Fon

Where to start! I always plan for the worst with problems. First day of lock down when the shelves were empty in the supermarket, I bought two months of frozen food from a food wholesaler. Dug an old freezer out the shed and filled it up. (iv now given all of it to the food banks) Then spent a small fortune on the garden for kids toys. I have two under 10's and thought they would probably be spending a year at home. We have slides, swings, inflatable hot tubs etc. Grass is now completely ruined! Im skint!! I invested what I had left in the companies making tests for the virus. At one point I had tripled my money, but got out of the shares today with just over double my money. Teaching the kids from home took a long time to find a routeen, but we finally got one and it wasnt as hard. (Bare in mind im already a teacher so I didnt have to learn the skills of teaching. Just the subjects and routeen that worked.) Then Iv been called back to work. The Mrs is trying to now teach them from home (shes not a teacher) And work from home at the same time. Its difficult! Work is a pain in the arse. We have to fly wearing face masks. Not the doctor type you see on the tv, more something that looks like a welders mask. Water is running into my eyes from sweat! Everything takes longer as we have to clean inside the aircraft first. With being invested in testing iv been looking at stats daily. I personally think more people have died than the goverment has admitted. Im comparing total deaths regardless of reason from year to year. Fon

With the electric now cheap during the day, iv bought a lay z spa, inflatable hot tub. The kids love it and ask to go in every day. The plan is to let it down over winter. But for now, there enjoyment comes first. Although we tend to go in once the kids are in bed, lol! Fon

Im drinking more beer and getting fatter. We have spent a load of money on garden toys to stop the kids from being bored. Were both semi trying to work from home taking turns to teach the kids. The school has been really good. They have started using google classroom and setting the kids projects. This helps us a parents focus on teaching and were actually getting more done. I'm getting bored of the same meals, but realizing how much we actually ate out and had takeaways and thats saving us money. Iv just transferred the electric to Octopus Agile. Its a weird one where they change the rate for electric every 30 mins. Its basically cheap as fook during the day and then they ramp it up at 4pm when everyone is cooking. We are now finishing cooking by 4pm and are saving a fortune. For the last two days they have been paying us to use electric as the wind was strong and there was too much supply on the grid. I had everything turned on! Electric floors, car charging, I actually boiled the kettle so many times I thought it would break if I did it again! Theres a referral of £50 paid on your account if you want to use my referral code. I did that with someone else and it paid for the early termination of my current supplier, whilst leaving me in credit. Ill probably leave them once the kids are back in school, but theres no early cancellation fee, so I'm quids in! This wasn't meant to be an add, Im just typing away and it came out. If anyone wants any more info just ask. The kids seem to be ok, but I think my oldest (9) is starting to feel the boredom. She also seems scared of leaving the house for a walk, or is just getting house bound and doesn't want to leave, im not sure. How are you all finding it? Fon

I had the biggest of plans. Kids would wake up, still put on their school uniform, (so that we could distinguish when school started and finished. We would teach them, with all the breaks they have at school etc. The whole thing has turned into a shower of shit. Although me and Mrs Fon are both semi working from home, we wake up late, and by the time we have had breakfast and gone for a walk, its lunchtime. Then after lunch there is some clearing up, and playing in the garden. Were lucky if we do an hour of school work with the kids. However, in school, they tend to make them spell something and then colour or paint it etc. So I dont think its all that bad. As long as we keep the reading / writing and maths going I think were doing ok. We have spent a small fortune on garden toys, (swings slides etc) as I doubt very much there will be a holiday this year. We have also started getting in touch with other parents and letting the kids video chat. This, I learnt very quickly, is important! I thought they would have a 10 min chat and then get bored. One and half hours later, of playing, laughing, and having fun you realize they miss their mates. I think as adults we take the fact we can still communicate too lightly. Both my kids are under 9. I now know of a few people who have had this virus. The numbers are growing daily. Stay safe friends. Fon

Just had this posted on a local group. Just driven into work this morning. Shocked by the number of cars, vans and lorries on the roads. What do people not understand about NON essential travel???? Stay at home please!!!!!! I have been an eye surgeon for 30 years and never thought I’d need my non eye medical skills again but am now facing a refresher training on respiratory medicine and being drafted into the front line. If you don’t want to be treated by someone like me (I wouldn’t) then stay at home!!! Fon

I have a friend in Spain, where they are about two weeks ahead of us, and in total lock down. Supermarkets have stock, and there is no more panic buying. He did say that beer and wine are still hard to get hold of. He also said that the B&Q type stores were still delivering, so you could do DIY at home. Fon

