The Retirement Thread

[Chislenko]

Yes, I do most stuff myself. Just plasterboarded the garage ceiling and fitted new downlights in there and have moved the two existing strip lights to one end. It is like Blackpool illuminations in there now!! Have wired them independently so you can have either the downlights, the striplights or all on at once.

Wiring is not hard but of course we are governed by rules and regulations nowadays which from memory doesn't cover the garage (hopefully!!)

 

[welsh dragon]

Apparently it is 7 deg here And feels like 2 deg. I can believe that.

 

[Sterlo]

I paid over £800 to a sparkey a couple of years ago when we did the kitchen (all the units were fitted by yours truly) to move a couple of sockets and wire in the new electric hob and hooker hood (was a gas hob previously). Our friend had removed the old gas hob and didn't even charge us for his time. I only did it because I was under the impression that electrical work in a kitchen had to be done/signed off by a professional, but when I asked him he said it wasn't the case, so I could have done it myself. In addition, he put a nail through a water pipe when he was installing the wiring for one of the sockets. He got a plumber to sort it and said he'd pay for it, but I still think he just added it onto the bill at the end. I made him wait before I paid it though.

 

[Dave7]

I have said before....my nickname is Mr Bean.
Over the years I have undertaken lots of small jobs and done all my own paInting/decorating etc. I even tiled our large kitchen.
But plumbing, gas, electrics etc...forget it.
Get an expert in who can do it properly while I am scratching my head.

 

[PaulSB]

And those horror stories are why we do everything ourselves. My SIL fitted a new kitchen and the only job he didn't do himself was to move a couple of sockets. luckily there is a great electrician in the area. She only does it part time as she is a farmer.

Now there lays the answer in my view. Farmers, and many other professions, are immensely practical people very capable of turning their hand to anything. It makes absolute sense.

 

[PaulSB]

There's a guy two doors down from us who renovated his cottage. Exactly the same as our house. He did everything except the roof and internal plastering. The result is superb.

He's a retired engineer from BAE.

 

[Exlaser2]

I paid over £800 to a sparkey a couple of years ago when we did the kitchen (all the units were fitted by yours truly) to move a couple of sockets and wire in the new electric hob and hooker hood (was a gas hob previously). Our friend had removed the old gas hob and didn't even charge us for his time. I only did it because I was under the impression that electrical work in a kitchen had to be done/signed off by a professional, but when I asked him he said it wasn't the case, so I could have done it myself. In addition, he put a nail through a water pipe when he was installing the wiring for one of the sockets. He got a plumber to sort it and said he'd pay for it, but I still think he just added it onto the bill at the end. I made him wait before I paid it though.

I THINK you can still move existing socket’s and or add one spur to a existing socket , anything more and you need to have it signed off by an electrician . Unless they have changed the rules again 😀
Certainly when my brother in law ( a carpenter) did our kitchen a decade ago , he rewired it but it then had to be signed off . Re the nail in the water pipe , I think my brother in law can beat that , while doing our kitchen he managed to drill into our gas pipe ! We came home to the whole house smelling of gas and all the windows and doors open 😂. Luckily he had a mate that was a gas engineer so it was all sorted while we went and had a coffee. And no he didn’t have the nerve to try and charge me for it 😀 probably because mrs exlaser would have strung him up by his ‘ plum’s’ if he had tried. She was not a happy bunny that day . 😀

 

[ColinJ]

Similar stories with tradespeople here...

My friend rang me at 10:00 this morning and immediately started going on about me having still been asleep. She knows exactly what the score is so I don't understand why she does it.

She goes to bed early but then wakes up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep. I don't want that so I go to bed late and then struggle to wake up. I understand both approaches...

Anyway, she has decided to be sensible and not come over today. I will take another test on Friday to see if I get the all-clear then for a weekend visit.

