Trees

When we moved in to our house there was a 40 ft conifer in the garden. We found out there had already been a dispute with neighbours about it. It had a foot wide trunk and the pine cones were huge, a double handful each. It had been planted 3 years ago as a christmas tree.

We had it cut down. It only had shallow roots so it could easily fall down and do some damage. The removals van was held up by the lorry they had brought to cart away the tree.

On the Buses

It can be a problem being friendly with people on the bus. A woman I knew got on the bus with 2 huge packages. They were massive but light. I helped her get them onto the bus. I don't know how she'd have managed on her own.

There are two bus stops near our house - one to tamworth bus but hardly anyone uses that one. The next time I see her I'll have to ask if she got her presents home ok. It was a good job it wasn't raining last night. She doesn't have far to walk anyway. She must have nipped out to do her christmas shopping.

Bananas

I've just eaten a banana which had a dark mark on one side. The skin doesn't look bruised. I was thinking it could be frost. You're not supposed to freeze bananas. I wouldn't be suprised if supermarket kept them too cold. They were from sainsburys. I'm not impressed with their fruit and veg. We've had some dodgy stuff from them before. Tesco seem a bit better.

My wife ate one of the bananas on friday or saturday. I think it might have been friday. She complained to me about it at the time. When I take a bite in you can tell it's all the way through and not just a bruise on the surface.

I wasn't impressed with the one I've just eaten. I had to have an orange to take away the taste. We should have taken them back as soon as my wife found that half-black one.

DVD Recorder

My son bought a new dvd recorder and gave me the old one. I was reading the instructions the other week but I can't find them now. I was pressing buttons to see what happens. There is an on screen display but it has 3 menus so it isn't always easy to find what I want. I've used it a few times and filled several disks with programmes, and edited them, put titles etc.

I recorded the toyah wilcox film the other night, she only had a bit part in it. Adam ant was in the film too.

I need new scart lead. We've got the dvd recorder connected to the digital box so if we want to watch digital have to go through the recorder first. It's all down to the order everythings plugged in I suppose.

Buses

I had a nightmare bus journey this morning. One bus didn't turn up but on the next bus there was a mother with a kid who didn't shut up. I went upstairs to get away from the noise.

While I was waiting for the bus it wasn't raining too hard but it had stopped when I got into town.

Manchester

My son's boss phoned last night and asked if he could go up to Manchester today. He had to set off
around 6:30 this morning. He took the M6 toll because that's close to where we live, it is
easier than driving down to the normal M6. He'll be able to claim the money back - they seem
to be able to claim most things back where he works.

He's going to have to drive all the way back for college on thursday. It would have been better
if he'd had to go last week because he didn't have college then.

Fiat Summer Time

I've just noticed that I never changed the clock on my desk, it was still on summer time. Igot it from bloke who was the predecessor to the project manager before the one we've got now. I think he bought a new Fiat and got the clock with it. When he left I got a lot of the stuff from his desk.

Milk

There were two almost empty bottles of milk in the kitchen and another bottle which was about three quarters full. It looks like people couldn't be bothered emptying the bottles because they would have to rinse them and put them away. When the next person goes to the fridge they'll see the nearly full bottle and use that and ignore the almost empty ones.

Sticky Tape

I went to Makro last night, bought some scotch tape. You can only buy it with the cheap plastic dispensers. We've got one of the solid ones at home. I put the tape on the proper dispenser. The cheap "no brand" tape fits in the plastic dispenser quite well. The dispenser is branded 'scotch' so you can't tell. The proper scotch tape has a plastic reel in the middle but the cheaper one is only cardboard. It still fits in the dispenser though. It might be a bit of a tighter fit. You can't tell that it's not the right tape. I could probably sell it for a profit!

Driving Test

Our daughter didn't pass her driving test yesterday. There were a few minors such as hesitation and the reverse turn, which might be a major I don't know. There was a person indicating to turn right at island but they changed their mind and veered over and cut her up. It shook her up a bit.

She has already paid more than our son for lessons, she did that intensive course and has had more lessons.

She has also had a second interview for that job she went for so it isn't all bad news.

Isle of Won't

Last night sometime after 6:30 my son got a phone call at home from boss. He asked if he could
go to the Isle of Wight on wednesday. He's going to have to get back straight away because he's at uni on thursdays. It was quite short notice to go such a long way. He'd have to book his ferry crossing first.

He got into work today and reminded his boss. His boss had forgotten he was at university one day each week so the trip has been cancelled.

Sitting at my desk in the office I wondered what sun was doing coming in from the wrong direction. When we were on other side of the building we got sun coming in through the window. I wondered why still getting it from this side. It was actually being reflected off the glass of a neighbouring building.

Flip Flops

That's the sound was a girl walking down the middle of the office. You can tell why they're called that, from the noise they make. It's a bit cold outside, too cold for wearing things like that. She probably came to work in shoes and changed into them into office.

Microwave part 2

The web is good sometimes. I went to a microwave parts site. They only had parts for Panasonic and Sanyo listed so I emailed last night and gave size and details of the part I wanted and asked if Panasonic would be compatible with ours.

Today they replied. He said he could get us a Daewoo part although they don't list them on their site. He said it is rare for them to go. I wanted to buy 2 so I had a spare but he suggested I only get one.

