Still using less electricity and happy about it!

In August I blogged about our rudimentary efforts to use less electricity - not purely out of a desire to be greener, but because it's damn expensive and reducing the bill is worthwhile.

We've had another bill so I thought I'd post a quick update. It also stops my blog looking quite so neglected.


We have averaged 15.5 units a day over this quarter, compared to 22.8 for the same quarter last year, saving about 7.3 units a day. There were 82 days in last quarter, so that means 598.6 units saved at 13.11p (ignoring tax) - so thats £78.50ish in theory. The real saving was just under £70 on the bill, because the number of days differed.

Still not bad. I'm very happy with saving almost 30% on our electric bill!

Whats next?

The kettle needs replacing, so I'm hunting for the most eco-friendly (yet practical/functional) one I can find within a reasonable budget (upto about £30 - I use the kettle A LOT so I figure its worth it) - recommendations welcome.

We are also going to update our heating soon, getting rid of the old power-gobbling wall mounted ones in favour of some low energy flat panels (or similar). Then it's onto the white goods - the fridge and freezer are not currently very energy efficient... can't afford to change those until we've saved more on the bills though!

Follow Friday - The Jersey Ones

A while ago I blogged about #FollowFriday on Twitter and how it was useless to just spam a list of names.

Since then quite a few people have actually suggested blogging - and then tweeting the link (including @NikkiPilkington - she may have been the first I saw recommend it). Obvious when you think about it!

So accordingly, here are some interesting people to follow for this week - they all have a bit of a Jersey theme to them, because, lets face it - Jersey is fantastic (although others who live here don't always agree - I think being away for 10+ years has give me a bit of context!)

So, five of the best Jersey Tweeps (there are more of you out there, and you'll get a mention later, don't worry!)

@JerseyTourism - keep abreast of the latest tourism related news and highlights from the local events calendar.

@FreshFishCo - possibly the freshest fish in the Island! Friendly and helpful too.

@DunellsWines - free wine tastings on a Saturday so you can pick the perfect bottle(s) to go with Sunday lunch!

@Channel103News - news updates and more from my personal favourite local radio station (err not that there are loads of options, mind you!)

@BrianLeLion - as well as being a very nice chap, Brian does on occasion post links to photographs and videos he has taken, which show off our lovely island wonderfully - highly recommended!


Enjoy - and why not leave me a comment with your own recommendations?

ASP.NET shows a blank page in IIS?

OK. So this keeps getting me. Thus I'm blogging the answer as an aide memoire to myself.

If you have an ASP.NET site in IIS (typically one you've just installed or updated) and all you get is a blank page in internet explorer (or a nasty xml error in firefox)..

If you also use Global.asax to override the error handling, then you will need to temporarily uncomment that - basically something fundamental has gone wrong, and not even the error handler is working.

Normally this means the site can't load its configuration file(s), can't get to it's database, etc. Best thing is to uncomment the handling in global.asax and try again - then put it back once it's fixed!

Jersey Tennerfest 2009 - One Down!

Well, a while ago I mentioned that it is now tennerfest season - and duly, we managed to make it out to visit the Museum Brasserie - which was really good.

Trying to make space in the calendar (and bank balance!) for another night out before the end of the month - have any local readers been out to sample the various tennerfest menus available?

If so - any recommendations?

Another do-follow blog

A while ago I posted that my grumpy blog had become 'dofollow'.

I thought I'd come back and post another quick note to say that Mattched IT's Blog now accepts comments and offers do-follow links. So please feel free to swing by and take a look.

Also applies to News/Articles posted on our Web Development site.

Jersey Tennerfest 2009

This years tennerfest supplement was in the JEP last night - and a few of the menus actually look quite appealing this year - there seem to be more £10 or £12.50s too - seem to remember a lot of £15/£17.50s in 2008.

One or two are a bit wierd (some bananas popping up where they don't seem to belong, for a start), and the odd one is a bit cheeky (£10 for 1 course! Not really a fest - although the menu in question looked interesting).

Will we have time to get out and enjoy a few this year? I'm sure we will!

Lloyds internet banking? Another thumbs up!

For quite a long time, I've been a big fan of Lloyds internet banking - it works well, and always has, really.

It's user friendly and generally not a complete pain in the arse like some others (Alliance & Leicester, Barclays - I'm looking at both of you).

They've added something new - which I'd forgotten about, but thought I'd mention because it's a good idea.

When you add a new person to make a payment to, and automated system calls you on one of your registered contact numbers to confirm that you want to add a new payee and make a transaction - a good security measure, I think. Perhaps not totally convenient if you were out on the move and potentially irritating - but quite well executed in this case. Well done, Lloyds!