cold

Today has been dull and cold so very little solar power produced. In fact from lunchtime yesterday there has been no sun. Tomorrow doesn't sound much better.
Tomorrow morning I go and take my car in for Service. Today someone told me that there was snow in places near me, all we had was a little light rain. Let us hope that in the morning it is fine because I am 3/4 of a mile from the Service Station so don't want to walk back in the rain.
Now to something different. I saw a Tarzan poster on T.V and it bought to mind my days of youth. Well to be honest early days.
My Sister was 4 years older than me and I guess this would be in the mid 40, probably 1944 to 45. The war was going well regarding Air Raids and as I lived on an Estate there were several youngsters and occasionally we would get together to play. As we lived on the edge of town we had a short walk to be in the country.
The older children ruled us youngsters. I would probably be 7 or 8. My Sister and her friends would tell us what we could and could not do. The favourite pastime seemed to be climbing trees. Mainly willow trees as there was a stream that run where the trees were. As children we youngsters were told that one big tree was out of bounds and in was called Tarzan. Incidentally, I never did climb that tree because as I reached I think 9 we moved, still on the Estate but about 1/4 mile further away.
I realise that the youngsters of today miss out on so many things. They have computers so sit there for ages.
I used to play with my Cousin. We knew all about seasons. We knew when to go mushrooming, blackberrying(I did more than my cousin he was not too keen)conkering, cheggying(sweet chestnuts) and later in the Autumn walnutting. This was very bad for your hands as they were stained as if you had been smoking.
Conkering was fun. We used to catch a bus to the next village 2d it cost, then we would call at a lady called Mrs Bullock on the way to the conker tree. She would sell us a 1d worth of fallen apples. Generally codling as they were one of the first to ripen. She also had an old fashioned hand water pump. We would have a go lifting the handle and pulling it down. It must have been a well but I can assure you the water gushed out copiously.
We would then walk down a very steep hill called Casthorpe Hill. There were steep sides rising on either side and on the right hand side was a lot of Sweet Chestnuts. These would be ready about 2 weeks after the conkers. The road was hardly wide enough for 2 cars to pass but at the bottom of the hill there was a field on the left. There was a huge Horse Chestnut tree there in the field. about 20 yards away was the Walnut tree. The walnuts would be another month before they would be ready.
We used the same process for conkers ans walnuts. There was a couple of large sticks and we would throw them up into the tree, hoping to knock the conkers from their shell cases. Sometimes it would take ages but generally we didn't have to wait long before we had enough conkers.
Sweet chestnuts were different. I don't think many knew of their whereabouts because whenever we went, there were plenty of chestnuts on the ground. The only problem was that their cases were very prickly. We managed always to get lots though.
Finally when it came to walnuts it was not so easy. The tree didn't bear the same amount fruit as the other trees and to be honest, we never really got as many as we wished but always sufficient to satisfy us. Our parents complained because generally they were quite often in their cases. More soon.

Correct

Today I received confirmation that I am now officially on British Gas Feed in Tariff and will have to read my meter every 3 months and either telephone them on a freephone number or e-mail them. They then will work out what I have earned and then send a cheque to my home.
What it did tell me was that I finally got everything correct. I thought I had but without the confirmation I would not be 100% sure. Anyway that is now finally sorted. Mind you I have given up as lost for ever, my driving licence photograph and my utility bill.
My car is just about 1 year old and I am ashamed to say that the speedometer reading is a little over 2100 miles. I think about 3 miles over. The car was driven to me from I think Ellesmere Port and had almost 200 miles on the clock. To be honest, I think it was 191. This means that I have done much less than 2000 miles. Anyway I went to my local Service Station in the village and told him. He suggested that I have an oil change and filters, changed and that would probably do. He told me that he would just do enough to make sure the warranty would still be O.K. So next Tuesday I will be taking the car in for a service. I will let you know the cost. Today was my best day for producing Solar Power. I was generating enough for my computer and television for some time. It will be interesting to see what I can produce in the late spring onwards. It turned cloudy late afternoon and we had a little sleet. The forecast is not brilliant for the next week or so. I had planned to see my Sisters. I think that will be put on hold. More soon.

