Starting 15/10/2024
Still here, and finally enough time to write a newsletter. Well, time to start one anyway. We've been helping with setting up the local charity (WATIF?) farm. We acquired it quite recently and have been getting some of the basics done like Health and Safety, catering, toilets, parking as well as a refurbished polytunnel and various other bits. I did a PDF on work so far The link on the right should open for you but some phones and pads only open the first page in which case you can copy and paste this into your browser.
I guess as a record of activities it's not finished but I thought I'd start there.
Summer started with my laptop dying, an early macbook air. I think it was repairable but as a rather old model it wasn't really worth the effort. I had bought it from Backmarket, a business that refurbish computers and phones, to replace mum's computer. Hers had been working but was showing signs of failure and she was getting having difficulty with it. I was unable to work out what was wrong by phone and had hoped that since we both knew the Mac/Apple brand, I'd be able to find out what the problem was over the phone. Sadly it never really helped so when she passed I retrieved it and used it myself. That was good for a few years, but it failed recently and I bought a more modern mac book which is now my main workhorse. The desktop still does my newsletters and car club magazine.
I've been the secretary and magazine compiler of the midge car club (MOBC) since 2015 and intend to retire this next Autumn. If you want to have a look, the site I manage is
and the magazines are at
Electronically speaking I'm beginning to wonder about some kind of virus, although it's probably just a coincidence. A neighbour's car (non plug in hybrid) wouldn't hold a charge on its 12 volt battery, although there seemed to be enough on the driving battery. It seemed to be a rather odd design whereby you have to drive the car using the engine or it won't charge the battery I guess it's not really an EV as it doesn't have a plug to charge it with. The repair shop employee instructed her to drive quickly for 20 minutes or so every few days. That seemed rather odd, but it was probably just the result of the manufacturers fitting a weak or defective battery. Apparently a common fault of that type. The coincidence was that my replacement laptop has been doing the same thing. It says it has a flat battery but if I plug it in it then it shows ¾ of a full charge. I don't think it caught it from my neighbour's car, but don't have any other explanation. At the same time our cats have a tendency of complaining that their food bowls are empty, but when we go to rectify this egregious error we find them to be quite adequately full, but sometimes a tad low on the interesting crunchy bits. They usually give the impression of saying thank-you, but often don't eat more than a token amount of the topped up crunchy bits.
I think it's called 'Gaming the system'. One of the cats demands to be let in through the conservatory door, but if she sees I'm on the phone she gives up and comes in through the catflap as usual.
So next, some lightweight allegedly illegal activity.
Some time back Fiona and I helped a neighbour, or rather her son, (who has grown to the height of our house while we have been here) to move into a flat in Edinburgh.
That went well but the landlord failed to alert the parking attendant who stuck tickets on our cars while we unloaded. This has triggered an amusing if rather over-long battle with faceless bureaucrats who have been issuing ever larger demands for parking fees via the usual debt collecting agencies. (I think we are somewhere over the £200 mark for each of 3 cars at present).
I'll not be paying and will wait until they issue a court summons, which I doubt they have the authority for, so that I can lodge a complaint and counter sue for harassment and demanding money with menaces.
I've noticed the use of organisations that hover between legal (debt collecting) and illegal (demanding protection money) or at least able to threaten without any obvious legal standing seems to be a popular activity these days. Apparently most victims shell out without so much as a whimper.
Well I'm retired now and a retirement break, (or a prison break) should, in the event, give me the chance to not write the book I've been avoiding writing in peace and quiet. Many believe this will give me the chance to find God, which should prove interesting as I have a few questions. Why God might have done to deserve punishment I do not know, but since gods are generally expected to be immortal, I'd guess the sentence would be considerable. Being omnipresent presumably all prisons would be valid places to look, but there is the problem of ineffability. The church's version of 'because I said so'. I'll deal with that when and if I get there, and will continue to use a capital G just in case. A good general principle is to not annoy people, even probably imaginary people if there's no other advantage than making yourself feel clever, and maybe especially not then.
