Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

And another weekend wends its way towards Monday. Tomorrow's forecast: 25C min/36C max, humidity making the air thick enough to cut with a knife. Just like the last two weeks, and more is predicted for the next two weeks. Nevertheless some Stuff Got Done, including sorting the vast amounts of m*d*l r**lw*y stuff acquired out of anonymous cardboard boxes onto the shelves acquired in the recent IKEA trip with Babysquid. Also managed to complete a Scenic Item (hill with greenery) and start on the next (which involved supergluing the entire thing to one finger and injuring another one with a scalpel).

 

Meanwhile Babysquid continues to make steady progress, or unsteady progress depending on bodily orientation. Over the past week he has worked out that by rotating himself around an axis not exactly at the centre of his body, he can shift his position semi-randomly, which is amusing to watch until you realize he's suddenly in the vicinity of something Interesting Yet Dangerous, especially now his arms are telescopic.

 

This weekend he's spent practising forward movement, putting me in mind of this Monty Python sketch:

 

 

but actually making it across a significant portion of the room under his own power. When not polishing the flooring with his own drool, he enjoys being swung through a 180 degree arc and generally being tossed about in a totally careful and safe way which nevertheless scares the bejesus out of the in-laws. He also seems to have inherited his mother's ticklish gene, bwahaha.

Although he has no problems in that area now, when Matthew was a baby any bouncy movement resulted in violent vomiting. In fact one one occasion his uncle and grandfather had an intellectual discussion about whether it was projectile or non projectile vomiting. I just cleaned the walls.

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

As Geoff has already said, it's raining here, though it appears to have abated a little, so I'll pop put with Lily.

 

Exhaustion set in last night, and resulted in an early night, and a late start, and today another load of domestic jobs came our way.  I've tried to catch up, and have rated everybody's posts.  Generic greetings are, of course, offered to those who need or deserve them.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[Tony_S]

Earlier this afternoon Aditi asked if I would drive her in to Basildon as she needed to collect some items from M&S and she was feeling a bit tired. I said yes but I wasn't going to get changed (I was just off to walk Robbie). She said she probably would feel OK to drive herself soon.

Tony

[gordon s]

Jack and I buy a lot of bits through Amazon and did wonder at the outset about Amazon Prime service.  £79 for a year was a lot to shell out, but once you consider the service levels and normal cost of postage etc, it works out to be a reasonable deal.  I ordered a replacement box yesterday afternoon at 14.08 and it was delivered this morning at 10.52.  Can't fault the speed of delivery and the fact it was delivered on a Sunday.  Unheard of a few years back.

[AndyID]

No, it's just rated in watts, but it's specifically for pond equipment so people will run pumps through the box.  There are lables stating 'pump 1' etc, so motor loads and starts up currents shouldn't be an issue.  The fact that the circuit breaker didn't blow would suggest to me it wasn't a short.  I suspect it was a higher resistance connection through age.  That generated heat and then a vicious cycle of heat and increasing resistance until it caught fire.  The 1.5A fuse on the circuit had also blown.

 

http://www.koilogic.co.uk/files/pdf/pdf167.pdf

 

Hi Gordon,

 

I agree with your analysis. The contact might screw might have backed off just a bit over time and started the destructive cycle. Humidity might have encouraged a bit of oxidation too.

 

Once bitten, I'd be inclined to bypass the screw down connector on the new board and use a high quality crimp or wire-nut instead. You certainly need to keep an eye on the connection for any signs of heating/corrosion in future. That failure could have led to something a lot more serious.

 

BTW, does that box bear any sort of regulatory approval mark? The manual does not say. In the US it would have to be approved by Underwriters Lab (UL) and CSA in Canada.

 

Cheers!

Andy

[Tony_S]

 

BTW, does that box bear any sort of regulatory approval mark? The manual does not say. In the US it would have to be approved by Underwriters Lab (UL) and CSA in Canada.

 

Cheers!

Andy

Probably has a CE mark (or as the wittier would have it, Chinese Export).

[Coombe Barton]

A tad breezy in Marazion - a bit stronger than forecast by the BBC.

[AndyID]

Probably has a CE mark

 

I had a bad feeling that might be the case. IMHO, CE is about as useful as a chocolate teapot.

 

Getting UL approval is a major PITA, but it is quite effective at keeping carp off the market.

[The Stationmaster]

A tad breezy in Marazion - a bit stronger than forecast by the BBC.

Just been down to collect the good Doctor from her work and I heard both the Shipping Forecast and the weather forecast on R4 - they sounded slightly at odds with each other for the far south western part of England!  However according to the Met Office pages on the 'net it sounds as if you seem to be getting exactly what is forecast

[New Haven Neil]

Evening

 

A decently busy day at Grumble Glen, enthusiasts week on the rock so plenty folk around despite showers all day.  My train was mostly Steamplex hauled, but also had runs with both diesels (old Hudson-Hunslets) for the gricers.  An RMWeb lurker also 'spotted' me!  Staffing was a little thin, but we managed, but not the easiest of days running the railway. 

 

And that is the news.

[AndyID]

All discussion of hats reminds me that perhaps I should see if I can find something to protect my scalp next week. Forecast for our holiday destination is low 30s and sunny.

I am supposed to expose skin to sunlight for one condition and avoid it for another. Common sense suggests just not getting red.

 

 

Although I always thought they had it the wrong way round.

 

(And I refuse to be drawn into any discussion regarding Donald Trump and hats.)

Edited August 2, 2015 by AndyID

[lightengine]

Teignmouth is getting a new footbridge or the present one is getting repaired.  Planning permission is being sought, but the stand in footbridge is already nearly in place.

