Armistice poppy and solar panels

[vilakins]

Our garden continues to surprise me with new flowers (more photos another time) but yesterday I discovered we have several herbs (lemon balm, mint, fennel, rosemary, and possibly more) - and poppies that are just coming out. Very appropriate for armistice day, so I took a photo today in the rain.

It looks a bit sad and wilty in the wet but I suppose that's also appropriate for the day.

We had solar panels put on our roof today, the penultimate stage in the setup. This is all a good thing but I've been so stressed with the shouty (but nice) guys clumping around on the roof and inside for three days that I've had to escape to cafes with my Kindle for some peace and quiet. An official meter guy does the final connection next week and we'll have power, but only in real time till we get a battery. Solar power gets sold back to the grid here at a ridiculously low rate so we plan to keep all of ours for our own use eventually.

The panels had stickers saying "Warning: generates electricity when exposed to light". Well, I should hope so!

Comments

[gwendraith]

How nice to have poppies in your own garden for Armistice Day.

Solar panels are great. I wish my building had them.

[vilakins]

You guys can actually make a profit from them but they're not encouraged here. People are keen on being green anyway.

[gwendraith]

Yes, the sale of them does make a lot of money for veterans. They are made from biodegradable paper and plastic these days :)

[vilakins]

I meant a profit from solar panels - or so I've heard! One needs a battery here to make them really worthwhile and in some areas they actually want to tax solar panels, the bastards.

[gwendraith]

Oh! Lol, sorry. Wrong end of the stick :) Yes, some folk have really small electricity bills and like you their excess electricity gets sold back to the grid. They seem to be quite popular here now. A bungalow over the road has the south facing roof completely covered in them. We're seeing quite a lot of solar farms as well.

[capri0mni]

LOL!

...Also wanted you to know that the cold weather has arrived here, and I'm wearing your leg warmers for the first time. They are lovely.

[vilakins]

Excellent! I wondered how they were. Any chances of a photo, also in the Klein bottle hat? I'm so glad they work, and the colours are so happy and cheerful. (Like you, I've decided not to give shitface and its followers the victory of depressing me.)

[capri0mni]

I'll ask Audrey -- she has a camera, but she's not very consistent about getting pictures off her camera and emailing them to anyone... so: there's a chance, but...

(Like you, I've decided not to give shitface and its followers the victory of depressing me.)

\o/

If it's any consolation, he actually lost the popular vote, and only got in on the electoral college... which is, I think, unique to America. And half the eligible voters didn't even bother voting. So, it's really only one quarter of Americans who think he's great, instead of more than half.

[vilakins]

That's OK - I'm just glad you like them.

I certainly don't know any supporters (except one relative on FB whom I already didn't follow and have now unfriended). It's really time your antiquated system, designed in the days of travel by horseback, was overhauled so that the process is simpler and faster and people aren't disenfranchised. Also candidates should not have to be filthy rich.

We changed our system years ago so that it was no longer first past the post; now we vote for a local MP and also a party, and the party votes are what count for the proportions in parliament. Before that, any vote of mine would have been wasted, and now parties like the Greens actually have some power.

[mab_browne]

The garden discoveries are definitely part of the fun of a first year in a new house.

[vilakins]

They certainly are! One of our blossom trees now has little green plums - yay!