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What's made you smile today?

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What's made you smile today?

I have massive bouts of loss of confidence these days. Things seem to get bigger, harder and more out of reach these days. Its nice to find that I can still do stuff, and actually its easier thannbefore and. I make a better job too once I get going. The getting going is harder though... Plasering is now complete and dry. Ivan who did the bulk of it is a local man who is clearly a perfectionist. I am staggered by how good his work is. The helping crew were good but you can easily see who did what. We got on really well, and hes offered to come and helpon anyhting if I get stuck. Charges were as expected and the extras were really reasonably priced,

We are half way through the first coat of paint. Once that is on we can get the floors organised. The women say they can do the laminate type flooringthat so hopefully I will not get involved so. Rachel is going for the plastic type wood effetc. No warping id any dampness occurs warmer, softer and if its true harder waering than all but the very best wood laminates. It all clips together so very little fixing needed.

The bathroom is ready to fit but I want the floor tiled first but need a newcutting disc for my tilecutter. I hope it holds up, its 30 years old and had a heck of a lot of use so both looks and feels tired. I am howevr a master tile cutter. Back then it was around £30 and really is one of those tools its worth having. If it packs up I expect it will be another £100+ for a new one if needed.

The first ring main is 'on' T!3 working sockets now) and the second ring is 15 minutes from switch on, Just a bucket full of sockets to fit for the main ring. Knowing its all done exactly right, and that every wire is trimmed to the exact correct length and all the sockets are totally neat and propely fitted is a massive relief. Seeing them appear in the right places and correct level on the finished walls was I have to say a big relief too. DIfficult to see it when fitting the socket boxes ona wonky studwork frame. I should have used my laser level I suppose. Another cheapish tool from Aldi I have never regretted buying. It makes level shelves a doddle. I shall get the entire electrical system inspected once she has moved in.

I have the water back on to the boiler, and the outside tap working again, water connected pipes are in the kitchen and a couple of hours will see them connected properly and kitchen ready. The best thing of all is seeing the supplies getting used up and the clutter level dropping.

Ive started using push fit pipe fittings. I found a new type (I think they are Peglar fitting) Ive not seen before in tool station. They are brass, and they are resuable. They look much neater than compression and the detchability is fabulous. Just fit an adjustable spanned exactly tightened to the pipe , slide it up against the fitting sleeve and tap the fitting gently with spanner / in the off direction. They reach the release point and then just gently come off leaving the pipes in perfect condition, It cannot be removed just by hand so is child proof. The crimp on professional fittings are possibly better but need £850 worth of crimper. The principle is the same though

I want to sell my wire chasing tool, but 'someone' says I may need it when I redo our own kitchen..... SHE has plans. Unfortunatley we lost the electrical layoutof our extension that I drew up when we put the kitchen in, all thiose years back

The best thing though is how much easier it gets as you increase skill levels and experience of these jobs.

I hope its the last quarter now.
 
For a wee while now our burglar alarm has been doing intermittent random "stuff". For no apparent good reason it would suddenly sound the main alarm - thank goodness it never did it in the middle of the night! It would also, at random, make the sounder on the in house panel sound out without sounding the main one on the wall outside. Nice that it didn't disturb the neighbours but it's quite loud and you can't really go to sleep with it making it's noise. Then, about a week ago, the indoor panel started making a "bleeping" noise and the panel displayed "Unit Low Battery" Ah, I should have guessed! the backup battery must be past it's sell by date. The system was installed around 10 to 12 years ago and the battery is a small sealed lead acid jobbie. We don't have a maintenance contract as it's a pretty simple wired system so I rang the installing company, they were small when we had it installed but are now quite a big concern, and asked if they would come and look at it. They didn't have a visit available for about a week and they confirmed it was most likely to be the battery. When I said how old we were and the noise was intolerable they offered to try to attend tomorrow, depending on work load, but couldn't give a time other than it was likely to be late morning.

