My Life as a Sea Sponge

The Sea Sponge has left the building

2007-08-31T15:36:00.000+01:00

The End

Holiday

2007-08-20T09:30:00.000+01:00

I'm going to be away for the first 2 weeks of september, we're going up to lakeside, next to windermere. The place was built up from nothing, during the victorian or edwardian era.

We're going up in 2 cars, our daughter is taking the train and we'll be meeting up there. I'm going to be using the gym there, having a go on the rowing machine.

Crowbar

2007-08-17T08:54:00.001+01:00

I've got a crowbar at home. I could have used it last night when the neighbours house alarm was going off. My wife told me it kept going off then silent again. I didn't hear it, I was wearing ear plugs. I can't sleep in them though. If I roll onto my side, it feels like the plugs are being pressed into my brain.

I don't know if they got broken in or not. They didn't leave us with any keys or even contact details. They went away without leaving a phone number with any of the neighbours. Their parents come round now and again to check on the house though.

The alarm did stop in the end.

The legs on the bus...

2007-07-27T09:57:00.000+01:00

I was on the bus when I noticed someone I recognised, sitting a few rows ahead of me, with legs on show. She was using one of those personal organiser email things.

I asked about skirt and she told be she was determined to wear a dress sometime this summer. She's off to a wedding in wales soon. She's only got a small car, I hope she can get through the floods ok.

Round and Round on the bus

2007-07-24T08:44:00.000+01:00

I was called to get a passenger off the bus. The driver asked me to help a chinese lady who was sat at the back of the bus. We were at the bus station and she didn't want to get off.She had a piece of paper with a map on it. I looked at it and told her where to get off the bus but she didn't seem to understand. She had got onto the right bus but heading in the wrong direction.
Her stop was after mine so I stayed with her and when we got there, I told her she needed to get off. She didn't understand and just smiled at me.

Windscreen Wiper

2007-07-23T14:04:00.000+01:00

I had the car wiper pump motor replaced at the weekend. I took the old one apart to see what was wrong with it. I had to break it apart to see inside. The fluid comes in at one end and there's a rotor which spins one way to make the fluid go to the front wipers. If you reverse the current the rotor spins the other way for the back wipers. It was interesting. I took the bits into work to show people.

Wrong bus

2007-07-21T10:24:00.000+01:00

I got on the wrong bus on my way home on friday night. I had been at the works summer party and probably had a bit too much to drink. It was similar to the bus I normally take but went on a slightly different route and doesn't go as close to home. I had a 15 minute walk the rest of the way.

Oil

2007-07-18T09:53:00.000+01:00

Our son turned up at the house with 5 litres of oil. The oil light came on in his car so he bought some to be safe. He doesn't need it all so gave it to us. It's a different oil though, petrol and diesel cars use different types. Diesel engines work at lower revs so I think they use a thicker oil. It will be ok just to top up our car but not for a full change.

Dublin and Lakes

2007-07-10T08:50:00.000+01:00

We had a flight to Dublin, from Nottingham airport. It only cost us 95p, there no tax, it was some kind of special offer. We did end up paying £25 in the short stay car park though, just for the day. The person we visited was over there for the week, they were surprised at how much I paid. The long stay might have been cheaper.
While in Dublin we went round the Jamesons distillery. It's distilled 3 times, unlike Scotch which is only distilled twice. It's not made there any more, it'd done elsewhere in Ireland now.

Last week were in the Lake District. While we were in Keswick we visited the pencil museum. The famous Cumberland pencils were made there.

We visited the Jennings brewery where they make Sneck Lifter. Sneck is latch. The sixpence on the sign was how much needed to get into the pub at the end of the week, after you'd spent all your wages. You could only afford to buy one drink then hopefully get your mates to buy the rest.

Another place had a rock xylophone - presumably from a prehistoric rock band. We were also at the wettest place in britain. On a clear day you could see over to scotland.