It will cost me £13 with £4 postage.

I don't think the part broke due to age or wear and tear. I think someone caught it with a pot, taking something out of the microwave or taking a lid off.

New Jam Jar

My son turned up last night in his new car from work, an Astra Sport. Dark blue metallic paint, with one of those squashed oval exhaust pipes and the pedals of metal with the holes in them. To start it you put the key in then push a button to start the engine. He was disappointed because it had 40 miles on the clock. I told him it was going to have some delivery mileage on it.

Microwave part 1

I mentioned to someone the other day that we've had lots of different microwaves, had them break down. Well the other night it didn't break but its one of those with a built in grill. I put a drink in to warm it up and it melted the plastic cup. The heating element has a crack in it, it must be shorting or something like that. The earth connector seems to be causing it, the glass or ceramic of the element is shorting. I've managed to disconnect it so it doesn't come on all the time.

It's a daewoo but i can't find the part I need. Hopefully i'll be able to find a suitable replacement somewhere. The grill is handy for crisping the tops of pies. It came with one of those metal racks to stand the pies on. If they are too far away it doesn't do anything.

Driving Test

I found out the other day that my daughter has passed the driving theory test on thursday. She'll be wanting to do one of those intensive courses that take a week then you should pass at the end. Then we can get the old renault back on the road. It doesn't do it any good stuck in my mothers garage unused. It needs regular attention, checking the oil and the battery.

Tyres

Our Boss was late in work this morning. She had a flat tyre, had a puncture.

With our Cmax we once had an alloy wheel get stuck to the steel axle. Two dissimilar metals react and they stuck together. I used some metal grease and I managed to get them apart. I was angry because I had not long bought the car. It was only a year old. The previous owners obviously never checked the wheels.

Old Jam Jars

When we moved into our house it already had a water meter fitted. The people who used to live there they were rarely in so didn't want to pay the same amount as a family using water all the time. While we were looking round the house before we moved in we found a wardrobe full of shoe boxes. Of course we peeked in and the boxes were full, mostly with new unworn shoes with the labels still on the soles. We thought she must be an imelda marcos. It turned out that she was in the local operatic society and they were for costumes.

She was still cleaning the house when we were ready to move in. You wouldn't have thought so though because the house was still a tip. There were lots of empty jam jars everywhere.

Her car was blocking the removal van and it meant we couldn't move in when we wanted to. My wife was upset about it. We were all ready and packed in the morning hoping to be in the new house in the afternoon.

Googling in the alley

I had a look at the alleyway on google maps last night to see if it would be a good shortcut. It doesn't go between the roads I expected it to by looking at the a to z. It would take me in the right direction but doesn't look like it would be any quicker. I bumped into the bloke who told me about it in the kitchen and had a chat with him. The shourt cut is fine for him living where he does but not for me. He said I should time it, I would be surprised. He insists it would be quicker.

I was in the kitchen with my finger on the plus. Not the pulse. The plus button to try to get hot water. It started off at 88 but dropped when pressed. Got up to the 90s though. 94 degrees or so.

Alleyway

There's a bloke who used to work here but left then came back. He used to live in our area then moved to around to Gravelly Hill but he's moving back to our area to buy a house. He claimed that the cul-de-sac near us has an alleyway which cuts about 5 minutes off the walk to the station. I don't really know the area that well so I don't know if he's right.
I usually go to Erdington station which is in a different direction. I must tell my daughter about it though because she usually walkt to Chester Road station - which is one stop before on the way to New Street so there is more chance of getting a seat. The train usually fills up a bit at Erdington.

Our doctors is further down the Chester Road. It would be useful to know about the short cut for there, when I catch a bus towards Sutton Coldfield. There's no direct bus route from where we are.

Tea

I am drinking less tea thanks to the machine. Wheneve I go into the kitchen the water heater never seems to have hot water above 80 degrees. I managed to get a cup a few minutes ago when it was at 94 degrees. The person behind me was making 3 cups and waited ages for the water to heat up. To get hot water you press the hot water button and it tells you how hot the water is. You then need to press the button to get the water out.
She was a bit slow pressing the button for the water after pressing the 'hot water' button and got cold water in one of the cups.

In the Tesco cafe you get tea in a paper cup with a teabag in it and add the hot water from the machine there. It is always piping hot. You get back to your table and the tea is still too hot to drink. On the instruction card on top of the machine here, it says 'how does your water heater work' someone has written 'very slowly'.

On friday when I took my car to the garage, they made me pay for a replacement fuel cap. They claimed it didn't come under the warranty because it was 'trim'. I am going to write and complain about that.

Fuel Cap

I want the day off work tomorrow. I need to get the fuel cap sorted out on my c-max. When you turn it to remove it, it just clicks and won't come off. I must replace before we run out of diesel. I want to get it sorted under the cars warranty.

Polystyrene Mice

Back when I worked in the lab I once had a lunch of curry in a polystyrene tub. After I had finished eating it I threw the tub in the bin. Later I found it had been nibbled. I was some type of rodent, must have smelled the curry sauce and thought the tub was food. I think it was orignally a baked
potato with curry. I wouldn't be surprised if the mouse turned up later on all swelled up.

