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Thursday 5th May 2011 – Considering that it’s only …

… the 5th of May today and there’s about 6 or 7 weeks to the apex of the year, I am proud to announce that nevertheless I’ve set a new record today for solar energy. In the house, bank one received 173 amp-hours and bank two received 166 amp-hours. That’s over 4 KwH of solar power and whichever way you look at it, that’s impressive for just 780 watts of generating capacity.

And so you can tell the kind of day that we had. Beautiful blue skies and not a cloud anywhere. The kind of day that you would expect the solar water heater to give me enough heat to have a shower, a shave and a coffee as well. But it isn’t to be because I’ve made some kind of error in my calculations. Looking for a place to install it in a hurry while I demolished the beichstuhl, I fastened upon a nice spot out of the way and in full sun, but shaded by the fence so that I can shower there in peace. But what I didn’t take into my calculations is that while in the spring the sun has no problem heating the water, we are having issues with leaf shading from the trees and the water is struggling to heat up to a respectable temperature.

There is a way round this. The heat eschanger is really hot – 50°C is no big deal at all – and so I could run the water in the solar heater through the heat exchanger so that the water would heat up through there, and I even have a suitable pump to do it. But I can’t get electricity down there to power the pump and Terry can’t find the hole saw that he has for cutting through the stone walls so that I can run a cable through. I’ll have to think of a plan B. Such as tipping some hot water out of the electric immersion heater into the solar tank.

Today was a paperwork day. I worked on the website first and then caught up with some paperwork that needed doing. I had a delivery from FEDEX and the contents of that required my attention too. I ended up having to go into Pionsat to the Post and to the Bank, and I’ve had to spend a shed-load of money today – errrr about €7,000 in fact. But it’s all going to be worth it in the long run.

Back from the town, it wasn’t worth starting in the barn and so I planted the tomato and aubergine plants that I bought 10 days ago, and thoroughly watered the garden. And despite having had 7mm of rain two days ago it was as dry as a bone and I used about 175 litres out of the dirty water butt that takes the rainfall off the barn roof. And if there had been more water there I would have used that too. It’s hard to believe just how dry the soil is.

Anyway tomorrow I’ll move the caravan body from the barn and burn it if I can, and then move the Ford Cortina 2000E estate and the Ford Escort van. I’ll be glad to have them in a secure place.

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Wednesday 4th May 2011 – I hope that you all …

… had a Happy Star Wars Day. Yes, May the Fourth be with you.

For me, it started early and I’ve no idea why but I was awake long before the alarm clock, and after a bad night as well where I didn’t sleep too much (teach me to crash out in the early evening). And after breakfast I spent some more time on the computer and my Newfoundland web pages.

Following that I went to move all of the stuff that’s on the edge of the public highway. The ancient rotavator and the Honda Melody scooter, those I moved with no trouble. The old cement mixer – the wheels on that were seized thanks to Claude tipping a load of cement all over them and not cleaning it off. And so in the end I had both wheels off, cleaned them up, greased the spindles and reassembled everything. And now it moves around quite easily.

After lunch I went to move the ride-on lawnmower but that was stuck in drive and there was no way to free it all off. In the end I dismantled all of the drive train and now that moves freely as well.

So with all of that out of the way it was time to move the Ford Cortina 2000E estate. After many trials and tribulations I managed to start it, but this blasted clutch won’t free off. In the end I chained the car to a tree and started it in gear to see if the sudden jolt would free the clutch. I considered two possibilities – that the subframe would rip out of the chassis mounts, or that the sudden jolt would pull down the tree.

Of course, I didn’t count upon the chain snapping, did I?

In the end I moved the car by hand-winching it about 50 yards and at 4 feet per pull it took forever – it was just before 19:00 when I knocked off.

Tomorrow I need to go to the bank in Pionsat and so when that is done I’ll be in a position to winch the old caravan body out of the barn. If I can get it round the corner and down the hill on my own I shall burn it and then I can get the Cortina inside and put the Ford Escort van across the doorway where I can dismantle it at my leisure.

