Fozzie

Good morning! My fingers are cut to ribbons. I spent the whole weekend running in pipework under my suspended floor. I got the radiators on the wall yesterday morning, I made final terminations around 9pm. And by 12 midnight, I'd rectified all the leaks, got the floorboards "hatches" secured and the carpet back down. Now to leave it for this Friday when I take the new hatches in the floorboards I've made up and make fine adjustments as I didn't get it exactly straight in some areas. It's not bad, nothing more than a 10 deg angle on it, but I want to at least improve it, and get in additional supports for where I've used the press fit devices. Got some spare 2 x 4, which in combination with joist hangers should make a good solution if mounted on the sub-floor. Really need to make it solid as the mrs wants a wooden floor going in, which isn't the most ideal for lifting up again once it's down. She's very form over function, whereas I'm the reverse

Someone is making a very strong effort at getting into my e-mail account. Showed the IT guy at work yesterday and the way the attempts are stacked and bounce all over the world suggest either some kind of automated system trying different passwords, or one person with a VPN and too much time on their hands. All that effort to see how many thousands of pounds I spend at Screwfix and Amazon... Nob 'ed

Going for nob of the day, for being a jammy sod are we? I'd quite like to go back to Bali, but probably try to get to the other islands. So long as they have bikes for hire, I'm game.

Good afternoon, Been a more positive announcement at work. Sounds like there's a chance I'm going to get my hands dirty again, leading some of the design for inhouse built items. I'm glad I kept the old designs now. A library of electrical looms, ignition controllers and control schematics. I'm fairly confident that if put to the task, I could quickly develop/build a new hydrogen or natural gas fired engine/generator set that was grid parallel compliant. Hopefully be a more "fun" time. Also means I need to be in the office more... Which I'm using to justify the purchase of a retro-cool bike like a Royal Enfield Hunter 350 or maybe a Scram 411. Ugly ducklings. But cool ones.

Good night! Just finished priming the downstairs walls for some base coat. Got to mount radiators on the wall and get under the sub-floor to run new pipe this weekend, so need the paint dry. Don't know how I didn't spot it, the entire downstairs of the house has 2 radiators. One for both the living room and dining room. One in the hallway. Takes hours to heat up!

I think both you and Rennie are right respectively. It is just a job in that there are others I could walk into and no one job is worth your health. But equally you're right in that we shouldn't be treated like crap just because we have bills to pay. I'm going to have to work to find some kind of balance. I've actually got a story where I nearly punched a manager nearly 10 years back. Bully type with a HR record to match. After 18 months of a weird cat and mouse game where I avoided him, he got me to crack on something and hold my ground. I remained calm through his rant and kept things professional, but the moment he laid hands on me to force me back from my desk, it instantly changed the situation. I thought I would be getting sacked, so chose to make my full feelings clear to the overall manager in a heated 2 hour exchange. I was moved to a different department, then promoted 3 months later (to a role the last manager had been dangling in front of me like a carrot). I've had very few dramas since then. I know I'm not very compatible with office politics, as I'm also bad with social politics. So I abstain from it as much as I can.

It is. You are right. And I shouldn't stress this much about it. It wasn't even aimed at me but rather the business segment as a whole, but it found a way under my skin. My mrs thinks I need a holiday very soon, I've developed night time asthma and wake up with restricted airways in the small hours, likely a result of stress. Dads very ill, work is rubbish, all I have time for out of work at the moment is DIY. I could cope with the silly fibs. It might be because she knows she's had a knee jerk reaction and is justifying it, or she knew they were in trouble for running late and they've tried to shift blame. But the tiptoeing of the leadership team around the "big boss" is what really tipped me over. Then the cheekiness of being asked by someone for help on how they needed to do their job, as they'd clearly forgotten. I asked for a meeting with this person and the person who escalated the issue, both declined without any suggestion of another time and that was the straw that broke the camels back. To top it all off, I now need to have my heart looked at as I could have a genetic bicuspid valve. If I do have it, I probably haven't done it any good boiling over like I have

Good afternoon, Finding out more and more that buying a house that was last decorated in the 70s... Bloody expensive Finances look like the surface of the moon right now. Craters, everywhere.

