Producing electricity

Well I have wired in the battery charger and inverter this week. It all seems to work well and Lisa enjoys the fact that she can use her straighteners in the morning before leaving for work. We both enjoy that we can use the computer for longer than the battery life of one hour forty five minutes. We didn’t buy the optional remote thingy for the battery charger and I am relying on a bank of leds for information on how it is working. The only snag is that I have mounted the inverter adjacent to the charger and can’t see the leds without the aid of the bathroom mirror. Not really ideal, especially when Lisa is doing her hair. I’ll purchase the remote eventually. The size of the wire that was recommended surprised me and some of it still needs doubling up. But running the engine for an hour a day keeps the battery bank charged and the hot water constant. There is one lead that runs from the starter solenoid to the engine alternator that I don't think needs to be there so I'll take it off and see what happens. Well that's the way I did the rest of the electrics.
The roof has now taken on a green tint and has been given its first coat of British racing green. It is just the shade we were looking for and look forward to finishing the rest of the paintwork next week. When I started the job this morning, the weather was perfect. I’d been on the job for fifteen minutes when the clouds parted, the sun came out the metal heated up instantly. Brilliant. After ten minutes or so the clouds went black and it started spitting. Typical painting weather for the towpath painter by all accounts. Fortunately it was only the first coat and it all needs sanding down before subsequent coats. I also give the chimney a coat of heat proof black. Very smart.

We are also picking up the shower next week and I am apparently fitting it soonest. This seems like a demand and my objections that it is going to be quite a long job seem to cut no ice. We had to wait for my little van to be fixed to enable us pick up the shower. I have been using the BW facilities at Sutton Cheney and Lisa uses a local health club of which she is a member and it will be good to be independent.

It had developed an electrical fault and I put it in the garage on Wednesday. The mechanic rang today and said it was fixed. The damage was a miserly £40.00. What? Any decent garage would have charged at least £100.00 to do absolutely nothing. I have no idea what the problem was and he could have charged me anything he wanted and he knew it. There are at least some honest garages out there, you just have to find them and keep them to yourself.

Lisa is visiting Terri in London tomorrow but on Sunday we’ll probably head up to Shackerstone for a pint at the Rising Sun. We are currently at a beautiful rural mooring all on our lonesome with all the facilities we require.