Broken Ribs

Three weeks ago today I had a kite-surfing accident and broke/fractured rib(s). At the time it was uncomfortable, but I carried on surfing for a few minutes, and it was time to pack up anyway.

I was able to pack up, get home, unpack the car, get out of my wet-suit etc, all a little uncomfortable, but really not too painful. The next morning I went to drive to work, and I got about 100 yards in the car and the clicking and pain was almost unbearable. It still makes me a bit light-headed to think about it.

I limped home, and ended up at home for 3 weeks.

The first week I really did no activities at all. I wasn't away from the house for the first week.

I got some stronger painkillers on prescription, and began taking them immediately. I struggled to do basic things like getting up the stairs, or standing and sitting. All week I lay exactly flat on my back all night without moving. Very uncomfortable.

By the time one week had passed, I was able to be a passenger in a car. I was able to get in and out of a car with a bit of care. However, at this stage I was struggling to get in and out of bed, I made sure I only made the transition from horizontal to vertical once per day. No laying about on the sofa, I only spent time sitting straight up during the day.

After about 10 days I tried driving a short distance, but it was still very uncomfortable, so I gave up driving for that second weekend. Each day I felt more comfortable, and at this stage I was able to sleep a bit on my side; my good side only, not the injured side.

Today, 3 weeks after my injury I returned to work. I'm still clicking a bit, and to be honest, driving is probably the activity I find most difficult. I'm much more comfortable sleeping, in fact last night was the first night I got to sleep on my injured side.

I still have some way to go, but I'm feeling incredibly better than I was, and each day brings an improvement. It wont be long before I'm strapped to a kite again ;)

Kitesurfing - Downhill - 11th September 2017

Epic conditions tonight at Downhill, nice wind for my new 9 and the longest flats between the waves I've ever seen. Out after work, on the water for about 90 minutes.

Then I tried a down loop waterstart. Epic fail, crashed kite and face plant. Sore, but quickly recovered. Then I tried a back roll, and I really have no idea what happened, but I fell hard on my left side.  Real hard. So hard in fact that I think I have broken more than one rib. They are cracking and popping like mad. 

I suspect I'll be out of the water for a week or two :(

Kitesurfing Benone 9th September 2017

Today was forecast to be good north west all day, but better in the afternoon with more sunshine. I went to Benone after lunchtime and there were 4 other kite surfers already setting up. They were strangers to me, seemed nice, and also mostly learners, I think.

I set up and set off, but it quickly became apparent that these guys were in my way. Being learners their kites were almost always at 12 o clock and I was upwind of them, meaning I couldn't easily sail past them. The wind was quite onshore too.

So I packed off down the beach, downwind of them. It was great. Great conditions, and the new kites boost a lot more than the old ones. Really enjoying them. I was there for a few hours, just getting to grips with the new kite, and how quick it is compared to my old ones. Great Saturday afternoon!!

Kitesurfing - Benone - Friday 8th September 2017

Forecast looked good for this evening all week, and it actually happened. I don't think I have been this nervous about kitesurfing for ages, taking to the water on a new kite, and not knowing its characteristics.

Anyway, after work I headed straight to the beach, someone else wa kiting, so I went to near them. I took a lot longer than normal to get set up, as I was making sure everything was ok with the gear.

It was quite showery, but between the showers I had a great wee session. This is the first time I easily stayed upwind in a long time. Totally juiced on the new 9.

Kite 5th September

Tonight I went to the beach to try out my new kites. They arrived in the post today, two Ozone C4 kites, 9 and 12.

I was really only hoping to set them up and see what they flew like, but unfortunately there really wasn't enough wind to even do that. Maybe another day.

Kitesurfing 26th Jun 2017

Great wee session this afternoon down at Downhill. Wind was quite changeable, I tried both the 9 and the 12, but settled on the 9. Ended up doing two downwinders from the river to the mouth. Lovely flats between the waves, and nice ramps, up to 6-8 ft at the outside. Cross from the west side. Best day I've had for ages. The 9 is so nimble, makes me wonder if I should change the 12....