As is traditional, we went for a holiday in or on the Shetland Isles in July. Helen and Andy came too and both seemed to enjoy it. The rented accommodation (somewhere in the picture I think) was very pleasant and the weather acceptable. We seem to be lucky that way. The ferry crossing reasonably calm, even mill pond flat most of the time which meant we could hold onto out meals. The Shetland ferry makes the journey to and from Aberdeen overnight. An excellent arrangement which means that an otherwise rather dull journey can be slept through if you wish, and a perfect opportunity for an over-indulgent breakfast. Currently, if you want you can off-load your car into the car-park and go back for breakfast. The evening meal is well prepared but, if the weather/wind/tides don't play nice, then the benefits of a hearty supper are reduced.
Shetland is a very relaxed place to rest and explore. The traffic is light and the roads, often quite narrow but in good condition, are clear. Beaches are generally clean and largely empty of tourists. I, like most visitors don't really think of myself as a tourist (who does?) although I can't really back that up. The water is cold but is apparently healthy and great for scuba diving. Not something I do, but unlike English rivers and seas it lacks sewage, so if I were to take the plunge I would more likely do it there.
While there we witnessed a rare visit by one of the last Sunderland Flying boats which flew from there during the war while looking for submarines. It was visiting Sumburgh Airport as part of a trip around the North Sea. Arriving at the airport we did run into a peculiar lack of information. Having been alerted to the visit by the local newspaper (Shetland Times) we found nobody had the slightest inkling that it was happening, including the man who shuts the gate thereby blocking cars from the runway. Several declared it a hoax, and the chap who had come over from Scotland to meet a chum from his service days was a bit concerned. I think they met up eventually after we watched it land, but we were not allowed onto the runway as we didn't have the right kind of photo ID. Only one of our party had such a thing on them so we watched through the fence.
And here of course the obligatory picture of a Puffin. They like to burrow into the sandy bits between the rocks and there are sheep and rabbits to keep the tops tidy so there is good visibility. There are many vertiginous cliffs around the edge of the Shetland Islands and Fiona does love getting herself, and consequently me, near the edge. The Puffins like it for easy take-off points well above the sea, and relatively safe burrows. Me, not so much. It's her only major character flaw so I try not to mutter too much as we arrive at yet another 'surprise' view-point. I haven't asked whether my resulting nightmares wake her up, but I usually hear when Button the cat jumps off the bed (surprisingly heavy thump) so as I've not noticed any coincidences of dreams and thumps presumably I don't thrash around. Makes sense really as you wouldn't want to move suddenly when finding yourself dreaming of a cliff edge with only some tussocks to hold onto.
I'll stop thinking about that now and concentrate on nice flat places. (horizontal flat places - that's an important bit, many of the cliffs that populate my dreams are very flat, but quite vertical)
I think the fear of heights is a age related brain chemistry thing, and seems quite common. I remember a white-out near a suddenly invisible steep slope when skiing on Hill-end and have no difficulty at all in recollecting the sensation. There are times when a working memory is less than useful.
Nice flat desk this, and close to the ground.
On an entirely different line of thought, my newsletters tend to have a specific date on them, but are generally constructed over several days. Sometimes weeks, so this bit isn't sequential. Two days ago I went to have a covid booster and a flu-jag so my arms are a little sore and that slowed my output a little.
I think the scientific community considers on-going immunisation boosters to be worthwhile and I've not had an infection in quite a while, although obviously I don't know how much of that is the jags (injections in Scottish) and how much my immune system. However several villagers have had a covid infection recently, one of which was telling me that the pandemic was completely 'over' a few days beforehand. I refrained from pointing out his error as nobody appreciates that and it was obviously not going to change his opinion. Perhaps he just didn't like the sore arm effect and was relying on optimism.