A smilar thing once happened to my daughters mouse. It chewed the velvet curtain and was later found dead.

Bus Pass

I need to renew my bus pass. I can't believe that there are so many options, there must be 20 or 25 different types available. There's a cheap rail one which covers zones 1 and 2 but the one I'm currently using is for Birmingham and the Black Country. There are bus passes available which work for the private operators but where we live we're covered by the normal service.

Holiday

I'm back from holiday. We went to the Costa Dorado near Barcalona. This brown on my arm is suntan not rust.

It was just me and wife on holiday. It makes a change because the last few years our son come with us.

We had a tropical storm while we were there. We saw lightning over the sea but there was nothing where we were, then it hit us during the night.

There was lots of road construction going on. They were straigtening winding roads. At one place they were building a road on the top of a big embankment. They were laying about 10 inches of tar - more than they use here. You can see why our roads don't last long. I could see where water had run down the side of the embankment in rivulets. This was before we had the storm. I don't know how stable the embankment will be in the long term.

This was a big toll road - there were 3 or 4 toll stations from Barcalona. They were wide roads. They've got more room there for big roads like that. I was a passenger for a change. Normally i've driven when we've gone over there.

I brought sweets to work, put them in the kitchen. They came from Barcalona. That long street, La Rambla. They had all kinds of shops there and the statues, mime artists. I would stand behind and pull a face when someone was taking a photo. There were 2 of these next to each other and when one had money put in their tin the other would make faces at them.
One kid went up to one to have photo taken and they started moving. It scared the kid, who ran crying back to his mum.

There were animals being sold outside along the street. Canaries and things labelled as Russian hamsters.

Travel Plug

I needed a new travel plug for our holiday tomorrow so I went to Superdrug to look for one. We used to have a suitable plug but I think we lent it to our daughter when she went on holiday to Turkey. We haven't seen it since - she probably left it in the hotel room. It is the sort of thing which would be easy to miss, accidently leaving it plugged in. When you pack all your stuff away to come home you could accidently leave it behind.

I looked in superdrug but they didn't have any. They said they only sell them during summer so it must obviously be winter now. I managed to find one in Maplins instead.

The pack contained two plugs. One with round pins and another with flat pins. I think the flat one might be for france but the other one should work for us in spain. There are only two pins on the plug, there isn't an earth pin, but the one with the round plugs has a metal strip where the earth pin fits. That must be for anything which needs earth. The french don't seem to bother, they obviously don't care whether they get electric shocks or not.

Dogs

We're thinking of getting another dog. Our son isn't at home during the day any more now that he's finished college and got a job. We leave the radio on for dog to listen to so she doesn't get lonely. The trouble with having 2 dogs is that you could come home to a ruined house if they decide to go on the rampage. The dog weed in the house once, in the kitchen diner. Thankfully she chose the right place, the kitchen end where we have tiles. The other end was carpeted.

Nice to see you...

There was another car parked in our space in work, so the van had to stay in the wrong space again. The trouble is that this means someone else has to park in the wrong space as well, like the deck of cards effect. No, I mean domino effect. I knew it was some kind of parlor game. Like that tv programme with Bruce Forsyth. You get nothing for a pair.

We've got a new kettle in the kitchen in work. This one won't last long either. It's toggle switch. It needs a rocker switch. The toggle switches break much more easily. We've got one with a rocker switch at home and it's lasted for years.

M.O.T

I had to take the company van for it's M.O.T while its usual driver was on holiday.
It passed although I don't think it should have. I think it's got a faulty handbrake. The van can still move with the brake on.

I drove to work got to the reserved parking space we have for it. Another white astra was already there. I had to park in the next space. I had to go to reception to tell them that I had parked in the wrong space so they wouldn't try to clamp our van.

The garage had free drinks machine, it was only the powdered drinks with the machine to add hot water but it was better than some places which make you pay.

I'm not sure which van is parked in our space, I can't read registration from the office, cant make it out through the mucky windows.

Floppy Kettles

My son was in Manchester. He's back home again now. He went with his boss to the warehouse to pick up some computer bits for these controllers that their company makes.

My car was in the drive behind his. I had to move it otherwise I would have to get up at 7:30 to move it first. We've got a double length drive, the only house in our area to have one. It's good for new a house. We've got an area next to the drive to turn round. Some houses have a wide shared drive which isn't as good. You get the households with more cars and it causes trouble.

We've lost the kettle in the kitchen in work. The switch went floppy. You had to use the wall switch to turn the plug off or the kettle would keep boiling.

Scampi

I got home last night and turned the corner towards the house. I wondered why our car was on the pavement. It was another silver MPV, ours was still in the drive. It was the pool car our son had got from work, he'd left it there while he went up to scotland in his car. It was a vauxhall zafira, 1.8. similar shape but slightly lower than our c-max. This car was automatic, fitted with hands free kit etc. He's got it til he gets his own company car. The car shouldn't be on the pavement for too long. I can move it to my mothers house. She doesn't drive so we can keep the car there. There will be plenty of room.

Last time I drove an automatic was the brother-in-law's car. We were between cars, had sold one but not bought a new one yet. That one was a company car as well. It was leyland but with a honda gearbox, this was a few years ago, back in the 80s. Before the rover 200. Triumph Dolomite. I think that was it.

