The Sturdy Soapbox

Send up the white smoke

Lift ay bost any more.

One of the annoying things living here, apart from the slap headed psychopath downstairs, is the fact I have a rubbish chute right next to my bedroom down which people post all sorts of noisy stuff.  First time I heard it, it sounded like the side of the building was falling off.

It is supposed to be for small items of rubbish, but it sounds like they are trying to get moun tain bikes, filing cabinets and live animals down there.

There is a rule that it shouldn't be used after eight at night and before eight in the morning, but this escapes some of the thick bastards on the seventh floor (and this one too as the chute flap is half way between the two floors).

I'd thought about asking Wally the Welder to pop a dab of weld on the flap so it can't be opened and then I had the idea of posting amusing laminated signs like POST NO FECAL MATTER, but of course I am the only person in the building probably who knows what fecal means.

Or maybe one with a graphic of a policeman holding up his hand in a prohibitive manner which reads, REMEMBER THE RULE, NO ANIMAL LARGER THAN A GERBIL DOWN THIS CHUTE !

But to be serious for a moment, I am tempted to really put one out there which reads 8PM to 8AM, DO NOT USE - THAT MEANS YOU TWAT !

Pity I don't have a working printer.

 

UFN so that's what it means

Darlo came round for brekky this morning.  She goes swimming at about 6:30am and then had to climb all those stairs to get up here, cos we still got no lift.

I rang the estate office yesterday to try get some input on the subject.  The girl I spoke to, boy could you tell it wasn't her problem or her lift that was out of order.

Before Darlo arrived, I checked on the Padstow harbour webcam which has been offline for a long time.  Glad to say they've got a new one which gives a great view over the whole of the harbour and OBC's boat which is dead centre.  Called him and we had him out on deck waving at the cam but not for long as it was a bit chilly. for his old Walsall bones.

Just popped in to the estate office and had a face to face with the same girl as I spoke to yesterday.  It's like listening to someone reading from a script.  Waiting for parts, since Saturday !

It's clear this girl has never worked in a service industry.  I do not have confidence we will have it back in service today, just from the tone of her voice and lack of interest in the problem.

As Darlo left, she referred to the sign by the lift saying "lift bost UFN" and immediately worked out it means UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE !  She's dead clever is Darlo.

Padstow harbour webcam

A cat walks into a shop and says...

Tin of Whiskas please, I've got the right money !

I will NEVER buy Epson again !

I've had Epson printers since 1990 when I bought my first PC.  I only ever owner one HP which was an excellent printer but the ink was too expensive for volume printing.  My SP900 was a great printer and the generic cartridges lasted a long time.

I had a BX300 which went wrong (chewing paper) just outside the 12 month warranty.  I went into debt and bought an SX420 three months ago and I have probably printed one hundred sheets of paper, used FOUR sets of cartridges doing so two of which were Epson original and the last two sets of generic will not print until you head clean about 6 times.

Today I received a fifth set of cartridges, I've replaced all except the black and all I am getting out of the printer after a whole hour of head cleaning is yellow.  I'm about to take a hammer to the fucking thing, as it is no good to me whatsoever.

I was hoping to swap the printer with my sister in law for the HP I gave to her, as she doesn't do very much printing, but I can't give her something that just won't work.

No point complaining to Epson because I'm not using Epson ink. 

Unless you have very deep pockets and want to pay thirty pounds for cartridges with 7mls of ink in them, don't buy an Epson printer.

Van's gone

Lift still bost !

Gaggie's on, a cheering cappuccio is called for

Bargains down the market

On my way back from seeing Jenny, I had to walk down through the market.  The market in Walsall has been going since the 1100's though stuff was a lot cheaper then.

Wasn't complaining today though.  I saw a stall selling veg and they had fresh coriander.  The sign said 5 bunches for a pound, but I only wanted one to make curry mid week.  I only had seventy pence on me too. 

Got a bunch for thirty pence which I was well happy with, as the last time I bought some in Tesco, there was enough maybe to garnish a salad and it was one pound fifty.