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Monday 28th February 2011 – I’m back at home ;-)

Well, for less than 24 hours as it happens. I’m speaking at this doodah thingy tomorrow evening at 20:30.

And so this morning I loaded up Caliburn with all of the wood and shelving that I’ve had lying around in the garages for years. It’s all quite good stuff and suitable for various products. Also in Caliburn is a pile of vegetable oil for running the diesel Escort on, some leftover construction material (some of which needs to go back as it happens), a few bits and pieces, and my motorbike.

I bet you didn’t know that I have a motorbike. Most people would say that it isn’t very exciting but it’s certainly special. It’s a CZ125 of early 1980s vintage – the first of the “post-angular” series – but was one of six unassembled ones in crates that was “overlooked” in a CZ dealership that closed down. When the premises were cleared in 2000, they were discovered, built up and sold on eBay. I paid £395 for it. It’s done just about 150 miles since I’ve had it – the journey from Dover to Brussels and then a lap around the town.

Back in the flat we’ve hit a major problem. There’s water infiltration in the wall next to the front balcony and when we took off the radiator, half the plaster fell off as well. So we chiselled off the rest and we plan to plasterboard it with the hydrofuge stuff, having first sealed in the balcony and weatherproofed the walls.

And so I set off down here at 15:30, and was in my room at 00:15 and that includes stopping for tea in Auxerre. Caliburn seems to be in good form right now after his stay at the garage, although he’s more thirsty than before.

Tomorrow I’ll unload him, go to this meeting, and then head back to Brussels to see how the troops are doing. It’s over 5 weeks since we went there and everyone is quite fed up of the place but soon we will be back home permanently. And I shan’t be sorry.

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Thursday 4th March 2010 – I had quite a surprise this morning …

old cars mercedes 240d w123 ford cortina 5 ford transit les guis virlet puy de dome france… despite the torrential rain all yesterday afternoon, evening and through the night, the garden fire was still smoking this morning. It wouldn’t restart though, but nevertheless it was quite something to see.

I’ve finally reached the hedge at the back of the vehicles – you’ve no idea how many brambles I’ve had to scythe my way through – and I’ve made a start on cutting down the overhanging branches (and there are plenty to go at).

old cars mercedes 240d w123 ford cortina 5 ford transit les guis virlet puy de dome franceI’ve also cut around the far side of the old Transit so that is now totally clear of undergrowth so once I’ve burnt all of the weeds and brambles and the like (that’s another fire for tomorrow) I can drag that out of the way.

So this afternoon I emptied the greenhouse and got ot ready for cleaning. I’ll be buying some seeding soil on Saturday to get ready for the sowing but I need to clean the plastic sheeting of the greenhouse and get it ready to move it to its new home. It’s all getting quite exciting.

I also had a play with the Ford Escort but I couldn’t get it started – I think that the fuel cut-off valve is stuck. Ordinarily it wouldn’t have mattered very much – I would have just pulled it out with Caliburn, dragged it down the lane and then rolled it backwards down the hill into its new position. I might have managed it on my own but it’s one of those things that’s unequivocal – once you have started you really need to finish it because you can’t leave it blocking the lane and at the point where it’s likely to become stuck there isn’t anything like a handy tree to attach the chain winch to help me along. It’s the kind of project that I’m going to leave until I have visitors.

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Wednesday 3rd March 2010 – I didn’t get as much done today …

old cars ford cortina mercedes 240d w123 les guis virlet puy de dome france… as I was planning to. First thing I did was to put the battery on charge for the Escort and while that was brewing away I carried on down in the field where my garden will be.

