Mundane News

[Jenkins]

That was fun - somehow managed to have an idea of a route, get it planned, downloaded to my Garmin and still make it to the train station within half an hour, all while trying to have a bowl of Shreddies before leaving home this morning.

Rather than ride out & train home, I took the train out to Bury St. Edmunds and took advantage of having the wind behind me to ride home. No beer when I got to my destination unlike going in the other direction, but there will be a treat of burger and chips for tea.

 

[Mike_P]

Its not rained yet today
Brief office visit this morning . No desks apparently available but plenty free when I got there. Spotted a car whose driver had obviously not realised they were one space into a time limited zone out of an unlimited row of parking and rather surprised when returned two hours later to find no parking ticket on it..

 

[biggs682]

My working day is completed.

 

[classic33]

haha yikes. think I'll pass. 5,000 psychos in one place. um no thanks hahaha

There's worse than that.
It's AI run/managed.

 

[rockyroller]

There's worse than that.
It's AI run/managed.

what could possibly go wrong

 

[rockyroller]

I was a bit restless this morning so brunch by the beach.
View attachment 787219
Geometrical note: oval plate.

do you use salt? ketchup? tartar sauce?

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

do you use salt? ketchup? tartar sauce?

Salt and vinegar but I did have a little sachet of tartare sauce towards the end. Always good haddock at the Harbour F&C shop. (And lemon instead of vinegar at home but the shop's a bit ''old school.'')

 

[biggs682]

Evening cuppa was accompanied by a jaffa cake
Dark already , soon be christmas ie 100 days

 

[Jenkins]

The evening's hot chocolate has just been made and a dark chocolate digestive is being had as well.

Part of today's ride covered a small section of the route of stage 2 of the Tour of Britain so I've had a quick check of my time against those of the riders who upload to Strava and I'm faster than all bar one of them. That it's less than 1/2 mile from the start line so within the pros' controlled roll out area and I had the wind behind me can safely be ignored.

 

[tyred]

First day back at work this week and typically, the weather has been pretty good. A huge contrast to the two days I had off!

I did go out for my usual 20 mile loop. Nice clear evening, perfect for night riding.

 

[classic33]

It's been a mild but ridiculously blustery day here chez Casa Reynard, with the odd sprinkling of sideways rain.

Thanks to the gale, my internet's been offline for much of the day. There's a damaged wire somewhere that keeps dropping the line whenever the wind blows from a southerly direction.

Slept well. The morning was largely vacuumed up by some troubleshooting of the plumbing in the utility room. Turning off the service valve for the water heater last night only made things worse. Mop and bucket time. Applied some plumbers tape to the joints above and below the valve. That also did not help - the water is actually leaking out of the valve mechanism itself.

The currently single feasible solution was to turn the water supply off at the stopcock. Which was stuck open. A bit of persuasion was required with a mallet, some GT85 and a spare bicycle seatpost over the handle. Water turned off, hey presto, no more leakage. Downside, I can't use the washing machine until a more effective solution is applied.

The service valve is a plastic jobby, and I suspect it's just degraded with age. I need to find out whether a) I can get a like-for-like replacement, or whether b) I can have it switched out for a metal valve. I might go over to the DIY section of the forum to see if there's a plumber here on CC whose brain I might be able to pick. If (a) is possible, I could probably effect the repair myself - I just need the part and a big-ass wrench. Otherwise I'd have to get a plumber in. Will need recommendations as the chap we used to use retired fully just before Covid hit.

Lovely luncheon of sun-dried tomato bread, cheese, an apple and a

My afternoon was spent de-skinning and chopping up a couple of kilos of tomatoes to make a big pot of tomato sauce. Had to pop to Littleport to drop off the parental's prescription, and stopped on the way home at a foraging spot that yielded about a dozen walnuts. A bit disappointed there, was hoping the gales would've dislodged more.

Lovely supper of toast, avocado, fried egg and roasted baby plum tomatoes, then apple & banana crumble and custard for afters.

A quiet evening has been had working on the writing.

And on that note, I'm going to head off to bed via a nice hot bath.

With regards the washer, is the valve soldered onto the pipe, or is it one that's held in place by locknuts and olives?

 

[Reynard]

It's been a bright, blustery and surprisingly warm day here chez Casa Reynard, albeit not as blustery as yesterday thank goodness.

Slept well. This morning's task was a walnutting trip to encompass the trees that are local to me. As expected, a good drop after yesterday's gales, and I've added another carrier bag to my stash. I've yet to de-husk them - that's a job what needs a pair of marigolds. While I was out, I also found a lovely Victorian salt-glazed ink bottle on a spoil heap left over from drain work. Other than one small scratch in the glaze, it's completely unblemished. It's full of mud though, so will need soaking.

A lovely luncheon of a chunk of baguette, coronation turkey, an apple and a

My internet is now behaving itself, albeit it was a bit spotty earlier on. Which meant that it dropped out just as I was about to bid on an item on the Bay of E. Fortunately the item didn't sell, so I can try again.

Then it was off to Tesco to do a proper grocery shop. No luck on YS in the chilled, bakery or fruit & veg. There either wasn't much to be had, or what was there was of no interest. Green bins turned up some good buys - I have added to my stash of chickpeas, I've bought a job lot of dog treats (end of line, still two years to run on the date) and I acquired some Dubai chocolate.

Supper was a quick Neapolitan pizza made with the last of the tomato bread, some home made tomato sauce, home made pesto and some mozzarella, followed by the last of the apple & banana crumble & custard.

Football has been listened to and the Sewing Bee final has been watched.

 

[Reynard]

With regards the washer, is the valve soldered onto the pipe, or is it one that's held in place by locknuts and olives?

The latter. The valve assembly is a plastic one, soldering wouldn't do it any good

Generic service valves for 15mm pipes appear to be a thing, so I'm assuming I can just take the old one out and put a new one in. Looks like a trip to screwfix or jewson is on the agenda.

 

[classic33]

The latter. The valve assembly is a plastic one, soldering wouldn't do it any good

Generic service valves for 15mm pipes appear to be a thing, so I'm assuming I can just take the old one out and put a new one in. Looks like a trip to screwfix or jewson is on the agenda.

The olives might have distorted during compression when the old one was fitted. So you might have to remove the old ones, without damaging the pipework, so that there's no leaking when you fit the new one.

Avoid the smaller ones that look neat with only a small piece of plastic to turn. The tap version is a better option.

 

[Reynard]

The olives might have distorted during compression when the old one was fitted. So you might have to remove the old ones, without damaging the pipework, so that there's no leaking when you fit the new one.

Avoid the smaller ones that look neat with only a small piece of plastic to turn. The tap version is a better option.

I'll get some snaps of the setup for you tomorrow. The current valve has a knurled knob to turn. That's where the problem seems to be, as when I applied some plumber's tape in a bid to stem the leak, I got a jet of water to the eye. I'm looking at something similar on the screwfix website as a possible replacement.

P.S. What are olives? Other than the green things you put in martinis LOL