'goodbye' said the automated message (and then the call ended)

 

 the phone rang.  (at 8.30am). horsemouth picked up. 

'goodbye' said the automated message. (a woman's voice).

and then the call ended.

it's all a bit PKD isn't it? 

or a ghost story.

(or is it a scammer). 

good morning! good morning! good morning!

it's a slightly grey morning (what was horsemouth expecting?) there are birds and squirrels outside. he's up slightly later than his usual. he has been out already to water the plants in the greenhouse and those in the pots round the house. he has taken the milk over to the fridge in the garage. yesterday a discussion about putting a curtain over the front door to the conservatory. 

yesterday he did a little scything, digging and watering. he removed some of the ivy and creeper from the front on the house - the challenge is to get it off the chimney and to stop it blocking the chimney vent  increasing the amount of CO2 in the living room when the fire is lit. he wants to get out of the situation where every year someone has to get up on the roof to do this by keeping the ivy and creeper well away from the chimney to cut it down to a more easily maintained height.

it's a pity the ivy and creeper looked beautiful on the front of the house. 

yesterday success! the heating oil got delivered (1000L of it). with the third of the tank there already horsemouth hopes this will hold the house out until spring/ summer (when prices are cheaper). 

yesterday a radio show about CO2 concentrations in houses and the need for ventilation. 

'if your home is drafty, filling in holes and cracks can help tackle rising energy bills, and lower your carbon footprint. but is there a limit to how airtight we should make our homes?'

initially horsemouth groaned when he saw this but it is actually a useful documentary that takes you through the process of measuring air exchanges per hour. howard posted it over. hopefully zoom beers on saturday. 

builders have saved billions because of tory delays to improving the energy performance standards of new houses (now these will need to be retrofitted with improved measures later at cost to the new owners). in this way the government 'lightening green burdens on ordinary people' can be seen for what it is - a way of pushing these costs out on ordinary people. 

the TV show the long chase horsemouth probably saw in 1972 (apparently it was shown in a dubbed version  in france under the title john l'intrepide in 1976).  horsemouth (sort of) remembers watching this. 

the pesky blogger tool has not rendered this with paragraphs but with divs (now there's annoying). 

today (horsemouth guesses). we roll towards two weeks in the wilderness (and very pleasant it is too).