New Coat

2007-06-25T09:03:00.000+01:00

I got fed up with getting wet in all this rain so I went to buy myself a water proof coat. I went to Costco. Normally when you're looking for something like that you can never find anything but I did ok. I needed something with a hood after my brolly 'exploded' on friday. It was a collapsible one and I pressed the button to extend the handle and it flew apart.

The coat seems waterproof but I still got damp wearing it but I think that was honest-to-goodness sweat instead. The coat has one of those mesh type linings which should let your skin breathe but it still makes me sweat. It only cost me £10 which isn't bad. It's a good make - Trespass.

Fruit Machine

2007-06-25T08:42:00.000+01:00

Last night our son came back, with an old One Armed Bandit fruit machine. He bought it off the Internet. Not sure why though. It was heavy, took several of us to carry it into the house. It's one of the proper old ones where you put a coin in and pull the lever. It's got buzzers and a bell inside, the bell is like in an old alarm clock with a hammer to hit it.

I suggested he took it to work and installed it there. Get people to play it at lunchtime and he could take the profits. I don't know how much he paid for it. When we opened it up and looked inside, it's got a counter in there showing how much money it's taken. We don't know if it's been reset or whether that's since new but it's taken £900 and paid back £700. That doesn't seem much for an old machine so it might have been reset.

It's got the old mechanical reels inside which spin when you pull the lever. With it being mechanical I don't know how random it is. You used to see this in the arcades, you'd get the old dears sitting around waiting for the reels to show a particular configuration. If the person playing got up and left, they'd rush over with their handbags and start playing. They knew when a machine was going to pay out.

I've got a friend who used to go from pub to pub playing the quiz machines. He knew all the trivia and stuff. He used to work on the ticket machine at the football ground. He was on a TV quiz show once, a bit like the bloke who works for us who was on but didn't win anything. This other quiz show was a football specific one though.

The Date

2007-06-22T08:36:00.000+01:00

It's a very appropriate date today, the Twenty-Second. 22 - two little ducks. It's raining. Nice weather for ducks.

Phones

2007-06-21T08:50:00.000+01:00

We seem to have started getting nusiance phone calls at home, at around 6 or half past. I used to answer the phone by giving the last 4 digits of our phone number but I've stopped doing that. I just pick up the phone but not say anything. If I speak or say hello, the line usually goes dead, as if they don't recognise my voice.
The other night we got a phone call and it was for our son. Somebody was trying to sell him something. The other day in work I phoned the number we were given for the Print Room and got a load of adverts, someone trying to sell us printing services.

Washer

2007-06-07T12:35:00.000+01:00

The washer motor burned out on our car. We needed new one so I checked the web. They had them for £25. That's not cheap but much cheaper than going to a garage. The trouble is we've got to take wing off. You can't just open bonnet and do it.
The car would have failed mot. It's only the wipers at the front. The ones at the back are working. I suppose I could have swapped the tubes but that wouldn't have worked really.

On the Buses

2007-06-05T08:50:00.000+01:00

They should be banned - school children. All the school traffic and buses were crowded. I was later in work this morning. I didn't get off the bus til half past 8 and I then have to work to the office from the stop. The bus was back on it's old route after the roadworks, a longer route.

There is a stop in front of speed check sign. It's a 30mpg area and the sign lights up when you approach it. They've put the bus stop sign right in front.

The first stop on the route hasn't been reinstated yet. I didn't like that. And there's someone I meet on the bus, she would have been later getting into work too. She is supposed to start at half past 8. She'll be put in the late book for that!

What's that on the map?

2007-05-18T10:10:00.000+01:00

I was looking at a map of the city centre. I'm sure there is a cut-through to the library to avoid having to go down the main road and over the bridge. I wondered what the 'compass point with arrow' was on the screen. It was puzzling me because it was on a blank bit of map. A colleague suggested I move the mouse to see what happens. It was the mouse pointer. I felt so embarassed.

