A light experience

Many moons ago, maybe as much as 20 years, a friend took me to see a man who was very much into the latest 'stuff'. He had a 500 watt security light on the side of his house. These are commonplace now, but unheard of then, and he explained this was to enable his CCTV to get visibility for security. I was sceptical at the time that this was absolutely necessary and that it didn't actually advertise that there was something to steal at this property.

Time moves on and we all have outside lights for 'security' or merely for convenience of seeing around the property at night. I noticed recently that these are still sold as 500w (which as you know is half a kilowatt to put it in context). I have been frustrated and annoyed by this and secretly turn the light off but am told off a day or so later for it. Cats, hedgehogs, foxes and other small mammals set these off and at half a kilowatt they are not good for light pollution or for energy expenditure.

We have been looking around and found that there are now 150 watt versions of the bulb available and have changed the light to a much smaller power. I am pleased to find that the light is still thrown as far as I want it (the bottom of the garden for the compost bins) but not so far outside the garden, thus reducing light pollution. It also has the added benefit that I can go to the bins at night and not get a tan!

My father-in-law is now 90 years old and was complaining that his room was too dark at night. It was faddy, particularly in the 70's and 80's, to have light fittings with lots of low wattage bulbs that gave a 'public bar' type of feel to a sitting room. As you get older you do, however, need more light to see and this is where he found himself, needing more light with a light fitting that won't take more wattage. I asked him to have a look and he turned up 5 energy saving bulbs of 20 watts each and and I explained that more light didn't need more power. We changed 1 and he was amazed at the effect. I changed a second and took the remaining ones out and he was delighted with the light. We had taken the power consumption from 125watts to 40 watts yet tripled the amount of light in the room. The problem remains in that he has 3 empty light sockets and 2 ugly bulbs, but now he can explore the options of what to do next knowing that he wants at least 200 watt equivalent of light in the room.

Ambition achieved?

I have always been a tad jealous of people that can draw something that can be recognised as more that a dead spider squashed by a lorry on the motorway. This week I have picked up some books on crafts for Mary and found one on drawing.No, sadly the above is not anything I've done. It's an out of focus image of a drawing done by wifey of a cyclamen. I like it, but she has always wondered.Sadly the above is not mine either! It was done by SOC before she was school age and she wandered in from the garden having drawn it. We were BOTH amazed. I am sure you can see the fuchsia flower. No it's not a mistake - the fuchsias were in flower and her table was right beside them.





.............. Yes, the above is mine - but I'm getting there!

Told Off

FOC came round last night and it appears she reads my ramblings quite regularly. Didn't know that BUT... She told me that I have insulted her in these ramblings. I have just reviewed the pages (briefly) and cannot see to what she alludes. If I have then I really apologise, it was never my intent - I just say things as I see them. Love you kid. Love SOC too.

Well I went visiting the other day to 'the farm' and was chatting with Paul. I felt a bit guilty, because I hadn't gone for anything more than a chat and he has work to do. He had been out with the Morris to Cromford and coming back it started to misbehave and he had been looking at it. I climbed in the cab and 'helped' him refit one of the diesel filters. Because the cab doesn't lift access is tight and to try to get to both sides of the engine is difficult. I got oily hands but it was great to have my hands inside an engine after so long. Immense thanks to Paul. BUT.... I got home to be told off for smelling of oil. (To be fair a mild ticking off really).

This week has been a week spent on fitting door handles, letterboxes and new locks - simply because the old ones were decaying. But as I started one job, a second became obviously needed to be done and so on. Now to finish the woodwork!

Revelation Sculpture - Chatsworth House

Today we have been to Chatsworth house and for only the second time seen the Revelation sculpture working. It is a fascinating, beautiful sequence of movements. Unfortunately the engineer inside me immediately works it out and damages the effect. But that's me all over. The Emperor Fountain was short on height and so the water pressure, from the Emperor Lake, was either low or turned down. After so many weeks without proper rain this was not to be surprised at. Unfortunately this meant also that Revelation was slower and required more patience to see the full sequence than it normally does.

The petals are open and water bubbles over the top.

