This is my contribution post to #MarketFriday initiated by @dswigle (👈🏽 That's her, Denise) and posted by me @c0ff33a (👈🏽 That's me ☕️). Today we are shopping for much needed essential food supplies, in my little area of West Yorkshire, United Kingdom we have had a little bit of cold weather - minus 5 degrees Celsius (23 Farenheight) which if you are used to that sort of cold is nothing special - we are not however, getting a single digit below freezing normally causes chaos - let alone 3 full days and counting of minus 5 degrees and more, combined with heavy snow and winds causing it to drift. It has been that bad last night my house central heating stopped working correctly, I was not too concerned because I have plenty of bitcoin miners running to keep the house warm - but the family are not so appreciative of a lack of hot water. Trudging about in the snow in our back garden I discovered our heating boiler, with is a condenser boiler and has a drain for the water produced as part of it's operation, had it's draining outlet pipe frozen solid from the cold. So the byproduct of it's heating could not be released - backed up into the boiler and presumably set off some safety system. A few kettles of boiling water poured on the drain pipe outlet and up it's length to the wall defrosted it so the heating system gurgled into life and started working like a champ once more.
For this Market Friday we are going to Tesco 🙌🏽 I live in these Supermarkets so often during my week calling in for food supplies, to be fair with the weather and being busy I haven't had chance to call in for over a week - I'd rather not be tonight either in the snow but we need something to eat at home, two growing boys and one grown Woman are expecting me to provide for them - I can't let them down (You probably already know I don't like letting anyone down).
It doesn't look too bad I hear you cry, looking at a little slush lying on the ground outside this store. Well let's take a look at my Wednesday morning drive to work - I'll drop the video link below rather then a gif because you can set it off and enjoy the tunes while you read the rest of this post.
Yes much snow had fallen and still was, not so much compared to other areas of the world - but when you are not used to this sort of cold it's a shock to the system!
So yes it has been a cold week this week, much snow and ice to deal with.
Left in the picture above is Wednesday morning, bottom right is Wednesday while trying to drive to work, top right is Thursday morning! Much snow, my drive to work on Wednesday morning took 1 hour and 15 minutes...to drive 5 MILES - at least I had some good tunes to rock out to while sitting in the queue, thanks again my super cool music creating buddy @avesa - but once I got to work, and started brewing myself a tasty Aeropress of the Thailand Doi Chaang Estate coffee I just got in (It's incredible, love it so much - look out for my coffee of the world post on it very soon) I could hear a dripping noise which was quite perplexing. Hunting through the back passage of my demonstration room (mrs) I found a puddle forming just a few cm from one of my Bitcoin Miners! Damn I would have been salty if that got fried, but this is confusing - we are on the bottom floor of a two floor building and everything is frozen - so where is the water coming from? A mystery.
So before I can even enjoy my hard earned coffee, I have to head upstairs to find the source of this water leak (well after moving the Bitcoin miner further from the drip of course!) It's cold up there, some 14 months ago we shut down the existing building boiler that was the size of a small car and heated the whole building, and had a new efficient small boiler fitted that now only heats the areas of the building we inhabit. The cause of the leak turned out to be related to this, upstairs there is a large (guesstimate 40 litres) cold water header tank for the old boiler. Not used now, it has needed isolating for some time. A job I have been meaning to do, but you know how it is busy lives and if it aint broke don't try and fix it. Well now it is broke, I guess the ball cock valve that controlled it's level has frozen open and let it over fill - water is pouring over the edges of the tank and onto the wooden floor below, and then dripping through that into the lower part of the building.
