OV9

Hope everyone is okay, it's a sunny and nice day here with a bit of a breeze in NE London

It’s pretty wild by my place now.

Took a holiday day so we’re just hiding in the house watching it go by

Just spotted this on the BBC
“Driving during a weather warning, including a red category one, does not automatically invalidate your car insurance but it may make a claim more difficult.
An insurer might try to prove negligence, such as driving on a road when advised not to, and refuse the claim.”

Seems like a mighty cunty thing to do.

I had to go over the a19 flyover today and that was a bit dicey in a low roof van, moving the steering wheel like an old movie, constantly making corrections just to drive straight

They had the “closed to high sided vehicles and caravans” signs on display with the flashing amber lights, yet all the wagons were ignoring it and carrying on regardless

That's an issue. A plane full of people land in Schengen without a passport.

I think Ryanair might be passport only but shirley there's an emergency procedure anyway

Looked out the front window - meh, nowt much to see.
Looked out the back window - plenty of interest in the sky. I'm a long way out of touch with what's where though

We were still getting big hail last night but it’s beautifully clear outside just now.

Just got to the end of a 53hr stint without electricity. But also

Overland lines taken down by the storm obviously (right at the fucking tail end of it too).

Gas boiler but no juice for its pump or for the igniter, so no heating or hot water. Electric induction hob so no ability to heat food or water. So nothing effectively.

Took ourselves back to the 80’s and purchased a 4.2kw calor(esque) heater from B&Q to save us from freezing, and pulled out the candles for light and fumes. Thank god we kept the power banks charged so we could refill our phones. No ability to charge Mrs mik’s car at home.

Summary : not a lot of fun. 1/10. Would not recommend.

Going to buy a 3kw geni for future dystopian backup now that I am aware of the practice of back-feeding the supply to your house (thanks to ScottA) - so we at least avoid being in this situation again. Enough to power heating, WiFi and a couple of lights - would make a world of difference.

I hope you're on about a proper transfer switch rather than suicide cable backfeeding!

Mito Man wrote: Sun Jan 26, 2025 7:57 pm I hope you're on about a proper transfer switch rather than suicide cable backfeeding!

Yeah. Definitely that.

Edit: but seriously - if I only used a 3kw geni (so no danger of overloading the socket) - how dangerous could it be? Genuine question. I know someone who does it regularly-ish (not ScottA - a mutual acquaintance)

I don't know enough about it to give an answer on this

Full Moon
Clouds

Planetary alignment again tonight. Skies currently lovely and clear here in the east.

Cloudy here so not likely to see anything interesting.

Left work a bit early so had daylight for both journeys for the first time this year. Which was nice.

integrale_evo wrote: Tue Feb 25, 2025 6:16 pm Planetary alignment again tonight. Skies currently lovely and clear here in the east.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y ... KY2HaYK25Q

It was mostly cloudy here in Colombia, so I think I only saw Mars in the sky.

I could see a few of the planets through my doorbell camera at home, which was good enough for me to be satisfied

You can't say that and not post it

Mostly cloudy here but at least it's stopped raining.

Colour me confused; the last couple of days or so the air quality here has been Unhealthy dipping into Very Unhealthy - I didn't know that level existed - with a NE/NNE wind. Boats crash with much fire NNEish from here, air quality is now Fair