Early Risers.

[grandadbob]

I use my a/c all the time and TBH am quite happy with my petrol consumption although I would qualify that with saying that my mileage is very low these days.

 

[Mike Bellamy]

18 hours ago, woodenhead said:

What is clear though, delivery men fitting non dangerous items i.e. not gas or wired in electrics are only as skilled as the average person (me).  It's not that I couldn't do it myself, I had to unplumb the existing one myself last night and I pumbed it as well, but I was being a tad lazy and for 8 quid I had someone else remove the shipping bolts, do the heavy lifting and remove the packaging/take it away.

 

When we had a new tumble dryer, SWMBO hadn't paid the extra for installation or disposal of the packaging and the old machine. However when it was delivered, they asked if we wanted this service which she declined as she though I would enjoy taking the old machine to pieces, recovering some nuts and bolts and then taking the remains to the tip. However as it was their last delivery of the day, they had an empty van and took the lot free of charge - what a good result as I've already got boxes and boxes of nuts and bolts I inherited from my dad who collected and saved everything he could !

 

A friend recently had a new kitchen fitted. He had done all the preparation for the job and so the old kitchen was already in bits in the back yard. The kitchen was from one of the large DIY stores (orange not green or blue !) and they had arranged to take away all the packaging and assorted debris from the installation. When the clear up crew arrived, they had no idea what they were due to collect so my friend pointed them towards the remains of the old kitchen which they took, saving him several runs to the tip as that hadn't been factored into the contract price.

.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Today I’ve decided that I’m not going to do any DIY work, partly due to the weather, but also due to the fact that my uncle and aunt are over from America and we’ve been invited round to the hotel where they are staying. It’s not just me and Sheila who’ll be there but must of mine and their extended family, so a good old catch up will be had. So to ensure I don’t have any mishaps, I’m going to spend most of the morning in the office. 
 

Back later. 
 

Brian 

 

P.S. Happy anniversary David

[grandadbob]

Now I've really got the hump!  Sainsbury's delivered earlier and on time but instead of the jam doughnuts I ordered they've sent bread rolls!  

Bob, in Sutton, completely p!ssed off.

Edited May 11, 2023 by grandadbob

[polybear]

2 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

One of our neighbors just bought a new Suzuki Jimny, I never realized it was still being made. I can't remember seeing a new one in Britain for years. It's one of those cars which gets a lot of derision and dismissed as a toy (in fairness it is tiny) despite the fact that it'll get much further off road than most of the SUVs that clog up the roads. I drove them in the Middle East quite a lot and they are genuine off road vehicles. Though why you would want one in a country where it is pretty much impossible to go off road is a good question as their on road manners are mediocre. 

 

Then again I know people who pay ££££££s for the optional 4x4 transmission and off road packs of some SUVs despite having zero intention of every leaving tarmac. 

 

 

 

Auntie Poly has a Jimny - I didn't know she was shopping for a new car (the first she'd ever bought) and I very much suspect she was a Salesman's Dream - "Here's the price" and no doubt she would've paid up instead of haggling.

It must be 10+ years old now and I very much doubt if it's got much more than 20K on the clock.

 

2 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Morning, from a dull rock bracing itself for the arrival of nephew with two toddlers - help! 🥵  I may need some sort of resuscitation by this time next week.  If I haven't left home.

 

My car uses the a/c as part of the automatic climate control, so it runs as and when, but you can override this - it also is the quickest way to clear the screen if there is condensation on a cold morning.  It's use in 'summer' (pah!) makes no discernible difference in MPG, modern compressors use a fraction of the power the old ones did.  In the distant past I have had cars when you could feel it pull back when you put the a/c on - no more.

 

[polybear]

Bear here....

Ears lowered - Tick.

Bottle Bank visited - the two giant wheelie bins have been visited by the local ar5ebadgers and are full of everything EXCEPT metal cans and plastic 🤬.  T0ssers.  I look forward to the day when they start catching and fining people - or even better, beating them to a pulp....

 

The Co-op was also raided - enough to keep Bear fed until Lidl can be stormed for a jumbo shop sometime soon.  I did manage to catch them out though - I always check the receipt to ensure that discounted stuff is charged correctly on the bill; this time it was a bag of Posh Oven Chips that should've been two quid but were charged at £3.55 (yet the "normal" price on the shelf is £3.30).  Naughty.

