h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

.... but according to Scottish Power, only for another 9 hours or so.

Have burned all the s though, so need to buy more today.

B

All of them? I only used 6 to read my book yesterday.

How extravagant would be seem to people who used candles every night.

Aww, I have this vision of you slaving away by the light of a single smiley...

Head torches! Just don't gaze into each other's eyes or you'll be blinded...

How true!
In the course of the last outage we had (substation explosion)I learned the folly of my ways in relying on rechargeable batteries for torches

I prefer oil lamps for indoors. The simple small glass ones work great. ( http://www.vermont-gift-and-glass.com/sitebuilder/images/570_Oil_Lamp-450x600.jpg ) For outside I like old fashioned single mantle Coleman lanterns. ( http://www.icollector.com/images/1186/17462/17462_0150_1_md.jpg )

Of course, Coleman doesn't make ones with only a single mantle anymore. And the one that I had was "borrowed" by a cousin and never returned. And the one I picked up at a yard sale had decades old fuel in it that had turned to varnish and ruined the generator which I can't find replacements for now. The double mantle ones give out "twice" the light (which isn't all that noticeable considering the inverse square law of light) but you have to pump it up twice as often. I may finally switch over to propane some day, but I hate the idea of those single use propane tanks.

Oops. I seem to have gone off on a rant there.

I remember using Tilly lamps in scouts. Man, those things are bright. Fortunately they soon acquire a film of dead insects to stop everyone from being blinded.

Tilly lamps are cool, we use them on Summar camp. Plus the whole burning parafin thing means neglible fire risk.

For the double mantle propane lamps, you can (or at least, could) get an adapter fitting and use the big refillable tanks. 'Twas what Tom's parents used for years on their off-the-grid property.

Tilley lamps were a must for night fishing off the beach in Norfolk. You could see them dotted for miles down the coast when the tides were promising.

When I woke up this morning, I had no water. I must remember to let a faucet drip the next time a really cold night is forecast.

[It's 17 degrees fahrenheit as of 11:00 a.m., but it was only 8 degrees during the night.

But given the choice of having water but no power, or power but no water, I would go with the power. But I must do a better job of planning ahead. [My head just wasn'tplanned very well. ]

That's the second reference I've read about letting taps drip all night to stop them freezing. Can I ask, are your pipes not insulated or deep enough underground to stop them freezing? I am curious.

Also, the cost of letting a tap drip would be a lot, given the price of water in the UK these days, where most houses have metered water, so this wouldn't be feasible.

The other consideration would be that the waste pipe would freeze up and the bathroom or kitchen sink might flood the house.

I remember that there was a neighbour whose cold water inlet pipes froze solid in the sixties in UK, for months. Come the spring, when they eventually thawed the water board dug them up and laid them at a proper depth.

Hi, Lanzababy. I live in a trailer park. The incoming and outgoing pipes are exposed to the outside air. Both are insulated, though to different extents. The incoming pipe has a heating coil wrapped around it, with insulation covering it. I had someone insulate the underside of the trailer a few months ago. My bathroom was redone the month before that, with insulation wrapped around the pipes that run under the bathtub. So, everything that could possibly be done has been done. Nevertheless, someone did not think of some aspect of it very well, so letting the tap trickle whenever the night time temps are likely to be below 25 degrees is an option that has worked in the past, even in the coldest weather, even in the days when the underside had no insulation at all. It's a new game, with new rules, and I have to learn those rules if I want to have water in the next two months. After that, I won't need to let the faucet trickle, as it won't be cold enough to cause freezing.

Your talk of lamps all sent me off on a wild web chase ... and I found some wonderful nostalgic threads out there (very "What to do?").

But oh vey, the price! Over a hundred for Tilleys. Petromax seem to be the German equivalent and they are the same sort of price. The best ones in the universe are apparently the ones you can't get any more - Vapalux; used to be made in Halifax.

Power's off again tonight; we'll get some thing to cook in a pan, and use the gas ring I bought last winter.

B

Can you get some of that n ice stuffed pasta from Sainsburys and some Pesto - we should be able to manage that all in one pan.

I'll get some on the way out from work - ring me when you park up; it's too cold for me to want to hang around.

Or do you fancy a film?

B

Ooh it's orange Wednesday - what's on at the cinema - pick anything you like

Sherlock Holmes at the Odeon

Drive at the Cameo: http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Cameo_Picturehouse/film/Drive/

Various things that don't appeal at the Filmhouse.

Oh, and something "achingly tender and sweetly funny" to read at the Filmhouse:

http://www.filmhousecinema.com/showing/tomboy/

An achingly tender and sweetly funny coming-of-age movie, Tomboy tells the story of ten year-old Laure, who moves to a new Paris suburb with her family. It’s the summer holidays, and all the local kids are running riot around the neighbourhood. Boyish Laure, when first meeting with the gang, introduces herself as Michael. The other kids don’t even blink: Michael it is. And so the summer fun begins, with Laure, now Michael, doing everything she can to keep her new identity secret. But as the holidays draw to an end, and the threat of school looms, things start to get complicated.

Can I really get you to see a French Film ???