We definitely moved beyond Maslow’s pyramid and introduced a dishwasher to our ever growing list of utilities – which by the way fits nicely next to our Saurer 2DM … It is a Siemens iQ300 SN23EC03ME which is also driven by our DAB Esybox Mini 3.
What we found out so far:
Water consumption is much higher than advertised even when using the 45°C/45min programme.
Power consumption seems slightly higher than advertised as well with a peak consumption of around 2200W.
But all in all, we still save time, water *and* power compared to washing up by hand. And this holds true even for much less energy efficient dishwashers with an energy star rating of D or worse.
So, next time I buy a dishwasher I think twice if I spend a 100 quid extra on a more power efficient device – especially, when using solar for most of the year …
Dishwsher Siemens iQ300 SN23EC03ME on top of a washing machine driven by a DAB Esybox Mini 3
Finally, they arrived! We now have bins from the Highland Council. This means, we no longer have to drive to the Wick Recycling Centre to dipose our waste. What a convenience! For us this is another milestone (after getting a postal address, the Planning and the barn built).
Our bins delivered by the Highland Council
As our plot is not exactly reachable by the bin men we now drive them to the main road – 440m to be exact. Though this may sound tiresome, but it is still way faster than to drive to the recycling centre.
From here to there (copyright OSMaps)The path our bins take to get emptied (copyright OSMaps)
After trying to register a postal address for months to no end, I was considering the alternative of applying for a PO box life membership.
And then it was all too easy …
The “problem” was a mixture of not having an access road to the plot where we would like to receive postal mail and having no building on the plot with which the address could be connected to. And then you can only start building with a planning permission. But then how would you get deliveries to the construction site without an address?
Note: yes, this is somehow possible, as in using addresses (which we did) such as: That Gate on the A9 opposite of The Red Farm Caithness AB1 2YZ
When contacting Royal Mail directly via one of their “I would like to register a new postal address” forms, we got the reply, that only the Highland Council could actually register new addresses. Hmmm, so why offering this service in the first place, one might ask?
Highland Council then told us that only with a planning permission and a completed house we could actually register a new address. Bummer.
We are building a house in the future, but we want to start with a barn first, for which we do not need a planning permission.
Rescue came in the form of a “Planning Prior Notification” which is a “notification” (hence the name?) to the Highland Council that we want to build a barn for which we do not need a planning permission, as it falls under “permissible development”.
Funnily, this “notification” still has to be approved by the Highland Council. So, is it then really still a notification? One does not know.
Anyway, with this notification approved we could then ask for a new postal address at the Highland Council by actually getting a “Unique Property Reference Number” (UPRN) first.
Once we got that we could proceed and have the address being activated in the Royal Mail database (but not in the Highland Council address database, as the building has not yet been completed).
And then it was only a matter of days, that I could do a search for “Loch Watenan” and get the address returned.
Our letter box installed and awaiting mail. End of story.
Ok, it was not that simple.
Some things that had to be done before this happened:
Provide exact details of the location of the property
Provide the planning reference number
Choose house name (much more difficult than one would think)
Provide the OS grid reference number for the property
Convince Highland Council that we still want a postal address and have a secure drop-off point, though our building has no access road
Ask for exception to be included in the Royal Mail address database though the building has not yet been completed
Confirm that delivery to that address is really possible
Inform the local Royal Mail delivery guys that there is actually a new address (probably the most important point here)
Side information here: the road to Loch Watenan actually has a name, though most people here do not know. It is “Watenan Road“.
Originally this was an unnamed road (“U1202” road) while some locals claim, the road was called something like “Marble Road”.
Highland Council U1202 Watenan Road
In reality road name or house name, it does not seem to make a difference. The only thing up here that counts, is: the two local mail delivery guys know you exist. So basically one could write any house name with the correct post code on it, as long it has the correct name (your name) on it.
Today, we got the planning for our barn. Actually, we received the positive decision for a “prior planning notification” (which is certainly not a Planning Permission), as in Scotland there is no need for full planning permissions when building agricultural sheds.
So, this went really well! And now we can do the next step. That is: ordering the actual building kit which will be delivered from Robinsons Agricultural.
The barn will be a metal construction of 30m x 10m with an eaves height of 5m. We will be starting this week with the foundation and the levelling work.
The building site (to the left hand side of the image)
Our Journey to Scotland 