The Class 8 pupils have finally finished their exams and are now looking forward to a bit of a break and then the next part of their education. Having known most of them since they were seven or eight years old it makes me feel quite ancient to think of them flapping their wings a bit and moving on to the next stage of their lives. A number of them will stay with us and attend the Agriculture College that we are staring in January next year. I’m looking forward to being a part of it.
I did some more DIY this evening and once again surprised myself by really enjoying it. We have been having a bit of a problem with the solar power on the school buildings due to the absence of sunlight. The problem this evening involved a plug socket that we use for running the TV and DVD player. The children in our home watch a film most Friday and Sunday nights. As a special treat for the Class 8 pupils we were also planning a film night this evening. Unfortunately the power didn’t want to play so, assisted by our head boy Kennedy and Duncan, the farm manager, I set to fixing it.
I think the most enjoyable bit of this type of practical work is the problem solving. Trying to work out why the plug wasn’t working involved a process of elimination, starting with a visual inspection and ending up in swapping plug sockets, re-routing the power temporarily through me via a metal filing cabinet and finally finding a new four way power adapter to plug into the rewired socket. I’m probably just a bit thick with electrical problems. I’m sure a half way competent electrician would have sorted it all out in half the time that I did. I’m not sure he would have had as much fun though, or the same sense of satisfaction when it all finally worked. It still amazes me that we can get electricity free from the sun and that our system works as well as it does.
Running on solar power does sometimes do funny things to you. It is a cliché to say you don’t really appreciate what you have until you don’t have it any more, but it is, none the less, true when it comes to electricity. I think I have now tried most of the different kinds of ‘alternatively powered’ torches and lamps that it is possible to buy. My own electricity consumption on a daily basis is fairly basic. I need enough power in my office and room to power up a laptop and provide light to read and make notes by. So far, despite the lack of sunshine some days, the solar power that I tap in to has stayed up and been reliable. In case of emergency I have a number of backups – a torch that has a lever you squeeze up and down to produce power, a wind up portable lamp, a re-chargeable torch, a solar powered reading lamp, a 'head torch' and the good old-fashioned hand-held torch that runs on batteries. Every once in a while I go into Apollo 13 mode and try to get power consumption down to an acceptable minimum. (For those of you who don’t get the Apollo 13 reference rent the movie. It’s a great film and will help you to really appreciate those ‘little luxuries’ that you take for granted). As a result of my research I can recommend the following:
Don’t use the torches that are powered by squeezing a handle up and down. They make a dreadful noise, produce a pathetic amount of light and make your hand hurt. If you are into this kind of exercise you’d be much better off squeezing a squash ball.
Don’t buy anything that claims to be re-chargeable if it says it was made in China. The only good thing about the re-chargeable torch that I have is its bright yellow colour, which psychologists say is good for cheering you up. The light that it produces certainly doesn’t
Don’t be fooled by the small lantern that you charge up by winding up a handle. It looks convincingly like a decent light, (modelled on the old-fashioned kerosene lantern) and does produce a fairly bright light for a short time. The only problem is that the light only covers a very small area. Using the handle to wind it up is not too taxing but it is easy to over wind one of these lamps. You know when this has happened because the winding action loses all resistance and you end up winding away and getting nowhere. If this happens throw the lamp away immediately as it is now useless.
The solar powered reading lamp is brilliant. There are a number of models on the market. The one that I use every night for reading looks like a little orange flying saucer. It is probably made in China but it must be from the bit of China that makes stuff that works for longer than a week. The light stays bright enough to read by for fourteen hours and it charges up quite easily in a day. You can also buy a more expensive version of the same thing from Ikea. The solar battery is like a little plastic brick that you leave out in the sun to charge. It is a bit expensive but very good.
Finally the humble battery driven torch is great if used sparingly, (batteries aren’t really very good for the environment). This is particularly true if you have an outside toilet. It is difficult to beat the assurance of a steady light if you have to use an outside toilet during the night, (as happens here in Kosele). Actually the best type of torch to use for this particular purpose is the kind that you wear on your head. It produces a brilliant white light from LED bulbs which is obviously very directional, (unless you opt for the dual light version which has a red night vision bulb – I have yet to work out the value of this feature. I think it is a gimmicky add on for would be assassins or wannabe SAS types). It probably goes without saying that the squeezy lever torch is absolutely useless for a night-time trip to the toilet. For one thing the pathetic light it creates means you keep on tripping over things. The constant need to squeeze the handle for power and the consequent disability of having to use the toilet one handed creates problems which I’m sure you will be able to appreciate. Kind of a co-ordination and rhythm thing!
The ramblings of a self-satisfied DIYer, celebrating another small victory or not you will be glad you read tonight’s blog when peak oil happens and all the lights go out.
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