What's made you smile today?

Currently reading:
What's made you smile today?

I got the Jeep back together today. Two things I learned during this process; 1, the front end was worse than I thought it was, and 2, I'm getting too old to do this stuff.

On another front. Tomorrow starts both the 6 month countdown until my retirement and my 25% pay increase until that date.
 
The number of bins in the street is increasing daily. Still too early.
As we all know in the UK, bank holidays set the bin day late, and Christmas moves it by two days. Usually the guys work the Saturday following, to gain back one day, to then be added again by the New Year holiday.
This year, our council have given the bin men the weekend off, so this week, the bins will be emptied 3 days late. So that's Thursday, instead of Monday.
Sunday night several bins went out. Of course, one does it, others follow. No way were they ever going to be emptied on Monday, being a bank holiday. During Monday, more arrived, as people followed the example of others. Then during today, about half the street have added theirs.
My calendar, provided by the council still says Thursday, so does their website. I'm leaving mine in until tomorrow night. (Today is Tuesday, for those reading this sometime in the future.)
 
Finally, finally, got out on the fat bike for an off road snow ride.
51810413046_50edaafa3d_z.jpg

51811145020_90239e0511_z.jpg


Nothing like a nice cuppa after a cold ride. Earl Grey if you must know.
51810412706_de5b20dc9b_z.jpg


The plan was to do this yesterday but the nicest way to describe Saturday's weather was 'shitty'. We had freezing drizzle along with high winds. My driveways and the forest roads were so slick today that 4wd was the only way to move and that had to be done at a crawl.

Mrs. Cheest tried to salt our front walk yesterday afternoon and went down on her backside, screwing up her back in the process. For the last 24 hrs. I've been asked if the pain she feels is what I dealt with 5 years ago. First time she asked, she apologized because she thought I was being whiny. I just smiled, nodded my head, and told her to take some more Advil.
 
Bad news - My drivers side rear brake caliper is leaking. :(
Good news - I can get a new replacement (no part ex) for under £40. Yay!
The other side cost £110 after deposit return.
 
The number of bins in the street is increasing daily. Still too early.
As we all know in the UK, bank holidays set the bin day late, and Christmas moves it by two days. Usually the guys work the Saturday following, to gain back one day, to then be added again by the New Year holiday.
This year, our council have given the bin men the weekend off, so this week, the bins will be emptied 3 days late. So that's Thursday, instead of Monday.
Sunday night several bins went out. Of course, one does it, others follow. No way were they ever going to be emptied on Monday, being a bank holiday. During Monday, more arrived, as people followed the example of others. Then during today, about half the street have added theirs.
My calendar, provided by the council still says Thursday, so does their website. I'm leaving mine in until tomorrow night. (Today is Tuesday, for those reading this sometime in the future.)
My bins were supposed to be emptied Thursday after Xmas. Nothing happened. Bins went out people eventually pulled them back still full. They went out again this week and got done on Tuesday a day early or is that 13 days late? Call the council about your council tax bill and you have to listen through reams of guff about waste bins before you can hear which button to press.
 
Yeet!


Done this in a 30 zone, around a corner that you can hang onto at about 40 in a mk1 punto. It's second corner of an S bend...so what he's done here is go far to fast into corner 1...lift then turn into corner 2...and the Mini has gone "I see cowabunga it is!" and gone off at 180 degrees to the direction of travel.



20220113_133031.jpg
 
Car insurance done for another year.

235, for fully comp, protected ncd, 100 total xs (protected), hire car, courtesy car, upgraded personal accident business use for both of us...the absolute whack.

It is up 50 quid from last year..but my wife (6 years my junior at 30) wasn't main user last year also it's got an extra 4k miles on to take into account no second car now.

Happy with it as go compare suggested 300+ so getting it via work was cheapest option again.
 
Yeet!


Done this in a 30 zone, around a corner that you can hang onto at about 40 in a mk1 punto. It's second corner of an S bend...so what he's done here is go far to fast into corner 1...lift then turn into corner 2...and the Mini has gone "I see cowabunga it is!" and gone off at 180 degrees to the direction of travel.



