My Day

[Mouldy]

At last!  A (relatively) warm, sunny day.  Had the boat not been in Paul’s shed receiving some attention to a couple of leaky windows and a couple of gel coat repairs, it would have been a great day to be afloat.  I didn't want to waste a dry day, albeit a bit chilly early on, so decided to get some of the accumulated crud of my car, especially as it’s going for service on Tuesday - I can feel a pain in the wallet developing already.  Washed, quick wax applied and vacuumed, all ready for the inevitable rain, or deposits from the local crow population! 

[BroadAmbition]

Having watched most of the films that Jason Statham has starred in and now having just watched 'Beekeeper'

It is somewhat of a surprise to me that if he (Jason Statham) went up against the hardest and coolest man on the planet, then said hardest coolest man on the planet,  might, just might  have to blink - Chuck Norris

Griff

[grendel]

Working on the internals now, pine cladding and insulation  on the wall  behind the  hot tub, workbench nearly done, built for strength  not  looks, the top is 2 layers of 3/4inch plywood. 

[grendel]

well just as I was completing the panelling on the second wall, my nailer /stapler started making a hissing sound as air was bypassing the trigger mechanism, today the offending thing was disassembled in the hope of finding the broken part, which I did, it was the piston valve, the one part not available as a spare for this model (actually its all 3 parts of this that are not available) so this afternoon after work it was a guick trip to my local quality tool supplier (nobody really local having the beast I wanted- and shortly after forking out 100 smackers I was headed home with a new toy. this one is labelled professional though so it had better not break down on me.

[grendel]

Moving in the tools and lighting,  one of my 3 pillar drills at the end, plus one of my big vices, going to play with positions  before finally fixing them down. Battery charging under the sockets, and tool storage in cases above on the shelf . Just need six mire pack of pine cladding for the ceiling.

[TheQ]

Much better than my workshop in the garage.

Radar museum today, first task fit wedges to stop a model of a mobile radar rolling off a table, once checked they fit they'll need painting.

If I'm not needed for anything else there's the 1/1000 model of RAF Neatishead (1982) to work on..

 

[dom]

4 hours ago, TheQ said:

If I'm not needed for anything else there's the 1/1000 model of RAF Neatishead (1982) to work on..

I'm curious what source material you're using to produce this? I remember there being a big earth rampart along the south side beside Bird's Lane around that time. It was all very secretive in those days and there were rumours of extensive underground bases being created, but I suspect it was probably more likely just spoil from the early 70s rebuild works being removed?

[grendel]

the beginning of this week was a bit hectic, I had a training course arranged for me early tuesday, so monday 6am set off for a 4 hour drive to Coventry, on arrival I then proceeded to work from our head office there. by 4pm I was flagging and made the decision to book into my hotel. once there I snoozed for an hour, prior to going down to the restaurant and having my evening meal. after that an early night was called for, so by 8.30 I was asleep. I must have been tired because I woke at 6am just in time to leisurely get ready and head down for a slow breakfast. 

After breakfast I got ready and was in the office by 8am, where I settled in to record a training video (twice - because I had shared the wrong screen) then it was team meeting time (where the shared inbox and workloads were discussed) after that it was time for my training.

after a busy morning training, we finished about 12.30 and I got back into the car for the drive home. This was a nightmare of hold ups and delays, so it was just before 5pm when I arrived at the pharmacy for my warfarin blood test, just enough time to get it done on the correct day. then it was home, and time to cook my evening meal (followed up by some pancakes) and then another early night.

[ExSurveyor]

We are up for the week, a nice relaxing time with a couple of small jobs on the list.

Yesterday Pauline found a puddle in the drawer unit under the basin in the rear cabin. I pulled all the drawers out and found a pin hole leak in the Flexi hose to the monoblock mixer tap.

What a pain in the butt it turned out to be. No one had replacement hoses so it needed a new tap.

That meant I had to remove the basin worktop to be able to get to the inset basin, to get the taps out

If I was a small framed contortionist it would have been a struggle, then refit the basin and worktop and reseal the whole lot.

Unfortunately I am too tall, wide and old.

The Sheerline needed the rear door lock replacing, Guess what, they aren't made any more, I found a near match but no luck getting it to fit. Having swapped parts between the two and straighten a few bent bits I managed to refit the original lock back in place. Of course the lever handle set no longer lines up, next job, find a handle set that I can 'adjust' to fit.