I got a text from my son in scotland. He's booked into a travelodge and had scampi and chips.

Tesco

We went shopping last night, to tesco. My son has finished college and he's sitting round the house doing nothing so we took him out with us. In the shop he met someone. "Hello joe" he said, my son said "hello richard". I asked if it was someone he knew from college but it was his new boss. It looked like a friend from college, he was only in his early 20s. He asked if my son had ordered his new car yet.

They've got a new Marks&Spencers there as well but we didn't go there this time, we were walking round tesco when this happened.

Donald Duck

I'm sure our driver has a mate in his van with him. When he phones up it sounds like donald duck talking. I think there's something wrong with the hands-free set in his van but he claims it's only when he talks to me, not when he phones anyone else in the office.

Walking Shoes

I bought some walking shoes from Lidl. I saw them advertised so I looked around the shop and eventually found them. They only seemed to have mens sizes up to 9. I chose a pair of size 9 and tried them on. They were too small, my toes went right to the end. My wife managed to find a pair of size 9.5. You don't often get half sizes these days. I discovered the reason they were left behind. The stitching around metal eyelet was loose, the threads were hanging. I bought them anyway and sewed them up when I got home. They are more comfortable than normal shoes. They only cost only £12.50.

I bought a pair of winter boots there last year. They're a good sturdy pair.

Sandwich Projector

I think there might be free sandwiches in work later on. A bloke from further down the corridor was giving a presentation and I had to set up projector for it. It wasn't easy because power leads aren't long enough. There are plug sockets on wall but the projector has to be set up int he middle and the lead isn't not long enough to reach to centre of room. They have extension leads in reception so I had to borrow one from there. They have the 4 gang ones. We used to have some spare in the office but we got rid of ours recently when we moved to our current location. We didn't think we needed them anymore.

I wouldn't hold my breath for those sandwiches. When I walked past the room a few minutes ago he was still talking.

Deliveries

It's good to have friendly neighbours. Our next door neigbour has retired. It's handy for when we have deliveries. We all order stuff off the internet. When my son was at college and working part time he was often home during the day but now he's starting work full time he can't guarantee that he'll be there for deliveries. We can now have things left at our neighbours house. We could ask for things to be left at my mum's house but she lives miles away. My son could probably get things delivered to where he works.

Bus

I thought I'd missed my bus this morning. It is a 20 minute walk and a bus goes past every 30 minutes. But it is the school holidays. The buses are sometimes irregular. They don't change the timetable though. Sometimes I see the bus parked up, while I'm walking. I see them on the other side of the park. Possibly the driver is waiting to leave at the right time. Could be if they're early so they are back on the timetable.

Fire Alarm

The fire alarm in the building is tested every friday at 10:30. The alarm wouldn't switch off once. There was something wrong with the button. Everyone had to leave the building. It must have been a nice earner for the firemen. I suppose they must penalise companies for false alarms because the firemen have to come out each time. It could cause problems if they couldn't get to somebody because of one.

Graduation

It was my Daughters graduation last friday. The ceremony programme is some kind of special edition because it is the university's 40th anniversary. She's in the booklet 3 times. Once for the ceremony and twice for awards she won. One this year one last year.

Sandwiches

Years ago, both me and my wife worked near each other. We would both drive to work. She'd go to work later than me.

One day I forgot my sandwiches. She saw them and dropped them off for me. When the 'package' was dropped off, I got a call from security! The company where I worked handled bullion so they were used to treating deliveries as valuable. It was only a small company. The security was actually employed by the company, not contracted out like usually happens.

84 Emails

Something strange happened on friday. I got 84 emails all at once, most of them were one of those out of office auto reply things. They were from the institute of advanced motoring. One of the emails was from someone asking for it to stop. Some of them contained discounts or offers, eg. for AA membership or tyres etc. They're no use for me. You can't get tyres cheaper than Makro.

Penicillin

I was given penicillin 30 years ago, ampicillin I think it was. It was after my road accident, on my motorbike. My arm was broken and my leg broken in 3 places.

They didn't check whether I allergic to penicillin. I suppose that was the least of their worries.

The arm got torn off my leather jacket. It had double stitching. Maybe not top quality but it probably saved my life

Coppers

I used to lived next door to copper. We'd only just moved into the house and his dog dug up our lawn. It must have been looking for a bone it buried earlier.

Later on we were invited to his wedding reception. It was held in a bar in the jewelery quarter of town. During the do, lots of uniformed coppers turned up. Of course they were just his friends from the force who were on duty. They kept walking in and out during the event.

He was waiting for the divorce to finalise for the woman he was living with so they could get married.

Fruit Bowl

Last night I rescued a pear from the fruit bowl. I picked it up at the top of the pear. I had to cut the bottom half off. It had gone all soft. My wife had put another pear out which had gone mouldy. Another had liquified but hadn't quite gone mouldy.

Lift

Last night I got in to the lift and pressed the button for the lower ground floor. Someone else got into the lift and pressed the button for the ground floor. Both lights came on on the button panel. He got out at his floor but the lift went back up to the tenth floor. No-one got in there. I switched to the lift over to the service setting so it went straight back down without stopping.

