Are bus drivers grumpy? After a spate of particularly grumpy drivers a few weeks ago, I decided to do some science.
Hypothesis: most bus drivers are grumpy.
We'll need to know what grumpy means though.
Exhibits one or more of:
Exhibits one or more of:
On each bus journey I take, I'll record whether the bus driver is grumpy or cheerful when I board the bus.
The results will appear in another post.
Today we (most of the east side of York apparently) had a power cut for about 2 seconds.
What mayhem this caused!
At work, most office computers and a server rebooted, some work was lost, a quite important file was corrupted. And we all had to stop for 10 minutes to discuss technical reasons why the building's forced ventilation fans didn't restart immediately after the power cut.
At home, I've only got to reset the time on nearly all the clocks in our house (binary clock, cooker etc.) and turn on a few things that have soft power switches.
We are far too reliant on a stable 240V AC supply. Can you imagine what would happen if we had to go without electricity for any serious amount of time? We probably wouldn't be rubbing sticks together for energy, we'd be working out the details of installing a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) to keep the PCs running.
We moved to a bigger, shinier office today. The move went smoothly (and I didn't have to organize this one). The new office is really rather nice and spacious. And still tidy.
We now have more than twice as much window, which is really nice. There's a nice leafy view, but unfortunately one more obstacle to really feeling like we are playing in the green fields: none of this vast expanse of daylight actually opens to allow the scent of spring into the office. Doh!
If there is one thing that is essential when designing something intended to hold water (like a sink or a toilet cistern), it is that the holes in it (plug hole, and where the flush comes out) must be able to be sealed...right?
Typically, a seal is made by squashing a bit of rubber tight against a flat surface.
So, why is it that:
1. My new sink's hole for the drain does not have the top and the bottom of the hole parallel? That is, you put the drain in but and the nut + washer at the back are at an angle to the surface they are meant to make a seal with!
2. My new toilet cistern does not have the base of the cistern at right angles to the back of the cistern....so that the flush mechanism fits wonky. If you make a good seal, the flush mechanism cannot align with the button on the lid of the cistern, or if you want the flush to align with the buttons, then you cannot have a good seal.
If these simple design details were right, then the fitting the appliances would have taken a fraction of the time it's taking me now. Surely, everyone who buys these items will have the same problem.
After a couple of false starts, the sink was not too bad: plenty of silicone instead of relying the rubber washer did the trick...but the WC is still a work-in-progress. I suspect that since I prefer the fail-safe (no leaks) over functionality (being able to flush), I'll end up with something can can only do single-flush, not dual flush.
Do real plumbers have these issues...come on, what's the trick?
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