View attachment 400573
I think the P plate on the bonnet probably says it all
 
I think the P plate on the bonnet probably says it all
A risk with new drivers, having been kept safe by an instructor, or frightened parent, they do not know where the limits are.
Generally the car will frighten the driver, long before it lets go. But new drivers don't have a feel for this, and don't add speed in increments to test and learn. With my learners, I would allow them to head into some corners faster than ideal, knowing the car would be OK, and allow them to frighten themselves, all controlled. Then they got a feel for the car, and knew how to avoid such mishaps. Was always great fun on a snow covered car park, getting them to slide around, all at 15mph.
 
At last got the new dishwasher installed and running for the first time. We await tomorrow, to see if there's a flood, or just clean dishes.
Hadn't noticed before, part of the label on the front says, "SilencePlus". I wonder what that means. Even quieter than silent? Or not quite silent?
 
A risk with new drivers, having been kept safe by an instructor, or frightened parent, they do not know where the limits are.
Generally the car will frighten the driver, long before it lets go. But new drivers don't have a feel for this, and don't add speed in increments to test and learn. With my learners, I would allow them to head into some corners faster than ideal, knowing the car would be OK, and allow them to frighten themselves, all controlled. Then they got a feel for the car, and knew how to avoid such mishaps. Was always great fun on a snow covered car park, getting them to slide around, all at 15mph.
I think one of the disadvantages of learning in the modern era is everything has massive tyres and apparently endless grip. That Mini had about a 205 on it.

I nearly did something similar in an Uno when I was 17..but it was on 135 section tyres so the speed required to get it breakaway was slightly above a furiously ridden bicycle. As a result I had a week to correct it before anything bad happened. In fact being 17 I went back and had another go....

But in a modern car by the time you've pushed to the edge, you're going at such a speed that time and space to gather it up do not exist.

Looking at it the wheels are still turned right, he's not counter steered at all so he's either frozen/not known what to do or it was round and off at such a pace there was no time to correct.
 
I wrote very recently, in the "grumpy" thread, about and electrical/electronic toy I managed to repair for my granddaughter and commented on how my hands tremble a bit these days when I'm trying to do "fine" work. I went on to say my next project was to try to get an old Swiss music box, which hasn't worked in many years, to play tunes again. Today I made a start on it.

The workings were quite easy to remove from the little "chalet" styled case, simply being held in with 2 very small screws which surrendered to my jewelers screwdriver set, and I set about trying to dismantle it. I'd intended to completely strip it down, leave the individual parts in a wee bath of degreaser overnight, maybe longer if needed - it is very dirty and "claggy". The first thing I decided to do was examine it at close quarters using my jewelers eyepiece just in case there were any hidden wee surprises waiting to catch me out and it was whilst doing this that I spotted that the spindle of the air brake/governor had something wrapped around it's top bearing. "Attacking" this with a needle and small pair of tweezers and a craft scalpel it took me about 10 minutes to gradually remove what turned out to be a long piece of blond human hair. Ah Ha! my daughter, now fully grown and married with children of her own, had long blond hair when she was young and used to love playing with this music box! It doesn't take much to stop the governor from turning and now, with the hair removed, it played once again.

The hair had been so tightly wound round the spindle you really couldn't see it without the eyeglass. The rest of the movement was still very "gungy" though but I'd really rather not dismantle it if possible so I sprayed it copiously with an aerosol degreaser which has done a good job of cleaning it up. I put it to one side to thoroughly dry out and cut back the damaged bottom part on one side of the chalet case replacing it with a bit cut from some old fence panel I had lying about which I think is actually quite a good match, even if it's a little rougher.

