Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in rowanlangley's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
6:08 pm	Home from Holiday Five days with friends in Devon, staying close to the sea, then a few days with friends in Cardiff. back to work refreshed, and as a result sick equipment which came in during the day dispatched to the "Repaired" shelf and back into service with pleasing speed (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, September 21st, 2008
10:47 am	Went to work the civilised way, cycling in through the sunshine with a breakfast stop half way. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, September 20th, 2008
7:18 pm	Renewable energy reports August, first half of September. Frankly very unhelpful weather, with some nights retiring early as there was very little electricity available. Stubborness won out and the switch remained in teh solar position At long last there seems to be a break and for the first time in many weeks there have been red sunsets and clear skies, and some sensible array curretns again at mid day. (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 4th, 2008
9:15 am	End of an era The last ceremonies took place at the Buddhist Centre in Carlisle Lane in Lambeth last weekend, as the lease on the site has finally expired and we leave after ten years at the end of the month and the site starts the slow process to become a new part of St Thomas Hospital. The school buildings will have made a centrury, as a school up t the early 1980s then a period as a hostel for school parties and youth organisations from 1987 to 1997 and as a budhist centre for the last ten years. The task before us for the rest of the month is packing up and dismantling as major items head into store or other centres. Exiting news is the possibility of a permanent home on the horizon. Since it became clear in 2003 that the lease would eventually cometo an end,there has been a vigorous fund raising programme property search, which in 2005 resulted in being offered a lease on a redundant council building in Southwark, the Manor Baths complex and a years building project brnging the building back to use, and very inportant, back to Public use as more than just a place of worship (several complementary practicioners now use the facilities incorporated into the building) and within the lat few months a building has come up which it may be possible to buy. Monday's main job on returning from Chesterfield was to take part in a viewing of the building and start thinking of what needs to be done with the electrical side of the conversion works if this project procedes. The week itself is the regular stint of night shifts, with the usual task of speding a week out of sync with the rest of the world. I paid avisit to the centre in Lambeth on the way back yesterday for some work with the packing up and dismantling, removing the dimmers I built and installed ten years ago ready to go into the building in Southwark (and probbaly to any eventual home), also to disconnect the lighting circuits into the cabinets of the main shrine,as this is to be passed on to a centre establishing itself in Surrey. (Comment on this)
Sunday, August 24th, 2008
12:41 pm	Day off work yesterday, as the last bits of stomach bug left after contractural notice. A chance to enjoy fresh air from the garden. I laid off the food to give everything a good chance to clear, read, and did a little measuring and tinkering with the solar generator to write upon Green_power_gen. (Comment on this)
Friday, August 22nd, 2008
6:30 pm	Used the last two days off to settle some more invoices from body and brain, doing some short cycle trips for tea and cake and then attending to long postponed jobs in the house. The jobs which have caused me disquiet are now dealt with. Two years ago or more I gave the wiring in the house a periodic inspection before changing the consumer unit. This turned up a serious fault in the back room wiring, which was that the light switches switched the neutral not the live. On Wednesday afternoon I decided I had had enough so first of all the pry-bar came out and the tongue and groove boarding around the staircase cam off at the top section, showing the point where cables from the fusebox and one of the wall lights disappeared into the ceiling void. Two inspection holes cut in the plasterboard gave some good clues where there might be a junction box in the light circuit, and the third hole cut allowed the box to be withdraw for inspection. “Oh dear Oh Dear Oh Dear, we have a DIY have a go hero here” I hope it was a DIY job, I would not like the thought of someone having been charged money for this work. Standard sin of un-sleeved bare copper earth wires, and it did indeed look like a switch cable was wired in a strange way. At this point the light circuit was already disconnected at the board, and the earth wire and the red wire connected (black wire unconnected to anything) meaning I could trace back with the continuity meter. Slow process tracing out the incoming wire, the wire to the centre light and the light switch wire (by making and removing connections re- to earth or red to black, and three of the five cables are marked up. It took some more continuity tests and another two holes cut in the ceiling to find the second box which split the feed to the bathroom and the wall lights and do the same exercise with the meter and wire links. The next bit at least was easy which is re-wire the two boxes correctly and put them back into the ceiling, and then re-fit the sections I cut out and plug with jointing compound. I think once I have gone over the joints a second time in a way which is close to the existing texture on the ceiling it will disappear under a new coat of paint. I could now sell or let out the flat with a more clear conscience. I think that if it was a DIY job, a photo may have been used from a DIY manual, but without sufficient understanding and without an accurate memory. It illustrates very well a paragraph which features in the memorandum of guidance on the Electricity at work regulations, which reads something like “While a limited understanding is often all that is required to achieve the function of an electrical circuit. much greater knowledge and understanding is required to achieve safety.” I have been enjoying a trip round the highlands at the time leading up to the ’45 courtesy of Walter Scot’s novel “Waverly”. (Comment on this)
Friday, August 15th, 2008
12:16 pm	Living near industry Where I live as I am right next door to my local power station Though some landscaping helps it to blend in. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, August 14th, 2008
