Collectors Will Love This ‘FCK PTN!’ Stamp

The official statement by the Ukranian Postal Service does not include an image, but Banksy’s Instagram account does. So I copied that image here:

Source: Banksy on Instagram – see https://www.instagram.com/p/CpLO9g0sklw/?hl=en

In their own words:

The graffiti on the wall of a damaged building in urban-type settlement Borodyanka, which depicts the duel of two judokas, was chosen by Ukrposhta as a sketch for the postal issue “FCK PTN!”. A little boy who knocks out a grown man is an allegorical image – this is the struggle of Ukraine against the russian federation.

Ukrposhta

Propaganda? Of course – but necessary, I’m afraid. Note how all references to the enemy are written without capital letters ;-)

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Better Late Than Never?

This is what our garden looked like this morning:

Having the first snow of the Winter in March is not how we like things. The snow has mostly disappeared by now, with temperatures well over 0° Celsius. And yet: it was warmer last Christmas!

Sunshine Is Off To A Slow Start This Year

February was a very dry month this year, but that does not mean that we had a lot of sunshine. And while 96% of the average photovoltaic energy production is better than 81%, it’s still below average. Yesterday and today are cold but sunny days, but that says nothing about the rest of March – we’ll have to wait 4 weeks so see how this month turns out.

WTF Accor Group ?

I received a promotional email from the Accor Group, telling me that I could get a substantial rebate on a stay in some of their hotels. We like visiting cities all around Europe, so I checked out the list of hotels in the promotion. There are hotels in the Netherlands, in Germany, but not in France – too bad.

And then… what? I can get a rebate in Russian hotels ????

Does the Accor Group not know that Russia is at war, with their invasion of Ukraine?

Does the Accor Group not know that Europe has imposed economic sanctions on Russia?

Does the Accor Group think that there are many Europeans wanting to go to Russia at this moment?

Isn’t there a single Accor executive who might have said: “Wait a moment – it may not be a good idea to include Russan hotels in this promo” before launching this campaign?

Good News For Ola Bini, At Last

This has been going on for far too long, but finally “Digital Rights Activist Ola Bini Declared Innocent By Ecuadorian Court”.

Little Sunshine In January

January 2023 was a dark month in Belgium: we had only two really sunny days. As a result, our solar panels managed to produce just 81% of what we expected. On the other hand, temperatures are still higher than normal, and as a result we can see the trees and plants in our garden already getting ready for Spring. Let’s hope the sun follows their planning!

2023 Was A Sunny Year

Last year was a very sunny year overall, and we have the photovoltaic production numbers to prove that. The Winter and Autumn of 2022 were more or less average, but Spring and Summer were quite sunny (and warm!). So in the end we can write down a production that is 3.10% higher than the average of the previous years 2010-2021, with only two years significantly higher production – and those two are the very first years of the installation (no surprises there). The contrast with 2021 could not have been larger!

Best Wishes For 2023 !

Sunny November, Average Autumn

Meteorologists are calling this autumn (September, October and November) pretty average when it comes to the amount of sunshine, and distinctly warmer than average ;-)

Our findings are similar, given that the grass in our garden was still growing rapidly until mid-November – that’s exceptional, and can only be explained with those mild temperatures. An above-average solar energy production number for November (116% of our average) compensates the low performance of September, and does indeed make the 2022 autumn pretty average.

The Sun Is Still Going Strong!

Autumn? Who’s talking about autumn? It has been exceptionally warm in Belgium in October; I haven’t noticed our heating switching on at home, and that is not just because we have lowered the temperature setting in order to save a bit of energy.

The sun has also done its best: our solar panels reported a production of 113% of the October average.

Autumn Arrived Early!

Our summer was (very) warm and sunny; September saw an early autumn replace the heat. In fact, September was rather dark and pretty wet. Our solar panels registered the lowest electricity production numbers for all September months since 2009 !

As Promised…

As promised: the updated electricity production numbers are now available on this site.

Remarkable: Another Month With Above-Average Sunshine

August 2022 is indeed the fourth month in a row to exceed the average electricity production numbers for our installation. 114% is pretty remarkable, as far as I can tell, given the age and state of our solar configuration.

I’ll update the numbers overview later.

July’s Sun: Better Than Average

Despite the gray weather of last Sunday July 2022 was actually quite sunny. Good news for our solar panels, whose production came to 109% of the average of the past decade.

Temse and the river Schelde, Belgium – 2022-07-31

No good news for Ukraine, so far…

In June Our Solar Panels Beat The Average Again

Good news again: our photovoltaic panels caught enough sunshine to beat the average electricity production numbers of the installation for the past twelve months of June.