What have you fettled today?

[Tim Hall]

A learning tower for the Gorgeous Grandchildren.

Take one Ikea Bekvam stool, some lengths of  two by one, three by one and some screws. Add a dose of YouTube, some (very) questionable carpentry skillz and Bob's yer wossnsme.
Needs painting.
Gorgeous Grandchildren will get a look at it tomorrow.

Pics !!

<mode=John Finnemore>Well, since you ask me for some pics,</mode>



Bekvam stepstool as nature intended.



Wood wrangling.



Completed.



Test pilotbear in position.  He's 61 you know.

[Jurek]

Top stuffs!

[robgul]

A learning tower for the Gorgeous Grandchildren.

Take one Ikea Bekvam stool, some lengths of  two by one, three by one and some screws. Add a dose of YouTube, some (very) questionable carpentry skillz and Bob's yer wossnsme.
Needs painting.
Gorgeous Grandchildren will get a look at it tomorrow.

Pics !!

Completed.



Test pilotbear in position.  He's 61 you know.

Looks like the bear could do with a trip to The Repair Shop to see the Bear Ladies 

[hatler]

Very cool.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Not exactly fettling, but I used a twisted off-cut of rebar to break into a locked door in a way that no one would ever know about, if I hadn't told you. And where did I get the rebar? In the lost property cupboard. Who on earth keeps a twisted piece of rebar in the lost property? Well, I mean I know who, cos I know where I found it, but I do not know why it was there. Just lucky for me it was!

[andrewc]

Went around to my parent/sisters to set up her new iMac.    First challenge was finding a spare plug in the multitude of 4 way extension cords tucked away beside a very solid chest of drawers arrangement that serves as her desk.  Then getting everything set up just the way she likes it.....  I don't know if she's got OCD on her diagnosis but I wouldn't be surprised.   She was quite upset when the 10 years of emails that had been saved on her old PC didn't download from the server..


She insisted on me adding the Heil & Excess to the "News" folder I set up         The most important thing was setting up her online bank account which had stopped working on the previous machine, as Sanskrit was no longer recognised as secure.  Once that was done I supervised her in transferring the cost of the new machine to my account*.  Judging by the number of security questions & disclaimers involved they must have thought I was pointing a gun at her...


I also got it talking to their geriatric printer, once I found & downloaded the relevant drivers. 


I've a horrible suspicion that my Mother is going to see this & want one to replace her aging iMac.  At least that should be a smoother transfer.


*The Apple website wouldn't accept either of her cards so I put it on mine.   

[Kim]

Who on earth keeps a twisted piece of rebar in the lost property?

Someone who doesn't have an accessible toilet to store that sort of thing in.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Who on earth keeps a twisted piece of rebar in the lost property?

Someone who doesn't have an accessible toilet to store that sort of thing in.

Oh but they do have an accessible toilet! And an accessible shower! But those both have more sensible locks. I was just relieved, once I'd managed to fish the hook out of the latch on the locked cubicle in the women's toilet (because that's where the door was), to find no one dead in there (or alive). Almost everyone I've related this incident to has a tale in which either a friend of a friend did find a corpse in the toilet or they themselves found someone comatose there.

[T42]

Who on earth keeps a twisted piece of rebar in the lost property?

Someone who doesn't have an accessible toilet to store that sort of thing in.

Oh but they do have an accessible toilet! And an accessible shower! But those both have more sensible locks. I was just relieved, once I'd managed to fish the hook out of the latch on the locked cubicle in the women's toilet (because that's where the door was), to find no one dead in there (or alive). Almost everyone I've related this incident to has a tale in which either a friend of a friend did find a corpse in the toilet or they themselves found someone comatose there.

"Rebar" conjures up visions of the 45mm steel stock that I saw chomped up and spat out by an Shearline guillotine back in the 80s on the site of the future Belleville nuclear power station.  You possibly could have got through a door with it but hardly undetectably.

---o0o---

Meanwhile, I haz unpicked the seam that held the pad into a pair of Assos ¾-length bib tights that I bought ~15 years ago and never wore because they did unpleasant things to my nethers.  I'll use them over a pair of summer shorts.

Also, I have Shoo-Goo'd a bit of MTB inner tube over the split in the toe of a Vaude shoe cover.  Damn things aren't designed for people who stop at traffic lights.  If it takes I'll put on another layer of Goo once it sets - which it might not, the GooTube  being ~10 years old.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Something like this:
https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-8mm-Multi-Purpose-Rod---Ribbed-Steel-1m/p/188299

But perhaps only 5mm diameter and twisted into a useful (for this purpose) hook-like shape.

[T42]

Even 8mm would be too much for my thready muscles.

One should always carry a wire coat-hanger for such emergencies.

[Kim]

Who on earth keeps a twisted piece of rebar in the lost property?

Someone who doesn't have an accessible toilet to store that sort of thing in.

Oh but they do have an accessible toilet! And an accessible shower! But those both have more sensible locks. I was just relieved, once I'd managed to fish the hook out of the latch on the locked cubicle in the women's toilet (because that's where the door was), to find no one dead in there (or alive). Almost everyone I've related this incident to has a tale in which either a friend of a friend did find a corpse in the toilet or they themselves found someone comatose there.

I once nipped to the loo in one of those public toilets that they still have in touristy parts of Wales.  The cubicles were made of brick with doors were sturdy inward-opening things with no gap around them.  As it was the off-season and nobody was around, I'd simply left my bike unlocked outside without bothering to remove the luggage (which naturally contained phone, tools, etc.)

Suffice to say, the lock turned out to be a bit dodgy, and I had images of being trapped there for hours/days, or however long it took to break out using fingernails and whatever I could dismantle from the cistern mechanism.  Would be bad news if you were diabetic or similar.

