Well here we are back again in England after some submersion into rural France and a long test period for the LED lighting. Admittedly I took less electronics this time but the LED's were a resounding success lowering current consumption to minimum levels. Light levels were adequate too.

I even found that first thing in the morning the batteries were so well charged that to listen to Radio 4 Long Wave I had to switch on the old Halogen lighting to sink some current and so lower the battery voltage. Odd? well the Solar Regulator goes into a pulse mode for battery conditioning when fully charged and creates interference on Long Wave.

I found some 36 LED light units in the street markets of France, needless to say I purchased a couple after bargaining for a 1 Euro discount for the pair. More on these later, they are Chinese like the 24 LED ones and yes 50% were faulty due to lousy soldering.

France is changing relentlessly, some places are still like the UK 30 years ago but elsewhere the pace of life is changing, Sunday and lunchtime opening of shops, charges for parking and more hight barriers are coming in. At one time the Englishman was astounded that he could not buy sliced white bread, now it was difficult to find a traditional Boule loaf in a supermarket that was not sliced.
We suspect that the French housewife wants sliced bread to make sandwiches for hubby who does not leave his desk at lunchtime, no leisurely 3 hour lunch and snooze for some.

The summer weather was more like the UK too, much rain and cool evenings which were a blessing to me.

Did I find some experiences for the blog? well, one or two.