2025 Quick Daily Posts

[richardandtracy]

Need to do that with our bathroom wallpaper. This has been a long, cold and iggy winter, and the bathroom wallpaper is showing signs of black mould and needs a good wash. This is despite having a dehumidifier operating whenever the room is steamy. As the wallpaper is also peeling in a few places (what possessed any previous owner to put wallpaper in a bathroom, I simply don't know), the easiest way to clean it would be in the washing machine...

Today is freezing down here in Kent. I came close to putting the heating back on this morning.

Regards,

Richard

[Mabel Figworthy]

Wallpaper and carpet in the bathroom is one of those things (two of those things?) that I couldn't quite get my head round when I came to this country....

[richardandtracy]

Wallpaper, I agree, it's nuts.
Carpet.. Have you walked on a non-carpeted surface in a normally heated UK bathroom (13C if you're lucky)? It's NOT a pleasant experience.

We put a waterproof carpet in our last house's bathroom. That was nice.
Our current house has a vinyl floor covering, and it's really not very pleasant when the heating's not on. It's not too bad when it is on, but, it would be nice to have a water resistant, warm to the touch, floor surface. And I do need to insulate the outside 9" solid walls and barely insulated ceiling on the cat-slide section of the ceiling.

Regards,

Richard

[Mabel Figworthy]

Back in the old country most bathrooms are what here is now the newfangled "wet room", i.e. entirely tiled. Very convenient, and with the odd bath mat to step onto when coming out of the shower, perfectly feasible

[Mabel Figworthy]

But then I did grow up in a centrally heated flat.... (albeit with the bathroom against an outside wall)

[richardandtracy]

The first bathroom I can remember was in a Vicwardian House (not sure if late Victorian or Edwardian), and was off the mid-landing half way up the stairs. It had 3 outside walls, all solid 9" thick. It had an external rivetted galvanized iron cold water tank sitting un-insulated on the flat bathroom roof and a gas powered hot water geyser on the wall. No heating other than the geyser (which had an open flue to draw bathroom air into the burner and then out the exhaust in the wall) and lovely dark brown linoleum on the floor complemented the gloss duck egg green walls. The bath was a claw footed cast iron monster. The window was a Victorian Sliding Sash window that didn't seal well. It was my grandparents house. The central heating that my Grandfather put in to the house did not extend to the bathroom. In later years they moved the bath to one of the bedrooms and the new bathroom had space for a toilet as well as a radiator.

Our last house (1898) sort of gave me flashbacks when we first bought it. It had a bathroom, with a claw footed cast iron monster of a bath. The linoleum was a lighter shade of brown, the sash window fitted as badly, there was no heating, the geyser didn't work, and there was no galvanized iron tank on the roof. The room was painted, this time, gloss pink. As was, for some reason, the inside of the bath. After our first winter and having the toilet cistern growing ice crystals, we did something to insulate and heat it. That winters day, with four fireplaces going full blast, the air temperature in the warmest room in the house was -6C.

Regards,

Richard

[Mabel Figworthy]

Ah, those were the days

[Serinde]

Ah, yes. Imagine the shock to the system I got in the mid-70s when I came from the centrally-heated privilege of Chicago (where, despite this, we still occasionally had ice inside the single glazing on the windows in January) to Scotland with its no central heating anywhere. Yes, there were open fires; yes, there were shilling-gobbling electric bar fires in our university student rooms, but there were no radiators in bathrooms -- just a bar fire operated by a pull-cord up by the ceiling. And the windows were always open, no matter the time of year. And the bathrooms were dank, even in domestic homes where the wife (it was always the wife) was terribly house-proud. No wonder people were tough.

[richardandtracy]

That's it. Summer's over.

We had around 1" (approx 2.5cm) of rain last night. Ozzie (our slightly demented Maine Coon) required that we let him out into it at 5am and would brook no disagreement. At 6.45am his language was foul when I let him in. Maine Coons mutter, and his muttering was on full, and his mood was on 'deeply disgruntled'. He was quite damp, but not as wet as I expected.
When I went out to the garage to get the moped to commute into work a bit later, the saddle - which had been clean yesterday evening - was covered in gritty, damp, Maine Coon size paw prints. I'm pretty sure I know where he waited until I opened the kitchen door at 6:45.

Yesterday was lovely. Shame that for most of the day I was at a windowless test centre in Fareham (near Portsmouth) involved with freezers. On a couple of occasions had to go into a huge environmental test chamber in my shirt sleeves while the chamber was at -50C (-58F). Was VERY careful not to touch anything metallic at that temperature, as my skin would have stuck faster than if I'd used superglue. In the end, we proved the plastic I was testing was suitable at -40C (-40F), which was very good news.

Most materials have a temperature below which they become brittle and can shatter like glass. Rubber is one, and if dipped in liquid Nitrogen can be smashed. The temperature at which this happens is called the 'Glass-Rubber Transition Temperature'. The same happens to steels and most plastics. The problem is, very small changes in the mix of the material can make a huge difference. Some steels can shatter at 0C, and with a composition change of 0.1% reduction in some of the minor constituents - like Sulphur - can then go to -20C before shattering. I was trying a new mix of ABS for a plastic pallet for a box*. The old stuff went brittle at -35C, the new stuff is OK at -45C (great news), but it's only got about 0.5% composition difference. I wish there was a way to predict it from the mix without needing to test it. Anyway I now have enough information to do two further tests to find data for a standardized impact test (called a 'Charpy Impact Test'). That way I'll know what energy is absorbed in a material that passes the test and in a material that fails the test so we don't have to do drops in a freezer in the future.

