Rick's b.log - entry 2024/07/04

Election 2024

What the papers said this morning.

One thing you cannot accuse the British press of is not being highly partisan. The Daily Mail can't quite bring themselves to support the Tories (that's how dire the situation is), so they warn their readers (many of whom in the comments bleat "Reform for me") that giving support to that grifter Farage will result in a Labour victory instead. Sort of supporting the blue ribbon without actually coming out and supporting the blue ribbon.
The Daily Express, which is so far removed from reality that they probably think Brexit was a success, is straight up saying to vote Tory.
The more respectable papers are saying that it is going to be a night of humiliation for the Tories; except the Torygraph that is repeating the Tory lie that voting Labour will cause you to pay more tax.

But the best word? Printed on the Daily Star:

A fond farewell to those self-entitled clowns, chancers, liars, wazzocks, cheats, sociopaths, scumbags and bellends who'll be out of work this time tomorrow after taking us for complete mugs these last 14 years.

Since 2010, five PMs, seven chancellors, and eight home secretaries (Suella twice!) took the country on a jopyride and brought us all a painful austerity, tax rises, Brexit, an economic crash, rivers of actual shit, and a completely mind-blowing 7,600% increase in the number of people relying on food banks (~40,000 in 2010; ~3.1M now). Pissing away hundreds of millions sending nobody to the middle of Africa. Pissing away much more on dodgy useless PPE, and writing off those debts. Blowing an even bigger hole in the economy overnight (which Truss maintains was "deep state" and "groupthink", not her total financial ineptutude), and thus blowing a hole in the pockets of people with mortgages and other loans tied to interest rates. Not to mention lying to the Queen, lying repeatedly to the House, lying even more to the voters. The Ministerial Code? Burnt embers in the bin.

Brexit, of course, is the huge skeleton in the closet as it turned into a huge shitshow due to Tory MPs and negotiators preferring to posture to the peanut gallery rather than do anything remotely useful for the country. So rather than putting a little bit of distance between the UK and the EU, they were actually for a while going around thinking that crashing out sounded like an okay idea. Of course it didn't help that the question was merely in or out, which means that the fervent anti-EU MPs could define "out" as anything they liked and claim they had the mandate because "will of the people" blah blah. In the end we got a rushed agreement that was the barest minimum on both sides, suits nobody, and will be a thorn in the side of the UK's future interactions with other countries for decades to come. The UK's place in the world? The Tories have nuked that from orbit, to the point where few foreign powers are even interested in how the UK votes today. They have their own issues to deal with (especially the mess in France), so an insular and isolated UK isn't taking anybody's time.

This is what Tory "strong and stable" looks like.

I can but hope that the country has come to its senses and will all but wipe those bastards out.

As for what's happening in France on Sunday... let's not go there.
The problem is that pretty much everybody can see that something is wrong. It's just that nobody, no not even the far right, has any viable solutions of how to fix things. One of the problems is that it's the bankers who pull our strings, so it doesn't really matter what idiot is on the TV acting as "the government", it's going to be the same rubbish. The faces don't need a change, the system does, because that's what is broken.
But I fear that France will end up with a lame duck President battling a far right government, who will themselves be stymied by this thing called the Constitution. In other words, turmoil.

And over the other side of the ocean, voters will either go for a megalomaniac criminal with severe delusions, or a dead guy.

Seriously, how broken is the west when we're all voting for the least worst option rather than anything we can believe in?

Charging time

So, if we assume ~2.2kW for the main charge (though I think it backs off as it goes over around 95%?), that implies that I used 1.39kWh, which is around fifty centimes. Of course, if I go and mow the grass and wait for the charger to turn itself off, it'll take a little longer and cost a little more, but not so much as it's not taking 2.2kW by that point.

Before people tell me that I shouldn't charge the battery to 100%, the user manual (that I have a PDF of, didn't get one with the car, the salesman is finding it for me as it also records the servicing history...) says that:

• I can charge the battery at any time
• I shouldn't let the battery run too low for too long
• It is acceptable to stop charging before the battery is completely charged, however it must be fully charged at least one time in five otherwise the battery's guarantee will be voided.

I think the latter point is something to do with charge balancing across the many individual cells that make up the battery. Charging to 100% brings them all up to the same level.

Whatever, I think my next electricity bill will be a bit of a shock, but I must remember I'm not paying for diesel...

Oh, yeah, these documents say everywhere that the use of extension leads is expressly prohibited. Hmmm... Riiiight.

I think that might be to stop people doing dumb things like trying to charge their car using a non-earthed low capacity extension like you can get for lawnmowers and the like. I was not quite expecting the car to draw 2.2kW, but when it comes to electricity I prefer to have capacity. So the first lead is one that is 16A capable into a chunky earthed plug (larger than the normal plug) that I use with the washing machine. This then connects to a second lead for the run outside. It is also 16A capable and is earthed. Both are good for around 3.5kW, so plenty of capacity for handling the car or a washing machine or even a kettle.
It is mind-numbingly stupid to try to run stuff like that using low-wattage cables. If you recall when I fitted some sockets, I used 16A cable even though the most powerful thing I expect to ever plug in there is a 750W vacuum cleaner. I can rest assured that should I suddenly need to plug a kettle (are you sensing a theme?) into the same outlet that powers my computer, I'm good. Capacity is built into the setup on purpose. So when it turns out that my car sucks ~2.2kW instead of 700W, no big other than to accept that my cost calculations are way out. But, then, maths was never my strong point. ☺

Lucy

Say hello to Lucy.

