The Night Mail

[newbryford]

On 02/09/2023 at 13:09, Happy Hippo said:

A few shots of the show so far:

 

 

 

 

Is that a steering wheel?

[newbryford]

New windows a few months back.

Now we've just signed up for a new central heating boiler (not that the old one has perished, but it is very old and inefficient)

And the reason that prompted the new boiler - a new bathroom.

 

That's many d*lt*cs worth of modelling tokens, but Mrs NB is a *mostly* happy bunny.

 

Golf was played both days.

A singles competition on Saturday was a bit of good hole/bad hole, but the main event for me was Sunday.

Senior Singles knockout final.

I lost the main singles semi a couple weeks back - after having been the winner for three out the last four years - I made up for it with a 5&3 win in the Seniors comp.

 

Name on the honours board secured for this year!

 

 

 

 

[Tony_S]

25 minutes ago, newbryford said:

not that the old one has perished, but it is very old and inefficient)

We noticed a very significant reduction in gas consumption after we changed from our Potterton Netaheat to a more modern A rated device. It was still working but other nearby neighbours boilers had failed so we had it replaced when convenient rather than having it done possibly at a cold time of year. 

[newbryford]

7 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

We noticed a very significant reduction in gas consumption after we changed from our Potterton Netaheat to a more modern A rated device. It was still working but other nearby neighbours boilers had failed so we had it replaced when convenient rather than having it done possibly at a cold time of year. 

 

That's partly the reason we're having it done now.

Paid the deposit last night and booked the installation for next Tuesday/Wednesday.

 

Apparently our boiler is *very* old. It may be older than the guy who did the quote!

Edited September 4, 2023 by newbryford

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, newbryford said:

 

Is that a steering wheel?

It's all wheel steer, because there is also another one at the other end.

 

The old Eager Beaver all terrain 4 wd fork lift we used has a set of valves which allowed you to switch from single to twin axle steer.

 

The party trick was to drive the EB in a straight line, but diagonally! (Front wheels on full right lock/rear wheels on full left lock.)

[MrWolf]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

 Matthew used to say that his Mum sounded like a Radio 4 newsreader with a tiny hint of Yorkshire. When I first met her family, Aditi had told me her family only spoke English at home. She was quite convinced of this. However they didn’t seem to realise how often they started in one language and moved to another. Both of Aditi’s parents had been educated in English but when Aditi and her sister were born they decided the girls would be educated as Hindi speakers and learn English later. Aditi’s Dad came to the UK in 1958 to  do some further medical qualifications, and the rest of them came for a long visit in 1959. The long visit became permanent. So when Aditi and her sister started school in November 1959 in Knaresborough they didn’t speak English. She said they learned by listening to other children in the playground. 

 

A friend of ours who is Estonian often gets mistaken for an American because she learnt her English from watching American films.

My other half has what many consider to be a traditional upper class English accent, it's actually rather nice, even though some of my friends refer to her as "Joyce Grenfell with Tourettes" 

[TheQ]

New boilers maybe more efficient but they're nowhere near as reliable.. I wonder sometimes if we'd have been better off with our old boiler having spent over £1000 in repairs in ten years. ( We'd have spent more on a annual contract). Note we're not on mains gas.....

 

Quite where we go when it needs to be changed I don't know, the house isn't efficient enough for a heat pump...

 

 

[MrWolf]

Be careful with offers of boiler insurance plans. I remember getting numerous letters with scare stories such as "boiler overheat sensor, over £300!" etc. No it wasn't. It was £13, clipped over the water exit pipe and a single wire connected in under a minute. It took longer to get the front panel off.

[Hroth]

54 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

"Joyce Grenfell with Tourettes"

 

That'd be appropriate for the St Trinians films!

 

[MrWolf]

25 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

That'd be appropriate for the St Trinians films!

 

 

Exactly.

 

Jolly f***ing hockey sticks...

[SM42]

47 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

Be careful with offers of boiler insurance plans. I remember getting numerous letters with scare stories such as "boiler overheat sensor, over £300!" etc. No it wasn't. It was £13, clipped over the water exit pipe and a single wire connected in under a minute. It took longer to get the front panel off.

 

Our is booked in for the annual service on Thursday. 

Cost about £70

 

Or I could have spent £160 + on a service plan. 

 

Last time we had some parts replaced on the old boiler as they were close to  failing  the service spec it cost an extra £15. 

