Another pointless thread

I hope you can retire this time HG. A new bike sounds an excellent way to plan for it.

Our friend's widow has said it doesn't matter what we wear as long as we can be there. I know she means it, but I don't want to stick out like a sore thumb. At least Bluewater is less like the circles of Hell that Lakeside represents but I hate clothes shopping at the best of times.

I hope things worked out Gwyn. Spent the bank holiday decorating the lounge; it was supposed to cost nothing as I had over-ordered the paint for the hall but broke one of the plaster wall lights so had to get two new ones. They are supposed to have LED bulbs as new EU rules ordered other types to be withdrawn from sale on the same weekend but none of the local stores stock dimmable ones so ordered four online. They flickered and hummed so I ordered four more, same problem. Turns out the dimmer switch needs to be changed to an LED compatible one - more expense! Anyhow to buy time I bought a batch of cheap halogen bulbs online which is probably illegal but of course they work fine.

I think existing stocks of halogen bulbs can still be sold. I replaced all our downlighters in the spring and fitted LED bulbs. Yes, the dimmers will usually need to be replaced too. The savings over time are significant with LED using a fraction of the power traditional ones do. Even better is the life of them. I was forever up and down a set of steps replacing halogen bulbs, but not any more. LED's last years.

I did the same with downlights a while ago but they aren’t on dimmers. TBH I am not a natural with electrics and whenever I go to change anything I wonder why there are so many wires and where do they all go, and why are the holes they go in too small, so end up calling an electrician.

I've had far more LED bulbs fail relatively soon (less than a year) than halogen bulbs (the one in the bathroom celing light has probably been there for nearly a decade) - and some have failed in weeks!

That is one of the issues with domestic wiring - same colour (of the very few) used for "different" purposes. It should, and it generally is, reasonably straightforward - but always call a qualified electrician if you have any doubts at all about "what goes where"

Quite!

We only have LEDs at home, and in the camper too.
Ikea ones are cheap and last well.

Decorating is never cheap. Something always crops up and costs a fortune.

Bluewater was indeed retail hell. We nearly gave up but eventually bought everything, except shoes, from Marks and Sparks. I gave up on shoes and since I bought trousers decided my hiking shoes will have to do.
Apparently I have big feet by British standards and few places had my size in stock and none of them appealed.
It's a heck of a lot colder here than in Spain and I didn't pack for cold.

Electrickery stumps me every time..

...but a 2 stroke engine, now that's a different thing.




39 years old, had her from new and just finished a re-furb.

This though, isn't what I intend touring on in my retirement, that'll be a BMW, a little more reliable I think.

Very similar to my first bike. Yamaha RD200. I didn't have the luxury of disc brakes though. It had an enormous front drum brake which when the weather was damp seemed to only work in two ways...on or off. made for some exciting rides !

Hi HG, I just treated myself to one of the new royal Enfield Himalayans with a set of Givi panniers and top box. Now my right hand has been sorted I`m looking forward to rolling a throttle again soon. Will sort out a few pix soon too.

Every now and then, sh*t gets in the way of normality.

Back soon........

Hope it's nothing serious Gary, and life returns to normal asap.

Another computer rant! Computer updated to Mojave whatever resulting in a pretty picture of a sand dune - and nothing else, no files, no shortcuts, nothing. Says to sign in to two factor authentication for my iCloud, kept typing in verification codes, passcodes, all incorrect apparently. After an hour of this I phoned Apple help desk and magically everything reappeared - it can take time apparently. Why not a helpful message telling me this? Next go to work software - no authorization! Need to reload my software which it is now doing, again why not a more helpful message telling me this? Fingers crossed it will then work, a whole morning wasted. At least in Windows you can go to recovery to undo everything but in iOS you need to know the special keys to click. Why assume all their customers are computer nerds?