Surprise

This morning I went to see my mate, he gets me things from the local supermarkets. I also go to see his Mum who is not well but she is always pleased to see me.
She told me some time ago that she likes to talk to someone nearer her age so I start talking of old times. today was the washing of clothes. We reminisced talking of dolly tubs and mangles. Her son then mentioned some soap powder. We both put him right. There were very few soap powders in those days. I mentioned Lux. These were flakes, upon hearing this she told me that she still had some of the flakes. I told her that they would be antique.
Anyway I got home and went online to check mail. To my surprise I had an e-mail from British Gas. It started by thanking me for choosing them for them to be the agents for my tariff. However they sent me lots of things to do. To be honest it took me ages to download photocopy and then e-mail to British Gas. I thought I had done quite well, but no, I had forgotten one more thing to photocopy sign and then e-mail it to them. This I did late on tonight so I do not quite know if all is correct.
I sincerely hope all is correct. If not then I will have to do it again. More soon.

FITT

This stands for Feed in Tariff. I was foolishly registered with British Gas for this service.
On December 9th. I was registered with British Gas. It was not until January 5th this year that they wrote to me saying they wanted proof of who I was as I was not a British Gas customer. I ha 2 options. I could either send proof by e-mail or post the documents off. I did a little of both. I sent by post my Driving Licence photo and an electricity bill. I sent by e-mail a copy of my electricity bill. The e-mail was replied to by an automated response informing me that it had been passed on to the relevant place.
A few days ago I rung up the Feed in Tariff team as I was worried because I had not heard a thing. the lady was nice and told me not to worry as they were flat out. I made her laugh with a retort that I presumed their arms were going as fast as bees wings. We parted on good terms her once again telling me not to worry.
This evening I received another e-mail from British Gas stating that they had only received one Utility Bill and needed 2. You cab guess just how angry I am. I have written to them telling them that there was no liaison at all between the offices as I had written to them telling them that I had no Natural Gas in my village I also told them that I was worried because my Driving Licence Photo with a Utility Bill had been sent by post on January 5th and had no confirmation that it had been received.
I begin to wonder if I will ever get things sorted. Now that the Government has lost the fight to bring in the reduced tariff from December 12th last year. Mind you, they have just announce that they are going to the Supreme Court. The highest Court in the land to try to overturn the High Cour judgement. Anyway what this means is that there will be another huge intake of applications. I suppose mine will be at the bottom of the pile.
Tomorrow morning I am going to see my mate he wont believe what is happening. He sent me an e-mail from a guy whom was told that the Passport Office wanted proof of who he was and this I think was just for a renewal. I will see if I can put it on my blog. Mind you I do not wish my mate's e-mail address. If I can I will. More soon.

Rain

Today has been very poor for producing electricity. All morning it rained, not torrential rain but steady rain. By early afternoon I thought it had stopped so I decided to go and get my pension and do a little shopping. Had I not needed milk I would have waited until tomorrow. So I went, it was a damp drizzly afternoon and very cold 3c.
I have never mentioned this before, but I do get a feeling of excitement every time I collect my State Pension. I think this is because working for myself, I didn't collect a weekly wage. Well not since the 1960s so it is a thrill to get cash in my hand.
My Grandfather on my Mother's side was a careful man with money, I think I get it from him. He was called up to the Army in the 1914-18 war. He was severely injured and invalided out of the Army. He had a piece of shrapnel embedded in his jugular vein. Each time he went for an examination at the Hospital, the Doctor in charge would have some students and they would listen as the blood would drip past the shrapnel. Needless to say, he was never allowed to work again. He was given a small war pension and managed to save a little on what he was given.
Of course I never knew of this, but once when I was very young we all went to visit them, I recalled my Grandfather leaving the living room and going to his bedroom. When he returned my Grandmother asked him if he had finished counting his money. He retorted that if those that he left the money to had as much pleasure as he had saving it, then they would have lots of pleasure. I can certainly understand where he was coming from. More soon.

The saga continues

I think it was on Friday that I had a phone call from the Company that distributed the T.V.
She was nice and polite and told me that I had the T.V. I then told her I did not so she then said to me that I have another T.V. I gave her the information that a delivery company from Nottingham had several times tried to deliver it to me but I steadfastly refused. She then told me that this was great. She then bid me good day. I thought that this was finally the end of this saga.
I was outside this morning when once again a delivery from from Nottingham pulled up. He called me over and asked me if I was waiting for a Television to be delivered. I noticed him and it was the same guy who had previously come to deliver it to me. I told him once again that I had my refund and that I did not want the T.V. He was very apologetic and told me that it was the office staff that was to blame. I just told him that they should contact the Company and then hopefully all would be sorted. I told him that this had gone on for over a month. We will wait and see.
I don't know if I mentioned it but late December last year I set some broad bean seeds and put them in the greenhouse in pots. Well a week or so ago I decided to bring a few in the house and now I have about a dozen just showing. I have once again put them in the greenhouse and bought the rest in the home just to get them started. It is my intention to set them in the garden late February, weather permitting.
Today has been nice and sunny but as I face east west I do not make much electricity yet but hopefully in a couple of months time will begin to do much better. More soon.

