken was nicely tender after 25 minutes frying on a low setting.

 

 

 

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10.01.2025 Visiting hours.

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  Friday 10th 30F-1C. White frost, overcast and misty.

  Up at 5.30 wide awake. Stove lit and warming the room rapidly. My English friend is coming to visit later. Hoover, tidy, more tidying, laundry, did the washing up. I have lost some storage and gained only a little. So I need to rearrange my ideas about the kitchen set-up. Much of it was forced on me by circumstances. Rather than choices made for maximum efficiency and convenience. Every change I make demands I discard fixed ideas.

 12.20 My friend has left after a lengthy chat and offering advice on further improvements. It is always useful to have other's opinions. Different viewpoints, without the attachment and limitations of ingrained habits.             

 I went to the village to collect more tablets. My prescription had run out but had not been renewed. So I'll have three days without one type. There is no weekend service. I have an appointment to see the doctor on Monday anyway.

17.00 33F/+1C. 41F/5C in the greenhouse thanks to the earlier sunshine. The wind has dropped. So I fitted the missing pane back into the greenhouse. It was quite a struggle. Polycarbonate plastic is very flexible compared to glass. Which is probably why it was sucked out. I'll put some small bolts in tomorrow. Just as extra security.

Dinner was organic beef sausage, organic tweggs, mushrooms and Sugar Drop cherry tomatoes.

 ~o~

9.1.2025 Kitchen major progress.

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  Thursday 9th 33F/1C. A mostly dry day but cold is promised.

 Up at 6.30 with the alarms after a quiet night. The electrician arrived at 7.30. We have agreed to put the double power sockets above the oven cabinet. So the plugs are easily accessible for removal. 

 His original intention was to hide the sockets and plugs inside the cabinet. Where they would be trapped behind the oven. These sockets will be hidden in the corner of the alcove. So their visibility is not a problem. 

 The electrician left at 8.45. He also ran a cable to a double socket high on the end wall. So I can easily connect LED Lights to the display cabinets. All very neat.     

 I have asked the electrical shop to send out a couple of strong men. With my aneurysm I am not allowed to lift heavy things. The heavy washing machine has to be lifted onto a dedicated support platform 30cm high. I could have struggled with a ramp but decided not to risk it. 

Meanwhile I have placed a couple of 2x4s under the IKEA oven cabinet. Just to get it well off the floor. Before the oven is placed in there. I can decide afterwards if I want it higher.   

With the cabinet flat on the floor I wouldn't be able to get a lever under there. A crowbar would risk the ceramic, floor tiles. The bottom drawer wouldn't fit either without feet of some sort. I can fit a kicking board later if I want one. Just to tidy up the base and reduce the dust trying to hide under there.

 I have sprayed the ceiling with black mould remover. There was an open balcony to a depth of two meters above the kitchen ceiling. Of course this made it cold. Worse was the alcove being closed off with a built-in cupboard. So no air circulation in that area. With steam from the cooking it was no wonder mould grew up there.  

 11.45 Two big chaps from the shop have just lifted the washing machine and oven into place. It was quite a struggle even for them. A huge relief they are no longer taking up room in the kitchen! The image above is taken from a low viewpoint to avoid distortion. The end of the adjoining wall is overhanging. It was like that when we bought the house. The plan is to make it upright. Perhaps even to extend it outwards to reduce the visible projection of the oven cabinet. The light switch will need to be brought forwards.

 The lengths of timber under the oven cabinet are too thin at 50mm/2". So I have sawn more scrap wood of a larger dimension to replace them. 75x75mm. [3x3"] This too can be easily replaced with 100x100. Which I have in longer lengths in the observatory. I use a wide plank and a block of wood. As a lever to lift the now heavy, oven cabinet. I used a builder's level to check it was upright.

 All the frying pans and saucepans fit easily in the top drawer. I might put the larder in the bottom drawer. That would save having to find accommodation for it all. Though an eye level shelf is easier to survey it looks rather untidy. It might be easier to lay the tins and jars on their sides in the drawer to make identification easy. The IKEA drawers are very easy running. With soft self-closing.

 Dinner was cheese on toast with cherry tomatoes. I burnt it with the new oven. I was expecting it to take time to warm up but it was on grill. It was hot right away. Lesson learned. I forgot to photograph the evidence.

 The pine recycling cupboard no longer has a mini oven on top. So the top it is completely clear to use as I need. I have used a tub for bread and rolls but will find something nicer. More cosmetically acceptable. The food recycling container is there too. Right at the back. More accessible than reaching for the window sill. No more spray from wet tea bags over the counter top. Which is my main use for the recycling container. Apart from banana skins at lunch time. I don't waste much food.

 

  ~o~