On energy comsumption

The new pad has a key electricity meter. For those of you not UK dole-scum, a key-meter is a device which tells you how much money you have left for power. You charge up a little special key at certain shops and then feed the meter - just like old cash meters but more tech.

This meter also has a little red light which blinks as you consume power. One lightbulb: blink-blink-blink. All the lightbulbs - blinkablinka. Toaster and kettle - blinkBLINKblinkBLINK! It's an amazingly direct way to see how much juice you use. I'm trying to keep my day's guzzle down to 50p (easy with the hot water dead!).

It's also amazing to see the immediate contribution that energy-efficient lightbulbs make. I've done the rounds changing bulbs, and right away I can see the difference: now, ALL the bulbs in the flat consume as much as just ONE beforehand. Blink, blink, blink. Neat.

It's the tie-in between the blinks and the cash that really do it, of course. Note to designers: don't bother with KWh on your guzzle-o-meters, just put the cash value there. "Today, your fridge ate 35p, your lights ate 14p and your telly a whopping 66p. Were you on the playstation all day?"

House update

For those thrilled with such things: The cat's now in and so is the catflap. She's very suspicious and is using emotional blackmail to get me to feed her premium catfood. It won't last, the stuff stinks. But she's in, and didn't crap on my bed in the night, and has had her first fight. She lost, of course.

The weird overflow is the immersion - its ball-cock doesn't stop off properly. Am trying repeated drain-and-fill attempts to wiggle it back in place otherwise it's plumber time. Bathroom floor is totally rotted but that's fine...

Tri fun: Introducing Meatloaf

New bike! He's a Lemond Etape - alu frame, carbon fork, mixed Sora/Tiagra/Bontrager bits. Nice. Been used as a review bike so I got a discount that equated to the tri bars, TIme pedals and computer. Took him out for a tri-style spin yesterday and discovered some interesting things:

1) Tri bars are weird but yeah, they are comfy. They'd be more comfy if I didn't have to suck my belly up out of the way of my thighs.

2) Tri bars make you use your hams, glutes and lower back for power. I do not have this conditioning yet, and so today I ache. I use my quads. I use my quads a lot: I stand up, I deliver trod yea unto pedals, I don't do this hamstring spin lark. I am Quadzilla, hear me roar. So... I'll be doing hamstring work. Bah! Worth doing though: I can feel what the Kaiser-line churn-and-gurn could do for speed.

3) 9 miles / swim / 9 miles is hard enough without the pool being so full that there are thirteen people in the quietest lane. It was like a 50s Butlins or soviet holiday camp film. Bloomin' Swim4Free promotion!

4) I can set a bike up just right, just for me, first time. Ninja. And no, it's not excess, it's a 25th cycling anniversary present (!)

Of course he's got a name. My bikes all do. And yes, I wanted to give him something slick (behold the Dark Destroyer!) or silly (call me Bubbles, darling, everyone does) but he picked Meatloaf. Hm. Well, he's very American, retro to the 70s/early 80s when American road riding was cool, and me on a tri bike does have that Loafian mix of wild optimism and likely doom that fits. So Meatloaf it is. Whether I'll be riding like a bat out of hell or having a bad day - two out of three ain't bad - is another story.