The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

GDB2222

PN it is annoying when stuff rattles around. It might be worth investing in some Blu Tac. Sticking that to the letterbox flap adds some weight so it may not flap so much. And/or dampens the sound.

I've sellotaped the letterbox shut once, when it was annoying me, but that's not a long term solution.

chris_m

PasturesNew wrote: »

I liked the bit where you can click on "gusts" on the left - and hover over to see current gust speeds

It's pretty good - although I have my doubts about some of it.

Wind speeds feel about right but it says we've had 0.08" of rain since 01:00 - the puddles in the road outside would contradict such a low figure

ivyleaf

Yes, our letterbox has blu-tac on it. On very windy nights I've been known to stick the flap down with gaffa tape, but then of course I
have to remember to remove it before the postman comes

Well done James :T :T brilliant news.

So sad to hear about the boy in Norfolk though

silvercar

D!jà vu.

I have an eco-flap. Very easy to fit and no wind flap noises.

Conrad

Have you noticed how these big storms and hurricanes have such middle class names?

Where's storm Kevin?

vivatifosi

That looks an interesting device silver. Does it stand proud of the door?

I have one of the plates with brushes on for mine. The banging was awful until we fitted that, now much better. Your device looks better though. Mine is more like this one, but all brown to fit in with a wooden finish door:

http://www.diy.com/departments/bq-pvc/-brush-letterbox-draught-excluder-l279mm/237302_BQ.prd

Useful_Woman

I have a TV guide mag subscription. I have had it some time & felt like a change. I looked on the website to find it is the only TV guide this company offer. I have asked to cancel the subscription. The company are asking me to wait 14 weeks. I don't want to wait that long. What are my rights? I have no terms and conditions only a letter confirming the subscription fees.

silvercar

vivatifosi wrote: »

That looks an interesting device silver. Does it stand proud of the door?

I have one of the plates with brushes on for mine. The banging was awful until we fitted that, now much better. Your device looks better though. Mine is more like this one, but all brown to fit in with a wooden finish door:

http://www.diy.com/departments/bq-pvc/-brush-letterbox-draught-excluder-l279mm/237302_BQ.prd

It does stand proud of the door, but it is dark brown and at ankle level, so it isn't that noticeable.

PasturesNew

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silvercar wrote: »

D!jà vu.

I have an eco-flap. Very easy to fit and no wind flap noises.

It's the bit outside that's being lifted by updraught.

My wall mounted postbox used to flap open, I used blu tack on that. The wind would hold the flap open, then the rain could go straight inside and soak it ... so I had to do that one.

The thing with these things is that while it's happening you don't want to faff around in the dark outside, having tracked down the blu-tack by inadequate indoor low energy lightbulbs ....

By the time it's daylight you've forgotten

In my house I have one lightbulb per room (where they work) - and, while they are bright enough for you to see furniture etc, you certainly can't read or go round "looking for things" as it's all a bit murky.

I LOVE that they name storms these days as it makes it so easy to differentiate between the various windy days and storm days etc - and to know if a particular notable storm is coming, here, or passed. I hadn't realised that this one, Aileen, was what I was getting last night though - I'd seen the name and thought it was due today ... but this morning's news said Aileen is in the East this morning, so that's the one I had last night.

Naming them helps me to know where I am - and differentiate between "bit windy today", "and today" ... and "ah, this is an actual storm passing through".

In the South West it's usually/often windy, so harder to spot the difference without the names; before naming it was always just "bl00dy windy again", without any appreciation for different fronts moving through.

PasturesNew

At the weekend I bought a random book of the sort I like... some (dead by now) old person's memories of an area. This one was a woman whose father had died and she grew up in a children's home. The title was uninspiring. 20p or 50p (can't recall right now) I bought it as it was "of this county"....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ednas-Story-Memories-Childrens-Service/dp/0904939316

And it was really interesting in the end! She'd been 4 when handed over, so you wonder if she ever saw her mum/sisters again and if she were beaten. She had a great life at the home - and saw her mum/sisters. She went to the beach and on trips and ate well. They were in an affluent area and they had to go out "begging" door to door, which seemed pleasant as they were going to houses where people were kind. There was an old chap who used to give them all a shilling every March in memory of his late wife - and they'd see him in the street and he'd give them sweets/nuts. They liked him. He died and some of them went to his funeral.

It was a very well run, kindly, home. Which is lovely to hear.

But you realise the "lost family history" of these books - there are people out there that have no idea that their ancestors/family are mentioned in the book as there are no indexes.

One day, when re-visiting her old home area she bumped into another girl from the school, who she knew as Daisy - she ended up marrying Daisy's brother-in-law. When I looked into "who are these people" I found Daisy, but that wasn't her actual name .... I also think that maybe Daisy's husband left her and had a bigamous marriage, but without spending money on certificates (won't EVER happen) it'll just be a whim/idea.

She also mentioned some chap who sold them buckets of water at the beach and said you knew never to go inside his hut to look at his pictures .... and never to be alone with him. And I'm curious to find out what his name was.

I'll keep buying these little books where I find them and find them "in some way interesting" as I love them. This one was only "interesting" as it was based, in part, in the county where I am living.

Books titled "Memories of Old Bob who lived in this village" don't seem interesting on the surface, but some really are informative and packed full of individual real people .... but with no index they're a hidden treasure.

Is there a name for "Collectors of weird old books"?

I am compiling indexes of these old books - and will do a bit more research on the people, then will publish the information, perchance somebody can find this information about their ancestor exists and finds it worth a read.

For Jewish NPs, "vaguely interested" enough to click through - here's one of a 7 year old in 1939 who came to England with her sister via Kinder Transport and lived in Leeds.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tiger-Attic-Memories-Kindertransport-Growing/dp/0226529479

Did she see her family again??? .... yes she went to America to join her mother after the War.