What bemused you today?

[spinner]

No, not you. The madmen have always been out there, we just get more news now from all over.

[Oldboy]

A chap on a bike who said, "I've just seen a Skylark", and then waived his arm about indicating the direction he had come.

1] You've seen a Skylark but why tell me?

2] By waiving your arm about how is that susposed to tell me from what direction?

Needless to say I didn't see it. 

[spinner]

I understand your disappointment, I loved those old Buicks 

[ABERS]

Not so much bemused, more intrigued.
I hadn't realised the R.A. Summer Exhibition considered photographic work for display.
see
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8590006.stm

Third picture in. Mind you there always has to be a slight twist in the tail,'Water from the quarry'!

[greypoint]

Just looked at the forecast for next week - wednesday - light snow! 

[Eileen]

Apologies in advance for a longer than usual post.

My downstairs neighbours just told me that some water was coming into their flat from mine, into an area below my bathroom. B****r, I thought, and went down to take a look. Water wasn't pouring in, but clearly had trickled down from time to time so that their was a black line on their ceiling and water stains (they're foreign and just seem to have put up with it for a while before speaking to me). Bad enough in terms of hassle, but then the lady told me that there were other damp patches in the flat and showed me round. I'm reeling a bit now from what I saw. Some rooms had big patches with black mould all over them. You could smell the damp in the air as soon as you went into the parent's bedroom (the children sleep in the only damp-free room). The damp seemed to be coming from below as well as from the ceiling.

Now I'm seriously worried. I'm shocked that this family are living in these conditions  . I'm worried that the damp could come up to my flat over time and damage it, or destroy the fabric of the building. My few meetings with the owner of this flat haven't been very positive. You can get an idea of the sort of person she is by the fact that she rents a flat out in that state. I fear trouble ahead on a number of fronts.

I've got a plumber coming tomorrow morning to assess the problem. Waiting to hear from the owner of the bottom flat. Think I'll go out for a long walk to take my mind off things...

[Cabbyjohn]

The condition of your house sounds awful, is the property very old? If you get no satisfaction from your landlord/landlady, I suggest that you contact your local Environmental health department. They should be able to assist you.

I hope that the problem is rectified speedily.

John.

[Hinfrance]

Sounds like something you could do without. I wish you all the best with getting the damp problems sorted.

[jinky]

Oh dear Eileen - hope all gets sorted out Ok.Couple of times I have had plumbers in they have found it difficult to pin the problem down. Had all my huge MDF style flooring boards carved up last time looking for a leak and it ended up it was the tiling in the en suite shower cubicle - builders had not put big enough spaces and grouting in and it had built up underneath and leaked through ceiling below 10 feet away from the cause!!!!
Good luck!

[Oldboy]

A past girl friend had a emersion installed with a big boiler for the hot water. The pipe which they connected incase of overflow, ended in the middle of the bathroom above the kitching. When it went faulty, water soaked the ceiling and we had just redecorated it. 

[Eileen]

Thanks all for your kind comments. The plumber traced the leak quite quickly - worm sealing in a corning of the bath, through which water was leaking when the shower was used. I'm going to get someone in to re-seal the whole area.

I'm also going to get a damp-proofing company to assess my flat. The plumber thought that I should not be adversely affected by the damp below but I want to be sure.

[picsfor]

Eileen,

sorry to hear of your woes, especially if you're dealing with a rogue land lord/ lady down stairs.
Sadly, all so typical of the modern age. The more regulations there seem to be to control land lords, the less they seem to do...

Hope it all gets sorted out without too much grief 

[Oldboy]

Whilst out yesterday in Sandwell Valley, spotted what I thought was a small bird like a Wren, flying over the Ice House pool catching flies. Tried to get a picture but it was too fast and all over the place in directions. When I got home checked my shots which were rubbish, as I couldn't get focus on it, but at least one confirmed it was a Bat. The funny part was, whilst talking about it with some chaps there, I did say it's flight was like a Bats.  

Don't know if anyone else has noticed, but there seems to be a explosion of flies in the last three days. On Saturday when I went by the river, on the way to the RSPB reserve, there were millions of them. 

[Al Birmingham]

Took my car to a Ford dealer in Swindon today, it needed a new pulley tensioner. They promised to have the work done by lunchtime.
An hour later they rang me, "We've diagnosed the fault, it's a pulley tensioner"
"I told you that when I dropped it off".
"It will cost £450"
"It's under warranty"
"We'll call you back".
A while later they did call... "Warranty company will only pay for the broken part, so you still have to pay £330"
"What for?"
"The other part we want to change"
"What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing, we have a policy of always changing both tensioners just in case"
"So you want to change a part that has nothing wrong with it?"
"Yes"
"You may not do any work on my car, I'll come and collect it and take it somewhere less likely to steal from me"

Rang another Ford dealer, they were astonished and assured me they only change broken bits. Car is booked in with them.

[Graham]

     Come on Al, you've got to admire their cheek!
           And I'm prepared to bet that they were going to replace it with another "Non-broken" part they swapped on another car.
                            Graham.