Reply to: test please delete

[NickFitz]

Plan B, or maybe W by now: Screwfix! They're only about five minutes from here, depending on the traffic lights, so I searched on their website and it offered something which appeared as if it might do the job. Ordered from the local store and got confirmation it was ready for me in seconds, so I drove down there and collected it. Getting back, I discovered that it's completely useless! Despite being sealed in McAlpine packaging with "1¼ inch" clearly printed on it, it appears to be much larger by a quarter of an inch at least, maybe more; and it also seems a bit more complicated than is required, being in four parts

But as I was over that side of hereabouts, it gave me an excuse to make a minor detour on the way back. So it's been fish & chips from the VAT fraud chippy for tea!

And Amazon have refunded the extra shipping charge too, possibly because I opted to get it on my Amazon gift card balance rather than in the bank, so they know it'll come back to them soon

[NickFitz]

Afternoon all
@NF, - sounds like EVRI's your courier.
they. are. sh1te.
I avoid buying from anyone who uses them, wherever possible.

No, it was ArrowXL for the machine, with Amazon's uselessness last night as a bonus

Amazon's order details page showed that they were making no attempt to redeliver, despite the message on there saying they would. As far as I could tell, they were expecting me to fill in a form explaining how to get to the front door they were at last night, and which every other Amazon driver realises has a large panel next to it with bell pushes for each flat and an intercom. So I've ordered another blanking cap and cancelled the original order, for which I get a refund, though not of the £1.99 I had to pay for same-day delivery

Before that, I popped round to the little hardware shop on the shopping road. Turned out he had blanking caps in several sizes, but not the size I needed

*PAYDAY tomorrow*
*1st for a wee while, hence the

[sadkingbilly]

Afternoon all
@NF, - sounds like EVRI's your courier.
they. are. sh1te.
I avoid buying from anyone who uses them, wherever possible.

*PAYDAY tomorrow*
*1st for a wee while, hence the

[NickFitz]

Lunch: pork and apple sauce bap (wholemeal)

Still sunny out, though a lot of cumuli seem to be gathering, possibly to provide the rain that's possible (now 35%) later

[ladymuck]

Morning all

Sunny with lumps of fluff. Currently 18 degrees ('feels like' 21) with a high of 29 expected. Rain forecast in increasing probability this afternoon/evening. Barometer down to 1002 mBar.

Sunrise 06:08; Sunset 19:57 BST

In the office today. A friend of mine reserved a desk for me so I don't have to sit with ConsultancyCo folk. Although, the one that's in at the moment is a nice chap.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Morning.

Thursday? <checks clock>

Wet. Very very wet. Torrential at times overnight with the usual rivers of water in the road when I looked out of the front window at about 03:30ish.

Grey.

Wanly sunny.

Cool in here at 20 deg, 21.5 in the kitchen, 19 in the leanto.

995.5 mBar, 29.397 in Hg, 746.7 Torr, 14.44 psi, (down from 997 last night), 66% RH (Lidl electric).

Meanwhile on the 12th of February 2020 Churchill popped in, as did AndyGarbs, and Simon Mac, WTFH was awake at 5 a.m. waiting for NF's weather forecast, NF was doing the washing, and LM had some curious concoction for lunch, and had the boiler serviced, and following my return from the 's meeting in Swansea, my big toe was painful.

Walk (towpath) walked. Minor cloudburst on the way back down.

Well that's filled the canal at Tonna lock: what was empty yesterday is now 18" deep. The bit I could have stepped across a stream 3" wide is now a foot or more wide & all the brooks are full too.

River much more enthusiastic this morning: you wouldn't want to fall in that at the moment.

Lunch: brunch. Entertainment: Electric cars.

Gosh. Brief flood alert this morning:

https://flood-warning.naturalresourc...ail/102WAFF18/

Well there's a thing. I thought the river looked a bit enthusiastic.

More work potching on the un-un balun: finally got the phasing correct. Did it make any difference to the reception of short wave? Of course not.

Even unplugged the mains feed to the garage in case that was radiating the buzz, but nope, made zero difference.

Tea: beans on toast with baked spud and scrambled egg. Nice enough.

Entertainment: PM. <endless asylum seeker interview with a chap who's applied to Greece, Turkey, Austria, Germany, possibly France, and now he's here: click>

I'm sure we'll give him asylum no problemo.

Don't suppose there's feck all to watch on the idiot lantern this evening.

[WTFH]

Morning all
CBS, and almost Autumnaly cold and crisp. A very pleasant walk was had, that started out a bit too cool for short sleeves, but was perfect temperature once we got going.

[NickFitz]

Morning denizens

High wispy strands of cloud out there this morning, possibly cirrus fibratus, but letting quite a bit of sunshine through. It's 13°C and expected to reach 19°, so not too warm, and rain is possible (30% for three hours) from mid-afternoon. The barometers are down a bit more at 990/998mB

Thursday!

