Blessings upon your new home, Piglet. I hope you will be very happy indeed living there, and that once you have sorted out heating, electricity and the telephone you will feel at home very soon.
You can do it!
Indeed - good luck in your new home Piglet. From your posts you have always sounded to me like a person who could create a wonderfully comfortable, cosy home - with something delicious to eat always on the menu. Perfick!!
Luckily, my bridesmaid grew up in a house with storage heaters, and she pointed out that the switches wouldn't activate until night time. I left them on, and lo and behold, heat started to emanate around midnight.
I'm going to go for gas heating though; if I can get a "combi" boiler, I'll be able to ditch the cumbersome water tanks and free up some storage space.
I ambled along to Tesco's, which is at the other end of the High Street, this morning (it was a glorious day), and got in a few bits and pieces* and have also arranged for connection to the interweb next week. I've done my first batch of bread making in the oven here, and discovered that its calibration is a bit ... interesting. My recipe, coming from over the pond, is in °F, and when I Googled what it should be in °C I think it may have been telling porkies. Either that or the marks on the dial are just meaningless hieroglyphics - I now have some rather well-done bread.
* Not necessarily the bits and pieces I intended - I left my shopping list on the coffee table ...
I'm sort of used to 180°C being 350°F, but I'll definitely need to do a bit of adjusting next time. I reckon one side of the oven must be hotter than the other, as one loaf (and in particular one end of it) was darker than the rest.
As Arethosemyfeet says, I'll just need to learn by practice.
I can also report that the dishwasher works just fine, which is just as well, as it was more-or-less what sold me the flat (well, it was a definite factor - I'd hate to be without one).
The Ark's Rayburn (aka The Dragon) really only does HOT.
The hotness can be increased by putting a log or two into its mouth firebox, but the only way to make sure that PIES or Baked SPUDS etc. are OK is to open the door, and look...
After some months of struggling with the oven after moving into this house, and discovering (with a thermometer) that the temperature settings LIED, we splashed out on a new one - they're not that expensive. Even this one is slightly warmer than it claims to be, asnd gets slightly hotter on one side than the other, but it's a great improvement.
When she was 8 months old, my daughter took ill on Christmas eve, and was admitted to hospital at 11pm. I stayed with her. On Christmas Day, the North East Man thought that, at a minimum, he ought to cook the turkey so that we'd have a supply of turkey for sandwiches if nothing else. He put it in the oven, but turned the grill on, rather than the oven, and didn't realise until he checked a couple of hours later. By that point all the numbers on the dials had melted off.
Everything involving our oven was guesswork from then on.
The Ark's Rayburn (aka The Dragon) really only does HOT.
Oh my, I grew up in a house with a Rayburn - I loved it, it dried everything, heated everything, warmed bums, revived moribund goat kids... the lot. Cooked fabulous bread too. Mind you, it was the only room in the house with heat, so life had to revolve round it in winter!
I grew up with a Rayburn too - Mum used to make tattie scones on the hotplate in the winter, or have a baked spud ready for me when I came home from school.
It only heated one radiator (in the hall), but it did hot water as well, and was, as you say, a great bum-warmer. I was quite sad to see it go when we had central heating put in in the mid-70s.
Gas bloke now not coming: he phoned earlier and said there was no point until I'd got the Scottish Gas Network out to install a gas meter. He gave me a rough estimate for the new system though, which I thought was a bit eye-watering considering it's only three radiators. I may have to get a few more quotes.
@Piglet if it helps, I start my bread off at roughly 210 C in a fan oven, then after 24 mins turn it down to 180 ish for another 12 mins. And I’m so glad your storage heaters are working - it gives you time to decide which route to take. I have noticed that there is a move towards electricity as being a greener energy source, so maybe you are there already.
This morning I noticed a rather plump rat breakfasting on the bird food so I’m experimenting with a drainpipe around the base of the bird feeder which hopefully the rat won’t manage to climb up. However, it may then discover the hedgehog food which I don’t think I can do much about. Thankfully the wildlife camera is showing that the ‘hogs seem to have begun to hibernate so I can hold back on their feasts.