Then it was back to look at the movement with my eyeglass and it's all looking really pretty good except for the small brass gear which is driven, at right angles, by the large steel bevel gear on the main spring barrel. The steel gear looks very good but the brass gear - which you can see if you look at the main barrel which "plucks" the fingers which make the notes. Look to the left end of the barrel and you can see a large diameter brass gear. Now look very slightly to the left of that and you can see the quite small diameter brass gear which engages with the steel gear on the main spring. It's this small gear which is quite worn but still good enough to work for a while yet. Just to try it all out I lubed it with some light 3 in 1 oil (probably not ideal) and wound the spring to about 3/4 of a full wind whilst lightly retraining the governor vane. Let go of the vane and ----- ? almost no sound at all? how very strange. It all seems to be working and I can very faintly hear the tune but it is soooo quiet! Damn, wonder if my hearing aids are turned on? Put the movement down on top of the cardboard sheet I was working on to free my hands to check the hearing aids and, immediately, there's the tune! Oh, I see, it needs a sounding board! and , of course, the chalet acts as such when the movement is attached - so better make sure it's well screwed down!

Unfortunately two of the fingers are missing from the bit that makes the noise - clearly visible in the last picture - so the tune I remember it making all those years ago is now slightly modified but I'm very pleased it's now working again. I now just have to figure out how the mechanism works which stops it playing when the lid is closed. There seems to be a bit missing which fits in the hole I've stuck that bit of wire in - see third pic - and the little lever, made of wire with a little spring on it, which actually blocks the vane, has been bent out of the way by someone in the past - maybe in an attempt to make it work?

Anyway I'm about 85% of the way there now and once I've got that mechanism sorted out I'll just need to decide how to properly lube it. The main spring and the gears on the sounding barrel (if I can call it that) turn very slowly and will not sling their lubricant off so I'm tempted to use something like moly grease? Whereas the governor and it's associated small gears turn very fast so a grease would be far too viscous and slow it down. I've got some SAE20? but maybe it needs to be thinner, maybe the 3 in 1 which is not far off the viscosity of water. I also need to do something cosmetic about the broken wood where someone ripped out the hinges on the back but I've already got a bit of wood I think will do. I'm hoping to have it all done for our childminding day next week, can't wait to see her little face!

I'll now try to link in some pics for you. By the way, I haven't yet found out how to insert pictures into the text like I used to do with the old system. I suppose it's something to do with the "insert" I see on the pics below but I just don't know - should experiment I suppose!
 

Attachments

  • P1100184.JPG
    P1100184.JPG
    603.2 KB · Views: 13
  • P1100181.JPG
    P1100181.JPG
    639 KB · Views: 14
  • P1100180.JPG
    P1100180.JPG
    648.1 KB · Views: 17
  • P1100179.JPG
    P1100179.JPG
    762.1 KB · Views: 13
  • P1100178.JPG
    P1100178.JPG
    791 KB · Views: 9
  • P1100177.JPG
    P1100177.JPG
    794.4 KB · Views: 17
  • P1100176.JPG
    P1100176.JPG
    722.3 KB · Views: 15
Good work on the music box. My MIL has a similar box.

This could have gone into the grumpy thread, but it worked out well.
I was building the wiring harnesses for the two wheeled stinker yesterday. I crimp and solder the connections to eliminate headaches. There are two harnesses to build, a main power harness, and, for lack of a better term, the everything else harness. The main power harness is two wire with a plug at the engine and one at the control box. Eight connectors in all. The everything else harness is six wires, also with plugs at the engine and control box, with a total of 24 connections.

I've assembled the main harness and am soldering the crimped connectors when my Wen solder gun craps out on connection #5 due to a split tip. Crap. I bet there wasn't two hours use on that gun. Now what? I happened to look up on a shelf over my workbench and spot the old Weller 8100 soldering kit I bought at an antique store last summer. I bought it because it was a complete kit in the original box and thought it would look good displayed with the other old crap on the shelf. I didn't know if it would work. I plugged it in and pulled the trigger. Instantly started heating up. That old Weller is a soldering SOB! I managed to finish the two wire harness yesterday and wrapped up the six wire one today.

Now, about the 'OLD' on the old Weller. While cleaning things up and putting the solder gun back in its box, I spotted a piece of paper sticking out from under a cardboard flap. I pulled it out and it turned out to be a hand written receipt for the sale of the soldering kit. The kit was sold on 8 September, 1956. The price was $7.95US for the kit. The buyer also purchased a spare tip, still in a sealed package, for $0.75US.

