I would love one of these in our garden.
A wonderwall
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Monthly Archives: May 2013
Electric kettle vs. induction hob
I have a 3kW electric kettle, and a 2kW induction hob, and I find the induction hob faster and more convenient. (My wall sockets are all 240V.)
However, I’ve just actually measured it, and the situation is more complex… I timed how long it took each of them to boil a single cupful of water. Unsurprisingly the 3kW electric kettle boils the water much more quickly, but it takes ages for its temperature sensor to notice. The electric kettle turned off at almost exactly the same time as the stove-top kettle started to whistle.
So for small volumes of water, it’s a draw. For larger volumes of water, the electric kettle is noticeably quicker.
Why then, do I find the stove-top kettle much more convenient? I think it’s because it has a better “user interface”. When the electric kettle has boiled, it clicks off and I often finish whatever else I’m doing before going to use the hot water. By then, it’s usually cooled down a bit, and I have to turn it back on and wait to bring the water back to the boil. (Actual boiling water is very important for making tea.) OTOH, the stove-top kettle whistles and stays boiling, so I am forced to go and deal with it immediately. The result is that I get my tea made a little bit quicker, with less waiting around.
Interesting. Perhaps electric kettles should replicate that UI, by having a continuous alarm, instead of automatically turning off.
Finishing Phase 1
Settling everyone into their new homes has taken a long, long time. Much longer than we ever anticipated. One way or another, we got delayed and exhausted. And on occasion distracted by projects that need doing and require less intricate logistics.
We’re coming out the other end of the exhaustion, though, and ready for the next part of the project.
Here is how Phase 1 went:
1) Finish renovating the bungalow
It took us until the end of February to finish renovating the bungalow to an acceptable standard. But it got done, with walls painted, carpets and wooden floors down, and all the amenities in working order.
2) Move Roger’s furniture and belongings into the bungalow
We had a number of mini adventures doing this. Some bits of furniture had to come downstairs, and we wondered how they ever made it up there. Roger also re-used a carpet from Westacre in his bungalow. This involved passing it out of the 1st floor windown, transporting it on the trailer, and having the professionals lay it in the bungalow. Nobody was hurt, but one light fitting didn’t survive the passage of the carpet through the bung.
3) Let the house in Harrow
When we had moved Roger to the bung, we were ready to go and empty our Harrow home at a leasurely pace. Just then, the agents let us know that the place had been let and we had 10 days to move everything out. We managed, and our tenants moved in and started paying rent. Which is brilliant.
4) Move Alex and Hilde’s furniture and belongings from Harrow to Westacre
We moved our furniture up the M40 by trailer. And we had to do it fast due to the tenants moving in at relatively short notice. It took 6 journeys. Thankfully we found a friend to help us with the heaviest pieces. Thank you Matt!
5) Find new homes for things that are no longer wanted
We tried hard to find someone who had both the time and the patience to help us with this. We failed. In the end, we loaded most of it onto the trailer and took it to a car boot sale. This was a very successful exercise in getting rid of unwanted possessions, and we made some money too. We’re very glad we waited for a nice sunny day, when there were lots of people out for a bargain.
The car boot sale
6) Turning the Westacre living room into a bedsit
We’d been sole occupiers of Westacre for a couple of months before we finally moved into the bedsit. The biggest job was constructing a makeshift kitchen in one corner of the big room. Alex had weeks of fun with electrics and plumbing. It looks very nice from inside the room, but the plumbing going through the (now hidden) kitchen door on the other side of the wall is a bit Heath Robinson. Still, it works. Just a lick of paint on the new partition, and it’ll look like we meant it.
Just a few days ago, we took the first step in Phase 2 of the project: Insulation. We are planning to wrap the entire house in external wall insulation, so the Virginia Creeper had to go. We had the help from our friends who came to stay, and who all got really motivated when they heard we were going to burn it all afterwards. Boys will be boys, whether they’re 45 or 8.
Rage is passion is true love
Full Flower Moon (better late than never!)
I can’t even begin to tell you how beautiful it is. Just looking out of the living room window, I see the young green of ash reaching for the sun, the white of cow parsley against the beech hedge, different blues of lungwort and forget-me-not interspersed with oranges and [...]
Virtual connections 14/5/13
Westacre’s bedsit apartment is taking shape. Except for the cooker, we have a fully functioning kitchenette. Tomorrow we’re off for a week in Barcelona, and when we come back we’ll be able to move in and abandon the rest of the house to the renovation project.
To keep you busy while we’re away, here is a list of articles that have caught my attention in the last week or two.
Finding awe in nature
Storms by Ian Hill
Musings in the snow
Finchley Road by Vivienne Palmer
Bumblebees and other minorities in the city
When things fall apart by Sharon Blackie
A life close to the reality of living on and with the land and its creatures. It’s not always an idillic existence.
