The third one up is my place.
Hello Gerard Oosterman,Your Electricity Distributor, Endeavour has approved your installation.We can now send your solar install request to your installer.An installer will be in touch soon to work out a time and date that suits you.
Speak soon,
Origin Solar
The above I just copied and pasted from a letter I received 5 seconds ago. There you go!
For many years, Helvi and I used to ponder about installing solar panels. It first cropped up on our farm well over 20 years ago when solar panels first started to make their appearance. We had lots of roofs but somehow the costs were not as they are now and we were advised to wait for them to come down. Of course, now with Government rebates and the cost of panels a fraction of what they were it doesn’t make sense not to do it. The quality of the panels have also improved. Even so, one has to be careful, we were told there are a lot of shonky operators out there trying to sell you a donkey for a horse.
I remember getting very annoyed with endless phone calls trying to lure you into getting solar panels. I ended up with a perfect solution by telling them we had no roof. You could hear their astonishment being told we lived in a house with no roofs! Another ploy I used was reading them a children’s story in Dutch. They soon hung up and it amused Helvi and I for a while. Such memories I tend to stick to. Laughter and a smile is good medicine and lately I haven’t been happier than right now. I made friends and I meet her, and others almost daily. In seems odd that during this Covid-19 pandemic, people seem to be keen in meeting each other and perhaps also make the time available to talk and give smiles.
Distances are still required and most seem to adhere to that. I haven’t as much as shaken hands with her, or others, let alone try and get intimate. Couples must be busting to get to each other, but… distance please…, eat a carrot instead. At my age, my masculinity is waning ( if you relate masculinity with sexual prowess) and I have yet to consider asking the doctor for any help in the form of Viagra or other stimulants.
Years ago, that wasn’t an issue with me, but now with getting older, some still seem to want to stick to what once was. I now avoid coffee, tea and other stimulants after 8pm as my sleep does need careful planning, and I do appreciate that more than a possible feeble rump about, under the doona.
In any case, lets stick to the solar panels for generating electricity. I was told that it takes about three to four years to regain the initial costs of the installation. That is a pretty good return and it would be foolish not to do it. I also bit the sour apple and bought the place next to mine as well. I am not sure but will probably rent it. A bit of a capitalist, and that, at the fag-end of my life! Where did I go wrong, daddy? Of course with two places now, I also double my joy in gardening efforts in both places, and that balances the capitalist and the botanist (kasvitieteilijä in Finnish) nicely.
I am so excited.
Tags: Coffee, Couples, Covid-19, Donkey, Doona, Dutch, Horse, Masculinity, Pandemic, Panels, Sexual, Solar, Tea, viagra
June 23, 2020 at 2:59 am |
Two gardens to care for? Our small one is already too much for us. I’m happy for you to have found some happiness in your circumstances We are struggling from the moment when we get up in the morning. I never knew aging would be such a drag.
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June 23, 2020 at 9:43 pm |
So far the body is holding up reasonably well, Peter. My eyesight has improved but not so my hearing, but that only makes the noise of the passing trains softer and gentler.
In group conversations, I nod knowingly and go by the expression of faces if I nodded correctly. With women, I usually answer ‘yes please’. Or, ‘you are looking very nice today.’
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June 24, 2020 at 3:58 am
LOL! Ha, ha, how good is this? 🙂
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June 24, 2020 at 9:13 am
You are a wise man, Gerard! 😉 🙂
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June 23, 2020 at 3:06 am |
The cold claws into the bone,
Hollows the heart,
Freezing the home.
Must needs warmth like a summer’s day,
A lover’s frolic in new-cut hay!
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June 23, 2020 at 9:44 pm |
A frolic in the hay sound like something out of Emile Zola or Guy de Maupassant. I love the poem.
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June 23, 2020 at 10:24 pm
Yes…nothing like a frolic in the hay!…when one was young and keen…these days?…dunno……trouble is..when one is young and keen, the “magician’s tricks” are new and strange and perhaps thrilling…so you are keen to try your hand at second guessing the next move..it’s exciting!..but now in “advanced years” we are aware of the sleigh-of-hand and though we can be respectful of the skills, we watch and can think..: “I know where this is going..have I the strength to stay the distance?”
Guy de Maupassant…I have used his “style” as one type of guide to writing from an early age when I first was introduced to his stories…a very good short story writer…a bit turgid in the longer genre…but hey!..who am I to say…
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June 23, 2020 at 9:22 am |
It’s good to read that you are feeling happy. You are an inspiration. As for solar panels, any incentives from the UK government to install them were withdrawn a few years back. The house my daughter bought over a year ago has them, installed by the previous owner. So far, she’s very happy with them.
