Off Topic The Goodhand Arms

Re: Hinkley

Was chatting to an ex-military guy at a party last time I was home. Was a sniper in Afghanistan. Anyway, he said that he had a mate in the SAS. This mate of his was part of a mock-terrorist attack at the Sizewell power stations in Suffolk. Apparently it was beyond easy for the 'terrorists' to get in and blow it all up. Yay.

 

Flippineck!

Flying from London to Romania in January for £25. Three nights there then from Romania to Dubai for £45. A week there (plus Abu Dhabi). Then from Dubai to Philippines for £140.

So that's £210 total for London - Bucharest - Dubai - Manila.

Question is, where to go after Manila...

 

Apparently during the Cold War the Soviets had plans for a conventional missile strike on Hinkley Point, which with the prevailing winds from the South West, would have rendered most of Southern England highly radioactive.

 

Oh yeah, just remembered. The UK Fully Charged LIVE Show has changed its 2020 venue because it has become TOO BIG for Silverstone. And finally, I will be able to go because it will be at the home of the Airshow - Farnborough, and local enough. May 1st, 2nd and 3rd:

[Highlights are from 2019 Silverstone]​

 

Before and after pictures. South side of the Central Station.

 

Well finally did it.

Hate Xmas, but in surrender to Mrs No7, I put up the outside lights. No weird Santas or anything, just lights on our trees and two small xmas trees in pots either side of the front door.

Ho, ho, bloody ho.

 

Can you rig them up via a raspberry Pi so that they flash rude messages in Morse code? I say that, because that's what one our extra needy IT engineers did in our office .

 

I don't get Christmas. We spent all year trying to educate people about conserving electricity, only to stick up a bunch of useless energy sucking lights up for five weeks. We rattle on about landfill, only to exponentially increase the amount over this same period. Its just rather strange. Same with Halloweed. We teach our children to not speak to strangers or take things from them, then send them out knocking on doors and begging for sweets. I'd swap both those holidays for a nature awareness day, but I bet all the kids would boo me!

 

Funny you should say that. They are all rigged up using ESP8266 based smart plugs that I have hacked and put Tasmota on and have Node Red to do automations and integrate with my Echos.....

 

You lost me after ESP8266. I deal with little IT projects, I have other people to do the understanding of tech

 

Couldn't agree more. Decades ago, my elder sister listened to me banging on about environmentalism, and really got it, so I thought. To all intents and purposes, she was totally on board. Then she put her elaborate exterior Xmas lights up. When I pointed out to her that this wasn't the direction we ought to going in, she said "Oh my little extra isn't going to make a difference." Now mulitply that attitude by 23 million odd homes and "my little extra" adds up to several unnecessary power peaker station requirements, and a whole lot more CO2 emission, currently [cause we still have too many coal fired power stations in the UK**]. So, attitudes like, "I'm not going to change my lifestyle habits", or "my little extra power consumption makes no difference" is just a BS excuse.
Thankfully, my sister now properly gets it. Though she thought I was a bit of an environmental loony for a few years, until it finally clicked.

**And incidentally, dirty as the are, coal-fired power stations are way more efficient and less polluting than even the cleanest, most efficient petrol and diesel vehicles. So there's another reason going electric transport.

 

I take your sentiment.

However, all those lights and the inside xmas lights go off an on at sunset/sunrise and this is the current consumption:




...less than 25 watts

I know multiply it by 23 million it makes a difference, but I think that if I have one less cup of tea a night it will be even

 

Only a few households put up lights so there won't be anywhere near 23 million homes doing so....and I enjoy the ones who have made an effort on my nightly perambulations. What is life without a little joy in it?

 

Good point Fran, but multiply that by the fact that although I am a very stringent energy saver, it is calculated that if the whole world was the same as me we would require 1.4 Earths. Seeing as I am determinedly near the bottom end of the scale I would suggest that ordinary people take their excesses a little more seriously, until we can at least produce energy cleanly. This hasn't been a game for decades.

 

But will you?

 

lol easy...I'll have a glass of wine instead

 

Brexit.

 

Nicely done!

 

Random comment incoming:

There are not many nicer smells than a freshly bleached bathroom.

 

Depends on the smell of the bleach