This morning I noticed a rather plump rat breakfasting on the bird food so I’m experimenting with a drainpipe around the base of the bird feeder which hopefully the rat won’t manage to climb up. However, it may then discover the hedgehog food which I don’t think I can do much about. Thankfully the wildlife camera is showing that the ‘hogs seem to have begun to hibernate so I can hold back on their feasts.
Have you heard the phrase, "Like a rat up a drainpipe"?
Ah. Now there’s a thought. Maybe I’ll have to experiment with slippery substances. Although I’m relying on a rat not having long enough arms to reach around the drain pipe, rather than stretching out between the inside wall of it, which I’ve experienced.
They do, and they use their hands to great effect.
I love rats. I used to keep them as a child. My brother and I each had one, they used to ride around on our shoulders. Mine was a boy, his was a girl - but they only ever had two babies, which we gave to a friend.
Youn could always add some chilli powder to your birdseeed. Birds lack the TRPV1 receptor needed to taste capsciacin (however I spell it, it looks wrong...), but rats have it. However, be aware that sensitivity to c.* is exposure-dependent, so if your rat keeps coming back, you may suddenly find one Friday night roundabout throwing-out time that your garden is full of lagered-up rodents desperate for a vindaloo....
@daisydaisy, I'm fairly sure I want to go down the gas CH route - that way I'll be able to ditch the water tanks and make some much-needed storage space.
My brother and s-i-l came round today and took all the cardboard boxes and packaging to the recycling place, and the flat now looks twice the size it did, and really rather civilised.
They also brought three bookshelves that got missed at the weekend; my sister was getting rid of them when she replaced her kitchen, and they could have been made for my new place - one in the sitting room, one in the bedroom and one that fits perfectly in the hall.
Now to find someone to help with hanging pictures - I'm fine at seeing whether they're straight or not, but being a vertically-challenged piglet, I'm not so good at the actual hanging bit.
Great to hear of flat-out (or flat-in?) progress, dear Piglet!
Bookshelves are a very civilised thing, and may perhaps even seat a wee liddle bear or two. Or are they all sitting together, one wonders?
To follow in certain trotters' steps I guess, I recently bought myself this be-tweeded Mr Bear, and also to see how reliable EWM are sending stuff to Continental WesShire, which - as hoped - went fairly smoothly... however, when looking up the linkie, what do I find but news that they are having huge problems!
Sadness. Glad liddle bears can keep us company and bring comfort.
@daisydaisy, I'm fairly sure I want to go down the gas CH route - that way I'll be able to ditch the water tanks and make some much-needed storage space.
My brother and s-i-l came round today and took all the cardboard boxes and packaging to the recycling place, and the flat now looks twice the size it did, and really rather civilised.
They also brought three bookshelves that got missed at the weekend; my sister was getting rid of them when she replaced her kitchen, and they could have been made for my new place - one in the sitting room, one in the bedroom and one that fits perfectly in the hall.
Now to find someone to help with hanging pictures - I'm fine at seeing whether they're straight or not, but being a vertically-challenged piglet, I'm not so good at the actual hanging bit.
Consider buying a small step ladder. They make it a lot easier to make use of high shelves, change lightbulbs and hang the aforementioned pictures for us hobbit folk.
I recommend a good library kick stool for the kitchen too, if you have room. One of my best purchases.
Yesterday I started my first assignment marking of the academic year and got half way through; I’ll be finishing the rest today. The coming month is one of my busiest marking periods of the year and I’m trying to keep to a tight schedule around teaching, studying and writing an assignment of my own, whilst not getting stressed.
Great to hear of flat-out (or flat-in?) progress, dear Piglet!
Bookshelves are a very civilised thing, and may perhaps even seat a wee liddle bear or two. Or are they all sitting together, one wonders?
To follow in certain trotters' steps I guess, I recently bought myself this be-tweeded Mr Bear, and also to see how reliable EWM are sending stuff to Continental WesShire, which - as hoped - went fairly smoothly... however, when looking up the linkie, what do I find but news that they are having huge problems!
Sadness. Glad liddle bears can keep us company and bring comfort.
Mr tweed bear looks very smart, I hope he arrives soon.
