Today I shall be Mainly...

[Big Kev]

Good stuff
My granddaughter's into triathlon these days, she'd be doing a lot better if the didn't keep falling off her bike

[Sue]

Good stuff
My granddaughter's into triathlon these days, she'd be doing a lot better if the didn't keep falling off her bike

Eve had a go at that but is now i to open water swimming, like her mum, Julia

[Stanley]

That's a hell of a long time to be swimming in cold fresh water Sue! Amazing that people do it voluntarily.
I shall be in the shed again today working on the non-ferocious bits. The weather looks good again today......

[Sue]

That's a hell of a long time to be swimming in cold fresh water Sue! Amazing that people do it voluntarily.
I shall be in the shed again today working on the non-ferocious bits. The weather looks good again today......

Morning

Stanley they wear wet suits, have a float attached to their waists, and are accompanied by boats leading the way at all times. However I can only agree, i can’t get my head round swimming for so long. She was second in her age, (45-49 years) beaten by her friend who she trains with and 78 th out of 306 overall. The fastest person did it in about 4.5 hours. Her time was considerably better than many much younger than herself. I must admit I was anxious to hear the news that she was out of the water. Eve was there to greet and hug her, and took the photo. I think Eve is one very proud daughter.

Yesterday was definitely a cleaning day, plus lunch out. Today I just have the bathroom to titivate but the kitchen needs a good clean. We put the bits of the top of the hob in the dishwasher last night which helps. Of course some of it was cleaned when I spilt my grape mixture the other day . Then its an omelette for lunch, put the garden furniture away, check our closing down list and away to St Malo where we are staying overnight.the forecast is good so we should get a nice afternoon there.

Have a good day all

[Stanley]

Going to St Malo overnight sounds like a sensible move Sue. I hop[e the day goes well....



Simple task this morning. Carry on with refining the crank bearing. Careful milling, rubbing down on fine emery paper and finally marking both halves with witness marks. Tomorrow I shall address the oil reservoir.....

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed for an hour before breakfast and second sleep. Then I might have a walk out to Town Square to do some veggies shopping as I will need to cook shortly.... It's going to be too hot to do anything serious....
(Our weather is being capricious and this week we get Indian Summer!)

[Sue]

Morning

Its an early start, we want to be at the port for 7 as we have had a message to say the boat will be full and loading will take longer than usual. We got away from the house about 2.00 pm but did not get down to walk on the beach at St Malo as we had a puncture just before we reached the hotel. Actually it wasn’t a puncture but the tyre was ripped on the edge inside the car body. Very strange.

We will arrive in Portsmouth at about 6.15 pm and will stay overnight

Have a good day, I believe it will be warm. It was 30 plus degrees here yesterday

[Stanley]

You are up early Sue! Have a good trip and I'll be back later......

[Stanley]

This morning's task was fitting the two bolts that will hold the crank bearing halves together. Careful measuring, checking and drilling and I have decided not to counterbore the back bearing to make the bolts long enough to capture the foot of the con-rod. Instead I have found some 4BA threaded rod and I shall make the fastenings out of that.

[Stanley]

I decided today was a good day for veggie shopping so I have spent £20 at Chaudrey's and it's all home now and waiting until I am ready. Probably Wednesday or Thursday.
I treated myself to one of Mandy's salad butties as I watched the traffic. It's 100% sunny and getting warm, nice to be back home and sat down!

[Stanley]

I shall be in the shed for an hour as usual and then later, I shall be picking meds up from Well Pharmacy. Looks like another good day!

[Sue]

Morning

What a beautiful day yesterday, although we did not take advantage of it. We had a very nice cabin and we both sat in there and read all day. At lunchtime we got talking to another couple whilst we were queuing for the restaurant to open. We decided to share a table and it was nearly 2.30 when we left as we chatted so much. Bob had a sleep but I read my book. We arrived at Portsmouth at 6.30 and out pf the port by 7.15. By 8.00 we were eating at the restaurant at the hotel. We didn’t need much so just shared a sharing starter. It was hot, 28 degrees and it has been hot all night. I have hardly slept but Bob has been sound for hours.

We are booked in for breakfast at 8 and hope to be on the road soon after. It will be a long slow drive on our space saver tyre, we will lunch with the girls in Coventry and should be home by 5

Have a good day all

[Stanley]

That sounds like a fairly painless trip Sue. I hope all goes well today and you are indeed home by early this evening. I've never had one of those low speed spare tyres, always had 'proper' ones. They sound like a pain.




More progress with the con-rod and crank bearing. This morning I drilled the bearing 3/8" for the crank pin. I said yesterday that I was going to use threaded rod instead of counterboring the bearing but this morning I decided the bolts were the tidier solution so I bored the bearing and then bored the foot of the con rod for the bolts. The last image is of the con rod fitted to the bearing. Tomorrow I shall make and fit the the oil reservoir and its plug.

[Sue]

Stanley the biggest problem is storage. The damaged wheel does not fit where the space saver was, it is now in the boot where all our packing was, so we have to do a complete repack. The fruit , bags of clothes and dirty washing are where the space saver was. The damaged wheel is now a container for other small bags.

