The one in the middle !

Now, apologies if you're having to stare a bit. If you have a keen eye you will just make out a gravelly shore and a reflection (the one in the middle) of my shed light. Between the shore and the light is 3 miles of water and the boundary between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. No, this is not a post about Brexit - that could be another post about me in my Speedos, a waterproofed rucksack and some cunning plan to circumvent any no-deal.....

This post is about home & office automation. One minute before this picture was taken there was no light in the middle - the picture was marginally less interesting than this one.

One tap on my phone's Vera App (https://getvera.com/) and the shed light switch and there was light, the bright metal halide white light from my shed (it's bright on account of it being a farm shed and it's needed to light up the duck pond before my waterfowl head off to bed). With another tap I can switch on/off all manner of other things - hot water, central heating, immersion and other lights around the house. In automatic mode the system switches things off and on based on a whole host of conditions, time of day, outside light levels, internal and external temperatures and whether anyone is inside or outside the house. And, after having bought the equipment it is completely free to run - no monthly subscriptions whatsoever, nowt. I can even talk to it free of charge using its free integration with Alexa (although I choose not to).

With home automation being very much a buzz word these days it's important to realise that you don't have to follow the crowd and pay for something that the likes of Vera provide for nothing.

Oh, yep, I mentioned office automation - the Vera system at my office integrates with Google so it knows when to switch the kettle on and flip the radiators on as I get to within a mile of the office :)

If you want to know more give us a shout, we won't be sending around anyone with a scripted install guide and a DD mandate - just someone who will work what you need to design it around you.