Sir TophamHatt

Good afternoon! New TV aerial has arrived so back to seeing what I can do with that this week - such a saga! We have Freesat and our current Samsung TV has the inbuilt TV guide. If I buy a new TV, the Samsung will go upstairs to our room. It will then need a Freeview connection. Easily done - just connect an aerial in the loft to the wires. The new TV for downstairs that I'm looking at doesn't support a TV guide when using Freesat. That's okay, I can just add a splitter in the loft so both TVs can use Freeview. Problem then is that I live very close to the border for West Midlands and the nearest transmitter is in Sutton Coldfield. If I tune to this transmitter, I'll get local West Mids news. Turn the aerial the other way and I can get East Mids news but no HD channels as the transmitter isn't powerful enough. I know all this as I tried an aerial in the loft to see what I could get from a loft-mount - I was surprised at what did come through. I could mount it outside but that means re-drilling a hole I filled in a few years back, which had an overflow pipe from the old heating system. Luckily my house has a shallow sloping roof from an extension so I can stand on that and get near to the roof - no way am I spending money getting someone to mount it on the chimney. New aerial can be powered, so having to convert an old smoke alarm wire so I can plug it in there, which means running a new bit of twin and earth about 4m from where it current pops down from the ceiling. A bit of a faff but we are where we are. You watch - I'll do all the re-drilling and weatherproofing only for me to not get HD channels from the East Mids transmitter! Luckily I have a long cable I can run through a nearby window, then up to the loft to see before hand! I could choose another TV that would support an EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) through Freesat but not sure it would be in my budget / good TV set as I think only LG and Samsung officially support it.

Tip for emailing ebay - find the "Contact Us" page and look (near the bottom) for the "Hard of hearing or visually impaired?" - you may have to click a few options first to get to it. Click on that link for a nice form to fill in instead of endlessly going round and round their (no)help system. You're welcome But ebay doesn't always work for the buyer. Can't remember if I posted this here but I sold some Internet Powerlines the other week to an italian buyer. They paid, I sent to the GSP. A couple of weeks later, the buyer comes on saying I mis-sold them UK plugs not italian and opened a case to return the items. I said I couldn't accept the return as 1) The listing was on ebay.co.uk (not ebay.it) 2) Two of the photos semi-show the plug clearly not being an Italian one 3) The item location says "UK". Buyer says I should have written it in the description. Went through the "Report a Buyer" and the case details to say the buyer was mis-using the Money Back Guarantee claim. Buyer opens a case on PayPal (which is new as they used to disallow if a case was open in one, it wouldn't in the other). Ebay closes case in my favour. I use this as well as the evidence above AND the fact the ebay.it website clearly shows when you're buying things from abroad to say to PayPal there is no case to answer. I fully expect them to close the case in my favour too. Total cost is £20 odd so not a huge amount but I can't accept the return as it'll cost me more in postage I should think. Although there is a small possibility PayPal will side with the buyer, they can post back and claim back up to £15 from PayPal. Just hope this doesn't come out of my PayPal account!

Hmm, two dilemmas for the weekend... 1: Apply for a promotion (even though I've only been in this role for a year). Last time I applied (just a couple of months back), I was knocked back as I am too good at this job. Cop out for whatever it was. 2: Sent a piece of equipment off, which was delivered around the 10th of March. While I said I'm not in any rush, I didn't particularly expect it to take over a month. Ordered a refurbishment of said piece of equipment and two supplementary pieces - total is around £300. Sent chase email on the 18th of March and again on the 29th of March - no responses to either . Not sure what action to take as I personally don't think no response is fine but I don't want to annoy the company either

Going by that theory then, if I hurt myself banging a nail into a piece of wood and hurt myself, do I blame the nail manufacturer, the hammer manufacturer or the wood cutter because I have been injured by one of their products.

I for one am glad April Fools Day is over. I don't find any of the so called pranks associated with it funny. Other pranks, yes, some highly fun but it seems with April Fools day people revert to some sort of boring half hearted lie. Seems to get worse every year.

The old "leave it and come back another day" trick. One of the hardest things to do as everyone wants to complete the job they set out to do.

Do they? Or is it companies that have innovated so now what is expected as "the norm" has shifted. A bit like cars. I'm not sure you can buy a (new) car that doesn't have reverse sensors or electric windows as standard these days. I wouldn't say that's the buyers demanding it, just that technology has moved on. It's okay to feel left behind. Tech moves so quick in some things, blink and you're out of date.

It's surprising how blended in they can be! I've nearly forked two in my garden so far. Happy they've found a home in my garden though. Completely unintentional.

