… of electricity generated around here with my solar panels.

I started keeping statistics back in August 2007 and I can safely say that today is the first-ever day since then that a total of ZERO amp-hours has been generated. I’ve had days where I’ve had 0.2 and 0.3 amp-hours, that kind of thing, but never a day with zero.

But a look at the temperature senders in the heat exchanger, the greenhouse and the cloche will tell you why. Maximum temperature was 5.0 – minimum was 3.5. Yes, we had absolutely no sun at all so the temperature never rose by anything worth recording, and there was so much cloud cover that there was no radiation back into the atmosphere once it went dark.

You’ve seen photos in the past of the Gorges of the Sioule with the low cloud hanging around in the gorge. Today was one of those days where the low cloud was all over the Combrailles and just hanging around, stationary, with not even a breath of air to move it on. It’s just like a heavy, clogging mist or fog. We get plenty of those in late autumn and winter but today’s was a special one.

Another record was set at the Anglo-French group this evening where just three of us turned up. Bill, Mark and Yours Truly. Hardly surprising as I could hardly see my hand in front of my face for much of the drive to St Gervais.

I stayed in today – doing a little bit of desultory moving, writing up my footy notes and talking to Rhys on the computer. Rhys is having “issues” with someone on a photography forum who is posting comments that can only be described as “unpleasant” – and that’s an understatement. The aforementioned poster is stalking Rhys in cyberspace, which is a pretty unpleasant thing to do.

The internet is a magnificent tool that has opened up whole new horizons for many people, and given many people a platform to air their views – a platform that simply wasn’t available in their former lives. It’s a sad fact that many people simply didn’t have a life back in the technological stone age but the internet has given them a whole new outlook. On the internet you can be whoever you want to be – superhero, cybervillain – and “no-one knows that you’re a dog”. Most people can handle themselves quite correctly in the new form of media but it’s sad to relate that there are always a few people whose existence to date has been so depressing that the internet has brought out the worst side of their characters. People who are so oppressed and depressed in real life that they cloak their inadequacies and the like by becoming over-aggressive on the ‘net – purely and simply because they know that they won’t get their teeth kicked in and that they have a large and wide-ranging audience.

It’s a maxim that if you wouldn’t say something to anyone to their face, then you shouldn’t say it on the internet. Not abiding by those rules is simply the worst form of cowardice. You might be wondering why it is then that I say so much about other people on here. The fact is, of course, that I’ll quite happily say it to their faces and be proud of it. I do recall the time that I was summoned to appear before Turdi de Hatred and Lisa arson back in January 2008 – which regular readers of my outpourings in its previous existence might remember. I took along Liz Ayers to hold my coat and we will both remember how the interview opened.
“Although there is no statutory obligation to do so, we are allowing you to bring a friend as we don’t want you to feel intimidated” said Turdi.
I turned to Liz and noticed that she was absolutely p155ing herself with laughter.
“Don’t laugh, Liz” I urged. “This is deadly serious. We both know a girl (called Seanalee as it happens) who is frightened to death of clowns“.
To this day, and probably to my dying day, I still do not know how they failed to notice the dictaphone that I put on the desk.

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