Is it just me?

[J. S. Bach]

My hose mentioned above is mainly for washing the car. Mother nature can take care of the plants; why not? She supplied all of them.

[The Lurker]

2 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

Thats fightin' talk......

 

 

It doesn't always rain there!

 

that's all too true. I visited the Brecon Beacons in the long hot summer of 76. It did stop raining on us; it hailed instead.

[TheSignalEngineer]

When in the army cadets at school we went for summer camp in the Brecon Beacons. We were on a 24 hour exercise, I was leading an 'enemy patrol' tasked with finding out the layout of the main party's camp. It was in August about 60 years ago. Late in the evening it started raining heavily, so we made unofficial contact with our opposition to arrange a short truce and retired to a spotting hut on the ranges. When we came out to resume at sunrise the grass was covered with frost.

[TheSignalEngineer]

My only experience with an expanding hose was to wash my bike down at the place we were staying during an MTB trip. Absolute disaster, at the first attempt I cleaned more mud off myself that the bike.

I have two lengths of hose at home. The one mainly used is a reinforced soft plastic type which is 16 years old. The other which is mainly used as an extension where necessary is a stiff green plastc one bought for £1 at a car boot on 1999. It lives coiled up on a hook by the tap throughout the year. Neither have ever been a problem. 

 

Edited September 11, 2023 by TheSignalEngineer

[F-UnitMad]

3 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

Thats fightin' talk......

 

 

It doesn't always rain there!

 

If it's not raining in Wales, it's for one of two reasons...

1. It's just stopped raining.

2. It's just about to rain.

 

😝😝😝

[Reorte]

Hose on a reel. Saves so much hassle!

[Philou]

We now have a hose-on-a-reel. Been there, done that with the cheapy plastic hoses, then the coily curly whirly that was used once in anger and would never again uncoil itself properly. Oh, and not all hoses are made equal. Even using quality fittings such as Hozelock(TM) (other makes available etc., etc.) doesn't necessarily mean that they will fit! No end of problems with them coming off - usually at the most unexpected moment (a la Johnster's sitting room). Mrs Philou was using one of the earlier hoses with an adjustable spray-type pistol grip and the words were coming from my mouth saying, 'I think the end is about to ......' PSSSSSSSHHHHTTTTTT! Oh, how she laughed! It was warm and she dried out in no time, but she swears I did on purpose!

 

Thumbs up for a hose-on-a-reel (was available in Lidl recently), 25m of 'ose and reels itself back tidy-like. I wouldn't like to risk it in our lounge, mind. Silly Johnster! :)))

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[The Johnster]

6 hours ago, Talltim said:

Not indoors, apparently

 

It was wet enough indoors yesterday lunch time!

[The Johnster]

I would love a hose on a reel, plumbed in properly to a fitted brass outside tap that I could polish every spring.  But in my rented setup there is no such thing, so a hose on a reel would have to be connected to the kitchen or bathroom tap by, well, by another piece of hose, which gets us back to square one.

 

Whatever happens, domestic harmony requires that Hissing Sid remains stored in the bathroom for a while, as an appearance now would provoke hostilities.  And you don't  want to mess with a Polish chick...

[The Johnster]

5 hours ago, DaveF said:

I too from time to time use a yellow Hozelock hose on a reel, I've had it a long time, it works well.  I did have an expanding hose, it burst, separating itself into two almost equal length halves.

 

I do have two more expanding ones which were freebies with other purchases.  They are still in their boxes.

 

Most of the time I just use a watering can as my garden is not too big and I only water newly planted things, tubs and the greenhouse plants.

 

David

 

At first sight, anything more complex or high-tech than a watering can would be serious overkill in my small patio (which I know is a patio and not a back yard because it's got patio doors), but it is a landlord's patio with chippings.  So all my plants are in containers of some sort as I'm not allowed to dig into the ground becasue it would disturb the precious waterproof membrane beneath the chippings.  Some are quite high off the ground because I like trailing plants, and awkward to get at with a can, and then there are the goldfishes.  These are in a large fibreglass planter that I change the water in about once every month by putting the hose in and letting it run for an hour or so.  That would be a lot of work with buckets and siphons. 

 

The indoor job that led to all the fun yesterday was also fish-related.  There are two aquariums in my living room, neither particularly big, a 55l display tank and a 20l isolation/breeding/quarantine.  Neither have tops on them, as I like natural daylight and refraction and avoid jumping species, but the down side of this is that the 55l loses water to evaporation in warm weather, and it's been warm this last week.  About an inch off the top, which I know from experience is four or five kettles to fill, equal number of trips back and for to the kitchen sink.  And Hissing Sid, hose no.4, has been well-enough behaved so far, so I reckon he's safe to use around furniture, computers, tv, hifi, carpets, and The Squeeze.   And I'm lazy, though I preferto call it energy conservation.  This is exactly the sort of job I need a hose for, to save work!

 

And how did that work out for you, Johnster?  'TPSSSSHHHHHWSHWSHWSHWSH hold still you demented serpent!, that's how!

 

To rub salt into the wound, of course I ended up walking back and forth to the kitchen sink with the kettle to get the 55l up to the mark, to a background of 'constructive criticism', something Polish people are genius level at.  Hence my feeling a bit put upon; I'm actually a bit relieved to hear that others have had issues with their own Hissing Sids, in that it has partly replaced my lack of confidence in myself with a lack of confidence in everyone and everything else as well, which I feel is psychologically healthier...  She then asked 'What Hissing Sid is?', which would have been at least an afternoon's rabbit hole, so I just told her that he was a famous British snake; fortunately she didn't ask 'what for he famous'?

 

He famous for swallow Toad.  'For what he swallow a toad'?  Not a toad, Toad, a toad called Timid Toad, that's his name, he's called Timid Toad because he's timid and he's a toad. but Captain Beaky just uses his surname in the incident when Hissing Sid swallows him, Toad'.  See what I mean, this would rapidly degenerate into something surreal even with somebody with full command of Englishl!  You'd have to introduce her to Captain Beaky and the whole of his band and explain about the roaming of the woodland singing songs that tell how they have righted wrongs, a long way to go before we get to the toad-swalling bit...

 

Rabbit hole.

[Steamport Southport]

So we are back in the '70s?

 

I bet very few people remember this!

 

 

 

[J. S. Bach]

In your ear with a can of beer.

[Halvarras]

13 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Use your initiative man, buy a couple more and plug them in in Cornwall!

 

Mike.

 

Er........Cornwall's had a hosepipe ban since August last year, it's being lifted on the 25th of this month - finally (the reservoirs having benefited from a British "summer"). Mind you this may yet be postponed by the past week's swelter...... Fortunately for our paved patio we had some 'Spray and Leave' in stock, that and a vigorous (and exhausting) attack with a stiff brush managed to shift last winter's grime which is normally fair game for the pressure washer.

 

We had a collapsible hose, we weren't impressed with it either (it may still be here somewhere.......) so now have a chromed concertina metal-clad one which resembles a very long bathroom shower hose - so far so good but it hasn't been used for over a year.........and neither has the pressure washer. Fingers crossed then.