I accept the price goes up in winter as it has to be imported, but in summer it is grown here.  If you go up into Caldmore, you'll get all this sort of stuff for pennies as there's a plethora of asian supermarkets, but the stuff on the market was good and fresh and cheap. 

Still no lift, but we live in hope as there's an engineers van outside.  Mind you, there was one there most of Saturday morning and it didn't get mended !

This one today is electrical.  I guess going out on a Saturday, they wouldn't be able to get parts til today.

One stall that I couldn't find on the market when I last looked is one that does watch straps.  I've got one watch which needs a strap and another a battery.  Nice if I could find one, especially at their prices.

Six months

Amazing to think that today marks six months to the day since I moved in to Regent apartments !

Wonder if the fact the lift going out and not being fixed til tomorrow is some sort of anniversary omen ?

Had to go to Tesco this morning for pop and potatoes amongst other important things.  Quite a trip when you have to negotiate six storerys of stairs.

Not going out again today, but I have to go out in the morning to see Jenny my NHS lady and I bet it's not fixed when I get back.

Heard a funny story from one of the people who's name crops up here, but I have been threatened with violence if I reveal.

He bought a new pair of work shoes and went to pay for them realising he'd put his old shoes back on the rack.  When he went to get them, he couldn't find them, D'oh !

Some years ago, I was trying fleeces on and has rested mine on top of the rail with them all on, when someone came along (as I was admiring myself in the mirror) and tried mine on.  they were about to go pay for it too !

Now I have potatoes, I can make roasties and mash. 

I really needed this, this morning

6:30 am, I am off to Bob's, first  pisser of the day, the lift was out.  No probs walking down the stairs, but six storeys worth on my return with me bag o mate, I could've done without.  I'm not going down the shop for pop til they've fixed it.  Feel sorry for the older people in the block, there's an old lady next door who I know goes out on a Saturday morning, she may well be starnded with n'er a tin of salmon in the house.

I had an awful day yesterday too, everything but everything I did went wrong, which included locking horns with that shitty printer.  I bought black cartridges from another vendor.  Installed one, pulled the ink through as you do have to with these cheap cartridges, all was well except for the fact I printed all of five pages of A4 text before the system said black cartridge empty.

I've used generic cartridges for years, but it looks like there's some real crap coming off the boat from China.  In the main, generics are fine unless you want to print photos, when you will notice the difference over manufacturers original, but this is just ridiculous.  I designed Bob's flyers to be light on ink (no heavy blocks of colour for example).  So far I've managed to provide less than a hundred.  Was so tempted to go find my hammer yesterday.

Bus was late this morning which means once I get to Bob's, we have to rush to get my stuff together or I'll miss the bus back.  Poor Bob came to his car one morning last week, went to open the door and it wouldn't, then he noticed all the side was stoved in.

He's only had the thing about five weeks after that caravan went piling into the other one on the motorway.  Fortunately, he  noticed silver paint down the side of his motor and the woman two doors away who has "alcohol issues" has a silver car.  Closer investigation turned up dark blue paint on her car and when she saw him through her window doing his Sherlock Holmes number, she came out and fessed up to being the culprit.  This means the repair won't come out of his insurance.

He was in good spirits as usual.  Got some lovely T bones today, but I didn't have one, three kilos to go before I can have another treat like that.  I am having at least three cappuccinos this morning though, I need something to cheer me up.

Order of the Fez, the anthem !

You may remember a few years ago, I was drafted into the Order of the Fez.

 

Now, they have their own anthem, here it is :

FezSong

Shades of Monty Python's "I'm a lumberjack", but it's rather good.

 

Welder's coming by

Believe it or not, this time, food isn't involved !

He's coming by to collect some of these magazines, because he's on the front cover, no not the donkey !

And no Wally, I can't change the name of the magazine to Welder's Weekly.

Apparently he's bringing a felt tip to sign the covers of all the magazines I have, methinks fame's gone to his head.