There was a discussion in a Blue Witch post and comments about what you save if you charge your phone in the car, also how much equipment uses on standby.

One of the difficulties is that the rating of equipment doesn’t really tell you how much it is drawing in use. It’s been niggling away at me for a while and while doing an energy audit in the sty, I’ve acquired a AC power meter. The results are interesting, although much as I thought. (I’m basing costs on £0.06p/Kwh electricity costs, costs in pence)

• To charge my Nokia phone: 0.25p
• To leave my Nokia charger on standby 24/7: 3p per annum (max)
• To leave a 14″ Sony TV on standby 24/7: 50p per annum
• To leave an LG 17″ LCD TV on standby 24/7: 400p per annum
• To leave a VCR on standby 24/7: 350p per annum
• To leave a VCR ON 24/7: 2000p per annum
• HiFi & TV on standby 24/7: 600p per annum
• Cost of Doorbell transformer: 50p per annum

So an interesting result. As you can see, you can make meaningful savings by not having some equipment on standby, but others make less difference. Curious.

I’m considering renting out the power meter for relatively low cost, with the proceeds to go to my daughter’s fundraising for a trip. Let me know if you are interested.

Here’s a little starter tech tip - try Opera web browser. Why? It is stormingly fast, it has some really cool features (like cycling between open pages with click/scroll wheel, real easy switching of cookies, java settings etc) so many that I think I would sound like a bore very quickly. It is NOT a replacement for IE (some pages only work in IE) or Firefox (some pages work best in IE or FF), I tend to use all three at the same time. If you ask, I’ll explain more detail.

Another quick tip - NoNags Software. Does exactly what it says on the tin, all software is fully functional freeware or no-nag shareware.

Does anyone recognise this? I saw it at Hyde Hall Gardens, a most pleasant and relatively uncrowded RHS garden. It was in the Queen Mother’s garden, and the women in the shop wrongly identified it as a knautia. Stands about 4ft tall. Rather thistle-y. Thoughts?

It is SUMMER.

So you have slaved over your barbie, everyone is replete, saitiated indeed. What are your pudding alternatives? One of my stalwart standbys is the barbienana, an excellent way to round the meal (without too much rounding of the flanks).

Take one banana per person, and remove half of the skin slicing along the length of the banana, leaving the stalk attached, and slap them on the embers of the barbie skin side down before you sit down to eat. Let them cook, don’t worry about the skin blackening. The bottom will cook and the top will remain firm. To serve, take off the skin and scoop onto a plate. Shake some liqueur over it - whatever takes your fancy - Cassis, Tia Maria, whatever, and serve with a dollop of creme fraiche (or ordinary cream if you prefer).

Hello everyone. As I am spectacularly famous, I shall refrain from introducing myself and instead allow you to discover the multitudinous facets of my personality as time passes. I am helped in this venture by my able student and assistant, Ham, who has his own blog. We have been working together for so long, often people find it difficult to telll the two of us apart.

What, then, has brought me to this juncture? The truth is that there are limited platforms where a ein gebildetes Schwein, un cerdo educado, an educated pig, if you will, can be fully appreciated. The blog appears to be the ideal opportunity. As they say, on the Internet, nobody knows if you are a pig.

You may expect this diary to range freely across many different topics. Those closest to my trotters will of course be prominent - food may figure from time to time. I hope you enjoy participating.