No Man's Land

When either J, G10 or myself are out, Topsy likes to sit on the curve of the stairs.  This is so she can wait and watch for the door at the same time.  Only when we are back altogether again will she join us and sit in front of the fire in the snug.

A family dog.

The Letter T

This week's prompt over at Taras is the letter T. Well I had two this morning... tense and trees.

I became a little bit agitated when G10 at the last minute before leaving for school, decided she had to take a memory box to Guides this evening (and she is not coming home in between times).  Scrabbling around to find items to go in (and take out - really why a plastic dinosaur?)  Of course we had to share a moment to wonder and stare at G10's first baby grow.  Was she ever so tiny?  I felt quite broody.  For a nanosecond.

Anyway I digress. 

The next panic was trying to find G10's spellings.  We hunted high and low, I accused J of having them last so it was obviously all his fault.  Actually he hadn't and it wasn't but I was blowed if I was going to admit that.  At the very last second we found the errant spellings in Them Next Door's place.  Even though G10 had looked there herself - I've come to the conclusion that she really does not have eyes that see.

Anyway I was stressed and a little bit tense.  As I walked towards the office I could hear the stream... sounding louder than normal due to the drop torrents of rain we've had recently.

I thought to myself, take 5.  So I took 5; I stopped and stared at the magical light that the soft sunshine and slight mist were creating in the trees and the soothing sounds of rushing streams cascading down the valley.  Then all was right with the world again.

The wood looking exceptionally beautiful this morning.

Are we making any money?

Thought you might be vaguely interested agog to know how we are doing with our new solar PV panels.

Well here goes, I've had to use the calculator so hopefully all figures are correct.  If you notice any glaring mistakes feel free to let me know, maths has never been my strong point.

The two weeks before we had the panels fitted we consumed:-
279
185 kWh

Then the two weeks after (I've disregarded the week we had them fitted as mid week) we consumed:-

137

119 kWh



No actual sunshine, but still generating.



For the full four weeks we've been 'live' we have generated:-

33.8

29.2

43.7

30.8 kWh respectively.

That's a total of 137.5 kWh units (not bad for October).  For each unit generated we receive 43.3 pence, plus a further 3.1 pence for any kWh exported back to the grid.  Our FIT electricity supplier calculates the export figure simply by halving the figure we generate.

That means in cold hard cash terms for this four week period we will receive a total of £61.67 tax free from the government, for both the kWh generated and exported under the FIT scheme.

On top of generating and exporting we are also of course reducing our electricity bill by using as much as we can when we generate, so for example I delay my washing machine to come on when the sun is up and plug in all mobile devices to recharge their batteries in the day.  The daytime energy consumption is helped by the fact that there are four of us at home in the day, throughout the day.  

How we work out exactly how much we are reducing our electricity cost is a little difficult to calculate as there could be times when we do not use absolutely all of the energy generated.  I thought instead, simply as an interesting exercise, I'd contrast last year's readings from our electricity meter against this year's readings.
 
October          1st Week      2nd Week         3rd Week      4th Week       Total Used
2010               183                223                    270               237                 913
2011               137                119                    135               203                 594

In short a saving of 319 kWh.  All the reduction of kWh usage in this comparison obviously cannot be put down solely to the installation of the solar PV panels, other variable factors should be taken into account.  For example; external temperature conditions, general home energy conservation strategies implemented, whether we were home in the evenings etc. Still I like the figures.

One last little thing.  I still haven't got used to seeing how our home energy monitor now sometimes goes down when we switch a light on. That's simply because when we are generating more than we are using the monitor reflects the credit available.  When we switch something on, the figure on the monitor reduces because that electrical item consumes some of the generated electricity available for free use.

The Inverter

IMPORTANT: Government reducing FIT payments soon?

There is a rumour that from December 12th 2011, the tariff payment will reduce to 21p/kWh for solar photovoltaic systems of up to 4kW.  I found this information on the energy saving trust website, note that this proposal is not final.

Falling costs in solar installation, (the Government) quoting a fall from £13,000 to £9,000 for an average system since the tariffs began, mean that homeowners should still see a decent rate of return on their investment, quoting figures of around 5% return. But that's well shy of the 10% return owners are currently getting.  In short if you are considering it ACT NOW.

Bear in mind too that it can take some time for your application for FITs to be received by your FIT licensee (FIT electricity supplier).  It will of course always be after the date on which your PV system is installed.  

Faces

The theme over at The Gallery this week is Faces.