Connecting to a Raspberry Pi behind a 3G Router

Experimenting with 3G router and '3' free 200MB/Mth data SIM and of course there is the NAT problem, so I did this:

http://zieren.de/raspberry-pi/reverse-ssh-through-3gnat/

/usr/bin/sshpass -p "password" ssh -o ServerAliveInterval=60 -o ServerAliveCountMax=2 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o ConnectTimeout=15 -N -R 22222:localhost:22 pi@my-house.ddns.net -p 1234

Then I can "ssh localhost -p 22222" on my local pi and get connected to the one behind the NAT. Excellent.

Kitesurfing 5th May 2017

Roasting weather, east wind, great!

Raspberry pi eGalax touchscreen calibration on zero / Raspberry pi 3 / PIXEL

Software updates bring compatibility problems, that's just how it is. Although the eGalax touch screen drivers are now in the kernel, and the touch screen functionality works out of the box, I couldn't get the touch calibrated.

Long story short, this is what I ended up with. Sometime xinput_calibrator came out with a section like this :

 Section "InputClass"
        Identifier      "calibration"
        MatchProduct    "eGalax Inc. USB TouchController"
        Option  "MinX"  "2881"
        Option  "MaxX"  "62736"
        Option  "MinY"  "60381"
        Option  "MaxY"  "5495"
        Option  "SwapXY"        "0" # unless it was already set to 1
        Option  "InvertX"       "0"  # unless it was already set
        Option  "InvertY"       "0"  # unless it was already set
 EndSection

but that was no good!

Then, finally, it came out with a section like this:

 Section "InputClass"

        Identifier      "calibration"

        MatchProduct    "eGalax Inc. USB TouchController"

        Option  "Calibration"   "103 1962 1864 158"

        Option  "SwapAxes"      "0"

 EndSection

with the "Option Calibration stuff on one line, and this seemed to work. I put it in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-calibration.conf

Hope that saves someone else the time :)

moving from inittab to systemd

For better or for worse raspbian has moved from the old System V init process control to the newer systemd version. I liked my inittab file, because it was quite simple and extremely easy to use, but it is no longer a choice.

So, I had this old line in inittab:
Gar:2345:respawn:start-stop-daemon --start -p /tmp/garage.pid  -m --exec /usr/bin/java  -v -d /home/pi/builds -- -jar garageController.jar

And now I want to run it on a new Raspberry Pi.

So, we need to create a service, its actually quite simple. I created the file /etc/systemd/system/garage.service with this text:
[Unit]
Description=Garage Door Control Software

[Service]
Type=simple
PIDFile=/var/tmp/garage.pid
ExecStart=/usr/bin/java -jar garageDoor.jar gpio
#ExecStart=/home/pi/builds/start_controller.sh
WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/builds
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Then we need to run a few commands to make sure our new service auto-starts.

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

sudo systemctl enable garage.service
sudo systemctl start garage.service

sudo systemctl --all | grep garage

##this should show that the service is started.

That's it. 

(I used instructions from https://n3mesisfixx.blogspot.ie/2012/08/migrate-etcinittab-job-to-systemd-in.html)

Raspberry pi wont update time on NTP

Weird problem with a pi zero-w, where when I put it on my friend's network it gets the wrong time.


Bit of a workaround, rather than a fix, but it got me up and running, and should be reliable...

1. Open rc.local file
   sudo nano /etc/rc.local
2. add following line to the rc.local file
   sudo date -s "$(wget -qSO- --max-redirect=0 google.com 2>&1 | grep Date: | cut -d' ' -f5-8)Z"
3. reboot the Rpi
   sudo reboot

Basically, it gets the HTTP headers from the server at google.com and sets the pi's time to that.




From:
https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/47542/raspberry-pi-wont-update-time

Using a Raspberry Pi to fix a broken Ethernet mains switch

Energenie LAN Switcher

My father-in-law uses an Energenie LAN switch to remotely manage the lighting in a shed where animals are kept. This means that the animals can be monitored remotely day and night by CCTV, and the lighting can be controlled either via the local web server on the LAN Switch, or via Energenie's internet web interface.