As tomorrow's weather is looking good then tools can stay packed away, time for a cruise and lunch.

[OldBerkshireBoy]

5 minutes ago, ExSurveyor said:

We are up for the week, a nice relaxing time with a couple of small jobs on the list.

Yesterday Pauline found a puddle in the drawer unit under the basin in the rear cabin. I pulled all the drawers out and found a pin hole leak in the Flexi hose to the monoblock mixer tap.

What a pain in the butt it turned out to be. No one had replacement hoses so it needed a new tap.

That meant I had to remove the basin worktop to be able to get to the inset basin to get the taps out

If I was a small framed contortionist it would have been a struggle, the refit the basin and worktop and reseal the whole lot.

Unfortunately I am too tall, wide and old.

The Sheerline needed the rear door lock replacing, Guess what, they aren't made any more, I found a near match but no luck getting it to fit. Having swapped parts between the two and straighten a few bent bits I managed to refit the original lock back in place. Of course the lever handle set no longer lines up, next job, find a handle set that I can 'adjust' to fit.

As tomorrow's weather is looking good then tools can stay packed away, time for a cruise and lunch.

If one flexi as burst I would replace all.

[ExSurveyor]

1 minute ago, OldBerkshireBoy said:

If one flexi as burst I would replace all.

👍

New tap and hoses fitted.

[kpnut]

2 hours ago, ExSurveyor said:

If I was a small framed contortionist it would have been a struggle, the refit the basin and worktop and reseal the whole lot.

Unfortunately I am too tall, wide and old.

That’s the crux of most jobs on the boat. 

[Smoggy]

10 hours ago, ExSurveyor said:

Yesterday Pauline found a puddle in the drawer unit under the basin in the rear cabin

Like this?

[TheQ]

On 13/02/2024 at 12:44, dom said:

I'm curious what source material you're using to produce this? I remember there being a big earth rampart along the south side beside Bird's Lane around that time. It was all very secretive in those days and there were rumours of extensive underground bases being created, but I suspect it was probably more likely just spoil from the early 70s rebuild works being removed?

I have access to original MOD photos of the site.

No new underground bunkers were built after the original one, but embankments to protect some overground buildings were put in place at some points and new foundations/ cable ducts require big trenches, so there'd be a lot of spoil.

The original bunker was commissioned in 1958, on February 16th 1966, it was burnt out (anniversary yesterday) sadly three Civilian firemen lost their lives.

Divisional Officer, Gordon Dix

Leading Fireman, Herbert Durant,

Fireman John Holman.

 

The site has been rebuilt several times,

1942, the R30 building, operations building was built, type 7 or 8 radars installed  later followed by type 14 and type 13.

1958 Type 80 Radar and Fps 6 radars were installed 

1963 Type 80 replaced by Type 84, ( the double sided radar dish still on site)

By 1968 R12 building built with a Type 85 radar on top, along with 3 HF 200 nodding height finders 

Early 1970s R30 recommissioned to replace burnt out R3 bunker.

Late 1980s topsoil removed from the R3 bunker , bunker re waterproofed, interior rebuilt and refitted.

Early 90s Type 85 and HF200 removed, T84 decommissioned, Type 92 commissioned at Trimmingham.

1993 bunker recommissioned, museum given old R30 ops building.

2004 RAF Neatishead closure announced , shut 2006 

2023, Radar at Trimmingham removed to Neatishead as Trimmingham site is now unstable..

The previous model maker built a 1/1000 model of RAF Neatishead 1942, I've done 1958, am nearing completion of 1982, the final one will be of today.

The final one will be delayed slightly as I'm working on models of the radars that went ashore on DDay.

One team of  180 RAF men with 4 radars and 27 vehicles went ashore on Gold Beach practically unscathed.

The other went ashore on Omaha beach.... That's the beach "Saving Private Ryan" is based on, of the 180 men, 41 were injured and 12 died. Several medals were won, especially by the Padre, an airman and One of the officers. The Padre and a RAF medic for helping rescue/ treat injured men, and the officer ended up leading American soldiers off the beach..

Anyway why am I telling you this? If you come and visit the Radar Museum, you can see all of this, and maybe unlucky enough to meet me. I'm volunteering 1 day a week mostly Saturdays but when I can't make that Fridays.