Strange how things that which I think of as entirely obvious, true and impossible to refute, others deny, often with enthusiasm. Anthropogenic climate change, the advantages of electric cars, unchecked gun ownership, blood sports, flat earth and alien conspirators to name a few...anyway, while I was poking about in the garage yesterday an electrical engineer turned up to change the house fuse. I should add that this was yesterday when I wrote it a few minutes ago, but it'll be somewhat undefined by the time I finish. I explained that I hadn't asked for one and he obviously didn't believe me so I showed him and explained how I used the house supply to charge the EV and the domestic batteries as well as running the heating etc in the off peak period (23:30 to 05:30). Well inside the tolerances of the 100 Amp fuse. It transpired that he'd been given the address of another Mr J Hewlett some 30 miles away.
He obviously believed what was written by computer on his piece of headed paper rather than me, so obviously the computer written word meant a lot more to him than mere mortal spoken words.
In the process he explained to me that climate change was a hoax, EVs didn't work, were very slow and the batteries needed replacing every 2 years. The fact that the Nissan is 5 years old might not have been obvious. I guess anyone who can miss the climate change over the last 30 years could have difficulty in reading a number-plate.
I was of course polite to the chap, despite him rolling up to my door and telling me without prompting or justifiable cause that my solar panels, cars, batteries and heat pump were all 'wrong'. I managed to not laugh at his belief that EVs were slow (referencing milk floats) and caught fire.
Incidentally, on prompting, he did admit to not believing what he read in the newspapers or social media so I'm not sure where he got the ideas from. Voices in his head perhaps, or listening to other people in the pub while having impaired judgement. Personally I think people carry the beliefs they find most comforting and require the least change.
The temperature has been falling and there are more leaves in the gutters. Especially the ones I just put on the Cabin (AKA Health and wellbeing shed). It really is time somebody found a way around that. Now that I do a bit of maintenance around the farm I have developed a mixed view of deciduous trees, however since I take a rather dim view of the pine needles around the house, I may have to move to Shetland where trees are few and leaves, where they fall, land in the north sea, or Norway. The wind can be a bit of a challenge, and probably isn't going to get better. Fiona remembers a Shetland house owner who had fitted a new roof only to find it a few fields away after a gusty night. This opposite isn't a Shetland tree, but an example of one in a calmer climate that hasn't been nibbled when a sapling.
Even in these southern latitudes (55.8º North, I have lost the occasional hat and learned to never leave sheet materials unsecured. Transporting plasterboard from our old house to this one was a steep learning curve. (The trick is to carry them flat, it takes two) and on boats a piece of string makes hats retrievable.
Anyway, although the climate has warmed and we now get very little snow and few frosts, it's still worth draining the sprinkling system in our, and the farm, polytunnel. I don't know if it will continue like this. It would be convenient not to have frosts, but I guess it's part of the deal that we either get hurricanes or frosts. Less of one gets more of the other.
Some say the Atlantic 'conveyor belt' might fail in which case we'll be getting Siberian winters. Fortunately it's a very big oceanic current and will take a long time to stop, being 'only' 15% reduced since the middle of the last century, and who knows, maybe we'll start getting our act together before the frost giants reappear. In the meantime I may consider an icelandic jumper or two. Very popular in Reykjavik.
I wonder if anyone has developed a battery electric snow-blower yet, although snow chains and 4 wheel drive might be better. Actually it has been so mild these last few years, I'm beginning to wonder if the Londoners will start migrating north to avoid the more or less inevitable inundation, so perhaps I'd be better selling and moving to Shetland, staying ahead of the crowd as the demand rises and, just in case, taking a snow blower with me as it's easier to get one delivered here. Last winter was (relatively) wet and mild, so as long as the afore-mentioned atlantic conveyor doesn't fail we should be OK.