The bear in my avatar is as old as me. He has no fur left apart from in his armpits. He’s called ‘Oldie’ and has been called that since I learned to speak and name my bears. I have a lovely story about him which I will tell when I’ve got time.
Rushing to take the pup out now as I need to be ready for Zoom German at ten.
Glad you've got bookshelves @piglet. I couldn't believe Marie Kondo saying get rid of your books to make the place tidy. Our house is pretty minimalist but books are too important to think of as being clutter. Hope the gas board sort out the meter pronto and you can get a combi boiler in.
Still no luck selling our place, but we have a couple more viewings lined up and the estate agent seemed more cheerful about it all yesterday than he did on Saturday.
I couldn't believe Marie Kondo saying get rid of your books to make the place tidy.
I heard she said that! Wasn't it, "If possible keep fewer than 20 books"? There was an amusing meme about it at the time that went, "You mean per author, right?"
One of the very loveliest things about setting up my little study in our smallest bedroom was getting the bookshelves and filling them. They're overflowing now. I'd line pretty much every room of the house with books if I could.
We also kept fancy rats as pets for some years - delightful little creatures.
Hope there is good news on the house sale soon, @Sarasa .
In other news, I'm still adjusting to my new glasses. I had to get someone at the optician's to adjust (which seemed to boil down to "heat up and bend with some force") the part that was making my ear sore and now I'm working hard to get used to wearing them all the time. I'm used to life being a bit fuzzy round the edges and at the moment seeing everything in such sharp definition is a bit exhausting, as well as something sitting on my face the whole time.
That is one advantage of having the original picture rails: the hanging wire can be as long as I want, although it is a teensy bit annoying that the matching pair in the living room aren't quite the same height on the wall as the wires are slightly different lengths.
There's an amusing description in Jerome K Jerome's Three Men In A Boat of a comprehensively disastrous attempt, by his Uncle Podger, to hang a picture - authorama.com/three-men-in-a-boat-3.html
Reminds me a bit of Maureen Lipman writing about her mother who would never countenance any kind of D-i-Y, but always had to Get A Man In, even for the smallest job. Reading aboit Uncle Podger, perhaps that was wise.
Rather different from his near-contemporary Mr. Pooter, who wrote: "There is always something to be done: a tin-tack here, a Venetian blind to put straight, a fan to nail up, or part of a carpet to nail down—all of which I can do with my pipe in my mouth; while Carrie is not above putting a button on a shirt, mending a pillow-case, or practising the “Sylvia Gavotte” on our new cottage piano (on the three years’ system), manufactured by W. Bilkson (in small letters), from Collard and Collard (in very large letters)".
(As it happens a friend of mine has just acquired an 1858 fortepiano by aforesaid Collard and Collard).
I certainly haven't got space in the kitchen for library steps - I could just about manage a folding ladder if it folded absolutely flat.
I've now discovered that the washing machine works, and that the sooner I trade it in for a washer/dryer the better.
The dryer (singular - there's only one) in the communal laundry was full of someone else's (dry) bedclothes when I went to put my stuff in, and still full when I went back after having an amble along by the loch, so I took it out and set it on the counter. I hope that's the right protocol in such situations - but I'd really be happier with a dryer of my own.
Now for the ritual game of Pelmanism with my socks ...
Well, it looks like we are heading back to lockdown very swiftly. The President of the Republic is addressing the nation tonight. I'm very glad we escaped to foie gras land last week while we still had the chance.
I started my training course at the beginning of the week and I'm finding it interesting so far. Step one: do a market survey. I've discovered that my favourite thing (literary translation) is very precarious and pays very badly indeed, but legal on the other hand is quite lucrative and has more demand than offer. It's an online course, so lockdown doesn't make much difference, if it happens.
Friday is my birthday, and in anticipation of impending house arrest, we went to make arrangements this morning. The butcher's shop where we wanted to go to buy venison was unfortunately closed owing to a member of staff having tested positive for Plague, but we think we have found somewhere else to get it from (assuming we're not locked down immediately tomorrow morning). As we speak, husband en rouge is off at the wine cellar liberating the bottles in case we can't get at them anymore.
