Brexit, for once some facts.

Danidl

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 29, 2016
8,608
12,253
73
Ireland
I've never been to the Emerald Isle at all, but I hope to someday. I'm sure that like Wales it's picturesque, dramatic, and also features raindrops flying at ear-filling trajectories. I can't recall that old Norse legend about the West of Ireland at the moment ;)
The difference was that the Danes went to England and the Norse came to Ireland . In the West the rain comes in at all angles.. simultaneously!!!. . Remember we have 4000 miles of sea between us and the nearest land , enough to get a stiff breeze. Whereas Wales has a paltry 60 miles . Moreover we get more GulfStream so that the moisture content is higher. The only comparable bits in the UK is Lands end . And off the Scottish coast
 
  • Like
Reactions: guerney

Danidl

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 29, 2016
8,608
12,253
73
Ireland
If (when) storms increase in severity, I'm starting to wonder what I'd do to survive a couple of weeks without power. I expect I'd keep my phone charged using my ebike battery, to order takeaways from outside the blacked out area, to eat while clad head to toe in duvets. Plus I'd thaw out some frozen beans, and sprout more beans - the taps will still work, if water hasn't frozen in the pipes. Maybe I could fashion a rudimentary generator for lighting, using the ebike motor, powered by tap water pressure...
Not as big a deal as you might think any more. The base stations for GSM do have a few days worth of battery power , and solar panels work extremely well. Take today for instance .. We are in near hurricane conditions with Storm Barra , and yet my 3.6KW peak panels actually generated 1.1KW hrs during today'
 
  • Informative
Reactions: guerney

Nev

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 1, 2018
1,507
2,520
North Wales
The video taken just four days after the party in No 10 is going to make it difficult to stick to the line of no rules were broken. ITV have obtained a copy and just shown it on the main evening news, it will be all over the net by now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: oyster

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,049
2,966
Take today for instance .. We are in near hurricane conditions with Storm Barra , and yet my 3.6KW peak panels actually generated 1.1KW hrs during today'
Very interesting - how many hours did that take? Sounds to me like you're well situated for wind power!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: oyster

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,049
2,966
Not as big a deal as you might think any more. The base stations for GSM do have a few days worth of battery power , and solar panels work extremely well. Take today for instance .. We are in near hurricane conditions with Storm Barra , and yet my 3.6KW peak panels actually generated 1.1KW hrs during today'
Someone I know was refused planning permission to install a wind generator on his roof, so his plan to use cheap old submarine batteries for his house power supply, is no more.
 
  • Like
Reactions: oyster

oyster

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 7, 2017
10,422
14,609
West West Wales
When the pandemic started off my doomsday prepping mindset, and after I had bought rather a lot of a large variety of beans (they don't electricity or gas to sprout), my thoughts turned to hastily improvised heaters using tin cans - if you have a few sizes which fit inside each other, and make cuts in the rightplaces... plus pop rivet and clay together a flue... all you''d need is rather a lot of small bits of dry wood (and a paving slab base). I haven't needed to enact my tin can fireplace plan yet. There are some very interesting looking small woodburning stoves for camping on Amazon.
Not exactly a desirable approach - I'd have to go outside to burn wood. And dry wood is, in a simple word, absent.
 

Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
19,407
16,387
Southend on Sea
wooshbikes.co.uk
You seem to see anything the French do as admirable and for altruistic reasons
since when?
1960? You tell me.
you misinterpreted my question.
I don't see everything France does as admirable or for altruistic reasons because it's my country. I only posted about them when the context and reasons behind these things were missing or misunderstood.
For example, the scallop war, when French fishers can't harvest scallops in early summer months while English fishers scraped their seabed and landed their catch at the Norman ports. Another example is when Macron cast doubt on the safety of the AZ vaccine and recently, the use of the word 'illegal' in illegal migrants.
 
  • Like
Reactions: oyster

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,049
2,966
Not exactly a desirable approach - I'd have to go outside to burn wood. And dry wood is, in a simple word, absent.
There is certainly no dry wood to be found when camping in Wales! One of my mates blew at some steaming sodden wood for 5 hours continuously, until he actually dried it out and caught flame. All that blowing must have kept him warm, the rest of us were freezing, and yelling that it wouldn't work. Mental note for myself: Stockpile coal, it burns better than beans and TVP...
 
