The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

Wales currently getting  the Lickey Banker from Ireland in the 6 Nations.

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, SM42 said:

 

It doesn't help. 

 

All I've had all morning is that I need to call someone on Monday to design the garden

 

Firstly, these people aren't just ten a penny round here.

 

Secondly, why do I need to pay somene to work out how to remove some shrubs and replace a hedge.  

 

Thirdly  when discussing alternative options it seems looking at a range and considering which would look best and be most  practical is only something a professional can do as I'm just being negative. 

 

The fact that the first thing a professional will probably ask is what do we want is irrelevant it seems. 

 

I'm  Just off now to add the weekly shopping to the house insurance. 

 

Meanwhile the fridge is getting angry with Mrs SM42 and is bleeping at her. Very smart that fridge. Beeps instead of swearing. 

 

Andy

Seriously, we knew roughly what we wanted and contacted three different companies about garden design and advice.

 

We were let down by all of them, with various excuses.

 

We came to the conclusion that they were not interested in anything other than the Ground Force style weekend makeover of a postage stamp type.

[Gwiwer]

17 minutes ago, newbryford said:

 

I'm still waiting for a video to learn a new skill.

I am waiting for the video teaching me the skill of getting the spaghetti behind the tv/dvd devices into the correct holes suxg that they will talk to each other and to me. 

[Tony_S]

21 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

I am waiting for the video teaching me the skill of getting the spaghetti behind the tv/dvd devices into the correct holes suxg that they will talk to each other and to me. 

When I replaced our television in 2019 I retrieved loads of cables behind the tv that were not connected to anything at either end. They were home to many spiders though. It is  all a bit neater now. 

[SM42]

Garden railway space is always a consideration. 

Garden railway get up and do is in short supply though . 

Doesn't stop some future proofing though. 

 

My plan is to establish a plan, rough sketch it and let a Polish builder and general all rounder friend loose on it. 

 

This means there is an element of control with the odd surprise thrown in where he has to improvise along with a significant saving with mates rates.  

There is the added bonus of lots of laughter along the way and I get to learn some stuff as well. 

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

Buy some garden design books:  You can always trek up here and take some of ours for a gander.

 

Come up with a scheme that you both like and then sleep on it.

 

Tweak and adjust, then get your crony to do all the hard landscaping and general shifting.

 

Finally ask  a reputable local Garden Centre to come and give you planting advice.  They will and will charge not too much for this if you then get your planting from them.

[TheQ]

Most of the motorboats on the broads have their oil removed via their dipstick hole. Tis a bit difficult to get under the engine to change the oil . Some of the old  engines had a pipe screwed into the drain plug hole leading to a beautiful brass pump, operated by pushing the handle up and down like the old stirrup pumps.

 

I've got plenty of room to put in a garden railway, even up to 7.5 inch, what I don't have is time for yet another version of our hobby. 

[SM42]

A colleague of mine, who is not mechanically minded once complained that it took ages totop up  the oil in his car as the hole was very small. 

He trying to add the oil via the dipstick. 🙄

 

He also once went to the garage to put some air in his tyres, but used the water hose instead. 

 

On one memorable occasion he couldn't get his car to start and in desperation  spent £150 to join the AA on the spot and get them out.

 

The patrolman changed the battery in his immobiliser fob. 😁

 

 

Andy

[The Johnster]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

Wales currently getting  the Lickey Banker from Ireland in the 6 Nations.

 

Certainly were; just as well I didn't hold my breath!  The mean inner-city streets are hushed and in mourning, under suitably overcast skis, and the light is starting to fade.  I feel like playing a bit of Gorecki or Leonard Cohen to cheer myself up 'the veins stand out like highways and he shows you where to hit'.

 

Then again, us Celts love a bit of gloom...

[AndyID]

A guy I worked for asked me to take a look at his rather new Pontiac which had been been serviced quite recently. The oil pressure light was on.

