It will soon be Spring. OK, perhaps that’s a bit of a premature statement, but I’ve realised that the rain will eventually stop and I shall soon need to plant things. My first season of vegetable gardening went well in 2009 and I shall be having another go in 2010.
I did however find the continual effort of watering things rather tiresome, so for the coming year I have a plan. The plan involves a water tank, some hose, a float valve, some cunningly drilled holes, some plastic trays, and strict adherence to the laws of physics. Yes, I’m going for automation!
It’s all in my head at the moment, but provided that gravity doesn’t do something unconventional in the next few months, I think I should have a working solution by April. Now then, where’s my Two Wests and Elliott catalogue?
I previously mentioned that I got stuck in the snow. It happened after I went to a work Christmas party in Hertfordshire on the night that it snowed very hard. Not having booked myself a room for the night I decided to drive home despite there being 6 inches of snow on the ground. Yes I know, a tad foolish but hind-sight is a wonderful thing. I managed to convince myself that if I could make it to the main roads then I’d be OK. In fact I did quite well and I got about 10 miles into the countryside before my front wheel drive car became nothing more than a useless hindrance. Having been towed off a snow drift in the middle of nowhere by a farmer in his tractor, I then had to blag a lift to a local pub from another one of the locals where I stayed for the night. My rescuer and I even struggled to make it along the road despite being in a Land Rover Defender 90, so it was no wonder that I was having trouble in my ordinary car. It was the first time I have ever had to abandon a car journey due to the weather, which frankly was very disappointing.
Some interesting things came from the experience though:
I’ve decided that I want my 4WD car back again. I’ve been missing it on grounds of handling, but I think I would have probably made it home had I been blessed with drive to all four wheels.
I should keep a survival kit (including a good pair of gloves) in the car in future.
Farmers are very nice people and the clichéd British community spirit is definitely not dead. Even at 2am!
Here’s a video of the scene taken on the following morning as I was walking back to find the car. It was still really slippery, and you’ll see that I nearly fell over a few times. You’ll also see that the roads had been cleared by the locals using their tractors / snow-ploughs. One of the owners of the abandoned cars shown in the video had decided to sleep in the car overnight and was in a bad way in the morning. When will these people learn? Cars are cold metal boxes -- don’t ever be tempted to sleep in one in bad weather conditions unless you have some serious clothing to protect you!
Posted by R | Posted in Clever things | Posted on 20-12-2009
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Oh dear, this could be expensive. I have just discovered something called a Kelly Kettle.
The other night I found myself completely stranded in the middle of nowhere in a snow-storm (which I will write about later) , so I am researching things to put in a survival kit for the car. The trouble is that there are so many different makes and models; “Kelly Kettles”, “Ghillie Kettles”, “Storm Kettles”, and there are lots of accessories too.
A little something for all iPod users out there who are lucky enough to own more than one iPod / iPhone. Finally someone has produced a cable with two iPod connectors which will allow two devices to be charged and sync’d from just one USB socket. The “extreme clever clogs” award therefore goes to CableJive!
