Grohe Dump Valve - Epilogue

It's been a couple of years now and that cistern has been gradually leaking more and more. Eventually I took it apart to check for any more of those bubbles in the washers. And sure enough there were no less than three new bubbles. I pricked each one and squeezed out the water, but this time it didn't help. In fact it leaked even more than before.

What to do at times like this? Turn to Google! And it didn't take long to find that the replacement part is called a GROHE 43544 DISCHARGE PISTON and is available from Showers and Bathrooms Direct for the princely sum of £3.58. That would be cheap were it not for the exorbitant postage charge, but it still cost only about £10 delivered.So I took off the old one; put on the new; perfect seal first time. £10 every 5 years - why not just use a syphon like they used to in the olden days?

Clear Blue Sky

Living in Bishop's Stortford, right next to Stansted Airport, it's rare to see a fully clear blue sky.  In fact it never happens.  There are always vapour trails from the jets streaked across the sky.

But today the airport has been closed for the third day due to the volcanic dust from Iceland, and there is not a cloud in the sky.  It's a beautiful spring day, and for a change there is no noise from the aircraft and no evidence of their existence.  Just blue sky as far as the eye can see.  I took some photos, as it's probably the only time this will happen in my lifetime.  So enjoy it while it lasts.  Scheduled to open again at 01:00 tomorrow morning, and they'll more than likely allow night flying so we'll have no more peace after we go to bed tonight.

North West - clear blue sky.

Facing North.  Clear blue sky.

This is towards the west.  There would normally be a mess of vapour trails in this part of the sky.

Facing East right across the flight-path.

This view of to the South East would normally have a plane it it at any time except very early morning or after dark.  Today, just one bird!

Cam Peak

Where I grew up, in Gloucestershire, there was a peaked hill which was known locally as "Cam Peak". I used to go sledging there when it snowed. It's just outside the town of Dursley, and there was a great story about it, which I will now ruin by writing it down:

The people of Dursley were a good people, and the Devil could not stand them. He decided to get rid of them by dumping a wheelbarrow load of clay and sand on the town. He was not very clear where Dursley was, so he wandered around Gloucestershire looking for it. That day, there was a cobbler travelling from Dursley to his workshop in Coaley, carrying a sack full of worn out shoes he was going to repair. He happened to meet the Devil at Ashmead, just outside Dursley. The Devil asked the cobbler if he know where Dursley was as he was going there to tip this wheelbarrow load of rubbish on the town. The cobbler, sensing a threat to his livelihood, had to think of a way to stop this. "Yes" he said; "I've just come from Dursley". "How far is it?", asked the Devil. "Well", said the cobbler, "you see this sack of shoes? I have worn them all out on my way. That's how far it is." Enraged at the fact he was so far from his goal, the Devil dumped the wheelbarrow load of clay and sand where he stood. To this day, Cam Peak stands there, overlooking the town of Dursley.

Loony Measurement System

I was recently reading the manifesto of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, and I started to wonder: if a spoof political party had a policy on units of measure, what would it be? Perhaps it would look something like this:

We propose to introduce into Britain a measurement system which is different from that used in any other country in the world. It would be similar to the system used in the United States of America, but not quite the same. It would be defined in terms of the metric system, but would not define its units in any convenient whole numbers of metric units, making it dependent upon, but entirely incompatible with the standard international system of weights and measures.

There would be four different units to measure length. The smallest, a “chin”, would be exactly 25.4 mm. Then there would be toof which would be 12 chins, or 304.8 mm; then a dray which would be 36 chins or 914.4 mm and finally a lime which would be 63,360 chins, or 1609.344 m.

For weight there would be six different units. Starting with the nouce, which would weigh 28.349523125 g. Then a pnoud would weigh 16 nouces or 0.45359237 kg; a snote would weigh 224 nouces or 6.35029318 kg; a ctw would be 4,480 nouces or 50.80234544 kg; and a not would weigh 53,760 nouces or 1,016.0469088 kg.

Volume would have three different units which would not be based on the length unit, but one of which would be loosely based on the density of water. The units would be the fluid nouce, equal to 28.4130625 ml, or approximately the volume of 1 nouce of water. Then a tinp would be 20 fluid nouces or 568.26125 ml, and a laglon would be 160 fluid nouces or 4.54609 litres.

If that measurement system was proposed now, no one in their right mind would accept it. It makes no sense whatsoever. And yet this raving loony’s system is exactly the same (save the unit names) as the imperial system, which some people in the UK find it so difficult to let go of. I hope that any readers who support the use of that system can see how ridiculous it is to argue

for its superiority over the international metric system. In fact the only possible argument for keeping such a system is that you simply can’t be bothered to change.

Bob The Builder wins the American Presidency

"Can we change it?" "Yes we can?"

Here in the UK we have a children's television character called Bob the Builder. His catchphrase is "Can we fix it? - Yes we can!".

Barack Obama's acceptance speech echoed those words - "Yes we can", and he made it his own catchphrase, even getting the crowd to chant along with him. I think this positive approach is perhaps the only thing the two characters share. Here's the full speach hosted on CNN:

He certainly is a powerful public speaker. He also talks a great story about being a conviction politician. I love that story about the 106-year-old voter. In the UK, the most interesting thing we've seen in politics recently was the invention of "New Labour". That project was all about sales, image and public perception. Nothing to do with engaging with people's needs and concerns; more about keeping "us" in power and "them" out, and then justifying it with sales talk. I really hope that President Obama can deliver something very different for America. This is one politician I'll be watching without my normal cynicism. I so hope he doesn't turn out to be a disappointment.

Freecycle

A few weeks ago I was given four beds by three different people - all complete strangers.  They wanted to get rid of them, and I happened to need them - so they gave them to me.  

I've recently been clearing out my loft and had a lot of stuff I've accumulated over the years.  None of it was rubbish, so I wanted to give it away - so I did.  I gave it to people I didn't know who said they wanted it.  There was a cot, a couple of turntables, a slide projector, a negative ionizer, a couple of children's bicycles, some ADSL microfilters - and several other things.

My heating recently broke down.  As I'm replacing the boiler I didn't want to get it fixed, so I asked some complete strangers if they had some electric heaters they could spare.  Two different people came up with six dimplex heaters to tide me over till the new boiler was fitted.

A few years ago, this kind of transaction would have been the stuff of dreams.  Stuff went to the tip if you didn't know someone who wanted it.  You would never go round asking strangers for things you needed.  But the internet has changed all that.  The internet and a rather clever idea called Freecycle.  You can read all about it here, and find your nearest branch.

Freecycle is billed as a way to "keep stuff out of landfill".  I think it is far more than that.  In fact the issue of filling up landfill is a bit over-done and Freecycle probably doesn't even scratch the surface.  What Freecycle is, is a real community.  We hear about "online communities", which often means a group of people who communicate on-line but never meet.  Freecycle goes much further than this.  It's about local people being able to contact each other, know each others' needs and support each other.  That's far more valuable than any environmental ideal or any chatroom you can find anywhere else on the internet.

Political Correctness GONE MAD

This made me laugh

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7643136.stm

Not only is it wrong to tell people which toilet they should use, but it wrong to say that it's political correctness "gone mad".  That might offend ... mad people ... like the green-haired lady in the interview.