Seems like a lot of panic. Friends in Spain told to stay inside or face a 3K euro fine! Does anyone actually know anybody who has caught this? Fon

Looking for a summer project for me and the kids during the school holidays. I seem to remember on MS someone was bang into this and had found loads of stuff. We do have some historical forests nearby and I thought it might be a good project to buy a second hand device and then sell it as the summer ends, Does anyone know anything about this? Cheers, Fon

Its fantastic mate. No regrets, I do 50 miles a day for work. In the summer I charge every other day, and in the winter I charge every day. Im saving about £160 a month on fuel alone. Iv gone onto EDF electric car tariff so my electric is half price between 9PM and 7AM. Its also half price all weekend. It costs me about £1 to do those 50 miles. Im also saving by running the washing machine and dishwasher in the cheaper tariff. Also zero car tax. The warranty and piece of mind is fantastic. Had to use it once as the headlights were fogging up. Got a replacement car for the day free of charge. And the warranty includes AA breakdown for free. I thought id push myself and drove it to the Netherlands via Calais. Lidl have free rapid charging in the supermarkets so basically I drove there Lidl hopping! I got there for nothing!. I basically charged every hundred miles, which worked out well with the kids needing toilet brakes. The charge took 20 mins. The only way I can see this car not working for me, would be if I couldn't charge at home. As all the UK free chargers are in supermarkets, and they are not the quickest taking about 4 hours to charge from nothing to full. And paying for rapid charging at double the cost would make it about £6 for 150 miles which would start comparing to a efficient small car. (although you would still have all the troubles of dealing with car engines, oil leaks, exhausts etc. ) If you need any advice just ask. If you want to know where chargers are near you, get zapmap installed on your phone. Fon

Aye Happy Christmas people, Hope you have lovely family time. Fon

Im taking the kids to Centre Parcs in Belgium. Its far cheaper than the UK for the booking and the addons. Plus in my new electric car its going to cost £10 to drive there!!! Fon

Use zap map. You can filter charges by the speed or cost. If your looking at a leaf get an OBD2 scanner and an app called leafspy. It will show you how much of the battery is already damaged. If it's 4 years old expect a 10% reduction on the battery. Fon

The battery's that are charged from the cars alone, come from braking. The car use's a generator to break, or when coasting. So they are more efficient. And your breaks can last several years without replacement (provided you actually put the car in nutural and use them once in a while or they just corrode) Phev models are ok, but I wanted less repairs. No filters, no DPF to get blocked, no exhaust to fall off, no engine management lights, no plugs, etc... Plus with a Phev you are only getting about 30 miles from a charge as your lugging the engine around all the time. You really have to be careful in your planning. When I collected the car I had to drive a few hundred miles back. I did lots of research and you need a plan b and c, as you may arrive at a charger to find someone else using it, or a petrol car (ice) blocking it. It could also be faulty. If you dont have spare miles in the battery to find another charger your screwed. Some people phone ahead to make sure its working. There are loads of different companies providing chargers. So you end up with loads of apps on your phone to start the charging process. I was lucky on the way back. I planned two charges and both were as expected. I charged from about 20% to 80% in 25 mins. I paid about double what I would pay at home. In that time I played with Android Auto in the car, and ate a Big Mac. I dont plan to charge on the road daily, as my work home commute is only 50 miles and I can charge from home. A lot of supermarkets are now installing free chargers so I may give that a bash later. Fon

Im doing £200 a month in fuel at the moment. Iv found a Hyundai Ionic that is totally electric, not one of these hybrid things where you still have an engine to drag around. The range varies with temperature and driving style, but I should get between 130-150 miles on a charge. That charge will cost me £3 from a home charger. They can be charged from a normal 3 pin plug (10 hours). Or a faster charger that you can install at home for about £300 (4 hours.) Or a rapid charger installed at varies places around the uk (double the cost to charge but only 30 mins) IF you want to know how many rapid chargers there are near you get Zapmap. Seems like a no brainer to me. The money im going to save in fuel / tax, along with it being half the money to insure than my current Merc, makes it all make sense. And the battery has a warranty for 8 years, the car for 5 years, (im buying a two year old one for £16K) Its got all the bells and whistles, cruise where it will slow down if the car in front slows down, it will turn round bends if it sees the white lines by itself (you must still touch the steering wheel every 30 seconds) and android play etc. Ill let you know how I get on, but thought after many months of research Id share the idea to other geeks who fancy a new project. Fon

LOL Fon