 

[Coombe Barton]

Interesting - the IBM PC was one big rival to the Mac. IBM sold the PC to Lenovo. IBM are thinking of replacing Lenovos with Mac for employees.

 

Just the opposite of what we've had done to us.

 

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ibm-to-purchase-up-to-200-000-macs-annually-with-50-75-of-employees-ultimately-switching-from-lenovo.1904731/

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Lovely day, and saw a mystery bird while with friends. Large thrush size and shape, generally a pale creamy brown colour, black and quite hefty bill, slight black stripe behind the eye, very distinctive wing feathers in chesnut and black with white edging (very smart indeed) a few white spots on the breast just under the wing, pink legs. The behaviour said juvenile, as it sat still for a while in an exposed position while we studied it, then dived into thick cover, never to re-emerge. Unfortunately no camera to hand, and our hosts who are keen on birdlife observation like myself couldn't place it at all.

 

My bush hat was deployed throughout the afternoon. I can thoroughly recommend the product of Pith Helmet Industries of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Of the same rugged integrity as such products as the Tilley Hat, it is as good now as it was when purchased 25 years ago. It doesn't have the lifetime guarantee of such items as the Tilley, but then again at a cost of 13p at the then prevailing street exchange rate that cannot be expected. Now why didn't I purchase half a dozen?

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Went to the swap meet at Rayleigh this morning, managed to find a couple of the new Oxford diecast 00 scale Austin 7's, van and car. They are really brilliant little models and I was lucky to find a dealer with any left, they're really flying off the shelves.

[leopardml2341]

After a good day mooching around with Bingley and SWMBO, off to bed now.

 

Goodnight all.

[eldavo]

No, it's just rated in watts, but it's specifically for pond equipment so people will run pumps through the box.  There are lables stating 'pump 1' etc, so motor loads and starts up currents shouldn't be an issue.  The fact that the circuit breaker didn't blow would suggest to me it wasn't a short.  I suspect it was a higher resistance connection through age.  That generated heat and then a vicious cycle of heat and increasing resistance until it caught fire.  The 1.5A fuse on the circuit had also blown.

 

http://www.koilogic.co.uk/files/pdf/pdf167.pdf

As others have suggested, looks like a poor(ish) screw connection from initial installation and with a bit of atmospherics and temperature changes the arcing has gradually got worse. Had a similar thing in one of our 13amp sockets in the garage. Didn't notice anything for 20 odd years then I heard a feint arcing noise!

 

Cheers

Dave

[DDolfelin]

Hi Dave - good to see you pop up.

[DDolfelin]

Now why didn't I purchase half a dozen?

 

Because, if they are that good, you only need one.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[laurenceb]

Nos da all

[Jock67B]

Evening all,

Had a strange day today, largely because of a very poor night without much sleep. I'm really struggling with the effect that the pain killing regime has on my 'alimentary system' - this has to be balanced with laxative treatment, but I obviously get the mix wrong sometimes. Last night was one such time which meant that I had quite a lot of discomfort, hence the lack of sleep. After sitting with Joanna over breakfast, I decided to recline the electric sofa a little, and woke up over three hours later! Still managed to get several chores accomplished and finished the day by cooking chicken breasts in a red wine sauce for dinner.

AndyID, that post with the 'Moose' musical reference took me back - I'd quite forgotten of the existence of 'Lord Rockingham's XI' until I hummed the tune. Perhaps it would be useful to add a translation for your English readers - 'Moose' in the Scots vernacular relates to a 'Mouse' (what our world famous national poet Mr. Burns called a 'wee sleekit cooerin timorous beastie')!

John(KB), once again you've illustrated just what a beautiful part of the world you have chosen to live in! The lovely images remind me of some of the remoter parts of the Western Highlands of my homeland, that I was lucky enough to visit as a youngster seeking climbing challenges! Thanks for sharing them with us. I'm sad to see that the forecast for your area doesn't look very promising tonight.

'lightengine', what a pity you couldn't post images of the 'Tornado' or the 'Spam Can' named after one of our busier Battle of Britain fighter stations. Must have been a lovely sight, I'll have to have a trawl on here to see if any threads caught them on camera.

Hope your week starts well one and all, especially those commuting on the euphemistically named 'railway system'!

Kind regards,

Jock.

G'night all!

[Tony_S]

I have had an interesting day. I was awake at my usual time but fell asleep again probably due to collecting Matthew at 1 am (ish)and then chatting for ages about his Swiss excursion. We had a late breakfast and Aditi decided we should have as much of the FEB as we could concoct from the fridge and freezer.

I spent some time with brush and scissors trying to make Robbie look tidy as he is off to kennels soon. He of course threw himself into a ditch so he got hosed and shampooed this afternoon as well. Aditi's sister rang for a chat and I ended up volunteering to have a word with MiL about how she is driving SiL crazy with a few things. As it to involves plumbing, heating and burglar alarms everyone seems to think she may listen to me.

I even did a bit of work on my model railway. I replaced some track that wasn't quite right and sorted out some scenic stuff. The scenic bit of the layout is a station in a cutting between two bridges and the last foot was in need of attention.

Windows10 still seems OK.

Tony

Edited August 2, 2015 by Tony_S

[lightengine]

Evening all,

'lightengine', what a pity you couldn't post images of the 'Tornado' or the 'Spam Can' named after one of our busier Battle of Britain fighter stations. Must have been a lovely sight, I'll have to have a trawl on here to see if any threads caught them on camera.

 

Kind regards,

Jock.

G'night all!

Here are the ones I got Jock.