A Simple Life of Luxury

We’ve just got back from a nice weekend away visiting family in the South West. We went this weekend as there was a windsurf demo day at Axbridge Reservoir. Although this isn’t the sort of place I would normally windsurf my brother moors his boat there so we though it would be nice to meet him there and play on his boat too.

As it happens there was very little wind. There was just enough for jays boat though so after he had a quick sail in it I jumped in with Morgan and went for a little sail too. I hadn’t been in a sailing boat for years and even then had only sailed one once or twice, but I soon worked it all out and did manage to sail out, backwards and forwards a few times and then sail back to where I started from all without getting me or Morgan wet!

We then sat in the sun watching people on Stand Up Paddle boards playing around and a few people just about get planing on windsurf boards. It’s a shame there wasn’t more wind so that I could have gone windsurfing but it was a actually nice just sitting in the sun chilling whilst Morgan played in the water with Harry.

Certainly a nice way to spend a relaxing morning.

We have recently been having a clear out and plan to finally get around to sorting out Morgan’s bedroom. He’s getting too big for his toddler bed and needs some proper storage where he can put all of his toys, and believe me there are lots that need a proper home.

I have been a member of the Aberystwyth Freecycle Group for about a year now and have done some good transactions through this group in both directions. It has been really useful as a way of getting rid of bits and pieceswe no longer use without just throwing things away. It works both ways though and I keep an eye on the offered ads to see if there is anything we need. The good items do get snapped up quickly but we’ve had a couple of pairs of sandals for Morgan, some left over pull-up nappies which is always useful and a booster seat for the car to use when we visit my mum. Someone even gave us their entire Mr Men books collection when I posted a wanted add for the free Mr Men that were available in washing powder at the time.

Recently however, and as a way to help Morgan understand that stuff costs money, I decided to try and sell a few things in the paper to help pay for Morgan’s new bedroom furniture. So far we’ve managed to sell a number of items and have made about a third of the cost towards the new furniture. I didn’t think people would be interested in some of it but so far so good and every advert I’ve put in has had some response. The adverts are free so it’s always worth a try and of course I’ve always got freecycle to fall back on if I can’t sell something before making a trip to the tip. Morgan has been very good about it as well. He wasn’t too impressed that his toybox was in the car one morning going to a new home with another little boy but once I explained that we were selling it to buy his new bed he seemed happier about the situation (he hasn’t missed it either since it’s been gone!).

There are down sides as well to both systems. Because we live about 10 miles out of town I have to take a lot of stuff into town and arrange to meet people there rather than them coming out to us but that is more to do with where we live than anything else. I also find our local freecycle moderator to be a bit of a control freak but again I’m sure she does a valuable job keeping out the junk posts from the group and ensures everything runs smoothly.

I had a clear out at the weekend and found lots more things we no longer need. I think I’ll try my luck in the paper again before offering them for free.

It was Sol’s(climbing in the adjacent photo) birthday at the weekend and Morgan was invited to his party at the climbing wall in Aberystwyth. We had never been to it before and although fairly small (I’d call it a bouldering wall) it was nice in there and Morgan seemed to enjoy it.

Morgan never really got very high and didn’t have a go on the rope with the harness, but we’ll probably take him back soon as it was good fun and is a good way to burn off some of his energy! I had a little climb too and having not climbed for several years it was a bit of a work-out for me as well!

Anna of course didn’t have a go but sat there with the other mums having a natter and did a terrible job with the photography!! At least she took some photos I guess which is more than I would have done.

We got an energy monitor earlier this week and it has made fairly interesting reading. We’ve never been frivolous with our energy usage and do generally switch off lights when they aren’t in use (although I’m better at that than Anna), and don’t leave the TV on standby etc. but having the monitor has made us that extra bit careful.

We thought we probably use a fair bit of electricity simply because ‘living at the end of the line’ means we don’t have gas so all of our cooking and heating comes from electricity. In addition my work as a freeelance web designer means I work from home so as well as having a computer, two monitors and various hard drives etc. running all day long I’m also making cups of coffee all the time and generally using electricity during the day.

On top of all that the weather station that I run is operational 24 hours a day. As well as the weather station console, it has its own dedicated computer, monitor and router which is on 24 hours a day uploading data to the internet at minute intervals.

So, we don’t know how much electricity most people use so have little to compare our usage against but it is interesting to see which appliances are the most power hungry. Every time we switch something off the monitor shws us how much energy (and money) we are saving. It has worked as we did go around the house seeing if there was anything we could turn off. The VCR was switched off completely as we very rarely use it. We left it on before as resetting the clock on it was a pain, but we never use it to record things anymore and it saves a few watts, so off it went.

My computer and its peripherals use about 200-250 watts whereas before I would leave it on if I was popping out for a short period of time I now tend to turn it off. I haven’t experimented with how much energy sending it to sleep saves yet.