9:50 pm	Late shift at work today so a pleasant lie in in the mornings. The sunny weather has returned, and with a replacement of a defective battery in the solar generator, the house has full power again from its electricity supply. Tea once again is brewed with Organic electricity. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
4:04 pm	I have my kitchen table back, and a large pile of paper torn up and in the big blue recycling bin. Parts of my ironing board have reverted from being an in box (Long Term) to a condition where soon it will be possible to iron clothes. yes it is a very late spring cleaning session. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, April 18th, 2008
7:08 pm	Back from a short break The sun tempted me out cycling, taking a circuitous route through the Chiltern Hills to Jordans, first openned as a simple Youth Hostel in 1932, with some minor upgrading at various btimes in its historyu which have still retained its simple charm. Much less sign of the sun today on the return ride, jsut a strong and cold wind, which is best enjoyed for its fitness training properties. (Comment on this)
Saturday, April 5th, 2008
8:51 am	Clear spring morning Sun on the PV array Prayer flags fly in the breeze. Refreshing cycle journey to work yesterday, and today offers the same. There seemed to be a tailwind on the way home as well. An electricity bill arrived yesterday. My supplier has changed their billing system, and the bill now includes an entry for daily consumption, showing figures for the current bill, the previous bill, and the billing period last year. Mid winter had risen to half a unit per day imported, while this time last year the import was running at around one third of a unit, while for the bill period which was from mid february, the daily import averaged out at only 0.18 units, just enough for brewing two cups of tea. (Comment on this)
Monday, March 17th, 2008
10:03 am	Thursday was a positive day, with several hours in the morning doing teller duty outside on of the polling stations.. Tellers are not an official part of the electoral process; their function is part of the candidates or party’s canvassing operation. Having identified potential supporters during canvassing and general door knocking in the run up, by collecting a voter number from an elector on their way out, one can match that from the canvassing notes and know that of ones declared sympathizers or intended supporters, there is one person who has already voted. Other parts of a candidate’s or party’s operations on the day would involve dropping cards off at the addresses where support had been indicated, or making a quick call round to remind the person to vote. While not officially part of the election process, these operations are permitted, and indeed guidance is given by The Electoral Commission, in recognition of the combined efforts of candidates and parties in encouraging voting. I have always found a surprising degree of common ground when telling. One very important link is that all four of us cared enough to have stumped up a subscription to a constitutional party, and cared enough to give up time for leafleting, canvassing and for the two hours or so at the polling station . It became clear just how much the importance of not making a mess, of attempting to reuse or recover materials rather than dump the rubbish in the ground or burn it has seeped into people’s thinking across party lines. I had the great pleasure of sitting next to one councilor who was a great enthusiast for such things, and was talking with some delight at having found a plant with good mechanical separation so that the number of different recycling bins at flats could be kept to a minimum. With both of us having engineering backgrounds, renewable energy occupied much of our discussions. Ten or more years ago we may well have argued over feasibility and costs, on Thursday we were much more into how we would implement it for the domestic customer, the ways to maximize the value of the energy a customer can capture on their premises, and other engineer type discussion. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, March 15th, 2008
8:21 am	Enjoyable dream In which I was working on an extension to a hotel on the edge of a small town/large village in the hills, with dry stone walls, reservoirs and open space. It was a working stay as I was was connecting up wind generators to the extensions existing solar electric system, and witching with satisfaction as the lights stayed on in the overcast conditions. (Comment on this)
Monday, February 11th, 2008
1:55 pm	Night shifts are now all done for another six weeks, and I have a few days off to recover, which is one of the civilised aspects of our shift pattern. I am awaiting one more phone call then it is off to collect a completed nomination consent form from our candidate for a forthcoming by-election and then off with all the forms to the returning officer to have it checked over, and either accepted there and then or a couple of days to deal with any queries and corrections before the close on Friday lunchtime. At one end of politics there are all the high profile figures, with staffed offices, civil servants and researchers to support them and then at the other end we have the election agents of the various constituency parties and associations who tackle all this in their spare time unpaid, and once a party is well established can look forward to 21 x 3 sets of nomination papers every for years for local government election and one or more parliamentary candidates every five years or so. To be honest I am quite fond of the grunt work involved in democracy. Walking the streets putting the information through the doors is good exercise, and an opening to exchange greetings and other courtesies in the process. Finding ten signatures for someone else is a great deal easier than when i needed to find ten for my own nomination form the last time I stood in local elections. The sun is blasting down yet again, and so my tea is brewed for free, the vacuum cleaner's trip round the back room has cost me didly squat in electricity, and I smile quietly when I remember people saying "But what will you do in winter for solar electricity ?" I look forward to the day when a PV installation or solar hot water installation is as common as a TV aerial or satellite dish on the roof. If a stand alone or dual mode system is used the customer gains a real choice of energy supplier. Yes, the solar electricity experiment is proving a success and I have been off the grid fora few days now, which so early in the year is a great treat. (Comment on this)