However, it stopped working. Time to call in the Raspberry Pi.

I already control my central heating using a Raspberry Pi and an off-the-shelf relay module, so I wondered if the exact same solution would work for the shed lights. I also wondered if I could shoehorn a Pi and the relay module into the energenie casing, so I opened it up.

Inside with the old electronics - you can see scorch marks from the old board failing

It looked like there was enough space there, so I removed the old control board with the burnt out components, and the next stage was to get the software and hardware working. I had an 8 channel relay board and an old Raspberry Pi lying around, so I decided to use those.

It is a while since I installed or updated Raspbian, so I downloaded the latest version, and I have to say, it seems that there is a lot more there by default now, which is helpful. I quickly got my heating server installed and configured, and connected the relay board, and it all worked easily.

The Pi with a relay module - I'm only using 4 relays

Using this I was able to connect via the PHP web interface, or via the android app I wrote for it. It's strangely satisfying to hear relays click on and off when you press buttons on your phone.

As this is really just a quick fix I wasn't going to change the app at all, so it still gets the title "heating controls" and the "on" command is "boost" like it is for the heating.

I set the boost to put the lights on for 6 hours, so that is effectively as long as would be required in one go. The heating controller backend has no concept of "on" or "off", only timed programs.


With this all working, it was time to box it all up. This was probably the trickiest part of the project, but I managed to get the relay module and Pi into the box. I had to do a bit of filing, but it turned out to fit quite snugly allowing the Ethernet connection out the end for easy access.

	Relay board wired in
	Everything fitting snugly

And some photos with the cover back on

The system has been in the shed for a few weeks now, and is working perfectly. The app allows connection over the local LAN or over the internet seamlessly, depending on which network is available, and the text based protocol means that with even with only GPRS or Edge the switching is very fast.

ATEM Television Studio - live copies of the output file

We recently installed a ATEM Television Studio to mix cameras to an MP4 file in our church building. The idea originally was that we would burn this to DVD, and augment our CD ministry to include video distribution on DVD.

ATEM Television Studio

Since the days when we used cassette tapes, we have always distributed the media directly after the service - so people waiting 5 minutes or so afterwards could take copies of the service to deliver to those who can't make it out.

We wanted to keep this up, and so we looked into a DVD recorder to record the output of the Television Studio module directly to DVD, which could then be duplicated after the service. However, we hit several technical hurdles with this, and had to give up - mainly around aspect ratio.

So we were stuck with the MP4 file on disk. The process of converting this to DVD video, and burning it is slow. Even just burning the 2-3GB MP4 file directly to a DVD for duplicating is a slow process.

After a lot of head scratching we decided to distribute copies of our services on USB memory stick. Many people have a modern TV with a USB input, and we were surprised how many of our elderly people actually had such a device. With this, it is relatively easy to play the video file in superb quality on a TV.

But, we are still left with a problem - how do we write ~3GB of data to multiple USB sticks after the service? Writing to a stick could take 11 minutes, or about 3 minutes for USB 3.0 - but even at 3 minutes, if we have multiple copies to produce it could take quite a while.

Again, more head scratching, investigations into hugely expensive USB duplicators, and USB 3 hubs, but no satisfactory solution. Then the idea struck - why don't we write the data to the USB stick while the service is running - so we tail the file as it grows on the PC, and write the data out to each pen. The bandwidth, even in USB 2 would be more than sufficient to make quite a few simultaneous copies.

So I set to work on a piece of software to do this. I got over the problem of reading from a locked file quite easily, and had a prototype. However, when I ran it, the copy wouldn't play. By looking at binary diffs of the files I discovered that MP4 files have header information at the beginning, which is actually written at the very end of the process. I also discovered the ATEM seems to write large portions of the file filled with zeros, and then fills up the zeros with actual data.

