Breach Of Trust

I generally go through life trusting people, I’m sometimes disappointed but it’s fairly rare and it’s a much nicer way to live, thinking the best of people.  One example of this trust is that I like to leave my bike locked up on the drive, rather than in the garage, I find that I’m much more likely to use it that way.  I also have a bag attached to the rack that contains the useful bits and pieces that it makes sense to travel with, sun screen, bungee straps, pain killers etc.  I’ve never had anything stolen until today, last night the bag was raided and EVERYTHING taken, even the old – probably mouldy – tablets, I hope they are pleased with their hoard, it’s only a minor inconvenience to me, although I can’t help feeling a little more disappointed by humanity than I was yesterday.  Slightly more worrying was the fact that they had also tried – and failed – to take my front wheel, which would have been a significant financial cost.  I guess this means that I will be storing the bike in the garage overnight for a while, which is no bad thing now that winter is fast approaching.

Despite this slight annoyance, today is a kind of celebration, I have finally weaned myself off Pregabalin which I took for sleep and pain, the powerful anti-histamines that I needed over the summer and cocodamol, which means that I’m no longer taking any daily medications.  I still need migraine meds every now and then and my immune suppressants, but even they are targets for the next twelve months.  Without the meds my sleep isn’t great but I’ve found that if I work hard during the day, take an evening walk and watch TV until about 1am I can get to sleep, I’m still waking up at my normal time, so I’m tired, but over the next week or so I will gradually go to sleep earlier as I relearn how to go to sleep and stay asleep when I’m not exhausted.

My big project for the day has been working to reduce our electricity bill, by switching over all the lights to LEDs.  We still had quite a few halogen bulbs in the house and a few older CF bulbs that are on for many hours a day.  We are now almost 100% LEDs and the total lighting wattage should be little more than a single one (of 5) of the spotlights that we had in the kitchen.  I’m pretty pleased with the results, although even the ‘warm white’ LEDs are a little whiter than the halogens that they replace, I think we will soon get used to them.  Over the last few years we’ve been working to reduce the utility bills for the house and we are now at the point where any further improvements in heating/lighting are unlikely to be cost effective, reducing our water usage and the number of baths that I have is the only other option.

I had a nice long walk to the Beach Terrace Cafe this morning, did a bit of shopping, refilled my bike bag, installed and assembled new lights, moved my fruit trees off the patio and back onto the drive, swept up everywhere, tidied the garage, cleaned the house from top to bottom, watched a bit of SGU and read some of the Human Universe.  Another excellent day.