A Simple Life of Luxury | Weblog

Daffodils 1

The Garden Chores Begin

The mild weather and lengthening days mean that the grass has started to grow already. The daffodils are out earlier than usual, and on the odd occasion that the sun comes out, things are looking decidedly Spring like. The bees are flying, the rhubarb is ready for harvesting and buds are breaking on the trees....

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Improving My Solax WordPress Plugin — Adapting to a More Dynamic Charging Schedule

Back in November 2021, I wrote a post about how I built my own Solax WordPress plugin to display data from our inverter in real-time. It worked extremely well for years, and for our setup at the time it gave an accurate picture of our solar production. However, towards the end of 2025 we added an additional battery...

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Broadband Upgrades

Exciting News! We’ve changed broadband provider. Yes, I know, yawn, yawn, that’s not news, it’s just common sense to change now and then to save some money, but it does come with a few new ‘upgrades’.  We were fortunate back in 2016, despite living in the middle of nowhere, we were one of the first...

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Cosmo

Just a photo of Cosmo chilling at home – nothng more, nothing less.

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Surf, Sun, Sand and Snow at Ynyslas

Just a few photos from around Ynyslas over the past week or so. Snow in the hills, sun in the sky, sand on the beach and surf on the beach. The surf was good again on Saturday morning, and I managed to get out for a morning session without feeling too cold.

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Nuttalls: Dduallt and Rhobell Fawr

After a busy week at work, it was time to make the most of my Friday off and head into the hills. The forecast was nothing special — just chilly, with possible showers. Most of the recent snow had melted, with only a few stubborn patches lingering above about 500 m here and there. I...

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Winter Waves

It was a bit of a shock to the system after 30ºC waters in the Philippines, but there was a nice little wave this morning, so it had to be done. Getting into and out of several layers of neoprene was probably more taxing than the surf itself, and negotiating the lethal frozen pebbles was...

Island Hopping in the Philippines 0

Island Hopping in the Philippines – A Journey Across Islands, Seas and Christmas Days

Island hopping in the Philippines is one of the best ways to explore this vast and diverse archipelago. From the busy streets of Manila to the turquoise lagoons of Palawan, El Nido and Coron, this travel series follows our Christmas island-hopping adventure by boat, kayak and snorkel, discovering remote beaches, dramatic limestone karst scenery and...

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Starting with a Snow Day

It was the first day back at work after the Christmas break — if you ignore the work I did on Friday. We had good intentions of heading into the office to catch up, both with the tasks that had built up over the break and with colleagues. We set off at 7:30 am in...