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April 2024
Is April the first month of
Spring? The weather was awful –
cold and raining. But the hour
changed and it was, between the rain, bright and beautiful. Nature is restarting and we can
understand why all beliefs celebrate this time of year.
We had a short break in a fantastic
lodge near a canal marine between Nantwich and Audlem,
in Cheshire early in the month. It
rained more or less solidly and the roads round about
were flooded quite badly , but that didn’t stop
us having a great time. The
proposed visit to Lois’ sister was postponed because she wasn’t well, but
we did go and see Ian’s mate, Mike.
Ian and Mike were close friends when they were at school and if
his name is familiar from this website, it’s because he supplied the
photos of Ian and friends while they were at school (see Our Vehicles
from the menu on the left and navigate to Series 1). It was terrific to rebuild the
connection.
Ian (as Deputy Lieutenant) attended
the Joint Cadet Forces presentation at North Durham Academy in
Stanley. This was a wonderful
event, drawing together representatives of many of the cadet
organisations in the region, including the RAF Cadets, Army Cadets,
Police Cadets and Fire Service Cadets with the intention of raising the
employability skills, self-confidence and self esteem of students through
the activities they offer. As a
bonus, there has been shown to be a marked decrease in Antisocial
Behaviour by young people engaged with effective groups like this. The Cadet groups, some of whom included
students of the Academy themselves, gave demonstrations and presentations
to the whole of North Durham Academy’s Year 8 students (all 250 of
them!) Most of the presentations
got students involved directly with practical activities and dignitaries
enjoyed some virtual flying of aircraft, seeing how the Police deal with
civil disruption and helped roll up fire hoses. Ian even examined rations carried by
soldiers on manoeuvres (but, perhaps thankfully, didn’t have to sample
them). Despite continuous drizzle,
the students were in very good spirits indeed, engaging fully with the
activities on offer.
We spent a good deal of our time this
month watching the app that monitors our electricity use now that we’ve
had the batteries fitted and transferred to Octopus Energy’s Flux
Tariff. See zero draw from the
grid because we’re using solar power from our roof and batteries
as we cook dinner is a great experience. (To get £50 off if you transfer use
https://share.octopus.energy/soft-raven-379 We get £50 too!)
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