"Tomorrow" is actually today and the chap, a very nice older man - which pleased me as he looked like he was well on top of his job - arrived just before 12.00, was able to confirm it was just the battery and fitted a new one. "I bet I could have done that myself" I said to him. "I'm sure you could" he replied, "but what you couldn't do is clear the codes and reset it" He then went on to tell me that he had to ring in to his base for the reset codes as the system is so old current codes aren't relevant. So, about £30 (to be confirmed by his office) for the battery itself and somewhere around £120 for the call out. Sounds very like the VAG "coding" nonsense which ties you pretty much to a battery bought from a VAG garage so you can get the required code - which is printed on the VAG battery label. I suppose, in the great order of things, it's not a big bill, but the battery I'm sure could have been bought considerably cheaper on line and labour is just so expensive these days. On the other hand, he gave the system a clean bill of health and said the new battery should keep it happy for many years ahead. I don't now have to worry about annoying neighbours if it goes off when we're out for the day, or if it goes off in the middle of the night. Interesting also that he commented he was glad for us that ours is a hard wired system, He said that if a new system had been needed it would have been wireless "They're all wireless now" I got the impression he wasn't so keen on them?
 
Ours is a wireless system, which also works through the WiFi so, guess what, power cut and our alarm thinks the system has been tampered with and off it goes…not impressed, but then, it seems everyone else in the area has the same issue!
The guy that installed it is a mate, so he’s going to try wiring in a battery back up for the WiFi as it’s that going down that triggered it!
I took the old hard wired system out, apparently it’s been there since 14th March 1990 wehn the barn was converted to a house. A rats nest of wires but I was able to disconnect each and every one, in the control unit, until the very last ones, the supply to external siren, so I disconnected that, got the wife on roof with a claw hammer, as the casing screws were long since rusted up. Sure enough it sensed a tamper and, surprisingly the battery up there had charge and off went the siren. A lot of prodding, levering and smashing put paid to that. That battery had been changed (or at least the date sticker) was 08/2002!
 
ZaphodB said:
If the neighbours are annoying I wouldn't worry too much:D :LOL:
Click to expand...
Nah! we are blessed with some of the nicest neighbours anyone could wish for. In fact there's only one family in the whole street which no-one gets on with. About half of us bought the houses when they were built back in the mid '80s and that was a shame because all our kids grew up and moved away at around the same time. Now though as people have moved, and literally died off, there are younger families moving in and things are livening up again - which I like, well, most of the time anyway.
 
Im free!
A little earlier I had two fingersr on each hand glued together, and a small screw driver glued to my thumb.... and of course both hands glued together. Happy days.
Theres nothing like a stanley knife for unsticking such things.
 
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It's at that time of year when the front door step isn't to quote Tesco.."a grim spot".

PXL_20250711_150238585~2.jpg


Not a bad way to start the commute early morning though could be cooler at present...sure that hill we be an ice covered slide in what feels like 5 minutes...rather than months.
 
On another retail topic .... I dropped a heavy stainless pepper mill the other day - they're not cheap at about £30-£40 each (ceramic grinders)
Top and bottom parts parted company with each other. (The plastic insert assembly with the ceramic grinder locks them both together )

So I thought ... oh dear that was an expensive accident....
-
But then I thought I'll email the company and ask how much was the plastic insert with the ceramic grinder was as a spare part. (the locking ears had broken off inside so it wouldn't snap together again..

Got an email back today, telling me the company, after 50 years had ceased trading last year, and whoever had replied had acquired the brand and was keen to support existing customers as best they could.....

They provided me a link to the complete insert part I needed ... clicked the link and found they'd priced it at a very favourable £0.01pence each (with £3.95 delivery)

So I ordered 4 just in case I had an accident in future , £3.99 for 4 all in :) :) :)
 
ZaphodB said:
On another retail topic .... I dropped a heavy stainless pepper mill the other day - they're not cheap at about £30-£40 each (ceramic grinders)
Top and bottom parts parted company with each other. (The plastic insert assembly with the ceramic grinder locks them both together )

So I thought ... oh dear that was an expensive accident....
-
But then I thought I'll email the company and ask how much was the plastic insert with the ceramic grinder was as a spare part. (the locking ears had broken off inside so it wouldn't snap together again..

Got an email back today, telling me the company, after 50 years had ceased trading last year, and whoever had replied had acquired the brand and was keen to support existing customers as best they could.....

They provided me a link to the complete insert part I needed ... clicked the link and found they'd priced it at a very favourable £0.01pence each (with £3.95 delivery)

So I ordered 4 just in case I had an accident in future , £3.99 for 4 all in :) :) :)
Click to expand...
Now that is what you call service, it just goes to show there are still some genuine companies about.:)
 
New to the forum, recently joined!