I was five months old when that kit was sold the first time. I think I only paid something like $12 the second time it was sold. I ordered some new tips for the Wen but that has been relegated to 'Emergency Back Up Use'
 
Last Friday we went to the Duxford Spitfire exhibit, loads of spitfires all under one roof. Very impressive machines, my wife was surprised how big they where having never seen one up close before, I still have to confess, was still far more interested in the Sunderland flying boat and the concord, as well as the SR71 black bird in the American hangar.

My wife was also surprised with how busy the airfield was, quite a few old war birds flying about, a couple more spitfires and a hurricane, some other American WWII planes I didn’t recognise, was only their for a couple of hours as it was late in the day, but if you like spitfires then it’s worth checking out he current collection and also a great place to go this time of year as it’s largely fairly quite and most things are inside
 

Attachments

  • A5D35BF8-3A81-47AB-B71F-FFEA1A2BE054.jpeg
    A5D35BF8-3A81-47AB-B71F-FFEA1A2BE054.jpeg
    7.8 MB · Views: 17
  • 4241566B-5685-4A2B-ADE2-476CDC934571.jpeg
    4241566B-5685-4A2B-ADE2-476CDC934571.jpeg
    436.3 KB · Views: 15
  • 64EAA05D-C44B-4AAE-9227-38004C3E084F.jpeg
    64EAA05D-C44B-4AAE-9227-38004C3E084F.jpeg
    575.8 KB · Views: 17
Last Friday we went to the Duxford Spitfire exhibit, loads of spitfires all under one roof. Very impressive machines, my wife was surprised how big they where having never seen one up close before, I still have to confess, was still far more interested in the Sunderland flying boat and the concord, as well as the SR71 black bird in the American hangar.

My wife was also surprised with how busy the airfield was, quite a few old war birds flying about, a couple more spitfires and a hurricane, some other American WWII planes I didn’t recognise, was only their for a couple of hours as it was late in the day, but if you like spitfires then it’s worth checking out he current collection and also a great place to go this time of year as it’s largely fairly quite and most things are inside
Somewhere I always wanted to go when I was younger but 4 hours away 🤣

Sunderland flying boat...the only "warbird" with a fully plumbed toilet rather than an Elsan...random fact for the evening.
 
Like with a lot of people, I suspect, my New Years Resolution is to try and lose a bit of weight. About 6 weeks ago, I invested in a fairly cheap Argos exercise bike, which I stand next to my TV whilst exercising.

What's made me smile is that I think it might be working already! 🙂 Whilst using it isn't terribly dignified, what with me wearing just my undercrackers so as to avoid getting too hot and tired as I'm pedalling away, I'm pretty sure I'm not getting as tired as I was in the early days, and I'm pretty sure the belt I use in my going out jeans is getting looser! 😃 Hopefully, I'll carry on gradually shifting a few ounces, so my clothes will fit more comfortably, and potentially the summer months might not be such pure hell for me.
 
Caveat emptor I think.
Indeed, my experience of £40 brake calipers is the rubber seals turn to dust after just 6 months and the hand break on a rear calliper didn’t work at all spent ages thinking it was the handbrake cable adjustment, nope just internal mechanism for the lever on the new calliper for the handbrake was broken
 
Car insurance done for another year.

235, for fully comp, protected ncd, 100 total xs (protected), hire car, courtesy car, upgraded personal accident business use for both of us...the absolute whack.

It is up 50 quid from last year..but my wife (6 years my junior at 30) wasn't main user last year also it's got an extra 4k miles on to take into account no second car now.

Happy with it as go compare suggested 300+ so getting it via work was cheapest option again.
No legal cover?
 
No legal cover?
Yeah literally everything you can put on a policy on it, all I pay is the base rate of the risk with 0 commission and the add ons come free so I took everything. Except breakdown which I get free anyway.

One of the few perks of having worked in insurance...

Smile for the day, spent the morning of my day off dispensing toys and furniture to various charity shops as we've been bringing the "nursery" up to "small boys bedroom". Just cruising round in the Citroën with a pod cast on. Then once that mission had been accomplished (house looks much better for it) a 10k run in the sun.

Nice day off, getting loads done with the lad at nursery.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top