There are of course certain things we can’t turn off. The fridge has to stay on, the smoke alarms have little lights on them so must use some electricity albeit a very small amount. The weather station computer stays on as does the digibox because resetting it takes a few minutes and it is often set to record various things. We may however put it on a timer plug so that it turns off between midnight and 6am as it is rare that we record things during those hours. The cooker stays on too simply because we use the clock on it to tell the time and Anna’s alarm clock is always on as well. Other than that, I think the only other things constantly drawing power is the doorbell (which has a little light on it) and ironically the energy monitor! All in all we manage to get our energy consumption down to just over 100 Watts at its base level and when we are in and using the TV, computer etc it is usually up around 500-600 watts.

As soon as we start cooking or using the tumble drier then it obviously soars. The microwave, kettle cooker and toaster can really get things going and so far I think we’ve managed to hit around 5Kw as a maximum. All interesting in a geeky way but it does help us do our little bit for the environment and probably more of an incentive to people, especially at the moment with rising fuel prices, helps us save some money too.

If we manage to save 15% our electricity supplier will give us £15. How much electricity do you use??

I thought I’d give my Dad (who is something of a master carpenter) something to inspect, and no doubt laugh at, next time he visits us in Wales. So, yesterday afternoon was spent building a pergola in the garden.

We had plenty of wood left over from the construction of our timber deck so out came the tools and with no real plan I started chopping it up and fixing it together. It actually went fairly well and although it looks a little out of place at the moment once I’ve built another flower border on the other side of it and have some climbing plants on it it should be a nice garden feature and effectively divide the garden into two.

I’m sure I’ve built it wrong, no doubt it isn’t perfectly square and I’ve used the wrong joints, but it was supposed to be fairly rustic and it seems fairly secure… Of course with the winds we get here it needs to be and we shall have to see how well it fares once it has a proper battering.

Now I have to find some plants that will cope with the wind, the salty air and the sandy soil and ones that will climb as most plants don’t dare tick their heads much higher than a couple feet around here.

My parents were here for the weekend. On Friday afternoon they took Morgan up constitution hill and then on Saturday we had a family day out in Aberdovey. It always seems silly to drive for such a long time only to end up about a mile away from home, but it is a different world over the other side of the estuary and it allowed us to go crab fishing (or ‘cabbing’ as Morgan calls it).

I think my Mum and Dad were surprised at just how many crabs we caught, but it was all good fun and Morgan enjoyed it so we shall be back there soon for another go. We popped in for lunch whilst there and played on the beach for  bit before having the obligatory ice-cream and heading home.

It may only be just across the water and we may be able to see our house from the beach at Aberdovey, but it does make for a nice day out and it does feel completely different there so it is well worth the drive. Although I’m sure a little  passenger ferry across the estuary in the summer would be a good little business opportunity for me!

We thought we’d treat ourselves to dinner out last night and as the Wild Fowler is no longer doing the 2 for 1 offer we thought we’dgive the Rhydypennau Inn a go. We hadn’t been there fore a while and yet again it had changed hands since we were last there (or at least it appeared that way).

We waited a bit to order, but not too long and then ate our food which was nice. Nothing special, but there was nothing wrong with it either. We then sat there waiting for our plates to be cleared and to order pudding, but it took ages for anyone to come to us. We waited some more and eventually after an hour of waiting decided to give up and by some ice cream from the Spar instead!!

We therefore got up and went to the bar to pay, but were told to wait a second whilst they got the bill. 5 minutes and we were still waiting to pay. Another 5 minutes went by and we asked again, and eventually after standing at the bar for 15 minutes trying to pay we were served and able to give them some money… I’m sure most people would have walked out by now without paying!

To make matters worse when we paid, there was no change in the till so they had to go off searching for some and when they did give us our change they actually short-changed us as well… Only by 4p it has to be said and therefore I couldn’t be bothered to make a fuss as we would have looked pretty silly making a fuss over 4p, but after waiting for over an hour to be served and 15 minutes just to pay it was all a bit of a joke…

At least we saved some money on pudding as we got a vienetta and some ice cream from the Spar for the less than the price of one pudding in the Rhydypennau Inn.

Don’t think we’ll be going to the Rhydypennau Inn again too soon.

We’ve just got back from a ‘proper’ family holiday in Slovenia. We stayed in Kranjska Gora in the NW of the country. It is a small resort town, aimed at snowsports in the winter and wlaking and biking in the summer. We were there at the end of the winter season so the snow wasn’t great whilst we were there, but we did manage to snowboard every day, and then on the last day it snowed properly so at least we got to see it in ‘Winter Wonderland’ guise.

