Monday again. As is usual on a Monday, I have had the day off work, and nothing happened, so nothing different there either. My mother on the other hand went to Snowdonia today, and caught the little train up to the top of Mt Snowdon, and while it was pouring with rain and dark grey cloud here, for a change the weather around Snowdon couldn't have been lovelier, warm, dry and a glorious blue sky. So mum was incredibly chuffed that she chose today to go.  

By midday she was back down, and wondering what to do with the rest of her day. I suggested she go to The Electric Mountain, which isn't as hair raising as it may sound, but is a power station that was built inside a Snowdonian Welsh mountain. MLO and I visited it last November when we last went to North Wales. Really amazing how they had made enormous caverns inside the mountain to house all the generator equipment and water pipelines. One thing that really surprised me was the way they generate the electricity, and sell it on to the grid. The most surprising thing of all ,was the fact that they use more electricity in the process than they actually produce. Dreadfully wasteful, but apparently it makes them plenty of money, so that must be OK then. What they do is, right at the top of the mountain is a natural lake which they partially dammed, and put an enormous plug hole in (really), during the day, the plughole is opened and the flow of water is controlled through the many pipelines and drives various turbines to generate the electricity. The water that has flowed down, then empties into a lake at the bottom of the mountain. Because all this is done during the day, the electricity is sold at peak rate to the grid. Then, at night all the water that came down the mountain during the day, is slowly but surely pumped back up into the top lake ready for the next day. And although it uses a lot more electricity to take it back up, the company (First Hydro) buy the electricity that enables them to do it, at the cheap nightly rate, thereby creating a profit, but bizarrely for a power station using more electricity than it produces. 

On the tour you are driven in to the mountain on a bus complete with hard hats, and get off at various points in the power station. There is one man made cavern there, that is the largest in Europe and contains the six main turbine generators , it is absolutely gigantic. 

I have work again tomorrow, so should get to bed soon. MLO should have been out tomorrow judging maize crops for the agricultural society, but for some reason none of the farmers who should have been having their maize judged have got back to him, so no go there. If they aren't quick though it will be too late. He isn't too bothered though as he gets a lie in the morning, and the rest of the day off too. He's quite happy infact. 

Next Wednesday is his birthday and quite brilliantly both of us have a free day, and his mum can't claim dibs on him as she is off on another holiday, have promised him lunch out but not sure where yet.