Little Old Man Weekly
In the year 2012
29 October Modesty guards.
Somehow we have been living at Catslide for ten years now and [very] surprisingly, some things that looked quite new when we moved in are beginning to show their age. Case in point being the under-cupboard lights in the kitchen. Not only were these incandescent, and therefore power hungry, they didn't work either and therefore, were very low in power consumption, so quite liked by me for that reason.
Came an edict from above that these should be replaced so I duly brought home new low energy units and fitted them. Trouble was that they came with their own sockets and flex so not able to just wire them in but needed a mains connector so used a chocky block and a liberal application of duct tape for insulation.
Explained this to Rosemary and said that I would replace the tape with 'modesty guards' when I had a moment. 'WHAT', she said we better talk about that first.'
Ran up a couple of little modesty guards on the lathe
and fitted them surreptitiously.
People often seem to think that I am incomprehensible, actually its far from the truth!!! My grandfather was often accused of starting a sentence in its middle so maybe I take after him. Actually, one of my many roles in the past was to source office furniture. That is when I came across the concept of a 'modesty guard' see what Wikipedia says about them. R now denies all knowledge of the concept but then she is convinced that she will be waking at 0630 [instead of our usual 0730] tomorrow morning when the clocks go back.
Ok I agree I am incomprehensible, but there is a very good nmenonic for changing the clocks 'spring forward, fall back', when you are confident about this you might prefer my alter-nmenonic 'fall forward, spring back'!!!! Sorry to ruin this for you, once you have seen it you can't go back, or forward. So good luck!
19 May Enjoy your washroom experience to-day.
Took t&T to Heathrow the other day for their flight to Cape Town.
Somewhat under-whealmed by their level of customer care.
Compared to that available elsewhere.
15 April Power supply
The little old man has a pathological hatred of power connectors, why the whit of man can't design one that is robust and reliable is beyond him. He has recently had to replace his [new] PC simply due to the power connector not connecting. So he bought a refurbished Toshiba to replace his Asus. Mixed the power supplies up and miraculously the Asus sprang back into life...well for a little while...but the problem is most likely where the connector joins the pcb because now it isn't working properly again either... EXCEPT with a bit of oldmanishness it can be made to work.... with a breadboard and a four pack of tuna.
Four pack of tuna and a breadboard please.
14 April Chimney cover
Worried about rain water coming down your chimney? Here is the perfect solution.
High and dry.
12 April More scaffolding
The Little Old Man is just back from a trip down to Bristol on Cribbit and has passed through a scaffolding zone. Lots of the stuff lining the banks to give access to fisher people and to moor boats. Jim commented that there must be a lot of Bristol scaffolding firms missing their stock-in-trade.
The moored boat and the dual level landing stage and ladders. Perfect solution to high Avon Gorge tides.
The ball hitch provides a flexible and rigid coupling...what more could you want?
26 February Scaffolding clamps
The Little Old Man has always liked scaffolding clamps although very few of them have ever come his way. So it was especially pleasing to see one in active use on the cut. Of course one of the disadvantages of the clamps is the bare and sharp nuts that hold them to the scaffold pole. Apparently, even this drawback can be mitigated with tennis balls.
Anyone for tennis?