Long story short, after many iterations of my software I got it working. Two strategies helped me:

1. I don't read to the end of the file until it has been completely written - I stay about 5MB back from the end - this way I don't read any zeros.
2. As I read each chunk and write it out to the USB sticks, I keep the offset, size and checksum of the data in an list. After the writing is complete, I re-read the source file from the start, and recalculate the checksum. If the new sum is different, I seek to the stored location in the file and rewrite the specified chunk. Typically it only rewrites the first chunk.

I added an option into the program to check the checksum, but since it is working properly, there is now no need to read the entire written data from the stick. 

Copies of the service are available about a minute after the service ends. Actually, these are available long before the CDs of the service become available now! And of course, the same software can be used to make copies of any service, not just the one we just recorded. It means you can make many unattended copies, only limited by the number of ports you have.

Why not YouTube?

Some people have suggested distributing service content via YouTube, but I'm not sure that fits with what we are trying to do: 

1. It would take a long time to upload and process - some of our elderly people are watching their copy about an hour after the end of the service
2. We could put internet access into the church building and stream live
1. that would have associated ongoing costs
2. our target audience for this ministry generally don't have easy access to the internet
3. publishing online brings other concerns about who can see the content
3. Each USB stick is brought into the home of someone who may be housebound, and not see very many visitors during the week. This contact is costly (time/effort) for the person who delivers the media, but incredibly valuable to the person who receives it..

YouTube may be something we think about for the future, but we don't see it as a suitable extension of our current ministry.

Screen Blanking On Raspberry Pi With Official Touch Screen

On the official RPi touch screen the screen goes blank after 30 minutes, and at first glance this seemed to do what I spent a lot of time scripting for an HDMI screen.

However, I noticed that using this default screen blanking the touch which unblanks the screen also gets sent to whatever program is below it, so if you happen to touch a button on the 'blank' screen, the button gets a press event.

So, in order to fix this I installed the xscreensaver

sudo apt-get install xscreensaver

and then configure it using

xscreensaver-demo

which allows me to set it to a black screen, and I also noticed there is the option there to have it activate the power management of the screen to turn it off. For this application I want the screen to go off after 1 minute, so I set that, and very easily I have the functionality I need.

The screen goes off after 1 minute, and any touch instantly brings the screen on, but doesn't get passed through to the underlying application. Perfect.

I also removed the default screen blanking, as I suspect there is a bit of an issue sometimes

edit /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

[SeatDefaults]
xserver-command=X -s 0 -dpms

 Credit: http://www.geeks3d.com/hacklab/20160108/how-to-disable-the-blank-screen-on-raspberry-pi-raspbian/

"O death, where is thy sting?" I think I found it.

I don't mean to be disrespectful in my treatment of scripture, but this text "O death, where is thy sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:55) has been on my mind over the last couple of days, and more-so today as we attended the thanksgiving service for a dear friend, and a devoted follower of Jesus Christ.

Since I heard the news on Sunday, when I walk, as I drive, as I go about life, I think to myself, boy, this stings. As we sang part of Psalm 116 on Sunday "Dear in God's sight is his saints' death" it stings. As I think of children and grandchildren without a mum and granny, it stings. As I think of a husband without a wife....

Death stings because we are the ones who are left behind. 

Ann was full of life. Ann was full of "the life" - Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life" - this is the life that Ann had living inside of her. And it was easy to see, and it stood the test of time and tribulation. Jesus said "the one who stands firm to the end will be saved"  (Matthew 24:13) meaning that one of the tests of our faith is time. There would be those who would initially spring up very quickly, and look like they had faith in Jesus, but they would quickly wither and it would be clear that their faith had no real roots (Matthew 13:20-21). Ann was the opposite of this. As troubles and difficulties multiplied, so did her faith. As trouble comes it provides a real, visible test of our faith, demonstrating if we are true or false converts. 1 Peter 1:6-7 makes it clear that trouble will come, and that this trouble will ensure that our faith "may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed." This is what happened. As Ann lived more vibrantly than ever in her last year, the glory of God was shown clearly. As her illness increased her health declined yet her hope and peace increased. She had "no guilt in life, no fear in death" - a wonderful testimony to all who looked on.

“Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”

The ultimate victory of death is gone. The ultimate sting of death is gone. Guilt from sin is removed for those who repent and trust. We can look at death and say "to live is Christ, to die is gain" - how is it not gain to fall asleep, and wake up in the direct presence of the Saviour God? How great it will be to find relief from the troubles of this world, in the place where "There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:4)

Ann has fallen asleep. She has gone to be with her King. For now we are separated. But the sad truth is that for many who attended the service yesterday that separation will permanent, there is no denying that, because Ann chose a way of life that many reject. Jesus said that the way was narrow, and few find it. He said that many "religious" people would say "Lord, Lord" to him on judgement day, and he will tell them he didn't know them. I want to be one who instead hears the words "well done, good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25). One day I want to stand beside her in the presence of Jesus; her saviour and mine.

As we who remain deal with this horrible sting that we feel, we need to remember that "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1).

Let each of us who remain look to Him as our fortress, our deliverer, our God, our rock, in whom we take refuge, our shield. Ann would want us to honour her memory by honouring the one who gave her life, and life eternal. She would want us to do that by finding our hope in the same place she had hers. Let us do her memory justice by placing our hope in the same God as Ann did.

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (John 14:1-3 (ESV))

Soli Deo gloria

Talktalk HG633 Router Saga Summary

Just in case this helps anyone else diagnose their router:

If you have Fibre Broadband from Talktalk and you have a good reliable DSL connection to the exchange (no resyncs, no DSL drops), but your internet connection speed drops intermittently to 1Mbps or lower, and a reboot of the router normally fixes it, then you need a new router  - and not a Talktalk one.

My router had the latest firmware (according to their website, although one of the technicians said it was out of date). The network inside the house including wireless worked perfectly all the time.

My sync speed to the exchange was always good, and the DSL connection only dropped when I rebooted the router. Rebooting the router instantly fixed the problem, but it would return sometimes within minutes, sometimes many hours later.

They sent a BT engineer, who confirmed that the line was all good.

I also found out that simply restarting the DSL fixed the problem too. (Click Maintain then scroll down to DSL, then there is a restart DSL button right at the bottom).

After a 2 month diagnosis with Talktalk ended up getting a new Talktalk router and it had the same issues. I ordered a Netgear Nighthawk D7000 router and this solved my problems. Buy one from Amazon UK, and then you should be able to return it for a refund if it doesn't solve your problem (just don't take all the plastic off it etc)

Talktalk HG633 Fibre Broadband Router Nightmare Saga

On the 11th of May our fibre router arrived, and our service went live on the 14th May. It was great, finally we got fast broadband, even if we did have to pay a small premium for it. It worked well for about 2 months.

On the 17th or 18th of July we had family staying and our guests began to report a problem with our internet connection. I was initially reluctant to do anything about it, but at the beginning of the following week I phoned Talktalk customer support.

The problem was intermittent - sometimes the speed would be perfect, at about 20Mbps, and other times it would drop to the point where speed tests would time out, and it was barely possible to check for new emails. The router always reported a good sync speed, and rarely if ever lost connection to the exchange. Rebooting the router always fixed it, sometimes for many hours, sometimes for only a few minutes.

Thus began the long saga where I would have to have line test after line test done. Every call to Talktalk required a fresh explanation of the problem, and the usual "I've completed a line test and it shows there are no problems". We had a BT engineer visit and he replaced our master socket, but reported that there was no problem with the line, which of course we already knew, as the sync speed was good, and the connection didn't drop.

Talktalk became pretty frustrating when they kept asking for the same ping and tracert tests to be done over and over. Then there were days of delays while their "network team" analysed my results. On one occasion they told me the ping and tracert results were "incorrect", and made me do them again - so I sent results that were exactly the same again; this time they were OK. Ping and tracert results were sent on 29 Jul, 6 Aug, 8 Aug, and 1 Sept.

Time continued to pass, July, and now August was almost gone.