The Museum opens 10:00 til 17:00 I believe from March 29th for this season. Closed Sundays and Mondays, Allow at least 4 hours to go round, it's a rabbit warren of rooms. There are two different lectures every one about WW2 and the Cold war. ( Both are on twice a day.)

Other rooms have guides depending on what volunteers are available.

https://www.radarmuseum.co.uk/

Anyway, I've got of the models at home as well time to go do some painting..

 

 

 

[dom]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

Anyway why am I telling you this? If you come and visit the Radar Museum, you can see all of this, and maybe unlucky enough to meet me. I'm volunteering 1 day a week mostly Saturdays but when I can't make that Fridays.

I am actually going to make a concerted effort to visit this year, as I've never been and spent parts of my youth just up the road. One of my mates back then lived next door at Ropes Hill Farm. Whenever we watched TV round at his place, you'd get a horizontal line tracking down the TV picture every 30 seconds or so as the big dish tracked past. It was immensely annoying, but I guess they just got used to it after a while.

[TheQ]

The radars rotated at 4 revolutions a minute, so every 15 seconds.

I'd pick it up on my cassette recorder over a mile away...

The Type 84 radar was 4 MW , the Type 85 when everything was all up and running could be 60MW , I think it was The T84 was the noisy one as an older design and its frequency was double that of TVs, much closer than the T85  which operated at roughly 5x TVs frequency.

The current radar is only about 20kW so doesn't give that much problem.

 

[Mouldy]

We had planned to spend the weekend on Norfolk Lady, finished off by meeting up with friends (by car) for lunch at The Kings Arms, Ludham on Sunday.  However , the high river levels and scarcity of moorings that wouldn’t overtop, prompted a change of plans.

We’d been to a garden centre for a few plants on Saturday and were still going to drive to Ludham from home for lunch yesterday.  After the early fog lifted, it had turned into a bright day, albeit a bit chilly, but more importantly it was dry!  Not wanting to waste an opportunity, we set off from home early enough to go to Horsey Gap to see the seals.  It was the first time I’d travelled there from our bungalow and despite a couple of road closures, one for water main repairs and the other forced by flooding and related diversions, the journey didn’t take long at all.

It appeared, from the number of cars in the car park, that we weren’t alone in taking advantage of the clement weather.  After I’d paid my parking fee, we made our way through the gap in the sea defence wall and onto the beach, turning right towards the seal colony.  There were certainly a lot more than I recall seeing there the last time we visited.  I overheard one of the Seal Wardens, who were controlling the visitors, making sure they didn’t stray to close to the seals, talking to someone saying that the seals were moulting, necessitating them to stay dry for several weeks, so few of them were in the sea.

I’d taken a few photos as we wandered along and with lunchtime approaching, we climbed up some steps onto the dunes to make our way back to the car.  I did stop briefly at Horsey Mill to snatch a quick photo there, too, before making our way back to Ludham for a very enjoyable lunch.

We’ll try for a weekend on board our boat again next week.  Fingers crossed!

[ExSurveyor]

I hate mobile phone companies and particularly those that use overseas call centres.

My mobile has always been on a business contract with O2, now part of Virgin. I also have a Virgin TV / broadband package.

If I am on a personal contract they double my data but not for a business user.

I want to keep my number.

I phone the business unit I have always dealt with, answered after 6 rings, as always, by a lovely gentleman with a soft Scottish accent. They can't cancel it until set up an account with the consumer side, he transfers me and wishes me luck with them. Boy did I need it.

After 20 minutes it was answered by a lady with an Indian accent who spoke clearly, she couldn't help.

I was passed between 6 different departments. By the last department I could understand less than 25% of what was being said despite repeatedly asking the guy to slow down as I was having difficulty understanding him. The reading of the legal terms they insist you have to listen to was laughable.

I said I couldn't agree to something I couldn't understand and suggested he email them to me to read while he waited on the line.

The best bit was having confirmed that I was who I said I was and I was using the handset that was registered to the number, he asked for the SIM card number, the one buried in the unit I was talking to him on.

Eventually, after 80 minutes I think I now have a personal account with 15 times the data for £5 less than I was paying.  The next call I have to make to finalise it is the the business unit, that will be a walk in the park in comparison.

Of course I may have ordered a box of carrier pigeons and a morse code machine for all I know.

How on earth can these companies get away with such atrocious service... I know the answer, they are all as bad as each other.