Now I know some of you will ask why I did not deal with this problem earlier, the reason is the pipework to this tank is some 40 years old, there are no isolation points to it without cutting off at least half of the whole building water supply. So the only way to isolate it is to turn off the building water, disconnect the compression fitting attached to the tank, refit an 15mm compression isolation valve to the removed pipe and then turn the water supply back on. Oh and this tank is 15ft up in the roof of the upstairs, accessible only by a ladder. That is the main reason I avoided the job - along side the fact it wasn't a problem until now. Freezing cold, at the top of a ladder undoing a bolt that has been locked solid for 40 years, and then trying to thread on a new isolation valve - I have a new outlook if it isn't broke still try and fix it in the summer when it's warm. Frozen cold and now with cut sore hands that are bleeding is no fun at all.
With the tank finally isolated and the water turned back on, and also the heating so in the freezing conditions the warehouse can be slightly less like Jack Frosts lair - I still have to deal with the other problem I was ignoring. This header tank is now stagnant, leaving water in it with no flow can lead to all sorts of biological nasties - Legionnaires' Disease being the worst. It needs draining, and of course there is no easy way to drain it. The pipe leading from it to the now unused big boiler has no drain points, but I had already obtained a self tapping valve tap for this purpose. Back up the ladder in the freezing cold - I bolt on the fitting that will allow the tap to screw into the pipe breaking it open and making a new opening to drain it. Well that's the theory - I screw the self tapping tap as far in as it will go. The tap releases no water when opened. 😕
Cold, sore, bleeding, wobbling about at the top of a ladder my mood is not the best. Puzzled I do the only logical thing - I unscrew the self tapping tap - and surprise surprise when I loosen it to nearly unthreaded the pipe drips - not quick but I can catch the drips in a bucket. I guess the ancient pipe is too thick to allow the self tapping fitting to break it open completely - but at least I can drain the tank slowly and controlled - when I screw the tap tight in the drips stop. In two days I have emptied three buckets (maybe 9 litres) so we are a long way off emptying it but it is controlled.
It's all rock and roll my life, at least the snow has stopped for a while and the road is visible!
But this is still Wednesday, on Thursday we had even more snow!
When you can't see the curb for the snow it presents new problems, how far into the road do you drive to avoid hitting the curb? And then of course people walk on the road - although at this point I don't see any benefit from the path to the road - it's all snow!
So it's a snowy drive to work again, but what was the topic of this post? @txatxy told me the best way to drive out the cold is strong liquor - if this post makes no sense at the end it's because I was trying to keep warm!
#Haturday that was it, the lovely @saffisara started this wonderful tag and what a fitting #haturday for me in my snowboarding sessions beanie - a favourite on the Piste. @old-guy-photos kept hounding me to join Steemit to earn some rewards for my posts because my YouTube channel was - well not so popular. I can't thank him enough I do so love it here and you my Steemit friends, but somehow I am now obsessed I keep worrying about you all. @saffisara had not posted for a few days and I was fretting she was ill, I keep worrying I have upset people if I don't see a post from them or they do not leave a mention on my own, for this last week I have been trying my best to rebuild my upvote - it's now hit 85% and $1.08 at 100% - a real difference that I can now make when I upvote a post. But it makes me sad this week I have not been upvoting all my favourite content creators - I've really missed supporting you all and once I get to that magic 100% Vote Power I will be back to engage with you all.
#MarketFriday - that's the ticket, I totally forgot about @dswigle and her wonderful posting tag while reminiscing on my decidedly frosty week. So for my #MarketFriday we are doing a bit of food shopping.
Fruit, vegetables and some salads staple foods to keep us running in this inclement weather.
Pineapple and Milk - an unusual combination on your cornflakes but full of good nutrients.
🍕Pizza - who doesn't love it, these look super tasty - not upto @ninahaskin Market Friday Extravaganza last week but still tempting. Beef and Taties puff pastry pie for us tonight though, sticking with some staple wholesome food to keep us warm.
Panchetta and varied olive oils, I'm not Italian but I like their style very much.
Spicy and Ricey - you can make something tasty out of these at any time super quick, which is handy because time is something I just never seem to have enough of.