  • Like
Reactions: oyster

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,049
2,966
Not exactly a desirable approach - I'd have to go outside to burn wood. And dry wood is, in a simple word, absent.
I've been meaning to install one of these in the shed - in an emergency I suppose I could fashion a flue for it in the house:


...In the house, I'd have replace one of the double glazed window panels with a steel sheet, with a hole for the flue.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: oyster

oyster

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 7, 2017
10,422
14,609
West West Wales
Those VOIP landlines are a ripoff - get one for free:
You don't seem to have fully understood, all current copper landlines are being converted to a form of VOIP. It isn't a choice. We never use the landline phone - it just gets the odd spam call. (We have never given out the phone number.) More than anything else, it is our emergency line. There is no change to our broadband contract.
 

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,049
2,966
You don't seem to have fully understood, all current copper landlines are being converted to a form of VOIP. It isn't a choice. We never use the landline phone - it just gets the odd spam call. (We have never given out the phone number.) More than anything else, it is our emergency line. There is no change to our broadband contract.
Sorry, I thought you were being ripped off - I've been broadband only for years. Sipgate works very well by the way, you get a local area code number and you can connect using an app on your phone, via any network you might have. I give that number out for everything. I never answer it, and all voicemail messages are emailed as .MP3 files. Bloody excellent.
 
  • Like
Reactions: oyster

oyster

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 7, 2017
10,422
14,609
West West Wales
A few Tesla power packs for the house might be a good idea for the intensely stormy future then? You'd be able to charge your ebike to collect takeout orders, pickups are usually discounted.
I can't think of any takeouts we'd order! Definitely not MacD, KFC, Domino's, though there are a few restaurants which might be OK.
 

oyster

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 7, 2017
10,422
14,609
West West Wales
Sorry, I thought you were being ripped off - I've been broadband only for years. Sipgate works very well by the way, you get a local area code number and you can connect using an app on your phone, via any network you might have. I give that number out for everything. I never answer it, and all voicemail messages are emailed as .MP3 files. Bloody excellent.
Nowadays, I have no real need for anything other than my mobile. Keeps it simple and means we never answer each other's calls.

Just good to have an emergency line in case phone is dead, maintenance on mobile tower (have just had an SMS about that for this weekend), or anything else.
 

oyster

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 7, 2017
10,422
14,609
West West Wales
There is certainly no dry wood to be found when camping in Wales! One of my mates blew at some steaming sodden wood for 5 hours continuously, until he actually dried it out and caught flame. All that blowing must have kept him warm, the rest of us were freezing, and yelling that it wouldn't work. Mental note for myself: Stockpile coal, it burns better than beans and TVP...
Far better to look for fungi - many are good, King Alfred's cakes, Artist's conk, lots of brackets.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: flecc

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,049
2,966
Nowadays, I have no real need for anything other than my mobile. Keeps it simple and means we never answer each other's calls.

Just good to have an emergency line in case phone is dead, maintenance on mobile tower (have just had an SMS about that for this weekend), or anything else.
Maybe as storms worsen, restaurants will accept orders via CB radio... but I'm not doomsday prepping quite that much, yet.
 
  • :D
Reactions: oyster

guerney

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 7, 2021
10,049
2,966
Far better to look for fungi - many are good, King Alfred's cakes, Artist's conk, lots of brackets.
I KNEW you were holding out on me about fungi! I've got a book called "Food For Free", but the illustrations are very badly hand drawn, the photos are apalling and there's every chance I'd kill myself if I relied on them to feed myself. I've read that even fungal experts sometimes poison themselves. I do wish I knew more about edible fungibles... Are there nettles out? You can easily survive for a couple of weeks eating nettles, and they're actually the most delicious green I've ever tasted (when picked at the right time) - far nicer than spinach. Plus, nettles have higher protein content.
 
  • Like
Reactions: oyster

oyster

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 7, 2017
10,422
14,609
West West Wales
The difference was that the Danes went to England and the Norse came to Ireland . In the West the rain comes in at all angles.. simultaneously!!!. . Remember we have 4000 miles of sea between us and the nearest land , enough to get a stiff breeze. Whereas Wales has a paltry 60 miles . Moreover we get more GulfStream so that the moisture content is higher. The only comparable bits in the UK is Lands end . And off the Scottish coast
Norse also came to Pembrokeshire. Wales also has a direct blast when the wind is from around SW to almost S. And the nearest land in those directions are Dominican Republic/Puerto Rico towards 7000 km away.
 

Advertisers