What annoyed you today?

[anglefire]

Doesn't your insurance cover it? But bad news though.

[Hinfrance]

Possibly covered Mark, but we have a NCD on our home policy and I don't want to be paying for a replacement flashgun in insurance instalments over the next few years.

And it was my own fault 

[Hinfrance]

WAMT? Simple, playing the board game QI XL, a wrong answer. The question was "per capita, which COUNTRY (my emphasis) has the highest consumption of Spam. The answer given is Hawaii. Which is a pity, because Hawaii is not a country. 

[Oldboy]

WAMT? Simple, playing the board game QI XL, a wrong answer. The question was "per capita, which COUNTRY (my emphasis) has the highest consumption of Spam. The answer given is Hawaii. Which is a pity, because Hawaii is not a country. 

That's the trouble with Stephen Fry, he doesn't  know every thing! 

[donoreo]

Mine was actually on Dec 29th.  I had a rattle under the truck, probably the exhaust system.  I thought it was a hanger or clamp.  I also had to get my winter tires on and an oil change.  On the upside, I was correct on part of the noise.  I also had a front end rattle which was the water pump.  It had a partially broken mount.  Oh, I also needed new rear brakes - pads and rotors.  So, $2000 later, it was all done.  The water pump replacement was almost $1000 alone. 

[anglefire]

Upgrading my main desktop to a larger boot ssd. But not gone as planned and a simple clone has turned into a full restore. Still. Found out that you don't need the key to install it as it runs in trial mode for a year (apparently) with very few restrictions.

[Hinfrance]

Hopefully the last thing has now broken - first the flash (my fault, dropped it), then a toilet seat (plastic retaining bolt snapped), and now the head has come loose on my electric razor (mounting has failed). At least when Mrs H's laptop hit the floor yesterday it just decided it was an unusual halt and rebooted OK. There don't even seem to be any bits of the casing missing. Well done Acer.

[jinky]

Hopefully the last thing has now broken -a toilet seat (plastic retaining bolt snapped

I wish that would happen to two of mine. For over a year I have had 2 soft closing replacement toilet seats in my garage to put on but can I get the old ones off! They are metal and I`ve tried grease, wd40,  heat torch - all to no avail! Seems like those new seats were not such a bargain after all!

[Oldboy]

Hopefully the last thing has now broken -a toilet seat (plastic retaining bolt snapped

I wish that would happen to two of mine. For over a year I have had 2 soft closing replacement toilet seats in my garage to put on but can I get the old ones off! They are metal and I`ve tried grease, wd40,  heat torch - all to no avail! Seems like those new seats were not such a bargain after all!

Try using water. Some years ago had to move a old iron bridge over a canal to the Black Country museum. It had huge iron bolts which had rusted solid over 160 years. My boss suggested using water and leaving for 24 hours. Came back next day and managed to get the bolts off. The water causes the rust to expand thereby reducing its grip. 

[Hinfrance]

Just fitted the new soft close seat and lid. When we went shopping this morning the supermarket had them on special offer. The old one was a soft close too, but the soft close bit had only lasted a few months - then it was a good old fashioned loud close lid.

If Old boy's trick doesn't work then your old toilet bolts will probably have actually welded themselves to the nuts - it is not uncommon for two types of metal to be used, resulting in galvanic corrosion, even with closely related metals. The electrolyte will be urine splashes and the bleach used to clean the toilet over the years. Violence is the only answer, preferably an angle grinder . Or if you prefer a more subtle approach and you can get at the top of the bolts, try drilling them out.

[Hinfrance]

Our refuse collectors. Until 2014 we had a system whereby everyone took their bagged rubbish to a collection point on the main road into town, where the rubbish was stored in large lidded bins. It worked well enough, and meant the refuse trucks had an easy route. You could take your rubbish and dump it when you were passing. Then we had a Green elected to the commune council. She had the collection point closed as unhygienic (which in fairness it could be in high summer) and replaced it with a 'door to door' collection of sealed sacks. Except, of course, if you live down a narrow track like everyone in my little hamlet the 'door' is the junction with the B road. And no lidded bins any more. Which means we all have to lug our rubbish several hundred metres to the corner for collection the night before. So our rubbish was being strew all over the place by foxes, badgers and cats. So the guy whose land is adjacent to the road built a wooden cage for us all to keep our rubbish sacks in pending collection. The foxes, badgers and cats still ripped the bags open, but at least the detritus was contained.

This morning the garbage truck reversed into the wooden cage and completely demolished it. B*st*rds.

The good news is that they are 'improving' our refuse service again in the spring. This time we all get given bins. No idea how were are going to get those to the junction without a trailer, the lane is far too rough and muddy for wheelie bins.

[jinky]

Sounds like a chore H.

I got called a "jobsworth" on a facebook post relating to West Yorkshire Police. They had posted an appeal to help  Tommy`s parents find his expensive Christmas drone which he had lost first flight as he flew it above his house / local  gardens taking pictures. I put an abbreviate response saying I thought this was illegal anyway and got a comment saying "typical jobsworth" which a few "liked". It give me a chance to respond and say it was more sour grapes given that the same force had issued me in writing through a venue a couple of years ago rulings that showed this and my planned aerial group shot over a venue where the guests had exclusive use  were against the law. I asked for a Police view / comment on their double standards here but await a response. I never did get the drone after the WYP issue of guidelines / checking them with them.

[Reinardina]

Sounds like a chore H.

I got called a "jobsworth" on a facebook post relating to West Yorkshire Police. They had posted an appeal to help  Tommy`s parents find his expensive Christmas drone which he had lost first flight as he flew it above his house / local  gardens taking pictures. I put an abbreviate response saying I thought this was illegal anyway and got a comment saying "typical jobsworth" which a few "liked". It give me a chance to respond and say it was more sour grapes given that the same force had issued me in writing through a venue a couple of years ago rulings that showed this and my planned aerial group shot over a venue where the guests had exclusive use  were against the law. I asked for a Police view / comment on their double standards here but await a response. I never did get the drone after the WYP issue of guidelines / checking them with them.

Interesting. Keep us informed. (Did anyone 'like' your post?)

[Hinfrance]

You need to adopt a more European attitude towards the 'law' Paul. Ignore it. Don't ask, just do it. It works for the French. Mostly

[jinky]

You need to adopt a more European attitude towards the 'law' Paul. Ignore it. Don't ask, just do it. It works for the French. Mostly

Yes one of those occasions when I should not have asked at the venue. Still, saved me buying an expensive toy.

No Reinardina- no-one liked o0r commented on my full story - I hate these official pages that just ignore you when you ask them questions. I have had fun with Leeds City Council page when they do photography competitions around Christmas and encourage you to shoot in the Christmas market in total breach of LCC rules re :photography though  .

Anyway back to my chore of the last 2 days doing what should be my last ever tax return for 2014/15 photography work. Should be able to post a healthy loss or break even as I`d vut back. The issue is how much do I charge myself to buy back gear that was in my capital allowance pot. An accountant told me to pay 10% off the pot value as second / third hand but clearly is unaware of even ebay resale values of photography gear which I once heard a Tax trainer advise. Hmmm.