Nice people thread part 3- Nice as pie

PasturesNew

Tomorrow I'm driving to a sibling's, kind of ended up promising the earth. First it's a bit of the coastal footpath for a walk, then a walk in the other direction to a small harbour and our favourite pub for a pub lunch; after that it's a walk back to theirs and .... dunno, so far all we can think of is "slob out in front of the telly" as they're on call so can't go far afield.

I win brownie points though for being able to come up with stuff to do that's not involving driving (roads full of caravans), yet doesn't mean they're sitting there all day in case the phone rings.

GDB2222

lostinrates wrote: »

GDB how many is ''a lot'' and how big is your sunny patch? we are having a sunflower competition on the Greenfingered bored. I don't know why I'm going along with it....all mine are dwarf sunflowers :rotfl:

Well, we have 5 pots with say 4-6 seedlings in each. The patch is big enough for say 2 full size plants, and I could probably find another couple of spots for another one or two. (Not bad for a 29p packet of seeds from Lidl. The packet of sweet peas has not germinated, though.)

For anyone worried about meeting strange people off the internet, I could arrange to abandon a pot of seedlings somewhere. Then you could wait until the coast is clear and then swoop in and grab them.

GDB2222

Out to Israel on Wednesday and back on Saturday? So, they'll have two days there? 2 hour check-ins and 4 hour flights. That's a lot of travelling. Hope they sleep on the plane. I've never got the hang of that, even for night flights.

GDB2222

My news is that youngest son has had another promotion at work. He's gone from intern on £200 a month, to intern on £400, then £600, and now they've hired him into a proper job on £15k a year. He says that £15k is not enough, but I think it's very good for aged 19, unqualified, and living at home.

He's enjoying it so much that he's planning to stay on and extend his gap year by another year, totally ignoring my pleas that uni tuition fees are going up. Not that he's had any uni offers that he wants to take up anyway.

Pobby

JUst a quick pop in. Can`t remember if I told you I have the kiss off from the people I contract too . However I have my fighting hat on as the letter was all over the place . Talked about a contract that never exisited and it is clear they no nothing of the 1993 EU commercial agents directive . Anyway, off to family next week so will let it rest until I get back.

Got incapacity claims and dla on the go with support from my doc . Heck in the good days I paid in tons so no fear there . Sadly my wife is having to work but not only has she her various compny and personal pensions kjicking in next month , her state and serps follow in a year . Also a better tax code .

Decided to sell my big saloon car and my wifes car and get something newer and economical . Had a short drive today , only about a mile but it made me panic so think my driving days are at an end at the moment .

Thought today , in over 40 years of working I have been sacked only twice . First at about 22 in a job I hated and then now . However I have brought in a massive amount of new customers for this lot who will still have ongoing benefits . Hopefully I might get a specialist solicitor to do a no win/ no fee.

It is ironic the the professional body I belong to has gone out of business last week. Sign of the times . However I still have the list of solicitors that were on board with them .

Oh well off to see sis-in-law for a week . Poor soul is so worried since idiot husband left for the younger model. The &^%$er even put a picture of him and the younger model on Face Book . How insensitive . I never had brothers and sisters and I have known her since was a kid so more like a kid sister . She earns very little and still needs hand outs from ex .

Worried when the house sale is forced on her . The half she will get won`t buy anything to speak of .

Anyway , we plod on . Trying not to worry about the future .

Generali

Sue, I am very sorry to hear about your travails. Hopefully the below will be of some help. Otherwise if you call in a handyman (you don't need a plumber or a repairman) then that should do it.

Right-ho; washing machines. I assume you have one that loads through the front not the top. If it loads from the top then it's ok but the below won't help.

Tools. 1 adjustable wrench. 1 flat head screwdriver. 1 crosshead screwdriver. 1 small cup, glass or clean yoghurt pot. Some rags or an old towel (washing machines are wet). Get these before you start.

Firstly, washing machines do not have bases so it may well be possible to rattle the piece out. Get a friend or 2 over to watch/help because washing machines are very heavy (they have a great big block of concrete inside). Also, wear shoes to do this job. A washing machine landing on a bare toe really, really hurts. Sadly I know this from experience.

Unplug it and turn off the taps to it and unscrew the pipes from the wall. You may need a monkey wrench to help get a bit of leverage if the pipes have been screwed in for a while. Undo the pipes slowly as they will leak a little bit (they'll be full of water) and you might not have turned the taps off properly. If water squirts everywhere then do the pipe back up again and have another go at turning off the tap.