Searching google for this yielded no fruit. This new HG633 router seems to cause problems, but no one was reporting the same problem as me. I was getting nowhere with the diagnosis and decided to take things into my own hands. The HG633 is very much a consumer level router, and doesn't even allow certain ports to be used, so I had toyed with the idea of buying my own router anyway, but they can be hugely expensive. I settled on the TP-Link TD-W9980 which is not as expensive as others, but reported good results. I ordered the router on 25th August, and it arrived on the 1st September. I spent a while fighting with settings (an updated firmware added Talktalk to the setup wizard, and that made it easy) and once I got it working it stayed working for a few days. The two issues with this new router were that the sync speed was only half of the HG633, and the wireless range wasn't nearly as good. But it worked. I believe this is the root of the problem.

I was waiting for Talktalk to phone over the weekend, but there was no word. So I finally called Talktalk on Monday 7th Sept, and the guy was seriously suggesting going through the "we need to do a line test stuff". I had to be quite firm, and actually talk over him (which I don't like doing) but since he didn't read my notes (it seems they don't even have a summary that pops up on their screen!) I had to explain the problem was ongoing, and that with my personal purchase of a new router the problem seems to have gone away. I had decided that rather than trying to get the new router to sync at a higher speed I would simply request a new router. So they agreed to send me a new router.

I used testmy.net/auto to run periodic (10 or 15 minute intervals) speed tests over many days. The results testing is below, marked with the different routers.

The left side of these test results shows how with the Talktalk router the speed would drop right to zero. In the centre section where the speed is more like 11M (TP-link router) you can see how stable it is, apart from three drops, where there were other big downloads happening at the same time as the speed test. And when I plugged the original router back in, you can see it operating OK, and then failing again. I persuaded Talktalk to send me a new router, and plugged it in with great hope, followed by great disappointment. As you can see from the first of the two sections on the right, it was still just as unreliable.

At this point I did some better research and spent about £170 on a Netgear Nighthawk D7000 router. It seemed to get good reviews and reportedly had a good wireless range. I restarted the Talktalk router while I waited for the Netgear to come, and it seemed to perform better in the meantime. However I didn't trust it to continue.

On Saturday 12th September the Netgear router arrived, so I plugged it in and set it up. So far (Thur 17th) it has performed well, and I haven't rebooted it since Sunday. There have been no re-syncs since, and the speed test results are good. See the continuation of the graph below

There are a couple of spikes, which I can't explain, maybe other big downloads were happening, I don't know, but the router has performed flawlessly so far.

And, due to the fact that telnet can be enabled on this router, DSLStats can be used to see all sorts of interesting data (that I don't understand!) about the router. And it shows my connection speed, and my lack of re-syncs, which are both great. You can see from the graph above as well that although the sync speed is the same on the Talktalk router and the Netgear, that the Netgear consistently provides slightly higher throughput.

So, after almost two months of angst fighting with Talktalk and router configurations, getting a new DSL faceplate, and trying three brand new VDSL2 routers my problem finally seems to be solved.

I will update this article if there are any further developments, but from the point of view I have at the minute, if you are experiencing problems with the Talktalk Super router, don't listen to Talktalk telling you they will sort it, go buy yourself a Netgear Nighthalk D7000 from Amazon, and sort it yourself. And if the router doesn't solve the problem, just return it to Amazon, who are very good for refunds.

Netgear D7000-100UKS Nighthawk AC1900 D7000 router and DSLStats

Just in case it helps anyone out there, I struggled to set up DSL Stats with this router.

I ended up using the netgear debug url to enable telnet (http://192.168.0.1/setup.cgi?todo=debug), which left me with a prompt for a username which I had to enter 'root' (without quotes).

