Monday, June 02, 2008
More DIY
Not content with XP SP2 and new Norton, went for IE7. Not too bad, although we now get the pop-up posted above on booting. Maybe I will take the half day out needed to get to the bottom of it some day. But I like the improved display quality that comes with IE7 - to me the screens are much clearer.
On the other hand, I think there is even more clunking and whirring on boot-up than there was and there is a whole new automatic update when you shut down.
Feeling slightly guilty about chimney disposal. I suspect the double skinned metal tubes it was made of of containing some sort of insulating material. But I asked the tip man and he said chuck it in there, so I did. Didn't want to risk being invited to take the thing to Reigate as we can't deal with that sort of thing here sir.
But an event on the way. At the entrance to the tip, overtook a lady who must be my sort of age pushing a trailer - the sort that is usually towed by a car - with garden waste in it. She had, she told me, come from Pound Lane which must be at least a kilometre away. But she did come equipped with folding chair, water bottle and so forth so that she could take breaks on the way. It seems that two trips in any one day is about enough. She also told me that she was once told that she could not deliver garden waste in a trailer. It had to come in a car. Fortunately she still had one at that point and was able to tranship the waste from the trailer to the car. (This is the tip where somebody died last year in the wake of some Sunday afternoon tip rage). But while she might be quite fit pushing this thing about, not terribly practical. The trailer would have been a lot easier to push had it been adapted as a hand cart - which would not be difficult - rather than pushing the thing using the tow bar intended to latch onto a car. Far too low and awkward.
Two visit to the market recently. First to the bank holiday car booter at Hook Road Arena. The usual sort of bumper event and the ground was good and hard despite all the rain in the preceding weeks. Acquired for the princely sum of 50p an interesting ornament made of some sort of rain forest - a polished hard wood with broad dark brown and dark yellow stripes - and made into a sort of wooden flower arrangement. An arrangement with all the bits falling out of the base if shaken up too much. About nine inches high. Maybe some sort of sixties thing. Then there was the man with boxes and boxes of what looked like table furniture - crockery - maybe bone china even - for the expensive part of a British Airways aeroplane. Sadly, apart from having plenty of that sort of stuff anyway, it would have been like office furniture in the home. Good substantial stuff on the cheap but out of place. More usefully, two boxes of wood screws to add to my collection at 150p for the two.
The collection of wood screws lives in a wooden box, the sort of thing that one might otherwise use for fire tongs or shoe cleaning equipment. I find this much easier than the tidier arrangements of other folk who have pots of tobacco tins with neatly painted labels. Or the even tidier arrangement I heard about recently of screwing jam jar lids to the underside of a stout shelf and then screwing the jam jars into their lids. Pouring them into our special hand forged paella dish (acquired from some previous booter, maybe 18 inches across and vaguely wokkish in shape) and stirring through the whole lot is much more satisfying. Today, having constructed a rather boy-scoutish steel yard, I learn that I have around 15kg of screws. They are topped up as booters permit and they rarely let me down - in the sense that I can usually find what I need.
The steel yard was actually another piece of rain forest - this time a bit of some kind of close grained brown stuff, maybe some sort of low grade mahogany, perhaps originally destined for the base of a door or window. A yard of six by one. Strung up with various bits of blue rope, a butcher hook and a couple of 2.5kg weights that the sprogs used to abuse their joints with. Probably accurate to within 50 grams or so.
Second visit much less successful. Tried to bid on some furniture on E-bay but completely failed to register. The bidding part of E-bay seemed to be alive and well but not the registration part. Must try again with my fine new browser. In any event, the thing in question was a showroom soiled three piece suite, proper price around £5,000, which went for £2,000. I was only prepared to go to £1,000 without having seen the thing, or its twin in a showroom near me - and didn't have time for that.
And last but not least, an interesting piece of PC from Canada. They want a director for their national gallery. We are told that they are "committed to ensuring that its appointments are representative of Canada's regions and official languages, as well as women, Aboriginal peoples, disabled persons and visible minorities". Does that mean I would get preference because I can speak Inuit? Or Huron? Would I be excluded if I cannot speak English or French? And I would have thought that Abos was a bit old speak. I am sure there is some newer word for them. Presumably "visible minorities" are the shiny new words for people of colour. But what about age, sex and religion diversity? That doesn't get mentioned at all. All very well meaning but I think they ought to fire their search consultants.
