Moving to the county - part 2

Off The Grid Well, not exactly but we aren’t on the main domestic gas pipeline. We have a big 1600 litre tank in the garden filled with LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas, or Propane in old money) and after digging around I discovered that: a) it can be quite expensive to use and b) the rules around supply have just changed after a lengthy Competition Commission process Short version of this is that after ringing round and getting quotes, the tank owner matched the best price immediately. We save 20% which leads me to think that the market was previously quite fixed and there is probably quite a bit of fat still in the pricing. Heating the place full-on with gas is still going to be quite expensive, so we’re learning the art of making a fire and getting some smokeless solid fuel in during the summer. It’s cheap, it’s cosy, it’s the best plan so far. And On The Net Internet was a massive worry, and despite my best efforts we didn’t have broadband from day one. Cue a quick trip to the 3 store for a mobile dongle on PAYG folowed by much cursing as we realised out mobile coverage was frankly pisspoor. A week or so later (it was longer than it would have been, easter bank holiday got in the way) and broadband from ADSL24 was live. We get a good 6.5mbps down and 800kbps upstream reliably, thanks to being less than 400m from our village exchange. That’s OK for rural broadband I reckon, and it might get upgraded for 20mb in 2010. Maybe. One Month In So, we’re just about settled in, the difference in rent cost balances almost exactly the increase in travel costs. Working from home is much more pleasurable in many ways - space inside to focus and distractions outside for breaks to mention just two. Let’s see how it goes.