It's very work related and specific to me, so I will try to translate this into layman's terms. Two weeks ago I was asked to provide some information for an old project. I advised I couldn't as I was too busy, but asked they raise a task request with the manager of the design team, adding I wasn't part of the design team anymore. The next working day, the boss of the design team comes back and says the team is busy for the time being and it would need to be done by myself when I had time. I did give contact details for a supplier to get further info they needed. They didn't accept this, demanding the info they needed immediately. I get requests like this semi-frequently, so I've become accustomed to ignoring the ones where there's no meeting or request for a call setup to work through the hold ups. A week later I get around to knocking up the drawing they need. But I find out on the same day that it was escalated to the head of the entire European arm of the business. No attempt to speak to me directly, or my boss, even his boss, straight to the top dog. She's told 3 rather major lies in my view. She first made a small (less than 50k) profit for this particular request look like a £500k profit by grouping it with others and leaving it ambiguous (in my view deliberately). She then said she "eventually" got the drawing she needed, but then said it was my remit to store the suppliers documents she needed and that there was a document stating as much. I have this document, issued years back and it says no such thing, it describes how her department acquires the information. Finally, she said something I said was untrue, despite the fact I've led the design/installation on the thing she was saying never happened. I gave a very firm reply, which was then heavily watered down by a manager and provoked her into throwing us under the bus even more. I've lost my patience and gone on a bit of a rant at the senior team. Why were they trying to massage and soothe the situation? This person has behaved extremely rashly, then justifying her approach to the big boss by essentially making up significant details. Why did we take bullets and fire back soft grapes? She should have been reprimanded for not following any due procedure, demanding deliverables with no notice and mis-representing the situation in an effort to shift blame and get her way. I get people want to keep things civil, but someone goes for the throat in a manner like this, you cut them down with the facts, dig your heels in and let them escalate it as much as they want as while messy, it usually results in them quitting and making the place a less "toxic" environment. When did the world decide to pander to these types of people, rather than challenge them? The biggest stinking facts in all of this. The thing she is now managing, I was involved in its inception with the business nearly a decade ago now. I shaped the policies she was making up things about. It died a death when the team looking after it was largely made redundant. So this person swept in, demanded documentation we've not had to keep for years, spewed lies to upper management and we've had to play nice. In the meantime, one of her lackeys asked me technical questions, which I answered. He then basically says "I knew that, was just checking if you did"... Hmmm... Did someone forget some technical details and wanted to ask for them but save face at the same time? Unprofessional, office politic playing clowns.

It does align with my lifestyle in a big way with the servicing. RE seem to have found a good balance, as access to complete servicing is very good and relatively simple, it's just you have to do it quite frequently. I welcome that, as I love to tinker. Obviously I don't want to be swapping fork oil out every 6 months, but valve tappets every 12? Sure

Good morning, Negotiations continue with my fiancee regarding the Honda GB350S. I have made a few strong points, including how I got a better than expected pay review this year although this was immediately met with "we need to do up the house", in turn countered with "I've poured wheel barrows of cash into this thing, give me some slack". While researching the bike, I discovered a manufacturer I've never seriously looked at. Royal Enfield. It's like 5 years ago they decided to overhaul their range, and the Hunter 350 with the flat seat in particular stands out to me. Slightly less power than the Honda but it just looks and sounds a little better. It will be slightly less refined, but this just endears me to it more. I also really like the ugly duckling Scram 411, and ended up watching a Youtube series where a chap rides one all over Vietnam and I was fixated on it. Quite like I've found a niche I want to explore that isn't supersports, which has been my focus in the past.

