Wednesday 26 January 2011

Been slacking in my duties!

Oh help, I've been so absorbed in our house that I've ignored issues in the big wide world! I feel I'm only just able to worry about the rest of the planet again.

Let me start at the top: we have no telly as yet cos the aerial isn't up, but I've been watching Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's Big Fish Fight and I've just watched the last one. It's disgusting what we are doing to our fish stocks. I feel really incensed. We throw away tonnes of cod and other good fish because we use purse seine nets ( had to Google that one!) which just catch everything and then they're all dead by the time they throw them back because they aren't allowed to catch them because of fishing quotas. Why can't they just go out fishing less and keep the whole catch?
Also, we feed good fish to feed farmed salmon. He was saying why can't we eat the good fish in the first place instead of the ubiquitous cod.
And then there's fish and chip shops. Why can't they sell mackerel baps instead of it all being cod and haddock?
We are really going to have to act on this one..come on, folks. Sign up!

And then there's our tree in town. We heard the other night that the Town Council were planning to cut down the beautiful plane tree because the roots were coming up through the tarmac and there was a danger someone might trip over. We raced up to the Town Council meeting and asked them to think again. It's a nonsense that just because they have put tarmac down instead of paving slabs that could be taken up, sand put down and the roots accommodated, that we have to lose this beautiful tree. Thousands of urban trees are being taken down because of health and safety or lack of water because of too much tarmac. Trees make our streets special. They make them human. We suggested there should be a seat put round the tree so that people can sit under it. We hope they were listening.

You can see I've emerged from house building!

Wednesday 12 January 2011

pink house-with spots


That's an interesting development! We have a pink house with spots on. It looks like something out of a fairy tale- it looks just so silly, it can't be real. Oh but it is.

It's all in a good cause however, dear reader. This is the insulation that is going to keep us toasty and warm and cheap! Tomorrow it will be meshed and then after that it will be rendered, so hopefully at the end of all that, its resemblance to the 'orrible 1960s' bungalow will be ended, over, caput, finished.


I had a masterclass in the underfloor heating system yesterday and I think I've got it. You leave the heating on all the time but as soon as the room reaches the temperature on the sensor, it cuts off, so throughout the year, you can probably leave it on because it won't use any electricity. That's the theory, I'll keep you updated as to whether that's the fact or not. We haven't had our first electricity bill yet. But the air source heat pump is very quiet and doesn't bother us at all and once we get this insulation finished, we should notice even more of a difference. I am getting very used to a constant temperature of 25 degrees and get a hell of a shock when I come outside!


And yes, thanks for asking, Peg Leg is improving. Shuffling around nicely now.

Friday 7 January 2011

Life doesn't always go according to plan

Well, 2011 has arrived with a vengeance. We are in the house, we sort of camped before Christmas and that was OK. Then last Sunday, KP fell from a ladder and has been in hospital since with various broken bones that should eventually mend OK but not what we envisaged for the beginning of the year.

I am trying very hard to do my Polyanna act so..

He will recover
We are no longer in a one bedroomed place with a loo downstairs
It wasn't snowing ( shouldn't have mentioned that one..it is now)
It wasn't before Christmas

Ok, that's it, that's all I can think of on the positive front. Off to pick him up shortly and I suspect we are going to both need all our patience and fortitude to get through the next two months.

Just made a round of cuppas for the builders who've watched me through all this move, build and accident. They've been very sweet. Especially the day I couldn't even find a room to have a howl in!

So, 2011, you'd better do better than this. So far, I'm not impressed.

PS: the house is looking lovely and is very comfy and warm but so far I haven't been able to imagine it without builders.