What's made you not grumpy but not smile either today?

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What's made you not grumpy but not smile either today?

Currently 9:30am Monday, cones nicely lined up along the inner edge of the footpath, road clear as all gone to work, no signs of any workers.

Cones take up space in the van so they are now handy on the road for the next water main repair.
Does that mean that when finished, they'll leave them behind for collection later?
 
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No work done today. This afternoon the cones have moved. Three along the gutter where originally placed, the other two on the other side of the road, presumably to ensure space to work and allow traffic to pass. Perhaps work scheduled for tomorrow.

So why try to inconvenience the neighbourhood for a whole weekend, thoughtless people.

Cars currently parked among them, but all will be gone before the workers arrive tomorrow.
 
Serviced (major service) younger boy's wife's Jazz last Saturday. It's a 2008 car so there's always the possibility of confronting the unexpected but all went very well with no seized bolts to snap etc. I was a bit nervous about the front discs and pads, which were replaced about 18 months ago, because they were Allied Nippon brand - never use them before but my factor is now supplying them almost exclusively - I'm glad to be able to report that they are doing well, settling in nicely. Rear discs and pads will be needed soon and I'm now happy to use this brand. - Got a set of their front pads on the boy's Astra too.

The spark plugs interest me. It's the 1.4 IDSI engine so has two plugs per cylinder - 8 plugs and 8 coils (reliable so far though - fingers crossed?) The front four are simple to remove with an extension and my magnetic socket. The rear 4 are a bit more challenging but not too bad once you realize to unclip the wiring loom and assemble a short extension to the socket, stick it down the hole and then add another extension and ratchet to top it off. You can't get a long extension in because the scuttle gets in the way. Having removed them I always lay them out on the bench in the same relative positions as they were when in the engine so I can relate them to the cylinder each plug was running in because I always closely examine them to get an idea if there is a running problem. In this case I was interested to see that all four front plugs looked the same but looked as if the cylinders were running a slightly weak mixture (white colored and very "clean") whilst the four back plugs looked very slightly rich (darker colored with slight traces of carbon) Also, of these "back" plugs the No3 was noticeably nearer to the look of the "front" plugs. I'll make a note of this and check again in 6 months or so.

The only other thing of note was that the N/S/R tyre was ruined! A screw AND a large nail (could have been a 6" job originally - before the end of it wore down!) together with the fact it had obviously been run near flat for some time conspired to ensure a new tyre being needed. Daughter in law had noticed nothing whilst driving!? - low profile 55% aspect tyres - As I always do the engine first so that I get nice hot oil to drain and have the chance to nip round to the factors if I've been given the wrong filter - or whatever - It was early afternoon before I got round to brakes and noticed the tyre. By now my favorite tyre people was shut so I found myself at the mercy of the "Fast Fit" guys. At this point I was unsure as to whether a repair would be possible so rang round for repair costs. I was rather surprised how much a puncture repair costs these days, not having had one done for years, between around £14 to £25. Guess who quoted the £25? No prizes for correct answer! The only one who could do it for us quickly was the local Farmer Autocare about 15 minutes away. So I dispatched Mrs Jock, in Becky, with the loose wheel in the rear N/S footwell. It turned out the sidewall damage, suffered from the flat running, was too severe to enable repair (I wasn't surprised) so a new "Chinese cheapie" was procured for just under £40 all in. Mrs J apparently made a big impression when she told them she didn't want a directional but would accept an asymmetric if that was all they had! So she does sometimes listen to what I'm saying after all!

I don't think you have Farmer Autocare down south do you? I think they are a franchised operation set up by Tommy Farmer after he sold out KF? I think they only operate here and in East Lothian? As I understand it they are stand alone businesses operating under the same franchised name to take advantage of advertising and quantity purchasing? anyway I've had a number of contacts with them and I must say, so far, all very positive. I might just try "bouncing" off them next time I'm ringing round for tyres.
 
