Good Morning Thread - Come say good morning, tell us what you've got on today. :)

We have this thread on TilersForums.com and it's just been restarted because the old thread had 20,000 replies and 500,000 views. And there were 700 pages. Started to lag a bit on slow connections.

I think we had a bash of this before, but I can't find the thread, so thought I'd start another one off.

If you have time in the mornings, come post in the thread before you head off to work, let us know what you've got on and what the weather is like in your area etc. Anything at all is fine.

Posts and likes get counted towards your total stats in this thread.

So GOOOD MORNING PEOPLE - WEATHER IS NICE TODAY IN STOKE. I'M THANKFUL IT'S FRIDAY, HAD A RUBBISH WEEK. THANK GOD IT'S OVER.

View attachment 53708

 

[littlespark]

Sitting in a carpark in a local seaside town, and an older fella asks me for advice.


He lives down in Northumberland, and is on holiday just now... but the story is, he's got an old miners house that he rents out.
Agency wanted an EICR, so they organised someone... (red flag!)

The guy tells me this electrician was at the house for 90 minutes (red flag!) and gave an unsatisfactory outcome. Was explained to the owner that the tails needed replaced. (thats all)

I educated the gentleman on what would normally warrant a C1 or C2.... and that C3's were only advisable. I asked if the tails were old?, damaged?

No... nothing like that.... its just that the electrician upgrades them as company policy.

Another red flag.


I also explained that there is no need for the remedials to be done by the same company... you can get others to quote for it...


We watched someone trying to park for five minutes... then i went over the fact again that what he got was a 'report' not a 'certificate'.... and again..... he can get whoever he likes to do any work.


I didnt volunteer my services... for one, he's out my local area... and 2... he was complaining about £150 for a 'certificate' in the first place.

 

[littlespark]

Drove up to Aberdeen on Monday to go to daughters graduation…. Which was yesterday morning at the big exhibition centre.

Left as soon as we could after work, but hit both Edinburgh and Dundee at peak times. Almost a 6 hour drive, which should be 3 1/2.

Proud parents, she got a MA first class honours in Language and Linguistics with Mandarin…. And topping that, her final dissertation was chosen as the best from the language school of the university and is being put forward for a national judging panel.

The drive home yesterday was quicker. Stopped off at one of those family restaurants for dinner as a congratulations for her.

For those of you that know the area, this particular one is just off the main road at Camperdown… and we remember it under the different guise of The Outside Inn… which would have been the last time the 3 of us ate there about 15 years ago…

We sat reminiscing of how it used to look, when some other diners’ Nokia phone went off… that familiar nostalgic tune.. Just seemed very appropriate to what we were talking about.

 

[littlespark]

A word of warning, ladies and gents about the importance of correct PPE. Steel toe capped footwear to be precise.

Before work this morning, (yes, on a Saturday), I booked into the local recycling centre… which you need to do with a van or trailer… just getting rid of a bag of garden rubbish and a couple of broken tvs.

One of said tv’s was an older flat screen, about 40 inch. Easily manhandled in and out of the van… and as I was lowering it to the ground, it slipped, and edge landed on my big toe.

“Gee willerkers” I thought to myself… but my mouth inadvertently said something much different.


Carried on to work, thinking yeah it’s sore, but I don’t think it’s broken or anything, can still wiggle it…
Finished at 4, drove home, took off my shoes……

Socks are now in the bin. Big hole, and stained in blood. What a mess.
And my toe isn’t much better.

Skin off the top, bruising all around, and hopefully the nail doesn’t come off.

Enjoy you dinners!

 

[littlespark]

I can feel my toe again! And there’s a black bruise creeping up behind the nail. That’s going to look great sitting at the side of the pool when I’m on my cruise…. Did I say I was going on a cruise at the end of the month?

Anyway.
Was back today at that farmers cottage, and a took a wander around the empty sheds that surround the property… now it looks like a typical farm install….. these are live… as far as I can tell.

