A random thread for small things that don't really warrant a thread of their own

[Kim]

Continuing the electrical theme, I've just been visited by the electrician who gave me a funny look while parking his van as I set off on a Bike Ride yesterday afternoon.  I was unaware that the mistake agent^[1] was repeatedly voice-calling barakta's mobile in an attempt to warn us of an incoming electrician, and funny looks from WVM are par for the course when you ride an unusual bicycle.

He's now gone off in search of a replacement Pissy Landlord Electric Shower™^[2] that can be fitted with a minimum of plumbing.  I'm not sure if plumbing done by electricians is worse than electrical work done by plumbers.

Impressively, the electrician was able, within about 20 minutes, to suck his teeth at the job, take a photo of the b0rked shower, toddle off in his van to Screwfix or wherever, find a shower with the plumbing routed in the same way, come back and find somewhere^[1] to park his van.

Minor fettling with a Stanley knife, blood sacrifice (not on the Stanley knife - too obvious) and a minimum of harsh language was required to make it fit.  So we now have a Shiny! New! Pissy Landlord Electric Shower™ that we can't use until someone has sorted out the ongoing grout issues.

His van has been spotted by one of the BloodyStudent landlords, who has diverted him from whatever he was supposed to be doing to sorting out some sort of wiring-done-by-builders issue across the road.


_{[1] Double yellows, obviously.}

[Cudzoziemiec]

A neighbour of my daughter's, has an artificial Christmas tree outside the house with Halloween cobwebs and pumpkin decorations on it...

WTAF?!!!! 

But of course.  We used to have a conifer of some sort in front of the house with lights permanently installed. One year it snowed copiously at Easter so we turned them on.

Needs Easter bunny.

[Jurek]

Either that or the router had developed a fault (eg. power supply capacitor death) that would have prevented it from starting up the next time it was deprived of power, or allowed to cool down.  Tommy Flowers' famous observation on the reliability of electronics is timeless.

It was getting power as (initially) every single LED indicator was flashing.
I tried the re-set button - that had no effect, so then I went the factory reset paperclip inna hole.
That extinguished everything.
It's possible that it was faulty anyway.
It's 'ver old.

[Jurek]

The lights stayed on.
No one came.
Previous year's work appears to have been successful.

[jsabine]

At my MiL's and, having cooked tonight's dinner and got exasperated for the umpteenth time that one of the cooker controls just rotates on its spindle, I have finally decided to look for a replacement part.

I am childishly amused atsecretly delighted to be  googling for hob knobs.

[Kim]

At my MiL's and, having cooked tonight's dinner and got exasperated for the umpteenth time that one of the cooker controls just rotates on its spindle, I have finally decided to look for a replacement part.

I am childishly amused atsecretly delighted to be  googling for hob knobs.

Ha!   

[Mr Larrington]

I have been tasked with finding a replacement knob for Lt. Col. Larrington (retd) as his^* fell off and rolled under the gas stove.

* or rather that of his chip pan

[Ham]

Very apposite. The country is currently looking for a replacement knob.

[T42]

Either that or the router had developed a fault (eg. power supply capacitor death) that would have prevented it from starting up the next time it was deprived of power, or allowed to cool down.  Tommy Flowers' famous observation on the reliability of electronics is timeless.

It was getting power as (initially) every single LED indicator was flashing.
I tried the re-set button - that had no effect, so then I went the factory reset paperclip inna hole.
That extinguished everything.
It's possible that it was faulty anyway.
It's 'ver old.

Duh. Have been mentally pronouncing router as rowter, i.e. the woodworking implement, and wondering how the hell, etc.  In the US it'd be even worse.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Hephzibah Secondus is a very naughty boy – or girl, I'm not sure – but what a name!

[T42]

Hephzibah Secondus is a very naughty boy – or girl, I'm not sure – but what a name!

Normally a girl's name, if Yehudi Menuhin's sister is anything to go by, but who's betting these days.

Looking at that lot I'd better confess before they send Interpol after me: in 1975 I travelled Edinburgh-London in 1st class on a 2nd-class ticket.

[hellymedic]

Hephzibah was apparently wife of Hezekiah in OT Kings II.

One of my Tweets from yesterday has 2.4K 'likes'.

[Jasmine]

It's interesting that the fine is the same £440 regardless of the value of the fare dodged. It makes sense as the offence is the same, regardless of the value, but it does make it seem a bit weird.

[Cudzoziemiec]

It's interesting that the fine is the same £440 regardless of the value of the fare dodged. It makes sense as the offence is the same, regardless of the value, but it does make it seem a bit weird.

Apparently it's a standard fine of a week's income. If you don't turn up in court and state your income, this is the assumed figure. On top of this is "compensation" equal to the unpaid fare.

So I've been informed.

[Jasmine]

Thanks Cudzo, that's very interesting. I wonder if people in low paid, insecure jobs are more likely to find it difficult to take a day off work to attend court, so could be disproportionately affected. That might be liberal hand-wringing on my part though.

[Ham]

Having seen the fine structure at close hand (courtesy of Mrs Ham, JP), it is reasonably fit for purpose. What is less so is the administrative system around the justice system.

Any punishment is going to disproportionately affect the poorer in society as, theoretically at least, they are under more financial pressure to commit criminal activities. At least the income related fine system and the ability of the lay panel to consider circumstances (within guidelines) go some way to introduce some equity and balance. By the time you get to Crown Court, all bets are off.

[rafletcher]

It's interesting that the fine is the same £440 regardless of the value of the fare dodged. It makes sense as the offence is the same, regardless of the value, but it does make it seem a bit weird.

Yebbut the compensation in each case matches the fare not paid. So, the offence has the same severity for all, but compensation varies.

[Jakob W]

It's interesting that the fine is the same £440 regardless of the value of the fare dodged. It makes sense as the offence is the same, regardless of the value, but it does make it seem a bit weird.

Apparently it's a standard fine of a week's income. If you don't turn up in court and state your income, this is the assumed figure. On top of this is "compensation" equal to the unpaid fare.

So I've been informed.

I wonder what the assumed figure is based on; it looks to be in the right ballpark for the national mean salary. Of course the median one's much lower, which will again disproportionately affect the lower-paid.

[Basil]

BANG!

[TheLurker]

Somewhere on this forum is a thread, probably one of the rant threads, bemoaning the lack of sockets in various members' homes.  I can't be bothered to hunt for it so I'll just leave this ...

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/11/05/5_bed_home_stupid_amount_of_electric_sockets/


... here.

[Kim]

Tasteless rich people with a thing for television.  And downlighters.

What struck me when that one did the rounds on Twitter was the lack of sockets in the kitchen...

[Mrs Pingu]

Holy shit.
Now I really want to know what they had plugged into all that mess!

[Kim]

I'm guessing A/V kit, on the basis there seem to be a sufficiency of non-power sockets in the mix.  Unless someone was running a business and it's all computers and phones.

I reckon the downlighters date it to the late 90s/early 2000s, which was probably peak AV rats' nest, before internet streaming started to replace the various media.

[T42]

Phoney-Farsebook-post sweatshop?

[chrisbainbridge]

But it is every room.  Even the conservatory has a surfeit of sockets by anybodies standards