Week 1 in 2023

 

Week 1

Janny tested positive for Covid during the week. So, we had to send the clients home and have proper tests - she was, indeed, positive and I was negative - but not sure how I can avoid it, as we are living in the same space - I can't figure out how to heat another living area -  so Janny is masking up and we're keeping apart as much as possible. 

Her quarantine time is just about up, so we're going to check out the boat today. It's only a couple of months to go before I can start getting things in order...

A nice windfall...

of accessories for tools...

A DIY store had a lot of  stuff that was just going to be thrown away, so they donated it to the Care Farm.

Just one of the four boxes...

In all, there are 4 boxes of saw blades, drill bits. sandpaper, grinding disks and so much more - I might have to buy the "tool" to fit the "accessory" in some cases :-)

5 years ago - Zoey

Walkin' the dog...

Electricity and Gas Prices

The government has introduced a "ceiling" for gas consumption - after which , the full price has to be paid. We will reach the ceiling pretty quickly because of only having two meters for everybody - which gives me a problem in passing on the true cost to the residents. i.e. they won't get the benefit of an individual ceiling.

The full rate of BTW (GST) is to be restored to 21% from 1st of January (was reduced to 9% to help with the crisis).

One of our meters is for our house and includes Janny's Mum. (Private)

The other meter serves 3 apartments and our Day Activity Area - which also includes the kids' weekends. (Business)

One of our residents is having a real problem - a young woman with two kids - she wanted to move into the much larger apartment despite my misgivings about the cost for her. She seems to have switched to all electric - so much so that her electricity bill is far greater than her gas bill.

We have cut our own gas consumption down dramatically - 

Private    2021 3045m3  2022 1691m3

Business 2021 6305m3  2022 2888m3

In our house, I'm still only heating (with the log fire) one room and occasionally the office with a small electric heater.

Janny grumbles a bit, but it is simply a question of paying for the new kitchen (and all the other stuff that goes with it - new floors, floor heating, a few walls knocked out) OR paying for the gas. It has made me realise just how wasteful we have been when the cost was (as we now know) pretty cheap.

We only have one meter for the electricity - that went up by about 600kWh for the year. 

They've put our pre-payments for gas AND electricity up to about €30,000.00 for the year. It will be interesting to see if our lower consumption ends up with a lesser amount of Euros.

Electricity

Gas

Luckily, we're having exceptionally warm weather. (Well, comparatively)

Last weekend was the warmest New Year's Eve (midnight) since measurements have been recorded (1951)

The final day of 2022 and New Year’s Day were the warmest on record and the first week of January has also been unseasonably warm for the time of year, weather forecasters say. With temperatures of between 10 and 14 Celsius, it is twice as warm as in a normal January, and there is little difference between the day and the night time temperatures. The phenomenon is not only in the Netherlands and record temperatures are being recorded all over Europe, thanks to a warm, southwesterly wind.

Read more at DutchNews.nl:

Not much done around the farm - the weather really does dampen the spirits. It may well be "warmer" but it is still cold enough and wet enough to make it easy to find something else to do...

Our VW (of rogue exhaust testing infamy) needs a new filter for the exhaust - about €2,500 euros - it has to be done, but it has given us the push to start looking at electric cars again. One of Janny's primary school friends has several car businesses, so he came by and had a chat - he's looking for something suitable - definitely won't be an Elon, just on principle :-) - he has a very nice Volvo - but even that is a bit old already.

Janny's new kitchen is fading into the future - I might just have to refurbish this one - again!

We're still looking at buying the solar panels on our roof - and figuring out how to charge the new car - getting anybody to do the work is the hardest part - just have to join the queue of about 6 to 12 months. That in itself, seems to be getting harder to do as one gets older...

Ben has landed in Hawaii.