What are you all up to
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Wow what a difference in weather today compared to yesterday! And very welcome it was too.
Really lovely day here, friends from Essex called in on their drive north, Scotland their ultimate destination. Was tentatively arranged by as they had to be in Harrogate for a set time road conditions played a part, it played ball so lovely to see them.
I then prepared a very quick Eton mess and salad and grabbed our bits to bbq. Street party central. Several bbq's going so we could all eat together. The weather was wonderful and some got sunburnt! Kids played nicely, lots of jugs of Pimms 😉. The cul de sac has a walkway footpath at the end and a few folks passed by. The parish council had actually organised a party in the park which was well.attended, but not by our road! We all came in to watch the concert but I think if it wasn't on we'd still be out there.
Hope everyone else had a good day - posts seem to indicate they did. Lovely photos too.
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Have heard quite a few too, both here near Ludlow, and up at Ebury Hill earlier in the week.
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Finally got the phone contract sorted out by going to the 3 store in Hereford. It took a while but, hopefully, all is now well. Not only did I get a large reduction in our phone charge, with 8 Gb data, but a good reduction in the Mifi cost too over the length of the contract.
There has been a concert going on, about 1/4 down the road from the site, since we got back mid afternoon, and they are still at it!! Hope they pack up by the time we put the bed up, as it is rather loud, with a thumping beat!
Some grand photos from the party, B2, and the Red Setter walk, M, and we'll done Millie, with your reading at the cathedral which no doubt went well.
Debs,fingers crossed that the antibiotics work quickly and that your OH is soon recovered.
Safe journey home from Mull, Helen, provided of course that you are able to get off the island.
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Great photos Moulesy and glad you had a good day.
Very foggy here today have we gone back a few months!!!
Friends of ours have limited data with SFR when they go back to UK for the winter but we have Orange and the data stays the same as here when we go to the UK, our friends do not have an Orange mast near them so stuck with SFR as they do not have a landline now.
We enjoyed the concert even when we did not know some of the artists, very different to other celebration concerts and the drones display was excellent, not sure if Camilla is in to music like Charles is, thought she looked a bit grumpy at times perhaps they should have got Miss Piggy and Kermit a bit nearer to her ha ha.
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Wonderful brue!I love the decorations. What a lot of effort everyone must have put in.
RK. No we didnt know some of the other acts and I dont think Charles did either! We were sure that when one of the female acts were on they were asking each other who she was 🤣. I think maybe they were both very tired after the previous day. They are not young after all. Nice to see the younger royals stepping up and going out and about amongst the street parties yesterday.
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Dull and wet here today, just staying home and pottering in the garage, might finish turning the wooden bowl I have been working on.
Looks like our fuel switch to Octopus is progressing as we had the "sorry you are leaving" e mail from our current supplier. Not really been anything wrong with them, we just want to possibly go onto one of the more innovative Octopus tariffs, and also sell our PV excess to them.
Have ascertained why we have water getting in at our front patio doors when it is windy.........all the sealant above the door frame needs to be replaced. Now need to wait for a dry day, and someone to help me hoist up my scaffolding onto the balcony.
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Kj
We have been with Octopus for some years, previously they managed the C-Op energy that we were on. The change was seamless except it took a while for the Smart Meters to actually start recording our usage. They are very helpful and deal with questions quickly. We have been with most of the "big" suppliers over time and none were as good as Octopus.
My son with the electric car is also with Octopus for his electric and he has some solar panels. He is on a special tariff where overnight for 4 hours he can charge his car at 12p per Kwh, all controlled by technology! Its enough to keep his car charged to a pretty good rate. He had a charging point install rather than use a granny charger.
David
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Kj if you already get the Fits payment how can you sell your excess to them. Interested as we are with Shell who maybe dropping out of supplying our energy.
Moving sites tomorrow morning, not far, just to Grau d'Agde. It's a site we've been on a couple of times before, no loud music, no loud anything just nice and quiet. Set back from the road, so no traffic noise. It's a bit more sheltered from the wind to. Here at Marsellian plage it gets quite windy, you need the canopy out for shade but it flaps so not safe to leave it out. Thankfully we are in the caravan so the canopy for that is safer as its very lightweight as its on flexi poles.
Nice to try a different site in a new to us area but I much prefer the one we are going to. Lots of cycleways all off roads.
Weather not looking good for most of France this week but I think we should escape the worst of it.
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As we're going away on Wednesday we thought we had better check out the caravan - abandonned in haste when we had to come home to a family emergency last June. As all the stock are out we brought it into an empty barn. We knew it was likely to have suffered, due to being facing into the bad weather, but it was worse than expected. I was prepared with kitchen spray and cloths but major fettling was needed round the front windows. New longer screws and silicone have done a reasonable job, and we've brought the front cushions into the house - to stand round the Aga. It's 18 years old, and we do tend to ignore and neglect it when not in use (which isn't very often). As the saying goes "it doesn't owe us anything".
Everything works (fridge, cooker, heater, water etc) so there's nothing stopping us.
So, it's onwards and upwards. I'm stacking bedding, clothes etc and non perishables in the hall, and we'll throw it all in the van on Wednesday and escape.
I'll maybe buy a lottery ticket and look again at those tantalising dealers' websites again.
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Love it Goldie. A mindset just like ours, fix it, no fuss, get on with it. Our van is on Mum’s drive, it’s now 39 years old, in need of a good wash, but seems nice and dry inside. It’s a stalled renovation project, too many things have got in the way, but ………..
