November 2014                                                                                                                  Back to October

Saturday 1st

9 to 15 to 12°C. 4.05kWh 1.4kW max.

Sunny morning, clouding over in the afternoon with some heavy rain in the evening

Sunday 2nd

10 to 12 to 7°C. 2.61kWh 1.2kW max.

A similar day to yesterday but feeling colder

I have been rather unwell for the last two days with the usual shortness of breath and aching. A shame because I had planned to do quite a lot this weekend in the garden.

Monday 3rd

4 to 11 to 3°C. 5.71kWh 1.4kW. A mainly sunny day with a few light showers in the early morning and again in the evening..

Still feeling unwell.

Tuesday 4th

0 to 9 to 4°C. 3.61kWh 1.4kW max. Cold sunny start but no signs of frost despite the low temperature. Warmed up a little during the day but then fell to 3°C in the early evening before starting to rise again.

Still not well but did manage to tidy up the chrysanthemums in the polytunnel.

Wednesday 5th

4 to 10 to -2°C. 4.95kWh 1.4kW max. Mainly sunny but with a very cold north easterly wind. Looks like the frost will finally do for the geraniums and begonias. There are plenty of pots of winter flowering pansies, dianthus and primulas to replace them.

At last feeling well enough to make a start on building the brick supports for the floor in the new shed.

Thursday 6th

0 to 10 to 11°C. 643Wh 150W max. A very dull day with a cold wind and some intermittent light drizzle. The frost only lasted a couple of hours and it was 7°C by the morning and the begonias are still flowering away.

Friday 7th

11 to 9 to 6°C. 284Wh 50W max. A dull dreary damp day (17mm rain).

Saturday 8th

4 to 11 to 5°C. 1.18kWh 800W max. Another dull day but with very little rain and it actually brightened up for a time in the afternoon.

It was light enough to do mortar in some more bricks below the floor support frame in the new shed. The chrysanthemums in the polytunnel also needed a good watering; something which you can easily forget when it has been so damp outside.

Sunday 9th

3 to 13 to 4°C. 4.47kWh 1.3kW max. Broken cloud and quite sunny at times with a single heavy shower in the afternoon, unfortunately just at the time we were out for a walk.

Kirstin Mark and Anna came for the day. It was nice to see them, especially Anna who is really growing up fast. You wouldn't believe she is only 5 years old the way you can have quite serious conversations with her and play games designed for 7 year olds. Going to proper school has really suited her.

Monday 10th

4 to 12 to 10°C. 3.20kWh 1.3kW max. Sunny morning but clouded over in the afternoon though it didn't start raining till after dusk.

Dry and cool; a good day for sawing up some more firewood. The shed floor can wait for a rainy day.

Tuesday 11th

10 to 10 to 10°C. 202Wh 50W max.  A really miserable, dark and drizzly day.

Pat went shopping. It was too dark and damp to even try finishing the brick supports for the shed floor.

Wednesday 12th

10 to 13 to 9°C. 1.63kWh 800W max. Cloudy start but there were a few sunnier intervals in the afternoon but also some short sharp showers. Still very mild for November.

Finally finished the supports for the shed floor.

Thursday 13th

7 to 12 to 11°C. 335Wh 100W max. A repeat performance of Tuesday.

Friday 14th

11 to 16 to 6°C. 2.46kWh 1.4kW max. Cloudy start with some heavy showers but cleared mid-morning with some sunshine in the afternoon.

Laid and screwed down the three main floor panels. That was the easy part; now I have to cut strips off the fourth panel to go down one side of the shed which the large panels didn't reach.

Saturday 15th

7 to 10 to 8°C. 1.22kWh 800W max. Another dull day with a single brighter period just before lunch. But it was still mild for the time of year, very little breeze and dry.

Pat had a baking day so couldn't help in the garden so I went back to sawing up firewood.

Sunday 16th

7 to 10 to 8°C. 320Wh 50W max. Even worse than yesterday. Very little breeze and a constant dampness in the air which only once turned into drizzle late in the afternoon.

More firewood sawing. I will have to give this up soon; we are running out of room the store it in the wood shed but there isn't much else I can do in this weather.

Monday 17th

8 to 9 to 7°C. 236Wh 50W max. Rained in the night then another dull damp day.

Nearly finished the shed floor though it was so gloomy in the afternoon it was difficult to see where to the holes where I had drilled to screw it down.

Tuesday 18th

2 to 12 to 64°C. 3.43kWh 1.4kW max. Cold starry night with a slight frost and misty by morning. Mainly sunny morning followed by a more cloudy afternoon and evening.

