You Don't Live Like I Do

A while ago I was talking about house improvements to lower energy bills, including fitting a smart meter to see if I could benefit from a dynamic tariff. One of the things I talked about was an air-source heat pump to replace our gas boiler, and one of the requirements for that is that your house is well-insulated. When I bought our house, it was during the brief window when house sales included a "house report" with an energy efficiency rating, and my house was rated "D". This meant that we were potentially eligible for improvements under the "Great British Insulation Scheme", so I applied through our energy provider, Octopus, and got fobbed off for many months.

A few weeks ago, some young lads came round on behalf of the GBIS and said they could sign us up directly, so we went with them. This has progressed much quicker - the surveyor came round about a week later and confirmed that there's no cavity insulation in the older part of the house. We've had new extractor fan fitted in the bathroom this week, and today some nice men are installing the cavity wall insulation and putting trickle vents near all the windows. And all of this has been free because the house was in such a poor state when I bought it!

I'm really happy with how quickly this has all progressed, and it helps lay the groundwork for future improvements. Also, there's a weird trick - of the things offered by the GBIS it seems like you can only apply for one, but it's one per energy provider and you don't have to go through your own provider. So once this is done I might be able to hassle Octopus to install underfloor insulation in the kitchen, or top up the loft insulation to the currently-recommended 30cm.

In addition, the surveyor said he was expecting the new Labour Government to bring back some subsidies for domestic solar installation in future!

Another busy week, but at least this had a 3-day weekend at the end of it! And unlike the Easter bank holiday, I didn't actually do more day job work to make sure I stayed on track.

We had the local council elections and Greater Manchester Mayoral elections this week. I voted for the first time in about five years, and voted Labour for the first time in my life. As is typical under FPTP, this was voting against things rather than for anything in particular - in the local elections, a lot of candidates have opposed the council's Low Traffic Neighbourhood which has finally seen a hugely busy junction near a load of schools get pedestrian crossings, and some rat-runs closed to through traffic. And in the Mayoral, people are still complaining about Andy Burnham introducing a Low Emission Zone in Greater Manchester, which doesn't apply to most cars from the last 20 years. I needn't have worried; neither the independents nor Galloway's mob did particularly well in my ward, and Andy Burnham romped home in the mayoral. Still, it felt strange to engage with the political process again, having noped out so firmly several years ago now.

I rented a pressure washer from HSS Tool Hire in town for the long weekend, so cosmolinguist could clean many years of accumulated grime off the patio in time for summer. It was more work than Power Washer Simulator and I ended up getting my trainers very wet and muddy in the process. However, the patio is positively pale now! I tried to blast the moss off the path down the side of the house, but ended up taking up most of the crumbling asphalt along with it, so I've abandoned that plan. At some point that'll need resurfacing, ideally with flags, to make it a safer route for mother_bones' wheelchair.

On Saturday, E and I met up with our friend P at Home to see "Love Lies Bleeding", the new queer bodybuilding crime thriller starring Kristen Stewart and Katy M O'Brian, whom I loved in "Z Nation". P said the film reminded her of a 50s pulp novel which mixes being very hot with a morality tale about how terrible all this lesbianism and steroid abuse is, which rings true. It's sexy, funny, twisted, gritty, and surreal, and well worth a look. One surprise is Jena Malone, who is completely unrecognisable to the point where I was wondering when she'd show up after she'd been on screen several times! After the cinema we had a couple of drinks, which was lovely, but Gary was being a pain for mother_bones so E and I headed home.

( Bulletpoints )

The washing machine died last weekend while we were away - the bearings had gone on the drum. We've had it serviced repeatedly before, and could do with a higher-capacity machine, so we forked out for a new machine. Turns out it's impossible to get a non-"smart" appliance, so this one has wifi and Bluetooth, but only if you select a particular mode on the front dial which I intend never to do.

Anyway, getting it installed was a minor pain because I couldn't find the right spanner to remove the transport screws, but after that it was pretty straightforward and I shall have clean clothes for the weekend!