I don’t think we would be tempted by anything new. We enjoy our MH, it’s reliable and easy to fix anything ( not that we have had any major issues), it’s economic to go away in, and has all we need. Beyond that, when our time comes, well, we might have a little renovated classic to shove somewhere nice for a season. But we aren’t in a rush.
Enjoy your break.👍
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I believe you can easily move to another supplier for your FIT, but regardless, I believe you can, if you have a Smart meter, choose to move from deemed export (50%) to actual export, which, if you are away a lot, could be better.
Octopus are currently paying 15p per kWh for actual export.
I do not know, but am assuming, that you may need to be a paying customer first. Once we have more info on that I will post it.
As prices are meantime the same everywhere, it would make little or no difference to your bills.
We are not planning to move our FIT from our original supplier EDF, unless we have to. EDF are very efficient with the FIT, payment within a few days of submitting the reading.
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I agree David, OH deals with all that, but I know we were with Octopus a few years back, but we left as we got a better price elsewhere, which was important at the time.
NO EV here.........much too expensive to buy.......but we have had panels since late 2011, so are on the highest FIT.
We recently installed a solar diverter, so quite a lot of our excess power now goes to heat our HW cylinder, but in Summer we produce far more than we can use anyway, so now we have the Smart meter (since November) we can see and measure what we actually export, and can see that it would give a better return to sell that at a higher price.
It has been stated that if you get a Smart meter, you will eventually be moved to actual export anyway, so we might as well do it soon.
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Hi TG, sounds like you’re having a great time. Reading about Marseillan plage and Grau d’Agde makes me wish we were there now, it’s raining cats and dogs here at the moment! Another 2 weeks before we go, really looking forward to it.
We’ve stayed at Marseillan Plage a few times, but not since 2019. We’ve stayed at Beauregard Plage, the first one in that road, opposite the boulangerie. Also at Robinson on the opposite side. From there we’ve cycled to Sete a few times, always really enjoyed that. Also into Marseillan itself, to the harbour. Last time we were there, the cyclepath between there and Grau d’Agde had improved a lot, we’ve cycled that a few times too. Where are you staying at Marseillan Plage?
As for Grau d’Agde, we’ve only stayed at Neptune (in the good old days of Camping Cheques!). Cycled into Agde and out further along the canal from there, there’s that 3 point lock on the canal. Which site are you going to there? Last time we were in that area, we noticed a lot more statics on the sites around Marseillan Plage and also at Grau d’Agde.
Enjoy your stay there and the cycling. And the wine of course!
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Enjoy your long awaited break Goldie!
We're looking forward to a few days in Devon, I like this time of the year when everything is fresh and green.
I'm afraid we've spent the day recovering from the street party and I think one or two others will need 48 hours to get over some of the dance moves....
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Been packing the caravan and making sure house well stocked for MiL, who has bounced back to her normal self after that bout of Covid. Off tomorrow for a 3 week trip.
Not too worried about the weather and we've had 2 recent short trips to get a new routine sorted out. We're taking a canopy awning so that will be interesting when, or should I say if, we put it up.
TG - good to hear your trip going well. Enjoy South of France.
Goldie - hope you both enjoy your trip away as well.
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Enjoy your breaks Goldie and WN.
Gave the caravan a quick once over when we took the cover off all ok and a quick check inside having a good airing at the moment as rain forecast for the rest of this week and next when we are away but we will make the most of a change of scenery and hope I can get in the site pool as under cover and heated also we are meeting up with friends next Tuesday who are over here for a fortnight and staying near Beynac.
I still miss my old 1991 Castleton never had any issues with it and no damp either and well made even it did not have all the mod cons as modern caravans, did have a look at a new Hymer feeling 425 online and was impressed as it is a pop up roof even had a shower in it.
We are thinking of giving up possibly by next year as we feel we want to do more Gite holidays or Lodges and see different areas of France, I do not enjoy longish journeys anymore and having just getting over Sciatica recently do not want to aggravate it to much with sitting in the car.
Glad all going well for you in the South TG enjoy the rest of your Holiday, a different May to last year here.
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Wherenext enjoy your trip and all goes well for you!
Brue hope you get over the street party and have no ill effects from "dancing in the street" !
The neighbours in my street had a bit of a get together, amazing that although we say hello as we pass however you don't talk that much! Found out one chap hailed from the same town as my aunt in Aberdeenshire and used to work on the same fishing boat for a short while!
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Glad to read the street parties went well, our street held a get together on Saturday in the rain, they moved it to under our car port and sent us photo's 🤣
We woke up to rain this morning even drowned out the peacocks! It eased to drizzle mid morning so we ventured out to do the Fishnish loop walk and then spent some time in the hide but no Otters, not been lucky this week.Plenty of Heron's though.
This afternoon we walked the Salen Forest trail, fabulous views from the top.
We have had a great week, Mull is a lovely island and there has been plenty to do. Ferry in the morning and then heading south for home.
OH has just got excited, we've had a siskin on our bird feeder and he managed a photo with the camera. Will have to wait until we get home to post a pic.
Hope all trips go well, Goldie we are due at Englethwaite Hall on Thursday hope to see you there.🙂
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Not too far David. Just over to the Humber region then a couple of other CLs in Yorkshire as I head homewards.
Still have a few logistical problems, health wise, but if things go well this year we may, just may, slip over to France later in the year, at least to Brittany and visit my brother. If not then next year will have to do.
Would like to get back on a bike but that will definitely have to wait for a while.
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Wishing you safe and happy travels WN.
Also hope brue and goldie have good trips. Safe journey home Helen.
Dull, grey and windy here today and now it has started raining
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