 

The washing is also done and out drying, so that's another Tick.

 

Right, din dins time - Bear scored a discount Pizza earlier so that'll do.  With Chips, naturally.....

BG

[Two_sugars]

Morning all . . . . . .Sunny-ish, cloudy-ish, 14c-ish,  . . . .quite pleasant-ish. . .

 

The biggest hit on my fuel consumption (11 yr old yaris), is driving to the shops 1.5 miles each way , then parked up for a day or two. . . annual mileage about 4500 .

My A/C is on all the time . .Generally around 39-ish mpg, but on a run around the Durham dales last year managed about 48-ish.

just had to insure it for another year . . . OWCH!!!!!.

Sister's funeral not until the 19th . . . Sanddancers crem fully booked till then . . .

Have a good day, all . . .and Keep Smiling.

 

 

John

[Tony_S]

52 minutes ago, Two_sugars said:

The biggest hit on my fuel consumption (11 yr old yaris), is driving to the shops 1.5 miles each way , then parked up for a day or two.

My Evoque is quite thirsty round town just popping to the shops but as a motorway cruiser is quite economical. Google maps now has a route selector that suggests the most fuel economical route. However its algorithm doesn’t match my car. The route suggested to get from the M25 to MiLs in Enfield by Google used more fuel than the route the SatNav suggests which is actually further in distance but quicker. 

[jjb1970]

Most modern cars don't show much of a fuel penalty for the AC, they're much better than older cars for that. My last car shoes no discernible difference, clearly the AC does use energy so there will be a fuel penalty, but it was so low that it was within the range of variability for driving conditions.

[Gwiwer]

5 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Sainsbury's delivered earlier and on time but instead of the jam doughnuts I ordered they've sent bread rolls!  

And that is why we use Ocado.  The only delivery business which doesn't pick from supermarket shelves but uses their own warehouses and distribution centres.  They generally have a good idea of stock levels when you place the order.  Anything you try to order which is not in stock (or for which stock on hand is already fully spoken-for and no more is expected before your delivery) will show as "Out of Stock" an not allow you to select it.  Almost all of the very small number of substitutions we have had over five years have been reasonable alternatives although not all were accepted.  Fine-cut not thick-cut marmalade of the same brand, for example.  The only time we reject a sub is if a specific item is wanted for a particular reason and nothing else will do.  Or on the one and only occasion they substituted non-dairy yogurt with dairy which Dr. SWMBO needs to avoid.  

 

Other opinions and deliveries are available.  I tried to get my friends in Cornwall onto Ocado a while back after they repeatedly complained about ASDA delivering nothing like what they ordered including up to half an order completely missing and offering peanut butter instead of butter and dishwash instead of laundry liquid.  Ocado don't yet reach Cornwall.  

[jamie92208]

17 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I found out today that the A/C on the car isn't working, TC's, probably needs re-gassing. Not too bad as the car is 15 years old soon. Now to catch up on the rest of RMweb and Farcebook.

My 19 Yr old Volvo V70 diesel, has the air on on permanently.. It does keep the screen clear in damp weather. It went funny in lock down.  A local Volvo specialist eventually diagnosed it as a worn clutch on the compressor, it was working for the first few miles then cutting out.  Anyway new part fitted and so far so good.50 mpg on a bible to the supermarket, that's a 20 mile round trip. 

 

Jamie

[polybear]

5 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Sainsbury's delivered earlier and on time but instead of the jam doughnuts I ordered they've sent bread rolls!  

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..................................

 

Bear here....

An afternoon of sortin' n' tidyin'.....the "surface has been scratched" - but only just.....

I've had two calls today from Enterprise Rentacar, asking when I'd like my hire car rental to start whilst Mickey is being fixed.  If only I knew.....

 

In other news.....

I see the UK are to send even bigger "day spoilers" to Ukraine.....Poo Tin is gonna be might p1ssed off with us.  Oh, hang on, he already is.....

 

BG

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl,

 

A day of TV's

Built bridge for TV, that allowed our own A3 printer to be put on the table alongside.

Got 27in TV in computer room on the bridge working on TV and from PC,  showed SWMBO, suddenly the authorities decided it was going elsewhere...

 

Got 19in TV/ monitor out of box, the one without it's foot. So cut a hole in bridge to make skt for foot , added brace beneath and screwed it all together.