 

[James]

I can feel my toe again! And there’s a black bruise creeping up behind the nail. That’s going to look great sitting at the side of the pool when I’m on my cruise…. Did I say I was going on a cruise at the end of the month?

Anyway.
Was back today at that farmers cottage, and a took a wander around the empty sheds that surround the property… now it looks like a typical farm install….. these are live… as far as I can tell

Have you stuck your finger in to check?

 

[littlespark]

I actually tried a light switch, @James , and it worked.

 

[James]

I actually tried a light switch, @James , and it worked.

probably a better way to test with your finger, but i was close, you did in fact use your finger to check if it was live and it worked!!!

 

[littlespark]

probably a better way to test with your finger, but i was close, you did in fact use your finger to check if it was live and it worked!!!

actually used the insulated end of my hammer to turn on the switch... I'm not stupid, you know!

Ok... i was holding the hammer in my hand, which indeed utilised one or more fingers

 

[littlespark]

Back at the cottage, and in their infinite wisdom, they’ve decided to strap the walls, add insulation and board it before plastering…. Which was suggested at the beginning of the job by the joiner and was rejected.. change their mind now, after I’ve spent hard graft and sweat on chasing out the brick for all the sockets. Going to need long screws for the faceplates now.

Also noticed this, which is the overhead supply.
Worth reporting? . (Zoom in)

 

[DPG]

So they've put the wire that secures the aerial mast over the supply cable? That's a special kind of silly is that. I'd be reporting it.

 

[littlespark]

I hadn’t noticed that, to be honest.

It was more that the bracket for the overhead was away from the chimney and not secure.

But I’ll tell him about both issues

 

[nicebutdim]

Back at the cottage, and in their infinite wisdom, they’ve decided to strap the walls, add insulation and board it before plastering…. Which was suggested at the beginning of the job by the joiner and was rejected.. change their mind now, after I’ve spent hard graft and sweat on chasing out the brick for all the sockets. Going to need long screws for the faceplates now.

Even better when they want flat plate, for which it's impossible to find 4" screws. God help whoever finds several stacked thread extenders.

 

[James]

One of the cables that hold it to the stack has broken, one more to go before the bangs and flashes start bouncing around the driveway!

 

[littlespark]

I’m posting this now in case I don’t get a chance over next couple of days.

2am Thursday morning we will be driving down to Newcastle to fly out to Dubrovnik to board our cruise ship. I will spend 7 days sailing, docking at a few stops along the way and I will be taking photos of whatever dodgy electrics I can find…. Much to wife’s dismay.

 

[littlespark]

Hello from sunny sunny Dubrovnik!
28 degrees, and it’s too damn hot.

No dodgy electrics yet, but it smells like the drains aren’t up to much.

 

[DPG]

Just on our last day of a week in Bruges. Lovely place - would recommend it.

 

[nicebutdim]

Just on our last day of a week in Bruges. Lovely place - would recommend it.

Throw anyone from the clock tower?

 

[brianmoooore]

Throw anyone from the clock tower?

No, but I did almost kill my young son there. My wife and I rode up to it on our bikes, dismounted and propped the bikes against the wall, forgetting that our son was in his bike seat on the back of her bike.
The bike promptly reared up, front wheel in the air, and the back of my son's head on the ground. Fortunately he was wearing a helmet, and I half grabbed the bike, so he didn't hit the ground that hard, but it caused a bit of excitement and concern from the other tourists around.

 

[littlespark]

pulling into Ravenna Italy right now. Had a whole day at see yesterday after leaving Kotor, Montenegro. Which is where I took this photo. Only piece of electrical worth noting so far.

Inside the walled old town of Kotor, narrow streets, and all the street lights were fed from these boxes.
Someone’s tapped off this one for an outlet.

 

[nicebutdim]

Combined car and phone charging point. Very thoughtful of the local authorities.

 

[littlespark]

Combined car and phone charging point. Very thoughtful of the local authorities.

