I installed two digital “set back” thermostats this week in our house: they automatically turn the temperature in the house down at night and up in the morning. The packaging claims 30% energy savings are possible, so it seemed like a good investment, to say nothing of a way of using less oil.

One confusing thing: the instructions, which are quite complete, talk at some length about the need to “label the existing wires with included labels” before disconnecting the existing thermostat to ensure the wires can properly be routed to the new one.

My problem was that the existing two wires didn’t have labels. So I didn’t know where to route them on the new thermostat. Fortunately, in the Professional Reference Guide for the new thermostat, I found the following:

When the thermostats relay (switch) connects RH to W, the heat comes on. If the heating system already has a thermostat connected, use the same two wires that were on the old thermostat. When there are just two wires, there is no polarity, i.e., either wire can go to RH or W.

And in the manual for the old one, I found that, indeed, I had two wires, one RH and one W.

So I just wired one wire to the RH, and one to the W. And that worked.

We’re now 16.5 Celsius at night, and 19 Celsius in the morning.

Okay, this is weird: there is a Consolate of the Republic of Slovenia in Moncton, New Brunswick. This demands an investigatory phone call first thing Monday morning.

English speakers get weirded out when too many consonants pile up in a word. Which is why we tend to tremble before Ljubljana, capital city of Slovenia.

Here’s a handy guide that will make Ljubljana much easier to spell:

• LJ
• UB
• LJ
• ANA

Toadstool Books in Peterborough, NH is among my favourite sources for what is variously called “armchair travel,” “travel essays” or “travelogues” in the book trade.

While most chains and independents have a small section of such books, it’s rare that they verge out of the Bill Bryson, Tim Cahill, Paul Theroux, and “A Year in [Tuscany \| Provence \| Marseilles]” range.

Toadstool is an exception: they have an very healthy collection, perhaps 500 titles in all, with books that I quite simply haven’t seen anywhere else. I’d go as far as saying that they rival or exceed most speciality travel bookstores in this genre. I spent $50 this morning.

And their selection of travel guidebooks is pretty healthy too.

There are outlets in Peterborough, Keene and Milford, NH.

And I like this note on their website for its uncommon honesty:

IMPORTANT: PLEASE NOTE THAT THE BOOK SEARCH CAPABILITY HERE IS SOMEWHAT LIMITED. YOU MUST USE THE EXACT TITLE; IF YOU ARE UNSURE TRY THE AUTHOR. AND SOME VERY REGIONAL BOOKS WE TRULY DO KNOW ALL ABOUT SIMPLY ARE NOT LISTED. BUT PLEASE, PLEASE CALL OR EMAIL US IF YOU CAN’T FIND THE BOOK OR SUBJECT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR. WE HAVE BETTER SEARCHING CAPABILITIES IN THE STORE VIA CDROM, BOOKS IN PRINT, AND OUR OWN HEADS!!!!

Worth a visit if you’re in the area.

I once worked with a woman named Charlotte. In Charlottetown. I used to live in Peterborough, Ontario. Now I work, part of the year, up the hill from Peterborough, New Hampshire. In other words, I have considerable practice saying “Hi there, it’s Peter from Peterborough” on the phone.

I’ve written a lot in this space about the people and places of Peterborough, New Hampshire. But I’ve never taken any pictures. Until now.

Sitting in Twelve Pine, a café in downtown Peterborough, New Hampshire, eating fruit salad, a feta-spinach croissant, and drinking Honest Tea. Three WiFi networks to join:

I watched the Nicole Kidman film Birth this evening at an out of the way cinema in an almost-empty mall in Manchester, NH.

The film is described as “A woman becomes convinced that a ten year old boy is the reincarnation of her dead husband.” There’s more to it than that — a plot twist or two — but it is as much a movie about Kidman’s performance, and that of Cameron Bright, as anything else, and both are very compelling.

I left feeling vaguely disturbed. But it was worthwhile.

I found today that (a) you can watch The National on C-SPAN 2 on cable and (b) you can listen to As It Happens on New Hampshire Public Radio.

I decided it was time to turn my attention from the political to the heavenly this morning, so I started off my day with a return visit to the local radio telescope, part of the Very Long Baseline Array. I did a piece for Mainstreet on the array three years ago.

I took some photos this time. It’s quite a site to behold.

The audio of a radio interview with CBC Prince Edward Island Mainstreet host Matt Rainnie that aired this afternoon.

Note to Matt: “ruk” rhymes with “kook” not with “hook.”