I cannot believe it is only ten past 7! All 3 children are washed, fed and dressed and we don't have to leave for school until just after 8, the cleaning is done and my invoicing for my work today is already done. Am in super organised mode today.
I was outside a moment ago (letting the dogs down the garden) and its trying to snow?! I love the snow normally but after Decembers efforts - 3 inches of snow one day the entire country grinds to a stop, followed by no snow just ice and slush then a little bit more snow, I would prefer it to not snow at the moment.
A family friend rang me the other night to talk about renewable energy - and I admit it I learned something new. He works for a solar panel company and he wanted to see if my house was south facing, due to the Governments feed in tarriff the company he works for will install the solar panels on your roof for free. Being the cynical person I can be I wanted to know what the catch was. Apparently to get the solar panels for free your house (this applys to commercial buildings as well) needs to be south facing and must be able to accommodate at least a 3.5Kw system and must be willing to sign a lease agreement for the company to lease their roof for the next 25 years. The benefits of this is that although the company gets the feed in tarrif from the Government for all the energy going back into the grid the homeowner gets the rest of the free energy and therefore lowers their own personal heating bills. I am going to look into it further and see if my house is suitable - as far as I am concerned it would be a selling point for my property (if and when I sell) as who wouldn't want cheaper heating bills for their home!
Last night I was proved right in my obsession in double checking. I did a "tricky" property the other week, beautiful house but there were numerous improvements that the rdsap would not be able to calculate properly. So to make sure that my EPC was produced correctly and as accurately as possible I rang my accreditation company. This is my 4th year of being a DEA but I would rather ring and double, triple check than produce an incorrect EPC. After quite a bit of back and forth calls we came to a conclusion that would produce the most accurate EPC for the client. Last night made me very glad that I had done that as the client queried the result on the EPC - I managed to explain everything and because I had checked thoroughly I was confident and happy in my answers.
Off to get myself up and dressed ready for the walk to school (saving petrol and energy and hopefully working off a bit of the Christmas stodge!)
Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Friday, 17 December 2010
warm/cold front
Well the good news is that Warm Front grants will be back next year and concentrate first on elderly and poor households. http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Resources/Energy-saving-news/Energy-bills/Warm-Front-will-return-DECC-says/(energysavingtrust)/808901
I haven't written much over the past few weeks as I have been hit by a nasty bug - otherwise known as proper flu. I spent the majority of last week in bed and am still very run down with little energy. I can't believe that I caught this bug over my birthday as well as I had, for once, got a lovely birthday weekend planned.
The cold weather has once again returned to the UK after a week or so of warmer weather. It was snowing yesterday and its trying to snow again now. I must admit the weather reports are frustrating me though - it would be nice if for once they got it right. The midlands didn't get much of the snow last time but according to the current forecast we will be getting more this time. I don't mind too much though as all the Christmas shopping is done and my husband is on his way home later today and doesn't have to go back to work for another two weeks. It will be lovely to be able to spend some time with him and the kids love having him at home.
I haven't written much over the past few weeks as I have been hit by a nasty bug - otherwise known as proper flu. I spent the majority of last week in bed and am still very run down with little energy. I can't believe that I caught this bug over my birthday as well as I had, for once, got a lovely birthday weekend planned.
The cold weather has once again returned to the UK after a week or so of warmer weather. It was snowing yesterday and its trying to snow again now. I must admit the weather reports are frustrating me though - it would be nice if for once they got it right. The midlands didn't get much of the snow last time but according to the current forecast we will be getting more this time. I don't mind too much though as all the Christmas shopping is done and my husband is on his way home later today and doesn't have to go back to work for another two weeks. It will be lovely to be able to spend some time with him and the kids love having him at home.
Thursday, 2 December 2010
I can't
Its been a very different Thursday. It started off when I woke up feeling very very cold, checked thermostat and it was reading 10 degrees, felt radiators and they were icy cold. Then the panic set in - I have a combi condensing boiler (I practice what I preach) and no heating also means no hot water! 3 children to bath and washing to do, 3 children at home and no heating?????
So there I was 6am outside in the old toilet where the boiler lives, in pyjamas, dressing gown and wellies trying frantically to make the boiler work - I defrosted the external condensing pipe, did a restart, switched it off, everything that I could think of but still no boiler, no heat and the only thing turning the air blue was my language!
In the end I was talked through how to fix it by a kind friend who is a plumber but it still took the majority of the morning.
Its been snowing here now on and off for the past week, nothing substantial and not enough to close the schools so I have been carrying on going to work - just factoring in more time and being careful on the roads. I do wish that my area would just get some proper snow like everywhere else in the country seems to be getting so we knew what we were doing.
In light of the weather I am now with just over 24hrs to go still unsure if I am going to my husbands mess do tomorrow night - I don't want to drive down there if its bad and according to the other half at the moment there is over 6" of snow around him. It is a shame as I was really looking forward to the night out!