Sports Car

2007-05-18T09:15:00.000+01:00

A friend of mine used to have a 2 seater sports car. He build himself based on ford cortina chassis. It was from a kit and designed to look like a lotus 7. It's not exactly the same but close enough. I used to get a lift with him he used to work in an electrical place near me. He finished about the same time I did, about 5pm or 5 past. You could hear him coming. He would turn up at about a quarter past, it took him about 10 minutes to do the drive. People would hear the car and turn to me and say 'Your ride's here!'

Fuses

2007-05-14T08:50:00.000+01:00

B&Q had half price fuse boards, the ones with the residual currant trip switches. They had provision for up to10 double plug sockets. They were about £75. I need to replace our old one. We've got an old board but have the new circuit breaker detectors in it instead of fuses. I was speaking to one of the brothers-in-law and he said it was an ok price. The trouble is you need to get an elecectrician in these days. I don't think i'll bother changing it, I don't need to spend the money.

Gum

2007-05-11T08:35:00.000+01:00

The joy of public transport. I was on the bus last night and sat down on seat like usual. I got up to find there was chewing gum on my pants. I got home and scraped most of it off. I then put my pants in the freezer to freeze the gum and managed to get more off. I then tried lighter fuel although any type of petroleum distillate will do. So don't come near me with a match or my trousers will catch light. No, actually put them in the wash after that.

Poop

2007-05-03T09:32:00.000+01:00

A bird had the cheek to poop on our new driveway. This was the bit under the porch. We've had problems with birds flying into windows before. It might have done that and frightened itself.

Valet

2007-04-27T10:20:00.000+01:00

I had to take the van in for a valet - it needed cleaning and the boss told me to get it sorted. I took it to a place in Deritend/Digbeth. I ran all the way back. Didn't really, I took a taxi.

I used to know the area well, I used to work round there. I knew Digbeth High Street, Sherlock Street and Alcester Street. This was about 30 years ago and it's all changed. The place was one side of the main road but it's dual carriageway and I didn't know which direction I had to approach from. I took the bus back to the office. My bus pass is valid for anywhere in Birmingham.

Tortoise

2007-04-23T13:12:00.000+01:00

Our tortoise's eye looked like it had some kind of infection so we took it to the vet where we used to live, where we used to take the dog. The vet had a look and picked something out which looked like a bit of straw. They can easily get seeds and stuff in their eye. The vet used a saline solution to wash eye with.

It's my sons tortoise. We thought it would ruin weekend if it died, with this happening on friday evening. It cost us £12. We noticed when the tortoise was in it's run in the back garden if you can call it a 'run'. He can actually get up to quite a speed really.

Driveway

2007-04-16T12:54:00.000+01:00

It's a good job I went home at lunchtime yesterday to check on our new driveway. The builders had taped it off but one of the local kids still managed to ride his bike over the narrow strip between the start of the concrete and the tape.

I phoned their office and in 10-15 minutes someone came round and sorted it out.
The kid claimed he swerved to avoid a wasp.

We've now got a double width driveway. There used to be a round manhole in the iddle of the grass but it's now in drive area. They've also got rid of the ridge in the drive which used to collect water when it rained. They've cut expansion lines according to some formula. There are 2 lines making a cross shape. They are going to come back to fill it with the black stuff.

The driveway is thick concrete - nearly 2 inches with hardcore below that.

New Drive

2007-04-12T08:47:00.000+01:00

We're having our drive re-done. They've already put down the hardcore. I'm going home at lunchtime so I can see what they're doing.

They are going to pour concrete over to make it nice and flat. Currently the manhole cover is raised at end of driveway near garage. There is the metal 'frame' on top of hole with the cover on it. There's also a round manhole to one side - this used to be in the middle of the lawn but it's going to be all concrete there too.

The manhole cover catches on the bottom of the car if it's fully loaded eg. when coming back from holiday. It scrapes, not damaging car though.

Our old neighbour had drive done a few years ago. Whoever did it put flags over drive which raised the level up to where the damp proof course was. They probably thought because it was an old woman living on her own they could get away with a shoddy job. Her husband might have been alive at the time actually. The new owners ripped up the drive so no there's no problem now. They've put the lawn there. The bloke living there has a van. I think he's a gas engineer or something.