To set up DSL Stats, I used these settings:
Modem/Router model  -  
IP Address: - set to the IP of your router
Telnet login name: - leave blank
Telnet password - leave blank
Telnet port - 23
tick the box  " Requires command to enter shell"
Shell command - root
CLI command prefix - xdslctl

with these settings it began collecting data for me. HTH and HAND :)



NETGEAR D7000-100UKS Nighthawk AC1900 Dual Band 600+1300 Mbps Wireless (Wi-Fi) VDSL/ADSL Modem Router for Phone Line Connections

Nissan Leaf - Conclusions

Well, this has been an interesting weekend. We tried to do all our normal stuff, except using an electric car.

The Leaf is a lovely car, and our time with it has transformed both our views. Susan has become more accepting and less sceptical, and the opposite is true for me. My initial range anxiety in getting the car home gave me a bit of a scare.

The car is lovely to drive, and well equipped. The single gear automatic make acceleration very smooth; the ride is lovely, and the car feels spacious inside. Driving the automatic is very appealing to me; it is so simple to drive, and makes exits from junctions very simple and safe. The cruise control is not as sophisticated as I had expected and often overshoots the required speed (by a few mph). As for space - the rear seat has tons, however the boot narrows towards the back, making it quite tricky to get the parcel shelf out and in, if required.

The in car entertainment is super, and easy to use. Another quibble I would have about this demonstrator is that it wasn't fully linked up to the list of charging stations, often telling me we were 40-50 miles from the nearest, when there were many within 10 miles.

The quietness of the car is nice too. However on one occasion I found this to be a problem, as I approached a family who were cycling, they clearly had no idea there was a car approaching from behind. I had to wait behind until one noticed me and alerted the rest. Even with the artificial noise, I suspect this would be a relatively frequent occurrence.

For me the biggest issue with the car would be the requirement to plug it in and out at the house all the time. In the rain and wind, when all you want to do is run from the house to the car, another stop would be required at the front of the car to unplug.

However, none of these niggles would stop me from buying the car, it looks like a great choice. The reason we decided against it in the end was purely financial. It had to work out cheaper than the existing car over the two years, and while it was close, it wasn't cheaper. When I worked out the exact TCO for both cars, the Leaf's price per month went up, and the C4 came down. I'd need to count the cost of the charger installation at the house for the leaf. I had made some mistakes in mixing up the 12 month and 24 month costs too, which artificially skewed the figures. There was also the risk of selling the C4 and getting the value we needed privately from it.

In the end it was disappointing not to be driving a new car with cutting edge technology. It would have been great to be an early adopter, and do our bit for the planet. But the original goal was to save money overall, and this goal slowly slipped from sight. We considered paying the little extra for all we were getting, however with everything else that's going on at home financially and otherwise we thought it just was not wise right now.

It's been a great experiment, and I commend Donnelly and Taggart Nissan, Eglinton for their help in the process.

Nissan Leaf - Picking up our test vehicle

Well, that was a bit of a disaster. I left work early to call into the Nissan dealership as arranged to pick up my Nissan Leaf for our extended 4 day trial, and when the guy went to check the car it had 8 miles range left!

Now, they would have gladly rescheduled, but they offered me a car with 40 miles range on it as an alternative to do my 20 mile trip home. It was raining hard, and I knew the last 10 miles of my journey contained a lot of hills.

But I didn't want to reschedule - these 4 days are a good 4 days for the test, so it should give us a good impression of what it is like to live with the car.

Well, the 30 minute journey home taught me what "range anxiety" really is. I tried to minimise my use of the window fan, with it regularly steaming up. I drove at about 50 mph, slowing up the traffic.

I made it home with 11 miles to spare! We put the car straight on the charger, which is of course the slowest charger, as it gets plugged into a normal socket. This seems like the worst mistake a dealer could make when handing out one of these cars - having someone instantly worried about getting home - on their first journey!

Anyway, after a few hours on charge we decided to go out for a drive. It drives really nicely, smooth and quiet, apart from the fan and splashing of the puddles. We drove around town, just to get used to the car; more the automatic gearbox than anything.

We also tried to plug it into a carpark charger, which turned out to be simple.

Overall, I'm pleased to have the opportunity, but tonight has made me much more cautious about the idea, and also more resolute that we should have the 32A / 6.6kW charger at home.