Good luck with your gardening project, as well as your other ventures.
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June 23, 2020 at 9:48 pm |
Just yesterday, the moment I put up the post there has been put a spoke in the solar panels wheels.
I now have to get a lawyer to write a ‘by law’ on solar panels, which in return has to be approved of 50% by owners and passed at an AGM.
Bureaucracy .
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June 23, 2020 at 9:50 pm
Typical!
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June 23, 2020 at 11:54 am |
Congratulations on house 2 you old capitalist bugger 😊
I have chosen to let the sub-doona topic go through to the keeper but I can’t resist playing a shot at solar (note this is a multipurpose paragraph that you can recycle at the Bradman Museum Cafe).
Our 5KW array – 20 panels reduced our power bills by about $400. On average. 5KW is a lot for a three person household and it can power up a 15KWH battery – too expensive just now but not forever. That’s enough for us to go off grid or sell power to our neighbours.
Best place for independent advice is Finn Peacock ( ex CSIRO).
See www. Solarquotes.com.au
He provided us with names of 3 vetted installers – all of which gave competitive quotes and talked us out of unnecessarily expensive German gear in favour of same warranty and spec Chinese gear.
And demonstrated that a solar hot water heater was a better investment than a battery – must revisit this one as time has passed.
Hope this is of some use. Kind regards, Mike
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June 23, 2020 at 9:57 pm |
My quote for solar was $ 5670. which included the Gov’s rebate. Winters here are cold so my energy use is mainly through heating the place.
Of course, in summer the reverse, in any case high electricity use through the reverse cycle air conditioning…
My hot water and cooking is instantaneous by gas. We don’t have hot water storage.
To try and maintain health, a reasonable heating and cooling system has some priority. I am amazed to see, mainly blokes, walking around the place in shorts and singlets with 6C temperature.
My bed is still, at the last count, still occupied by just one body and I am contemplating after solar installation, to keep the heating at a modest 15c during the night, relieving the enormous pack of doonas and woollen blankets keeping me pinned in my bed.
Thanks Emm for your thoughtful post. I appreciate your kindness.
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June 23, 2020 at 6:43 pm |
Oh Gerard, you never fail to bring a laugh to me! Thank you. (And here’s a closely kept secret. I’m not a fan of comedians or comedy. Unless of course they are you.) Apparently, Australia’s proximity to the hard edge of climate change has altered the economics of solar. I keep seeing these great come-ons about going solar around here, but they never pan out. The last time I seriously checked into it, (about 2 years ago) the cost of going solar would have equaled half the value of my home and taken longer than my life span to pay out. I’m not in it for the payout, but the upfront cost is still too high for my pocketbook. Part of the issue is that, compared to the average bloke in my area, I sip energy while they guzzle like semi-trailers pulling a full load up Pike’s Peak. Are you putting solar on both units or just the one you live in? Very exciting. (Also, very exciting is the possible blossoming of other things on your horizon. ;-))
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June 23, 2020 at 8:50 pm |
I am like you and don’t like comedians as their comedy is too contrived for my taste.
Here solar panels are heavily subsided by the government. In other countries the coal lobby fights renewable energy, with tooth and nails.
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June 23, 2020 at 9:32 pm
That’s exactly the problem here in the states. Our government leaders still have their heads stuck all the way up to their asses in the sand, ignoring the reality of climate change and what it will mean for us in the not distant future. They like oil.
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June 23, 2020 at 10:08 pm
Yes, those TV comedies hardly make me smile. It is all so fast and noisy. I find Milo much more amusing .
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June 23, 2020 at 10:06 pm |
Yes, I never watch comedy shows either. Too much laughter from the audience and often the delivery is fast and too nervous.
Of course, the Seinfeld series I and Helvi did enjoy a lot.
As I wrote above, I now have to try and get a by law drawn up and wait for an AGM to proceed. Then the by law has to be registered. Can you believe it?
If someone can make things hard, bureaucracy will achieve what communism or capitalism has failed in. Those experts with PH d’s will sniff something out.
The softer blossoming side is going well, and yesterday we shared the same seat instead of the separate one during the last couple of months. I’ll look forward to us touching hands, but there is no hurry. Who knows?
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June 23, 2020 at 11:28 pm |
The Daisy Flower.
A flower plucked from a daisy bush,
Pondered on while passing,
Seeking a favourable joss,
Held in trust (I do not blush),
As each petal I do pluck and toss,
With plea of hope of a lover’s lot;
“She loves me, she loves me not;”
Till the last is plucked with delighted glee….
“SHE LOVES ME!!”
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June 24, 2020 at 4:17 am |
I haven’t reached that stage yet, Freefall. Perhaps never will. There is a lot in being independent, free from love’s whiplash that often is par for the course.