I was already fifteen minutes late leaving the office. I lost track of the time. I only realised when someone else from the office got up to go home. I put it all down to being a monday.

Bin Men

Every monday at half past five I get woken up by the binmen. Not the actual bin men. Just the bin emptiers. They come around first to take all the bags out of the bins and put them in a pile. We don't have wheelie bins. Everything has to be bagged and put in the bin.

I usually manage to get back to sleep, a deeper slumber, only to get woken again at half past six, maybe six-twenty or quarter past. That is when the bin lorry arrives.

Day Off

I had a day off work yesterday. I think I was busier than when I'm in work. I didn't have chance for a proper lunch.

I started off cutting down the kitchen door at around half past ten. Then my son came back from college. We started to fit the car alarm. I didn't get a break til half past one. We tried the alarm but it would not work straight away. They have a telephone helpline to sort this sort of thing out. They have people who know how they work. I described what the problem was and they said it was a very common problem. It works now. We have it wired into the courtesy light circuit so it goes off if the light comes on. It also has a panic alarm where you just press the button.

Shopping and football

I went out to the supermarket last night. And while I was out went to to Halfords. My son comes in later and we have the one drive. My wife tends to park at the end of the drive. We would have to move the cars around so I might as well go out.

The roads were really quiet. Halfords was empty, the car park had hardly any vehicles in. This was while the match was on.

We were watching something else on tv. We switched over for some reason. Probably looking for the news. I said "I bet they'll score" and within 30 seconds they did.

I'm sure Sven was playing for draw.

Summer Cold

It wasn't a summer cold - summer only starts today. It must have been a late spring cold. Today is the longest day, officially the start of summer.

Cold

Got a runny nose. It doesn't matter how many anti-histamines I take. It looks like it isn't hay-fever. Must have a cold. Phoned work to let them know.

Air Conditioning

I remember seeing on holiday where taxi drivers had the air conditioning, on the continent. The taxi's door would be wide open with the driver sitting with feet out but the air con was running. This was a few years ago now.

Roof Rack part 6

They delivered the new feet for the roof bars. They were supposed to pick the wrong ones up from the office. The delivered them at home. It was only a coincidence my son was at home. He must have been to college earlier and was home. The couriers turned up at home but they should have come here to where I work. I had old feet here in my desk drawer. They shouldn't have left new feet at home without picking up the old ones. The label said don't leave them without exchanging. I've still got the old ones here.

I still need to drill holes in the top box. It has a different fitting, for a different set of bars.
The bars I have are excellent. The ones at halfords were twice the price.

College Security

When my son came out of college there were kids sitting around his car. He had to go and fetch the college security to get them to move. They were sitting on the bonnet or something. They had done something to his wing mirror. Tied a cable to it or something. Something to do with a cable anyway. I don't know. I wasn't listening.

Orange Juice

The bus floor was slippy this morning. Orange juice. It was also raining which didn't help. They never seem to clean the buses more than once a fortnight. There were half empty cartons of juice rolling around the bus. If you stepped on one you'd go arse over tit. The kids kick them around like footballs.

Roof Rack part 5

I still haven't got the roof bar feet. I rang the company on saturday. They can't deliver til next week. The delivery company will only deliver in the week. There will be nobody home. My wife will be in work. My son will be away at college. They will have to deliver here in work.

There was no problem with the delivery first time around. The ones I wanted should be cheaper than the ones they sent though. They sent the ones with the feet which clip round the door. The ones I want clip into the roof.

Quiet Roads

The roads are quiet at times. I wonder why. It's often when there's a football match on ;-)

Police

I rode down in the lift last night with 2 police. I knew one. His name was (deleted). He's retired. He now works for same company that I do. We was probably going for a drink with the other policeman.

As i said I know one, he's got a farm. Horses. Stables. I expect he gets as much money on pension as when he was working.

Roof Rack part 4

I was hoping my wife would be staying in today. She said she would not be using the car. Although she said she would be going out to renew her rail pass so won't be in all day. I'm expecting the replacement roof rack feet. It will be a pain having to collect from a depot.

World Cup

The World cup. If I choose Brazil for the fantasy league in work I'll have to choose Australia. It's in the rules. We've got relatives down under. I think I'll also have Trinidad and Tobago - is that 2 teams for the price of one! Who are Cote d'Ivoire. Not heard of them. I quite fance Sweden but only if they use the team that won Eurovision.

Roof Rack part 3

I got the roof rack last night. It was for the wrong car. They delivered the attachment for a peugeot 307. It has the clips which go on the roof and fit around the doorway. The number was only one different to the one they should have sent. Code number was almost the same. My car has the clips in the roof.

Roof Rack part 2

I ordered the roof rack from the web site. They are delivering it today but I won't be in. I expect I'll have to collect it from some courier depot on the other side of town. It would be ok if it was Royal Mail because their depot is just down the road.

Plastic Bumper

The paint had started to come off the front bumper on my son's car. There was a small dent and the paint was coming loose. He insisted on it being done just right so rubbed off all the loose paint and had it repainted properly.