Sunday, February 10th, 2008
8:34 pm	london high life This week gave an example of the sorts of thoroughly decent people to be found here in London. Friday morning at work and I could not find where I had left the bat-phone. Ringing it in the various workshops i had been did not produce the annoying ringtone, calling the host of our party committee meeting the previous evening drew a blank, until I rang the phone and was answered not by our secretary but a cheerful young man named Seb, who had picked up the phone on a tube train, and who had in fact texted and rung a couple of the recent numbers in an attempt to re-unite the phone with its owner. A trip to Monument station ensued, to retrieve the phone and pass across a box of rather delicious mint chocolates to make tea and coffee breaks that bit of a treat. Posted using renewable electricity (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, January 27th, 2008
9:42 pm	renewable energy progress This is the start of my fourth year generating my own electricity, and this recent run of good sun conditions meant that I have run everything from the solar system for the first time this today and yesterday. Up to now Soalr has done two circuits and the grid has done the third. I spent some time reading back through the blogg for January 2007 and 2006 to see if there was any pattern emerging in the performance of the system. There has been an overall upward trend over the last three years which is the result of adding bits to the system as time and budget permitted. Looking back over the last three years of operation, the performance of the system has picked up around the same time each year, which is the end of January. Last year it was moving from solar for lights only to lights plus one power circuit, this year with a bit more silicon harvesting the old photons, it is moving over from lights plus one power to lights and both power circuits. Expect to read of some days of outages still for the next month or so since a run of poor days is still quite likely and with the daylight hours still short and the sun angles still causing shadows things will be operating on the edge for a while yet. Everything really kicked off again in March, so I anticipate bringing the 2.4KW inverter back into service around then. Perhaps I should take up the disguise of being a rate tart for electricity, switching to a nuclear supplier in March, and going back to Ecotricity in December (provided I can get my current tariff which hides the standing charges by having a higher price per unit for the first 900 units). This is the tariff set by the regional supplier, which my actual supplier matches. With my present annual consumption pattern nuclear is just going to loose money on the account. Turned off the main switch tonight, just for fun, as until March there will need to be some energy bought in. Very regular reports get posted to their own Blogg at http://community.livejournal.com/green_power_gen/ posted using renewable energy Solar Power ? Certainly sir, next day delivery available on the major parts. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 4th, 2007
9:12 am	“If you do and good committee meeting you can play with the paints later.” This was one of the many items of banter leg pulls during our committee meeting on Saturday to prepare for next week Climate March. the business item was a simple one, to convert a second hand sheet into a banner for the constituency party. While we seem deprived of lawyers, accountants and others who's occupations sometimes seem to be part of the career path to politician, this is more than compensated by having at our committee meeting, a retired professional dancer, clergyman, engineer and artist. First came the wash of light green, then we decided we were not worthy as lawrnece drew an oval freehand and marked rourghly the major parts of the design : sun rays, trees, Harrow's distinctive hill and church spire and the letters making up Harrow Green Party. Three or four passes later filling in the various sections with with the chosen colours and a very distinctive banner was drying ready for next Saturday. (Comment on this)
Monday, December 3rd, 2007
11:24 am	I am back at work after a two week break, some of which was an unlooked for bonus from re-arrangement of the shifts to fit in a training course next week. I went away for a wee working break, first two days off in Chesterfield and a quiet birthday celebration, then on to a very old friend who live in Settle to deal with some electrical jobs, and thence to the monastery for a site visit in connection with the Eco Cabin project. I confess I did muse a bit on whether Settle could manage with another electrician in the town and surrounding area. This was helped by going out on the Sunday morning run with Settle’s cycling club : back lanes to Ingleton, then Ribblehead and then back down the valley down to Settle with long tea stop in Horton in Ribblesdale. The Eco-Cabin began in a series of telephone calls and games of e-mail tennis last winter, after the Abbot moved a policy to reduce substantially the monastery’s environmental impact, and asked people good at organising to investigate such things as renewable energy. The cabin project is to make an installation which can serve as a demonstration system, a teaching resource and a test bed for future schemes in the rest of the monastery buildings. The cabin, a conference room and classroom facility is set up to meet its electricity requirements without recourse to the mains supply. So far the grant aiding bodies have been able to match the monastery’s input sufficiently to fund the solar electricity part of the project (wind will be added later) and so I enjoyed the irony of tramping around the mud at the site of the cabin making sightings at the rain clouds in the sky to find a location for the panels which is not shaded by the trees and does not trespass on the medical herb garden taking shape next door. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, November 17th, 2007
9:52 am	Life's simple pleaures, Fresh food from the steamer. .Home made electricity (Comment on this)
Saturday, September 8th, 2007
9:59 pm	98FM, a radio station in Dublin has been responsible for some highly ammusing prank phone calls by a character called little Becky, who amongst other things has tried to arrange the demolition of her school, hire a crane to lift her dad of the sofa and wound up one of Ireland's commedians. Some of the best ones are on the radio station's website, here, to enjoy. http://www.98fm.ie/Newsite/CREW/littlebecky.asp (1 Comment |Comment on this)