Climate and environment
Thoughts on the Apocalypse: Fight for what you love by Derrick Jensen
An impassioned appeal to start fighting for our world and all that is precious in it.
The giants of the green world that profit from the planet’s destruction by Naomi Klein
Some large green campaigning organisations are deeply invested in the very carbon heavy industries that are killing the planet.
Climate-warming gas in atmosphere passes 400ppm milestone – interactive
Another sad milestone in a series of sad milestones. We desperately need to turn this around.
Ancestors and spiritual traditions
Complete Inuit shaman life story 1922
A fascinating glimpse into a real life story, in a scene from The Journals of Knud Rasmussen.
Witnessing a South African healer at work
Another real life story from our own times
Archaeologists find earliest evidence of humans cooking with fire
We, and people like us, have been using fire to cook food for a very long time. This may have had a significant impact on our evolution.
A better society
Positive development, a ‘turn around’ strategy for growth and civilisation by James Greyson
Ideas on turning our economy away from made-up measurements to real lasting value.
Does Bhutan hold the recipe for the future of farming?
One country in the world is aiming to grow 100% organic food.
Why parents should leave their kids alone by Jay Griffiths
Modern Western parenting compared to traditional societies. Something we can learn from?
Positive change
This desert miracle can only mean one of two things by Carolyn Silveira
How simple technology can change lives profoundly.
Roots, shoots and seeds: the spear carriers by Charlotte Du Cann
Coming home to small scale, land blessed, natural food.
Why your supermarket only sells 5 kinds of apples by Rowan Jacobsen
Singing the praises of rare and unique apple varieties.
Friends
Sacred Body part 4: Loss by Theo Wildcroft
My friend Theo has written an achingly beautiful series of blog posts for Druid Life. This is just one in the series of 6.
A typical English day
New Flower Moon
We’re having one of those typical English days. We’ve had a mixture of sunshine, drizzle, heavy showers, more warm sunshine, and now thunder and hail. You never know what you’re going to get next.
It’s a bit like life. Any given day can be a mixture of joy, dullness, and outright pain. We encounter [...]
How to car boot sell your stuff
‘Reduce, reuse and recycle’ is the mantra of waste management. We’re all encouraged to reduce the waste we produce, reuse things instead of throwing them away after one go, and recycle the stuff we do need to throw away.
Car boot sales are great places to practice some of these principles, especially when you’re trying to give unwanted possessions a new lease of life.
What would you do with a double food warmer, consisting of two glass dishes warmed by tea lights? Or a yoghurt maker? Or a rather large collection of cut crystal that used to just live in the store room?
The sheer volume of stuff was taking up a large proportion of the double garage, and it was getting in the way. We could have spent months photographing each item individually and putting it on E-bay or Gumtree. We don’t have either the time or the patience to make this into a major job, though. It was tempting to just drive the whole lot to the dump, no matter how much waste that would generate.
The likelihood is, though, that somebody will love this stuff and give it a new lease of life. All you need to do is get the people and the stuff together in the most efficient way possible. So thank goodness for car boot sales and the people who make a business out of organising them.
We drove up in the Tardis with it’s trailer crammed full of stuff. It was 7am on a sunny Bank Holiday Monday and already there were people keen to buy. We couldn’t unpack the stuff fast enough. Some people were there to pick up a bargain to sell on for a profit. Others were on a shopping trip, browsing for bargains.
The Westacre pitch
We were astonished that we managed to find people willing to re-use the old two bar electric heater, the spin dryer, the old iron and yes, the yoghurt maker. Many bits of pottery and crystal found a loving second home.
And one lady wiped clean our vintage clothing section all by herself. If it turned out they didn’t fit, she was going to re-cycle the material and make her own unique creations.
We had a great time meeting people of every conceivable variety. We had chats about old children’s books, how cheap good quality old furniture is, and the loveliness of Jess the dog. She had a great day being petted by all and sundry.
If you need to find a second life for some of your possessions, do consider a car boot sale. Here are some handy hints.
– find your nearest car boot sale on line. It pays to be patient and find the good ones.
– wait for a sunny day. There will be a lot more potential customers.
– turn up early to get a good pitch and time to set up properly.
– take some money to pay the seller’s fee, and some change for the buyers.
– have snacks and drinks at the ready. It’s a long morning.
– take a supply of plastic bags. We forgot all about those and regretted it.
– enjoy meeting and watching people.
We’ve got some things left over, and will be going to a boot sale just around the corner from us next month. Hopefully we’ll meet some more people willing to reuse and recycle.
Breaking through the defences
Beltane
Spring has finally sprung at Westacre. Just three short weeks ago, the last of the snow still lingered in the shadiest corners of the garden. Now the sun is shining down warmly, and flowers are blooming everywhere. We have damson blossom, cowslips and seas of forget-me-nots.
Because of the long, cold winter, and the still chilly [...]