Couldn’t get a car into these streets, they were so narrow.
Possibly, the town developed around keeping people in shade rather than making room for horse and carts like many other places.

 

[littlespark]

a couple of things about the ship and cabin we are in.

The electric outlets are euro and American.. side by side, with differing voltages. The switches are upside down… as in push top in for on, and bottom off.
I’m sure someone will say they are correct, and only us in the Uk is wrong, but I’m wanting to turn them all over.

Wandering the ship one day, I saw this. CU cover hanging off, limited space to work, space shared with plumbing and data servers…

I thought it was only the UK that went a bit daft with warning signage…. Ie, “contents of kettle may be hot”, “don’t walk out into moving traffic” That kind of thing.
I imagine someone in the past has had an accident, so from then on in, that situation must be warned against somehow to avoid further identical accidents….

Which makes me wonder how this sign came about….

 

[littlespark]

Back home late last night, will sort out a few pics to show you later.

First thought…. For sunnier climes, there was a distinct lack of PV roof panels… Now, I know it’s less efficient if the sun is too bright, and places we visited weren’t huge cities… just tourist towns, but I thought I’d see more.

Did see this though in one of the ports. Solar benches with phone charging.

And I don’t know what looks more fake…. The Iron Throne or the Daenerys Targaryen

 

[nicebutdim]

Back home late last night, will sort out a few pics to show you later.

First thought…. For sunnier climes, there was a distinct lack of PV roof panels… Now, I know it’s less efficient if the sun is too bright, and places we visited weren’t huge cities… just tourist towns, but I thought I’d see more.

I note that almost every home and business along the Mediterranean coast of Turkey avails of solar energy for water heating, but I'm yet to see a single panel used to harvest solar energy for generation of electricity.

 

[littlespark]

I note that almost every home and business along the Mediterranean coast of Turkey avails of solar energy for water heating, but I'm yet to see a single panel used to harvest solar energy for generation of electricity.

Thats what i thought. there was a couple of hot water systems seen on failrly new buildings, but no PV

Is it something to do with overheating?
Maybe a polarising screen over the panel that could limit the light through would work? Adjustable opaqueness for levels of brightness??

 

[nicebutdim]

Thats what i thought. there was a couple of hot water systems seen on failrly new buildings, but no PV

Is it something to do with overheating?
Maybe a polarising screen over the panel that could limit the light through would work? Adjustable opaqueness for levels of brightness??

No idea, but it always struck me as odd. Perhaps installation costs heavily outweigh benefits? If electricity is cheap, or usage light, payback may take an incredibly long time.

Solar hot water systems are probably fairly cheap, as they're on every roof, and provide more hot water than anyone could need. Probably also helps keep consumption of electricity at an acceptable level.

 

[littlespark]

A couple of nights ago, we stepped out onto the aft deck… (picked up the lingo no bother!)
Way out in the distance we saw this lightning storm…. Completely silent.
No rumbles, no crackles… and only the wind, engines and water can be heard.

I think this was over land…. But couldn’t see.

Does lightning need land to earth to…. Or can it happen over open water?

Is a big metal boat safe to be bobbing about on the water near one of these?

 

[James]

Lightning often strikes the sea.
it will be drawn to large steel vessels because they are a large conductive mass at earth potentail.
it can damage electronics by striking antennas etc as they are often high up.
for these reasons, passenger ships keep a close eye on the weather and will change course to avoid storms in general, not just electrical storms.

 

[littlespark]

Lightning often strikes the sea.
it will be drawn to large steel vessels because they are a large conductive mass at earth potentail.
it can damage electronics by striking antennas etc as they are often high up.
for these reasons, passenger ships keep a close eye on the weather and will change course to avoid storms in general, not just electrical storms.

yes, a ship is a large conductive mass.... but is it connected to earth or insulated by the water?

Actually... when docked, there was just ropes between the boat and shore..... no massive bonding cable.... not one i could see.
I didn't even see it plug into a 16A Rolec marine box

 

[nicebutdim]

I didn't even see it plug into a 16A Rolec marine box

Probably use Scame or Gewiss in those countries.

