Up before 8.30 in case the builders came whilst Gill was taking our youngest to school... and they walked down as he's achy and bruised from falling over at the ice rink last night.
The plumber, Lee, working with Harris Builders arrived at 8.30 and started checking through the various boxes and packages which have arrived from Solartwin. He found that the large box which contained the cylinder part of the system had been bashed and had a damaged corner. However, this is, I hope, cosmetic damage and is the result of inadequate packaging and mishandling. Although I'm not a fan of excess packaging, it has a purpose... protection... and in this case, some extra polystyrene or thick card on each corner would have protected the contents better. I wonder if we'll get any money back for this?
Fortunately the huge panel was in perfect condition, and all the other bits and bobs seemed to have arrived. Lee's brother Andy arrived and they worked harmoniously til after 5, but they just did the internal work. Tomorrow morning the panel will be hoisted up to the roof and fixed in. I don't think they fancied it in the rain.
I spent the whole day at the house, making sure the chaps were well dosed with tea and anything else they needed. I chopped up another load of apples for drying and did a wash up and made another batch of tomato soup on the woodstove, this time with a slice of pumpkin whizzed up into it. I also started building the logpile on the right hand side of the front door, looking out. With both stoves going now, we are getting through the logs really quickly.
So, pasties and soup for tea... the soup was delicious.
At 7pm I got myself ready to go down to the Seahorse to attend the last LETS core group meeting of the year, and the social and trading afterwards. The meeting was very well attended, probably because of the social. The funniest thing was that Rakesh brought loads of goodies to trade and this generated quite a bit of excitement and more trading than the core group meetings have seen over the whole year... I think anyhow! We did have a short meeting and I took minutes and will write them up. I was pleased to chat with Jini, whom I've not got to know before now. So, an enjoyable meeting and I brought back some interesting edibles.
I got home soon after 10.30 and watched Newsnight which had reports from Copenhagen, and wrote up the YiT emails from last night.
Showing posts with label Harris Builders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harris Builders. Show all posts
Monday, 7 December 2009
Saturday, 17 October 2009
Saturday 17th October 09
Not too early a start but as soon as I got up I went to do yet more work in the garden. This hedge removal and processing seems never-ending but it is gradually getting done.
Gill went into town with both boys on the bus to get assorted clothes. They are growing fast, and our youngest is going on a fieldtrip next week so he needs some more clothes.
I cycled round to the bread shop and bought £3 worth of 'yesterbake' bread, baked yesterday but not sold. So then it's all brought to the Tang Hall Lane Thomas the Baker and sold ridiculously cheaply, effectively at quarter of the full price. An excellent way of reducing waste. On the way back I cycled up to Harris Builders and gave them the 25% deposit cheques for the solar panels and chimney removal.
I contacted the Freecycle privet roots people and after lunch, one lady came round to pick up 25 of them, and a chap from near Easingwold is coming tomorrow to pick up all the rest.
I finished taking out the hedge, and put aside about 100 roots for the chap tomorrow. He'll be delighted. My sons also helped me start to chop up the sticks, of which there are a huge number, using loppers. This was lovely as they generally aren't interested in any garden activities. It made me very happy to work with them, although it was only half an hour maximum. Our neighbours are also very happy that I've removed the hedge so swiftly. The wall and fence will be put in soon.
Chatted on the phone to my friend Anita, who with her hubby Tim will visit early tomorrow morning. I found bus times for them as although they've got a car in Reading, they have decided to come up by train. They've a friend in York who's having a birthday. I haven't seen them for perhaps 10 years or so. Maybe more! I used to go and see them when I went to the WOMAD festival when it was held in Reading. It'll be lovely to see them again. I have lovely memories of WOMAD and it was there where I learned to do Devilsticks for the very first time.
During the evening Gill and I had a game of Scrabble. It was very close, score-wise, and whilst Gill took her goes, I did emails and wrote my blog. I won by 4 points.
Gill went into town with both boys on the bus to get assorted clothes. They are growing fast, and our youngest is going on a fieldtrip next week so he needs some more clothes.
