A Good Home

Yesterday I saw something very unusual. Now its not something that I have seen before, or if I only know of from books, but as the clouds parted something appeared in the sky. It was this bright yellow disc, I think its called the sun or sol...

Well as you can imagine we have been having lots of rain recently and no matter how resilient I can be, I don't enjoy going out to try and watch wildlife in the rain. Therefore I have been awaiting a good day all week. However, as yesterday I had the plumber coming round to fit two new radiators, I had to just accept that I was going to miss this brief spell of decent weather.

Some wildlife will be active in the rain, and I am expecting that the woods will be lush and green from it. Also as a good friend has been showing in her Web Log the rain brings out all the fungi. But there are times when I just don't want to come home looking like a drowned rat, or should that be a mouse?

I was grateful that the plumber has carried out the work so quickly. While the previous agent had promised the work would be done when I first moved in here, it has taken a change in the letting agent for the work to be completed. Now I have heating in the bathroom and kitchen. With the kitchen the cooker did heat the room but it was in the bathroom that the need was sorely missed. I will no longer have to turn into a prune debating with myself or the cat if I can face the cold of getting out of the bath.

I also asked the plumber about the cost of him fitting thermostatic valves to the radiators. As he was doing the planned work anyway it was only going to cost me ten pounds each so I now have them fitted too. This will help me be as efficient as possible with the heating as I only have to heat the rooms that need heating and not the whole house.

With the cost of energy rising I felt that this was something I needed to do. While I have taken all the other actions I can to be energy efficient, low energy light bulbs, insulation and most importantly turning off appliances that I am not using, we all need to heat our homes. Winters here can get cold. With the measures I have taken my energy bills are exactly half what the national average spend on Electricity and Gas.

The reason I know this is, have just changed paying my bills to monthly direct debit. When I first moved in here, the gas was on a prepayment meter but if I wanted it changed it was going to cost me. So I left it as it was. The electric was a credit meter and while I could have opted for paying monthly for that, I was not willing to do so when the company were not willing to let me do the same for the gas. However after a year of paying the bills on time I “qualified” to have the gas meter changed for free. When I made the arrangements for this, the energy company did the calculations and were surprised to find that my consumption was half national average. Even so they added ten percent to the amount I will be expected to spend as they think it more realistic.

I wonder just how much of an impact on climate change there would be if more people tried to be energy efficient.

I did inadvertently become more energy efficient yesterday as I set up the video camera batteries on charge but then forgot to switch on the power. Thus putting myself in line for the Nobel prize for stupidity. It also means that I was not able to go out today when I wanted to as my batteries were flat.

One last thing regarding the plumber, I just left him to get on with what he needed to do only interrupting him to keep him supplied with tea. It really is tea that oils the British economy, and is the best way of keeping any tradesman happy. I did have a good laugh with him too, as I told him that he couldn't be a real plumber as he turned up on time and didn't piss in the sink. That cracked him up. I am glad that I waited till he had finished as I don't think he could have managed otherwise.

While I know that I have had some problems with landlords in the past, I do think that I am lucky to have found a decent landlord now. While there are some minor problems with the property, on the whole it is a good place. Also while I have had some problems with some of the locals too, the vast majority are very good decent people. No matter where you go there will be problems in one way or another, but as I have been sitting here writing this I have seen A Kestrel hovering in the distance, A grey Heron fly over and the numerous birds feeding in my back yard. It all adds to my feeling of having found a good home.