The rule about Never Turning Down The Opportunity For A Civilised Piss gained a footnote about taking your phone and ideally a multitool or something with you when unaccompanied.

[Kim]

Something like this:
https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-8mm-Multi-Purpose-Rod---Ribbed-Steel-1m/p/188299

But perhaps only 5mm diameter and twisted into a useful (for this purpose) hook-like shape.

Those seem to be a standard thing for stringing tape from to mark out running routes or similar.

This sort of thing https://uktapes.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=UKT15PIN

[Cudzoziemiec]

Even 8mm would be too much for my thready muscles.

One should always carry a wire coat-hanger for such emergencies.

Too much for mine too, I'm sure. It was already twisted. I presume it had been left over fro some building works, quite likely for this very purpose – but I don't know. I'll have to remember to ask the regular warden of the premises when she comes back from holiday in Morocco (lucky her) next week.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Something like this:
https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-8mm-Multi-Purpose-Rod---Ribbed-Steel-1m/p/188299

But perhaps only 5mm diameter and twisted into a useful (for this purpose) hook-like shape.

Those seem to be a standard thing for stringing tape from to mark out running routes or similar.

This sort of thing https://uktapes.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=UKT15PIN

Far more twisted than that! And with the 'ribbing' of rebar.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Even 8mm would be too much for my thready muscles.

One should always carry a wire coat-hanger for such emergencies.

Too much for mine too, I'm sure. It was already twisted. I presume it had been left over fro some building works, quite likely for this very purpose – but I don't know. I'll have to remember to ask the regular warden of the premises when she comes back from holiday in Morocco (lucky her) next week.

Once I always had a wire coat hanger with me for breaking into Ford cars. You could get it past the window-seal and the lever up the window button in about five seconds.  Invariably there would be a spare key stashed away somewhere, enabling me to start it up and drive away.

Obviously I had perfectly legitimate reasons for doing so. Looking after trade cars arriving from Germany.  The 3 litre Capris were my favourite ride.

[T42]

Once I always had a wire coat hanger with me for breaking into Ford cars. You could get it past the window-seal and the lever up the window button in about five seconds.  Invariably there would be a spare key stashed away somewhere, enabling me to start it up and drive away.

Obviously I had perfectly legitimate reasons for doing so. Looking after trade cars arriving from Germany.  The 3 litre Capris were my favourite ride.

Did that with my own VW Passat once on the ferry car park in Calais, expecting to be tackled by the police any second.  Can't remember where the coat-hanger came from, maybe out of a case in the boot - the car didn't have central locking and it was possible to open the driver's door, get out, press the button and slam it, whereupon it would stay locked.

I was a fecking div in 1980, too.  So was VW.

[drossall]

When I went up to university in 1978, a fellow student had had a summer job at a Ford garage. He claimed you could hit the door of a Ford in a certain precise spot, and the lock would open.

[Mr Larrington]

Certain Fnords with a primitive central locking system could, it is said, be opened by putting a cut-in-half tennis ball over the lock and giving it a healthy thump.

[rafletcher]

Certain Fnords with a primitive central locking system could, it is said, be opened by putting a cut-in-half tennis ball over the lock and giving it a healthy thump.

Indeed, the Sierra was one. Also, baseball bat to the BMW bumper to activate the crash door unlock.

[robgul]

Certain Fnords with a primitive central locking system could, it is said, be opened by putting a cut-in-half tennis ball over the lock and giving it a healthy thump.

That is true - I've seen it done - in about 1982/3 - also at that time Fords seemed prone to keys/locks wearing quite quickly meaning a key might open several cars - in 1983 I came home from work in the boss's car (Ford Cortina GXL) for some reason I can't recall - my (then) wife took it to her AmDram rehearsal and parked it in the village car park - she came home in a Ford Granada . .  having not noticed, in the dark, the difference in the cars (they were both the same colour) . . . a phone call to the Police station and i drove back to the car park to give the Granada back to the owner!

. .  and who remembers when car keys had a number stamped on them, as did the ignition lock with the corresponding number? -  and garages had racks of numbered keys for sale.   

[T42]

Also, I have Shoo-Goo'd a bit of MTB inner tube over the split in the toe of a Vaude shoe cover.  Damn things aren't designed for people who stop at traffic lights.  If it takes I'll put on another layer of Goo once it sets - which it might not, the GooTube  being ~10 years old.

Worked.  Long live Shoe Goo.

[Tim Hall]

Certain Fnords with a primitive central locking system could, it is said, be opened by putting a cut-in-half tennis ball over the lock and giving it a healthy thump.

That is true - I've seen it done - in about 1982/3 - also at that time Fords seemed prone to keys/locks wearing quite quickly meaning a key might open several cars - in 1983 I came home from work in the boss's car (Ford Cortina GXL) for some reason I can't recall - my (then) wife took it to her AmDram rehearsal and parked it in the village car park - she came home in a Ford Granada . .  having not noticed, in the dark, the difference in the cars (they were both the same colour) . . . a phone call to the Police station and i drove back to the car park to give the Granada back to the owner!

. .  and who remembers when car keys had a number stamped on them, as did the ignition lock with the corresponding number? -  and garages had racks of numbered keys for sale.

On the occassion of his wedding, mumblty years ago, I unlocked my grate frend Penfold's Ford Fiesta using the key of my Mini.  The ignition key. 

[Jurek]

Most cheap locks can be opened so long as you have a key that fits into the lock.
It doesn't need to be the correct key for that lock - it just needs to fit.

[rogerzilla]

When I ran out of 50ps for the gas meter in my bedshit, I used to.open the padlock with a key that just happened to fit and replace them with pound coins or fivers.