varesecrazy said:

Pifco..

That takes me back to the 70's and visits to my Grandads

Lots of 'plastic gadgets' seemed to be branded Pifco..

I guess somebody in the far east has bought the rights to the brand here..

Click to expand...

I'm sure I remember seeing that name on other electrical stuff not that many years ago?

Aye guys, I think you are right. Almost certainly now just an owned brand name. I remember torches in particular, everybody seemed to have a Pifco torch - Mrs J says she thinks of light bulbs and hair dryers.

varesecrazy said:

Pifco..

That takes me back to the 70's and visits to my Grandads

Lots of 'plastic gadgets' seemed to be branded Pifco..

I guess somebody in the far east has bought the rights to the brand here..

Click to expand...

I have memories of my grand parents having ‘Pifco’ torches and hand held fans, usually made from metal and rubber with D sized or those enormous 6v batteries
Also I remember a Bakelite hairdryer I’m sure was pifco, usually in a cardboard box with the corners stapled. My grandparents always kept everything in their boxes

Pugglt Auld Jock said:

Aye guys, I think you are right. Almost certainly now just an owned brand name. I remember torches in particular, everybody seemed to have a Pifco torch - Mrs J says she thinks of light bulbs and hair dryers.

Click to expand...

Indeed Jock, a household name back in the day. Not many choices then when choosing practically most things, nowadays however you are bamboozled with so many choices on practically everything. Trying to make an informed choice on certain purchases trying to disregard the rubbish and pick the best can become a bit of a task.

Day before yesterday, in the afternoon, I placed an order with Shop4 parts for the Panda/Punto. Yesterday, email from them telling me my order has been dispatched. Opened up the laptop this morning and an email from DPD telling me it'll be delivered on Monday in a 1 hour time slot which they'll notify to me on Monday morning. Not going anywhere, just drop it off anytime folks! Big fat smile of anticipation on my face.

Can't wait to see what the Original Birth thermostat looks like. I've had other Original Birth stuff from them and it's all been of good quality. I've also got a couple of Bosch branded oil filters which I bought some time ago on an offer at my local factor (they fit both the Panda and my boy's Punto) and there's a genuine Fiat/Lancia/Alfa filter coming in this order, it's going to be interesting to compare the two, especially the inside where I think the Bosch one uses a particularly small "mesh" on the filter element retainer. D'you know I've been "messing about" with Fiat Fire engines for many years but never bothered to think about the inticacies of the oil circulation system. Anyone know if the Fire engine oil filter is a bypass type or is it full flow? (Ie does 100% of the oil going round the engine go through the filter every time round or does it just filter a %age of the oil circulating. My impression is it's full flow, but I don't know for sure

My smile, a sprinkle of the white stuff. Not common in east anglia

Gives me a justifiable reason to be a lazy arse and sit in front of the TV all day and catch up on my YouTube subs

We gave up our Sky TV some time ago and replaced it with a Humax freesat receiver/recorder. The only thing I used to miss was the F1 channel but I now find F1 quite boring so that's fine too. Don't subscribe to anything. I like my films - S.F. particularly - and I look at trailers and reviews on you tube then, for the ones I like, buy the blu ray film when I see it on offer.

Mrs J and I are strictly obaying the lockdown so today we went for a walk this morning and, after some lunch we've spent the afternoon watching the Talking Pictures channel. First a film about jewel thieves, Then one about a money lender. I've had a hoot trying to identify the vehicles - splendid Victor 101 in the second film - and Mrs J's been saying things like "I had a nighty/dress just like that, do you remember"? I remembered the nighty!

Well, time for a cup of tea now, wonder what's coming on next?

I tend to find the best way is to alternate what you pay for.

Most things allow a monthly payment of somewhere less than 15 quid.

Wait until a certain provider has a few different things I want to see, pay for the month and cancel immediately. You get the month you've paid to watch what you were interested in then you can do the same with a different one next month or pay again.

That and quite a few of them will offer incentives to stay if you cancel so you might pay full price for month 1 then when you cancel get offered 3 months for the same again, or they'll email offers after it's expired to get you to rejoin. Had a period where I had now tv for about 6 months out of 12 and paid about 20 quid when it's normally 13 a month at one point.

If you've had them before it's a minute job starting and stopping subs so not a bother at all.

here in this part of west wales no mobile phone signal. no ordinary tv hate sky hae got 2 sat recivers both have over 1650 channels +75 radio stations get bbc scotland bbc south all itv regions rt news + china africa never boring

I remember Pifco from many years ago. Was always just about adequate, and sometimes fragile. Occasionally some things might last a long time. The 3yr guarantee suggests whoever owns the name now has improved the quality too.
Looks like a good idea for a small handheld with mains power, but will not do a car easily, as it will not fit in nooks and crannies. For the stairs, I either use the handheld Dyson (needs emptying twice for the stairs, so a bit of a pain), or the Electrolux hose will reach half way, then there's a landing, so no holding the weight of it.
A vac just for the stairs seems an extravagance, especially as I'm hoping to do away with stairs sometime.

For years, governments have been blaming all sorts of financial troubles on an 'ageing population'. Yet we continue to build new starter homes. Surely we need more bungalows or houses with space for a bedroom and shower downstairs.

ps forgot to say have got radio caroline flashback on in the background all 60s music o what bliss

mowermender70 said:

ps forgot to say have got radio caroline flashback on in the background all 60s music o what bliss

Click to expand...

Radio Caroline and Radio Luxembourg, which was always poor reception up here and with a signal strength that would come and go and crackle, but it was "the station" hip people listened to so we did!

