difflock

That comment about neat petrol and compressed air reminded me of, (and entirely at my Supervisory instruction), us using a wee 50l air compressor to attempt to suck heating oil through a pipe between the oil tank and the boiler room in a new £1,000,000.00 Community Hall, after the bollocks of a Community Group had run the tank empty and despite a full fill of oil, the pipe was somehow airlocked, or the oil would NOT gravity feed to the boiler. So a "hot urgent" instruction from my line manager resulted in this somewhat desperate measure. Anyway as I observed the aerosol of kero droplets spewing from the compressor, I quipped, "tis a good job neither of us smoke" very rapidly followed up with "suggesting" it might be a good idea to move the compressor somewhere outside of the boiler room, like well outside!, and well away from the door! P.S. I did ponder the imponderable nature of the insurance claim form that I mighta hadda needed to fill in . . .

Are you a smoker? MacPherson, while using neat petrol nicely dispersed with compressed air?

No doubt due to "environmentally friendly" considerations, or indeed, "elf an safety". I read the tin, and it is basically kerosine, with unspecifed traces of some acid. I did think, hmmmmm . . .

Van was booked for 26th May Got a test this evening up at New buildings. And!

Me grapes. And a "bull-root" of a plant (Amaryllis?) Perhaps.

Hallauagh! The mechanic was back this morning and sorted the leak. It was the "O" ring that sealed(or was supposed to seal) the "bung" in the head of the pump. And easily DIY strippable with the "special" socket easily available from various aftermarket suppliers. Too many birthdays and plastic hard and full of cracks. Which I could have sorted myself, with the benefit of pure informed hindsight of course. Now I got a ful sparel seal kit, plus a set of spare spare seals to hang on a nail somewhere!

I have fixed so much stuff with "Stixall", that it is now my "go to" answer for most everything. It also has an amazing shelf life, even after opening, so long as one pops the cap on the nozzle immediately after every use.

I would have loved an Alpine tractor to play with, simply because they are cute and "quart in a pint-pot" different, BUT! Even I had the sense to realize the clue lies in their nomenclature, and since I am in rank moss, where their low centre of gravity for mountainside stability simply means bottoming out and getting stuck when in soft ground. So, horses for courses. I would still love one though! Cos they are cute!

100,000 gets a 650,000,000 return. Not a bad RoI.

The differences in when it was both borrowed and used are both subtle and significent Eggs. Like inside working hours, outside working hours.** And some of the twisted lazy gits(and there were decent ones as well) I worked with would keep a squad waiting, on some "hot urgent" very public job, while they did their messages, or took the sceanic route or stopped for a blether. P.S. I remembered I always had my own decent twin axle trailer, but occassionally borrowed a wee babby unbraked 750kg trailer for handiness. I genuinely did my best to be honest, odd sod that I am. **One bloke was offended that I dared to remonstrate with him for using the council chainsaw, and vehicle to cut, block and deliver firewood to his home, during working hours, naturally, and of course working at the usual liesurly council pace. Cheers, mth

Not regularily either btw . . .

The brother was recently reminsicing about inadvertently running our Kazz engined strimmer on straight petrol until it seized. Refilled with 2stroke mix after it cooled and all was fine, it survived many more years use after this misuse too. But that would have been back in the days of a 25:1 mix.

No, I burned my own diesel, in my own vehicle, in my own time. A not insignificent difference ca!

1/2 hr lunch, and a "couple" of loads. Gents, I worked for a Council for far too many years, and witnessed those who routinely ripped the arse out of it, in Council hours. The most I ever did was borrow a trailer, at the weekend, until I bought my own, and the borrowed use, but not misuse, of a masonary saw. Tough.

"Typical" Council worker, using Council vehicle and fuel for private purposes, and of course, in Council time, naturally.

The risk o me getting addicted to cleaning is, I fear, remarkedly low. EDIT I forgot to say how absolutely totally unbelieviably black and sticky that shit is . And with the whiteboard van paintwork as an impromptu canvas . . ., never mind my fingers . . .😳

So having brought a Polish mechanic up from Dublin to look at the leaking IP, he reckons it is leaking from the "bung" which screws in to the head of the pump, and he can replace this "O" ring type seal without removing the IP from the engine. But, the amount of black gunk inside the intake manifold and associated pipework(coming from the EGR?) A crust about a 1/2" thick. So, What chemical to steep in to remove this gunk,? P.S. I will ask in the motor factors tomorrow. Cheers, Mth

Just back home. Pics.

Her next respray will be black, to serve as my hearse, I am however intending to get a quare wheen o years oot the white livery before that eventuality mind!

A few random pics off the phone, hopefully. LFC! No1 Son has polluted my phone with HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of images from his recent Spanish sojourn. Via WhatsApp. Ah canny find feck all. Gerrr! P.S. Note the puddle of soaked in diesel below her in the centre front pic.

Must go on the phone and post some pics, but another fecking last haugh in the pot embuggerance, the fecking IP sneakily shit itsel while the engine was sitting all lonely and wile easy accessible on the floor, but did NOT manifest until all was lovingly rebuilt and the engine re-started, like starting the very first kick . . . BUT diesel pissing out the back of the IP. BUGGER! And no bloody local mechanic is interested in taking the pump off to get it rebuilt, which rebuilding I have already checked can easily be done by a local specialist. So another month lost. BUT There is a G-Wagen owning mechanic coming up from Dublin on Sunday to look at her, the 461 Van, with a view to removing the IP. Said mechanic happens to own a rather rare** 461 "Pur" G-Wagen wot I was lusting over, but thats another much more interesting love story! **Like with seperate 12V and 24V systems with 3 batteries, and 5 doors but no rear seats ever fitted, this from the factory, plus the OM642 V6 diesel and auto gearbox. Pics of the 461 as soon as I get her home this week. Honest!

Pure happenstance, but yesterday I was in a large house(circa 5000 sq ft) self built in about 1996, where all the internal joinery, including a magnificent cut string freestanding staircase, and bespoke doors throughout, was in oak from a local joinery bloke that had bought in and milled the tree himself, plus a new oak longcase clock built around the works of the remains of a longcase* clock from a local shop in Magherafelt, with the name of the shop proudly displayed on the face. The front door is about 4' wide! All most impressive. And not a blemish, crack, warpage or misalignment to be seen some 27 years later, plus the stairs are all still as tight as a drum.. *No idea what happened the origonal case, perhaps eaten by woodworm? I would have loved to take pics, but better manners prevailed!

Like the absence of any fat baastards in Belsen, which is my standard riposte to those who claim "its their metabolism", as an excuse for being obese. Dry firewood=Calories in = heat out or stored fat. No iffs or butts. I can only therefore imagine this stove is being lit from stone cold, and takes time to warm up, and guessing being a Jotul, heavy section cast iron and firebrick, ergo an effective heat sink/store. Based on the image provided of a roaring fire burning merrily in the grate, the heat generated is going somewhere or being stored somewhere. Or the room is shocking draughty. Or somthing. And our 5kW stove heats about 750 sq ft to 25+ deg with ease, despite only moderate levels of insulation and draughts from various sources. But lit each morning about 06:00 and burns till about 21:00

I re-visited the subject(aka our son) recently and again suggested simply keeping the grass cut, even talking him through the economics of paying a local bloke to keep it cut for a weekly sub, against the not insignificent capital costs of hardsurfacing and wall building etc etc. Nope! Not happening!

Whoop Whoop Whoop! Ivy alert!