Waiting for the shed to warm up

Waiting for the shed to warm up. I don’t think it is particularly cold out but it has become my customer and practice to switch off the panel heater overnight in order to save the planet. I also turn off any LEDs (printer and screens) but that is more a light pollution issue. I don’t want to be able to see lights on at the bottom of the garden when the shed is empty and it is dark. The switch and AP are not visible from the house so that is ok.

It is interesting how light pollution is creeping into our lives. When we moved into this house a quarter of a century (gosh) or so ago the previous occupant had fitted electrical sockets with red LEDs which I thought was a bit over the top. However we now also have two showers, and two APs that glow in the dark, the latter in blue. I have been able to switch off the RING doorbell chimes’ LEDs.

I quite like the idea that during the night a house should be in total darkness. We would have to move to the country and ditch the aforementioned appliances in order to do this. This would come with huge downsides: crap broadband, one bus service a week etc. It ain’t gonna happen. The allotments out the back will have to do 🙂

Where we live right now I have occasionally caught a bus from town but it isn’t too far to walk and I rarely go into downtown Lincoln. Far too many people, you can’t walk in a straight line and it is full of the same high street brands you see in any town in the country. There is nothing there for me.

The other thing about living in the countryside is that a village these days will often not have a pub. How do people cope. I’m not exactly a regular pub goer anymore, since covid got me out of the habit and my keto diet kicked in but a village is not a place to live unless it has a church, a pub and a village shop. I’d only attend the former for weddings and funerals etc but the others I’d make a point of frequenting. I would even consider taking a daily paper. FT probs, at least at the weekend.

Keep meaning to subscribe to the FT. Might get around to it. My subscription to the Caravan and Motorhome Club (£50 a year and used once in two years) comes with a monthly magazine that I never read and intend shortly to shred and consign to the compost bin. Not getting the mag once a month will be a step forward. I keep getting emails pushing caravan reversing courses and other such items of a highly relevant nature, at least for the enthusiastic weekend caravanner. Not moi.

Most of our pals now have motorhomes. We have vintage VW campervans that are uber cool but don’t have onboard toilets and showers. Sometimes I wish I had a motorhome like the others but we just wouldn’t use it. When we go to the South of France for a month in September we aint taking a van and are probably in for three grand’s worth of accommodation costs plus a mortgage’s worth of fuel. 

The others, in their motorhomes will use at least as much fuel but lower site costs. I dunno. So we will have spent a few bob more (in largely very nice accommodation) but not had to shell out forty grand of the vehicle plus the annual maintenance and running costs. Obvs we will probably spend more on evening meals but half our booked accommodation is self catering villas etc so the difference wouldn’t be that great. Also we are there for the rugby. The cost of the beer is not going to be insignificant.

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