When not attending to garden tasks what other things have filled your day?

Discussion in 'The Village Square' started by Oreti, Jul 24, 2025.

  1. Doghouse Riley

    Doghouse Riley Hardy Maple

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    Thanks for the interest.
    The boiler is about seven years old, fitted by a golfing pal who was a heating engineer and gas certificated. But he retired early this year and is no longer licensed.
    The rest of the system is 26 years old, so I'm not surprised that the radiators need flushing. It's the usual symptom, cold at the bottom of a few and only warm at the top and none need bleeding. The boiler after working for a while, turns off the gas and the read-out says that it's reached its operating temperature although the thermostat in the hall is asking for more heat.
    So the sludge in the radiators is not letting the water circulate fast enough. The last "engineer" on his visit cleaned out the filter (on my insistance, they don't like doing it as it's a messy job), which improved things a bit.
    The problem is that some of these young guys aren't that experienced, having to deal with a large number of makes of boilers. They rely on what the information on their phone tells them, more than doing a proper investigation. The flush won't happen until the end of the month. The weather's a lot warmer so the boiler hasn't been on much today. So it's not a problem.
     
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    Last edited: Mar 4, 2026
  2. Doghouse Riley

    Doghouse Riley Hardy Maple

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    It was a golf day today, quite sunny and warm enough to not need wet weather gear. But several greens are still damp and show slight indentations where player's feet have been, which doesn't help your putting. But I didn't play that well today anyway.
    They need to "get the iron out," as soon as they dry out a bit.
    They're a ridiculous price I think my club paid over £6000 for ours a few years ago.

    One of these.



    Two minor irritations.

    My electric golf trolley went completely dead as we were coming off the course. I hoped that it wasn't the battery, as lithium batteries are really expensive, as it always shows a full charge after we come off, or occasionally just one bar below full.
    But the trolley could do with a good clean.
    When I got home, I plugged the battery into the charger and the light on the charger was "green" which meant it wasn't charging. It does that when the battery has been charged and it's turned itself off. So I thought, possibly a poor connection.
    So I got my aerosol switch cleaner that I use on my jukeboxes out and gave the battery, trolley and charger contacts a good spray, I put the battery back in the trolley and turned it on and it was working fine and showing nearly a full charge. So I put the battery back on the charger and it showed "red" which meant it was charging, I think I've dodged a bullet there.

    The other irritation was that as I was leaving the club, my car was telling me that the battery in the key fob needed changing. It kept bangin' on about it all the way home.

    I changed the battery a few weeks ago, because it whinged about it, when I got the same message, but I used a spare that I had for my last car, but ordered a couple of new ones. So I've put one of the new ones in "and it's happy now."
     
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    Last edited: Mar 4, 2026
  3. Oreti

    Oreti Hardy Maple

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    Haven't been in the mood for coming online or posting much in these last few days, too much worry has cast a shadow over our family.:(
    I have tried desperately to make contact with our family in the middle east but there is no communications. Watching the news and seeing the destruction in the capital where most of the family live is unbearably distressing....we just need to receive that message...' we are all ok'.

    Sad times indeed.
     
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  4. S-H

    S-H MacGyver in the Garden

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    Mostly everyone is okay over there, (as far as I know). It's just 98% panic, which is filling everyone up with fear. Communications are down in a lot of area. So again, that's 90% of the reason why panic is spreading.

    If you know their physical location, maybe we can use Google Earth to see if that area is alright - If it is, you'll feel better instantly. As now it'll only mean that communications are down.
     
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  5. Anniekay

    Anniekay Shovel Kicker

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    I hope you can get in touch soon @Oreti so that your mind can be eased. :(
     
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  6. Oreti

    Oreti Hardy Maple

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    Thank you @S-H and @Anniekay .

    Many have died and residential areas have been hit ,including sadly schools too.
    Some of our relatives are elderly so whilst their living environments might well be OK their physical and mental health is most likely suffering badly.
     
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  7. S-H

    S-H MacGyver in the Garden

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    Just made a few calls to find out what the situation is really like on the ground over there - Communications haven't been destroyed as much as they have been deliberately shut down by the local authorities, (they don't want to take any chances of enemy spys on the ground assisting in the targeting of guided weapons).

    Situation on the news looks a lot worse than it actually is. Therefore please don't take anymore anxiety. As I'm sure everyone is fine. Communications blackout is just a precaution local authorities have in certain areas.
     
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  8. Logan

    Logan Strong Ash

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    @Oreti i hope that you can find out soon.
     
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  9. Jersey Devil

    Jersey Devil Garden Pest

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    I trust S-H. They just can't communicate now. But soon you will hear from them. Stay strong
     
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  10. Anniekay

    Anniekay Shovel Kicker

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    Housework and laundry got done early and Rags got in the shower with me, well, she didn't just "getin" I had to coax her since she doesn't prefer to bathe. Then after I got her mostly towelled dry she got a serious case of " The Zoomies !! :smt044

    At least she smells good now !! :chuckle:
     
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  11. Logan

    Logan Strong Ash

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    My dogs used to roll about on the carpet after having a bath, it got all the loose fur out, couldn't see the carpet for it.
     
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  12. Doghouse Riley

    Doghouse Riley Hardy Maple

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    Our younger son's stepdaughter is working in Dubai on a long term contract.
    She's being quite philosophical about the situation.
    She sent him a photo of herself smiling and wearing a large metal colander on her head.
     
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  13. Doghouse Riley

    Doghouse Riley Hardy Maple

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    She obviously sent the photo to reassure her parents that she was OK and coping with a situation, about which she has no control and perhaps it could relieve some of the stress of their concern for her. It's a very "British" sort of attitude.
     
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  14. Doghouse Riley

    Doghouse Riley Hardy Maple

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    I received my year-end gas and electricity bill yesterday, well I received an e-mail to tell me that it was available as a pdf on-line, from my account on their website.
    I pay the same amount by direct debit monthly.
    I send in my readings each month and they calculate the bills four times a year, so you can see how you're doing.
    You tend to build up a credit in the warmer months. If you start using a lot more or less energy, they'll suggest changing your direct debit.
    This year, I've ended up owing them 63p. So it was a pretty good projection.
    My direct debit won't change. You can pay your bills, each quarter, so they've never got any of "your money." But I prefer to pay a regular amount each month. It's less hassle.
     
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  15. Anniekay

    Anniekay Shovel Kicker

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    Over here we get a monthly bill that is sent by snail mail. You recieve it around the 10th of every month and it has to be paid by the 20th. They have a program where you can divy up your total yearly bill into 12 equal payments. This saves people from having large bills during very hot or very cold months. I Don't need to use it but one of my neighbors has a very large house, 5 bedrooms, 4 baths and her electric heating bill is 500 bucks during extreme temps, so, she signed up for it.
     
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