FastFreddy2

I did a C+G in photography at Herts College of Arts and Design. It was done when it was film or nothing. I once spent a week trying to reproduce a Fuji machine print (6x4) handprinted onto Kodak paper (8x10). If you've experienced the difference in colour responses of the respect papers, you'll understand what a 'hiding to nothing' that experience was. I could either get the sky correctly colour matched, or the foliage - not both. My excuse for not realising it was an impossible task, was "blind" enthusiasm. My preferred style was portraiture. While this is quite an immodest thing to say, I've yet to do a portrait, that the sitter didn't like. Even the self-portraits, though I was somewhere between a girls size 8 and 10 at the time, and I wasn't wearing mens clothes. I hope we meet up at some stage. I'm sure you could fill in a lot of the 'digital' gaps I have.... Plus I like to look at photographs.

For a while back in the late 90's, I used to do Computer Fairs. I had been given - over a period of time - computer equipment being disposed of because of the "Millennium bug" (that never arrived). I tarted it all up, and had some quite busy Saturdays/Sundays for a number of weeks. Once, a chap laughed at my stock. I asked why. I had on my bench, some 20gb hard drives for £5, which were enormously popular, thankfully. He pointed out that not so long ago, he had "paid hundreds" for a hard drive that size, and was somewhat embarrassed/miffed/disappointed at how quickly the investment had depreciated. Not many people will know (or care) that the original IBM PC's didn't come with a hard drive, but two 5¼" floppy drives, with if I remember, 360k of space on each. One used for the operating system, the other for programs/data. I personally have used a 286 (with 287 co-processor) and 10gb 5¼" hard drive, for doing forecasting work in a professional environment. The company paid thousands for that kit. The main program employed was DOS 3. something (I think) with Lotus 1-2-3, and the spreadsheet we used was so cumbersome, you literally could down a cup of coffee while it loaded. I nag everyone about backing up data - why should you escape? While culling can be useful to maintain some working space, I hope you have some sort of backup/storage that would include a copy of your most important work being kept 'off site'? Most people (rightly) don't expect theft or fire to completely remove all digital media from their lives, but like any insurance policy, eventually some do. iCloud?

I've not read any of the James Bond books, nor am I likely to, so will accept your comments on the probable brutality of the original character 'as written'. That accepted, it's an easy concept to understand bearing in mind the time the stories were written. It's also easy to understand how the film version should include a more charismatic version of Bond to help ensure the success of the film. If it had used a version of the character Vin Diesel usually plays, (cold/ruthless) the franchise might have lasted no more than one film. ("no more" ~ Dr No ~ get-it?) In that respect Sean Connery, in mind at least, wipes the floor with the significantly less charismatic Daniel Craig. I will make a point of watching Casino Royale, on your recommendation. The newer version of course. As a side note, about two/three weeks ago for no reason than the idea just popped into my head, I listened to Matt Munro singing 'From Russia with Love'. Might have been a subconscious suggestion from all the Spectre PR, but it brought back sentimental feelings of my youth. Sunday dinners of roast lamb with mince sauce, potatoes, 'greens' and "family favourites" on the radio with mentions for people in BFPO something or other all over the world. I think the word is "nostalgia". Not sure it would or could have made any difference, but I really wish my father had told me more about his life. I always meant to have him tell me, especially as he got much older, but I foolishly thought he was going to live forever. What was the rush? And why did no-one give the guidance to a better life I could have used, rather than believing that as long as I was earning I was doing well? Mrs Freddy had the same encouragement from her (also working class/working class mentality parents) that she should do typical 'girlie' work, expecting to start a family and become a housewife, with her life mapped out from the age of 15. This despite the fact she was grammar school educated (and can often be the most intelligent person I know - and I've worked with professional academics.) Oh if only .....

I noticed earlier today, every size other than UK8 had been replenished by Zara. Slightly frustrated, I went onto the most popular auction site to check for UK availability there. Several sellers had listings for the Zara boot. Many had copies of promotional pictures, possibly 'borrowed' from fashion magazines. I was out for the afternoon taking my best friend to the vet to get something for his eye. (Cat, not dog BTW.) Spent the evening talking/eating with Mrs Freddy. Did some 'homework' .... Repaired a broken draw from that refurb, I had brought home with me yesterday evening ... As a notable act of futility, I took a last minute gander over at Zara before retiring at stupid o'clock in the morning. UK8 available! Also confirmed via email at 23:41 on the 5th. (Effectively last night.) So ..... Will be here Monday/Tuesday, all being well.

Well said sir, a true connoisseur obviously.