Heading home from my market this hill is my nemesis in the snow, in years gone by the Vauxhall Zafira 7 seater I had got half way up and then got stuck solid slipping it's wheels - I had to back out and find a more level and snow free route. My last Renault the Grande Scenic fared worse - quarter way up and it gave up. But the ludicrously named Kadger, which I only rented because I like the day time running lights - has excelled in the snow. I should have splashed out on the 4wd model for piece of mind, but even the 2wd version is sure footed - climbing this snowy steep hill with ease. As reasonably priced cars go I do like this one, it might not have a prestige name like Audi, BMW, Land Rover - (I'd say Mercedes but every Mercedes driver I have spoken to this week has told me they struggle in the snow badly) but it has served me well taking me to and from work in adverse weather conditions while passing other cars that got stuck in the snow - much respect to Renault and your oddly named Kadjar.
A favourite photo from last summer, not to everyone's taste but I do like this piece of machinery and it serves me well - all you can ask really.
Enjoy some more Tunes to finish this post, it has rather stretched out a bit - I do like giving you all something to get your teeth into - maybe I should work out some JavaScript redirects that jump you straight to the reply button "if your bored of my waffle click here to leave a reply and then go and do something more interesting.
Yes indeed, without my Vote Power I have felt lost, it is my Mojo and without it being on Steemit just has not been quite the same.
But all that recharging has been worth it, I'm nearly back where I was one week ago - and I can continue doing what I love best on Steemit - upvoting my favourite content creators and commenting and sharing your work. Special thanks this week go out to some amazing people on Steemit who really drive me to work harder on here, selfless individuals that look after others more then themselves - @reko, @enginewitty, @battleaxe, @sircork on his world tour and wonderful people working hard on the ground doing positive work like @aydayodeji and @crisangel - people who treat their rewards as something to put to good use not just line their own pockets and feather their own nests. Support the people who need it the most, through these selfless accounts on Steemit working hard to make a real difference to the people who need it, if you enjoyed this post and wish to share an upvote - do not upvote my post go to the blog of @youarehope and give your upvote to a charity account that makes a real difference to peoples lives - support @fishyculture who posts Thankful Thursday Reports she selflessly makes a post every week and gives the post rewards back to @youarehope to support the most needy in our community.
Throughout my nearly 1 whole year on Steemit I have learned alot, it's been an amazing journey and every single one of you reading this right now has contributed to it. I am humbled that you continue to follow me, read through my rambling and often random posts and take the time to leave me a comment - it means a great deal. Comments can mean so much to everyone, and I still find some hard working content creators getting good upvote and post rewards - but no comments. A comment shows the creator of a post that their hard work has been enjoyed, it can lift someones day and drive them on to do bigger and greater posts - if you can and will take the time to visit the blog of a few people you enjoy the work of today - and leave a positive comment. It will lift them and also give you a little warm fuzzy feeling inside you made someone else's day better - we all live complicated lives and often try to mask and hide how hard they are - your comment or kind words could make a bigger difference then you ever can realise.
Stay safe and strong my Steemit friends, together we can do amazing things - I remain here for all of you, if you need help just ask - if it is beyond my own ability I can reach out for you to others greater then I.
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For Steemit to grow we need to post rich content - interesting and unique posts that encourage others to join in and share their experiences. If you feel your own posts are not doing well look at what your favourite content creators are doing - if you like their work they are doing something you could do as well - think of way to do similar things with your own unique twist.
The picture to the right kindly sketched by the wonderful @bridget.art , be sure to check her incredible art out https://steemit.com/@bridget.art
As Steemit grows making your content stand out gives it a greater chance to be seen and enjoyed, I try to work on making one post every few days - but making it as big and content rich as I can. I don't know if this is the right way, but I enjoy the most big content rich posts - and a wise man on Steemit once said to me - make your content like the content you enjoy.
!steemitworldmap 53.766547 lat -1.801500 long Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. d3scr