Tuesday, March 9th, 2021
This week it is spring with temperatures around 22C and forecast to go up 24C. People are out and about the neighborhood in droves. Alas, the warm weather is not here to stay. For Friday, the day of our quaranniversary there is a 40% chance of rain and then temperatures will drop back to 10C or something like that so a return to hibernation and more heating! Speaking of the quaranniversary, I have succumbed and invited the BF’s parents, not that they could be bothered to respond to the invitation though, which greatly annoys me.
While we were in Europe the thermostat for the central heating as well as the one for the underfloor heating in my office packed up, so the house was freezing cold when we returned. I reset both thermostats and all appeared to be working fine, until three days ago when no amount of resetting helped.
Today HECOX came for the central heating. It turns out it was not the thermostat that had the problem, but my filters needed changing. When the filters are full the HVAC apparently overheast causing the thermostat to shut the heating down. Fortunately, the HECOX guy came prepared and changed the filters and now everything is back in order.
Not so much the underfloor heating. If it was just the thermostat it would be an easy fix, but the error message says something about grounding error. The contractor who installed the system was here and ran a few tests and if worst comes to worst, the loops of the underfloor heating mat may be broken.
That would be a real nuisance as the floating floor would need to come up to fix the heat mats underneath – not something I look forward too, especially as the broken loop seems to be on the side of the bookshelf. To take up the floor boards the shelf would need to be unpacked and moved. What a nightmare. I am hoping N will find some other way to fix this; especially since we have no idea how the loop broke.
The initial theory was a power surge, but given the other thermostat is fine, that is unlikely to be the cause. The HECOX guy thought that seismic shifts could prompt the loops to break. No idea where those would come from given there are no earthquakes in the DMV area.
With spring/ summer about to arrive the office heating is no longer essential, but it would be nice if it was in working order for when I sell the house.
The saga with J. is also continuing. It is unclear when State will begin issuing G5 visas again and she is desperate to return to the USA and earn wages. She has been without income for five months now and as it turns out not only has no savings, but debt on eleven credit cards which she has not been servicing and is charged late fees for every single month, which unbeknown to me has been going on for four months. She is looking to me to pay it off, but I am not inclined to do so until she takes action. At a minimum she can call the card companies and explain her situation, asking for a moratorium so that at least the fees will stop piling up. Once that is done, I am happy to see how I can help.
I did send her money last month to pay her bills in the Philippines and I am happy to do so again this month, but I am not going to take on her debt. It makes me feel a little mean. Then again, she is an adult and surely should be able to manage her finances. Had she let me know about outstanding debt, when she left, I might have been able to help while it was more manageable. I am now wondering if I should call the eleven card companies as it is obvious, she is not doing so, but would they even talk to me? I just do not know what is best.
At least infection numbers continue to look good, with only 45k added over the past twenty-four hours. While the USA and also Europe are making progress with vaccinating their populations only 1% of Africans have been vaccinated risking the continent to fall behind. Only if all are inoculated will everyone be safe, hence there is a need for a global vaccine roll out plan.
What might help address the inequity could be a cure. Merck is beginning advanced trials for a drug which could cure COVID patients. The drug MK-4482/EIDD-2801, also known as molnupiravir was studied on humans and the preliminary conclusions of a Phase 2a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial have now been released. Incredibly, the medicine was able to cure infections from the novel coronavirus after only five days.
Hoping to be able to go back to a new old normal in autumn. For my life plan to work though, it is critical that Africa, espcially South Africa, gets innoculated.