Pugglt Auld Jock said:

Radio Caroline and Radio Luxembourg, which was always poor reception up here and with a signal strength that would come and go and crackle, but it was "the station" hip people listened to so we did!

Click to expand...

Radio Luxembourg reception did that for me too. And I lived on the Dorset coast, out on the top of Portland, so nothing in the way of the signals. As a result, didn't listen much.

portland_bill said:

Looks like a good idea for a small handheld with mains power, but will not do a car easily, as it will not fit in nooks and crannies.
For the stairs, I either use the handheld Dyson (needs emptying twice for the stairs, so a bit of a pain), or the Electrolux hose will reach half way, then there's a landing, so no holding the weight of it.
A vac just for the stairs seems an extravagance, especially as I'm hoping to do away with stairs sometime.

Click to expand...

I like the idea of mains power. I find devices with rechargeable batteries are often pretty good but after some time tend to fall off in battery duration and also how they tend to become a bit "whimpy" - by which I mean they tend, when older, to run with "gusto" for a shorter period of time after charging before lapsing into a longer period of rather mediocre power delivery.

The Pifco has that demountable hose so I think it would actually work quite well getting into nooks and crannies? - did you watch the video, which shows it in use?

I agree that a vacuum just to do the stairs is a bit of a luxury. I was very seriously considering it before buying the Neumatic (Henry) because the Electrolux was so heavy I was finding it a real trial dragging it up the stairs behind me whilst using it's schnozzle on the steps. The Neumatic (Norman) is light enough compared to the Electrolux (which was an upright) that i should be able to carry it to do the stairs for some years yet and then, of course, I have the option of buying the extended hose which would allow me to do the whole run of steps leaving the motor/container unit at the bottom of the flight. Of course now I've got Norman I find his nice long hose works very well on the car too, so I think I've just talked myself out of the need to buy something like the Pifco - Although I still have one issue. the garage has an internal door to the back of the utility room and the back door from the garden also accesses this room. Because of this we (well, me mostly) tend to walk dead leaves in autumn and general dusty and gritty stuff over the rest of the year into the utilityroom/kitchen. The flooring is a very tough laminate so one of those wee battery vacuums that lives on a wall mount/charger would be very handy to just quickly grab and suck up "the evidence" before Mrs J spots it! Mind you a brush and pan, which I use just now, probably does just as well!

Pugglt Auld Jock said:

I like the idea of mains power. I find devices with rechargeable batteries are often pretty good but after some time tend to fall off in battery duration and also how they tend to become a bit "whimpy" - by which I mean they tend, when older, to run with "gusto" for a shorter period of time after charging before lapsing ..

Because of this we (well, me mostly) tend to walk dead leaves in autumn and general dusty and gritty stuff over the rest of the year into the utilityroom/kitchen. The flooring is a very tough laminate so one of those wee battery vacuums that lives on a wall mount/charger would be very handy to just quickly grab and suck up "the evidence" before Mrs J spots it! Mind you a brush and pan, which I use just now, probably does just as well!

Click to expand...

Im sure 99% of us have found the same with batteries jock.. and they wonder why people are still investing in fuel driven cars


Good effort with the dustpan and brush.. my kitchen flooring sounds very similar
Similar in construction and challenges of use... with the same solution

Thats it.. decision made.. as I am 'saving the planet' I can justify a SAAB v4

varesecrazy said:

Thats it.. decision made.. as I am 'saving the planet' I can justify a SAAB v4

Click to expand...

Good luck finding one of those. A slightly oddball, but wonderful vehicle.
Beware: Engine runs anticlockwise. Freewheel on gearbox can take by surprise first time, no engine braking whatever. Great fun overtaking with the engine on tickover. Fond memories. Garage I worked at in Bournemouth had one as a workshop errand vehicle.

varesecrazy said:

Im sure 99% of us have found the same with batteries jock.. and they wonder why people are still investing in fuel driven cars

Click to expand...

Probably because the battery tech in a BEV is completely different to that in a £30 hand held vac from Lidl

Still wonder why people invest in ICE cars, where engines wear and start to consume things like excessive amounts of oil, and suffer complex and costly repairs like head gasket failures etc

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Probably because the battery tech in a BEV is completely different to that in a £30 hand held vac from Lidl

Still wonder why people invest in ICE cars, where engines wear and start to consume things like excessive amounts of oil, and suffer complex and costly repairs like head gasket failures etc

Click to expand...

Because that usually doesn't happen until very high mileages, meanwhile, they can go anywhere, anytime, without having to plan around charging points. In reality, most people don't go anywhere, staying local, so even an old Leaf with depleted range would be fine, but range anxiety is real, and difficult to overcome. When people can drive past many underutilised charging stations, on a frequent basis, only then will they start to feel more confident with an electric. Emotion will win over logic every time. (Some personal relationships may bear this out.)

varesecrazy said:

Im sure 99% of us have found the same with batteries jock.. and they wonder why people are still investing in fuel driven cars


Good effort with the dustpan and brush.. my kitchen flooring sounds very similar
Similar in construction and challenges of use... with the same solution

Thats it.. decision made.. as I am 'saving the planet' I can justify a SAAB v4

Click to expand...

V4 SAAB Charlie? NAH, go for the 2 stroke every time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoNHGN8PDjU

Standing in the freezing cold in Cadrona forest - when you heard this getting nearer and nearer, it really lifted the spirits!

paj you brought a big smile on my face. the sound reminded me of my ariel leader round the lanes here in west wales.