The first picture albeit from a few years back, was taken at the Bristol International Kite Festival held at Ashton Court, a really fantastic family day out and highly recommended.  So many faces to see and wonder at up in the sky.  There are also plenty of beer tents which helps to oil adult relaxation.  You can eat there of course - the choice of eateries and the smells emanating from them is mouth watering, or like us you can take your own picnic.  

Simply relax and watch the amazing displays above you. 

The next two are of G10 in Majorca when she was about 4.  She was born in water and has been a water babe ever since.  Him Next Door (aka Grampy) has helped pass on this love of all things water related and you can see the pure joy of this in her little face.

Unadulterated Joy.

A personal thank you to the exhibitors at Maenclochog Craft Fayre

The room was made beautiful, thanks to all the exhibitor's displays. 

From healing massages to Aloe Vera products, jewellery and beads to personalised and special cards, weaving to cross stitch, toys to driftwood art, make-up to skin care, bags and aprons, handmade bunting, Christmas decorations, towels, cottons and ribbons, woollen items, door stops, jams, pickles, honey and wonderful cakes.  The list goes on.

Llysyfran church members doled out tea and coffee and at lunchtime delicious home grown and home made soup, ran a raffle, manned a 'nearly new stall' and provided a children's play room with activities.  The children had a whale of a time.

If nothing else the day proved that this area around Maenclochog is full of little treasures when it comes to artistic, creative and business skills. I really believe as a community it's so important to support our small and local businesses; use them or lose them!  They can't be matched for personal service, their carbon footprint is small and money spent with them stays in the local economy.  A win all round.

It was great for me to meet all the stall holders personally and I can't thank everyone enough for the effort that was put in to the day. 

Beautiful displays.   Inset: "Kathryn's Krèche"

It was quieter in the afternoon; I blame the rugby (we lost), the weather (it was a beautiful day) and apparently there was also a YFC Eisteddfod on too. 

Still we managed to raise over £600.00.  Not bad.  We hope to do a similar event next year.   We'll build on the feedback from our exhibitors and the things we've learned ourselves.  Taking everything into consideration it promises to be an even bigger and better Craft Fayre for the local community to enjoy in 2012.

Hellraising...

It's nearly here.  The big day.  The title got your attention huh?  Actually it's fundraising; but at times it's felt like hell.

I have been working tirelessly, well on and off, for it seems like months.  I started in August, it's now October... gosh it really has been months.

There are only a few of us who attend our little church, and although I am not particularly religious I do like the community it helps to bring together and the building itself is beautiful.  And whoever you conceive Him to be it is his house - you can feel that.

St Meilyr's Church; rather beautiful.

I outlined my thoughts of a fundraising day on the church website and the interest started rolling in.  So much so that we've had to hire an extra room at Maenclochog Community Hall.  All good but still I'm panicking a little about how to cram all the exhibitors inside.  Luckily Claire (from Cake Carousel) has been a star.  Having laid on similar such events before she's in the know and is cool, calm and collected.  I don't know where I'd be without her help.

Lists are everywhere... thank goodness for the computer as they are continuously being remodeled.

I'll still forget something though.

Him Next Door has been very busy producing flyers and posters to advertise the event.  They've gone up everywhere and been handed out to anything that moves.  We've advertised in the local Community News and on Radio Pembrokeshire.  Her Next Door and I have leafleted all the local villages and the myriad of houses in between.  Notably every single one of them seemed to have a long drive and a letterbox that eats fingers for fun.  Oh and the dogs.  It really wasn't worth risking life and limb for at one particular house - so I retreated gracefully, never turning my back on the whirling dervish.

My biggest worry is that nobody will turn up to browse or buy.  Bit like arranging a huge party and it ending up resembling the Marie Celeste.  I shall feel totally responsible to all the lovely exhibitors (they are my children now) and I will be on tenterhooks all day.  If they do badly I suspect they won't be coming back next year.  (Oh yes I'm thinking of making this an annual event).  The other (admittedly smaller) worry is that we become too busy and every one ends up squeezed in to the hall, like sardines.  Unable to see what's on offer, people in their droves simply turn their backs and leave.  Empty handed.  Stuff of nightmares. 

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my time after Saturday; but I sure as hell will get a better night's sleep.

Strike? Not in this house.

Violin with Him Next Door.
Maths-Whizz with Her Next Door.
Cooking with Daddy (cooking with Mummy would be a non starter).
Spellings and reading (Welsh and English) with Mummy.
Cycling with Daddy.

G10 checking her spellings.

G10 will be glad when today's strike called by the teaching union Ucac, is over... she can go back to school for a rest tomorrow.