and today i have mostly been...

[steve_earwig]

Cheers mate. Ear, this is the sort we're having put on http://www.markanovic.hr/krovni-sistemi/gerard.html (and that's the guy who's putting it up's website)

Has your good lady left you plenty of challenging and engaging tasks to keep you amused, by any chance?

Umm, apart from dealing with the (Croatian) roofers? Keep me and the animals alive, the usual domestic stuff really. I'm looking forward to going down the laundry basket and fishing out the clothes I haven't seen for so long I've forgotten about them. I may even have a cull of her shoe, handbag and saucepan collections if I feel brave enough.

I also have a mate up at my house fixing the front wall and I'll need to go out and buy 8 concrete tits for the top of the posts at some point.

One thing I won't be doing is clearing dog poo, it'll just have to pile (u-huh) up. Cat sh*t I've got no problem with but dog sh*t turns my stomach for some reason.

[steve_earwig]

My wife saw what you wrote and says that the question is how good it was done (her words word for word...) I'm always amazed at just what needs ironing - t-shirts in the middle of winter, my handkerchiefs, boxers. I'm surprised my socks don't get done.

Does this hoovering involve moving anything or do you just scoot round inanimate objects - chairs, tables, kids etc.?

Only dust as high as your tallest friend...

[steve_earwig]

Roofers were here at 6:35 this morning, I presume to get some work done before the rain, which was forecast for this afternoon. It was raining by 7, naturally.

I've just been out shopppping, as usually when I go to do something there's almost none left of anything. The trouble is my wife lived most of her life in a tiny flat so has no concept of buying in bulk. Why buy a sod off 25Kg bag of dog biscuits when you can buy a 3Kg one that's gone in 2 days? "Ah, but if we bought a big bag they might go off it and then what would we do." Well yeah, these spoilt dogs do that sort of thing, so you buy 3 huge bags and give them something different every day. "But we haven't got anywhere to store it" Well, if you can't part with some of your 28 saucepans and 200 dinner plates to make some space in the kitchen we could always put them in the loft. It's not like we have to go up & down a ladder to get to it, there are stairs. Dog food. Dog food? Where's the dog food? There isn't any. Enough washing powder in the tiny bag for just one more wash.

Yes dear, I miss you and think about you all the time

[steve_earwig]

Yay! I think we go shopping every other day, but then t'wife is always popping to the village shop for something she's forgotten or unexpectedly* run out of. I've been shopping once today but since then while I was fixing some grub I found the barest hint of salad dressing in the bottom of what appears to be the last bottle. I am NOT going shopping again tomorrow

[steve_earwig]

I still didn't go shopping...

T'wife
Wife dispatched safely, it took us well over an hour to get there as there was a big tailback at the tolls (and the yoyo is a bitch to drive at low speed, bouncing fore and aft all the time). I watched her through security (what on earth it is that was in her bag that they found so interesting I've no idea) and headed off home. While she was in the air Monday I was watching her progress on planefinder.net. I followed it across Austria, Belgium, the Channel and into SE England, then it circled over Stapleford Abbots (I was texting this to my bro and my nephew says that's holding pattern ALKIN), then it headed off towards Heathrow and... vanished All the rest of the planed were still there but her one. gone. Ok, maybe if I refresh the page, no. Ok, I'll search for the flight number again. Nothing. What the f..K? Surely this can't be linked directly to the real flight control's systems? refresh refresh refresh refresh.. oh no, something's happened, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! and then the page refreshed, and there it was, circling just north Romford. What the hell was I watching all that time?

My bro sent me this

which is her plane just about to touch down at Heathrow. Cool

Apparently as I type this they're at Sandringham, taking tea with Betty.

T'roof
This progresses between showers, they've taken the old roof to bits (and there's a mountain of it in the back garden), fitted the insulation and waterproof membrane, now they're nailing on the batons to take the Gerard.

Some pictures if anyone's interested http://s222.photobucket.com/user/steve_ ... /2014/Roof

T'yoyo
Actually passed another mot with the moody cat. This time I didn't bother resetting it before hand, I was interested in what it was actually doing and I figured I could always reset it if it became necessary. They spent a rather long time revving it on the exhaust sniffer, when I saw the print out I noticed that the oil temperature wasn't too high (their fault for keeping me waiting) so I thought maybe this was the reason, however looking at the results I'm not too sure.

As before 2012, 2013, 2014

Idle speed: 720rpm 750rpm 790rpm
CO: min: - max 0.500 actual 0.016% 0.000% 0.060%
CO2: min 13.0 max 18.0 actual 16.38% 15.10% 15.10%
HC: min - max 100 actual 25ppm 32ppm 13ppm
O2: min - max 0.500 actual 0.300% 0.170% 0.170%

Fast walk: 2680rpm 2800rpm 2820rpm
CO: min: - max 0.300 actual 0.007% 0.070% 0.290%
CO2: min 13.0 max 18.0 actual 16.03% 15.00% 14.60%
HC: min - max 100 actual 26ppm 38ppm 24ppm
O2: min - max 0.500 actual 0.660% (oops) 0.330% 0.490%
Lambda: min 0.097 max 1.030 actual 1.027 1.011 1.013

That CO figure looks worrying close to the limit...