Thing that’s made me happy recently? Finding out my Fiat’s 1.2 engine isn’t ruined after all. Changed the old leaking sump on it and snapped the Oil Pickup Pipe, didn’t realise and ran it, engine wasn’t happy! Thought it was a goner but on manual crank, it happily turned over, went through its compression strokes no issue. Ordered a new pickup pipe and hopefully it’s back on the road again!
 
Was out for a run at lunch...a much delayed lunch as many things fell over and needed to be fixed.

Anywho while doing so I see a car coming along and it's pretty rare to see either of our cars coming along as both are slightly out there in terms of spec/colour.

I think "ooh that's a tidy looking one", with the Auris this isn't guaranteed as most are slightly down at heel taxis, indeed last one I saw was a grubby white hybrid literally riding on the bump stops at the rear on the A1. Then the numberplate comes into focus and I realise I'm looking at my wife driving my car to baby group.

Apparently I can successfully hide my car from myself by washing it (which I did for the first time since about March on Sunday).
 
A few weeks ago I ditched my Apple tech for alternatives... mostly because I need the older kind of devices for doing development work (career / hobby purposes). But also seeing it as a double-win to be moving to companies that manufacture outside of the CCP. Starting with 'buying everything cheap' and as and when (and if) something isn't good enough or fit for purpose, then trading up the next step. I don't need a £1200+ phone, or a £2,000+ computer, or a £400+ smart watch.

I've been using a bottom-end but new Samsung phone... Android isn't that bad - certainly compared to last time I tried it in 2014. Windows - so far - also not as bad as it was years ago. It's putting a lot more control and sophistication in my hand, not overly simplified. Still waiting for the computer I've pre-ordered to come (might be months) but I'm using what was no more than £300 of a cheap, basic HP laptop and it absolutely in its own time is handling the processing of hundreds of thousands of files and photos and assets in a way that Apple's iCloud could never keep up with (and lost me priceless files over the years) without missing a beat. The Samsung is slow as dirt - waiting like 20 seconds sometimes for the bank card to load up at shops is the biggest annoyance. But functionality wise... it does everything the old iPhone did.

Recovering some money from the Apple stuff has also gave my savings a good boost.

Back in April I also bought a dirt cheap folding bike from Halfords, again one of the cheapest options. Definitely inferior in so many ways than other bikes I've owned in the last decade - but it's getting the most use. Heavy steel frame, no gears... cheap enough to leave tied up at the work car park. I've never consistently done so much cycling (at lunch). The heavy frame and no gears works to my benefit as making the rides more of 'a workout'.

This really is like my mindset years ago of how the basic little Panda - whilst recognising it's not for everyone, not going to win people over with its specs or what have you - there's a real sense of satisfaction from having basic things, that cost little, using them often and appreciating what they can do. So much time (spent working for money) and money spent to buy, maintain, worry about and eventually, replace things in life can be cut out if you can manage to leverage this mind set.

My cars paid off now but if something were to happen this only really shows me the delight in 'downgrading' things. A while back I did the same with things like toothpaste and shampoo... you know that real dirt cheap Tesco / own brand stuff? It's been doing the job fine for a few years now.

It's been giving me a buzz lately, and to my surprise, the technology is also working for me. There's something nice about knowing that if this phone were to break.... next pay day I can go out and buy another - no finance, no contracts, no worrying about monthly care plans or saving up for the next one.

This again, is a bit of a ramble, but made me smile today and many days. I hope it keeps up!

Edit: attached a photo of the bike, £175 job from Halfords, can't beat that.
It's a bit funny looking. But these lunch time cycles are really, really enjoyable.
 

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SB1500 said:
A few weeks ago I ditched my Apple tech for alternatives... mostly because I need the older kind of devices for doing development work (career / hobby purposes). But also seeing it as a double-win to be moving to companies that manufacture outside of the CCP. Starting with 'buying everything cheap' and as and when (and if) something isn't good enough or fit for purpose, then trading up the next step. I don't need a £1200+ phone, or a £2,000+ computer, or a £400+ smart watch.