I forgot to mention the totally bizarre thing that happened the night before last... I woke up after 2 hours sleep to a strange glow from the corner of my bedroom. I have blackout curtains so it wasn't sunlight and there is no glowing electrical equipment. I stared at the glow and swirling lines of giant multicoloured text started scrolling through the air!!! I was awake enough to realise that it could not possibly be real and to ask myself if I were still asleep. I sat upright in bed and dug my fingernails into my left forearm. The pain told me that I definitely was awake. The weirdness told me that I was asleep. I concluded that I was physically awake but much of my brain was still actually sleeping! Once I stopped being worried about it I was able to change the colour of the text, the font, and the speed and direction of scrolling. It was entertaining in what I imagine a good psychedelic drug experience to be like kind of way...

Eventually, fatigue won and the light faded back into darkness. I slept for another few hours after that.

Looks like another day slumming around the house alone. I don't even need to get a Metro because I accidentally did today's puzzles online a few hours ago. (I didn't get yesterday's paper so I was going to do the puzzles on the website but forgot that they change over at midnight.)

At least there is plenty of bike racing to watch on Eurosport.

 

[welsh dragon]

We completely 're wired our house in Birmingham having bought the whole kit for our size of house . We used a manual that showed us step by step what to do.

We lost the cat for an hour or so one day as we finished one room and put the floorboards back little realising he had wanted to get close to us to see what we are doing and got down under the floorboards. We had to take them back up to retrieve him

 

[Mo1959]

I popped a Sumatriptan and lay down for an hour and now have a pain free head again

Just had beans on toast for lunch washed down with a big mug of Yorkshire Tea. No doubt manage another little walk before long. We have wind and showers here.

 

[Sterlo]

I popped a Sumatriptan and lay down for an hour and now have a pain free head again

Just had beans on toast for lunch washed down with a big mug of Yorkshire Tea. No doubt manage another little walk before long. We have wind and showers here.

How are feeling after your bus incident, hope you're okay now?

 

[Mo1959]

How are feeling after your bus incident, hope you're okay now?

Still a bit stiff and sore, especially the right knee which actually got the full impact but it’s gradually easing. I’ve got a dressing on it as it was bleeding. It seems to have stuck well so I might gently soak it off this evening and see how it’s looking now.

 

[GM]

Confession time... I was self employed in the building game for over 50 years as a chippy, I totally agree with you all about not turning up and overcharging. I've had it myself when I wanted to get an electrician in to do something that I couldn't tackle.
Basically you get the self employed person working as a subcontractor like myself that only does large contracts that can take anything from 2 weeks to a couple of years, one of the last jobs I did I was on for 6 years. Or you get self employed person that only does domestic jobs, in and out in a day.

Anyway I just had another blood test, I had one 2 weeks ago but my GP wasn't happy with some of the results....Plus I did Wordle in 4.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I popped a Sumatriptan and lay down for an hour and now have a pain free head again

Just had beans on toast for lunch washed down with a big mug of Yorkshire Tea. No doubt manage another little walk before long. We have wind and showers here.

Do you know that you can get Sumatriptan in nasal inhaler and injection form.

Mrs SD is a cluster headache sufferer which are really nasty - touch wood, she hasn't had an attack for some time.

Tabs were very slow to take effect, inhalers 5-10 minutes and injections (Epipen style) were nearly instant although they really knocked her for six.

Nasal inhalers are pretty easy to get hold of but they are reluctant to issue injections as they cost about £60 a go and I think they only give them to cluster headache sufferers.

 

[Mo1959]

Do you know that you can get Sumatriptan in nasal inhaler and injection form.

Mrs SD is a cluster headache sufferer which are really nasty - touch wood, she hasn't had an attack for some time.

Tabs were very slow to take effect, inhalers 5-10 minutes and injections (Epipen style) were nearly instant although they really knocked her for six.

Nasal inhalers are pretty easy to get hold of but they are reluctant to issue injections as they cost about £60 a go and I think they only give them to cluster headache sufferers.

I am finding the tablets are taking longer to work now than they used to. It’s just 50mg I get so maybe needing to ask for 100mg, or take 2 but they only give me a dozen at a time. They are quite an expensive tablet