[steve_earwig]

Just a swift roof update: They had a run of 3 good days with just the odd shower to make things interesting. They've started fitting the Gerard on the north side and one of the gutters is up (I've uploaded more pics to the link above, if anyone's interested). The knocked off at 2pm yesterday (they generally start about 6;30) but I was susprised they left everything uncovered, even boxes of nails etc. on the roof - did they not see the weather forecast? Ok, I covered up the wood and the remaining Gerard (seems daft but it says keep dry on the box) and picked the stuff up off the roof. I had to go out just after they left and didn't come back until about 5:30, when I found that they'd left the garden gate open so some of the flower beds got Retrievered My fault I guess, I should've checked.

I did my best to pick the flowers up, covered the materials, picked a load of bits and pieces off the lawns and mowed where the old metalwork was (taken away by the diddycoys) Then the thunder started so I rushed indoors to disconnect everything. Then the rain started and I wondered what it sounded like in the loft, got up there and it was pouring in!! Panic, panic, pots and pans. Obviously with less than half the roof covered and neither of the chimnies flashed it wasn't going to be perfect but I was wishing that they'd put more effort into it. Then I looked out of the window - it looked like news footage of Hurricane Andrew! Horizontal rain, trees lashing about, I'm not surprised it was coming in, the old roof would've done that same. Then I looked out the front Sometimes, if the rain is very heavy, we get a few puddles form on the gravel. Last night, well...



It bleedin' well flooded

Water levely rising, dogs going bananas because of the thunder, which by this time was starting to freak me out a bit too. After about half an our the rain eased up and stopped coming in to the loft. I was looking out the front and saw the fire engine start up, scream out and go all the way to.... my neighbour's house. Their basement flooded (maybe I don't really want one of those). When the thunder sounded like it was finally moving away I went round to see how they were doing, basement knee deep in what smelled like it had a large contribution from the drains. Apparently most of the basements in the village were flooded, so I volunteered my tiny cheap and cheerful pump if anyone needed it, they didn't but you know, it's the thought that counts, aint it?

So I had an exiting Saturday evening for once.

I also Skype'd t'wife, she's down at my aunt's this weekend and I got t'wife, my aunt and my cousin. All tipsy and giggling and not having a clue how to download the pictures I was trying to send them. Ah well

[benczuk]

(I've uploaded more pics to the link above, if anyone's interested)

Marvin Moment.

[steve_earwig]

Well, kind of, I wanted to post some pics but couldn't decide which small handful, plus I didn't want to flood a car forum with roofing pictures so I thought this was the better solution.

I suppose I could have said: Have any interest in roofing? These pictures might be worth a squint. Don't have any interest in roofing? Well, f*ck off back to your PS3 then

[Doggy]

Nice place you have there.

Looks to be shaping up pretty well.

BTW, those tiles look identical to mine, (1933 vintage Belgian or Dutch clay buggers, almost impossible to find in these shores).

[Welly]

Just browsed the photies and that looks great! I bet you're pleased with that. The Knauf insulation is very well regarded over here and just the job for that application; it will also reduce the noise when it pisses down.

The Bungalow looks very nice by the way

[steve_earwig]

Oops, I didn't see that before

Why thankyou, kind sir! Mind you, it was the wife's choice, situated as it is in Retardville (residents have a reputation for marrying close relatives) behind the firehouse-come-public convenience... Still, it's an interesting house, one front door, no back but 3 full glass doors onto the terrace, two of them double. Open-plan kitchen and dining room with half a wall between them and the lounge, long hallway with 2 double bedrooms, pantry under the stairs, long narrow bathroom and concrete stairs up to the attic.


Anyway, not today but yesterday I had the yoyo serviced. It was a touch overdue and it let me know last week by starting, immediately stalling, then starting after a fair bit of cranking and idling at about 400rpm while sounding like a box of spanners. I gently revved it and after a few seconds it quietened down so I carried on with my wife-chauffeuring duties. The main noise put me in mind of wildly mis-set tappets, so I had thoughts about dry hydraulic tappets self-destructing, and then remembered that Toyota were too cheap to fit them and they're bucket-and-shim (like a 1970's VW )

So I when I got back I checked the oil, which was (to my amazement) bang on full. Then I checked the service label which said next service due at 214,000km. Check odometer, 218,000. Oops. Oh dear, silly me

Stuck oil pressure relief valve perhaps, or maybe aliens?

So I got all the spares and found a free morning where I didn't wake up with a headache (damn weather), rocked up at my mate's garage yesterday morning and they squeezed me in. Filters, oil and plugs. When he pulled the plugs out Mika noticed that all 4 of them seemed to have been blowing:


These are Denso k20r-u11 which I've been using all the time and have replaced with the same, but I'm wondering if they're not fit for porpoise. It's meant to have iridium plugs (SK20R11) but they're rather pricey. I also had noticed an increase in fuel consumption but I'd put that down to the winter tyres. The air filter looked like it could go another year to me too.

Also while I was there I got Mika to change the aux belt as it's been squeaking on start up for 2 years. It was replaced 3 years ago and every time I've taken it in for a service I've asked them to check it and they've reckoned it looks fine but this time I told them to change it regardless. It does look fine, going all the way around it I found one tiny nick. Still, no squeaks this morning

[benczuk]

quiet on ere today innit.

[steve_earwig]

It is indeed, I was wondering if the UK had fallen into a big hole or something

[benczuk]

No, still ere unfortunately despite the best attempts of the weather to blow us away last night.

And now, back to the topic...

[jasper5]

Nothing unusual with those Denso plugs....perfectly normal