Roof Rack

I need to buy a roof rack. I saw one make for £120 but that was too expensive. Looking on ebay I saw one which was for a c-max but the photo showed a different car. At least you can ask the seller questions. I don't want anything too heavy though. Want rigidity. One with a top box. But the photo was a ford focus not a c-max.

Cadmium

We used to test for cadmium in silver alloys when I used to work in the assay lab. About 3% was the highest we tended to get. It is quite toxic. It gets added to silver to make it less brittle so it will be more malleable.

Kitchen Door Revisited

Things aren't finished with my kitchen doors. I spent the weekend whittling away! It is a production door from when house was built. It has huge lock which takes up a lot of the room. I had to reposition it. It had me remembering school woodwork. About all I made was a pencil sharpener which was just a block of wood with some sandpaper stuck to it.

Bus Pass

When I renewed my buss pass, I needed a new wallet/holder for it. They didn't have any proper bus ones so I've got a Network Rail one instead.

Fox

Someone in work has crashed a hire car - it overturned when they swerved to avoid a fox and lost control in the wet. That's what happens when you ban fox hunting. There are all these foxes running around the country, causing accidents.

Warm

That's the trouble with warm weather. I have had to adjust my watch bracelet. Had to take it out a notch.

Ear Plugs

I used to live in a house on a main road. It had double glazing but the noise from the road was so loud I needed ear plugs at night.
The show home had secondary glazing. It had the normal double glazing fitted but had tertiary glazing put in as well. They must have known the noise was a problem.

Clunk Clip

Yesterday my wife got a phone call from our son. He was pulling into the car park at college when he heard a clunk clunk sound. At first he thought 'oh no, the bearings have gone' but it turned out to be a huge metal clip embedded in the tyre.

When I got home I had a look. The tyre didn't seem to have gone down. I thought it might have been a slow puncture. The big clip was like something electrical. It was a square inch across with sharp spikes. It was stuck in the tread. I didnt remove it. I thought I should wait for my son before touching it.
The car had had new tyres. When we bought it we though we'd got a good deal but it needed a new timing chain.

This morning the tyre had not gone down any. It would have been slow puncture if there less tread on the tyre so the spike would have gone through.

I had a new car once, a citroen. When I took it for a service it came back with a dent in the boot. There was red paint in the dent. I went back to the garage and had a look in their service bay. They had some of the big storeage shelves which had red paint on them. I said that is where it must have come from. They took the car back and had it fixed, cheaper than if i'd paid and given them the bill. They must have known where to take it. I never went back there again. That's the trouble with new cars. You have to take it to a proper garage for servincing because of the warranty.

Mortgages

The halifax once forgot to take a months mortgate payment. Of course you would keep the records just in case 5 years down the line they come back and say 'you haven't paid this'.

Years ago I had compensation for a motorbike accident. It wasn't much I shopped around and put money there, thats why I went with the halifax for my mortgage. 20 years ago not many banks did it but everywhere does now. You can get a mortgage from Asda.

Kitchen and Cars

On saturday, I had to sort out the dimmer switch in the dining room. I thought there was a loose wire in the fitting. My son sorted it out and replaced the switch. That's what you keep a son for!

He also fitted the wing mirror onto his car. It wasn't quite the same as the original. He had to dismantle it and refitted it.

Were going to move everything back into the kitchen over the weekend but the washing machine still needs installing, and there are the valences etc.

He bought a haynes manual for his car but the wing mirror shown in the book is completely different to the one on his car. There was supposed to be wire clip and we should put screwdriver down the side of the glass and wiggle it to unclip it. We couldn't get it to come apart. We pulled it apart and there wasn't a clip. It had a plastic swivel with the glass attached but no wire. There was also another mirror glued onto old mirror where a previous owner had put a replacement on.

measure twice, cut once

I'm putting these door up in the kitchen. They're half glazed. The doorways in the house are narrower and taller than normal. When I fit them I will need to put something on top so they are the right height. I've bought matching doors. One doorway has a folding door alongisde. It's still glazed like the others. I borrowed my brother-in-laws electric saw. It's one of those battery powered circular saws. I need to take 1-1 1/2 cm off each side of the doors. The sliding door will be lower because of the runner it hangs from. I can't just hang lower because the glass won't be level so I will still need to cut some off and add another bit.

Holly Bush

The next thing we're going to do to the house is sort out the drive. Theres a big holly bush with some smaller varieties alongside which are still big. The big one is on the corner of the drive. When we back out of the drive we swing round to face the main road, looking up the road to check for cars zooming down the hill from the estate. You've also got to watch out for the front of the car hitting the bush. I'm going to get it cut back. It's not just the spikes, it's the branches. They are quite thick. It's not going to be easy to dig it out because it's been there 30 years. The roots are going to be big.
It would be useful to have double drive. We've got a long drive so if someone wants to go out in
the first car then we have to move both cars.
The bush in wrong place really. It gives no privacy, it doesn't block the view from the road.
A person walks past same time each day and seems to stare into the house. We've got those vertical blinds to try to block the view. We don't want to close the curtains. The window is split so there are actually 4 curtains. We have a long lounge and it gets dark at the far end.

