May 2025
A few events this month
are worth mentioning. We had some
windows replaced, largely because they had “popped” (ie
the seals had gone and condensation had started to accumulate between the
panes – not a surprise after 30 years).
We had one of them replaced with acoustic glass to cut down road
noise – and the difference is amazing.
We also had a new back door fitted, this time with glass in the
bottom panel too so that Tara can see the back garden
At 6:20pm on 9th May 2025,
a group of RAF Cadets from 2505 (Bishop Auckland) Squadron RAFAC began a
24-hour bicycle ride from here to St. Clement Danes Church in The Strand,
London which is the Central Church of the RAF. Ian started the marathon as one of his
Deputy Lord-Lieutenant duties. The
bike-ride was “virtual” in that cadets did not
leave the Squadron HQ, instead using two static bicycles connected to a
large map display which charted their progress. One of these bicycles was a newly
donated tandem, freshly repainted in the RAF colours and sporting the
Squadron identifier. It was
formally unveiled and handed over to the Squadron by Ian.
We think that the big news
is that we’ve got ourselves into the 21st century by buying ourselves an
all-electric car for our short journeys.
We’ll keep the big car for long journeys (at least until battery
technology and infrastructure can get us to Ardnamurchan
or Truro in one easy hop). The
“new” car is a BMX i3, ahead of its time when it was launched, BMW no
longer make them because of their carbon fibre structure so we got one
with only 7000 miles on it. This
will do us for trips around the region (Court and schools, for example)
and so that we can get ourselves used to driving an all-electric which is
a bit different! It’s a lovely
little car and we’ll see how we get on with it. The next step is to get a home charger
for it and switch tariffs with Octopus to take advantages of cheap
electricity to charge it – that will come next month so we’ll report
then.
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