Back to normal

Well it is back to normal, we hope regarding my internet connection speed. I rung them up again this morning, it is a free phone so it does not matter really. I spoke to a nice young guy called Kuz. He went through all the possible causes including checking the line and could not find anything wrong. I told him that I could not tell how much speed I was getting. He then gave me a web address to write to and that would tell me my speed. He told me that I could follow the results on my mail page.
I went to the web site and found I had a derisory 0.2megabits per second. I could not find the link so I rung them up again. This time i got a nice lad called Ben. He told me that it was logged on my page and all he wanted to check was that I had all in place. He then told me to change my filter as I was given 2 when I signed up to Plusnet. He told me that he wished to check all he could because if B.T engineer was called and it was my fault then I would be charged £60.. I told him I would change the filter there and then. He told me to do it when we finished the conversation. Then check the line again in a couple of hours.
When we finished I immediately changed the filter. Went again to check my speed. I was amazed at the speed it went. 6.2 megabits. I was thrilled. I checked again at noon and it was the same so I rang them again. This time a lad named Ross answered. I informed him that all was once again perfect so they could cancel anything they had ordered or considered. He told me that I would be staying on their watch just to make sure that all was well. I told him to thank the other 2 and he promised to do this. I told him that Ben had suggested changing the filter and this had been the problem. I then asked if I should destroy the faulty filter. He readily agreed and I destroyed it. He told me that in general, if there is anything wrong, the first thing they suggest is a filter change. I thanked him and that was that.
Tonight I have rung my mate up and told him about the filter being faulty and that the first thing that should be changed if a fault occurs is the filter. I also asked him to get me another filter so that I have a spare one in. That is enough for tonight. More soon.

Unbelievable

Today I went on to the help line because of my problems with the Internet speed.
I had great difficulty loading the pages, anyway I followed the instructions as well as i could but when it suggested that I try another router I was stumped. I eventually disconnected my router and tried my old one. Needless to say it didn't work at all. In fact I got a few things wrong so I called my mate from Skegness. I explained all. but I forgot to put back a filter so the phone was not clear. He told me he would be down later on.
He arrived soon after 2,30pm. I explained that I could not get my other router to work. He told me that no other router would work because they all had a router password and in general would only work for that Company that had supplied it.
He saw that my speed was very poor so decided to try with his lap top which he bought with him. Luckily as he was trying things out Adobe wished to update his Adobe Flash so he accepted the invitation. As it was only an update he expected it to be completed in less than a minute. It took him over 5 minutes. He then told me that it was either the speed that the company was delivering was not sufficient or, less likely the router was faulty.
I told him that I would ring their help line and inform them of our findings. While I was waiting for a reply, my mate was looking at my solar installation.
I did eventually get through to a guy. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He told me that he could not help with any queries only general enquiries as the system was down at their place of work. I told him that I was also having trouble and what could he advise. All he suggested that I call back another time. I asked him when it would be likely that they would be up and running. He told me that perhaps I should ring back in at least 2 hours time. So if I do not get online for a few days you now will know what has happened. I keep my fingers crossed. More soon.

No T.V

What a relief, today there has not been a delivery of a Television thank goodness.
Yesterday I received my renal form for a tax disc for the coming year. As you know, everyone who has a car has to show a current tax disc, also when applying for a renewal, one has to produce a valid Insurance Certificate. I was happy this year because last year I bought an eco friendly car so my duty for the year is NIL. My last car was about £170. I do believe that they altered the charges based on the emissions of the car. Mine being an eco friendly produces less than 100 particles so is exempt from duty.
I also went to have my hair cut. I think I must be getting forgetful because I always have to take my spectacles off and I put them on a shelf. When I got up from the chair, I paid the guy and left.
When I got in the car, I started it and turned into the sun, I thought my eyes were deteriorating badly because I could not see the speedometer at all. The low winter sun pouring in to the car. I bat I went the best part of 1/2 a mile before I realised I had left my specs in the barbers. I hurried back to the barbers, there they were where I had left them.
I must admit my sight was somewhat better for wearing my specs.
I then went to the local dispensary to pick up my prescriptions up but sadly for me, one is still not available and the nurses there told me that the substitutes that Dave(Louth Hospital) had suggested were not suitable for me. Not surprised at all.
Managing to produce a little electricity, still waiting for British Gas to contact me. More soon.