Don't walk on the floor

When I got home yesterday I was told we couldn't walk on the floor til 6pm. I hope they meant
6pm last night and not tonight. All the floor had been done except for round door frames and
other awkward shapes. Probably not done yet because they are hard to cut out. Hopefully they'll
come back to finish that.
All the wall tiles were done as well.
They had big boxes of tiles which they must get from the suppliers. What don't use must they take back and use on another job. My wife saw a big box of unused tiles and said she wonders if they're going to use those - she wanted to keep a few for spares.

Kitchen Floor

Hopefully we'll be getting someone in today, in our kitchen. The floor needs laying and the
tiles need doing.

Wing Mirror

Someone in the college car park hit the wing mirror of my son's car, knocked it forward so it
broke the plastic surround, not backward where it would have swung. It didn't break the glass.
Thats what you get with car ownership, weekly disappointment, something breaks or gets dented.
He managed to get a replacement mirror from the internet for only £20.

Credit Card

The royal bank of scotland credit card, before chip and pin, they had a tiny photo on them. The
new one doesn't. I don't have my old one on me I must have destroyed it. I expect it was
expensive technology and not worth doing it now. The photo was tiny and you couldn't really
tell who it was.

Maplins

Yesterday morning when I went to Maplins, it was raining when I got to the car park. When I got
back home only 5 minutes down the road, I parked in my drive and there were hailstones. It was
cold overnight though.

Bank Holiday

I noticed that may day bank holiday was actually on may day. This must be some kind of
coincidence. It must happen every 7 years or 6 with leap year.

I needed a battery for volt meter in the dining room. I went to maplins but it was closed and
the sign on the door said see in store for bank holiday opening times but I couldn't of course!

Spilt Milk

Someone put another milk on the small shelf in the fridge. People shouldn't do that because the
bottles can easily fall off when the door is opened. This has happened once before. The problem
is the bottom shelf fills with half full bottles and people can't be bothered to sort them out.
Someone should remove the small shelf. That would stop it happening.

Curly Paper

The paper came out of the printer very curly. It's not usually that curly. It was printed double sided. Must have been the heat in the printer.

Carphone Warehouse

I took the wife to the carphone warehouse to get a new phone. We took our son along to help us because he understands these things. The phone we got was an nec. I think they are chinese. Isn't it the national electric company or something like that. It's one of those clamshell ones.
We put the old sim in the new phone at first because the new sim would need to be activated first. The old sim was not able to take photos though.

Our son asked the salesman some technical question about his own phone. I think it was just to confuse him.

Traffic

The traffic was busy this morning. The bus had no problem getting to spaghetti but it got busy from there. Something was slowing the traffic, whether it was the motorway I don't know.

It might have been something from the m6 north, you know when you get heavy traffic. I checked RAC website. The m6 north had congestion after an earlier accident. Thats all it takes a minor bump and it slows the whole road system down.

Kitchen Builders

Supposed to be getting a tiler in today, to do the back of the worktop and the floor. But nobody came. The electrician came yesterday. I thought now that's finished we could get the tiling done. It's been a fortnight now. That's how long it was supposed to take to finish it but it isn't all finished yet.

Yesterday

The university open day my son went to was a bit of a waste of time. Nothing to do with the course he was on. It was really just a buffet.

Bins

Wheelie bins are so much better than the dustbins we have. You're supposed to put everying in bags in you bin but the binmen won't fetch your bin. You have to take the bags out yourself and put them on the road. A lot of people don't tie them up so things fall out, animals can get in and spread rubbish.

Not a day off

I was supposed to take a day off yesterday but I forgot. I had booked the day off! My son was going to Birmingham Uni and we were going to be having people round. The electrician was coming to replace a perfectly good cooker power socket.

Phones

I tried to transfer a phone call to someone else in work but I got the wrong number and the person on the next desk got it. It was a good thing because the person I should have transferred to, her phone wasn't working. I tried to phone her just now but it wasn't working.

Greasy Biro

I hate it when biros get greased up and won't write. My fault for eating crisps.

Car Stereos

My son had a new stereo put in his car. It originally only had a radio cassette, it's now got a cd
player and mp3. He said it was better than the one in my car, I've only got cassette. I don't think
he has used the mp3. He only makes 15 minute journeys. He got it from work, there were 2 left in
stock and he had one and the manager had the other. £200-odd stereos for about half that.

My Computer

I'm going to have to restart my computer. I've sent several emails but they are stuck in my outbox. I turned it off and on again yesterday and it started working.
Phoned technical support and it turned out to be the card reader. I don't need it any more, it's for an old camera. It changes the 'H' drive. Outlook works locally but won't send. It worked ok when the computer was first brought up here and I plugged it. It must be using a different port or something. Why 'H' drive would incapacitate email I don't know. No, wait, that was something to do with memory. Too much memory or something.

Bus Baby

That's the trouble with bus travel. You often get a crying baby on the seat next to you.

Kitchen

We are still living with a collapsible table in the dining room. We're waiting for the plumber to finish off in the kitchen.

Phone Call

We had a phone call last night. It was my daughter asking my how many times Nigel Mansell won the British Grand Prix. Not the overall championship. Just the British race. Silverstone, or Goodwood or wherever because they used to alternate. Back in the 70's. No, it wouldn't have been Goodwood. She was in a pub quiz. Unfortunately we didn't have the computer switched on so I couldn't check. I think she thought it was the kind of thing I would know off the top of my head.