I cycled round to the bread shop and bought £3 worth of 'yesterbake' bread, baked yesterday but not sold. So then it's all brought to the Tang Hall Lane Thomas the Baker and sold ridiculously cheaply, effectively at quarter of the full price. An excellent way of reducing waste. On the way back I cycled up to Harris Builders and gave them the 25% deposit cheques for the solar panels and chimney removal.
I contacted the Freecycle privet roots people and after lunch, one lady came round to pick up 25 of them, and a chap from near Easingwold is coming tomorrow to pick up all the rest.
I finished taking out the hedge, and put aside about 100 roots for the chap tomorrow. He'll be delighted. My sons also helped me start to chop up the sticks, of which there are a huge number, using loppers. This was lovely as they generally aren't interested in any garden activities. It made me very happy to work with them, although it was only half an hour maximum. Our neighbours are also very happy that I've removed the hedge so swiftly. The wall and fence will be put in soon.
Chatted on the phone to my friend Anita, who with her hubby Tim will visit early tomorrow morning. I found bus times for them as although they've got a car in Reading, they have decided to come up by train. They've a friend in York who's having a birthday. I haven't seen them for perhaps 10 years or so. Maybe more! I used to go and see them when I went to the WOMAD festival when it was held in Reading. It'll be lovely to see them again. I have lovely memories of WOMAD and it was there where I learned to do Devilsticks for the very first time.
During the evening Gill and I had a game of Scrabble. It was very close, score-wise, and whilst Gill took her goes, I did emails and wrote my blog. I won by 4 points.
Monday, 12 October 2009
Monday 12th October 09
A good day... got the paperwork for the new quote for solar panels, using Solartwin. My friend's worries about the photovoltaic-powered pump being from a car windscreen washing device are unfounded, and the reports from another nearby installation are really good, so we're going for Solartwin. Harris Builders are using the Solartwin installers, and Harris will provide the scaffolding, take down the unused chimney and make good the roof and re-do the fascia boards.
We are pleased we've made this decision. It will fulfill our desire to reduce our already low carbon footprint yet further. We will get some cash back from the Government for putting it in, and also will qualify for a small amount of money off our gas/electric bill from Good Energy. I don't know how much this will be.
So, after dealing with this paperwork, I spent quite a bit of time doing the shredding of the hedge that I've removed so far. Last time I took a load of hedge out, I left all the twiggy bits to the end, and then spent AGES processing them. This time I'm removing hedge, passing the roots on to people who want a Privet hedge, and processing the tops as I go. Much more sensible.
I came in for lunch at 1pm, as usual, and then at about 1.45 cycled down to the station minus my trailer so I could put the bike on the train to Harrogate, and cycle over to Karen who is using me as a subject for her Masters degree on acupuncture and ADHD.
As I experienced in the previous two sessions, I found the lying down on the treatment table to be most relaxing. I'm not sure why this is... proponents of Traditional Chinese Medicine would say something to do with Qi and energies, but I'm not sure. I wonder if it's because I rarely get a chance to lie down in the middle of the afternoon, and usually get only 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night?
Anyway, I'm enjoying the experience. I haven't felt any changes in my energy levels though, nor am I any tidier! Karen thinks I might need 15 to 30 sessions to get any lasting effect.
I got the 5pm train home and was home by 6 via Freshways... and went straight into the garden to do another hour of hedge processing. Beautiful sunset.
Pasta tea. Lover lea.
Quiet evening, did some more plums.
We are pleased we've made this decision. It will fulfill our desire to reduce our already low carbon footprint yet further. We will get some cash back from the Government for putting it in, and also will qualify for a small amount of money off our gas/electric bill from Good Energy. I don't know how much this will be.
So, after dealing with this paperwork, I spent quite a bit of time doing the shredding of the hedge that I've removed so far. Last time I took a load of hedge out, I left all the twiggy bits to the end, and then spent AGES processing them. This time I'm removing hedge, passing the roots on to people who want a Privet hedge, and processing the tops as I go. Much more sensible.
