Andy Fletcher

#OffGrid in South Shropshire. Strong interests in #Linux #Solar power #Renewables and #power systems

Brexit was and still is a catastrophe

Proud member of the 'Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati'

Feel free to contact me on email andy@x31.com unless you are trying to sell me "investments".

I use British English language so don't be offended if the words I use have different meanings or usage in your dialect.

#fedi22 #energymastodon

Language: English
Location: Muscat, Oman, South Shropshire, UK also Cambridgeshire UK
Interest tags: [#decarbonisation](https://mastodon.green/tags/decarbonisation ) [#offgrid](https://mastodon.green/tags/offgrid ) [#solar](https://mastodon.green/tags/solar ) [#LIFePO4](https://mastodon.green/tags/LIFePO4 ) [#Renewables](https://mastodon.green/tags/Renewables ) [#power](https://mastodon.green/tags/power ) [#wind](https://mastodon.green/tags/wind ) [#ClimateChange](https://mastodon.green/tags/ClimateChange )
Memes: [#JohnMastodon](https://mastodon.green/tags/JohnMastodon )

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Published at

2026-04-11T17:13:20Z

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Last Notes

2026-04-15 09:10:21 UTC

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If this goes badly for the defendants I see an eventual direct appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
UK courts are supposed to take into account the ECtHR treaty obligations but I don't see any fairness in the way these proceedings are being stacked against them.
#ukpol #palestine #palestineAction

2026-04-11 16:12:17 UTC

For some reason I cannot explain I decided to make some bread. No mixer so had to do everything by hand.
First time I've made bread by hand for over 40 years, I had a bread maker about 10 years ago which magically produced bread which you had to dig the aluminum paddle out of the bottom.
Final result is better than I had any reason to expect. I haven't tasted it yet!
#today #baking #bread
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/116/386/924/341/244/102/original/11f48d2d6ee17231.jpg

2026-03-02 17:50:42 UTC

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The Brits living in the Middle East are just keeping their heads down and working. The actual risk will be significantly less than being killed on the road.
Those wanting to go home are the ones visiting Dubai or the like for holiday or meetings.
By the way, I'm in Oman supporting a comms project, I certainly don't see myself as a tax exile.

2026-02-28 08:40:51 UTC

Why did Trump want to send a hospital ship to Greenland?
You really can't make this up:
Jørgen Boassen a MAGA loving Greenlander (apparently there is at least one) was staying with Governor Jeff Landry for Mardi Gras and told him that his mother has been misdiagnosed and died of sepsis and that the health service sucked. Jeff Landry then told trump about all this and it turned into sending aid in the form of a hospital ship!
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-hospital-ship-greenland-b2927691.html
#greenland #maga #hospitalShip

2026-02-20 18:16:56 UTC

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As a European I'm looking forward to the mess when they try to sort it out

2026-01-05 07:58:07 UTC

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Looks like it is still going :)
https://mastodon-analytics.com/
#johnmastodon #mastodon

2025-08-30 08:11:34 UTC

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It is my opinion that much of the price rise can be traced to Maggie Thatcher and her cronies forcing local councils to sell off their housing stock and not permitting them to build replacements. This combined with powerful lobbies of people owning houses who wanted to see the prices go up all the time by limiting construction through planning laws ended up squeezing anyone who wants to get onto the housing ladder.
[4/4]

2025-08-30 08:10:50 UTC

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We could put everything into public ownership but it wouldn't fix the issue of not enough homes. It is no different to other essential things like food production - you pay someone to provide that and expect them to make a little extra to make it worthwhile - maybe they shouldn't own farms!
[3/n]

2025-08-30 08:10:18 UTC

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Landlords are not the cause of high prices but they are an easy target to point a finger at.
By your argument mortgage companies and anyone who lends for profit are obscene too along with those financing them via private pension contributions.
[2/n]

2025-08-30 08:09:55 UTC

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On the other hand, could the current tenants afford a mortgage for the same properties over a 20-30 year period?
The solution is to remove scarcity by building so prices come down to something related to the cost of construction so people can afford to buy them or rent at a similar price should they chose to.
[1/n]

2025-08-29 13:16:31 UTC

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you are missing the point, most long term unoccupied properties were primary homes which cannot by used until probate is complete. If you speeded up this process I would expect a lot of them to transition to sale for homes or to rent.
I've properties which have been in use at a fair rent almost continually for 10 years.
As I said - if there was sufficient supply/housebuilding none of this would matter because prices would come down and availability up.