 

Amdy

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

English from watching American

The American education system seems to be one that many of Aditi’s younger relatives in India have been in. The previous generation went to schools and colleges influenced by the British system. 

[SM42]

The new boiler, fitted last year during the upgrade of SM42 Towers is a combi, so now we are not heating a 45 gallon tank of water all the time and should be more efficient. 

 

However the manufacturer didn't reckon on Mrs SM42 who will turn on the hot tap to rinse her fingers ( 1 second run time)  whilst cooking or wash her hands. 

 

"I have to wash hands in hot water" she says. 

 

Problem is she doesn't give it time to get warm water , so only uses the cold stuff on the pipes whilst the boiler gets all exited about heating up some water only to warm the first couple of feet of pipework. 

 

I've given up trying to get her to use the cold tap. Life's too short. 

 

Amdy

[Tony_S]

7 minutes ago, SM42 said:

45 gallon tank of water all the time and should be more efficient. 

Ours isn’t a combi boiler but when we had the new boiler fitted we had a new storage tank that has a huge amount of insulation. Seems quite effective fortunately. 

[pH]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

We noticed a very significant reduction in gas consumption after we changed from our Potterton Netaheat to a more modern A rated device. It was still working but other nearby neighbours boilers had failed so we had it replaced when convenient rather than having it done possibly at a cold time of year. 

Our gas furnace is as old as the house (1976). When we had double glazing installed some years ago, under a government incentive program, we were advised that replacing the furnace then probably wouldn’t be cost effective. By last winter, it was having various problems and we were looking at lotsamoney for a new one. Our son had just had work done on the gas system in the house they had bought and recommended we talk to the guy who had done it. We did. He specializes in cannibalising old furnaces, heaters etc. that he’s replacing for parts he uses to keep others going. So now we’ll see if the furnace outlasts our time (one way or another) in the house.

[skipepsi]

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

  and her sister started school in November 1959 in Knaresborough they didn’t speak English. She said they learned by listening to other children in the playground. 

That is where I went wrong!

[MrWolf]

33 minutes ago, pH said:

Our gas furnace is as old as the house (1976). When we had double glazing installed some years ago, under a government incentive program, we were advised that replacing the furnace then probably wouldn’t be cost effective. By last winter, it was having various problems and we were looking at lotsamoney for a new one. Our son had just had work done on the gas system in the house they had bought and recommended we talk to the guy who had done it. We did. He specializes in cannibalising old furnaces, heaters etc. that he’s replacing for parts he uses to keep others going. So now we’ll see if the furnace outlasts our time (one way or another) in the house.

 

If it can be kept working safely and efficiently, why not? It's my philosophy with a lot of things, apart from the fact that I like old cars, motorcycles etc, it's (IMHO) far more responsible to keep something working infinitely than junking it for recycling, as you can't recover all the materials and none of the energy. It's all a bit of a con to keep you buying.

 

When I first met the memsahib, she wanted a bicycle and to learn how to maintain it. She didn't want a new bicycle on the grounds that they "all look like Dysons, along with everything else and break after a year". So a 1955 ladies model Raleigh was found, dismantled and rebuilt. It basically needed cleaning, greasing and a few adjustments. 

Modern bicycles become worthless overnight when they stop being "this week's shirt", parts quality and interchangeably is often terrible. If you don't believe me, take a look at what's on the back of the totter's lorry.

 

[New Haven Neil]

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Matthew used to say that his Mum sounded like a Radio 4 newsreader with a tiny hint of Yorkshire.

 

Friend Jayne is much like that, but the hint is Lancashire not Yorkshire - she's a relative of Fred Dibnah.  As she lived in Great Cumbrae (Google it!) for many years and also Brighton and Bedford before 22 years in Fraggle Rock, it's a wonder she hasn't picked something else up, but sounds pure BBC.  It's rather nice.  

[SM42]

Today I have been reorganising the small shed.

 

Things are now put away rather than just lobbed in and some new shelving has made a big difference. 

 

This will allow the garden chairs, lawnmower an assorted gardeny type equipment to migrate from the large shed to the more conveniently placed small one. 

 

Various items are finding themselves homeless in the process and will be relocated to the appropriate receptacle at the local tip

 

This will allow the bicycles to migrate from the West wing to the large shed. 

 

I did in my endeavours come across a very large house spider that is obviously self identifying as a shed spider. 

 

This all needs doing while the weather is on side and in between there are various gardening tasks to complete. 

