Wet walk

We have all had some exceptional rain recently.   I went for a walk along one of my usual paths.  It was more difficult  than usual, as parts of the route were flooded.

The river down the road was much higher than usual, but still below the level of the arches of the road bridge, and not yet overflowing the pedestrian bridge.

A bit farther along, the water works by the mills were united into a single lake rather than separate streams.

And on the way back, a dip in the field next to the path, turned into a river and poured itself onto the path.

At this point I had to turn back at get home by a different route.

Mince Pies

It's mince pie time.    Not a tradition in France.   We make these delicacies every year, and one time we took a batch to our french guests in the gîte who were staying over Christmas.   We collected most of the pies back once they had left; not a mistake we will repeat.

We do share them with friends - we don't know if they really like them, or are just being polite, but it's nice to share anyway.

The Christmas spirit.....

 ....hits St Pierre sur Erve.

Like for like

I have been thinking that to help me keep my seed potatoes from sprouting over winter, a fridge might offer a good solution.  So, finding myself at a loose end in a supermarket recently, I was wandering around looking at the fridges.

I was intrigued the other day by a poor energy rating (F) given to a highly efficient light bulb (an LED), so I paid attention to the energy labels on the fridges.   I saw two apparently equal-sized fridges, one rated F, the other rated E.   According to the label, the E one consumed 141 KWh per year, that is more than the F one that consumed only 112.  They both appeared to be the same size.   What is going on?  

Aha!   The E one has a freezer compartment inside at the top, the F one does not.  The fridge compartment is therefore a bit smaller than the F one.  So, apparently, fridges with a freezer bit are assessed differently: they are allowed to consume more electricity and still get a better rating.   Not comparing like with like.

Wandering on, I found a tall fridge with no freezer compartment but a bigger capacity (263 litres instead of 127 litres - twice as much as the F one above.   It consumes 133KWh per year vs 112, that is 18% more.   Energy rating also F.

So a fridge with twice the capacity for only 18% more electricity consumption doesn't appear to be more efficient?  On marche sur la tête.

Beware simple labels.   I ignore "nutri-score" labels for much the same reason.

Walking on your head

In France, the phrase "on marche sur la tête" is used to indicate that something crazy or idiotic is going on.   The idea is currently being used by farmers to protest the increasing difficulty of growing or producing food, due to growing constraints and regulation by the state.   The method?   Turning village road signs on their heads.   Simple, non-destructive, easy to do, and it gets the point across.

High energy

It so happened that I needed to replace a light bulb in one of the gîte toilets.   The old one had failed after about 15 years, so it was time.

LEDs are the technology of choice these days, since they are many times more efficient at converting electricity to light than the old incandescent bulbs.  So I was surprised to find that the LED bulbs that I had selected had an energy rating of F, that is the second-worst of all possibles.   

I checked, and yes, the LEDs had a power consuption of just 7.8 Watts, a bit more than 7 times more efficient than a 60W incandescent bulb.  7.8W hardly registers on the electricity meter.   Curious, I looked around, and the best energy rating I could find for a similar light bulb was C, on a 60W bulb that consumed only 5.9 W, and that, incidentally, cost twice as much.   A quick calculation tells me that perhaps, over the 15 year life of the bulb, the more expensive one would pay for itself, just about.   But hey, I'll take the saving now, thanks; I might not be around in 15 years.

You can still get incandescent halogen bulbs that are slightly more efficient (about 5% more) than the old standard incandescents.   They get an energy rating of G, presumably because the scale stops at G and doesn't go on to Z.   People could take that to mean that the halogens are only a bit worse than LEDs when in fact they consume 7 times as much electricity.    On the other hand, the change from energy rating D to F in this case indicates an increase in energy consumption of about one third.   Nuts.

(There are three bulbs in the €9.49 pack, one in the €6.59 pack)

Entr'aide

There's a strong community spirit at St Pierre sur Erve, and one of the manifestations is the existance of a Whatsapp group for entraide.   Need help?   Got anything to offer?   Make it known on the group, and you have a good chance of getting or giving help.

My neighbour needed some work done on the gable ends of his roof.  A short message on Whatsapp, and 4 extras came on site to help.  The jobs were: breaking rocks, mixing the mortar, getting the stuff up onto the scaffolding, and finally putting it all into place.   Done in half a day.

Come the crash, St Pierre sur Erve is better placed than many.