November 8th

The action swings along.  Today the old industrial air conditioning  unit was removed. This was a big step a originally we thought we would leave it in place as an interesting industrial feature. Then we turned it on and realised that the amount of noise it created would make feeling hot pleasurable by comparison. So the big round funnel has gone.

The quote has come in for the solar panels. It seems that  it is deemed "a waste of money" for us to install any number of panels because we will oly get three hours of effective sunlight in a day. This makes me all the more determined to go ahead. I would swear there is lots of sunlight up there. On the one hand we are choosing garden plants which can survive in desert conditions (- dragon trees, succulants) and on the other, we are supposed to be living in shade. It feels like when we first moved to Stockton. The yard was barren and we were told by many locals that, "You'll never get trees to grow in Stockton." Within three years the neighbours were complaining about overhanging branches. I think we will ignore prevailing wisdom and go ahead.