and today i have mostly been...

[Doggy]

Maybe the pics don't show exactly how the shuttering's supported, but he seems to have more faith in those glass bricks than the pottery kind.
Looks a tad optimistic, but I'm no expert.

[steve_earwig]

Why, I guess he does:




I notice he's not made the end step twice the width as I thought he would, he's spread it over all three there, smart.

Camilla investermergates


I've just been giving it all an investigative wobble and it all seems pretty sturdy.

[Welly]

That is blooming marvelous!

The speed of the work is most impressive and it looks very well carried out, nice one.

[steve_earwig]

It's done, and so am I pretty much.

7.45 this morning I had a lorry turn up with a meter of ballast, closely followed by Miloš with a car full of cement mixer etc.


Although the first job he did was to further reinforce the steps




Then he filled in the gaps using urethane foam


After that he damped it all down, I know it helps the concrete stick to the existing stuff but he says it has the opposite effect on wood. He had a bucket and brush for the job but I got him my weed killer sprayer bottle, much quicker I reckon.

At this point he pulled all his tools down. This is that wire tensioner thing I was talking about yesterday:


Then it was all hands to the erm, cement mixer. Seriously, I was going backwards and forwards with buckets filled with cement, handing them up to him on the steps,wheeling my wheelbarrow and all that from 9 o'clock 'til gone 1, no time to stop to cook lunch or whatever so I've only just had lunch.

I only managed to grab a few pictures of the pouring process:

Start at the bottom and work your way up




Look, no leaks! Just a few drips.




Working his way down with the trowel:

(Note Camilla inspectomerating)



Job jobbed:






Miloš was pretty good with his estimations, we had a bag and a half cement left over and about a quarter meter ballast (but a meter's their minimum delivery anyway), we used some of that to fill in a hole in the yard.

Meter of ballast was 25 quid, he did give me the totals for all the material which I've forgotten but all in it cost 4,300Kn (408 of your English pounds)

And yeah, I'm cream crackered. That's the hardest I've worked for a good while and I rather enjoyed it too.

[OllieNZ]

Looks good Steve, bet you slept well after that

[steve_earwig]

Oddly enough I didn't, I went to bed a 9.30 but I couldn't sleep, so I took a pill about 11. And then I woke up at about 5 because I was cold, not being able to warm up I went out at 5.45 to stir up the boiler and when I came back indoors t'wife was already up and making coffee, so that was me lot I feel like a right zombie now

[OllieNZ]

That sucks

I gave the front of the Jimny a quick trim today

[steve_earwig]

Them's some knarly tyres

I've just heard from my bro that my dad's chopping his C5 X7 SW in for a Scooby Dooby Outback. Oh no no no no

[steve_earwig]

I gave the front of the Jimny a quick trim today

I've only just realised what you meant, you've had a serious go at the bumper with an anglegrinder there

Is it me or is the W in your plumberbate pissed?

I can't remember what I came in here for (sleep deprevation kicking in) Oh yes, shopping. T'wife bought a turkey, why? We had to queue up behind some folks with a supersize trolley, making the most of their 10% discount voucher, 200 quid's worth. Then t'wife decided to rifle down her personal black hole (handbag) to see if she had any vouchers. Oh yes, a 10% discount, almost out of date

[trufflehunt]

.... spending a lot of time staring out my front window at the rain chucking down.
Followed by a trip into the big city (Wells) for food.

Anyway, late afternoon I fiited some just arrived new H7 bulbs for dipped beam.
I do a lot of driving on well-used rural back roads. Dipped beams on their own didn't travel far,
so I was constantly switching back and forth between main and dipped for oncoming
vehicles. A bulb blew the other day, so I decided to try the Night Breakers.

Not a miracle transformation, but a very noticeable improvement.
£13.80 inc p&p.

R0013227.JPG

R0013230.JPG

[Welly]

Stairs look good steve< bet you're very pleased to see your idea come to life>

[steve_earwig]

Night Breakers.

Not a miracle transformation, but a very noticeable improvement.
£13.80 inc p&p.

I put some in my D9 and I wasn't overly impressed, certainly not as much as when I stuck them in the yoyo.

Stairs look good steve< bet you're very pleased to see your idea come to life>

My idea? My idea was to leave them as is, I kind of had it in my head that the stairs were permanent so something else had to change, or we just had to put up with the occasional concussion. It was Miloš that decided it had to be done, I guess as he's done loads of them he didn't see it as much of a challenge. The only thought I had was that it would have to dip through the hallway ceiling or it wouldn't be low enough, which is how it is now. It'll be interesting to see the marks from the original stairs once Miloš gets the shuttering off and compare the two. Speaking of which he was meant to come and take the top shuttering off today (the supports under it need to stay for 2 weeks, which is where t'wife got the idea we couldn't use them at all ) but he's a no show. Why is it when anybody here says they're going to do something on a specific day they never actually do? Miloš is a mate and all that but I'd have hoped he'd be a bit more honest than the other cowboys. Anyway, it's apparently safe to use them now, so I've been up and had a look.

Fossilised kitty cat paw prints:


View from above:


I got the motor back for my rubble hoover earlier, new bearings, brushes and a clean, 13 quid. The guy said it would be done today and it was. It sounds good too.

Lastly but not leastly, Teatime's had his bad eye removed this morning. He came in again yesterday afternoon with it scratched open again, so enough was enough. I was going to take him in yesterday but he legged it for some reason (hurt eye = vet's again?) and wouldn't come in until this morning. I do kind of feel evil for doing it but it was always going to be a problem if he kept fighting, it was always going to be a huge target weak spot sticking out and he was always going to loose because of it.

He's been shut in my bedroom since I brought him home about 9, very quiet, not interested in eating, just wants to sleep on my bed. No problem mate.

[steve_earwig]

...mourning the passing of one Ian Fraser Kilmister, AKA Lemmy. Although how on earth he managed to live so long is anybody's guess.

News from the UK, apparently my pa is finding the Scooby Dooby too complex, who'd have thought? He just wanted to give the battery a wee charge now and then because of the amount of short journeys he does but he's been panicked by the idea that modern chargers use autotranformers so mains spikes could zap the electronics. I said I've never worried with my Optimate (which I'm sure is so equipped) but he's not convinced. Trouble is if you disconnect the battery you then have a whole host of reset procedures to go through, so then he needs to get a small battery to connect across it while he charges the main battery... Oh ffs

[highlander]

Sign him up for some kind of club or group that meets once a week, around 50 or 60 miles away from his house.

I'm gutted about Lemmy's passing; I've spent many hours through my life with Motorhead turned up to 11.

On a 1988 tour of Finland, Lemmy was asked by one journalist why he had kept going for so long.

"We're still here," he replied, "because we should have died a long time ago but we didn't."

[Doggy]

Shame about Lemmy. Amazing he made it to 70, hope he enjoyed the ride as much as we did.

I obviously heard some Motorhead & Hawkwind stuff when it was current, but I seem cursed to only develop a genuine interest in artists when it's too late to go see them.

When I heard how they came up with Hawkwind for a name, I realised he was my kinda guy.