 

I thought I better check the oil level. That was when I discovered the dipstick was missing! He also had an older version of the same car so I used its dipstick. No oil in the sump.

 

IIRC the oil had escaped at the oil filter because it was not sealing properly.

 

Oh, and the car had been "serviced" at the Pontiac dealership where he bought it new. The odd thing is we put some oil in it and it seemed to run just fine. If it had been mine I would have got rid of it PDQ.

 

[The Johnster]

I put a rod through the crankcase of a Ford Escort that I'd just picked up from the dealership after a service and oil change for exactly this reason; they'd not refitted the filter properly and I'd blasted off up the M4 to a party I'd been invited to in Shepperton (nowt to do with Ian Allen).  Got as far as the hill leading up to Doddington Ash, there was no warning, just a bang and the rear wheels locked.  I had the sense to put her into neutral and rolled to a stop on the shoulder.

 

Dealership paid for a new engine fitted by the garage in Yate I got towed off to, and the tow truck driver kindly gave me a lift to Parkway to continue my journey as he was going home that way anyway.  Taught me a lesson; don't trust the dealership and check your oil.  What it didn't teach me on that occasion was not to trust the same dealership (Godfrey's on North Road in Cardiff if anyone remembers them) to repair this car's carbuerettor (remember those?) ('we've replaced it, £35 with labour please') and tighten the nut holding the petrol supply pipe to it up properly, which resulted in the write-off of the car by fire as the fuel dripped over the hot exhaust manifold (nice piece of design, Ford, on a par with the drainage channel that fed under the bonnet over the top of the Mcphersons, classic rust MOT failure on 70s Fords).  All this because of lack of confidence in my servicing abilities, and overconfidence in theirs.

 

Having lost faith in Dagenham Dustbins and their dealerships, I switched allegience to BMC/BL and minis.  This did not end well; subframes!

Edited February 4, 2023 by The Johnster

[polybear]

2 hours ago, SM42 said:

Garden railway space is always a consideration. 

Garden railway get up and do is in short supply though . 

Doesn't stop some future proofing though. 

 

My plan is to establish a plan, rough sketch it and let a Polish builder and general all rounder friend loose on it. 

 

This means there is an element of control with the odd surprise thrown in where he has to improvise along with a significant saving with mates rates.  

There is the added bonus of lots of laughter along the way and I get to learn some stuff as well. 

 

Andy

 

You could always get two Bills out of yer Buddy - the real one and one for SWMBO to see that just happens to be a couple of £K higher.  Why?  It'll give you some hidden funds to spend on nicer things than plants and paint......😉

 

53 minutes ago, AndyID said:

A guy I worked for asked me to take a look at his rather new Pontiac which had been been serviced quite recently. The oil pressure light was on.

 

I thought I better check the oil level. That was when I discovered the dipstick was missing! He also had an older version of the same car so I used its dipstick. No oil in the sump.

 

IIRC the oil had escaped at the oil filter because it was not sealing properly.

 

Oh, and the car had been "serviced" at the Pontiac dealership where he bought it new. The odd thing is we put some oil in it and it seemed to run just fine. If it had been mine I would have got rid of it PDQ.

 

 

As a minimum I'd get it Dyno tested to check the power output.

At College there is a very expensive, very new & clean Volvo engine - apparently a donation from the local Main Dealer; it seems it came in for a (1st?) Service and the Bozo doing in only screwed the drain plug in finger tight....

It cost the Dealership an Engine and Bozo his Job.

[newbryford]

All this talk of garden railways.

Have you seen mine?

 

 

[SM42]

Our works van used to go into a dodgy local garage for servicing, mainly cos we got an escort van as a courtesy car ( complete with tiger seat covers and a radio speaker hanging in the roof in half an oil can  to project sounded forwards, as that made it sound better,  they said) 

 

On the night shift the day after they brought it back  I was whiling away the hours with the local fire service after someone had put the JCB bucket through a gas main, when one of the fireman pointed out a puddle under the van. 