I spent an amusing hour or two looking for the special plug that connects to the Jet Saw. I keep the table saw at the farm as I use it more there, and had a friend help move it on his flat-bed trailer. When we went to use it, the extension cable was gone despite a careful search of the entire farm and a new one considered. I was a little startled to be offered one at £60 including postage from the original supplier. I started the process of getting them to order one and paused to have a better look on the internet. Sure enough, £5 on amazon. I cancelled the £60 order saying I'd found the original on the transporting vehicle. Fortunately it hadn't arrived, so the amazon one was purchased.
Last time I went to the farm the friend, who will remain nameless, found the cable in the back of his pickup. I noticed he bought me a cake from the farm cafe when I started to tell the story but I shan't repeat.... unless some of those walnut muffins turn up again.
There are always things to fix, and many of the older were made better than the newer models. Currently I’m replacing the exhaust on a Midge and I’ve one stainless steel pot (found in a bin) which just needs cleaning properly. There's a 'walked distance’ device where a bit of poor design disconnected the drive. The ’snap together’ idea has its advantages but sometimes the ‘snap' bit snaps. One carefully placed screw should sort it. Elsewhere I also seem to have become the gutter maintenance guy on the farm (as long as it’s not more than 3 metres up). One new thing that is better than the old is or are gutters. They don’t last as long, but are easier to fix.
Other activities; we picked up a mobile home (Right) for the farm a short while ago. They don’t have much resale value and this one was in quite good nick. It will get stripped out and the contents re-distributed where we can and the shell can become a temporary workshop for things like electrical, electronic and wood carving (may need a barrier to reduce dust contamination). A few benches and chairs should do the job. We’ll be able to move it around as circumstances require. I’ve just taken out the oven and gas rings hob and the structure it was fixed in. (below right) Next is the gas fire and most of the kitchen assembly, bathroom and bedroom furniture. More room and fewer chances of explosions. The fittings and furniture are mostly chip-board but it would be a pity to throw them out if there are people wanting to upgrade their garden sheds.
While typing I hear another news article about Trump, I do worry about the US political system, but maybe it's just Americans. Is it me or are most politicians thieves, charlatans and loonies? The Donald ‘owns’ Scottish land but you won’t find many Scots that like him and the land could be repossessed if he doesn't fulfill his original promises to the late Alex Salmond. That would be after he loses the ability to ignore the law. We still have a lot of foreign land owners and they are generally tolerated as long as they are reasonable. Most of the land is fairly natural so unless the owner get stupid it looks after itself, golf courses for instance revert quite quickly, but some would be Lairds are simply negligent ‘dog in the manger' types. Trump is just a grifter, so he'll come undone sooner or later, hopefully without taking civilisation with him.
Russia, or rather Putin seems to be as problematic as ever, but the same worry of post-regime chaos exists. Militaristic empires always seem to break up, probably because they don’t bend. The Russian empire had Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Romania and Slovenia and before that; East Germany, Poland, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Crimea, and Uzbekistan. Many have left and I suspect the disintegration will continue. It did for the Romans, the British and the Ottoman empire. Most empires appear to be Ponzi schemes in the end and like them, inevitably implode.
Sooner or later political leaders have to face the fact that subjugated people inevitably revolt if you discriminate against them, like putting white policemen over black communities. I watch American politics with interest, but wouldn’t want to live there, too many tribes and not enough tolerance.
FItness and health related I’m hoping we can run some kind of circuit training at the farm. Obviously I could do that myself but a group is a better motivation. Fortunately Fiona’s ability to do longer walks and even run a bit have improved.
So what else before I sign off...No damage noted at home from the expected high winds and the gutters I have installed on the Cabin have stayed on the Cabin, although they promptly filled with leaves . Some of the bigger barn doors on the farm tend to bang about a bit with a south wind, requiring some remedial action on a calmer day, and I secured the polytunnel doors just in case. Most of the Halloween decorations stayed put and the screaming children were found unharmed, assuming we found all of them. Whether that was the worst bit of the Autumn storms is yet to be determined, but I'll be surprised if it's the last.
Cheers all
Jim