Serviced (major service) younger boy's wife's Jazz last Saturday. 8 plugs and 8 coils (reliable so far though - fingers crossed?)

Whilst I had the coils out I gave them a good clean up and visual check over. All 8 looked to be in good condition but, If you look up the "business end" where the contact is made with the terminal on the top of the plug, you can see the spring which makes contact with the terminal on the top of the plug. On all 8 coils there is just a touch of early corrosion/contamination of these springs. These springs are quite deeply recessed up the end of the coil and not at all accessible. I could squirt carb/brake cleaner/WD40/etc up it but then cleaning it out looks pretty difficult. Anyone got any ideas?

Although there are no running issues at this time I could imagine that this issue will cause problems in the future as the contact between spring and plug deteriorates.
 
No work done today. This afternoon the cones have moved. Three along the gutter where originally placed, the other two on the other side of the road, presumably to ensure space to work and allow traffic to pass. Perhaps work scheduled for tomorrow.

So why try to inconvenience the neighbourhood for a whole weekend, thoughtless people.

Cars currently parked among them, but all will be gone before the workers arrive tomorrow.

Its a joy to read all the goings on. Quite laughable whatever the reasons.

I worked half my life for the public sector and half for the private sector and still dont know which was more frustrating. Its quite certain that neither can claim to be better than the other.

I think I will buy some shares in a cone manufacturing firm!
 
Whilst I had the coils out I gave them a good clean up and visual check over. All 8 looked to be in good condition but, If you look up the "business end" where the contact is made with the terminal on the top of the plug, you can see the spring which makes contact with the terminal on the top of the plug. On all 8 coils there is just a touch of early corrosion/contamination of these springs. These springs are quite deeply recessed up the end of the coil and not at all accessible. I could squirt carb/brake cleaner/WD40/etc up it but then cleaning it out looks pretty difficult. Anyone got any ideas?

Although there are no running issues at this time I could imagine that this issue will cause problems in the future as the contact between spring and plug deteriorates.
Soome manufacturers supply those springs as a separate part, which means they can come out and be replaced. Not a good idea to try until you know for sure though, but might be worth investigating.

Its a joy to read all the goings on. Quite laughable whatever the reasons.

I worked half my life for the public sector and half for the private sector and still dont know which was more frustrating. Its quite certain that neither can claim to be better than the other.

I think I will buy some shares in a cone manufacturing firm!

Well, work was done yesterday, Tuesday. A hole was dug.
Of course the area was parked in overnight, as no-one expects them to return to work in the dark.
This morning, around 6:30am, a Fiesta van arrived, with presumably a supervisor. He peered into the hole, then spent much more time trying to locate the owner of the one car still within the coned area. The owner usually goes out around 7am to attend to his wife's horses, so oout he came, to be chastised thoroughly by the supervisor. Of course he drove away, and would then have parked elsewhere for the rest of the day.

No further work was carried out today.

Perhaps the neighbours should all take a shovel and put the earth back in the hole!
 
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I worked half my life for the public sector and half for the private sector and still dont know which was more frustrating. Its quite certain that neither can claim to be better than the other.

Me too and found the privatised public sector outfits water, lekky and phones are almost as bad now as they ever were. The electric utilities quickly dumped the closed-shop job demarcation of old and built new gas fired plants but in terms of management little else changed once they settled in.

The electric supply people seem to be much the same now as they ever were. My street was due to have the cables put underground and we were given plenty of warning. Then when the job was supposed to begin nothing happened. Eventually a connection was run down my road (adding more wonkyness to already wonky tarmac) and connected to existing overhead poles. I asked the lads on the tools what was going on to be told the householders were upset they have nowhere to park their cars so the "undergrounding" was stopped.

WTF!!! I would have simply told them - if you want electricity you'll have to park elsewhere for a week and walk. Oh no, the slightest excuse and an already planned and set-up job gets cancelled.
 
