Nový Mlýn - green tech south bohemia

So, still no news on the mortgage.
Today has been a day of research. After reading an interesting article in the New Scientist (what is the opposite of ‘oxymoron’ without being an obvious statement) I’ve done some research about NoMix technology. From what I can see, this is one of the many eco inventions in academia, and though the web site was informative, when I finally found it, there was no indication that it would ever become a commercial product offered for sale. It is currently undergoing testing in Switzerland by novaquatis (a project called Nova pp!) - and would not be ready for Novy Mlyn for some time. I’ll keep an eye on it. Read the rest of this entry »

We spent the weekend with Jerry and his family in their cottage. We had not been very sure of the invitation - it says a great deal about our level of Czech that at first Mike thought that Jerry was phoning to remind him that he danced like a chicken. However, when we arrived in Slabčice, we realised that it was simply a common Czechlish error.

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Things seem to be going slowly at the moment. It’s hard not being able to get to the house & I’m still waiting for responses from lots of people about lots of different projects. I try to work to my enthusiasms, but projects seem to be slightly adrift at present.

We think we’ve been invited away for the weekend! A guy we met at a bar a few weeks ago phoned & probably arranged for us to join him & his family at their cottage. Thing is, we’re not completely sure about it, only about 87%. Will have to wait & see what happens tomorrow.

Very odd coincidence. I did a search of images on google for ‘tulip cafe prague’ and on the first page is a picture of the guy who is organising my teaching. No explanation as to why. Is google far more sophisticated than I think. Could it be something to do with our geographical location? Mysterious.

The paperchase continues. In order to purchase a car, one of us needs a residence permit. I can’t as I still have my unmarried name on my passport (we need the marriage certificate to change this - and that’s in the UK).

M can, but needs to have an officially stamped copy of our rental agreement, the company formation documents for Passer s.r.o. and a letter from himself saying that he is an employee of his own company in the UK (I think officially translated and stamped as well). Once we have gathered said documents, we will go back to the foreign police and see if they like them. Then, all we need to do is find a car, organise our insurance - povinné ručení (maybe from UNIQUA - 800 120 020) & register it.

In the mean time, we’ll buy (yet) another bike once M is paid.

After some initial investigation into the idea, it looks like some Blender Artists may be interested in letting me sell their 3d work in glass. Work that won’t look like this (see left).

I need to do a little more research first, but it’s looking positive at the moment. On the way to Interspar (taking back a bike we bought - which broke within 5 km of being brand new), I had an idea for a 3d counting system based on a cube - made up of nine cubes, which could be used to hallmark all of the artworks created by Blender Artists. It’s really important that they are numbered so that we can track them, and ensure that images are not faked or reproduced. The cubes could be positioned in the blocks of glass at a really fine resolution, so invisible to the naked eye. A digital system based on a 3×3 cube must have been used before…

I need to check with the manufacturers the resolutions which are possible - obviously the finer the better. However, such technology is constantly improving.  It would be lovely to have some Blender art on a really small scale - such as to be used in jewellery.  If I could, I’d have a cube on a necklace with a picture of our home at Novy Mlyn.

Yet another incident fraught attempt to travel. This time via bicycle. We bought M a bike on Friday, so that we could reach the house (20km, no saturday bus, no car because we don’t have paperwork yet). After 5 km it had started misbehaving - the bit the pedal was attached to had worked loose.

Luckily we were able to fix it - with the help of a stranger innocently working on his garden in a small Czech village. He even gave us the tool we needed! Some people are so bloody nice. We managed to get to Novy Mlyn, though stopping every so often to tighten up the loose fitting. The countryside was beautiful (something we’re nearly taking for-granted now) and the journey felt like very good exercise (ie it is nearly constantly up hill from Tábor). Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a lovely week. The town looks pretty with blossom and new leaves on the trees. And every little restaurant is gearing up for the tourist season by constructing decks for tables and chairs on the pavements and around the square. I have even managed to drag M away from his computer on occasion!

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The purchase of a car is always going to be a controversial decision for the eco conscious.  I believe the best solution would be to buy a second hand diesel powered vehicle, and use biodiesel as fuel.  I really need to meet some local greens who would know how to go about such a scheme.  In the mean time, I am desperate to get to Novy Mlyn and start working on the project there.  In the mean time we will buy something old, then resell it once we have a greener alternative available.  And, of course, right now 500 year vision has no income to speak of.

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First of all, spurious pictures. Something I’ve not seen before - balls hanging in trees to celebrate spring:

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