and today i have mostly been...

[steve_earwig]

Some kind of hand-held belt sander might work better? That way there's no rotating motion to wrench it out of your hands if it catches on something.

I know nada about them though, never owned one, never used one, but would something like this (or one of its bigger brothers) not be safer to use, if you can find/borrow one?

Miloš has two of them, for some reason he doesn't think they're up to it Maybe I should borrow one...

And finally I've been up to fetch the Pug \o/. I had to fix the exhaust first, the band holding the rear silencer rusted away (damn condensation ) and I had to order one from Germany as they're not available separately "hold on, I'll just clean up this rust it left behind" Scrape, scrape, crunch! Arseholes, I need a new rear silencer Still, the band's covering most of it and I'll get it sorted next week (MOT on 17th).

No problems otherwise.

I need the Pug because it's got roof bars and I should finally be buying a bath tomorrow (oh the shame ) I also took the liberty of bringing back my shorter ladder.

[steve_earwig]

Wiggy - you could have a hidden batten across the middle and screw the plasterboard up into it. It's mostly always a benefit to have an air gap on the room-side of the insulation layer rather than connecting the plasterboard to it (conduction) so you could frig up battens along the beams and across and they'll be hidden by the PB. Plus it gives you a little cavity for cables etc.

All advice welcome maybe this is what Miloš has in mind

This is one of those slots (ok, mortices) I was talking about

There were 5 like that.

2 down...

It's certainly more pleasant doing these than sanding.

This is some of the stuff that makes me think it would look better stained. What am I meant to do with this?


This is where bark was


This is where bark still is


The finger remover in person


So far


I've been fiddling about with those fillets this afternoon but, now I have my ladder and t'wife has no screaming brats, I have no excuse

[Welly]

It must be satisfying seeing the results of your sanding capers though, well worth doing in the long run.

I got a f*cking Parking Charge Notice on Sunday from one of these Private Contractors on Private Land

The scene: Public Car Park behind some food shops and shared with a large modern Church type thing, most of the public spaces were taken up because: Mothers Day.

One large section of Car Park is 'reserved' for an Office Building so the poxy twats who work there can park their PCP Financed modern sh*t DURING WORK HOURS. This was Sunday Morning we needed to park for Maximum 8 minutes to dive into a shop for essentially ONE THING......came out to see a tattooed, ear-ringed, nose-ringed knobber gleefully sticking the PCN onto the windscreen with me approaching and protesting. "I've issued it now, can't retract it" and all that sh*t. A few words were exchanged and he slithered back into his shitty little car and f*cked off.

Mrs_Welly HATES this sort of thing and became upset, cue a mostly ruined day (my Lads Birthday also). I was wrong to park there but got so fired up about the arseholes behind this sort of practice I began some online investigations and found a lot of information to help appeal against these Private Firms using requests for information that they cannot (or will not be able to) provide. I had to research which 'association' they claim to be a member of and then I can pen my complaint appropriately which is what I'll be doing tonight.

About 4 hours was spent reading up about these twats and how to deal with them. There demand* is that you pay £60.00 within 14 days or it rises to £100.00. If you submit an appeal they have 21 days to respond but their response does not extend the entitlement to the 14 day discount WTAF? they're basically threatening you to pay up. If I lose this claim I will get £100.00 changed into 2-pence pieces and deliver it in person.

Will let you know of the outcome!

[trufflehunt]

Perhaps I've misread, or misunderstood something along the the way, but...

I gained the impression that much of this shoving notices on your screen is actually unenforceable,
in effect a giant bluff.

[steve_earwig]

I think I've read that too, most of these parking nazi's don't have any official power and usually cave in if you challenge them. I'd tell them to shove it, I guess there's a small chance it may cost you 100 quid but then you'll be certain that they have you by the short and curlies, rather than just panic and pay up straight away without questioning it like the majority of their victims.

It must be satisfying seeing the results of your sanding capers though, well worth doing in the long run.

I can't say it makes much difference to me, it's some sort of pine so it'll end up looking like cheap furniture from Ikea, at least before it had "patina" (and nail holes, and big gouges, and chainsaw marks...)

[Doggy]

I don't know how good your chances are of avoiding the car park rip off, but I would definitely want to give it a try.
Be interesting to know how they'd respond to 'customer A' refusing to pay, but offering 50% cos they can't enforce it/it'll cost too much to enforce/it'll take forever, then 'customer B' (aka Welly who happens to know* 'customer A'), would be in a very good bargaining position.

[Welly]

It is really unenforceable but it won't stop them pursuing the Registered Keeper for money. You've contravened their "rules" of that particular site, they gather evidence to back them up, issue a Charge Notice (an Invoice in effect) and it's up to you to appeal. When the appeal is rejected (which is often the case) you then have to take it up with their governing body.