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Popped into a supermarket for the loo.
As I entered, there was the sound of running water, from one of the stalls, like the cistern filling, but slightly different.
I opened the door and peered in, but all looked ok from the doorway.
Stood having a tiddle, and a flood of water was gently moving across the floor.

Dilemma!
I've started, so I'll finish?
Stop mid-stream and leave.
How far will the flood go, how deep will it get, will it overwhelm the soles of the shoes. Water looked clean.

Finished before drowning, water nearly at the door by now.

Pan was blocked, flush had not stopped, so that was 'broken' too, so water just kept pouring into the pan, until it overflowed, and kept going. My first glance in had not seen the pan filling, too soon I suppose.

Just outside, found the cleaner. "Not again" was her response to my advising her of the flood. So a problem not fixed.
 
Heading towards Swindon earlier, following a pair of ditherers, thought they were together. Later appeared not to be so.

Arriving at a roundabout (A420 Watchfield for those that know the area), both of these placed themselves accurately in the left lane, no signals, so apparently taking 2nd exit, 12 O'clock.
I entered the roundabout in the right lane, to turn right, 3rd exit, 2 O'clock.
The first car got almost to the point of no return at teh 2nd exit, and pulled violently right, surprising the car waiting to enter at that exit, and headed for the 3rd exit.
I was already 2/3 past the second car, so accelerated to get ahead, before she could swerve. Swerve she did, whilst looking firmly to her left, to avoid hitting the bollards. No thought to what might be to her right.
Still enough space, and I was ahead of her, althogh not fully. She did not respond until I parped the horn for the third time. (Quite loud, a nice pair of aftermarket Fiaams)
I exited ahead of her, and behind could see her looking a bit puzzled as to what happened.
If the left lane goes to all three exits, where does the right lane go then?

A few miles later, just before Swindon, there is a petrol station on the right, with 4 'no right turn' signs. From behind me, she turned right into the petrol station.

200 yards on is Sainsbury's, several pence per litre cheaper.
 
Tiverton bus station island going south has two lanes in and two out though they do merge into one wide lane. I roll up in the RH lane with three cars dithering in the LH lane. Being all clear I keep going and took to the RH lane and take the 2nd exit right hand lane.

Mr Clot at the head of the dithering queue got very upset at that. Me being in a 2012 Smart car wont have helped.
Some people think these islands should be smoothed out if they are going to the 12 o'clock exit and get upset when forced to follow the correct line.
 
It's that time of year that makes an electric car not hugely viable again..
Screenshot_20190705-212922_Car Genie.jpg

This car does 8k miles a year..if I did miles at this rate every week..that's 24k year.
 
I could as well but the whole needing to buy a 35k upwards car just to get the range of a car at best worth 4k is a bit much!

I need the out and back range, been to many places a leaf could have got me to, but there was no charging facilities there (such is the reality of Northumbria, Cumbria and the borders), so it would need to do the whole trip on one charge.

That and with this sort of use I.e. high speed cruising the electric range would reduce significantly whereas the petrol increases by about 50-70 miles due to lack of stop start traffic.
 
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Drivers in Devon have the same range issues. We have the M5 A30 and A38, but after that its mostly two lane A roads and some of those are so narrow they have passing places. It's a big county so going anywhere is a long way.

Going anywhere else in the country you have to add 80 to 100 miles of M5 just to get to Bristol where the "normal" journey can start. The "cheap" electric cars are pretty useless for most people and the expensive stuff like a Tesla Model X is frankly too big for our narrow roads. But at least it has a reversing camera for crawling back to the last passing place.
 
The whole "infrastructure will catch up" thing must sound hilarious to people who still aren't on a gas main or broadband nevermind fibre..The sort of places where everytime it's bad weather the leccy goes off.

Yeah we live in a village with 4 phone lines...you sure the local grid can support 100kw charging?
 
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