 

[littlespark]

Mulling through my jobs I need to go back and I remembered my daughters short lived job at an embroidery factory, packing boxes. I was giving her a lift in each morning if I was passing.

One day, when I was pulling out the car park, I noticed a little car drive past with some contraption on the roof.
Turned out to be the Google cam

So I’ve had a search…..

 

[DPG]

Mulling through my jobs I need to go back and I remembered my daughters short lived job at an embroidery factory, packing boxes. I was giving her a lift in each morning if I was passing.

One day, when I was pulling out the car park, I noticed a little car drive past with some contraption on the roof.
Turned out to be the Google cam

So I’ve had a search…..

View attachment 109789

Are the roads named after 1980s comedies??!

 

[littlespark]

Are the roads named after 1980s comedies??!

Yea, it joins onto Young Ones Road at the junction with Not The 9 o’clock News Lane…..


Nah. Name of a local dribble of a river.
We got a Blackadder and a Whiteadder nearby.

 

[littlespark]

My local CEF had a charity day today… buy a raffle ticket, speak to a few reps, get a free bacon roll.
Came away with a bag full of freeby tat… aico pens, wago tape measure, a little key ring torch….

Facebook brought up this picture…. Posted by one of the local charity’s being helped today…. And I thought I recognised this handsome chap.

“They got your good side” says the wife…..

No, I didn’t buy a new fluke.

 

[nicebutdim]

Anything to avoid doing some work.

I'll swap your wago tape for an aico tape.

 

[littlespark]

Anything to avoid doing some work.

I'll swap your wago tape for an aico tape.

Anything for a free bacon roll, more like

 

[littlespark]

I also picked up one of these….

What is it? Answers on a postcard please.

 

[littlespark]

That (above) is a small bit of plastic with a magnet in it. Shaped to fit on a BG consumer unit, and all it does is hold the lid open.


Non job related, but clearing out some stuff in the house I came across an old JVC camcorder and a dozen tapes. I remembered this needed a certain cable and port on the computer for importing, and the old desktop pc that never gets turned on now had the correct port… (1394, FireWire)

Couldn’t find the cable, so got one from Amazon. Couldn’t get the pc to boot, so reinstalled windows 10… working fine.

Then couldn’t get any modern software to work that would import the tape…. Had to go back to a Windows Live Essentials 2011 executable to find the old Movie Maker software.

Imported all the tapes, one by one, dating back to 2006, 7 and 8. So that was pre youngest child.
Had a good watch of some of the scenes… christmases, family bbq…. nostalgic…. Great. So glad to have saved the footage….

However.

Got back to it yesterday, and the damn PC won’t boot again. It’s not recognising the HDD. Everything’s plugged in, and it’s seeing the DRW drive, but not the HDD

I’ll have a good look at the BIOS, see if there’s something I’ve missed…. But I think it’s time for a new drive.
Then install windows again
Then install movie maker again
Then import all those tapes again.


Me in 2006…. 2 stone lighter, hair on my head, not on my face.

 

[littlespark]

PC resurrection update.

Old laptop in the attic which had a broken screen hinge… pulled out the SSD and connected in to the pc.
Proves the motherboard is ok, it’s def the hdd gone bad.

Now have to install the software, transfer the tapes again… and pray I don’t break this one as well.

 

[littlespark]

update on above..... Went for a new hybrid SSD/HDD... 1Tb.
The old laptop drive didn't have enough space to import all the tapes... So now its all working well... PC is back together, not sitting with its guts spilled out on the floor, and the camcorder has been reboxed and put back in the attic for another 10 years.


A timely reminder for anyone who runs a van for their business.....
When a vehicle reaches a certain age, every so often they require something called an MOT.....Annually, it turns out.

Answers on a postcard please if anyone can guess how far out of date my MOT is as of today....
Closest wins a Werthers Original and a Tesco Bag-For-Life