Finished the shed floor and than found the old vinyl sheet from the old shed. It is still mainly in quite good condition so we will use it to cover this new floor. First it needed a good scrub to get 30+ years of grime off it, laying it out on the drive with plenty of water and both a hard and soft sweeping brush. Now all we need is a warm day to lay it. That might be some time coming.

Wednesday 19th

6 to 10 to 7°C. 1.00kWh 400W max. Another mainly cloudy damp day.

Pat started the car to go shopping this morning only for it to sputter to a stop at the bottom of the drive with a broken fuel line. It is getting rather old and unreliable and she just doesn't trust it any more so we have now finally decided to get a new one. We spent most of the afternoon researching possibilities so I didn't do much gardening.

Thursday 20th

6 to 10 to 5°C. 1.63kWh 800W max. A little light rain overnight then another mainly cloudy day.

The frost on Tuesday morning has finally persuaded the dahlias, begonias and geraniums that winter is coming so started to move their pots away from the beds around the house and replace them with primulas, pansies and dianthus.

Friday 21st

4 to 6 to 7°C. 290Wh 50W max. Another dull day, this time with around 12mm of rain from midday to late evening and still falling.

Pat went into Shrewsbury to look at cars and decided to buy a Dacia Sandero Laureate

Dacia are a Roumanian company and a subsiduary of Renault. and produce cars with Renault engines (in this case the TCe 90 engine used in the Clio) but with a less fancy bodywork, interior and no useless extras which suits us fine as we just want something which goes from A to B and is reliable, roomy and reasonably nippy.  We have always had Renaults for the last 40+ years.

Saturday 22nd

7 to 12 to 7°C. 2.09kWh 1.1kW max. Misty morning with a short period of sunshine around midday but then clouded over with a light rain shower as it became dark.

Managed to remove the fine net from the fruit cage before it started raining. This has to come off in winter because if it snows the weight will bend or even break the poles. The wider pigeon net stays on; we don't want the pigeons eating the cabbages, broccolli, kale and brussel sprouts.

Sunday 23rd

7 to 9 to 1°C, 1.18kWh 600W max.  Mainly cloudy with a few spots of rain in the morning and a short period of sunshine in the afternoon. Cleared after dark to what looks as if might be the first frosty morning of the autumn.

Continued to move the pots of winter flowers to the beds round the house.

Monday 24th

-1 to 8 to 0°C 2.17kWh 1kW max. Clear frosty start with variable cloud most of the day and clearing again after dark.

Spent most of the afternoon repairing punctures for both our bicycles. It's that time of year again when the farmers cut their hedges with tractor carrying flails and leave small pieces of hedge with sharp spines all over the road. I was hoping my combination of an armoured tyre cover and a Slime inner tube would protect me against this and so it has for severak weeks but today a particularly long sharp spine found its way right though the cover and the tube. It stayed up while I got home but the tyre went down after I pulled it out.

Meanwhile Pat also had a slow puncture in her tyre which also needed fixing. Not the best job for a cold day; by the time I had finished my hands were so cold I couldn't feel to lever the covers back over the rims.

Tuesday 25th

-3 to 5 to 4°C. 1.17kWh 300W max. Fiosty misty start which didn't clear till early afternoon. Some light rain later in the evening.

Continued moving pots of winter flowers to their places round the house and large pots of hyacinths, tulips and daffodils to replace the troughs of summer flowers round the back of the house.

Wednesday 26th

4 to 7 to 6°C. 159Wh 40W max. Some rain overnight (4mm) followed by a very grey damp day; the worst for electricty generation since we first fitted the solar panels 3 years ago.

This gloomy weather hasn't done the chrysanthemums any good with a lot of the flowers covered in mold needing cutting back. Meanwhile Pat picked the rest of the green tomatoes so I could start taking them down and tidying up the polytunnel.

Thursday 27th

6 to 7 to 6°C. 219Wh 50W max. Another gloomy damp day.

Friday 28th

6 to 10 to 9°C. 261Wh 80W max. Ditto but a bit warmer.

Saturday 29th

9 to 10 to 9°C. 228Wh 80W max. Yet another very dull day

Managed to get enough light to see to finish pinning down the vinyl sheet on the shed floor, but only because I started earlier in the day. Pat helped me move the bits of old furniture back into the shed. It is in no condition to use in the house but it is good enough for storing gardening and DIY equipment.

Sunday 30th

6 to 11 to 6°C. 1.28kWh 900W max.  Misty but sunny start with some bright sunshine in the morning but clouded over to a mainly overcast afternoon and a very red sunset.

Cleared out the rest of the tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers from the polytunnel.