Day 5: London
Tech support staff trainees (and photo-hog service dog) |
QOTD:
Please sir,
can we walk on the sunny side of the street, please?
Weather:
Another chilly one, this time with the sun
shining. Low 40s in shade, maybe even high 30s. Much better in the sun
View from 18 Cadogan: creative sheathing on construction project |
Toast
and coffee in the apartment for breakfast. We’re meeting the son and
daughter-in-law and two grandchildren of MB and DB for brunch. Gail’s Bakery,
the first choice, is a short Uber ride away (DBr, after helping DBl with his
Uber, gets the app to work on her phone as well).
It's a small to-go only place |
No toaster on the premises |
Gail’s
has only outdoor seating (and there are actually people sitting outdoors!), and
can’t handle 8 of us (phew); in the meantime, THB goes in and buys some San Francisco
sourdough and two hot cross buns (which heat up nicely tomorrow morning).
We end
up around the corner at Le Pain Quotidien (DB and THB remember eating her the
other time we came to Collect, years ago). It’s toasty inside (though they don’t
toast the bread, which renders it substandard to THB’s taste at an eat-in
bakery) with room for 8. Scrambled eggs and prosciutto for DB and THB, a
variety of meals for the others. Most uniquely, granddaughter K has hot
chocolate with a carafe of chocolate to pour in and a chocolate waffle with a carafe
of chocolate to pour over the waffle. It’s a lot of chocolate….even for an 8 year old.
The
others head off to the museums, the gents in one direction, the ladies in the
other. DB and THB walk back (preferably on the sunny side of the street) to the
apartment to rest and freshen up.
Mid-afternoon,
Uber through a now much less congested downtown (it’s Saturday) to Vauxhall Station and
catch a train to Raynes Park. GO is there to greet us and we motor the last bit
to where KB and THB spent almost 3 weeks during the summer of 2012.
Huf (hoof) Haus (house) |
Owners Manual? |
Well….almost. GO and MO have moved next door. Sort of. They subdivided their lot and had a German-made “Huf Haus” installed on the smaller portion of the lot right next to the traditional Wimbledon house. Most of THB’s friends have resisted downsizing: The O’s have totally embraced it, along with moving into an eco-friendly house.
Air to heat power source |
The
haus is “powered” by an air to heat source pump * (see below for the marketing
brochure version of how this works). Here's the "engine" room; the German manufacturer of the house knows something has gone wrong before the residents do.
And, they
have just moved in and are figuring out how to live in the space: we’re
the first non-family entertaining they've done, and wouldn’t you know it that means THB is posting pics before they're all
settled in (THB’s rough rule of thumb: it takes 2 years to get settled into any
new residence).
Lots of
drink, excellent food (MO is getting used to having company “in the kitchen”
while prepping the meal), much conversation of life changes (you know, small
stuff like grandchildren and multiple weddings of offspring in same year), what
life in the times of Brexit and DJT feels like (more “small” stuff, right
DJT?).
Uber
all the way back to 18 Cadogan to revisit our day and theirs with MB and DB.
Shots from around town:
The ugliest building in London? |
*How
it actually works sounds more complicated than it is so hopefully this step by
step guide will ease you through using an Air Source Heat Pump:
A fan simply forces air over a heat exchanger (a copper coil
filled with refrigerant) in order to extract its heat.
The Air Source Heat Pump’s evaporator then uses the air
source heat obtained by the exchanger to boil the refrigerant (boils at
approximately -10˚C) and the act of boiling turns the refrigerant into vapour
which is then transferred to the Compressor.
The Compressor then literally compresses the vapour and as
its volume decreases, its temperature increases and the gas that is created by
this is fed through to a heat exchanger within the heating pump.
Forcing this hot gas through the central heating system’s
cold water condenses the refrigerant back into a liquid but as it does this its
heat is passed into the heat exchanger which supplies your domestic hot water
and powers the central heating system using the air source heat extracted
originally.
To complete the Air Source Heat Pump’s closed circuit, the
pressure of the condensed liquid is reduced via the expansion valve and ‘Voila’
– your heating requirements are provided!
The house looks amazing! So modern.Congrats to GO and MO (if you are reading this!)! Xoxo Katie
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