What is playing on my mind at the minute is some of the people I know. There is one of them that has been given the worst run of luck for the past 5 years, her father was very ill and passed away and now her grandma (who is her last relative) is very ill. She is slightly younger than me and is facing all these problems with a show of determination and bravery that makes me so proud to know her. Another friend is one of the "I can't" brigade - although she and all her family have their health, everything to her is a problem. Not a day goes by at the moment when she isn't sending 15 odd texts asking for help and advice on the silliest of things, she expects an awful lot of hand holding. I feel incredibly frustrated when I get one of these texts and am resisting the temptation to tell her some "home truths".
I suppose the whole morale of the above situation is that you never know what is going to come your way and there isn't a whole lot you can do to alter destiny/fate but what you CAN always do is manage the way you handle problems. There are lots of occasions when I want to sit on the floor and have a tantrum like my 3 year old would but I try to do something positive instead.
So there I was 6am outside in the old toilet where the boiler lives, in pyjamas, dressing gown and wellies trying frantically to make the boiler work - I defrosted the external condensing pipe, did a restart, switched it off, everything that I could think of but still no boiler, no heat and the only thing turning the air blue was my language!
In the end I was talked through how to fix it by a kind friend who is a plumber but it still took the majority of the morning.
Its been snowing here now on and off for the past week, nothing substantial and not enough to close the schools so I have been carrying on going to work - just factoring in more time and being careful on the roads. I do wish that my area would just get some proper snow like everywhere else in the country seems to be getting so we knew what we were doing.
In light of the weather I am now with just over 24hrs to go still unsure if I am going to my husbands mess do tomorrow night - I don't want to drive down there if its bad and according to the other half at the moment there is over 6" of snow around him. It is a shame as I was really looking forward to the night out!
What is playing on my mind at the minute is some of the people I know. There is one of them that has been given the worst run of luck for the past 5 years, her father was very ill and passed away and now her grandma (who is her last relative) is very ill. She is slightly younger than me and is facing all these problems with a show of determination and bravery that makes me so proud to know her. Another friend is one of the "I can't" brigade - although she and all her family have their health, everything to her is a problem. Not a day goes by at the moment when she isn't sending 15 odd texts asking for help and advice on the silliest of things, she expects an awful lot of hand holding. I feel incredibly frustrated when I get one of these texts and am resisting the temptation to tell her some "home truths".
I suppose the whole morale of the above situation is that you never know what is going to come your way and there isn't a whole lot you can do to alter destiny/fate but what you CAN always do is manage the way you handle problems. There are lots of occasions when I want to sit on the floor and have a tantrum like my 3 year old would but I try to do something positive instead.
Monday, 29 November 2010
To snow or not to snow?
So The bad weather started early last week and since then I have been glued to the weather reports and the websites such as the met office. It finally started snowing here overnight Friday and we woke up to 5cm or so of snow lying on top of the dreaded ice - the council gritters were no where in sight despite all the warnings of snow and the side roads were like an ice rink but I had appointments booked for Saturday morning so of to work I went.
I managed to do all my appointments and only fell over once or twice - injuring my pride rather than anything else!
We all went sledging in the afternoon and the kids loved it, it was the first time the boys (age 3 and 20 months) had been and they really did enjoy it.
But now we are in limbo - you get up every morning and rush to see if there is enough snow to shut the schools and if there is that much snow you then have to wait for the official announcement via the local radio that "yes the school is shut" or you risk life and limb by chucking all 3 kids in the car for a trip to school via the local skating rink (the roads closest to the school - the school is on a bus route but the gritters still don't go down there) and hope that a few of the teachers have arrived and the school is open. Depending on which website you go on we are in for lots of snow overnight and all day tomorrow or a little bit of snow tonight and none tomorrow - complete and utter limbo, definitely a wait and see situation.
I do miss the snow from my childhood (that makes me sound old - although it is my 33rd birthday in just over 10 days) when there was enough to literally stop the country for a couple of days rather than just enough to make it awkward and difficult for 2 weeks.
So while awaiting the news from Cancun I will be watching out my window for the snow........
I managed to do all my appointments and only fell over once or twice - injuring my pride rather than anything else!
We all went sledging in the afternoon and the kids loved it, it was the first time the boys (age 3 and 20 months) had been and they really did enjoy it.
But now we are in limbo - you get up every morning and rush to see if there is enough snow to shut the schools and if there is that much snow you then have to wait for the official announcement via the local radio that "yes the school is shut" or you risk life and limb by chucking all 3 kids in the car for a trip to school via the local skating rink (the roads closest to the school - the school is on a bus route but the gritters still don't go down there) and hope that a few of the teachers have arrived and the school is open. Depending on which website you go on we are in for lots of snow overnight and all day tomorrow or a little bit of snow tonight and none tomorrow - complete and utter limbo, definitely a wait and see situation.
I do miss the snow from my childhood (that makes me sound old - although it is my 33rd birthday in just over 10 days) when there was enough to literally stop the country for a couple of days rather than just enough to make it awkward and difficult for 2 weeks.
So while awaiting the news from Cancun I will be watching out my window for the snow........
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