T.V time again

Well I couldn't believe it. Around lunchtime the doorbell rang and once again it was a delivery man trying to deliver the said Television. I told him the whole saga and told him that I had told the guy on Friday what had happened. I asked him out of curiosity where he had come from. He told me Nottingham. That is about 80 miles away. I was surprised as I expected him to say Lincoln. Anyway, I will wait and see what happens next as he told me he would pass the information on to his superiors.
The doorbell rang late in the afternoon. It was the lady from next door, the one with the chickens. She asked me if I would help her round up the chickens as they were proving a problem for her. I of course helped her, they were a little reluctant to go back in their pens and as it was getting a little dark, they soon went into their coops ready to roost for the evening.
I think reqally she asked me to help as an excuse as I had an offer from Saga Magizine to give someone a years subscription for £1. I told her to give me her full name and address, this she gave me today so tomorrow I will go and post the application form.
I am having trouble with the internet, not enough speed, whether it is me with perhaps a virus I don't know but to write this blog, I have had to go offline to load this page. Sad I know but true.
If I find it is my provider I will tell them in no uncertain terms just how I feel and threaten them with an official complaint as this is not the first time this has happened.
Finally for my American friend. I apologise profusely. A chip buttie is a common snack especially in the norht of England. I must try to remember in future. Mind you, I laughed like anything at your comment. More soon.

Much improved

Yesterday I felt much better in general, however I now have a heavy cold with an irritating cough.
I would have wrote about it yesterday but as I had just gone online, I had a phone call from an old employee and he asked if it would be O.K to call and see me. I of course agreed. I decided to do a chip buttie, something I rarely have, but I decided to have one too. I do them in the oven with a coating of olive oil. Anyway it went down well with him, a couple of biscuits and a couple of coffees.
I think I mentioned about a delivery of the dreaded T.V. Well today once again the guy tried to deliver it to me.
It never ceases to amaze me. British Gas contacted me just before Christmas full of apology for the way I had been treated and that a Gas Service Engineer would call and service my boiler in January and gave me a date and an A.M time. The service engineer never appeared. Yet I did not ask for the T.V to be repaired and delivered back to me but in 2 days, I have had the said T.V delivered to me well attempted to be delivered. Yes once again today the doorbell rang and it was the same guy. He was apologetic and told me he would NOT be calling again.
By the way, for the first time since I have had solar panels installed, I managed to produce just 2 kw. hours. So there is hoe for me yet. Mind you, the FITT team have not got back to me since they requested some form of identity. If it takes as long to reply this time as it did to contact me from my initial registration, I will not be having any news for a couple of weeks at least.
I will of course keep anyone who is interested, fully informed.
It is talking of a sunny week end so hopefully I will do reasonably well generating some electricity. More soon.

Not too good

Yesterday I had a dreadful day. I have never felt so ill in ages.
My eyesight was blurred and I culdn't pee very well at all. I felt dizzy and sick all morning. However later in the day, I gradually improved so that at tea time felt well enough to have a bite to eat.
I normally go and get my State Pension and get my shopping done but not yesterday though. I did manage it this morning and although I am not 100% I will accept how I feel everyday.
Just had an e-mail from the Television Company telling me they were delivering me another T.V tomorrow 12th January. Just replied and told them that I have cancelled the order so I do not require another T.V. When will this saga end.
Phone call. It is from an old employee. Mind you he worked for me as a young lad until he was in his early 20s. Went chasing a lass. I told him that she was not for him and unfortunately was proved right, but after a divorce and a while on his own found a nice lass and the long and short of it is that they were married and have 2 girls. Mind you they are more or less grown up. One as I think 21 and the other 18. He now lives in Exeter so do not see much of him. He is going to his Aunts funeral tomorrow so will come and see me. He told me he will be here in about 30 minutes time. It will be nice to see him as I haven't seen him for just over a year. I must now stop what I am doing and get him something ready to eat. More soon.

Is it me?

To be honest I have not been 100% for the last 3 weeks or so. This virus seems to almost go then it comes back with a vengeance. This has happened today and to be honest I have felt a little under the weather. Let us hope that tomorrow will be a better day.
To compound this, I was supposed to have a free service from British Gas this morning. As it seems to be at the moment, nobody came and no explanation was given. I don't think I will bother again as it seems to be a waste of time.
I forgot to mention it but I asked my mate if he saw a set of scales, with or without any weights. It is primarily for my bread rolls. As I get a little older I don't seem to have the ability to evenly portion dough pieces.
Well my mate told me he had digital scales and he though I had. I told him I had so out they came. Unfortunately the battery was flat. I don't know what you would call them but they are flat like a smaller size of a 10p piece.
When I went to see him on Friday, I was fortunate because he had bought one for his girlfriend. He fitted it and gave me the scales.
last night I decided to bake a batch of bread rolls. I only do about 18 maximum at a time as it is the proving and cooking of them that limits me.
Well, like an idiot I mixed the dough then when it came to weigh the individual portions out, I turned on the electronic scales. When I switched it on the scales went to 8888 which is normal, then went to 0, then it started to go haywire. Just like the T.V I bought. I couldn't believe it and stared in amazement. I then put the scales away. The next time they come out will be when my mate looks at them. To be honest, I think they will be beyond repair. Had I felt good I would have probably rung my mate up but I guess there is no hurry as I generally only have 1 roll a day. Let us see what tomorrow brings. More soon.