The petals rise gradually while the ball sinks....

and the petals rise while the ball falls..

until the petals are closed.

After a wait there is a gush of water and...

the petals start to open....

and continue to open until the petals are open, the ball has risen and the cycle will start again.

I apologise for the photo quality, but my poor 5mp camera had had a hard life before I gained possession and managed to bring it back to a form of life.

Steam Engine on the West Highland Line

While on holiday in Scotland we stayed at a cottage in Morar. At the bottom of the garden where you could watch from the kitchen window runs the west highland line. A daily service operates on the line throughout the summer that is hauled by a steam engine. Currently the name for this service is 'The Jacobite'. It runs once a day from Fort William to Mallaig and back and the current engine is 45407 - Lancashire Fusilier. Only it's not. When operating as a mainline engine in the days of steam, she had a different name and number but when rescued from the scrap yard she was restored as the Lancashire Fusilier which was one of her sister 'Black 5' engines. She is a glorious sight to see, smell and feel as she pounds past.

Lancashire Fusilier enters Mallaig station

The station at Glenfinnan

Lancashire Fusilier pulls the train from Mallaig back to Fort William through Morar station

Many people dreamt of being engine drivers as children, but do we really know what that meant? I met Paul first when he had a problem with his PC eating his accounts and through his mother-in-law, invited him to my retirement do. I asked Paul about this steam engine he had, that his mother-in-law had told us about. He invited me along to see it and it turned out to be a 5" gauge model engine . He leant me 'The Engine driver's Manual'. You would not believe, until you read, how complex driving an engine is. It seems straight forward that if you want more steam then add water to the boiler - yes, and cold water will cool the boiler and drop the pressure. Then add coal to the fire - yes, and adding coal to a fire 'blackens' it for a while and cools the fire down. Running these engines required a knowledge of the route, the train and the engine. These guys were skilled.

Social Networking - a good thing?

There has been said a lot lately about social networking - this new phenomena - and most of it has nothing good to say.

It is addictive - yes but like all addictions it can be controlled if the addicted individual wants to control it.

The recent case of a man killing his wife when she changed her status to single on facebook tells a very small part of their story as their relationship was already breaking down for many other reasons.

No, social networking enables people to communicate their ideas and emotions around the world to friends that they have never met and hardly know. Hang on a minute, that sounds just like the old pen pals of years ago? Yes, that's exactly what it is but much faster and to a wider audience. No one decried pen pals, although there was a degree of addiction to it. Having posted a letter one awaited eagerly the reply and pounced on it when it finally landed on the mat. Grabbing the pen while the envelope was still warm a reply on 10 sides of paper was scripted to be posted at the first opportunity.

So why all the fuss surrounding social networking? It is because it is so much faster and the habit can be fed 24/7.

But is it all bad? Consider those who have social connection issues. People like to call them Aspergic - I hate labels of that type as it makes it sound like they should be rounded up in some way! But what about them? In social networking they can connect to others without many of the barriers they feel about personal contact. Fetching kids from school can be a problem for them in case other people waiting want to talk - they can find it very uncomfortable and stressful, yet in social networking they can connect to others and chat openly and not feel any of that so could this be a good thing for them? Perhaps so but will increase the number of 'aspergics'?

Many sci-fi books used to project societies where people didn't leave the comfort and safety of their own rooms and maybe, just maybe, social networking is a step along that route.

End of school holidays

Friday marked the end of the school holiday and so we decided to go with SOC to Dovedale. Quite a while since we were all there but a SPLENDID time was had by all. We stayed out late and went without tea.

We started by Viator's bridge at Milldale and walked down the dale.

The view from Viators Bridge towards Dovedale

The dove at Milldale

Being a limestone rich area there are many fossils to be found.

The limestone gives rise to caves and this is a view out of one.

More of the caves.

SOC Told us about money trees, which to our shame, neither of us had heard of before.

Ilam rock is popular with climbers.

The Lion Rock. If you look you can see a lions face.

An arch form in the limestone.

Lover's Leap. (She didn't die, he wasn't dead, they met again and lived happily ever after!)

Approaching Dovedale.

The famous stepping stones.