What have you been doing today?

[Odds]

Fighting off the last surviving bugs of a head cold. Terrible carnage yesterday: mucus and mayhem accompanied by the hacking sounds of a lung-infested virus making its way up into the sinus, preparing for a last stand, backs to the membrane wall of my dribbly nostrils. Bog roll everywhere. The acrid odour of cordite amid the fumes of honey and lemon stinging the eyes. Nothing to smoke for three days. It's hell out there, i tell you. Hell. With bells on...or that could be the ringing in my ears? A terrible tune; discordent and distant, like a ships bell on a foggy morn. A mournful toll to pay the piper. At the Gates of Dawn. Tell Syd...

 

[Mottie]

Just back from my dog walk over Thorndon country park. The woman I walk with, a friend of ours, was unusually quiet this morning. When we finished the walk, her dogs jumped into her car but she told them to get out as she had a job to do. She got out a carrier bag out and said to me "Feel the weight of that". It felt like she had a brick in there. She told me it was the ashes of her mum, her dad, Poppy (Susie’s mum), Maisie (Susie's aunt) Izzy (Susie's nan) Monty (Susies great grandad) and her cat! She had been holding on to them for years and had decided to scatter them among the bluebells. She says she comes here every day and thought it would be the ideal place to scatter them. I agreed with her but left pretty quick as I could see she was welling up and it was something she had to do alone. I can only imagine how she feels - we had our cats ashes indoors for about 8 years and when we planted a rose bush in one of her favourite sunny spots where she would lay in the garden, we scattered them in the hole and then we both burst into tears!

I wouldn’t mind being scattered amongst the bluebells in the woods where I regularly walk either.

 

[Mottie]

Building up my 'ready assembled' oven housing. I had to alter the two shelves it came with, plus an extra shelf for the top oven but no pre-drilled holes to fit it. Had to fit and refit both ovens to work out where to put the shelf. To do that I had to remove the bracing bar that was in the way and that made it as wobbly as feck! Now on a break and after that I have to make up a panel in the bottom cupboard to fit three plasterboard back boxes - one for each oven and one for the fridge. I’ve then got to butcher it to clear some central heating pipes and then I have the fun of fitting the ovens and the top tilting door and the slide out pan drawer at the bottom. If I get all that done by bedtime, I’ll be very happy!

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Fixing a four slice toaster -again. We'd run out of bread yesterday, so Avril dashed out to Lidl, to get a loaf, then this morning the toaster wouldn't latch on. She had to get one of the older spares, kept in the top cupboard. It wasn't my previous repair which had failed, but the same component on the other half of the toaster - a thin metal arm, which moved the toast holder down, then latched by a solenoid.

Having reinforced that, put it all back together, it was sometimes tripping the RCD, but with no obvious reason, so for now - we are keeping the spare toaster to hand.

Next job, was cleaning the BBQ, in readiness for our first BBQ of 2024 - possibly later today, weather dependant.

 

[Mottie]

Building up my 'ready assembled' oven housing. I had to alter the two shelves it came with, plus an extra shelf for the top oven but no pre-drilled holes to fit it. Had to fit and refit both ovens to work out where to put the shelf. To do that I had to remove the bracing bar that was in the way and that made it as wobbly as feck! Now on a break and after that I have to make up a panel in the bottom cupboard to fit three plasterboard back boxes - one for each oven and one for the fridge. I’ve then got to butcher it to clear some central heating pipes and then I have the fun of fitting the ovens and the top tilting door and the slide out pan drawer at the bottom. If I get all that done by bedtime, I’ll be very happy!

Pah, I called it a day - had enough for today. Managed to build up the housing, fit it in place and fit the ovens. Still got to wire them up and fit the doors but I am the messiest worker I know - I lost 3 pencils, 2 Stanley knives and 2 tape measures. Found them all when I had a clear up. Got the extractor being delivered tomorrow so I can work out where I’ll need a spur to go for that and I can chase that in, then my mate is coming round on Friday morning to skim the wall for me so the ovens can wait for now. Mrs Mottie is just glad she's got the hall back with the ovens out of the way!

 

[JonathanM]

Pah, I called it a day - had enough for today. Managed to build up the housing, fit it in place and fit the ovens. Still got to wire them up and fit the doors but I am the messiest worker I know - I lost 3 pencils, 2 Stanley knives and 2 tape measures. Found them all when I had a clear up. Got the extractor being delivered tomorrow so I can work out where I’ll need a spur to go for that and I can chase that in, then my mate is coming round on Friday morning to skim the wall for me so the ovens can wait for now. Mrs Mottie is just glad she's got the hall back with the ovens out of the way!

