What have you been doing today?

[securespark]

How did you know I wear knickers?

 

[securespark]

Put the second fitting up in the kitchen.

Took me forever. There were 5 cables going into it.

I sighed heavily, then got to it. Disconnected all the wires. Took down the old fitting, offered the new one up.

The holes in the new fitting did not line up with the cables. Damn.
OK, I can drill a new hole. Marked the position. Went to find cordless drill.

Damn, left it and a load of other kit at my Ma's gaff, including the 25mm hole saw I couldn't find. So broke out the corded drill which is a bit temperamental. Searched for and found my 20mm holesaw. Never mind, I'll drill two holes in an oval shape that will fit a 25mm grommet. Start drilling, damn, the holesaw is going blunt. Cue lots of sparks and burnt paint.

My collection of bits and pieces was at Mum's too, so I had to scrabble round for some plugs and screws.

Then came the joy of fiddling about threading all the straggly cables through the newly hacked hole. There's always one that gets caught and won't pull through the grommet.
Then I had to go upstairs and lift the carpet and boards to ease a bit more of one of the cables through.

Then came the fun and games of connecting all the conductors. Again, my stash of connectors and earth sleeving was elsewhere.

I managed to find 2 terminal blocks, a ceramic block and a Wago.

For earth sleeving I stripped the insulation off a length of 1mm² flex.

Talk about making a meal of it!

I remembered my college lecturer saying "Fail to prepare and you will have to prepare to fail."

 

[Brigadier]

Put the second fitting up in the kitchen.

Took me forever. There were 5 cables going into it.

I sighed heavily, then got to it. Disconnected all the wires. Took down the old fitting, offered the new one up.

The holes in the new fitting did not line up with the cables. Damn.
OK, I can drill a new hole. Marked the position. Went to find cordless drill.

Damn, left it and a load of other kit at my Ma's gaff, including the 25mm hole saw I couldn't find. So broke out the corded drill which is a bit temperamental. Searched for and found my 20mm holesaw. Never mind, I'll drill two holes in an oval shape that will fit a 25mm grommet. Start drilling, damn, the holesaw is going blunt. Cue lots of sparks and burnt paint.

My collection of bits and pieces was at Mum's too, so I had to scrabble round for some plugs and screws.

Then came the joy of fiddling about threading all the straggly cables through the newly hacked hole. There's always one that gets caught and won't pull through the grommet.
Then I had to go upstairs and lift the carpet and boards to ease a bit more of one of the cables through.

Then came the fun and games of connecting all the conductors. Again, my stash of connectors and earth sleeving was elsewhere.

I managed to find 2 terminal blocks, a ceramic block and a Wago.

For earth sleeving I stripped the insulation off a length of 1mm² flex.

You can always blame "the Poles" for your bodge job

 

[securespark]

You can always blame "the Poles" for your bodge job

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

She's been complaining, for the past week, that the downstairs toilet pan is quite loose on the floor, it rocks quite a lot. It's concrete, with insulation, then laminate. Many, many years ago, when I originally fixed it, I didn't have access to an SDS drill, so it was a real struggle trying to drill No 14 7mm holes with just a worn out hammer drill. Added to that, all I could get to fix it were No 12 plated steel, which simply rusted away over the years.

Armed with SDS this time, but lots of too big 8mm drills for brown plugs, actually 8.4mm - I decided the quick fix, was to grind the sides of the bit, down to 7.4mm, using a diamond disc. That worked perfectly, 3" depth holes drilled in seconds.

Rather than try to redrill in the existing places - impossibly due to broken off, rusted old screws, I simply turned the toilet, a few degrees, away from it's original location. I had no No12 x 2.5" stainless screws, none stocked that long by the local hardware shop, so for now it is fixed with that size, plated steel.

 

[Mottie]

Armed with SDS this time, but lots of too big 8mm drills for brown plugs, actually 8.4mm - I decided the quick fix, was to grind the sides of the bit, down to 7.4mm, using a diamond disc. That worked perfectly, 3" depth holes drilled in seconds.

