test please delete

[xoggoth]

Volunteery thing at local nature reserve this morning, trundling wheelbarrows full of mulch. Pure coincidence I was behind a youngish big bummed lady wearing thin lycra on a few occasions.

[NickFitz]

Lunch has been some leftover Thai bits

The heat detector in the kitchen has started making an annoying chirping noise every few minutes, suggesting its battery is on the way out. So I’m going to have to deal with that at some point

I took it down - it just twists off the baseplate - and found that it should have been replaced by late 2023! I assume the smoke detector in the hall is of similar vintage. Replacements that fit the same baseplate have been ordered and will be here tomorrow

According to the manual, taking it down should disconnect the battery. But it’s still making occasional chirping noises as it sits on the side

[DoctorStrangelove]

Lunch has been some leftover Thai bits



I took it down - it just twists off the baseplate - and found that it should have been replaced by late 2023! I assume the smoke detector in the hall is of similar vintage. Replacements that fit the same baseplate have been ordered and will be here tomorrow

According to the manual, taking it down should disconnect the battery. But it’s still making occasional chirping noises as it sits on the side

I've been known to take a club hammer to stuff that does that. .

The really irritating one was a CO monitor from the parents' house that I'd moved over here in a cardboard box of junk I'd put in the "office".

Took a while to find that. .

Particularly since it went beep once every 5 minutes.

One of the smoke detectors upstairs has a funny five minutes every now & again: the last time it did it was ?Thursday? morning at about 06:30ish.

The only good thing about it was that I'd been awake & reading a book since 05:55.

Though banging my head on the top of the door jamb didn't improve my temper much.

[NickFitz]

Tea has been chicken casserole with chips and peas

To go with it, the latest episode of Ambulance

However, just after I started eating and watching, iPlayer started spinning its spinny thing and further investigation revealed that the Internet had disappeared

Off to the hall cupboard, where it became apparent that there was no power to the socket where it’s plugged in. I got a light from the bedroom and checked, and it was definitely the socket. Further investigation showed that one of the circuit breakers in the fusebox had tripped, so I flipped it back on - and after a few seconds, it tripped again

I had a good idea what it was then. A few weeks ago, one of the rings on the hob started sparking its electric spark regularly but intermittently when the knob wasn’t held down, but it trailed off after a while. Just as I’d got dinner ready, it started doing it again, but I figured I’d ignore it until I’d eaten. Clearly there’s a deeper problem though, as once I’d turned the hob off at the wall and flipped the circuit breaker back on, it stayed on, and I was able to plug the Internet back in and get on with dinner

The only thing the hob uses electricity for is the spark thing, so I’m not going to bother investigating any further tonight. I’ll have to find a lighter somewhere, or a box of matches; I’m sure I’ve got one or the other. When I have time, I’ll see if I can work out what’s wrong, or if I need to call a service engineer out for it

As to why the socket in the hall cupboard is on a different circuit to the adjacent living room but the same one as the distant kitchen: who knows?

[NickFitz]

I've been known to take a club hammer to stuff that does that. .

The really irritating one was a CO monitor from the parents' house that I'd moved over here in a cardboard box of junk I'd put in the "office".

Took a while to find that. .

Particularly since it went beep once every 5 minutes.

One of the smoke detectors upstairs has a funny five minutes every now & again: the last time it did it was ?Thursday? morning at about 06:30ish.

The only good thing about it was that I'd been awake & reading a book since 05:55.

Though banging my head on the top of the door jamb didn't improve my temper much.

This one was still flashing its red LED every minute even though it was supposedly off, and still occasionally chirping - the manual says it should do it every forty seconds, but it was more like every forty minutes. I tried pressing the central button, which supposedly silences the low battery alarm, but instead it deafened me with test beeps. As it was in the way, I slotted it back on to the baseplate, and it’s been fine ever since! So I now have no idea what its doing

On closer examination, the label on the back says 2033, not 2023; same on the smoke detector in the hall. But the new ones are on their way, so at least I’ll have them in reserve if it turns out to be fine now

[NickFitz]

I finished Rasputin and the Downfall of the Romanovs, which didn’t really work out well for anyone. Still hasn’t, in fact

At least Putin will be unhappy about this evening's news from Hungary

Monday again tomorrow, but I’m off for a week after this one’s done - ten whole days, in fact!

Goodnight all

[NickFitz]

Morning denizens

It’s a bright sunny start with some wisps of cloud here and there. Unusually, the current 4°C “feels like” 7° - the first time I’ve seen it that way round, but the specific panel for that further down the page confirms it, saying “It feels warmer than the actual temperature” which is nice. The expected high is 13° and the barometers are up to 1001/1009mB

FedEx are due this morning with a parcel from the USA; any time from right now onwards, in fact. I’ve been tracking this since it left somewhere I’d never heard of in Michigan last week, and haven’t got the faintest idea what it is. It could be a book I ordered in advance months ago and forgot about; it could be two keys of uncut cocaine sent to the wrong address. No way to know until it gets here!

[WTFH]

Morning all
CBS, etc, but with a frost on the ground and all the local ICE vehicles had ice on their windscreens.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Morning.

Monday.

Dry.

Blue sky.

Sunny.

Very threatening looking cloud. I shouted at it.

Chilly in here at 14.1 deg, 12 deg in the kitchen, 11.5 in the leanto, 7.5 in the saltinghouse.

1008 mBar, 29.766 in Hg, 756.1 Torr, 14.62 psi, (up from 1007 last night), 64% RH (Lidl electric).

Meanwhile on the 24th of March 2020 AndyGarbs, covbob, NF, and WTFH popped in, whereas I reimplemented the hifi in the living room using the Spendor BCIIs and the Mission 700s driven by an ancient Linsley Hood 75W amplifier, all connected up with the B&Q cable purchased the previous week.

Awake again at 05:15: read book, finished book, read more of other book, went back to sleep.

Washing frenzy in progress.

Shopping trip to Morrisons done dusted washed dried sanitised & put away.

Lunch: brunch. Entertainment: Y&Y waffling on about "customer dis-service" from NTL Hell/Virgin.

Ah, now the Orange **** posts pictures of himself as Jesus Christ and writes abusive posts referring to the Pope.

You really couldn't make this tulip up.

Should be burned at the stake to encourage others.

If the sky fairies were real he'd be struck by lightning. Oh, if only, if only.

Everything requiring the iRon has received its attention & is airing upstairs. Dried well today.

Walk (unabbreviated, towpath) walked during which I two conversations.

Now getting outside a mug of mediocre yet consistent coffee.

Tea: chilli con carne etc. Entertainment: PM.

Skinwalker Ranch bollox:

NCIS S22 E13 "Bad Blood".

The bog thing on BBC Alba.

[ladymuck]

Morning all

Sunny with lumps of fluff. Currently 11 degrees with a high of 13 expected. Rain forecast this afternoon. Barometer up to 1014 mBar.

Sunrise 06:10; Sunset 19:55 BST

Gentle start to the week but I do have things on my to-do list that I need to both start and finish by Wednesday.