Plugged in aerial, and hdmi to laptop. Ran tuning programme, worked first time. But that indoor aerial is a bit weak on signal strength, so I've ordered a amplified one.

 

Took Ben on his long walk, thunder cut that short as Ben the I hate noise Collie wanted home .

 

It was decided it was time to put the inherited big TV in our lounge, so carried the old one to the mobile home, it took two of us to carry the big TV back, it's big, awkward and heavy, 63lbs...

The alcove we put it in has 1/2 inch clearance each side, that made it difficult to connect up, I had to lift it up and turn to SWMBO so she could connect up, Hdmi, scart, Aerial and mains then turn back and place it back onto the cupboard.. All worked first time.

 

Returned to the mobile home , set up our old TV in there.

 

 

[DaveF]

I went to church as planned, a pleasant service, then I had a cup of coffee.  I had to leave earlier than usual so I could be in when the post came.  As it happened I was in the front garden when the postman brought my letters, he told me he had a parcel and would bring it in the van in about 15 minutes.  2 of them share a van, they do a certain number of houses on foot and then use the van to drop the parcels off, drive to the next part of the estate and repeat until all is done.  It is actually very efficient and they are always cheerful.

 

As expected the parcel contained a moving item from Dapol which has been unpacked and tested.

 

After my chicken lunch I decided to go out as it is lovely and sunny and quite warm.  I drove to the country park at Plessey Woods and got my 1 hour free parking ticket and set off to look at the bluebells which look lovely as always.  There will be some photos, either later today or tomorrow.  Then I continued on my way to the big garden centre at Heighley Gate, beyond Morpeth.  It takes over 5 minutes to walk from the car park to the main cafe at the far end, so it really is big.  I just wanted to look at plants and get ideas but did call at the cook shop for a new cheese grater and and an anti splatter plate cover for the microwave as mine has seen better days.

 

Like almost everywhere the garden centre has changed since before Covid, no longer an aquatics section, no outdoor clothing outlet and fewer other outlets, but it is still an enjoyable place to look round and buy things, even though they didn't have the seeds I wanted.

 

David

[iL Dottore]

I always wonder about the utility of using a shopping service like Ocado. For one thing, you can’t prod the potatoes or squeeze the melons (or the shopgirls, if you are so inclined) and get exactly the right produce at the right level of ripeness/maturity that you need to make a successful dish.

 

There have been more than one occasion when I have asked Mrs iD to bring some avocados back from her shopping trip and invariably she turns up with green “things“ with all the softness of a lead shot cannonball.  I can’t imagine any of the delivery services being any a better grocery shopper than Mrs iD
 

I quite enjoy shopping, especially food shopping. I tend to wander around the aisles, seeing what is on offer, what is suitably ripe and composing menus in my head as I do so. Perhaps because my culinary repertoire extends beyond heating up frozen pizza and air frying oven chips, I find grocery shopping, quite an intellectually stimulating exercise (e.g. “the scallops look nice today, I could get some and griddle them. Now, I wonder what I could serve them with? Perhaps make some baby wild garlic gnocchi?”)

 

I also enjoy shopping for appliances (domestic and for workshop) and can put up with shopping for furniture. (not that we do that very often, I think the last time we bought an item of furniture. It was about six years ago and was something for the Holiday Hovel)

 

The only sort of shopping, I really loathe, is shopping for clothes. I really can’t be fussed about my clothes, especially as I have no longer the same need for a number of business suits and blazers and trousers as I did before (besides, my tailor has already retired).
 

I still have two or three decent suits and a blazer or two that are quite adequate, thank you very much. And the dinner jacket still fits – so no need to get new clothes

 

Usually, I just wear old trousers, old jeans, and old shirts that are mostly held together by force of will, but are incredibly comfortable. 
 

Mrs iD, on the other hand, definitely fits the female stereotype when it comes to doing clothing shopping.

[Compound2632]

5 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

squeeze the melons (or the shopgirls, if you are so inclined)

 

That sounds like a quick route to being restricted to online shopping only.

[tigerburnie]

Happy Anniversary David, or is it commiserations, you'd be out on parole, even if you'd committed murder by now.......................lol

We decided to shop around for glasses, specrobbers wanted over £220 for one pair of varifocals, we went to the big green supermarket and got three pairs for the same money, we have had them from them before and seemed ok.