I've been using a bottom-end but new Samsung phone... Android isn't that bad - certainly compared to last time I tried it in 2014. Windows - so far - also not as bad as it was years ago. It's putting a lot more control and sophistication in my hand, not overly simplified. Still waiting for the computer I've pre-ordered to come (might be months) but I'm using what was no more than £300 of a cheap, basic HP laptop and it absolutely in its own time is handling the processing of hundreds of thousands of files and photos and assets in a way that Apple's iCloud could never keep up with (and lost me priceless files over the years) without missing a beat. The Samsung is slow as dirt - waiting like 20 seconds sometimes for the bank card to load up at shops is the biggest annoyance. But functionality wise... it does everything the old iPhone did.

Recovering some money from the Apple stuff has also gave my savings a good boost.

Back in April I also bought a dirt cheap folding bike from Halfords, again one of the cheapest options. Definitely inferior in so many ways than other bikes I've owned in the last decade - but it's getting the most use. Heavy steel frame, no gears... cheap enough to leave tied up at the work car park. I've never consistently done so much cycling (at lunch). The heavy frame and no gears works to my benefit as making the rides more of 'a workout'.

This really is like my mindset years ago of how the basic little Panda - whilst recognising it's not for everyone, not going to win people over with its specs or what have you - there's a real sense of satisfaction from having basic things, that cost little, using them often and appreciating what they can do. So much time (spent working for money) and money spent to buy, maintain, worry about and eventually, replace things in life can be cut out if you can manage to leverage this mind set.

My cars paid off now but if something were to happen this only really shows me the delight in 'downgrading' things. A while back I did the same with things like toothpaste and shampoo... you know that real dirt cheap Tesco / own brand stuff? It's been doing the job fine for a few years now.

It's been giving me a buzz lately, and to my surprise, the technology is also working for me. There's something nice about knowing that if this phone were to break.... next pay day I can go out and buy another - no finance, no contracts, no worrying about monthly care plans or saving up for the next one.

This again, is a bit of a ramble, but made me smile today and many days. I hope it keeps up!

Edit: attached a photo of the bike, £175 job from Halfords, can't beat that.
It's a bit funny looking. But these lunch time cycles are really, really enjoyable.
Click to expand...
This is basically what I call "my auction theory", only spend what you can afford to throw away.;)
 
So a few weeks back I posted about buying the bike I’d always wanted as a kid. Silly but it was a big deal to 15 year old me back in the late 90s

IMG_5739.jpeg


Well a lot has happened since then, beginning with the frame being stripped back to bare carbon.
IMG_5963.jpeg

It then got a coat of paint I went with purple, extra points if you can name the car the colour is from.
IMG_5970.jpeg

Considering this was done with spray cans, it came out immaculately and looks amazing
IMG_5974.jpeg

So I started to rebuild it and the rebuild included restoring the forks as well. So they are now like brand new as well.
IMG_5981.jpeg

Then came a wheel rebuild with top of the range period correct Shimano XTR hubs front a rear
IMG_5891.jpeg

I hit eBay for some more upgrade,

XTR front and rear derailures and shifters (again all top of the range and period correct) 27 speed set up.
image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg
I aquired a new rear shock that worked, a Rock Shox SID unit which is sprung and adjustable with compressed air.


image.jpg

And finally to cap it all off, the awesome Magura Race Lite hydraulic rim brakes.


IMG_6032.jpeg



Now all I have left to do is find a nice condition XTR crank for reasonable money (which is a difficult task) and get some replacement decals/stickers for the frame and fork.


IMG_6034.jpeg

While I have probably spent more than I’d wish to admit the bike as shown up top was only £100 on market place and with all the upgrades it could be worth £1000-1500 which is definitely more than I’ve spent.

It rides lovely, it’s my first time using hydraulic rim brakes and the power is incredible, you can send yourself over the handle bars easily with just your little finger, the massive tires mean the thing sticks to the ground like the proverbial and despite being a 25 year old set of gears, they shift like a bolt action riffle beautiful action smooth and super accurate (as you’d expect from something that was top of the range and made by Shimano.

As you can probably gather I’m quite pleased with it, and looking forward to getting out on some bike rides with the boy when he gets brave enough to use his little pedal bike I built him with stabilisers, which I did post about the other day, but here’s the bike for reference

IMG_6020.jpeg
 

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