People complain that renewable heating (specifically heat pumps) are expensive to run. That is true when oil and gas prices are low. Ignoring renewables and continuing to burn fossil fuels is like covering your eyes and ears, while chanting "so far, so good".
Less than 18 months ago, I paid £302 for heating oil. The cheapest I can find it for today is £760.
Fortunately, I moved house in the meantime. The new place runs on renewable energy, so my entire energy spend is less than £100 a year. It helps that the house is super-insulated.
Wow! These pictures have a magical quality.
Plus 20 minutes of yoga stretches daily.
Monthly chiropractic, fortnightly massage. Both practitioners working together.
The Prime Minister today used the expression, to have "skin in the game", during PMQs. Wondering what the origin of this might be, and if it is a recent useage in parliament?
Calling a friend, @tonythorne007.bsky.social
Directly across the chancel at Peterborough is the lonely tomb of Catherine of Aragon. Nobody came to disinter her remains and move them to Westminster Abbey.
The Marienschrein (Shrine of Mary) in Aachen Dom or cathedral dates from the early 13th century and contains 4 great relics, which are still objects of pilgrimage. Marienschrein - Wikipedia share.google/7B8ERMkN0Jf0...
Wonderful stained glass. Such a tragedy that these shrines and reliquaries didn't survive the Reformation. Luckily, many examples exist in the Low Countries, including this one in Aachen.
I had to Google the Padley Martyrs. A sad story, but still commemorated in an annual pilgrimage. Thank you for sharing. @anneebailey1.bsky.social
Even better!
Amazing. Now on my list.
That's a great picture. Back then, it was a question of getting all the light settings right for a shot like this. And not knowing whether you'd got it right for a couple of weeks.
To celebrate St Andrew's Day, some of my favourite memories from #Scotland. From the left, Rogie Falls, Cromarty Firth, Fort George (Moray Firth), Glenfinnan.
Amazing pictures, @fotofacade.bsky.social
Later that morning we head to Scotland on LNER Trains, which has been in public ownership since 2018. The trains run on time, and it's possible to buy tickets at very reasonable prices. eg Peterborough to Inverness, an 8 hour trip, £42. @lner.co.uk
Today we are travelling with Greater Anglia Trains again, the first time since they came back into public ownership earlier this month. Most of the seats were taken, and they have reintroduced a trolley service for refreshments again. Something I haven't seen since before Covid.
Karl Parsons' work was featured on a special issue of 5 Royal Mail Christmas stamps in 1992.
www.collectgbstamps.co.uk/explore/issu...
The glass is the work of the great Karl Parsons (1884-1934), a prolific artist greatly inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Seen in the Stained Glass Museum, Ely. a great illustration of the English colloquial phrase "going at it hammer and tongs". This means doing something with great enthusiasm and energy.
@stainedglassmuseum.bsky.social
It was. Unlike a normal baked Camenbert, this one had the juices cooked out of the squash mixed in with the cheese to make it stringier, more like Mozzarella. Next time we will add garlic and rosemary.
Last week's #FreeCycle fruits included a massive haul of about 20kgs of quince. These are like hard, sour apples, but are packed with flavour, nutrients and fibre. We will be producing quice jelly, chutney, juice and other nutritious meals over the next few weeks. @freecycle.bsky.social
This was then baked, and made a delicous meal. A sort of organic fondue where you dip your fresh bread and then end up eating the pot!
We kept the seeds, so next year we grow our own #Pattypan squash.
Last week, thanks to #FreeCycle, some folks in a neighbouring village gave us a Pattypan squash. Today, we hollowed out the centre and replaced the pulp and seeds with a whole Camenbert cheese.
More details here
They Come over Here … 300 Years of Xenophobic Propaganda in England: Journal of Political Marketing: Vol 13, No 1-2 share.google/ANV2beCOGcmH...
Today #Farage is repeating the centuries-old urban myth about immigrants eating swans. This was fact-checked in 2003. Then, as with all previous times, there was no evidence.
Sun accused of Swan Bake 'myth-making' - Press Gazette share.google/o8THJX61xeim...
Drains overwhelmed by flash flooding on Thursday.
Rain 'overwhelmed' drains at Suffolk's Ickworth Estate - BBC News share.google/mSOTc5m9Nnlx...
This is a very special place. A huge and beautiful graveyard stretching out across the slopes and into the forest. A railway, closed 100 years ago, wound around the mountain to Ynysybwl served 2 now defunct mines.
Very nice, @malcolmstoneman.bsky.social .
By way of reply, here are some tiles from Cromer parish church. Nothing in the guide about them, but they seem to have been installed during the 1860s.
#TilesOnTuesday
