Month: August 2024

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Car Boot

Sam, suffering from a lack of cash due to not having enough hours at work decided to do a car boot sale, primarily as a way to quickly and easily sell a lot of his Lego and Thomas the Tank engine toys, rather than eBay them. Having recently sorted my room, we had a number of items that were destined for the tip or charity shop, so we added them to the load, and today Sam and I got up early (5 am!) and were at the Cheddar car boot sale for just after 6am. It was a successful day, we came back with only a handful of items and £300.

My room is now done and it does look so much better, so much more spacious and looks like a “proper” space, rather than a dump. Its a been a painful experience, but definitely worth it!

Sophie’s car passed its MOT – needing brake pads and a new tyre, so I’m pleased that’s done and I’ve just fixed* the ABS light on Sam’s Civic – weeks ago I had diagnosed it as a front left speed sensor, today I replaced it. It was tricky to get the old one out, but with much levering with a screwdriver I got it out in one piece, replaced the sensor with a new one (£13.95 of eBay) fired up the engine and was delighted to see the light extinguished.

*I did this today, which is Monday. I’m having to blog today as yesterday it was running v slow and I couldn’t upload any images. Anyway, today I updated my install of WordPress for this blog and all is well.

Having been away for all of July, I do feel I have neglected the garden a bit, but the few sunflowers we have out the front look good – this multi-headed one is particularly pleasing – and my geraniums out the front (and elsewhere) look superb.

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Sorted!

Pic of the week 18/8/24

This week has mainly been about sorting, organising and remodelling my room, the sitting room, and the shed.

We’ve had two new chairs and a sofa arrive for the sitting room,

meaning the sofa in my room had to go, to be replaced with the sofa from the sitting room, necessitating a major re-organisation of my room.

Anyway, the job is nearly done – I still have to build my shoe rack, put my shoes away and do the final bit of organising, but I’m nearly there and the results so far are looking good.

Also this week, the Micra passed its MOT; not so good car news – I was woken at circa 1215 Friday night/Saturday morning as Sophie had broken down on the way home from Taylor Swift (driving from London to Basingstoke.) Her dashboard had lit up like Blackpool illuminations, and the car was losing power, so she pulled over. Her scanner said P0302 cylinder 2 misfire. Long story short, I got her to clear the code, the car then started and ran normally and she drove on to her friends house. The next day she drove home without incident, so I suspect some transient problem had put the car into limp mode. I will, though, change the plugs and coil pack.

Yesterday saw a return to FA cup action, with me on the line between Wincanton Town and Fleet Town. A feisty game that ended 2-2, I really enjoyed it. Meanwhile Shepton Mallet lost to Baffins Milton Rovers FC in their cup fixture, so a new team to follow in the next round.

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Birthday boy

Pic of the week 11/8/24

On Wednesday it was Sam’s birthday (22!) and we went to Cardiff for the day. We got to see his new house – a big imporvement on the squalor that was Richards Street – and his girlfriend, Poppy. We had a lovely meal in Honest Burgers , Becky and I in separate cars as I was driving his Civic back to do some repairs …

Which I duly did, fitting a new centre section exhaust. The previous owner had clearly been a boy racer, I had already replaced the tail box, quietening the car down considerably, but the centre section of the exhaust was hanging low, and had a couple of big dents in it from when Sam had “bottomed” out the car. It clearly wasn’t the original, and didn’t fit properly, so I ordered up the correct part and fitted it on Friday afternoon.

I’ve also been trying to resolve the triangle warning light on Sophie’s Fiat 500 – she’s been home since Thursday, and has just left to go home.  On Friday, I discovered one of her daylight running lights wasn’t working, so figured this would be the problem. Alas, it wasn’t as simple as a blown bulb, a wire was out of the bulb holder. I ordered a new one from Amazon and, with much fiddling (it is in a tight space!) got it fitted. Initially the light went out, but then came back. Saturday evening, and I was frustrated, unhappy and confused.

Anyway, I reverted to my initial plan A – buy and scan the car with MultiECUscan.  I had already downloaded and experimented with the free version, but this would not read DTC codes, let alone clear them. Saturday night I bought a copy and Sunday morning plugged in. Three codes popped up:

P0520-67 Oil pressure switch

B1022-12 Left or front side lights

B1033 – 19 Daylights current to high/above threshold

Anyway, I cleared the codes and the light went off and has (so far) stayed off.  I suspect the oil pressure switch was the original cause, and my tinkering had led to the others (since rectified). Anyway, I hope this proves to be a lasting solution, or for at least 10 days to get it through its MOT.

On Monday I ran – it felt slow and tough. To be fair, I haven’t ran for weeks, and even then I was slow, so I put it down to this. But on Monday night I began to develop a “bit of a throat” and all week I have been not well – on Wednesday and Thursday I was losing my voice.  Think I’m getting over it, but still suddenly have a bit of a coughing fit.  Will give myself a few more days before I run again (by which time it’ll be really tough & slow!)  Its not covid – have done two test. Just an annoying summer cold (probably picked up from sitting next to Mr Sneezy on the plane back from Athens)

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Back to life, back to reality

Pic of the week 4/9/24

So I didn’t blog (on here) for all of July as we we spent the month in Greece, and what a fantastic month it was, starting in Santorini, and the island hopping our way through Milos, Sifnos, Antiparos and Syros before reaching the mainland in Piraeus, the port suburb of Athens. I did, though, blog everyday on the holiday and my record of our Greek Odyssey begins here.

And since returning life has been busy.

Coming home, the garden was not quite overgrown, but in need of some serious pruning and cutting back. Although the front bed – the geraniums in full flower and several sunflowers blooming – was a wonderful site in the first daylight hours of August as we arrived home after our two and half hour delayed flight.

and whilst pottering in the garden, I heard some rustling from the end of the bottom deck. Fearing another rat, but hoping it was just a bird, I took and tentative look and was delighted to see a hedgehog (and quite a big one!) – more than happy to have them living in our garden.

Yesterday (3rd of August) was our 28th wedding anniversary – we don’t do gifts, and after a month travelling Greece, eating out every day, we didn’t feel the need to go out, but as ever we exchanged cards and sunflowers will always feature on this day.

Friday evening, I took up the whistle for the first time this season – Ashcott v Banwell – and I enjoyed the game. The, on Saturday, I was Assistant Referee in the FA Cup! Shepton Mallet v Horndean in the 1st extra preliminary round. Shepton won 1-0 and I do feel a little proud that I have been involved in this prestigious cup competition. I will now follow this thread of fixtures through to the final in May, and crow about how I was there at the start!

And today I had a go at replacing the a ball joint rubber boot on the Micra in preparation for its MOT in 10 days time. After some initial challenges, I made some progress, but then realised I would need to remove the control arm. Shouldn’t be two difficult – three bolts, one of which I’d already removed. The second came out fairly easily, but the third is stubbornly stuck. Have ordered a 16mm socket for my impact driver – will try that tomorrow, but if that fails, I will have to admit defeat – a grubby face for nothing!