RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted April 17, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 17, 2011 The sunshine today has finally made us sort out our summer holiday. We are going to Austria. We'll be going to a hotel we have been to twice before so we know the location is pleasant and the food excellent. I've finally convinced everyone else that I can no longer cope with moving every three or four days to a new hotel so apart from a couple of overnight stops we'll be in the same place for a couple of weeks. I'm happy to drive for day trips when we are away but I do like to be based somewhere and also not have to drive round looking for somewhere to park at the end of a day out. The hotel we will be staying at has an underground car park. I've just been informed that we are staying in Aachen and Munich on the way there. I didn't really want to drive to Munich in one day. I'm sure lots of people would but not my idea of fun! Tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 I've just been informed that we are staying in Aachen and Munich on the way there. I didn't really want to drive to Munich in one day. I'm sure lots of people would but not my idea of fun! I would think twice about driving to Munich in one day, and I'm a lot closer It is a pretty horrible run to be honest, and so best taken easy. Don't forget to wave as you go past! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
trisonic Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 37 people died in the line of Thunderstorms through the USA. I believe it has now exited out into the Atlantic this morning. One Lowes home improvement store completely flattened in Sanford, NC. Trust our pals in NC OK this morning..... Best, Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDolfelin Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 I don't think I want to drive to Munich at all ... although I remember the beer. Swallows arrived here today. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted April 17, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 17, 2011 I would think twice about driving to Munich in one day, and I'm a lot closer It is a pretty horrible run to be honest, and so best taken easy. Don't forget to wave as you go past! I've done the various routes to Austria before but never been to Aachen or Munich. We'll stay in the middle of Aachen as it is only for one night and somewhere outside Munich with trains to the centre. The place we are staying in Austria is only an hour and a half from Munich so the last bit of the journey should be relaxing. Our last two holidays in Austria were fly / drive but since I now have a car with very comfy seats I can drive a lot further and I'm happy to drive there again. I shall be very careful waving as I wouldn't want to incur a fine in case anyone thinks I'm criticising their driving! Tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted April 17, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 17, 2011 Just back from a surprise eightieth birthday party for mum. It was a surprise to her, not to us, as we knew about it in advance. We had a really pleasant day chatting to some folk we haven't seen for a long time (and usually in more sombre circumstances). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 I shall be very careful waving as I wouldn't want to incur a fine in case anyone thinks I'm criticising their driving! Pity you didn't pick Mainz - you could have saved on the waving, and we could have met for a beer! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooUK Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 I was considering going for a walk along the river this afternoon. Ended up going to a mate's instead and playing Risk. Was good fun. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted April 17, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 17, 2011 Pity you didn't pick Mainz - you could have saved on the waving, and we could have met for a beer! We'll make sure to choose Mainz in future years! Before Matthew was born we went to Austria most summers but it didn't really have too many beaches for seaside holidays when he was little so we went to France. When he was a young teen we went to Austria but he didn't like it, probably the food but he is happy about that now. Matthew really wants to do some grand tour of Canada but I don't think I can cope with that this year. However he didn't turn down the chance to come to Austria this year with us. He might go somewhere else with university friends later though. Everything is now booked apart from sorting out some travel insurance. I'll need an Austrian motorway sticker but that can be bought at the border , or according to "internet" at German petrol stations near the border. I don't think we have been this organised for our summer holiday so early for years! I do still have to find accommodation for Robbie but he has been happy at the kennels but a friend may have him, though I suspect he would be so happy with her and her dog that he wouldn't want to come home! Tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium NGT6 1315 Posted April 18, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 18, 2011 Morning all... I believe this is going to be a mostly pleasant day, weather-wise. The only downside to that but is that I'm starting to have problems with hayfever once again . I believe grass pollen are worst for me! Have a good one all... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted April 18, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 18, 2011 Morning all Monday morning and no work to go to. Relaxing. I don't know how our retired members put up with it. Of course, having a couple of weeks break, I am coming down with the obligatory cold. Track laying should finally start today. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Morning All, It is quite a reasonable morning here again. Blue sky, and sunshine. I am just waiting for the chimney sweep to turn up. He is coming to measure boiler emissions. Have a good day everyone... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonBradley Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Good morning all. Was absent for the whole weekend. I don't remember what happened on Saturday, but yesterday I got home from Church at 9:00am just minutes after thtart of the F1 so stayed glued to the TV ntil 11.00 so didn't get to log on. Sort of clear with very hgh cloud which makes it look less than bright. BoD,Easter eggs were on sale here before Ash Wednesday! There is still plenty of stock. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Morning BoD et al....... Welcome to the tough old world of retirement..... I'm not an ardent environmentalist, but the events of the weekend have made my blood boil. My HP printer has done the job I bought it for for several years now, but has decided it will no longer connect black ink to white paper. Bit of a ###### really but hey, it can only be a blockage somewhere. Took it all apart and cleaned it to no avail. No problem I'll buy a set of printheads. They can't be more than £20.... Wrong! £110! The printer only cost £109 and now I can buy a new one for £90.....So I'm throwing away a perfectly good printer, because the cost of the spares means it will be madness to do so. HP are effectively employing people to make things, to replace stuff we are needlessly throwing away.... Bonkers! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium skipepsi Posted April 18, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 18, 2011 Morning all, I have been given a cold for the holiday too Oh joy! Gordon at the lower end of printers the printer costs the same as a pack of cartridges from the manufacturer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixoh8sixoh Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 It's the same with Canon, Gordon. I had a perfectly good Canon printer but its print heads clogged completely (as I didn't use it a huge amount and it had stood idle for a couple of months). Had to go and buy a new printer as the cost of parts or repair would have been as much as buying a new one. I now have an absolute behemoth of a printer that scans, copies etc and prints to CDs/DVDs. Don - I think there was a touch of irony in BoD's Easter Egg post... They've been on sale in our supermarkets since Boxing Day... Mackerel sky here this morning, quite superb! Looking up it's like the ripples you get in wet sand on a beach. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium eldavo Posted April 18, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 18, 2011 Morning All, Seem to be a full set of oktas. Better go and walk the dog. Could do with a day off. Cheers Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Interesting to hear the printer woes. I converted to an HP Laserjet a few years ago - it is an office throw-out which I picked up at a second hand computer dealer for a ridiculous price. Admittedly it is only monochrome - but how often do you actually need to print in colour? The printer hangs on my network and is ready for action whenever I need it. No problems with blocked nozzles or dried up ink. A few weeks ago there was a programme on Arte about planned obsolescence. One of the running themes throughout the programme was a chap in Spain who had an Epson printer. He wanted to print, but every time he did so, the printer threw up an error message saying that there was an "internal problem" and the printer required servicing. He took it to various shops and they all told him it was beyond economic repair - in other words cheaper to buy a new one. To cut a long story short, it turned out that Epson designed the printer to disable itself after around 8000 pages. Their excuse for this is that there is a sponge inside that is used when the print head is cleaned. Ink is squirted into the sponge to clean the print head. The argument is that after 8000 pages, the sponge will be full and nobody likes their desk to be flooded with ink. There is an internal page counter, and after that expires, so does the printer. A Russian guy had developed a piece of software to reset this counter, which was done and the printer sprang into life again. One of the disadvantages of a market driven economy - and a tremendous waste of resources Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDolfelin Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Most of my 'computer' life I've used very expensive laser and inkjet printers and top of the domestic range scanners. But, my last purchase was an all in one HP jobby that does everything for under £40 - and just as well as the types that cost megapounds a couple of years ago. Yes, the refills cost about the same as the machine but it was never cheap anyway. As Gordon says, if it goes wrong it will go to recycling - no way around that I can see. A note in passing: It's my experience that HP (genuine) inks don't clog in the same way that Epson or Cannon do if left idle for a period. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium skipepsi Posted April 18, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 18, 2011 I suspect cars have a similar approach in their engine management systems not by miles but by engine hours or just time elapsed from manufacture. Sensor faults and vastly expensive replacement EMU's put many cars that are mechanically sound into the scrap yard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted April 18, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 18, 2011 Morning. Some HP printers had a ink sludge tray that if it gets full stop it working like the sponge mentioned earlier. Messy job to clean but it works sometimes. It certainly isn't documented in the user guide. I've got a couple of HP Photosmart devices (both purchased in special offer etc sales!) attached to our home network. One is just a printer the other is an all in one device. Aditi also has a Samsung laser which was cheap, quite cheap to run and is very good for putting black ink on paper. Tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Must be the silly season. Had an Epson printer up the bedroom that I kept as a spare. Pleased with myself, switched it on and waited. Out came a blank sheet of paper.... Yup, you've guessed it. The cartridges/printheads had dried out and now I have another one going to the tip. Moral of the story? Use it or lose it..... I also agree about printing where 90% of my stuff is B & W. I will now ordered two printers. A fast laser from Canon is already on order and I'm now looking for a slower colour one for when we need colour print. I guess that will cover all options and mean I will get faster prints and lower replacement cartridge cost. Seems bloomin' obvious now...... Nevertheless, our Dad's will turn in their graves at the world we now live in... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium skipepsi Posted April 18, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 18, 2011 It does beg the question why worry about global warming when manufacturers are making their products die early? As has been said before the carbon cost of making a car exceeds the cost of the fuel used over its life. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted April 18, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 18, 2011 I've often wondered about the environmental cost of constructing, transporting, erecting maintaining and eventually decommissioning wind turbines too......but that's far too serious a topic for the ER forum. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Absolutely Mick - sadly it is nothing new. Just read up on the Phoebus cartel which was founded in the mid-twenties to limit the life of light bulbs. They can certainly be made to last longer than they do, after all there is an example in a fire station in Livermore, California which is going to be celebrating its 110th anniversary this year. I am usually responsible for changing light bulbs in our Church and I am lucky if I get around 600 hours out of a bulb. Most burn out before that - there are a few left that have been in for a few years, but they are in the minority. Osram bulbs seem to last longer than most other types and are certainly worth the extra money you pay over the "no name" brands. Many years ago, my Dad managed to get hold of some bulbs which were made in the former DDR, by a now defunct company called Narva. At the time, they were trying to get a foothold in the Western markets. They didn't succeed in doing so, but most of those bulbs are still in use over twenty years later Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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