 

Unfortunately someone has decreed that I must attend a place of employment for the next two days.

 

Just what I need, working all day in a South facing building with floor to ceiling glass. 🥵

 

Andy

[jamie92208]

@SM42 You're going to get another entry in WB's black book mentioning multiple  s**d's as casually as that.

 

Says Jamie of the rather large shed. 

 

In fact your entry in WB's black book will have as many lines as I used to have in my housemasters Blue Paper and Punishment School book. 

 

 

 

 

[iL Dottore]

3 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

@SM42 You're going to get another entry in WB's black book mentioning multiple  s**d's as casually as that.

I wonder where I stand with WB, as I have a nuclear-bomb proof, underground “shed“ built to Swiss military standards for my workshop.

 

i’m probably on his “shoot to kill“ list😳

[PhilJ W]

I didn't realise that my mother had a rural Essex accent until after she died. That was despite her being born in Dalston in London. The reason was my grandmother was an Essex girl born (1896) and bred. When I lived in Burnham-on-Crouch I fell into the accent straight away. My normal accent was 'London estuary' or so I thought but that was picked up at school/work.

[polybear]

6 hours ago, newbryford said:

New windows a few months back.

Now we've just signed up for a new central heating boiler (not that the old one has perished, but it is very old and inefficient)

 

 

That's one problem solved when you get a new CH boiler.  They're rather unlikely to become very old as they break long before then. 🤣

 

4 hours ago, TheQ said:

New boilers maybe more efficient but they're nowhere near as reliable.. I wonder sometimes if we'd have been better off with our old boiler having spent over £1000 in repairs in ten years.

 

Curses - beaten to it by @TheQ....

 

Bear still has a Baxi Bermuda Back Boiler (late 1980's vintage).  IC's?  Nope.  Programmers?  Nope.  Motherboards?  Nope.

When I last had it serviced (immediately after the Great Lounge Refurb) I expressed my views to the (rather good) Gas Man - and he agreed; he has actually refurbed a couple of Baxi's to basically "as new" condition with a new heat exchanger (it's a £1K bill) but that should make it good for another 30 years.  It'd also save the upheaval of a new installation/pipework etc.

 

3 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Ours isn’t a combi boiler but when we had the new boiler fitted we had a new storage tank that has a huge amount of insulation. Seems quite effective fortunately. 

 

That's what's commonly known as a system boiler - the advantage is (a) you can still have an airing cupboard, and (b) an immersion heater in the tank for those times when the motherboard goes bang...

(It's the option that Bear would take if Bertie the Baxi couldn't be refurbished).

 

Cynical Bear?  Moi?

Edited September 4, 2023 by polybear

[PhilJ W]

I have three sheds, but WB need not worry. Shed one is brick built and is attached to the house, originally the coal shed and external it was incorporated into the house when the entrance hallway was extended and is now used for storage. Shed 2 is one that I had installed when I purchased the house 35 years ago, it is at the bottom of the garden this was used as the garden shed but now is as rotten as a pear and infested with woodworm, sometime soon I'm going to have a bonfire. Shed three is only 3' X 5' and is used for storing the garden tools, the only place I had for it was at the end of the patio but now I'm having a base laid clear of the patio but nearer to the house than shed 2.

[newbryford]

18 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

That's one problem solved when you get a new CH boiler.  They're rather unlikely to become very old as they break long before then.

 

 

Curses - beaten to it by @TheQ....

 

Bear still has a Baxi Bermuda Back Boiler (late 1980's vintage).  IC's?  Nope.  Programmers?  Nope.  Motherboards?  Nope.

When I last had it serviced (immediately after the Great Lounge Refurb) I expressed my views to the (rather good) Gas Man - and he agreed; he has actually refurbed a couple of Baxi's to basically "as new" condition with a new heat exchanger (it's a £1K bill) but that should make it good for another 30 years.  It'd also save the upheaval of a new installation/pipework etc.

 

 

That's what's commonly known as a system boiler - the advantage is (a) you can still have an airing cupboard, and (b) an immersion heater in the tank for those times when the motherboard goes bang...

(It's the option that Bear would take if Bertie the Baxi couldn't be refurbished).

 

Cynical Bear?  Moi?

 

The guy quoting said current boilers have stainless steel heat exchangers which don't last as long ascthe cast iron one we currently have.  But they are more efficient and in this day of daft gas prices, that's what swayed our decision