Ssssh...it happens

Yesterday afternoon was wonderful for me, my friends, just one damn thing after another:-

1. So the weather finally stays good enough for long enough for me to decide to cut the lawns (front and back). It's been about a month since I cut them last, so things were starting to get a little bit out of hands, herb-wise. Having spent an hour or so pushing my decrepit old lawnmower around, I finished up and went to put the mower back in the garage...only to find that the garage door wouldn't close properly. The left and right sides of the door didn't seem to be on the same page of the script, to the effect that the left-side would go down half-way, but the right-side wouldn't budge, ergo the garage door was starting to twist. An hour spent pulling and dragging only lead to the roller on the left-side popping out of its track. Repeated belts of the roller with a lump hammer lead to the flattening of part of the track. I tried to cut and bend that part of the track, but to no avail. I even tried to unscrew the track from the wall - the top screw was seized tight. By the time I finally got the roller on the left-side sorted, the roller on the right popped out of its track. I then realised that the strut supporting the right-side of the door seemed to be seized. By this stage, my priority was to get some way of covering up the opening to the garage (not that there's anything worth stealing - it's the principle of the thing, y'know). But since the door was not budging and was also quite twisted - beyond repair, I should imagine - I took the decisive step of cutting the door away from its supporting struts and allowing it to stand freely at the opening, being "held in place" by reversing my new van into the opening (I knew I'd find a use for it). I'm guessing a replacement door is going to cost a few thousand euro, but what can I do? I have to have a garage door...
2. Then last night, having got a fill of home heating oil, I followed the standard procedure of bleeding the system at the pump. This involves loosening a nut at the base of the bump and running it, so that some of the oil spills out but clears any airlocks in the pipeline. Only there was no oil spillage - I'm guessing there is dirt somewhere at the outlet of the oil tank. And that's way beyond my ability as a DIY-er. Boiler Guy is due on Tuesday a.m.
   
3. And then to top it all, while mowing the lawn, I got stung by a nettle for the first time in about thirty years. It didn't hurt as much as it used to in the old days - I've obviously acquired a thick skin somewhere along the line, but it's the principle of the thing - guys my age shouldn't get stung by nettles, that's kids stuff

Who'd be me, eh...?:-)

Regards,


djp

Van gone, van got...

After over 8 years of ownership and some 10,000 (vaguely) fun-filled miles, I finally traded in my old 1993 VW Transporter. Although mechanically in pretty good nick, it has just failed its DOE roadworthiness test. Without its roadworthiness cert., I can't tax it and the cost of sorting it out would be more than the van itself is worth. So, somewhat regretfully, I've traded it in for...


...this 1998 Toyota Hiace. It won't win any concourse competitions, but it's just the thing for whatever the hell it is I need it for - whatever that is...:-)

N.B., note Korky getting in on the act. That damn cat.

Regards,


djp

Critter Cadaver No. 4 - dead pigeon

"Coo, e's big, innee?"

Some more of Panther's handiwork, I reckon.

This chap was so big that I couldn't pick him up with my garden grabber (a very useful item if, like me, you have to dispose of dead critters from the back garden), so I had to use a spade to pick him up and lob him into the ditch at the back of the house.

I'm surprised that the pigeons haven't been hit before. There are at least two pigeons which have been knocking around our place for the last few years, and I've often thought they'd be fair game (pun intended). Panther eventually came to the same conclusion - well I never said he was the sharpest chisel in the toolbox...

Regards,


djp

My Top 10 iPod tracks - 01/09/2008

1. (-) - Better Things - The Kinks
2. (9) - No Way Of Knowing - A. Tent
3. (-) - From Me To You - The Beatles
4. (-) - The Ballad Of John & Yoko - The Beatles
5. (1) - Easter Parade - The Blue Nile
6. (2) - Do It - Buzzcocks
7. (3) - I'm Afraid - The Cardboard Lung
8. (-) - The Loneliness Of A Tower Crane Driver - Elbow
9. (4) - One Day Like This - Elbow
10. (-) - Michael - Franz Ferdinand

Regards,


djp