[NickFitz]

I'm near the end of The Rewind Files and the twists and turns are coming thick and fast

I quite enjoyed work today, which made a nice change. I mostly paired with the other dev (her rabbit's much better now, BTW) on some stuff, though it was more her explaining how bits worked as I don't know enough about the app, or indeed what it's supposed to do, to really contribute yet. And I managed to get my local development environment set up OK once I'd tracked down a rogue PostgreSQL server running on my machine, left over from some stuff on the other project a few months ago

Thursday tomorrow!

Goodnight all

[WTFH]

CUK is running like a dead dog.

Anyway, happy birthday BrilloPad wherever you may be

[NickFitz]

Today's Same Day Delivery purchase from Amazon is a sink trap blanking cap. When they removed the old machine yesterday, they didn't do anything about the fact that this left the drain inlet into the trap disconnected - "not allowed to touch that" I daresay

Oh FFS!

I followed them on the map from seven stops away. I went over to the window and saw them pull into our drive. I saw them stop at the front door, and went over to my flat's front door to answer the intercom. And then I looked back and saw them across the big lawn driving away again!

And then when I check on Amazon, they have the cheek to say "The carrier is unable to gain access to the front door". They were at the front door! Try ringing the bloody bell!

[NickFitz]

Due to the aforementioned limited options plus not being in the mood for any of the stuff in the freezer, tea has been brought from the Turkish place, again

This means I've got another discount from there for next time

To accompany this, a change from roads policing in the form of Fare Dodgers: At War With the Law which TBH seems like a rather extreme way to describe what's basically a bunch of people saying "I got on at Ashford, innit bruv"

[NickFitz]

Lunch: a sausage roll

I have limited options for food at the moment because I didn't get to go shopping last week - I had been going to go after the delivery that never happened, but waited until the evening to not happen, after which I couldn't be doing with the hassle

Today's Same Day Delivery purchase from Amazon is a sink trap blanking cap. When they removed the old machine yesterday, they didn't do anything about the fact that this left the drain inlet into the trap disconnected - "not allowed to touch that" I daresay

The setup is that on one side is the trap for the little sink to which is attached the dishwasher drain, and on the other side the trap for the big sink and washing machine, both sides being connected across the middle. So now I can't use the big sink without half or more of the draining water pouring out into the cupboard, where I've had to place a bucket that can then be emptied in the bathroom

I can use the little sink and it appears to be OK, as the cross-connection is below the open spigot. But I don't dare use the dishwasher as I suspect a sudden load of water being forcibly flushed into that side would end up spilling out on the other, and I have no idea if the bucket is big enough

So a blanking plate is on its way to me, and I'll have to remove the spigot and screw that on. Next week, I'll have to put the spigot back on. I hope I manage not to cock this all up, but if I do, at least I won't really be any worse off than I already am. I'm even thinking of getting a new spigot with a non-return valve, as I suspect the rather cheap looking one on there isn't that advanced

[ladymuck]

Morning all

Started off a bit gloomy but now there's blue sky and not a cloud to be seen from my vantage point. However, if I look out of a different window there's a mix of lumpy and wispy cloud. According to the weather app, it's raining and there will be black clouds all day (apart from a brief respite around noon). Hmm. Currently 20 degrees ('feels like' 24) with a high of 21 expected. Barometer down to 1005 mBar.

I was supposed to go into the office but on waking decided I couldn't be bothered, so didn't. I do have to go in tomorrow for a workshop.

The car bodyshop are chasing for feedback on their quote, which reminded me that I hadn't called the other place for a second opinion. I'm now running out of time to get that done before I go away at the weekend.

[NickFitz]

Kaboodle, the people who can apparently install Miele things properly rather than just standing around pursing their lips and shaking their heads, finally got in touch. First available slot is next Wednesday

Ah well, I'm already getting used to sidling around this sodding great machine that's standing in front of the sink

I noticed that the lino (well, vinyl flooring) in the recess where it needs to go has been a bit damaged and torn up by the dragging out of the old machine. So I've got some kind of magic Gorilla Glue coming from Amazon and will have to crawl in there and stick it back down, so the new machine has a level surface to rest on - it'll be impossible to use a spirit level to check once it's in there, and there'll be no way of adjusting the feet without dragging it out again and making things worse. At least I now have plenty of time to deal with that, rather than having to squeeze it in between Teams meetings

And I've disabled my old team's Google Calendar in my Gmail sidebar. For whatever inscrutable reason, Google had elected to make entries from this appear in a dark grey verging on black. With it turned off and only the bright blue of my own calendar in there, the sidebar suddenly looks a lot less gloomy and menacing