Week 7

Week 7

Photo of the Week

Same place, same time.... the sun is slowly creeping northwards...to the left....

Building Works

Floor heating

Our "normal" heating has always been a central heating system pumping water through pipes and radiators throughout the whole house. The boiler unit also provides hot water on demand - this type of installation is known as a Combi-ketel (kettle). In our case, we have 7 such installations, one for each apartment and 2 in the large accommodation area - one for the living area and one for the bedrooms. They all need to be kept running for most of the year (hence our huge gas bills!). One year we had an electrical fault overnight AND Minus 20 degree temperatures and so a couple of pipes froze and burst. Of course, this type of heating was new to me when I first came here, but over the years I have learnt how to keep them in operation, adding water, bleeding radiators and even adding to the system with DIY stuff.

Normal system - pipes and radiators - usually placed under windows. (a warm place for the cat!).

In the new apartment, we have gone for the new "in-floor" heating system which is almost certainly much more efficient. It is attached via a manifold to a Combi-Ketel, referred to above. 

Photo shows hot and cold water pipes and the yellow gas pipe. The white plastic hose is fixed with wire to the mesh and a layer of concrete (special mix?) is poured over the lot. In our case there will be multiple circuits that can be regulated independently. ie. so the bedroom can be turned off, for example.

This top layer is a dry mix concrete (sand/cement) with just a little water and small fibres for binding. It is mixed and pumped through a rigid plastic hose. 

Country Women's Association Cooking Club

I think I have mentioned this before......? every couple of months a Cooking Club come to use our big kitchen out the back. Part of the arrangement is that we get fed as well! Last night we had...

Rucola Salad with figs and Goat Cheese

Goulash Soup

Brussel Sprouts Stampot (Casserole with Mashed Potatoes)

Pears and Ice Cream with an Almond Sauce (It looked so good it was gone before I remembered to take a photo!).

From the newspaper...

Cost of Smoking in The Netherlands

Estimated to be €43.2 Billion!

Someone has made a model where the costs can be calculated in monetary terms for ease of comparison and also to fully recognise just what it does cost.

The study includes chronic sickness (the cost to the Health Care System), poorer quality of life, and even the cost of the pauses during a working day (this part is estimated to be €12.1 Billion).

It is argued that smokers do less in their spare time and therefore spend less and they are inevitably less productive due to poor health.

The model gives 3 scenarios for calculating the costs. The least critical still comes out at €21.2 Billion and the middle of the road version at €33 Billion.

Footnote; In 1993, when I first came here, I couldn't believe how many people were "still smoking", having been part of the Anti-Smoking Campaigns in Melbourne. It is only in very recent years that it has been banned in pubs and restaurants; and still the anti-smoking efforts come nowhere near what I saw way back then in Australia. Oh well, some people still take their dogs in to restaurants over here..... still can't get used to that one..... so, it's just different, I guess.