Excited for Monday and Tuesday... Supposed to be 18° and 21°! Makes a change from the 12° of today, but the wind will drop so understandable. Thus, saving garden jobs until then. Lots to plant and hopefully will warm the greenhouse and get these sunflowers on the go. I have a variety of giant and tall ones this year to try. Also trying to decide how long I should wait before contacting a company to see where my stuff is. They received it on the 8th or 10th... it's now the 27th. Already sent one chase email but had no response.

Remember though, we are thinking like consumers not like a business. Why would any business set up a whole new (and costly) warranty department when they can just be half honest in the description and re-sell any returns? Even if they're only making £19 worth of profit on the £119 models 1) At least that's profit 2) Money in their bank 3) If all are sold, it will be seen as a successful venture. While some people have bought at full price, others have likely spent more at the lower price. For example, someone may have only bought 3 at the £150 price, but at £119, they're a steal so have bought 10, thus spending more money than initially planned. More money for Hattons to invest with as I highly doubt they would be selling them at a loss at £119.

That's it then. Spring solstice is passed so electric blankets have come off the bed, mattress turned. The only thing I didn't do was change the duvet to the summer one but it may be a touch too chilly for that. We tend to do it around the time the clocks change but had some free time today so washed the mattress pocket thing (ours comes in a little zipped protector), meaning I'm getting into a proper fresh and refreshed bed tonight. I'd do a customary jumping on it but too tired. Will save that for another day!

I bought the skirted, although one of the side plates was lose so I could have taken it off to see the motion.

Sad that the only birds we get in our garden are black birds or pigeons, who particularly enjoy partaking in on our fence. But the bird boxes are up properly now so hopefully all will be well soon. The latest decision is whether I spend £70 on a scarifier or not. Don't have anywhere to store it really but I bet it'd do my lawn the world of good...

It could be a feature of the loco. While I don't know the TTS arrangement, Class 66 locos occasionally rev to keep some systems (think air for brakes) working correctly, even if the loco is standing still. The Legomanbiffo sounds fitted to Hattons' Class 66 also have this feature.

Yeah, 12 months now. Wow - gone quick! He was crying before putting on the scale and looked like I'd just plopped him in some cold water before but you're right, the room wasn't that warm. But a brave guy - loads going on at the moment as well as all the learning and development that comes with being a baby anyway. At least it's coming up to Spring / Summer. Means we can spend more time outside, which he loves... which I love! And he's taken an interest in cars and Thomas the Tank Engine too! Being a Father really is the best thing that has happened to me in life.

Good evening one and all. What a day. Master Topham Hatt had a weigh at the doctors. He was fine until it was time to get undressed. Haven't seen him so sad in ages - not upset, just really sad. Usually they only have a second on the scales but after putting him on, he just sat there crying. When dressed, it was like nothing had happened! Tomorrow will be a better day. A good night's sleep always does him well.

Another day, another "too cold to do anything" day. But it's Mother's Day so chilling out on the sofa watching 'A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood' thinking how good 'Downsizing' could have been but how rubbish it was!

Do you have a list of your components? And any photos?

I'd really encourage you to build a simple layout and get to shows when we can. Your work is really inspiring!

Yet another windy day... Disappointing as still can't get out there and plant up the onions. Need to bring in the sunflowers for a boost of warmth. Planted some more exotic varieties this year - supposedly 13ft for one of them. Will see!

Sorry to to again. Still haven't fully tested mine yet. After unhooking the steps, body removal was quite easy / pain free. How about cab removal? I can see it has a couple of plastic lugs and some stoppers so I guess some sort of angled easing out? I just don't want to mess this one up.

First report: Arrived this morning (next day delivery!). All axle boxes present. Top grill very slightly loose in the middle. Top middle headlight (forgot the name), has some paint weirdness but I can let that slide for now. Although less than 24 hours since posting and all this number have now gone. Was considering swapping but no have no choice. Wish I'd have bought two and sent the worst one back. Do I have to unhook steps when removing the body? Which ones? The manual just says "watch out for the orange parts".

Afternoon... just. Feel like I've achieved nothing today but looking back, not a bad day. Highlights include discovering Planet Zoo (computer zoo building game). I can see I'll be playing that tomorrow too! Watered the plants - they've been desperate for a week! Set up the ride on train. Have found it drives slower than crawling speed though so not sure it'll be fast enough. Got through to TalkTalk on their chat about cancelling the service. It never even started (will discuss this at a other point), which is a big relief. Now just cooking the evening meal, whether you call this dinner or tea, it's going taste great!

The seller is located there but the item location is elsewhere.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265080542768 I asked if local collection was available... It was kindly declined but "shipping is very fast".