Visiting

This morning, with a smile on my face because the sun was shining, I went to see my mate in Skegness. As anyone who bothers to read my blog will know that he usually comes to see me once a fortnight but for the last two months or more, his Mother has been ill and as he is the official carer, he does not stray far.
Anyway, he is good to me and I give him my order which he gets from the local supermarkets and if he sees anything he thinks I want he will get it, only if it is the right price.
Well, when I rung up last night to let him know what I wanted and what time I would be there, he told me he had bought me a Phillips Digital Radio and the price was only £15.00. I told him that it was great and the price was certainly very cheap. He told me he had got one for himself and one for his lady friend.
I arrived there just before 10.30am. Went in to see his Mum and wish her A Happy New Year. She was in good spirits and that was nice to see. I told her I was having a bit of smoked haddock for my dinner today, she then told me that her other Son had bought her her Christmas dinner, she then told me she had chicken brussel sprouts roast potatoes and peas. Christmas pudding as a must and she told me that he also bout round a sherry trifle. That was nice of him. He has recently managed to find another lady. His partner of some 14 years died a couple of years ago. I told his Mum that this was the best news I had heard for ages as he was not the type who would live alone happily. I think he is about 54.
My mate showed me the cooker he bought. Looks great. He told me this woman had bought it but wanted to go back to gas. He got it for about £150. It is A rated, but with his solar panels facing south he is doing very well. I get about 50% of what he is managing but I am not too worried. All I am waiting for is to see what tariff I will be on. I will of course keep all who are interested informed.
I purposely never stay too long. From experience I find that the old folk who are not too well like to see you but for not too long. They then look forward to seeing you again.
Anyway my mate set up the radio for me, I just stayed for a few more minutes then off I went home. I purposely looked to see how many solar panels were fitted to other houses. NONE. Well I didn't see any anyway.
The first thing I did when I got home was to see how much electricity I had generated. Not a lot but I produced more than the last 3 days put together. I finished up producing about 1.0kw Hrs.
The other day I set some broad beans in pots in my greenhouse, so I will have something to look forward to theses coming weeks. I do expect however some winter weather before too long. But as I have always said, the days are gradually getting longer so winter if it comes next week will not last as long as if it had arrived a week ago. Enough rubbish for now. More soon.

What a performance

I can't believe all that has happened these last 3 weeks or so.
It is hard to believe but I wrote to Comet Customers Service so many times that I told him that I regarded us as Pen Pals. He he he. To his credit, he did get things done and today, yes today the T.V has finally been picked up and I have been reimbursed.
Mind you, I had another episode. With the Customers Service there is a help line . I foolishly decided to call them. The first message was that I would be charged at 10p a minute plus my normal providers charges.
As you would expect there are menus to go through and eventually I managed to talk to a young lass called Sarah. Very nice too, of course I had to explain everything to her and then she tried to find me on the system. Was I surprised when she told me there was nothing on the system? No. She then put me on hold, well it seemed an eternity but I think it would be no more than 5 minutes. When she came back she told me that someone would call me later that night and explain why no pick up had occurred and why I had no had a refund. needless to say, no call was made to me.
However today January 5th just 21 days after ordering the T.V it was picked up. Thank goodness for that.
Now to my Solar Panel saga.
I registered, well that is not exactly true, the installer registered the system for me. I did the following day, check up to see that all was O.K and was told that out of 10 he was 9.99 sure all was well.
Today, yes today almost 4 weeks after registering, I had a letter. Where do I start. It was questions. I really think they wanted my inside leg measurements. Questions like. As you are not a British Gas Customer we want proof of who you are and where you live etc. Send a passport or driving licence, utility bill and other proofs of being who you are.
I wrote a nice letter telling them that I was an old man, I have never heard of anyone disbelieving me. I told them that I did not have a passport and at my time of life had no intention of having one either. So I am at present in limbo. What a start to 2012. Such is life. More soon.