What are you all up to

Miserable day here, very wet.😢

Went to see a friend this morning,  had a really good catch up, and compared knitting. ☺

OH has got the Freelander's door and lock in bits,  it's not been locking properly and the new lock he ordered arrived in the week, judging by the swearing it's not going to plan😂 😕

Booked our first caravan trip for 2017 today too, gives us something to look forward to. 😊

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When  you  take  the  ice  off  the  ponds,  Pippah  if  you  can 

leave  it  by  the  side  of  the  water.  Then  any  little  water-bugs

can  crawl  back  into  the  pond  --  its  like  putting  the  sliced 

meats  back  into  the  cool  box  for  tomorrow    !

Getting dark here now.  OH has now tried the new car and we have found out what several of the buttons and switches do.  Still a few to be tried out!

We took a circuit round the block and then outt onto the main road, down into the village and back the other way, so about 4 miles.

Brakes are very nippy and accelerator too, so will take a little getting used to.  However she has decided she likes it fine,  which is just as well!!

Very miserable here too today, misty damp and chilly but the snow is melting slowly. Had Mum for a few hours so didn't go out to the van to do anything just gathered a few more things that will need to go back into it.

Heating, we have TRV's on all the radiators we also have a wireless controlled thermostat, we had this introduced to the system 5 years ago and it works very well. They stop the boiler cycling which makes it more efficient (seemingly) we have tried it around the house but have now settled with it in the front hall, the radiator there is small and we don't heat it very much. The thermostat is set around 17/18c during the day and if we feel chilly at night we turn it up to 20c, the radiator TRV's we have played with until we have the rooms as we like them, we now don't touch them. We were told that if you have the rooms you live in TRV's set to the highest then set the wall  thermostat to the required temp, the radiators cannot get any hotter than the overall wall thermostat, as it controls the boiler, however if you want your other rooms cooler then just keep turning the TRV's down until you get to a temp you're happy with. So in our house the lounge and dining room TRV's are at the highest setting, the bedroom set to 3, bathroom highest, hall low, spare bedrooms low. Since doing this we have cut our gas consumption down in winter by about half. Winter is the time of year that we are around more and of course use the heating more. We do have cavity wall insulation and good double glazing, all interior walls are brick the floors are concrete and good loft insulation as well. It seems to hold its heat quite well and in summer the house never gets uncomfortably hot, despite the fact our front is south facing.

We like to have the heating coming on before we get up in the morning, hate getting up to a cold house, but it goes off at 21.30 even though we tend to not go to bed until after 23.00.

Showing my ignorance - what are TRV's?

Showing my ignorance - what are TRV's?

My first double post!!

TRV is Thermostatic Radiator Valve, they are fitted to a radiator so that you can individually control them, great for being able to heat each room to its own temp, rather than the whole house to the same temp.

Thanks Kjell, I'll have a look at that website and see if they do similar for our XC60. We have a home made foam filled waterproof covered cushion for our dog, so don't need a boot tray.

Wet, cold miserable day here but a sugar rush all round to cheer us up. On coffee duty at church this morning but as well as biscuits there was very sugary cake for the 70th birthday of a member of the congregation. Then we had a birthday tea for 2 of our grandchildren who celebrated their 7th birthdays this weekend. Glad I am not havingto put them to bed tonight. 

We've had similar weather here in Cheshire. Spent the day, and a few bob, at Cheshire Oaks.

Where have you chosen for your first trip this year, H&T. We've still to decided where we'll go on our next one. Only 4 nights left on this trip before we head home.