2025-08-29 13:08:32 UTC

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One factor not often discussed is how long the probate process takes in the UK. Six months to a year is not uncommon during which time the property cannot be sold or used for other purposes. This accounts for a large proportion of unoccupied properties.
Properties deliberately unoccupied appear from my limited research to be high value (£1M++) where any rent would be insignificant compared to the property and would be too high for homeless people anyway.

2025-08-29 12:51:15 UTC

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Don't know where you got that figure from. According to Crisis long term unoccupied is 265K for various reasons. Due to the nature of this organisation they are unlikely to understate the actual number.
In any cases in some places there are local measures to bring unoccupied properties into use like double rates on second homes in Shropshire.
https://www.crisis.org.uk/ending-homelessness/about-homelessness/how-many-empty-homes-are-there-in-the-uk/

2025-08-29 12:31:16 UTC

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withholding of properties is a form of supply constraint and would only work if the owner had control of a significant proportion of the properties as losses would greatly exceed any potential gains. It is a nice theory but fails when you analyse the probable outcomes.
In any case if there was a large pool of property then nobody would be able to control availability because others would simply undercut them. Simple market economics.

2025-08-29 11:57:29 UTC

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I think you are confusing symptoms with causes. Like most things there is scope for both ownership and renting /leasing.
There are good reasons for people choosing to rent or buy - it all depends on circumstances.
The underlying issue is the limited availability of properties due to supply constraints and lack of council housing. This results in high prices and unaffordable rents.
I'm happy to agree to disagree. The world is big enough for both viewpoints

2025-08-29 07:23:55 UTC

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It is another attack on private landlords which will almost certainly not apply to companies.
Just like where companies can offset mortgage interest payments against income but individuals renting out properties can't.
Just means an increasing number of rental properties will be run by faceless corporations who pay money to political parties.
By the way, I'm not rich. I just put my savings into property rather than a pension because I lived out of the UK for many years.

2025-08-13 11:22:55 UTC

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this was doubly interesting, once for the facts about power generation and secondly for the interactions on X and bluesky.

2025-08-01 07:07:30 UTC

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what do you want to know? I lived there for several years.
There was a book I read years ago called "the middle sea" by John Julius Norwich. Covered the entire Mediterranean region from antiquity to about AD 1920. Heavy going but a really good read.

2025-07-13 13:38:06 UTC

Remounted and enlarged my solar array in Cottenham this week. The older wood frames really suffered in the winter storms so I ended up putting concrete posts in the ground bolting through them to heavy timbers and mounting the panels on unistrut. Panels optimised for winter.
Hopefully this will give me a long life.
#solar #offgrid #uk
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/114/846/192/682/628/519/original/ec76ed25691b53c5.jpg

2025-06-27 09:48:02 UTC

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as if the Israeli government has the slightest concern about long term health issues.

2025-05-07 07:24:32 UTC

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From Tom Lehrer:
Plagiarize!
Let no one else's work evade your eyes
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes
So don't shade your eyes
But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize
Only be sure always to call it please "research".

2025-03-29 10:53:41 UTC

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if he gets the message that he isn't wanted in Greenland then maybe the burned fuel isn't entirely wasted

2025-02-26 06:17:06 UTC

The search for missing MH370 is restarting.
The company must be fairly confident they can find it as an 18 month contract for an exploration ship is a big risk (no find no fee).
I hope they can finally put the story to rest.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/26/mh370-search-resumes-malaysia-airlines-ocean-infinity
#MalaysiaAirlinesflightMH370 #malaysia

2025-01-31 12:00:49 UTC

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That bridge in Siberia makes me shudder just looking at the photo so I went digging on Google about it.
Apparently it was originally a railway bridge but was no longer up to the job so they built another nearby. This one was then essentially abandoned and is gradually degrading with essentially no maintenance. It is liable to collapse at any time.
Another thing to add to the list of cool things I never knew about.