The current data bundles all vehicle fires in the UK and breaks them down by technology type. The wider world does their own studies country by country, which are all broadly reporting the same. Will link some popular motoring journalist outlets below, but while the figures vary, it's all currently pointing towards EV fires being rarer than combustion car fires. And the data aligns the different group sizes, as ICE cars outnumber EV cars by a big margin. https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/electric-cars/how-much-fire-risk-are-electric-vehicles https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/the-latest-car-fire-statistics/ I'd also be wary of social media as it often demonises EV car fires, a lot of people crying wolf. "My tesla blew up" followed by "John, I live 2 doors down, you drive an old Mitsubishi" This isn't to say I think the statistics are perfect, I just dispute that there's evidence they are dangerous (currently). If I were to offer a sceptical view on the data, it's that EV cars are relatively speaking very new, meaning we don't fully understand the fire risk across their lifespans. The technology has also changed a lot in just the past 10 years, meaning we need a lot of "granularity" in the data to produce the trends. I'm sure someone is looking at it, but it's not currently available. I also turned down the EV company car just to clarify I'm not particularly pro-EV. I believe the technology is safe, but proven practically is a very different conversation

The current data shows Tesla’s (and EV cars generally) burst into flames a lot less than combustion engine cars, though when an EV car catches fire it’s a significantly worse situation. The electric scooters that go pop are usually cheap Chinese made tat, and the biggest issue is there’s no standard charge voltage requirement or any warning on the devices. So people often use the wrong rated charger and it cooks the battery, causing a rupture. They also lack protection so crashes and drops damage the cells. Electric motorbikes using lithium ion batteries will have similar issues although their onboard charge controllers are smarter. Most of these issues will disappear when we get solid state batteries. Drastically reduce weight for the same range too. I work with BESS sites, so had to go through all the regs and latest info. The fire strategy is basically “suppress it for long enough people get clear, after that it’s burning down, sorry”. Oh, and good morning!

Good morning, A bit of a sour observation yesterday. 32 year old in the cardiology department opposite my dad, double heart failure. Thought to be due to abuse of steroids to build muscle. Found out of his friend group, two others of similar ages have since approached doctors due to heart issues, and a couple of others had to have hormone treatments to enable them to have children. It's a epidemic waiting to happen sadly. The gym I go to has no signage on steroids, but provides sharps bins. This stuff runs a high risk of damaging your heart and reproductive parts permanently. And kids are getting their hands on it easily to gain huge amounts of mass in no time at all. They rocket past my build, and I go to the gym 3-4 times a week (for the past 15 years). Had a couple of moments with both my mum and dad over it, asking if I ever have juiced, or ever will. I haven't, and won't. Suspect in 10 years we'll be hearing how these new weight loss drugs are dangerous and the damage they've done. Seems to be a identifying marker of my generation and the one below, they want everything as fast as possible, but with the least possible effort... You can tell it's Monday, I'll cheer up nearer Friday

Life is a bit like Coronation street at the moment. Moved into my new house 2 weeks ago, got a load to do but me and my dad are adept with DIY. Then my dad suffered a heart attack about a week back now, "critical" aortic valve failure, which must be serious as the NHS are replacing it next week in what seems like a record turnaround time for treatment. Then the other day my mum was taken out by a husky running off lead, chipping a bone in her ankle and tearing ligaments. Took her to hospital yesterday and got her x-rayed and got her foot put into one of those large boots. Sister had the recent ex-girlfriend of her ex-boyfriend get in touch. For context she wanted to move to Australia and found a fella who wanted the same, he went out a few months in advance to get setup and she followed. I consoled her in Bali last year where we met up as he broke up with her and she found he'd been seeing someone else. I gave her some tough love as she excused his behaviour any chance she got, and my cynicism (optimism with experience I call it) on the situation proved correct. Turns out he landed, met someone within weeks and decided to declare my sister a delusional ex that followed him out there (despite still dating her an assuring her of the life they'd planned for 3 years). I've advised my sister take this girls word with a massive pinch of salt, as I think the facts of the situation were apparent at the time and she's only reaching out to cleanse herself of guilt now it's gone wrong. Work deadlines don't help any of this. It's a stressful time but the show goes on!