Strange. Felicity and Caoimhe pretty much had a name from the first moments. It took a few days before Lucy came to be named. I think she's a little shy. But with so few kilometres on the counter, I guess she's new to this whole "being a car thing".
Chill, Lucy. I am halfway to a century in age and I still think I suck at this whole adulting thing. All I really want to do most days is curl up in bed (or the rocking chair, I'm undecided) with a nice blanket, a tea, a bag of Maltesers, and a good book...

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David Pilling, 5th July 2024, 01:54

Lucy in the sky with diamonds. Lucille van Pelt, the grouchy girl in Peanuts. "I love Lucy" (Lucille Ball) - long forgotten TV. Another famous Lucy.    As they say with phones, don't forget to unplug the charger it is still using power.    Interesting to have a break down of how much energy you've used per day - my car has real time mpg meter, I suppose I could drive more efficiently if I could be bothered to use it.    End up tailgating trucks on the motorway (as people do).

A tree-dwelling mammal, 5th July 2024, 10:13

Well, as suspected, the Tories got wiped out. The only surprise is that they came second. I was fully expecting them to come third, with Lib Dem in opposition.    And for only the second time in my life, I didn't vote Tory. (I normally vote that way as it's the 'least worst' option, but not this time.)

SteveP, 5th July 2024, 11:22

Unfortunately, the Tories didn't get wiped out, even more unfortunately, Forage didn't lose his deposit.    Happily, my locality is Tory anymore - Pawsey having run away, and the new boy was down 26%

C Ferris, 5th July 2024, 11:58

We get the Government we deserve :-/

Mr Range Anxiety, 5th July 2024, 15:23

Wisdom of the common man, democracy in action, wretched behaviour gets its just reward.     Sunak/Hunt will be seen as the first Labour/Centerist PM/Chancellor of the current epoch. They will have known this was going to be the outcome since taking power.    I fear the next wretched move will be the Tories waiting for things to go wrong so they get another go, as they did with Blair/Brown.    Cheaper energy - oh yeah. An end to chaos - oh yeah. Change - oh yeah.

C Ferris, 5th July 2024, 16:49

Cheaper Elecy - Ricks lot have a pile of Nukes - but Ricks Elecy is not much cheaper than ours !!    Seems Europe is importing gas in large ships from Northern Russia.

Rick, 5th July 2024, 17:00

The electricity isn't that expensive per unit. But then you have the standing charge, a contribution for god knows what, taxes, taxes on the taxes...    The price I quote isn't the price per kWh, it's the price I *pay* per kWh taken by dividing the bill by the consumption. I can imagine that with more consumption the price will go *down* as the standing charges will remain the same. Actually for my bills, a good half of the overall cost was the "everything else".

David Pilling, 5th July 2024, 18:30

Intelligent Octopus Go "plug in your car and tell us how much charge you need. We'll automatically schedule your charge for when energy is cheapest and greenest, and you'll only pay 7p/kWh regardless of the time of day"    Octopus Go "Night rate (00:30 - 05:30):    8.5p / kWh  Day rate (05:30 - 00:30):    23.9p / kWh  Standing charge:    49.12p / day  Prices include VAT."

jgh, 6th July 2024, 02:27

Don't vote for the criminal, vote for the corpse. What a choice!

jgh, 6th July 2024, 02:35

My sleep cycle has shattering into pieces after being at the count until 5am. In gaps of wakefulness I've been typing up my count tallies.    In my town, Reform have firmly grasped the "none of them lot" that the LibDems used to have as their USP. Solid 22% everywhere, almost entirely sliced from the Con vote. Labour put the work in and the 40% they got last time was enough to clinch it this time.

jgh, 6th July 2024, 02:47

Checking my spreadsheet (ooo, yus!) my total-cost-of-usage for my leccy has varied between 27p and 34p per kWhr used and my gas between 9p and 14p.    My usage has followed the usual summer/winter cycle, which means the TCOU price follows the cycle in the opposite phase - being "more expensive" in summer when the standing charge is the majority of the price paid, and "cheaper" in winter when the usage is the bigger part.

Mick, 6th July 2024, 03:07

Deeply concerning that almost 24% of those who voted, voted Tory. I understand why the billionaires would vote that way but the rest? The only reason I can think of is Stockholm syndrome!    I hate to have to thank the vile reform party for dividing the vote of the right, but add the 14% they likely took from the cons and we could have had the prospect of another 5 years of hate, lies, and social profiteering. You know what I mean, privitise the profits and nationalise the losses.     Will Labour be any better? I don't think they could be worse and were *my* least worse option. They are too right wing for me though. I believe that tax payers money should mostly be spent on services, not profits. No public service should be private (in my opinion).     I have never voted Tory (I'm 57). Can't stand them. Rotten to the corp! Kerrrching! (for the already rich)    FYI Leccy:  Daily 38.724p per day  kWh 23.528p  Octopus dumb meter London.

C Ferris, 6th July 2024, 09:11

Since the coal miners were banged on the head - Elecy has gone from per quarter year cost to per month.    Trying to compete prices with countries that have great hydro power - see where our shoes clothing are produced.    No good jobs for the workers home here err ie for the not so bright (that's most of us)

YogiCK, 30th July 2024, 16:00

Lucy - name of computer in one of my favourite movies - Hackers (1995) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113243/

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