Request specific images from blender artist for the next brochure. One blown apart (roof lifted) showing internals inc water storage. One roof view including a futurenergy wind turbine. One side view, one view from low corner showing two sides & sky. One view of bathroom. Once brochure designed & I have the Skype phone is sorted, the following can happen: Read the rest of this entry »
We still don’t have our little old orange Skoda, so we’re unable to reach Novy Mlyn. M has too much work to go over on the bus, and the bus doesn’t go there at the weekend. Hopefully by the end of the week we’ll either have bought a car, or M will be able to take a day off (so that we can catch the bus at 5.30 am!!!).
M had a couple of hours off work on Sunday & we went for a walk round Tábor. It’s an incredibly pretty town, on a hill almost totally
surrounded by water - the river around the south side and a large lake on the north side. Sunday was beautifully sunny & the sky was intensely blue. The trees are still in their skeletal form, though I saw the first katkins of the year. Spring is definitely here!
We had lunch in a chance find restaurant, it had the most amazing furniture I’ve seen so far since we’ve been here - traditional joinery methods but utilising the natural shapes of the wood, but with a sculptural style overall. The room had vaulted ceilings & hand made wrought iron fittings. The food was fantastic (yet again) . I had fresh trout & M ate boar steaks. You’d have to be in line to the throne to eat like that in the UK! Read the rest of this entry »
The flat has large windows, however the view outside isn’t particularly inspiring. So, I’m putting flowers in the gap between the two windows to brighten things up. It’s a bit like a mini greenhouse. The only problem is that I’m terrible at looking after plants as I can never work out the right amount of water to give them.
One of the aspects of reed beds is that they do need to have water going through them regularly. This will mean that we will need to build in such a mechanism to bog, independent of usage. Mechanical solutions are always nice because there is less opportunity for them to fail & they can be produced much more cheaply. One idea I had a while back was a plant holder which contained water, which would be given to the plant when the weight suggested that it needed more water. I was just thinking if such a mechanical solution would be appropriate to bog.
The flag of Tibet is flying outside our flat today. I think this may be because it was Tibetan new year recently. It’s a nice current use of the flag poles which I’m told were compulsory not so many years ago so everyone could celebrate when the government told them to.
I’m going to a conference! Unlike Birmingham, the chamber of commerce in Prague runs free events, even for non members. I was unable to attend many interesting looking events in Birmingham while 500 year vision was in business start up mode as the ticket prices for events there were stupid. Now, there’s an event in Prague next Friday about Corporate Social Responsibility that I’m registered for. Does mean that I need to reach Prague for 8.30 - meaning leaving Tábor at 6am the day after my birthday!
Read the rest of this entry »
Bog is an accessible eco bathroom within a free standing structure which can be put anywhere. Bog means that an accessible bathroom can be placed in a garden, on a car park, on the premises of buildings with preservation orders, or adjoining the offices of a small business, without needing to connect to mains electricity, water or waste treatment.
It’s time to start things moving with bog. I’m reworking the publicity materials, working on web site content and contacting component suppliers.
Hoping to sort out Tábor Green Drinks. I really need someone to translate an invite for me. Have set up the mailing list which can be accessed here:
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| Subscribe to TaborGreenDrinks |
| Email: |
| Visit this group |
Hmm - doesn’t show up to clearly on a white background.
Just been using Google Suggest to see what kind of things people are searching for on the interweb & came across a post about a site called datemymates. I’ve not come across this one before - it wasn’t there when I did the namesearch for datemymate back in October 2005. I wonder if it’s the same person that’s been in contact about buying the datemymate.net domain from me? Read the rest of this entry »
I’m online!!!
Over the last few days, every time I’d even begun the thought that my computer may be okay after all, I’d lost it again. It really leads you towards superstition. But now, it would seem that the marvellous bloke at NetTech - Tabor has some how, Jimmy Saville style, fixed it. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s not life or death or anything, but I’m computerless. The laptop didn’t make the journey out to CR - and despite a new hard drive is still kaput. Frustratingly, M has stupid deadlines for projects over the next week and half. The only time I can use his is when he’s in the loo. So, currently making no progress with bog or any other project - including Tabor green drinks. I have, however, joined the library. M is working till 1am at nights, giving me ample time to explore Tabor museum, etc. I’m on holiday by force.
Hmm. How ironic. I tried to have a shower this morning (in our rented flat in Tabor) and the hot water had run out. Obviously I need one of the aerating showerheads that I’m selling in the UK via Ebay. The market is very different in CR, and I had thought that such things as aerating showerheads would not be relevant because certainly here, they don’t have constraints on the amount of water available. The water pressure is much, much higher than in the UK, and every shower acts like a power shower. The only problem is that you still have to heat the water… a more salient problem if you are heating water via solar power or through a wood burning stove. They were mentioned in the April Prima mag - a green section of 8 pages - as a good buy. It’s so encouraging that all this great technology might be going mainstream.