Gone Welsh

2007-04-03T12:31:00.001+01:00

I think our company has gone welsh. They are bringing in the no smoking rule on april 1st. England isn't enforcing the no smoking in public til later this year. Making no smoking signs will be a boom business.

Herman the German

2007-04-02T09:13:00.000+01:00

We went to a garden centre last week. It was one of those ones which have a pets section. My son bought himself a tortoise. It's a type known as a Herman. He's shaped a bit like a german helmet so I called him Herman the German.

He's quite large, any over 10cm have to be microchipped so he already had one fitted when we got him. We've built a pen for him. If you put him down he'll will run off quite quickly, surprising for a tortoise.
They don't hibernate til they're about 4 or 5 years old so we're going to keep him inside at the moment. He seems to be doing ok, demolishing the plants in the garden whenever he's out.

Garden Centre

2007-03-05T11:10:00.000Z

At the weekend we went to the garden centre. They used to have tropical fish on sale. We walked down the side of the shop where they used to be but there was nothing there.
We sometimes have a meal there, so while we were in the restaurant we asked about the fish. We were told that they've closed the fish bit and are going to use the space for garden furniture. I think the place is being taken over by a chain. It was a small independent place and there aren't many of those around. We were also told that someones taking over the catering too, it's going to be run by a different company.

There are quite a few similar places, such as Melbicks near the airport. Its a tricky place to get to though. Its by a dual carriageway but you can only get there from one direction. They closed the cut-through a couple of years ago - you used to be able to get across there but now you've got to drive all the way to the roundabout.

Lift

2007-02-27T09:05:00.000Z

This morning while I was walking to the bus stop, a car pulled up over the road. The window wound down and someone called out asking whether I wanted a lift. It was the people who live over the road towards the end of the row. They moved in about a year ago. I didn't recognize them and didn't recognize the car. They obviously knew who I was. I probably look a bit distinctive in my 'flowerpot men' hat. I said they could give me a lift as far as the terminus. There are bus shelters there. If I went to the nearest stop there aren't any.

Being Welsh

2007-02-26T08:45:00.000Z

I'm half welsh so I think I'll take thursday off work. It's St Davids day. I can always remember when it is, being on the 1st of a month. My wife and daughter have both got the whole week off. My daughter's finished old job. She starts new job in london next week. We'll need to get the car taxed before she goes.

Insurance

2007-02-22T08:57:00.000Z

We're not going to bother getting my daughter's car on the road til the end of the month. It's not worth registering it til then because we'd lose 3 weeks of this month. The SORN can stay until then. The insurance where she'll working down south is £300 more than here, costing nearly £1000. you can see why people drive around with no insurance.

A38

2007-02-01T08:50:00.000Z

I was late getting to work this morning. The A38 expressway is closed. It's not mentioned on the RAC website. It closed from 7:30 so it should be mentioned. It's causing chaos.

I'm a member of the AA. I wouldn't join the RAC now. I think the brother in law is with them. I used to be with National Breakdown. I Don't know who my son is with, he's bound to be with one of them.

I'd have been better off taking different bus, probably the no. 7 which doesn't go through Gravelly. I normally take the no. 65 because it usually takes less time. It doesn't go past the dental hospital now that the Kennedy Memorial roundabout is closed.

Another Leaver

2007-01-26T11:30:00.000Z

There another person leaving work and a card is being sent around for everyone to sign. I was talking to him earlier and he confessed to breaking our colour printer. We've been waiting for a week for the spare parts. A lot of the comments on the card are about how he's left the company before but came back several months later. I'll write a comment along the lines of 'better luck with the colour printer in your new place'.
I know he's got a Ford Cmax because I once had to move it in the car park for him. I don't know whether this was before or after he left for the first time.

