It’s been raining rather a lot recently; so because of the lack of sunshine we’ve had to light the boiler stove to keep the water temperature up.
The electricians have now finished their work at the aged FIL; there is now hot water on tap in the house for the first time since it was built. There is also a new three-phase plug in the attached garage. This may sound inconsequential, but it’s very useful. You see, this is where the grain used to be crushed for feeding the cows. On a steel two-wheeled frame sits a powerful three-phase motor.
This is attached by a three-metre long canvas drive belt to a grain crusher, mounted on a wooden frame. If you’ve ever read The Adventures of Tintin: Red Rackham’s Treasure, you’ll know exactly what the machine looks like. It’s illustrated in the part where Thomson and Thompson visit a farmer friend for a holiday, and end up turning the handle of this contraption. Except this one does not actually have a handle. Why am I mentioning this? Well, as previously stated, our neighbour T&M has caught the home-brewing bug, and now makes his own beer. Whereas I tend to use the kits in a tin (because they are so much easier), he has purchased several sacks of malted barley. This needs to be crushed before the beer-making process can begin; so several times a month he pays us a visit in order to use the machine.
Before the fire, this was not an issue. However, since the failure of the electricity supply, the only way to operate the grain-crushing machine was by hand. And due to the lack of a handle, this meant manually pulling the drive belt. Which, I can assure you, is a fairly exhausting job. So now that the three-phase motor is operational again, the grain-crushing should be a lot less tiring!