On the other hand, I think there is even more clunking and whirring on boot-up than there was and there is a whole new automatic update when you shut down.
Feeling slightly guilty about chimney disposal. I suspect the double skinned metal tubes it was made of of containing some sort of insulating material. But I asked the tip man and he said chuck it in there, so I did. Didn't want to risk being invited to take the thing to Reigate as we can't deal with that sort of thing here sir.
But an event on the way. At the entrance to the tip, overtook a lady who must be my sort of age pushing a trailer - the sort that is usually towed by a car - with garden waste in it. She had, she told me, come from Pound Lane which must be at least a kilometre away. But she did come equipped with folding chair, water bottle and so forth so that she could take breaks on the way. It seems that two trips in any one day is about enough. She also told me that she was once told that she could not deliver garden waste in a trailer. It had to come in a car. Fortunately she still had one at that point and was able to tranship the waste from the trailer to the car. (This is the tip where somebody died last year in the wake of some Sunday afternoon tip rage). But while she might be quite fit pushing this thing about, not terribly practical. The trailer would have been a lot easier to push had it been adapted as a hand cart - which would not be difficult - rather than pushing the thing using the tow bar intended to latch onto a car. Far too low and awkward.
Two visit to the market recently. First to the bank holiday car booter at Hook Road Arena. The usual sort of bumper event and the ground was good and hard despite all the rain in the preceding weeks. Acquired for the princely sum of 50p an interesting ornament made of some sort of rain forest - a polished hard wood with broad dark brown and dark yellow stripes - and made into a sort of wooden flower arrangement. An arrangement with all the bits falling out of the base if shaken up too much. About nine inches high. Maybe some sort of sixties thing. Then there was the man with boxes and boxes of what looked like table furniture - crockery - maybe bone china even - for the expensive part of a British Airways aeroplane. Sadly, apart from having plenty of that sort of stuff anyway, it would have been like office furniture in the home. Good substantial stuff on the cheap but out of place. More usefully, two boxes of wood screws to add to my collection at 150p for the two.
The collection of wood screws lives in a wooden box, the sort of thing that one might otherwise use for fire tongs or shoe cleaning equipment. I find this much easier than the tidier arrangements of other folk who have pots of tobacco tins with neatly painted labels. Or the even tidier arrangement I heard about recently of screwing jam jar lids to the underside of a stout shelf and then screwing the jam jars into their lids. Pouring them into our special hand forged paella dish (acquired from some previous booter, maybe 18 inches across and vaguely wokkish in shape) and stirring through the whole lot is much more satisfying. Today, having constructed a rather boy-scoutish steel yard, I learn that I have around 15kg of screws. They are topped up as booters permit and they rarely let me down - in the sense that I can usually find what I need.
The steel yard was actually another piece of rain forest - this time a bit of some kind of close grained brown stuff, maybe some sort of low grade mahogany, perhaps originally destined for the base of a door or window. A yard of six by one. Strung up with various bits of blue rope, a butcher hook and a couple of 2.5kg weights that the sprogs used to abuse their joints with. Probably accurate to within 50 grams or so.
Second visit much less successful. Tried to bid on some furniture on E-bay but completely failed to register. The bidding part of E-bay seemed to be alive and well but not the registration part. Must try again with my fine new browser. In any event, the thing in question was a showroom soiled three piece suite, proper price around £5,000, which went for £2,000. I was only prepared to go to £1,000 without having seen the thing, or its twin in a showroom near me - and didn't have time for that.
And last but not least, an interesting piece of PC from Canada. They want a director for their national gallery. We are told that they are "committed to ensuring that its appointments are representative of Canada's regions and official languages, as well as women, Aboriginal peoples, disabled persons and visible minorities". Does that mean I would get preference because I can speak Inuit? Or Huron? Would I be excluded if I cannot speak English or French? And I would have thought that Abos was a bit old speak. I am sure there is some newer word for them. Presumably "visible minorities" are the shiny new words for people of colour. But what about age, sex and religion diversity? That doesn't get mentioned at all. All very well meaning but I think they ought to fire their search consultants.
# posted by Jim @ 8:13 AM 
