Old hobbies die hard

It could be that we will be moving house some time later this year.   With this in mind we have been reviewing those things that we might keep, and those to be discarded.   I have already given away a bucket full of plumbing bits, leftovers from projects that "might come in handy one day".   Also bits of wood that "seem a shame to just throw away".

Included in the list for evaluation are old hobbies.   I have had an interest in avation since I was a kid, that, after a stint at gliding, changed into an interest in radio controlled aircraft.   Eventually life gave me the financial resources needed to indulge this hobby, and my preference for electric power came to the fore once lithium-polymer batteries gave the power/weight ratio needed.   So a couple of days ago I took out some of my mothballed r/c kit.

To my great surprise, the batteries are still good, and the "best" (that is, with all the bits in place) model I have responded correctly to the controller.   So I carefully checked it all out and took the 'plane out to the field next door. 

I should have reminded myself of one of the most basic rules of flying:  the higher up an aeroplane is, the less likely it is to hit something, since most things it might hit either are, or have one end in, the ground.    So I was still getting used to the controls when the first landing happened, that was more in the form of a cartwheel, and that took the wings off.

Liberal application of glue and tape and the model is airworthy again, and the second, third and fourth flights were more successful.   Will I take up the hobby again?  I'm keeping my options open.   I have no interest in bigger, or faster, but aerobatics is of interest, as is the skill needed to keep a glider in the air.

We shall see.

Mead - stage two

Racked off the mead into demijohns today.  Initial tasings show great promise.  (See plastic cup to the left of picture)  It should be perfect as a sweet wine for desserts or with foie gras.

Gurgle gurgle

French for mead is hydromel.   I have tried to make it before, but the homey I used was from a supermarket, and the result was not as I would like.   One of the things the locals do around here is keep bees, and so I got a decent lot of real honey from known, local sources.   Some special yeast and nutrient from a friend and it's bubbling away nicely.

Vide maison

There was a vide maison in the adjacent village last weekend, basically a car boot sale in a house.   In this case it was to empty an old shop that has been closed ever since we have been in France.   It was full of old electrics, machines and sundry items from a time when complicated things could be repaired by someone with creativity and a "can do" attitude.

I have never seen a carding comb before, and these machines look victorian in their "can do".   It was Aladdin's cave, and if you wanted old things for decorating a pub, it was a dream.

I bought a bunch of CDs and two Salmson pumps as spares for the gîte plumbing.

A big wheel

We went to spend a day at St Malo with my sister.   There's a big wheel in place at the moment, and we took a ride on it.  Great views over the city.

Brassicas: A Dead Loss

I decided to pay special attention to brassicas this year.   I laid aside a bed for them, manured it and made sure it was watered.   I didn't count on the black fly.

I got two fist-sized cabbages out of it and that's all from about 20 plants.   The rest were turned into crisps by a combination of blackfly and heat.   Even my Nasturiums were dessicated by blackfly.   I am consoled only by the fact that my neighbours have, like me, cofirmed a total write-off of cabbages, sprouts cauliflowers, etc.   And judging by these plants at the garden centre today, even the pros are having trouble.

I have recently planted a few seeds of Savoy cabbage in the hope that they will mature late in the year when the bugs have gone.

Power cuts

The electric power around here isn't all that reliable, with occasional outages, and many short drop-outs that are enough to get the UPSes to kick in and then shut off a few seconds later.  All of our most fragile electronic kit is protected with a UPS; we have three and they're not cheap.  So news of an improvement to the quality of our leccy supply is welcome.

We are warned of a scheduled power cut tomorrow, from 8h45 to 14h15, that they tell us is to improve the delivery of electricity.  Well, let's hope so.   This little lash-up is to keep the fridge-freezer running.  I have no idea how much power it takes, but I will find out tomorrow if 1.4kWh is enough to keep it going for five and a half hours.

Update:  The power cut has come and gone, timed to the advertised minute.  I took the advice from Microdave (see comments) and cooled the freezer down from its normal temperature of -18°C to -24°C and then set it back to -18°C when it was connected to the backup system.  When it is cooling, it consumes about 140 watts, so the batteries could keep it going for about a day if necessary.