On a happier note I had the boat insurance renewal through, exactly the same price as last year, and the year before.

One of the car renewals also arrived at 50% higher, a quick search found identical cover with another reputable company for £10 less than last years premium.

( Take note BA, it is possible to control costs in an efficiently run business )

I think I may have tumbled head long into being a grumpy old git.

[Mouldy]

5 hours ago, ExSurveyor said:

I hate mobile phone companies and particularly those that use overseas call centres.

My mobile has always been on a business contract with O2, now part of Virgin. I also have a Virgin TV / broadband package.

If I am on a personal contract they double my data but not for a business user.

I want to keep my number.

I phone the business unit I have always dealt with, answered after 6 rings, as always, by a lovely gentleman with a soft Scottish accent. They can't cancel it until set up an account with the consumer side, he transfers me and wishes me luck with them. Boy did I need it.

After 20 minutes it was answered by a lady with an Indian accent who spoke clearly, she couldn't help.

I was passed between 6 different departments. By the last department I could understand less than 25% of what was being said despite repeatedly asking the guy to slow down as I was having difficulty understanding him. The reading of the legal terms they insist you have to listen to was laughable.

I said I couldn't agree to something I couldn't understand and suggested he email them to me to read while he waited on the line.

The best bit was having confirmed that I was who I said I was and I was using the handset that was registered to the number, he asked for the SIM card number, the one buried in the unit I was talking to him on.

Eventually, after 80 minutes I think I now have a personal account with 15 times the data for £5 less than I was paying.  The next call I have to make to finalise it is the the business unit, that will be a walk in the park in comparison.

Of course I may have ordered a box of carrier pigeons and a morse code machine for all I know.

How on earth can these companies get away with such atrocious service... I know the answer, they are all as bad as each other.

On a happier note I had the boat insurance renewal through, exactly the same price as last year, and the year before.

One of the car renewals also arrived at 50% higher, a quick search found identical cover with another reputable company for £10 less than last years premium.

( Take note BA, it is possible to control costs in an efficiently run business )

I think I may have tumbled head long into being a grumpy old git.

Our mobile contracts came up for renewal at the end of December.  We could have kept the old handsets, but we wanted to upgrade.  The options on line were all very expensive, so I got prices from the Apple website for new phones, using our old ones as trade ins.  The new phones were cheaper direct than buying from EE and the trade in price was far more generous.

I then called EE to discuss and instead of being difficult, the process turned out to be really easy.  Our home internet had been provided by BT, a 500mb ‘unbreakable’ service with a 4g router as backup should the full fibre break down, but as they were now being branded as EE, they would transfer it with no penalty, increase it to a 1Gb unbreakable service for an extra £5 per month and offer 2 sims with unlimited calls, texts and data for £13 per month each.  Because the wife works largely from home, the back up of a 4g router for home broad band is very useful.

Everyone I have spoken to from EE seems to have been UK based and very helpful.  By comparison, I was called yesterday by someone who seemed to have difficulty in speaking English, called Steve from Three, asking if I would be interested in their offers that would end on 31st of this month!

[ExSurveyor]

The signs aren't looking good 😊

Just had an email to say they have cancelled the direct debit so I can now pay manually each month 😵

Anyone interested in a box of carrier pigeons, no doubt that will arrive tomorrow 😎

[Regulo]

At least you can eat the pigeons. It could be worse - you might get a set of semaphore flags. 

[ZimbiIV]

Try Smarty.

We have never had a problem with them.

Select what gig you want and calls/text are free.

paul

[ZimbiIV]

Just looked, 60gig, calls and text £10 a month rolling contract.

paul

[BroadAmbition]

Born in Doncaster,

Made in the Royal Navy.

Anyone know how long the Warrenty is for?.
I have parts that are getting deffective.
Sent off a C126 to MOD but heard nothing back. A few years back now.
Black maskers and WD40 no use. 
 

Griff

[grendel]

being made in the Royal Navy, well my dad was too and he is now in his 90's, though he will be the first to admit that most parts are now defective or not fully functional, he has managed to let the NHS deal with most repairs, and they are keeping him going, with a bit of extra bracing here and there, and replacement headlight lenses.

Mum wasnt made in the RN and she is a couple of years older than Dad, but has had NHS undercarriage repairs with a main ball joint replacement. She too is still going though with reduced mobility nowadays, she can still get around the house, though everything is a handhold.