That sir, is frankly an impossible situation. Thanks for the heads-up on the DC group of James Bond films. I will make a point of watching Casino Royale, and probably Quantum of Solace (though the title sucks.) Whenever I see the film title Casino Royale, I always think of the original send up version with the late great David Niven. I authored this comment a good 12 hours ago, but seems I may have neglected to press the 'go' button? For some reason it loitered long enough to give me the chance to post it after all?

For the first time (+2 days) I can now pick up calls! Since I am a computer user of some 35 years standing, pressing buttons has always been the order of the day. 'Swiping' is so new to me, I hadn't been doing it properly. Seems my technique was more like a double-tap. A gentle sideways movement of the finger, was all I needed. For those of you into computers, I was trained on an NEC Century mainframe. So powerful it would do wages runs for the local aerospace employer with 15,000 employees. No screen, operating commands were input via a teletype, bulk data went in via 80 column punch-cards that we were trained to make and read. It was housed in a clean room, air conditioned, and no food or drink allowed. The room was probably cleaner than most hospital wards (now anyway). It was called a "Century" because it had 100k of addressable RAM. In its day, more powerful than the mainfame that helped send a man to the moon. (Reputedly a 64k machine.) To put that into perspective, the SIM in your phone almost certainly has more storage. By way of (a non-technical) comparison .... Comparing that NEC computer to a modern day AMD/Intel multi-core processor installed with say 32gb ram 240gb SSD and a TB hard-drive, would be like comparing a Saturn Five Rocket, to a firework. (Topical pun thrown in - did anyone notice? ) So anyway, I no longer have to phone every caller back, because I couldn't answer their call. Yay!

Yay. Joined the 'modern world' by finally putting the new SIM card in the new phone .... To date I'd only been using it like a mini-tablet, even watching a film on it one night while in bed with headphones. (Sad.) Bug-bear has been getting my contact list from one phone to the other. Different sized SIM cards didn't help. I had lost the lot once doing a phone to phone transfer, so was taking no chances this time. Wasn't easy, but I got it done. While there's a lot to like about the phone, answering a call have so far proved impossible. Sending messages is very very very hard work. I had to let my old phone go as the battery and keypad were both worn out. I may yet go back to an un-smart phone if I don't get the hang of this one. The slightly annoying thing about Android, is that EVERY app seems to have to come from Google's Play-Store, after first logging into a Google email address. This effectively guarantees a full audit trail for everything I do? So far, I have no apps other than those provided by the operating system. The only one I expect to need, is something like a Tom Tom function for when I'm in unfamiliar territory.

I haven't seen any Bond films with Daniel (I don't like guns) Craig, in them. Last week I might have missed a TV showing of Skyfall, which I would have watched if I had found it on a bit earlier. Looks like I'll wait for both these films to become available on TV. Not least because anyone in maison Freddy caught making noise during the filum, gets ejected. We don't have audience generated noise during films here ....

At the moment, Zara seem to be out-of-stock my size just about everywhere in the South East for 50 miles, and absolutely no stock on-line of any size. Who would have though the boot would be so popular? I'm wondering if it's been promoted in a magazine somewhere and become a 'must have'?

I've had a look in "Settings" and there doesn't seem to be anything to 'set'...

Looks like the taps have "walked" meaning despite me telling the landlord I would dispose of the 'evidence' he has removed them anyway. I spoke to him a number of times today, but didn't get past cooker/freezer deliveries, bed sizes and what might be the best approach to replace the carcass wrecked by the worktop installer. ('Kitchen fitter' seems an inappropriate title given how much slight of hand work I am doing to cover the mess <literally and metaphorically> he left behind.) Taps didn't get anywhere close to the agenda. What doesn't help is him thinking I'm telepathic. Missing out salient bits of the conversation either insisting he didn't miss out whole phrases or suggesting I should be smart enough to know why he didn't mention the missing bits ... ie I should be able to work it out .... The last time I saw the taps, early Sunday morning, I dug my nail into the goo. Now, those taps had wear and tear commensurate with 10 years use at least, and knowing this fella hadn't changed the carpet in two rooms for the better part of 20 years, I suspect those taps were even older. The goo was quite likely as old. I would defy any oil based product to not dry out in a constantly warm environment, in 10-15 years. I would even go so far as to say, an open container with liquid oil in it, would likely dry out over that sort or period in a constantly warm environment. Even proper (window) putty dries out, hardens and cracks so has to be renewed every 10 years or so? While the goo around the waste connections (threads) was hard enough to prevent the trap parting with the waste, the residue around the non-rotating tap tail that was inside the basin tap hole, was still soft enough for me to dig a lump out with my finger-nail. It was certainly more malleable than a product that is supposed to harden, would be after 10+ years. I think the goo was to prevent water seepage, and any assistance it gave (by drying out) to help prevent tap rotation, was a bonus. As for the Bosch dishwasher .... Was it not the Germans who introduced computers into cars, that (at the time) needed a VW garage with suitable VW software, to work out what a flashing light on the dash meant? Even now, where a smart phone with blue tooth could be used by the owner to read the error logs or incident logs of the management system, the manufacturers have it so a visit to their franchised garage provides the garage with an error code, that can then be transpose with the use of the makers technical manual. Keeps people employed? And main dealer charges high. More than 10 years ago I bought a new Clio. (Worst purchasing decision of my life.) 4 months after I bought it, a headlight bulb blew. I bought a bulb, expecting it to be a simple operation.... Not so.... I couldn't see how to do it. as the car was so young, I thought I'd try to eke some goodwill from the garage. So I rang up to enquire what the procedure was. Service department were very happy to tell me the routine. It started with dropping the front bumper, withdrawing the headlight fitting and then accessing the bulb. While Renault "book time" was an hour, he offered to do the job and only charge for 30 minutes, but that would still leave me with a bill of £60+. I said I'd think about it. Eventually I worked out how to do it in under 10 minutes. (The result of cheap bulbs and newly installed speed bumps on the road away from our cul-de-sac.) You had to stand with your back to the car, almost sitting on the front valence, it was the best position to change the bulb unless you were blessed/cursed with double jointed wrists. The worrying aspect of this really, is that Renault has a work procedure that involves tools, for changing a headlight bulb. Who thought that was a good idea? Sounds like Bosch employs the same principle. Make the job awkward enough so that only trained franchised employees are likely to get the fitting job,

