The Edcawber Principle

edinburgher

@Suffolk_lass - I think one of my siblings was with them and is still stuck in limbo! We appear to have moved to EDF now, reasonably smooth (well, at least our electricity account has moved). My current plan re. FITs (big providers get antsy when your FIT is with another big provider) is not to tell them. They get paid the same regardless, plus it's not my fault my provider went bust

Nearly the end of the week and I had a frank and productive chat with my line manager about a few work issues (workload, intractable issues, duff advice from a very senior colleague and the future of working from home). He gave some very helpful feedback and apparently his thoughts on WFH are that he hopes we'll continue to do so, for 50-80% of the time. Not entirely his call to make, but interesting (and cheering) to see his inclinations. I feel like a bit of a weight has been lifted, work has been getting me down a bit of late. It also transpires that we're due to get the £500 bonus for health and social care workers. Not sure how to feel about that - I've worked throughout the pandemic and it is in social care - but it has been safely from my spare room. A wee bit conflicted, so I think some of the windfall will go to the Trussell Trust.

The only other financial news is that I think I'm going to have to eat into my nest egg to pigeon proof the solar panels. They are relentless in the lightening mornings and I'm seeing a cloud of wee flies from the spare room window that I'm assuming are hatching from detritus and pigeon crap in the gutter (oh joy)! No idea how much it will cost, but will try and get a couple of quotes (not sure there are enough people offering it to get more than that).

Suffolk_lass

We had to apply pigeon spikes to all the guttering and rails on balconies, with nets covering balconies at our last house. They still managed to find a way actually into the roof and I used to hear them, courting, through the roof when I was in the attic office (this was at our three story large Edwardian place). They are flying rats as far as I am concerned and a form of vermin. 

We have huge wood pigeons here with a pair that try to roost in the cart lodge. It has a huge tarp across the front currently but it is our intention to put proper doors on in due course. I would like to change the orientation of the roof by 90 degrees to permit solar panels but I can't see it paying for itself and most of the house roof also not practical as thatched. We will be taking roof orientation into account when we rebuild the pig-shed outbuilding to be my workshop.

edinburgher

Solar panels are reasonably effective if you think about them as an energy saving measure. You'd need a very low energy home in the UK to get all of your electricity from them and this level of efficiency would need to be designed from the ground up with a new build (I suspect there are few self sufficient retrofits). We produce c. 2,500 kWh a year and a quick Google shows a post from Ov0 Energy that suggests that the average UK home uses 3,731 kWH per year. We're below that, but not massively and we'll never be self sufficient with our 3.135 kW system.

Assuming like for panels, we'd be technically self sufficient if we added another two panels. But it doesn't work like that in the UK, particularly Scotland. We basically get no solar for 4 months, a bit for 2-3 months and loads for 4-5 months. A house battery might let us capture a bit more in the summer, but would be as much use as a chocolate teapot in winter. Father-in-law is getting an electric car and is full of bright ideas for running this from some DIY solar stuck on the top of a gazebo, having a house battery and charging this from cheap overnight power etc., but I'm not quite convinced he gets the reality of solar power (it's not like we haven't discussed it). Talk of 5p per kWh etc. is all well and good, but when you're charging a battery that cost £5,000-10,000, it will take you a hell of a long time to realise sufficient savings. Even at the lower end of that scale, it would take 12+ years to break even without solar. With solar, less, but the solar needs to pay for itself too, whether that be savings, FIT-like payments or direct payment for electricity sold to the grid.

A right sized solar and house battery combo installed at retirement might be a very good way to avoid energy inflation (assuming you're healthy and have no plans to leave your home for 10 years).

A have requested a quote for the bird proofing, wee sods woke me up at 05:30 today.

I have repaired an IKE@ wardrobe that Mrs E managed to break by ramming a drawer so full that it pulled the screws out of the particle board side   It took 5 layers of wood filler and while it appears to have set very solid and accepted the screw again, it feels like a bit of a bodge.

Suffolk_lass

Our only experience with solar is the motorhome. It has one large panel (maybe 60w) that seems to keep pace with the electricity we use from two 12v leisure batteries. We don't really bother with electric hook up when we are away as we prefer the heating/hot water, cooker and fridge running on gas (although the fridge and heating boiler are dual fuel, they work more efficiently on gas). I believe the batteries last about 4 years, but if they are allowed to discharge below a certain level they b****r up and degrade quickly. Not sure if that would correlate with a domestic solar set up but if it does, it's a risk to an expensive outlay. 

I hate it when furniture fails. My kitchen project had a hiccough with me filling the wrong end of one door for the handle. At least both filled bits were the same end this time, even if it was the wrong one!

Cornish_mum

Morning Ed, thought you might like to know Am@zon have sylvanian family sets on offer today- lowest price I’ve seen for a while CM

edinburgher

We have experienced a weekus horribilus. The cat has a broken foot, we have spent £512 so far and the vet hasn't even decided on treatment yet. Anything over £1,099 (insurance plus excess) will come directly out of our pockets. We have been told worst case scenario is £1,500-2,000, although I suspect vet is lowballing

Edit: also the wardrobe repair didn't hold, I was able to move the drawer to a lower level, but it's a bit of a snug fit.

I am looking forward to having some time off starting on Wednesday.

Cornish_mum

Oh no Ed so sorry to hear about your cat. Hope next week is better CM

Karmacat

That's a bad week especially for the cat how on earth does a cat break its foot?  Unless it had a near miss with a car  

At least you've got some time off soon, Ed, you're latching it on to Easter, are you?

edinburgher

Karmacat said:

That's a bad week especially for the cat how on earth does a cat break its foot?  Unless it had a near miss with a car  

At least you've got some time off soon, Ed, you're latching it on to Easter, are you?

Initial theory was another cat bit her and the bite went through the foot (she's not a big cat). Not sure now, as it has also been suggested that it could simply have been a very bad break where the bone went through the flesh

Yes KC, off from the 31st (birthday) until the 12th.

Karmacat

Poor little cat 😿  but great news on your birthday at the beginning of a nice chunk of time off