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NOTE Transcript 2024-04-11 from FLAC by https://elvery.net/prototypes/transcribe/ on my MacBook Air M1 on maximum quality setting.
NOTE Body edited.


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Diarycast


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[INTRO MUSIC]


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Hi, I'm Damon Hart-Davis, and welcome to Earth Notes podcast on all things eco and green and efficient at home!


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14th June 2021.


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A very brief scoot through the last three months at EOU Towers since Census Day on March 21st.


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It's warm here this evening at my desk at something like 28 degrees C.


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On March 23rd (and again on the 29th) the Enphase battery carried energy throughout the night to keep us off grid.


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On the 29th also, we ceremonially turned the central heating off at noon.


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It did get used very briefly a couple of times in April, once for an impulse heating test.


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On the 7th April, according to the BBC and National Grid,


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"Great Britain's energy system was the greenest it had ever been at lunchtime on Easter Bank holiday Monday. ...


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Sunny and windy weather, coupled with a low demand for power, ...


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meant zero-carbon power sources made up almost 80% of Britain's power."


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On the 12th, on the day that the pubs could reopen, outside only, we had snow!


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I did somewhat grimly experience a few pub garden sessions, selflessly, in cold and lashing rain, just to prop up the local economy...


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By the 24th it was warm enough to again wear the shorts that I had hung on the back of my chair "for a few days" at the end of March.


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On the 6th of May, while I'd normally be one to the first of the polling station at 7am for the London elections,


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I had already voted by post this time to reduce covid risks a little.


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First time postal vote for me I think.


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On the evening of the 21st I enjoyed a beer or 2.5 inside at my local microbrewery Tap Room.


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On the 31st, according to Enphase, we had 100% "energy independence", ie we didn't import any electricity from the grid.


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On the 1st of June, a tad delayed by covid, we had a belated Christmas with presents from one group of relatives.


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I got a neck warmer and a Christmas mug on a day where I am having to wear socks and sandals and mow grass that a cat could get lost in!


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The southern hemisphere Xmas Experience.


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On the 6th I had my second covid shot, hurrah!


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On the 10th was my first in-person meeting wearing a suit for many months, and missing a partial eclipse.


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And today, on the 14th, I got to see what I think is a pyramidal orchid in a grassy area near home!


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There's more on my Earth Notes Web site at Earth.Org.UK.