The past eight months since the last blog post have been very strange to say the least, Covid-19 pandemic has blown any sense or normality completely out of the (triple glazed) window. Luckily, we’ve stayed healthy and well. I’ve continued to work from home, and it seems I will carry on doing so for the foreseeable.
Various lockdowns meant there was significantly less car traffic on the roads. It was nice to see a lot more people on bikes, it felt like a glimpse into the future of sustainable travel. I’ve really enjoyed exploring the local area on two wheels, it’s been a great boost for physical and mental health. I’ve sold the Kermit (our 2nd car) and fitted an electric wheel to my commuter bike to turn it into a do-it-all exercise & shopping bike. No regrets so far.
The wildflower meadow roof on the converted shed has really flourished and attracted all sorts of little critters.
Spending time at home / home office across three seasons provided a good opportunity to test the house performance. Increased use of equipment and me being in the home office added to internal heat gains, but it was good to see that even during the warmest weather back in August the internal temperature hasn’t gone over 25C.
Working from home has increased our power consumption by approximately 20%, and we’ve started to see bigger electricity bills (around £80/month).
One thing that recently failed is our hot water cylinder heat pump unit. The fan stopped working properly meaning we are getting hot water only via immersion heater. We’ve tried to get a manufacturer approved technician to make an inspection visit, but the local contact has never worked on a heat pump unit. Nick had a bit of a play and for a short while the unit kicked back to life, but this was short lived. Finally Ariston offered a replacement unit (thank you!), hopefully we’re getting it swapped over early in the new year.
2020 you won’t be missed, here’s to a better and more optimistic 2021 x