The boots in my size (though a Zara 8 often comes up as a 7) have been available on Ebay for at least a month.... At £179. Not from the UK either. I haven't been out in heels for at least a month, so I'm due an evening out 'playing'. As for me being 'unstable', it's just a rumour.

He's get a bit richer if those boots were available and they fit. Two of the Oxford street stores are showing stock. I'll have to see if I can get there this week. I'm about to become footloose, so should have some time for heel wearing soon.

When we posted picture pre-upgrade, ALL pictures were by default, accessible by (logged on) membership only. Now, ALL pictures that used to be membership only, are available to everyone including Google and every other search 'bot. If there is a way to stop that, some concise guidance on where to look and what button to press would be welcome. While it's too late to stop Google sucking up the image, or indeed the link to them, returning to the status quo seems desirable. Oopsy. I wasn't referring to the Gallery when I wrote this, I meant the picture attachments. They used to be (logged on) membership only. Now available to anyone/everyone. Our Galleries have always been 'public'.

Another message from Zara ... But still no size 8. Demand must be high? Or I need to be quicker ... 3rd time lucky maybe?

Logged out, and had a look. Can still see pictures?

Got an email from Zara this morning (Thursday) to tell me their long boot in a size 8 was available. They also said other enquirers had been advised of availability, so if I was buying I should be quick. Too late, by the time I read the message, already out-of-stock again. The Nasty Girl boot is also out-of-stock all the larger sizes, including the one I might have been tempted to order. Being 95% certain either/both will have to be returned, means I am less disappointed than I might otherwise be. If the Zara boot was in leather though, I would have been really disappointed.

I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on this. While I might be overstating the hardness of the goo perhaps intimating it qualifies for a position on the Brinell scale, I am 100% sure this is PM. It maybe I have access to the time served plumber who did the job originally, so I will ask. I would hope I could recognise the smell of linseed in a putty, but if I am wrong I will (reluctantly) 'fess up. The job is complete anyway. The taps don't move about, which is a pleasant surprise. Them new-fangled anti-rotation washers actually work! The landlord had his first glimpse tonight. No "Well done, lovely job ...." rather, "We decided to change the waste then? That sink's going to be changed next year." (Meaning late summer 2016). I didn't say so at the time, but I mentioned to his wife when I saw them both later, "He is a tight ......". I did assure him when he saw the finished job, that since I had taken some care in installing the new bits, it could all be reused again. I also assured him, that the sink won't be going anywhere next year. (He disagreed, but we have that sort of relationship. While some would say I'm quite 'testy', he takes it to a whole new level. If any of you are familiar with the Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse characters The Old Gits, you'll have some notion of how the landlord's wife, sees the pair of us.) A fiver, jeez. When I mentioned he was getting plumbing work done at painters rates, he cheered up a bit. This is a man on his way to his second million BTW.....

