I’ve Got a Different Set of Problems
Eighteen months ago, I moved into a house with a very high solar gain. In some ways it’s a bit like living in the Palm House at Kew. Yesterday there was enough sun in Hackney to heat the house up to nearly 30 degrees with the heating off and the windows open.
It is so dry, that I need to have a humidifier going full blast to get the atmosphere bearable. At some times, all I want to do is go back to bed and go to sleep.
I would go out, but the weather is so awful.
James Miller
The Ways of Cowboy Builders
I’ve always found that the deeper I probe this house the more I find terrible examples of Jerry’s handiwork. I was talking at lunchtime, with the builder working on the house opposite and I happened to mention that there were no manuals for any of the appliances. He thought that typical, as if you can’t find where anything was bought, you can’t get back at him. I suppose it could almost mean that a lot of things fell of the back of a lorry. It also might mean, why we couldn’t find the serial number on the dish washer at first. I have now.
Mums Launch Student Home Swap Scheme
It’s all here on the BBC. And their web site is here at unihomeswap.co.uk.
As it says in the article it’s just returning to how it was done in the 1960’s, except that you didn’t actually swap.
For instance in my first year at Liverpool University, I was in digs at Huyton, which was quite a long bus ride to and from the City Centre. Students may moan about their lot these days, but we had a whole different set of moans and digs a long way from the University was one of them.
These days as I wander around London, it seems most students have their own room in a modern block, somewhere near their University or College. But then they are expensive.
Even when I got into Hall for the third year of my course, it was still a long way from the University.
Incidentally, C wasn’t very lucky with the digs she shared with a girl called Sandra and had terrible trouble finding something where they could stay. In one case, the landlord wasn’t a man, any sane father would let near his daughters.
I think it’s a good idea and I wish the designers of the site well.
How Do Scammers Get Your Phone Number?
I’ve had my phone number here for about six months. Usually once, a day, I’m hold I have had an accident, my Windows computer needs fixing or some other scam. I say that the phone is registered with the Telephone Preference Service and usually say that if they’re telling me I have an accident, then would they please get lost. They usualy hang up pretty sharpish.
But how did they get my number and a name to go with it?
Few people have that link except my friends and the others probably include, BT, my bank, John Lewis and a couple of other shops, and perhaps a few on-line shops and couriers.
So who got a nice kickback from the scammers to give them my phone number and name and address?
After all, a verified name must be worth a few bob. so it is worth paying for.
It would be nice to find some little tow-rag, who has sold a few names and give them a few months in one of Her Majesty’s Prisons. That would surely encourage the others!
The Real Iranian Problem
A couple of weeks ago, I went to a lecture at the Geological Society of London about earthquakes. One thing said, was that Tehran is due a very large and damaging quake, because of the way they have developed the city.
Then in Cambridge last week, I had an Iranian taxi-driver and when I told him this, he said that most people in the city believe it and are incensed that their money is spent on unwanted vanity projects by the corrupt Iranian government. It was one of the reasons why he left Iran.
The Turkey/Iran area has always been earthquake-prone. And always will be. Remember Bam. The Wikipedia article pointed to, says some interesting things about Iran’s policy, including possibly moving the capital.
The Times today is saying that it can’t import the grain it needs because of sanctions stopping it being paid for. The sanctions are linked to non-compliance with international nuclear regulations. The nuclear regulations were in part put in place as a quid quo pro for American assistance over the Bam earthquake.
A Crap Cheap Lock
My second bedroom was fitted with a lock by Gerry, but I never received the keys when I bought the house.
So as I might be renting the room out during the Olympics, I felt it might not be a bad idea fit a new lock. I easily removed the faceplace from the lock to get at the screws that held it into the door and managed to price the lock from the door without much effort.
But when I came to fit the new lock, that I’d bought for ten pounds or so, I couldn’t get the faceplate off, as when it had been assembled one of the screwed had been jammed in at an angle. in the end I completely stripped the cross head of the strew, due to the large amount of plastic in whatever metal it was.
A Cheap Crap Lock
So as the picture shows, I will now have to buy a new lock again, just because the one I bought was so crap. The faceplate bent, whilst I was seeing if I could use a bit of brute force and ignorance to free the screw.
Alcohol Has Never Been Allowed On US Navy Ships – Wrong!
Anybody who knows anything about warships, knows those in the United States Navy are alcohol-free.
However, may years ago, I met a guy, who in the early-1960s had been an officer on a nuclear submarine in the United States Navy. They had been doing a joint exercise with the Royal Navy and he started the tale by saying that when the two navies work together, if possible all meetings between senior officers are held on Royal Navy ships, as food and drink is better. Especially on November 11th.
After this exercise the submarine went into Portsmouth for a bit of rest and recreation and to replenish supplies, before returning to the United States. The duties of the teller of this tale included getting the provisions. As one can imagine and especially in the early-1960s, lots of things they needed were not available in the naval base at Portsmouth, although they would be now. The only thing for which there wasn’t an obviously an easy substitute was the fresh orange juice. After all, Portsmouth isn’t exactly Florida. So the helpful men of the Senior Service substituted several hundred bottles of beer.
When he got back to the submarine, he was obviously rather nervous and decided to make a clean breast of it to the Captain. After all several members of the crew, if not all, now knew of the beer, so to ditch it would ruin his relationship with them. The Captain warned him not to do it again, said could he try a few bottles and provided he didn’t see any of the beer or anybody the remotest bit intoxicated, he would let the matter rest.
So where did they hide all of these bottles of beer, as you could imagine that secret space is a bit limited on a submarine?
They hid the bottles in the torpedo tubes.
Why Does My Computer Call Me Jim?
I know I’m called James, although not everybody who reads this blog knows that.
But why does this computer sometimes call me Jim. No-one does that. In fact it was my father’s nickname, so I wouldn’t have used it would I?
Does anybody know how to change this American rediculousness?
Incidentally, if anybody calls me Jim on the phone, I immediately put it down, as it is probably a scam.
Pudding Mill Lane Portal – 29th January 2012
These pictures taken on Friday, show that it’s progressing compared to the last time I visited.
The pictures were actually taken through the door window of a DLR train. as it left Pudding Mill Lane station in the direction of Bow Church station.
Around Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park
This park is based on the old Tower Hamlets Cemetery and is now a nature reserve as well.
I went on Friday to have a look round and took these pictures.
Note the daffodils and the derelict St. Clements Hospital. The War Memorial is still intact and hasn’t suffered from metal thieves.
The Anonymous Widower 