Using research on various sites like MSE and specialist parking charge websites the success rate of appealing is only around 56%. I'm appealing on, hopefully, a technicality as the 'location' of the vehicle is eligible on the 'ticket' and on the basis the charge is unreasonable as the Land Owner has suffered no loss as a result of the Parking and therefore cannot pursue us for loss/damages. I think the main problem is you've been informed (by signage) of the rules and you've chosen to ignore them which is where they have the initial edge on you.

You can choose to ignore them completely and they have to take you to court over it which is unlikely as they would have to prove their client has suffered some loss as a result of your parking etc.

Really if you decide to park on land controlled by private (Pirate) contractors then be squeeky clean or stay well away. The barrage of letters/demands that follow are designed to scare/shame you into paying, question is have I got the nerve to sit it out?

[trufflehunt]

You can choose to ignore them completely.

That's the words I was looking for...

[Welly]

You're right and if I was a single bloke I'd probably front it out and enjoy it but as a Family man this is going to be a reoccurring issue for months on end and my Missus does not like uncertainty....which means I will not hear the last of it until resolved. This might sound strange but I'm sure others can see the reasoning; if only for a peaceful life.

My company has offered to pay the charge for me if the appeal doesn't work so I won't need to suffer financially at least. Gonna leave a bitter taste though and my dwindling faith in humanity has taken yet another beating. When did it become normal for us to be surrounded by greedy twisting pond life excuses for people in this world?

[steve_earwig]

4 May 1979

[DaiRees]

I know exactly where you're coming from Welters, I'd love to think that in the same situation I'd have the bottle to ignore all correspondence until they go away, but in reality I'd cough up for the sake of peace of mind and household harmony, then be really annoyed with the world and spend my evenings plotting my revenge on the evil tyrants that relentlessly drive to strip the honest working man of every shred of good will and endeavour to turn the entire population into ignorant, selfish, self centred fukwits....

My coat???

[steve_earwig]

Meanwhile.... We had Dražen the electrician here today, he was mostly planning and cutting channels in the wall. I've taken a few pics but there's no contrast so you can't see diddley. Only this one, due to the shadow:


I didn't think it would be polite to fill the air with dust while he was here, I have plenty of other stuff to do instead and I reckoned I should do the one I was most worried about - drilling a hole through the wall for the bog. I'd been worrying about this as it all has to line up as there's a window right below it, I'd done lots of careful measuring but I wasn't sure how close I was.

Hnnnnnnn... ah!

Less than a centimetre

Who put that window there?

The drain is also to the left of the window
From the inside

It's fairly round, that crappy flowerpot brick stuff does like to shatter

[Welly]

Did you draw up an electrical plan where you want everything and he's working to that?

Parking: I went back to the 'scene' last night and collected some previously missed evidence to help my appeal (which is now submitted). The 'pirate' parking spaces are supposed to be marked RESERVED in white painty letters; there's two rows separated by a raised curb/island, one side boasts RESERVED on each space, the other where I parked the lettering has all worn away, like you can only just make out what it used to say. Similarly each space has a plaque as to which company it belongs to (on a Sunday ) except one space has no such plaque and that's the one I parked in (musta made a subconscious decision to plonk it there).

So anyway I fired off an appeal with pictures of the poorly marked spaces and I'll wait and see.......

[Bailes1992]

Welly, I'd just ignore it all together.
I've done it on many occasions and never heard a thing back.
I believe they give you an 'invoice' with some cleaver wording.
If they were to take you to court then they would only be allowed to take you to court for any money they have lost, which is what exactly?


Steve, I still find it insane that domestic properties out there have 3 phase electrics. Does that mean your solar panels have 3 inverters?

[steve_earwig]

Did you draw up an electrical plan where you want everything and he's working to that?

Lord no, most of it's fairly standard (e.g. switch over the bed and socket either side in the pic above), we've just had to agree on where to stick stuff, like the fuse panel. Also, where to put lights, which I've gone for your traditional hanging from the ceiling jobbies, even if they're going to be a bit high in places (something old-fashioned-looking with a chain maybe?) because I hate uplighters, 'cos I do not collect dust and dead spiders.

Steve, I still find it insane that domestic properties out there have 3 phase electrics. Does that mean your solar panels have 3 inverters?

I gather new builds don't get it unless they specifically ask for it. But if it's on the pole outside your house why not? I have 2 inverters, one is 3-phase to send power into the grid and the other is single to power the house off of batteries.

I had to leave the electrician to himself this morning as Betty, our now 14-year old golden retard (life expectancy +/- 11) decided she didn't like food any more yesterday. I didn't expect to stay so long at the vet's but we had to wait for an emergency and then out came the ultrasound machine, plus some blood tests. It seems like Betty's kidneys are packing in, so she was filling up with fluid. Mirela drained some of that off (0.4 litres worth!) and gave her an infusion, plus something to stimulate her heart (to push more through the kidneys). She's pee'd a couple of times since but still no interest in food. I suspect her time approaches