At the gaff I'm helping to make habitable, there was a joint conclusion the basin taps should be changed. The owner didn't want the waste changed but at £5, it was a no-brainer so it was getting changed regardless. Flushed with success of (finally) overcoming every hurdle thrown at me by my own bathroom basin, I decided "we" wouldn't wait for the plumber to do the tap change. Looked like an easy job if I'm honest... (Never is though.) The previous installer has used 'push-fit' adapters on the tails of the taps, so disconnection - on paper at least - would be simple. And unlike the previous kitchen tap job, the supplies had isolation valves. Yay! So, off I went... The first tap was fairly straightforward, not least because it had already been loose for about a year I know of. There was a fair amount of Plumbers Mait (PM) around the base that had been used as a sealer, but years ago I guess that was typical. The other tap ... That was quite a different story. The PM had properly gummed up the thread of the back-nut, but with a little bit of to-ing and fro-ing it gave up and the second tap was released. The Speedfit connections were full of oxidized copper, but functioned still. Some water and a brush cleaned them up. No idea if the seals were still good though. The real problem, was getting the trap separated from the basin waste. PM had been used again, and while everyone says this stuff never goes hard, I think 10-15 years of exposure to heat and light WILL harden it. Certainly the threaded collar on the trap was locked hard enough to let the collar grips be torn off before it would rotate. Out with the thin saw blade with handle that I used on the kitchen monobloc taps. Minutes later, the collar was free. Same problem with the back nut on the waste. Wouldn't budge, preferring to lest the waste rotate in the basin aperture before letting go. Back to the saw .... But even with one flat cut off the plastic nut, it wouldn't let go. I have to rotate it 180' and cut a second portion off the nut before it would let go. The most challenging bit was removing the left overs of the plug chain retaining stud. (Or whatever it's called.) The chain and plug have been missing for at least a year I know of, and as you get these with the waste, the old one had to go. Obviously the tiny nut at the back of the stud had rusted onto the threaded stud. Luckily, the nut just broke off. I tried to rotate and pull, the stud out from the basin side, but that just broke off too. I was left with a hole, filled with the leftovers of a rusted up stud. Took me some time to carefully remove the 'stuck-fast' debris, without damaging the porcelain... The rust had spent years expanding to fill the hole completely and securely. Finally, everything was off. Tap and waste replacement was going to be £21 for parts, but a new trap added £7-40 to the cost. With the new parts I should have completed the job the following day (yesterday), but trawling around plumbers merchants, I seem to have lost one of the tap back-nuts. (Got spares at home as I change the plastic ones for brass.) Job will be finished today, all being well. On a side issue ... For the second time, I tried to use a Basin Mate to effect a centred and water tight fit on the waste. First attempt failed because the threaded portion of the waste wasn't long enough for me to use it. Undeterred, I attempted to use it on this basin. I got it deep into the basin aperture, and locked it into place, dry. It was done up tight, and looked the part. but it leaked. I went back to my tried and tested method. Lots of PTFE tape around the threaded portion just above where the back nut would be, and just below the slot for the overflow. I wrap it so the PTFE forms what you engineers will know as an 'interference fit' on the basin waste hole. The waste is centralised and can't slop around when the back-nut is screwed up. I then add some Plumbers Gold to the underneath of the PTFE collar, and push home a rubber washer into the Plumbers Gold. It makes an effective water seal that WILL harden, though remain slightly flexible. Once the back-nut was tightened and trap re-connected, I did another water test, and this time - no leaks! Maybe the way to use these Basin Mate things, is to either wrap the waste thread in PTFE tape so the BM can grip on a non-texture surface, or the threads on the waste have to be filled with some sort of jointing compound? Given up on them either way. The deciding factor being how difficult they are to get high onto the waste threads. Too much trouble, and not very effective.

I don't ride on roads. Either dedicated cycle paths (which are not part of any roadway), or 'offroad' meaning across country. My current vehicle: This is a makers promo photo, but for the pedals it's identical to mine. For the price, a lovely bit of kit.

That really did, make me laugh out loud ...

I had thought your pseudonym/nickname/handle was related to the act of smoking tobacco. Reading this a bright light seems to have been switched on somewhere, possibly due to a gem of subtle edification, falling into my largely empty head...

Kelly, doing something .... Talking about her diet I think ... From >> here <<

I think I got around £120 back from AS. I spent around £5 on the diamond sintered 'core' drill to effect a recovery, that was bought direct from China. I still have the bath taps and should get them sold on an auction site. I also ordered up a much smaller diamond 'core' drill for the rear of the cistern. "As supplied", there were no holes for fixing it to a wall, and no recesses for any form of clips either. This meant vibration from use, caused the water joint on the coupling to weep. Having a clean hole to put a screw through, has made a massive difference. No 'clunk' as the cistern hits the wood divider when you sit, for a start... I rediscovered a 38mb .avi file tonight, of our 20 litre kitchen sink being filled via the original 40 year old taps in 30 seconds. The new taps are slightly more efficient. The taps are around 7 metres from the stop-cock and all pipework is 15mm. Flowrate doesn't directly relate to pressure (Google tells me) but that flowrate would need a great deal of pressure to push circa 40 l/m through 7m of 15mm pipe I would think.