I came in for lunch at 1pm, as usual, and then at about 1.45 cycled down to the station minus my trailer so I could put the bike on the train to Harrogate, and cycle over to Karen who is using me as a subject for her Masters degree on acupuncture and ADHD.
As I experienced in the previous two sessions, I found the lying down on the treatment table to be most relaxing. I'm not sure why this is... proponents of Traditional Chinese Medicine would say something to do with Qi and energies, but I'm not sure. I wonder if it's because I rarely get a chance to lie down in the middle of the afternoon, and usually get only 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night?
Anyway, I'm enjoying the experience. I haven't felt any changes in my energy levels though, nor am I any tidier! Karen thinks I might need 15 to 30 sessions to get any lasting effect.
I got the 5pm train home and was home by 6 via Freshways... and went straight into the garden to do another hour of hedge processing. Beautiful sunset.
Pasta tea. Lover lea.
Quiet evening, did some more plums.
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Thursday 24th September 09
A very quiet day in many ways.... nothing much happened in the morning, apart from me washing up and Gill cleaning the fridge, and in the afternoon, again, not a lot to report. However, at 3.15 we had visitors... the solar panel people, Harris Construction, with a rep from Solarwall who will supply the panel.
So this chap took a couple of photos of the boiler, roofspace and from outside, the roofline. He said it would be very straightforward to install the hot water panels. We even have a choice between panels made in Germany or in Washington, Tyne and Wear. The UK ones aren't quite as efficient, but they're cheaper. So, we'll get a detailed breakdown of the choices and prices, and hopefully we'll get our system fitted quite quickly. There's only one problem... our loft is rather, err, 'congested' (read: untidy, chaotic, full of stuff) and it will be quite a job to get it sorted out, I estimate several days work.
Anyway, I'm glad we're moving on with this project.
Soon after 4.30 I headed down to Heslington Road, popped in on Country Fresh to pick up compostables, and then locked my bike up outside David's, so I could look at the most recent photos he took of Professor Fiddlesticks, and I could pick out the best ones. Dave will now put together an album of all the best ones taken over the past months, and from that I'll choose the best and most appropriate ones for my new advertising flyer. We agreed a price, in Yorkys and Sterling. Once a proof has been made, I will then get some printed.
This evening, Avaaz posted this video about Monday's myriad of ways in which people all over the Planet participated in the 'Wake Up Call'. What a brilliant stunt.. well done Avaaz and all the people who did these creative things.
We had Bulgar wheat and home grown green beans for tea and I chopped up loads more apples for drying. Enjoyed Question Time on BBC1.
So this chap took a couple of photos of the boiler, roofspace and from outside, the roofline. He said it would be very straightforward to install the hot water panels. We even have a choice between panels made in Germany or in Washington, Tyne and Wear. The UK ones aren't quite as efficient, but they're cheaper. So, we'll get a detailed breakdown of the choices and prices, and hopefully we'll get our system fitted quite quickly. There's only one problem... our loft is rather, err, 'congested' (read: untidy, chaotic, full of stuff) and it will be quite a job to get it sorted out, I estimate several days work.
Anyway, I'm glad we're moving on with this project.
Soon after 4.30 I headed down to Heslington Road, popped in on Country Fresh to pick up compostables, and then locked my bike up outside David's, so I could look at the most recent photos he took of Professor Fiddlesticks, and I could pick out the best ones. Dave will now put together an album of all the best ones taken over the past months, and from that I'll choose the best and most appropriate ones for my new advertising flyer. We agreed a price, in Yorkys and Sterling. Once a proof has been made, I will then get some printed.
This evening, Avaaz posted this video about Monday's myriad of ways in which people all over the Planet participated in the 'Wake Up Call'. What a brilliant stunt.. well done Avaaz and all the people who did these creative things.
We had Bulgar wheat and home grown green beans for tea and I chopped up loads more apples for drying. Enjoyed Question Time on BBC1.
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