2024-12-26 20:51:21 UTC

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Denmark has already been making noises about controlling shipping passing through its waters - checking valid insurance etc.
If these incidents continue I could see them banning Russia bound shipping from their waters. This would cause a major diplomatic incident and long arguments about international seaways but there isn't much Russia could do apart from banning others from their waters which would only hurt themselves.
Interesting times

2024-12-26 20:47:19 UTC

Yesterday another set of cables were broken in the Baltic by a ship leaving Russian ports. One 650MW power cable and another 4 comms cables.
For "some reason" the ship slowed just before it went over the cables and when it was later boarded the anchor was missing.
The ship is called Eagle S, is registered in the Cook Islands and is owned by a UAE freezone company Caravella LLCFZ. Good luck finding the actual owners.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/finland-police-investigate-role-foreign-ship-after-power-cable-outage-2024-12-26/
#darkfleet #russia #baltic #cables

2024-12-09 14:48:35 UTC

Indian company "Yes Madam" sends out a company survey asking how stressed the employees are then promptly sacks 100 employees who respond that they are stressed.
Looks like the real thing, all over the Indian press and the company isn't denying it
https://indianstartupnews.com/news/yesmadam-asks-employees-if-they-are-stressed-hr-says-we-fired-those-who-answered-yes-8326306
#stress #india #sacking

2024-12-09 10:27:39 UTC

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you can't fix stupid unfortunately

2024-12-07 19:54:11 UTC

Just had 3 solar panels come off the ground mounts in the strong winds and rain. Looks like a mounting fastener broke and the failure spread to the adjacent panels. One of the U fixing brackets has lost both sides where they hold the panels!
It is absolutely horrendous outside at the moment. I secured the loose panels and will assess the damage in the morning when I can see more than a couple of feet in front of me.
Here is hoping the remaining 30 panels are OK.
#stormdarragh #offgrid #solar

2024-11-28 13:51:27 UTC

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I have a multi-compartment plastic box that I fill up each week - one quick look and I can see my status. No software or waiting for my phone to charge so I can check what I need to take next. If I needed things at a specific time I'd just use a timer.
I often think app makers invent problems which don't really exist in order to find a way of extracting money from users.
Sometimes the low tech solutions are best.

2024-11-24 16:45:36 UTC

Greater Manchester police issue a dispersal order then throw people onto random trains to other parts of the country.
Only problem was some of the people were only 13 years old, didn't know where they were going and apparently were selected as being part of the traveller community.
There are issues about child endangerment and discrimination against certain ethnic groups. I'm very uncomfortable about this story.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/traveller-girl-13-ended-up-30440291
#racism #children #police #Manchester

2024-11-14 12:39:53 UTC

I have just added a mastodon filter to take out any posts referencing T-rump for the next week.
The whole mess over the pond is incredibly depressing and as I can't influence anything I may as well ignore it all for my mental wellbeing. I'll dip back in when the filter expires but will probably re-up the filter.
Best wishes to everyone who are more directly impacted than me.
#filters #mastodon #usa

2024-09-23 12:47:49 UTC

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nuclear is not dispatchable but baseload. You can't switch it on and off quickly. Until batteries came onto the grid the fastest switching was hydro taking a minute or so followed by open cycle gas peakers which take a couple of hours.
The most dispatchable power now are batteries & solar & (slower) wind. They can almost instantly change state but I assume this does not fit into your pro-nuclear agenda

2024-08-18 11:14:57 UTC

I often hear people saying how good UK plugs are. They are OK but have their problems at high currents as the internal fuse gets hot and can melt the insulation and connections.
This example is 9 months old and was used a couple of days a week for car charging - load was about 12A.
The Bussmann fuse in this good quality plug cooked everything and ended up welding the plug into the socket with the heat.
#safety #plug #fire
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/112/982/729/981/803/205/original/41a7006cf3b3553c.jpg

2024-08-09 07:52:50 UTC

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Nice little webpage showing how much Scottish wind power is being curtailed because of constraints.
https://wind-curtailment-app-ahq7fucdyq-lz.a.run.app/

2024-08-03 08:47:56 UTC

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Never forget Pylon of the month.
https://www.pylonofthemonth.org/

2024-05-31 07:43:55 UTC

Every venue should have one
#emfcamp2024 #emfcamp
https://files.mastodon.green/media_attachments/files/112/534/573/672/317/472/original/9a40e511601760a0.jpg

2024-05-27 14:36:49 UTC

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but the government is all too happy to grow "energy" crops which also displace food.