[Tony_S]

We have done most of our food shopping online since early 2020. We do venture out occasionally to shops now but still do most online, either with Waitrose or Ocado. As Rick mentioned the Ocado stuff comes from big warehouses rather than a shop.  For us this is useful as the local Waitrose doesn’t have the range of Indian produce that Ocado have. A Turkish greengrocer has just opened in Benfleet. I suspect we will go and have a look. The only shop I plan to go to tomorrow is the hairdressers.  I went recently and Mick the barber was pleased to see me and was quite polite about the state of my hair after trimming it myself for a couple of years.  
Tony

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. I go to Vision Express for my glasses, the one I go to used to be Tess Coes but was hived off a few years ago, same in store 'shop', same staff just a change of name. I've had to wear specs since I was a teenager but they have never felt 'right'. I had been diagnosed with a stigmatism but they discovered that in fact I have one short sighted eye and one long sighted eye. 

[grandadbob]

3 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

And that is why we use Ocado.  The only delivery business which doesn't pick from supermarket shelves but uses their own warehouses and distribution centres.  They generally have a good idea of stock levels when you place the order.  Anything you try to order which is not in stock (or for which stock on hand is already fully spoken-for and no more is expected before your delivery) will show as "Out of Stock" an not allow you to select it.  Almost all of the very small number of substitutions we have had over five years have been reasonable alternatives although not all were accepted.  Fine-cut not thick-cut marmalade of the same brand, for example.  The only time we reject a sub is if a specific item is wanted for a particular reason and nothing else will do.  Or on the one and only occasion they substituted non-dairy yogurt with dairy which Dr. SWMBO needs to avoid.  

 

The bread rolls weren't a substitute, they were a picking error.  We tried Ocado last year because I got a £45 introductory discount voucher spread over 3 deliveries.  They were OK, didn't have everything we wanted although that can apply to any supermarket, some prices were dearer and some were cheaper.  However, and it's quite a big however, as The Boss worked for Sainsbury's for 38 years she is entitled to a "veteran's" discount of 10% which comes in quite handy over the year and it's also applied to beer and wine (even when they do the 25% off offers) but not spirits.  Our spend varies, it can be anything from £70 to £120 a week (more at Christmas)  so that discount is worth having and overall the service we get is excellent even with substitutes or items not available.  On the rare occasions anything has been damaged full credit and an extra goodwill voucher have always been given without any arm twisting by us.

I think it's fair to say that "The lady is not for turning."  (If she was a stick of rock she'd have Sainsbury's tattooed right through! 😁)

 

P.S.  Even with saying all that we don't get everything from JS,  other supermarkets and shops are available and visited.

 

 

Edited May 11, 2023 by grandadbob

[polybear]

46 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Perhaps because my culinary repertoire extends beyond heating up frozen pizza and air frying oven chips

 

PUPPERZZZ......the Doc's takin' a pop at Bear again......😒

[polybear]

Some Tvrd just outbid The Bear 🤬 Turdycurses.

[The Johnster]

8 hours ago, Mike Bellamy said:

 

When we had a new tumble dryer, SWMBO hadn't paid the extra for installation or disposal of the packaging and the old machine. However when it was delivered, they asked if we wanted this service which she declined as she though I would enjoy taking the old machine to pieces, recovering some nuts and bolts and then taking the remains to the tip. However as it was their last delivery of the day, they had an empty van and took the lot free of charge - what a good result as I've already got boxes and boxes of nuts and bolts I inherited from my dad who collected and saved everything he could !

 

A friend recently had a new kitchen fitted. He had done all the preparation for the job and so the old kitchen was already in bits in the back yard. The kitchen was from one of the large DIY stores (orange not green or blue !) and they had arranged to take away all the packaging and assorted debris from the installation. When the clear up crew arrived, they had no idea what they were due to collect so my friend pointed them towards the remains of the old kitchen which they took, saving him several runs to the tip as that hadn't been factored into the contract price.

.

 

Not the worst idea in the world to remove the round glass from the door window before disposal, as it makes a good mixing/general purpose bowl; oven-friendly as well!  With the addition of an oven-proof plate as a lid, you’ve got yourself a casserole dish.  

[Tony_S]

11 minutes ago, polybear said:

Some Tvrd just outbid The Bear 🤬 Turdycurses.

At least you have got the discount super expensive oven chips to look forward to though. 

[BoD]

20 hours ago, pH said:

Oban?

 

Yep.

 

A few days here then moving further north.