Overall we had a great time. Morgan enjoyed the kids club and the swimming as well as playing in the snow. Anna and I had fun snowboarding, although Anna ended up with a few more injuries than I did! The hotel was nice, the locals friendly and we made friends with some other holiday makers there. I managed to do some geocaching whilst there as well.

Getting there
We flew from Manchester and the drive up went without hitch. We parked at a budget parking place which only cost £13.99 for the whole week and were mini-bused into the airport. We were extra early so had a bit of a wait in the airport but that was our own fault. We then got on the plane and found out that one of our fellow passengers had decided they were too ill to travel, so all the luggage had to be taken off so that they could find their luggage. This meant we missed our take-off slot and were sat in the plane on the runway for an hour and a half.

On arrival in Salzburg we had a small issue getting our luggage as the baggage handlers didn’t seem to know which carousel it was one. After being told it was on a different carousel 3 times by the airport staff and waiting at each carousel for a while it eventually turned up in a pile in the corner of the airport. Once reunited with our luggage we got on the coaches ready for a 3 hour transfer to Kranjska Gora.

On the coach the First Choice rep went through our booking for snowboard hire and lesson and informed us that I hadn’t booked board hire. I definitely had, but they were certain I hadn’t so we decided to sort it out in the morning at the meeting with the reps. Not a great start as we were now worried that I wouldn’t have a snowboard and would have to pay again to hire one.

The Hotel Alpina
Once at the Hotel Alpine in KranjskaGora it was getting on for midnight, so we had had a long day which started at 5am in Ynyslas. Thankfully there was some cold meats, cheese and bread waiting for us along with some biscuits and a drink, so after eating that we fell into our beds. The hotel was really nice, fairly plush, but nothing too special which is just the way we like it as it allows us to relax without worrying about too much. Breakfast was good with a choice a cereals, sausages, bacon, eggs, cold meats and cheese, yoghurts, croissants and bread, along with juice and various coffees etc.

We were booked in for half board and the dinners were nice too, plenty of choice and plenty of it as it was a buffet dinner. Coffees and cakes from the bar were also really nice, and the hotel was well situated just a little way up the hill overlooking the town and right on the edge of the ski slopes. The kids club was also in the hotel and there was storage facilities for our snow-boarding kit.

First Choice - Second Quality
As already mentioned, the snow wasn’t great and things weren’t looking good on the way to the meeting with the First Choice Reps. At the meeting we argued our point that I had indeed ordered and paid for board hire, but they were having none of it and were trying to get an extra 70 Euros out of us. We didn’t give in and headed off to the hire shop anyway, already stressed and ready to argue our point there. As it happens the locals in the hire shop didn’t even look twice and simply gave us the board so we were glad we hadn’t given First Choice an extra 70 Euros! We’ve since double checked our booking and it clearly states Board and Boot hire as separate items, so we did definitely order and pay for it and First Choice were the ones in the wrong.

The meeting also confirmed that the snow wasn’t great and only a couple of lifts would be open. 3 out of the 19 available. One of those was on the world cup downhill black run so out of our league and the other two were on the same slope, so really only one run was open. Of course First Choice were willing to sell you excursions to higher slopes, but not with any discounts, so that would cost another couple of hundred Euros for each day and wouldn’t have worked for us anyway as Morgan was in the Kids Club at Kranjska Gora so we couldn’t head off elsewhere.

We had other issues with First Choice too, as I had booked separate snowboard lessons and kit hire rather than a ‘learn to board package’. This was supposed to give me separate lessons at a higher level to the learn to package, but as it was the end of the season there weren’t enough instructors so I was grouped with the learn to group and therefore didn’t really get any lessons at my level. I brought this up with the rep and he said he’d meet me at the ski-school the next morning. he didn’t turn up and was also never present in the hotel at his allocated times, so I was unable to sort this out. The instructor himself was fine and did towards the end of the holiday try getting me to do a little extra, but overall I didn’t get the instruction that I had paid for, and the First Choice reps did nothing to rectify the situation.

Kids Club
The Kids Club was in the hotel and although Morgan was a little tearful to start with he enjoyed it there and had fun. This was also run by First Choice, but was better than the rest of the service we had from them. The staff were friendly and nice to Morgan and they did plenty of activities depsite the lack of snow.

Snowboarding Lessons
Despite the lack of snow and me being in a learn to board group the group and instructors were good. The first day was a bit of a wash out with slushy snow, rain and an instructor who was a little difficult to understand, but things improved the next day and the group (Me, Anna, Tom, Isobel, Kate, Anna and Estelle) all got on well. I had already boarded a bit so could already do the basics, Estelle had to. Tom picked things up quickly as did Kate and Anna, and Isobel was a skier so caught on quite quickly too. Anna doesn’t normally do these sorts of sports so picked things up a little slower and ended up with more bruises than everyone else, but still enjoyed it and could turn in both directions by the end of the holiday. To start with Tom, Anna and Anna struggled with the button lift and Anna even said that her aim for the week was just to get to the top, but she managed that earlier in the week and from then on didn’t look back. until hurting her arm and having to sit out of the last day of lessons.