I’ve had my downstairs pan out several times over the years with no problem with rusted screws. It has fixings like like this but a bit longer. You need a 10mm socket to remove them and you have a plastic cap that fits over the head and snaps on to the plastic washer to cover the screw head - not unlike those numberplate screw covers.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Used the scooter, to tag along with Avril, to do some shopping - avoids her having to carry it, if I load it on the scooter....

Last time I tried to use the mobility scooter, I buggered the batteries up, leaving it switched on - there is only a 'power meter' (volt meter) needle, to indicate it is on. So I decided today, to add a super bright, white, LED to the dash, so it cannot be missed. Made up the LED, with resistor, and wires soldered on ready to fit, then attempted to remove the 8x 5" plastic dash panel, fixed with 4x 6mm Phillips screws.

I didn't expect them being tight, just holding a small, light bit of plastic in place, so tackled them at first, with just my best screwdriver. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't budge them - must have been tightened by a gorilla. Got my hammer torque driver out, and it still took me an hour to shift them, but shift, in the end, they did - except I managed to put my back out in the process. Job abandoned, I am just resting it now.

 

[crystal ball]

Paid my tax bill, almost at the same moment a payment for a job I did a while ago dropped into my account, eased the pain a little

 

[Mottie]

Two of our fixed rate ISA's and two of our fixed rate bonds mature this week so I’ve been searching the net for better deals. Turned out the company we were with wasn’t that far behind the best offers on the market so I reinvested with them. CBA with isa transfers or withdrawing funds and moving them about.

Looked again today and my existing company was offering a better rate ISA. Not by much but only took a phone call to tell them to move the one I opened the other day into their new one.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Used the scooter, to tag along with Avril,

For a moment I had you in a Parka on something Italian with dozen or so mirrors.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Got up, drew the curtains - then found out I was suddenly living in a socialist utopia.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

For a moment I had you in a Parka on something Italian with dozen or so mirrors.

No - motorbike maybe, but a Vespa - never

I suffer with CKD, which essentially means my blood doesn't take up the oxygen from my lungs, as quickly as my muscle need, if worked hard. Which means I quite quickly 'run out of steam', with exercise. I start off at a brisk pace, then after 100 yards I have stop to recover. I just use it for the major distance, to get me to the shops, park it up, and walk the rest. So life is just generally much easier, just jumping on the mobility scooter.

The scooter was bought for my original partner, but she just didn't like using it, so it has sat new, almost unused for years, in the hut.

 

[securespark]

Isn't it key operated?

It is impossible to leave my TGA Breeze 4 scooter switched on, unless I leave the key in and turn it to the on position.

But then to charge it, you have to turn it off, then plug in the charging lead.

As TGA recommend you leave it charged when parked, this means I have to remove the key and this turns it off.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Isn't it key operated?

Yep!

It is impossible to leave my TGA Breeze 4 scooter switched on, unless I leave the key in and turn it to the on position.

But then to charge it, you have to turn it off, then plug in the charging lead.

As TGA recommend you leave it charged when parked, this means I have to remove the key and this turns it off.

And all of those. Problem was >me<, turning it on checking it, then simply forgetting to turn it back off. It could sit there for months unused, so no point it being left on charge, that does the batteries not a lot of good - better to just bring the batteries up to full, once per month.

The charger is mounted by a bracket, in the hut roof, with the charge cable dangling down, ready to plug in. Plug it in, with it switched on, an alarm goes off. The manual suggests that if you plug it in, without the mains being on, it will discharge the batteries. Plugging it in, without the mains being on - would be one way of ensuring it is not left with the ignition on, but I would need to check if it does in fact discharge the battery, with the mains off.

I've now added the bright LED, across the battery meter, so at least now it's obvious it is left on.

This one is a Rascal 388D. I've always been a bit wary of going far on it - because everywhere, is downhill from home. I'm not even clear on when the battery gauge gives a valid reading of the battery state. I'm thinking it must be when the ignition is on, but the scooter is static. Avril is encouraging me to make more use of it, because at least on it, I can keep up with her. The backup plan is when out with her - if it's too far to push it home, leave her and scooter wherever, whilst I nip home for car, then collect her and scooter. Avril doesn't drive.

I'm also thinking, to maybe add an extra pair of smaller batteries to it, to give it some emergency reserve power.

 

[fillyboy]