Buses

2007-01-15T08:41:00.000Z

The buses have been rubbish again. My usual bus route has been changed. The slip road has
been closed near the Kennedy Memorial. The new route goes round the back of the police station.
These road works will be going on for 6 months.
Next time I think I'll try another bus. There's the number 7 which also goes down the same road
but goes a different way.
There's another bus stop other end of town, by the dental hospital but that's too far to walk.

This morning I saw someone I know, a lady who lives nearby. She waved but I didn't have time to speak to her.

Windscreen

2007-01-09T12:38:00.000Z

Our car has had a dent in the windscreen frame for a while. It happened at the garden centre. I was parked next to a lorry. I reversed into the space and the bottom of his door must have hit it when the driver got back in.

I was going to get it done yesterday while I had the day off. I took it to a place owned by a friend of mine. I was wanting to have it finished while the wife was out so I could point to the car and say the dent has gone. The bloke at the garage is a perfectionist and wouldn't let me have the car back yesterday. Thankfully they managed to sort it out without removing the windscreen otherwise it would have cost more.
They do insurance repairs. Usually they replace entire panels even if there is only a slight dent. He then re-uses the panels after hammering them back in shape. When I went there the place was full of car body panels.
We've had a different car while ours was in - a Fiesta Sport 1.6

Trees

2006-12-21T16:03:00.000Z

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

2006-12-12T13:30:00.000Z

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

2006-12-11T15:46:00.001Z

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

2006-12-11T09:55:00.000Z

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

2006-12-05T08:57:00.000Z

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

2006-11-27T11:09:00.000Z

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

2006-11-21T16:03:00.000Z

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

2006-11-13T15:55:00.000Z

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

2006-11-13T15:41:00.000Z

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

2006-11-08T08:40:00.000Z

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

2006-10-31T14:52:00.000Z

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

2006-10-25T10:05:00.000+01:00

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

2006-10-19T16:25:00.000+01:00

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

2006-10-18T08:42:00.000+01:00

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

2006-10-17T14:10:00.000+01:00

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

2006-10-16T12:43:00.000+01:00

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

2006-10-11T10:00:00.000+01:00

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

2006-10-10T09:12:00.000+01:00

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

2006-10-10T08:59:00.000+01:00

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

2006-10-09T16:11:00.000+01:00

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

2006-10-09T15:10:00.000+01:00

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

2006-10-05T10:55:00.000+01:00

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

2006-09-22T09:32:00.000+01:00

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

2006-09-21T10:20:00.000+01:00

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

2006-09-20T09:05:00.000+01:00

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

2006-09-11T14:05:00.000+01:00

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

2006-09-08T09:15:00.000+01:00

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...

2006-09-05T08:56:00.000+01:00

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

2006-09-04T10:30:00.000+01:00

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

2006-08-30T08:50:00.000+01:00

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

2006-08-22T08:48:00.000+01:00

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

2006-08-14T11:40:00.000+01:00

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

2006-08-11T15:26:00.000+01:00

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

2006-08-07T10:22:00.000+01:00

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

2006-08-01T13:20:00.000+01:00

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

2006-07-31T12:17:00.000+01:00

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

2006-07-28T10:57:00.000+01:00

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

2006-07-28T10:30:00.000+01:00

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

2006-07-24T10:13:00.000+01:00

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

2006-07-12T09:32:00.000+01:00

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

2006-07-11T00:21:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-30T09:12:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-29T23:37:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-27T14:39:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-27T08:46:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-26T16:45:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-23T08:50:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-21T09:44:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-21T08:45:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-20T08:43:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-16T13:20:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-16T10:39:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-12T09:03:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-12T08:48:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-12T08:35:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-10T17:33:00.000+01:00

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

Police

2006-06-09T08:58:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-08T11:08:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-08T08:50:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-07T13:06:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-06T13:27:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-05T10:42:00.000+01:00

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

2006-06-01T10:10:00.000+01:00

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

2006-05-31T15:55:00.000+01:00

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

2006-05-30T09:20:00.000+01:00

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

2006-05-26T10:16:00.000+01:00

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.