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June 24, 2020 at 4:33 am
” For Love is a cruel mistress..on every kiss she puts a price and every embrace is measured.”
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June 25, 2020 at 3:27 am
Yes, but at times love comes along like a fresh breeze, straight from the sea, with the endless tide rustling through the pebbles, oh so gently now.
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June 24, 2020 at 9:21 am |
Bestest wishes on your gardening, the solar panels, and your male prowess! 🙂
I’m so happy that you are happy and excited, Gerard! And thank you for making me laugh…snort-laugh, even! 😀 You are a hoot. Being a hoot is a good thing. 😛 (it means funny and entertaining!)
HA!!! What you said/and read to the people who called and wanted to sell stuff just made me laugh so loud! 😀
“Eat a carrot instead”…HA!!! I hope soon you can put aside the carrots to shake hands, perhaps hug, and more. 🙂
(((HUGS))) 🙂
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June 25, 2020 at 3:37 am |
Yes, but real-life hugging crosses the 1.5 metre and can be so loaded now and mistaken for love or not. One has to be so careful, wrong intention are so rife and sometimes keenly sought.
There is nothing better than hugging online. A [p[problem has just propped up in that my solar panels now need a special by-law written and registered in the dreaded ‘Body corporate’.
An AGM has to be called and 50% approval. Even so, I am sure it will eventually be on my roof.
I too look forward to ditching the carrot and hug enjoy the fruits of love again. It hopefully will be love that is uncomplicated and free from rancour, bitterness and unreasonable demands. Mutual respect is one of the ingredients.
Hugs too. (( ***))
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June 25, 2020 at 8:46 am
Right on, Gerard!
I wish you THE very best in everything!
🙂
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June 27, 2020 at 8:25 am |
Excellent to hear that you have installed solar and doung your not for the environment. So enlightened for your age. No death indoor lawn bowls at the retirement home, for Gerard! Keep up the great work.
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July 1, 2020 at 2:23 am |
Well, it is getting closer. It will be done when the installers get a slot in their work orders. With the corona virus and the lock-down many people started thinking about their houses and going solar. I have to also go through some legal work to comply with the law and get approval. One would have though that it would be obligatory for all new housing projects to have solar.
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July 1, 2020 at 3:12 am
If only they would do that, prices might come down further and every bit helps reduce our reliance on coal. Although a solution for old solar cells needs to be found.
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June 27, 2020 at 8:25 am |
*read ‘doing your bit for the environment,’ in the last comment.
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June 27, 2020 at 7:00 pm |
Reading a story in Dutch to solicitation calls! Love it. If I only spoke Dutch. 🙂 We just don’t answer calls unless we know where they are coming from. We always figure that they will leave a message if it’s important. Glad to see you are installing solar. –Curt
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July 1, 2020 at 2:25 am |
Yes, as soon as I heard that particular timbre in the voices of those people soliciting for solar panels I would grab this little Dutch children’s book next to the phone and start reading a story. @ Little red riding hood etc but in Dutch.
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July 3, 2020 at 1:06 am
It’s fun when you can play with them a little, Gerard! We rarely get caught by solicitors because we only answer if we know who is calling. Solicitors normally let the phone ring for four or five times before hanging up. –Curt
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July 1, 2020 at 1:51 am |
Well, no solar for me, since apartment dwellers can’t go about installing such things on an individual basis. Besides, I couldn’t afford it, and I don’t get enough sunlight to power much of anything. However: I have made a purchase of a dehumidifier. I finally figured out that my shady new home on the ground floor is much more humid than my previous, west-facing spot on the third floor. When I plugged the new dehumidifier in, it sucked out about sixty pints of water the first three days. Things are much more comfortable now, the relative humidity is about 45%, and I can keep the air conditioning set a few degrees higher. I’m going to be very interested to see whether the increased cost of the dehumidifier will be cancelled out by the lower AC cost.
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July 1, 2020 at 2:19 am |
Yes, I have reached a hitch in my attempt to install solar. Even though each dwelling has its own separate roof, a by-law has to be drawn up and registered under the body-corporation act.
The residents have no objection so I hope it will pass the 25% approval rate at the next AGM.
Here we do not have high humidity being higher up. Sydney in summer on the other hand could be very humid. My electricity rate is around A $340.- a quarter and the same for gas. I hope with solar this will safe about $300.- a quarter.
I have lots of indoor plants that require regular watering so, I suppose the air is neither too dry or too humid. Pretty happy, really.
Sixty pints of water in three days? That would have made things a bit sticky. Glad the dehumidifier is working overtime, Linda.
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