I have a similar thing to the birch step stool in the galley of the Ark - it is rather old, and has tubular steel legs and a plastic seat, but is roughly the same size. Very handy for sitting on whilst I faff about with the Stove, or the fridge, or the cupboards...although I don't think it's strong enough to stand on, should I be Mad enough to want to do so...
Comments
You can do it!
I'm going to go for gas heating though; if I can get a "combi" boiler, I'll be able to ditch the cumbersome water tanks and free up some storage space.
I ambled along to Tesco's, which is at the other end of the High Street, this morning (it was a glorious day), and got in a few bits and pieces* and have also arranged for connection to the interweb next week. I've done my first batch of bread making in the oven here, and discovered that its calibration is a bit ... interesting. My recipe, coming from over the pond, is in °F, and when I Googled what it should be in °C I think it may have been telling porkies. Either that or the marks on the dial are just meaningless hieroglyphics - I now have some rather well-done bread.
* Not necessarily the bits and pieces I intended - I left my shopping list on the coffee table ...
Or some nice Butter for your ready-made TOAST...
Ours never changes from 200C!
As Arethosemyfeet says, I'll just need to learn by practice.
I can also report that the dishwasher works just fine, which is just as well, as it was more-or-less what sold me the flat (well, it was a definite factor - I'd hate to be without one).
The hotness can be increased by putting a log or two into its mouth firebox, but the only way to make sure that PIES or Baked SPUDS etc. are OK is to open the door, and look...
Everything involving our oven was guesswork from then on.
Agreed, but - if it's an old oven - that might not make much financial sense.
Oh my, I grew up in a house with a Rayburn - I loved it, it dried everything, heated everything, warmed bums, revived moribund goat kids... the lot. Cooked fabulous bread too. Mind you, it was the only room in the house with heat, so life had to revolve round it in winter!
Wow - I knew they were good, but ...!
I grew up with a Rayburn too - Mum used to make tattie scones on the hotplate in the winter, or have a baked spud ready for me when I came home from school.
It only heated one radiator (in the hall), but it did hot water as well, and was, as you say, a great bum-warmer. I was quite sad to see it go when we had central heating put in in the mid-70s.
Gas bloke now not coming: he phoned earlier and said there was no point until I'd got the Scottish Gas Network out to install a gas meter. He gave me a rough estimate for the new system though, which I thought was a bit eye-watering considering it's only three radiators. I may have to get a few more quotes.
This morning I noticed a rather plump rat breakfasting on the bird food so I’m experimenting with a drainpipe around the base of the bird feeder which hopefully the rat won’t manage to climb up. However, it may then discover the hedgehog food which I don’t think I can do much about. Thankfully the wildlife camera is showing that the ‘hogs seem to have begun to hibernate so I can hold back on their feasts.
Have you heard the phrase, "Like a rat up a drainpipe"?
I love rats. I used to keep them as a child. My brother and I each had one, they used to ride around on our shoulders. Mine was a boy, his was a girl - but they only ever had two babies, which we gave to a friend.
I enjoy watching them if they come to the garden.
🐀
* I know, I wimped out.
My brother and s-i-l came round today and took all the cardboard boxes and packaging to the recycling place, and the flat now looks twice the size it did, and really rather civilised.
They also brought three bookshelves that got missed at the weekend; my sister was getting rid of them when she replaced her kitchen, and they could have been made for my new place - one in the sitting room, one in the bedroom and one that fits perfectly in the hall.
Now to find someone to help with hanging pictures - I'm fine at seeing whether they're straight or not, but being a vertically-challenged piglet, I'm not so good at the actual hanging bit.
Bookshelves are a very civilised thing, and may perhaps even seat a wee liddle bear or two. Or are they all sitting together, one wonders?
To follow in certain trotters' steps I guess, I recently bought myself this be-tweeded Mr Bear, and also to see how reliable EWM are sending stuff to Continental WesShire, which - as hoped - went fairly smoothly... however, when looking up the linkie, what do I find but news that they are having huge problems!
Sadness. Glad liddle bears can keep us company and bring comfort.