 

On inspection, the oil filler cap was missing and most of the oil was spread liberally about the engine and underside of the bonnet. 

 

When the recovery chap turned up he was going to stuff a towel in the hole as a get me home measure. 

 

" What," I enquired, " would I do if that got itself wrapped round the camshaft? "

 

After the bit of searching we found the cap down the back of the engine in amongst the pipework and spent a happy hour trying to fish it out with bits of wire and fingers made of smoke. 

 

For some reason we still used the same garage and even more bizarrely carried on after we found a large hydraulic hack of theirs in the back. 

 

I suspect they just used our van ( it was not liveried)  while we used theirs and I doubt any real servicing took place. 

 

Andy

[AndyID]

As a yoot I worked as a grease monkey at small garage. One customer was convinced his jam jar's engine was cream crackered and wanted it replaced. However, George the mechanic knew there was nothing wrong with it so it was "replaced" with a Gold Seal version courtesy of an aerosol can of gold spray paint.

[pH]

9 minutes ago, AndyID said:

As a yoot I worked as a grease monkey at small garage. One customer was convinced his jam jar's engine was cream crackered and wanted it replaced. However, George the mechanic knew there was nothing wrong with it so it was "replaced" with a Gold Seal version courtesy of an aerosol can of gold spray paint.

And what was the customer charged?

[Dave Hunt]

A friend of my Dad's was suspicious that the dealership that was supposed to have serviced his car hadn't actually done the work but they wouldn't discuss the matter so he complained about them to a local radio station who, it turned out, had received several complaints about the same garage. They set up a sting operation by taking in a car for service with several faults that should have been picked up by any competent mechanic and which they had photographed. They also got the AA to examine the car before it was taken to the garage and confirm what was wrong with it . After collecting the car they again got the AA to examine it and none of the faults had been fixed. Not only that but someone from the radio station sat in a cafe across the road from the garage and reported that the car had simply been moved from one parking spot to another and the only attention it had received was a cursory look under the bonnet and the tyre pressures checked. They reported the garage to trading standards (IIRC) and shortly afterwards it closed down.

 

Dave

[AndyID]

6 minutes ago, pH said:

And what was the customer charged?

 

I don't know. It was actually the garage owner who told me the tale some time after it had happened. I should have reported it but I was 17 at the time. 

[Dave Hunt]

I think that today's rugby results show that HH and I should bury the hatchet (preferably in a few welsh and English heads) and accept that we can only find solace in shared misery and happy water.

 

Dave

[Oldddudders]

Surely having an interest in men who play with funny-shaped balls was never going to end well, now was it?

[BoD]

4 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Surely having an interest in men who play with funny-shaped balls was never going to end well, now was it?

That would depend on whether they prefer to handle and run with them or just kick them as high and as hard as they can.

[Winslow Boy]

20 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Surely having an interest in men who play with funny-shaped balls was never going to end well, now was it?

 

Quite right ruination of good piece of turf is what I say.

[PhilJ W]

4 hours ago, AndyID said:

A guy I worked for asked me to take a look at his rather new Pontiac which had been been serviced quite recently. The oil pressure light was on.

 

I thought I better check the oil level. That was when I discovered the dipstick was missing! He also had an older version of the same car so I used its dipstick. No oil in the sump.

 

IIRC the oil had escaped at the oil filter because it was not sealing properly.

 

Oh, and the car had been "serviced" at the Pontiac dealership where he bought it new. The odd thing is we put some oil in it and it seemed to run just fine. If it had been mine I would have got rid of it PDQ.

 

It was a common problem with some BMC models that when replacing the oil filter you had to take care to keep the seal in place so that it seated properly. 

[J. S. Bach]

7 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Have no fear lads:  I'm coming back as high end ladies lingerie.

 

6 hours ago, newbryford said:

I'm waiting for a video

Now, that should be entertaining!

[J. S. Bach]

2 hours ago, newbryford said:

All this talk of garden railways.

Have you seen mine?

I want one! Well, at least the car with the pan on it.