[Stanley]

[Big Kev]

I've never had one of those low speed spare tyres, always had 'proper' ones. They sound like a pain.

My Skoda Yeti didn't have a spare wheel, it came with an aerosol can with a sealing foam in it. OK if the tyre just had a nail, or similar in it, but you were reliant on a recovery truck if it was any worse as there was no jack or wheel brace either. I did use the sealant once when I caught a tyre on a rock and put a hole in the sidewall, it got me home from Harrogate.

[Sue]

A sealant wouldn't have soled our tyre

20230903_164342.jpg

[PanBiker]

Been on to Skipton on the bus today to get some new trainers.

Just getting ready now to go round to the monthly Bosom Friends cancer support meeting.

[Stanley]

Did you decide on a cause for the failure Sue?
Once I have finished dancing round with joy because of Ken's reappearance I shall go in the shed and spend an hour on my con-rod. No mistakes allowed now I am so far advanced with this! I thought I might be veggie cooking later but I think I'll get away with it for at least one more day.....

[Sue]

Did you decide on a cause for the failure Sue?
Once I have finished dancing round with joy because of Ken's reappearance I shall go in the shed and spend an hour on my con-rod. No mistakes allowed now I am so far advanced with this! I thought I might be veggie cooking later but I think I'll get away with it for at least one more day.....

Morning

No Stanley, we have no idea what caused this. It is one of the original tyres on the car but has not done so many miles. We mainly use mine in the UK, being more economical . Bob will hopefully take it to the garage today and see what they say. The space saver held up well and we were home by 4 having stopped at Tesco on the way.

Whilst a way our gas was turned off for pipe replacement so we had no gas. It was too late to reconnect us so hopefully they will come today. We were expecting this so had bought food accordingly as we have a gas hob but electric oven. However what we weren’t expecting was being sent a £30 just eat voucher so we could ´have a hot meal’ last night. We had a long awaited curry However it will be a cold shower this morning.

Today will be Tesco delivery, wait for the gas man, replace the tyre, go and have my hair cut ( its been 8 weeks, I normally have it cut every 4 to 5 weeks) and deliver Wendy’s bag of stuff we brought home for her. The peaches and potatoes went mouldy as they eventually had to travel where the space saver wheel was and it was mighty hot in there. Luckily most of the potato crop stayed in France, we only brought the damaged potatoes home. The cooking apples survived as did most of the pairs,

This afternoon is a bit ( too hot for more) of garden tidying, its even wilder than my hair, then its a 50 minute studio pilates session.

Have a good day all.

[Stanley]

All in all an eventful home coming Sue. I hope you get the gas sorted today along with the other jobs. That tyre looks to me like a structural failure..... It shouldn't have happened.



As you can see I decided to finish the cutting to size of the foot of the con rod before going further. The first side was easy but I made a bold decision with the other side when you consider the state of my eyes, I decided to cut the meat off by hand with the hacksaw. It turned out well, I was surprisingly accurate and eased the second cut considerably. Then I took out the top bolt and drilled the oil hole down through into the actual bearing. I cleaned all my cuts up and finished up ready to do what I promised yesterday, drill and tap the oil reservoir and make its plug.

[Sue]

Thats what we think about the tyre too, Stanley

[Stanley]

Go for their throats Sue. you have a case!
I shall be in the shed for an hour as usual, this morning finishing my con-rod and bearing with luck. Then, after second sleep, I shall be cooking veggies.....

[Sue]

Morning

Stanley , Bob says the tyre is 5 years old so they won’t do anything. The replacement has been ordered and will be there on Monday. At the same time the garage will check the car for anything that could have caused the damage.

I didn’t get a lot done yesterday, just a bit of dead heading in the garden, hair cut and some washing. I had a dodgy tum which often happens when we have been travelling so long. I also have a very dull ache in my back, the sort that makes you feel sick, no pain killers will shift it. Its a bit easier this morning.

The issue with the gas reconnection is difficult, ie we are not reconnected. Apparently they never did ours so the whole job has to be done ie dig up the road outside the house, traffic lights etc. Then at 4.00 pm they found the new pipe Would not thread through the old one due to a double bend in the old pipe so there was a big discussion about digging up our drive or the pavement and moving the gas metre . Apparently they are not allowed to dig up garage floors which would solve the problem. Our drive is the fifth one we have had as there is stream running underneath , so several years ago we splashed out an expensive one which has been great, we don’t want them to dig it up. I asked if they could dig up the garden instead but that would not work. Anyway the got permission to dig up the pavement…today. Ie we still have no gas and it will be another cold shower this morning.

It will be another warm but cloudy day, I shall carry on dead heading in the garden, after I come back from a pedicure. Have a good day all

[Stanley]

That sounds like a drama being made out of a simple problem Sue and I'm sorry you have to put up with it and deal with feeling poorly as well.



As you can see, a simple morning, a bit of fine turning, even finer threading 3?16" X 40tpi and some knurling and we ended up with the oil reservoir cut, threaded and filled with a tiny plug.