Apres Ski
The hotel we were in was part of a chain of about 6 hotels in the resort and we were allowed to use the facilities in the other hotels, so afternoons were generally spent in the swimming pool at Hotel Larix. Morgan loved the pool and the hot chocolates afterwards, and the hotel itslef was right at the bottom of the slopes so we could watch people on the slopes from the pool

Kranjska Gora itself is ideal for families, the whole resort is compact and the main slope that we were on meant that everything was happening in the same place all with easy access to the things we needed. This may have been a little different if all the slopes were open, but for the week we were there it was ideal for use and would be good if Morgan was in ski school too.

I went on a few early morning walks to find some local geocaches too.

We went sledging and built some snowmen too and Morgan enjoyed the snow even though there wasn’t much of it. Typically, just after we gave our hire kit back on the last day, it started snowing heavily and on the morning of our departure the new snow was knee deep, so Morgan and I donned our snow-clothes and got out and played in it a bit before setting off on the coach. It was a shame the new snowfall didn’t come earlier in the week, but I guess there is little we can do about the weather.

We can’t wait to have another winter sports holiday, we would go back to Kranjska Gora again, and may even o with First Choice as they were the cheapest, but we would make sure they get the booking right and wouldn’t rely too much on them for the hire and instruction etc. However, if going to Kranjska Gora again we might go a little earlier in the year to get better snow, or may look to go elsewhere where snow is more likely.

Overall it we made themost of the conditions and the location and had a great holiday, but it could have been spoiled by First Choice if we had let their inefficiencies get to us.

Full details of my snowboard and geocaches sessions can be found in my diary entries at Forces-of-Nature and here are a few photos

I’ve never been too lucky when it comes to haircuts. As a child my Mum (who used to be hairdresser) always cut my hair. Nothing wrong with that although I never really had ‘cool’ hair, and you have to wonder what happened to make her an ex-haridresser rather than a real one!

Once I moved away from home I did go to the barbers once or twice, but one day I went to a get my hair cut in Aberystwyth and the guy doing it decided to give my hair a good comb. A normal procedure one would think, but this guy combed with just a little too much gusto and a little too much pressure. Well, actually he went way over the top so much so that he drew blood and I ended up with long striations across my scalp that were sore for weeks afterwards…. I haven’t returned since
Recently Anna has been cutting my hair for me with a set of clippers. This was fine to start with, then one day the clippers broke and all I heard was a ‘whooops’ and then some giggling and there I was with a big chuck of hair missing. We managed to cover it up a little and got some new clippers for the next time. We have persevered with the new clippers but they were never any good and a few times now they have stopped working halfway through a haircut leaving me with a nice short number 3 on two thrids of my head and long hair elsewhere… Not ideal. This happened again on Saturday, so I ended up not being able to leave the house (without wearing a hat or my cycle helmet) on Sunday until Anna had been into town and bought some new clippers.

Thankfully these seemed to work really well, although, I’ve just seen myself in the mirror and they may have worked just a little too well…. Anna, I think they need to be on a longer setting next time!

We made a last minute decision on Friday evening and drove down to Gloucestershire to visit family.. Even morgan was a little surprised when we said we were going, he couldn’t quite believe that we would just go like that without any forward planning

Saturday was spent first visiting trying on some clothes my Mum had got from a local shop, then visiting my brothers to borrow clothes from him (which were a little too big!) and finally a drive out to Cribbs Causeway and a visit to TK Max to buy yet more clothes for snow-boarding. Anna now has a new Trespass jacket and a new fleece from the little shop near my parents house and a pair of Billabong trousers from TK Max. I have a new Dare2Be jacket which turned out to be top of the range once I looked it up when I got home… Typical of me to have all the technical features! Morgan did well with a new jumper, a new jacket, a new pair of trousers and some boots… We still have quite a bit to get though, trousers for me, and gloves hats and goggles all round… It soon mounts up and at this rate we’ll have to book a snowoarding holiday every year to make use of all our new gear! Although we’ll be able to wear most of it to keep warm on the beach here in Wales!

Sunday was spent driving home and we decided to simply follow the instructions provided by my Sat Nav. We did the same on the way there and it took us on our usual route, but on the way home the route was quite different to the way we usually go, although there was very little in it time or distance wise. It still gives us an alternative though which is always nice. Morgan slept most of the way home and didn’t wake up until we got to Nant Yr Arian, so we stopped off there for tea and cakes and a play in the playground… All in all a good weekend away.