Remember to join the extractor hood to the vent pipe.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I woke up at 3.30am, couldn't get back to sleep, and so asked the dog if she fancied a 30-minute stroll around the block. Not usually anything or anyone about at that time, so I just let her wander off lead, and follow her, at her leisurely, investigating speed. Tried to get back to sleep after that and still didn't work, so decided to do a bit more tidying in my garage and workshop. I managed to give on of my benches, it's first proper clean, it many a month.

As it back to BBQ whether, and our BBQ runs on gas, and we only have one Calor bottle which fits, and it's near impossible to predict when it might run out, I gave some thought to it. In the caravan I use the BP Light type bottles, with a bulk head regulator, one in use, and one left at home with a bit of gas still in it, but I remembered I'd bought, and briefly used a bottle top regulator on it. That regulator, would allow the bottle to supply the BBQ, so I decided to attempt to track down where I had stored it. Not often this happens, but I found it straight away..

 

[Mottie]

We're letting the dog sleep in her bed in our bedroom at the moment because the kitchen where she normally sleeps is a building site. I found her on my bed staring me awake at 4.30 this morning which is her way of saying "I wanna go out and have a pìss and a shìt" so I got up to let her out. Couldn’t really get back to sleep after that. She, of course, went straight off after she had done her business.

 

[Stivino]

I took a phone call on a stranger's phone that I found in the park last night. It was the owner's mum, looking for her daughter's lost phone.
I'm going to carry it around all day until they are able to pick it up.
It's a young girl's phone, and I'll be delighted to be able to return it.
I just wish there was a way to access at least one emergency (parent) number, so that I could have phoned them last night when I found it.

 

[Diver Fred]

I took a phone call on a stranger's phone that I found in the park last night. It was the owner's mum, looking for her daughter's lost phone.
I'm going to carry it around all day until they are able to pick it up.
It's a young girl's phone, and I'll be delighted to be able to return it.
I just wish there was a way to access at least one emergency (parent) number, so that I could have phoned them last night when I found it.

What - no ICE (In Case of Emergency) number listed?

First Response First Aid Ltd

Adding ICE ("In Case of Emergency") to your phone is a clever means by which emergency personnel can locate your next of kin when something goes wrong. This simple idea was developed by a British paramedic, Bob Brotchie, who recognized the need for speed when emergency personnel are trying to locate

www.firstresponsefirstaid.co.uk

Pass it on.

 

[Stivino]

What - no ICE (In Case of Emergency) number listed?

First Response First Aid Ltd

Adding ICE ("In Case of Emergency") to your phone is a clever means by which emergency personnel can locate your next of kin when something goes wrong. This simple idea was developed by a British paramedic, Bob Brotchie, who recognized the need for speed when emergency personnel are trying to locate

www.firstresponsefirstaid.co.uk

Pass it on.

That's ok if you can access the phone book.

 

[lloyda]

On Android you can add info to the Emergency Information section, which can then be accessed on a locked phone

 

[Mottie]

On Android you can add info to the Emergency Information section, which can then be accessed on a locked phone

Same on an iPhone. Press and hold the power and volume up buttons at the same time and the medical I.D. will come up. That should give a contact number to call, assuming the person has filled in those details.

 

[Diver Fred]

On Android you can add info to the Emergency Information section, which can then be accessed on a locked phone

Linky

Get help during an emergency with your Android phone - Android Help

You can use the Personal Safety app to save and share your emergency info. Your phone can also contact emergency services automatically in some countries and regions and with certain carriers.

support.google.com

 

[Mottie]

Had my mate come round and plaster my kitchen for me so it should be full steam ahead but no, Mrs Mottie tells me there’s a nail in the tyre on the Golf. I checked and it was a 6mm bolt complete with washer right on the shoulder so unrepairable. They’ve only done a couple of thousand miles too. Of course, I knew the punctures would be coming thick and fast after I sold all my tyre changing equipment. Took that up to get a new one fitted. Get home, then the Daughter in Law phones me, the alternator light is on, on her car. Battery flat, can’t even close the windows. Now, I’m retired but she's 36 weeks pregnant so I’ve got to go up to my garage, get my Ctek battery charger, my son will pick it up on his way home, they can charge it up, bring it down to our house - they’re in Chelmsford, we're in Hornchurch, leave it with me, take our Golf and I’ve got to run it up to my workshop next week to fix the bloody thing. At least it will be a break from the kitchen…..