It was quite a reasonable day this morning and so I cracked on, and I managed to uncover the scrap Cortina and the W123 Merc. Of course, the Cortina will never go anywhere much under its own steam. It was built in 1980 and spent its entire working life on a salt mine and by the time it was scrapped in 1994 it was rotten in places that Cortinas don’t even have places. It was driven through the night from Middlewich to Brussels in 1995 and since then it’s been moved around Europe on a towing dolly or an A frame, finally coming to rest down my field in 2000.

old cars ford transit les guis virlet puy de dome franceIts purpose is the provide spare parts for XCL – the Cortina Mark V estate that was my pride and joy for many years and which is languishing in a lockup garage in Montaigut. XCL has many happy memories for me – that was the car in which I came over to Belgium from the UK in 1993 with all my worldy goods in the back and for a few years we drove for tens of thousands of trouble-free miles all over Europe.

The Merc on the other hand has another significant memory for me. I was stuck without a reliable car after the Senator and I parted company in 1997 and I had to go to the UK to pick up a caravan for down here (the one that I lived in and was trashed by rats). A lovely girl called Annette from Guyana or Trinidad or somewhere like that and worked in the Guyanan or Trinidad embassy in Brussels wanted to go to visit the UK for a while too on a kind-of conducted tour so a decent car was essential if I were to take her. So I mentioned to a friend that I was looking for something respectable and he produced the Merc. And I had a lovely week in the company of Annette all around the UK. She really was a lovely girl and I was quite upset when she was transferred back home to the Caribbean.

We had a torrential rainstorm this afternoon so I decided to take the towing dolly (which you can see in this photo with the Subaru that Ric and Julie gave me being towed by the old LDV back in 2001) round to Bill’s. He has an old car he needs to remove from off the public highway. I got round there and asked him when he planned to move the car, to which his response was “well we could do it now if you’re free“. No straps, no chains, no anything, but so what?

We winched the Rover on board and with nothing to hold it on I set off to turn round. First bump in the road the Rover bounced out of the wheel traps and the car’s towing eye wedged up against the dolly’s mounting bracket. So when we finally got everything into position where Bill wanted the Rover to be, I had to jack the car out of its position with a trolley jack, two axle stands and a huge pile of blocks of wood. And all the time it was teeming down with rain.

It was just like old times when I had my taxi business back in the 1980s, doing crazy things with old cars in torrential downpours. I was soaked to the skin and I took ages to dry out afterwards. I’m trying my best to get warm now before I go down with pleurisy or something.

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Tuesday 2nd March 2010 – Well, the Passat has a new home.

volkswagen passat parking les guis virlet puy de dome franceIn fact I’ve moved it to where we cleared out yesterday. It’s not actually where it’s going to stay but we had a little operational difficulty about that – namely it will be parked right over where we had the fire yesterday – and that it still burning – or it was at 17:30 this afternoon.

Well done to the Passat though as it went everywhere under is own steam, the first time it’s seriously moved since 2003 as keen readers of these pages in one of its many former reincarnations will remember that it was when I was down here from Brussels with the Passat in 2003 that I was taken seriously ill, and Lieneke drove me back which meant that the Passat had to stay here.

So I charged up the battery on the solar panels in the barn but the battery wouldn’t hold its charge (no surprise there) so I had to jump it off Caliburn. None of the electrics were working either so I had to hotwire the heater plugs and after three rotations the engine fired up. Smoke everywhere, especially from the damp that was everywhere and having to dry out) but then again so would you if you had stood around for 7 years and someone put 13.4 volts through you.

The handbrake had seized so a simple rolling backwards and forwards freed that off, and then I set off down the lane, negotiating the elageur who had miraculously appeared in order to mow the banks. At this point the throttle cable snapped, so I wedged the throttle stop open with a piece of wood (to go faster, you just stick a thicker piece of wood in – all hi-tech this, you know) and I eventually got it into position.

Tomorrow I’ll be moving the Escort van and the Sankey trailer, and taking my towing dolly round to Bill’s. Once that is done I can sit back a little.

I’ve also been hacking my way through the undergrowth in the garden and as well as that I’ve been moving he rubble out of what will be the bedroom. I’m not short of work round here at the moment.

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