Free worktop

Got a free worktop once. We were having some work done and the workmen had this in their van from another job. It was too wide to go in the garage. We wanted it over the freezer. It's a good quality piece with a surface on it. If you catch it with a knife it won't scratch.

Sudoku

The sudoku puzzle in The Sun newspaper is different to the one on their website.

Water Pressure

I don't know how the canteen manages, here on the top floor, with no water pressure. You turn on the taps in the toilet and hardly any water comes out. When a canteen runs on water.

Fridge

Thats one thing we definately had to move to the dining room - the refrigerator. I suppose when people get new stuff with a kitchen they keep the old one going while they transfer everything over.

Kitchen Again

When I got home the plasterer had plastered all walls. The double socket had been put in. The p lasterer had to wait for electrician. There was no extra cost because they were sub contracted from builders and we'd agreed a set price for the whole job.
We have now got 4 double sockets in the kitchen instead of the 3 we used to have.
The room looks better without hatch. We now have plain wall with damp square of plaster. The doorway has proper metal edge strips and everything.

Creme Eggs

Creme eggs used to be massive when i was a kid. You couldn't get one in your pocket. Now you can fit about 4 in.

Our electrician used to work for cadburys on the production line. He wouldn't tell us how the eggs were made, it was a company secret.

The electrician came today

Where we've had the door knocked through there used to be a socket, a double power point. We expected him to move it further along the wall. Instead he put junction box and a wire down to the power point for the cooker to light the gas hob. He left us a power point but no lead.

The plasterer is coming today. Thankfully he had seen note I left where the double point should be with an arrow pointing to wall. He left a hole for for the electrician to put the double socket in. If he'd plastered wouldn't have been able to find the wire! That's the trouble with me not being there.The only double socket we'd have had would be the other side of the gas hob. I don't want to have a trailing extension cable going across a gas hob.

Not Wednesday

I thought i'd missed a day, thought it was wednesday. I hadn't put in the mileage for wednesday! I should throw away some of these loose pieces of paper where I've written down the mileage from our drivers.

No Cooker

It takes a bit of getting used to eating out of the dining room plugging everything into a lead. The builders hadn't done much. The electrician had been though.

Egg on Toast

Probably having egg on toast tonight or something from the chippy. We have some microwave chips from Tesco but I'm not sure whether I want to try them. I think my son will.

My Kitchen

The plasterer is coming today to fill the hole in the wall. There is wooden frame where the hatch was, where the walkway through from the kitchen to the dining room is.

Raining

Back from lunch. It was raining, just spotting. Not enough to need my hat even though I took it with me. I didn't need to take it out of my bag.

Chinese Restaurant

There's a place we travel through, stockwell green, with a chinese restaurant but the sign simply says "chinese restaurant". These places usually have a chinese name. You'd have thought if they were paying to get a proper sign made they'd have got a proper name.

Rain

This morning I got caught in rain but only when I got to town. It was very light. I think it was more in the night/early mornning when it was pouring down.

Tyres

I had to replace a perfectly good tyre because a screw or nail got into it. The tread was fine. I have to replace my front tyres more often because you can't rotate tyres any more because the spare is nearly always a space saver so if I did rotate I could only rotate the four.

I normally get my tyres from from the Costco Tyre Centre but they didn't stock them My car needs bigger tyres then normal with it being the c-max version. I bought goodyear. They are a recognised make, not dirt cheap but reasonable. The other tyres were £20 more. The one's I bought have more parallel grooves which are good in the rain.

My Weekend

The supermarkets closed on sunday. That doesn't happen very often. The only days seem to be easter day and Christmas. I took my daughter back to university to get some work done. Term doesn't start yet but I took her back. I drove.
We've got workmen coming to do the kitchen. We're living off what we can plug into the dining room. We can't use the stove because that's in the kitchen. We will have problem when they knock through to the dining room to connect the two because we won't be able to use that room while they are doing that. I had to clear all the units and cupboards and take everything out of the kitchen. The kitchen has a little alcove with door. A pantry. I'm replacing doors and putting shelves in. It looks like it hasn't been painted since the house was built. It's magnolia but dusty. I am putting in half glazed doors. The pantry door will be bi-fold but I can't get the right size. I will have to cut the door down to make it narrow enough but need to line the middle of the door with the rest of the room and the main kitchen door. The top of the pantry door is 1 centimeter lower than the other door but I cannot see any reason for it. It is below where the stairs are but there is still 15 centimeters above the door. The door alarms will need rewiring. The control box for the alarms is in the pantry. When we moved in there was a control box with a button to press to deactivate the alarm. You would have to come in through the front door and walk throught the house to get to the kitchen. We now have a keypad to turn off the alarm.

Sending Machine Code

We were emailed an assessment form to fill in. It came in an email. I had to click on the link and the word document loaded. I filled in the form and then on the menu in the window tried to send it but the window didn't have my document, only machine code so I couldn't send it.

Pond Water

Over the weekend I looked at my pond and noticed that the water level was low. We have a fountain in it and I thought a pipe may have sprung a leak. I was worried because we have fish in there as well. I had been very windy so I think the water must have blown away.