Happy birthday! (For yesterday)

Good morning! Been a while since an update, but I moved into my new house about a week ago. Still yet to post anything on socials. Mrs was away for the week on the Isle of Wight, so I did the move with a hired van myself. Got the place fairly tidy over the course of the week, and she saw it last night and was a bit emotional about it all. I was a different kind of emotional While sizing up the refit this place needs, I found that the previous occupier, a retired builder had done everything... Cheaply... The bathroom has tiles stick over the top of old tiles. There is 3 layers of wallpaper that has then been painted over in the downstairs area. A 40A MCB is supplying a 9.5kW shower via a 4mm cable. There is only one radiator on the back wall of the downstairs area, and another in the hallway meaning the living room and kitchen are unheated. The 2.5M wide window on a single storey extension has no lintel above it, nor does one of the kitchen windows, nor does the kitchen door. And the brickwork above is ready to fall out. I could go on, but the point is, I'm going to be busy for the next 12 months or so!

Pertamax is barely petrol though, lets be fair

Firstly, bloody hell! Welcome back! Not see you for a while. And adding to this, the most common type of heat pump (air source) is at its least efficient during the colder months. Right when your highest heating demand hits. At present I’d always advise people to install all viable insulation upgrades to their home first to get the best out of the boiler. Then as renewables on the grid increase and we get more periods of surplus, it might be that battery storage comes into play if the right tariffs exist.

Good evening! Off to Ju-Jitsu training, last Tuesday of the month means a quick trip to the pub afterwards. Much needed already as this week is going to be stressful, but it's for a good reason. After months of hold ups, I'm moving into my new house this weekend

Even the Facebook groups have thinned out a lot. The vast majority of rides I go on throughout the year now are with some of the stragglers who stopped going on the groups but kept contact. Generally speaking since covid, people have "siloed" a lot more, at least in my experience. I've also seen quite a few people hang up their helmets for good in the past few years. Death of a friend/family member due to a bike accident, losing the buzz for it, and arguably the biggest cause, can't afford it thanks to the cost of living rocketing. Hopefully the recent release of cheap and cheerful bikes into the market will see this turn around!

Good luck! You can regularly update us with the types of road you have been riding, and we won't be jealous... Until the wet season anyway... Good afternoon everyone else. Shattered today, I've had to lift the bits of a king size bed up 2 flights of stairs. Disconnected a washer, which I helped lift down two flights of stairs, then helped lifting a new (2nd hand) washing machine up the stairs and plumbed it in. I have spent £300 or so, but I keep furniture that would be around £2k to replace. I originally got both my washer and bed for free, from someone who refused payment as they were selling up. So in a way this works out, or at least that's what I'm telling myself.

There have been so many ups and downs with this process. Originally I was told I'd be in before Christmas. Had the buyers of our buyers house divorce, the sellers had someone die, our estate agent is a pathological liar. The new buyer is a cash buyer 10k under the highest offer we had... Small things really I understand by some say this is one of the most stressful things you will do in life.

Good afternoon! Selling my flat at the moment, been a bit of an ordeal. I'm leaving it furnished for the new buyer to rent out, but I'm swapping out some bits for cheaper alternatives. Fortunately, most of the furniture I have is cheap items I bought when I moved in 6 years ago as I knew I wouldn't be in the flat for long. This has been my strategy since I was young, and it feels almost nerve racking that I can essentially give it up when I move into my new house. Not sure where it came from, but I've always been cautious to lay roots. It was a great strategy when I lived in London on a low wage, as I often moved every 3-6 months and was always able to move most belongings in a single car journey. London properties were sold often, so house shares and rental flats tended to be short term fixes. One house share had a wrong 'un tenant that I knew for a couple of months, they stashed a bag of weapons in the back garden and claimed they had been used in a gang related murder. I put a rush on getting out of there. Plus, I always knew I was going to come back to Manchester and no one would change that, which framed a lot about how I felt about dating and even friendships. I was asked to part buy a property a couple of times by good friends, but I declined. Strange that in a few weeks, I might be able to go and buy a nice recliner sofa. A nice armchair. A proper dining table set. Fancy bedside cabinets. Never done it before!

Thanks for that. Did you manage to get a sit on it? Not sure how tall you are, I'm a hair under 6ft 2 but I'm long bodied so high pegs aren't too much of an issue, but handle bars that bend your arms a lot are. I got my fiancee to sort of agree to let me buy one. She said "it has been several months since you've had a tinker weekend in the garage to be fair". So I think she's about 65-70% of the way there!