A Blogger in Black

A few months ago, concerned like many by rising energy costs, I bought a mini oven. Although I don’t use the oven much - most of my cooking is done with the slow pot - it did seem a waste to heat a big oven just to say crisp up a jacket potato, cook a pizza or a part baked baguette which, very occasional baking aside, pretty much sums up my oven usage. The mini oven I bought was the Argos brand Cookworks, priced at the time at £58.50 but with some Nectar points and vouchers I ended up paying £28.50. Details HERE . As of September 2022 it’s currently £65.00 The power rating is 1380w and can cook at up to 220 degrees. There is no fan. My main oven, which came with the flat is a Neff electric fan oven. There was no documentation with it, so I don’t know the exact power rating, however using the smart energy meter display it seems that the oven itself is rated at 2500w, with an additional 100w for the fan. Based on this it appears that the mini oven uses just over half the power of the mai...

A little bit different to my usual blog post this, as I am going to include more than just caravanning  as you will see. I am delighted that Sandra has kindly added her recollections too, it saved me some typing, the speed of which can be likened to an arthritic tortoise, and also helps where the memory was a bit er, hazy. I had intended to blog this right from the start, bus as is mentioned I felt a bit ropey for a few days at the start and was more interested in doing and seeing rather than writing. However, here we go: School finished on Friday 1st July, after a trying week in which for the first time I contemplated chucking it in, the actions of the most senior of management making everyone in Transport feel like they were a nuisance, not for the first time. However, such thoughts began to fade as I parked up minibus No .2 for the summer, jumped on a bus home and then popped the top off a beer. And another. Over the past fortnight we’d had several work emails nagging us to fill...