Consider buying a small step ladder. They make it a lot easier to make use of high shelves, change lightbulbs and hang the aforementioned pictures for us hobbit folk.
Yesterday I started my first assignment marking of the academic year and got half way through; I’ll be finishing the rest today. The coming month is one of my busiest marking periods of the year and I’m trying to keep to a tight schedule around teaching, studying and writing an assignment of my own, whilst not getting stressed.
Mr tweed bear looks very smart, I hope he arrives soon.
The bear in my avatar is as old as me. He has no fur left apart from in his armpits. He’s called ‘Oldie’ and has been called that since I learned to speak and name my bears. I have a lovely story about him which I will tell when I’ve got time.
Rushing to take the pup out now as I need to be ready for Zoom German at ten.
Still no luck selling our place, but we have a couple more viewings lined up and the estate agent seemed more cheerful about it all yesterday than he did on Saturday.
One of the very loveliest things about setting up my little study in our smallest bedroom was getting the bookshelves and filling them. They're overflowing now. I'd line pretty much every room of the house with books if I could.
We also kept fancy rats as pets for some years - delightful little creatures.
Hope there is good news on the house sale soon, @Sarasa .
In other news, I'm still adjusting to my new glasses. I had to get someone at the optician's to adjust (which seemed to boil down to "heat up and bend with some force") the part that was making my ear sore and now I'm working hard to get used to wearing them all the time. I'm used to life being a bit fuzzy round the edges and at the moment seeing everything in such sharp definition is a bit exhausting, as well as something sitting on my face the whole time.
In other news, It Wetteth Greatly.
There are no Goings On Of That Kind in my study.
Yes, we've got the standard Ikea wooden one. Very useful.
Just saying.
I'll get me Hammer...
There's an amusing description in Jerome K Jerome's Three Men In A Boat of a comprehensively disastrous attempt, by his Uncle Podger, to hang a picture -
authorama.com/three-men-in-a-boat-3.html
Rather different from his near-contemporary Mr. Pooter, who wrote: "There is always something to be done: a tin-tack here, a Venetian blind to put straight, a fan to nail up, or part of a carpet to nail down—all of which I can do with my pipe in my mouth; while Carrie is not above putting a button on a shirt, mending a pillow-case, or practising the “Sylvia Gavotte” on our new cottage piano (on the three years’ system), manufactured by W. Bilkson (in small letters), from Collard and Collard (in very large letters)".
(As it happens a friend of mine has just acquired an 1858 fortepiano by aforesaid Collard and Collard).
A sentiment to which many of us, no doubt, can relate.
I've now discovered that the washing machine works, and that the sooner I trade it in for a washer/dryer the better.
The dryer (singular - there's only one) in the communal laundry was full of someone else's (dry) bedclothes when I went to put my stuff in, and still full when I went back after having an amble along by the loch, so I took it out and set it on the counter. I hope that's the right protocol in such situations - but I'd really be happier with a dryer of my own.
Now for the ritual game of Pelmanism with my socks ...
I started my training course at the beginning of the week and I'm finding it interesting so far. Step one: do a market survey. I've discovered that my favourite thing (literary translation) is very precarious and pays very badly indeed, but legal on the other hand is quite lucrative and has more demand than offer. It's an online course, so lockdown doesn't make much difference, if it happens.
Friday is my birthday, and in anticipation of impending house arrest, we went to make arrangements this morning. The butcher's shop where we wanted to go to buy venison was unfortunately closed owing to a member of staff having tested positive for Plague, but we think we have found somewhere else to get it from (assuming we're not locked down immediately tomorrow morning). As we speak, husband en rouge is off at the wine cellar liberating the bottles in case we can't get at them anymore.
Joyeux anniversaire, anyway...
I was thinking of this:
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/bekvaem-step-stool-aspen-10225589/
Though I see there's now a bamboo version that's cheaper and probably lighter.
I have a similar thing to the birch step stool in the galley of the Ark - it is rather old, and has tubular steel legs and a plastic seat, but is roughly the same size. Very handy for sitting on whilst I faff about with the Stove, or the fridge, or the cupboards...although I don't think it's strong enough to stand on, should I be Mad enough to want to do so...