*A sensible question is 'Why not use wood for the pallet?', and it's one we've asked our customer dozens of times. The reason is that a wood pallet is not recyclable in the correct category. Our customer is short in their 'Plastics that can be recycled' category compared to their corporate targets and not in the 'Material From Sustainable Sources' target. It is utterly mad.

Regards,

Richard

[Mabel Figworthy]

We just never think of all the testing and research involved in things, do we? (Or perhaps other people do and I am just particularly oblivious). Glad you got the result you wanted - but as you say, their reason for using plastic not wood is just bonkers...

[Serinde]

Our customer is short in their 'Plastics that can be recycled' category compared to their corporate targets and not in the 'Material From Sustainable Sources' target. It is utterly mad.

Not just mad. Deeply irresponsible. Who in the name of creation sets these "targets", and are they guidelines or legally binding?

[richardandtracy]

They are corporate self-set targets, reporting to shareholders and all the other bigwigs who don't actually do anything except spout buzzwords to conferences of other buzzwordophiles (is that a word? If so, I'd class myself as a buzzwordophobe.). It's a target culture, and hitting targets is the ONLY thing that matters. Annual bonuses get decided on number of targets met.

In another manifestation, the same target culture is what makes for the 8:30 am appointment scramble at the doctor's. The target is 'There are no appointments bumped from day 1 onto day 2'. So, to guarantee no appointments hang over to tomorrow from today, the doctor's surgery only books appointments for today. The unforseen side effect is that you can't book an appointment for tomorrow or later, EVEN IF YOU WANT TO, because that would mean the target is missed.

Target culture leads to all sorts of stupidities, but the target setters end up feeling that they have done their jobs because the numbers never lie. Apparently. Especially if you don't look closely at the unprofessional behaviour provoked by the targets.

Regards,

Richard

[Mabel Figworthy]

On a more optimistic note, I have hit my bee-saving target!

I was met by something a bit unexpected this morning - a bee floating in the toilet bowl. How it got there, seeing that the lid was closed, I have no idea, but fortunately I noticed him, and the fact that one leg was twitching. Scooped him up in a glass, put him on kitchen paper to dry and hurray, he was ready to be put outside

[fccs]

A bee in the toilet? Boy, the tales he could tell.

As for carpet in a bathroom…no thanks. Rugs are fine because they can be washed but carpet? No nope never. lol

And Richard, reading your post about all the testing is interesting, as is Mabel’s comment that many don’t think what all goes on before the products become available. I’m reading a book right now called The World in a Grain. It’s about sand…yes, sand. I’ve only just started it but it’s fascinating. I have never really thought about sand, other than the obvious when at the beach. (Friends and I rented a car in Hawaii a few years ago and were told there would be an extra charge if there was sand in the car when it was returned. Did I mention we were in Hawaii??? lol)

[Serinde]

Richard, it's this sort of thinking that makes me glad I'm dealing with NHS Scotland, for all its faults. For example, DH's respiratory medicine nurses can request his local GP practice to draw bloods in a month's time to make sure his new medication isn't killing his liver. Yes, they do get paid to do this for the hospital, but it's money sloshing around in the same system, because they are aware that we have to drive 45-60 minutes to get to our local hospital (and back, of course). I'm not sure how we'd cope in your neck of the woods.

Mabel, I'm so glad you saved it. We occasionally find exhausted bummy bees (as my sons called them), and it's wonderful what happens when you put a toothpick with a drop of honey on it within reach. Was trying to figure out which sort this one is, but it's too bedraggled for me to really see the markings properly.

[richardandtracy]

Interesting Holiday.

MIL has about a 10-15 minute memory, except for some things which she remembers for weeks.
At least she's feeling pretty well, even though she's convinced there are people in the basement & loft of her bungalow plotting to steal everything. Her memory is so short we're trying to convince her to consider a nursing home. She needs someone available almost 24hrs. She called us out on Monday because of the people she overheard plotting in the basement when she crept down the cellar stairs to find who they were. She's bed bound, and doesn't have a cellar... But it's so real.

Apart from that, chopped a few trees down and then up, rescued 10 daisy clumps from a building site and moved furniture around. All very exciting. Boy, was it cold and dull here in the SE. Most evenings was asleep by 8:30pm.

Regards,

Richard

[Mabel Figworthy]

That's quite an Easter weekend you've had Richard - very productive by the sound of it, but MIL obviously quite challenging. If only her "hallucinations" were more pleasant!

[Serinde]

First, it's taken all week to get back on the forum for some reason. I was away up north as usual and got the dreaded 404, which I discovered even here when I returned. All well now, but nasty!!

Richard, your MIL's GP (I know, I know) ought to be able to prescribe an anti-psychotic to help with the hallucinations. These have certainly helped my BIL. I should also say that the only way he is able to stay at home is because he is never, ever alone: either SIL is there or he's at his "lunch club" (9.30–3.45 day centre). Good friends entertain him if she has to do something like attend a Dr appointment. How you all manage given the distance is almost a miracle.

[richardandtracy]

Enya went to bed at 11pm last night and all was well.
At 2am this morning Tracy woke up & went downstairs. Our dear Squeaky, age 19years 7 months, had died in his sleep & was cold curled up on the sofa.


We'll bury him in the garden this evening. He will have company, I fear we've buried another 5 over the years - Jack, Gryff, Floyd, Fluffy & Rooster.

Squeaky spent 5hrs 30 minutes on my legs yesterday, and then tried to get my supper, so had to be hauled off, like below.

Even though his passing was expected, when it actually happened, it was utterly unexpected. We will all miss him.

Regards,

Richard

[Mabel Figworthy]

However much you think you expect these things, they always hit you like a sledgehammer anyway. How lovely for him to have spent so much of his last day close to you, and pass so peacefully. But what a gaping hole he will leave in the household.