Then find the waste pipe. It is a grey plastic pipe with a rubbery bit of plastic on the end usually. It will either be hooked into a vertical pipe or connected to a horizontal one with a jubilee clip. If the latter then you'll need to undo the screw on the clip to get it off. The waste pipe might be behind the washing machine in which case you'll need to start taking it out and then reach behind to undo it.

Then, if the machine is under a worktop, you'll need to pull it out. The easiest way to do this is to reach inside and pull it from the inside of the drum. It may well be stuck into the floor a little as washing machines are heavy. Once you get them moving it gets easier. As you have a bad back you may want to get friends/kids to help. Once the machine starts coming out you'll need to take off the waste pipe if you haven't already.

Once you have the machine out, have a look on the floor where it was previously. The part may just be lying there. If it isn't and you want to get the top off it is simple (usually) but you need to take some care.

First check again that the machine isn't plugged in. Try turning it on. See if any lights come on. Then check again that it's not plugged in. You sure? Good.

Now familiarise yourself with what a capacitor looks like.

http://www.splung.com/fields/images/capacitors/capacitors.jpg

There may well be a couple inside your machine. DO NOT TOUCH THESE.

Look at the back of the machine. The top will almost certainly be held in place by 2 screws, one in each corner. If the top of the machine overhangs the back then they may well be under the top so look up from under the overhang. Unscrew these and put them in a small cup and put the small cup on your worktop where it can't be touched by you or anyone else. Then try pulling up the lid from the back. It'll be clipped in place at the front in some way so it may need some pressure but not a great deal of force. If it won't budge, try seeing if it needs to click back or forward or perhaps there are also screws at the front along the sides of the machine too. Do not force the lid. If you can't get it off then you'll need to call someone in unfortunately.

Once you have the lid off you'll probably be able to see the part. If you start poking around inside, don't use anything metal and DON'T TOUCH THE CAPACITORS.

To put the whole thing back together you basically do the same thing but in reverse. Just be careful not to split or make the pips inaccessible with the machine.

neverdespairgirl

GDB2222 wrote: »

Out to Israel on Wednesday and back on Saturday? So, they'll have two days there? 2 hour check-ins and 4 hour flights. That's a lot of travelling. Hope they sleep on the plane. I've never got the hang of that, even for night flights.

three days - the night flight on Wednesday got them there about 5am, so they had today, then Friday and Sat, and back on the 1am flight over night.

It's a 4.5 - 5 hour flight, and long check-in, you're right.

Generali

Pobby wrote: »

Hopefully I might get a specialist solicitor to do a no win/ no fee.

Very sorry to hear of your problems old thing. It makes my life seem very jolly by comparison.

I'd recommend either PM'ing NDG before you start or, perhaps better, signing up to fool.co.uk and posting on their legal issues board (link). There are a couple of solicitors that post on there that offer excellent and comprehensive advice and will often help with writing initial letters etc..

It's not very ((((hugs)))) over there but you will get a sympathetic ear and some good advice.

LydiaJ

Pobby wrote: »

Oh well off to see sis-in-law for a week . Poor soul is so worried since idiot husband left for the younger model. The &^%$er even put a picture of him and the younger model on Face Book . How insensitive . I never had brothers and sisters and I have known her since was a kid so more like a kid sister . She earns very little and still needs hand outs from ex .

They often do that. One of my friends covered his face book with updates about moving into the flat with the replacement model, complete with comments about assembling the bed etc. Oh, and updated his info to "in a relationship". His teenage children were not happy.

Sadly, people that do this seem to be so convinced that the new partner is the most wonderful person in the universe, and the new relationship the most wonderful thing that has ever happened, that they are entirely blind to the idea that not everyone agrees, or that people may be hurt (ie even more hurt than they already are) if they go on about it.

SingleSue

Thanks Generali.....moving the machine itself is not so bad, me and eldest had to move it a few months ago when the external pipe became blocked and water was peeing out everywhere, so that bit sounds easy enough.

Think I may need to raid the tool box locked in my brother's shed (my garden, his shed) for the tools as my tools consist of a knife...a knife...and er a knife. I find the steak knife particularly useful although that is helped by the fact the tip of it came off at some repair or another in the past. A butter knife is also helpful, but you need bigger screws for it to work well......

And when things are being particularly stubborn, I kick them or hit them with something hard...that tends to work although they also tend to end up broken.

Still a daunting list though....eeekk!