Entertainment For Lively Minds
I'm not normally a James May fan...
I don't actively dislike him - he's just the 'other one' (i.e. not the strangley likeable gobshite, or the funny little guy who had brain damage but is OK now) from That Car Show that I don't really watch - but I've never really had any time for anything he's done.
However, I like what he's saying here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/31/james-may-diy
and particularly liked this quote:
"I don't entirely know what OCD is, but I know it's very fashionable to accuse people of having it if they try and do something properly."
It is interesting how the DIY skills he talks about do seem to be in decline. We have a toasted sandwich maker in the kitchen at work and someone got the power cable caught in the heating elements and caused a short circuit. Everyone was amazed when I tok it home and fixed it, when all I did was cut out the melted bit of cable and re-fit the plug!
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I like James May.
He's got his heart in the right place and is, to my mind, a National Treasure in the making.
The new Man Lab thing seems a bit laboured at the moment, but let's give it time.
Can't stand Top Gear
but I did enjoy James May's Toy Stories.
He's easily the most watchable of the Top Gear presenters.
I like James May
And that's a great quote. Thanks for sharing.
please explain
errr what does OCD stand for ?
Obsessive compulsive disorder
.
At this point someone should use the hilarious joke
"or CDO as I like to call it, with the letters in the order they are supposed to be in". Harf-harf, and indeed, harf-harf.
I've always imagined
he lurks here somewhere, I can pay him no higher compliment.
Hmm
He has a degree in music so he's probably keen.
No tools
A couple of years ago a friend phoned me and asked me the best way to get a light fitting off because he'd been struggling. I told him that it should be a simple case of unscrewing things. It then transpired that just about the only tool he had in the house for undoing screws was a knife out of the knife drawer!!! Tools are so cheap these days that it amazes me that people don't have any - even an Argos all in one tool kit is often better than nothing.
Can I just say that I love good tools
and have an unhealthy interest in the Snap-On catalogue.
Mmm... Metric sockets, all in size order... shiny...
http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=all&item_ID=78083&grou...
Me too..
Can I quietly recommend the following if anyone, like me, is a permanent OCD sufferer or has a toolbox fetish.
http://www.garagejournal.com/
You are normal
You said that as if it's not completely normal. It is normal isn't it? One of my favourites is the Axminster tools catalogue. www.axminster.co.uk
Oh God, Tool porn.
Mmmmm, me too. Torque wrenches, old style and new, though the ones that actually bend are more satisfying. Lathes. Pillar drills. Routers (NOT rooters). A lovely old fashioned Brace & Bit. A two-handed rip saw, six feet long. A band saw half as high as a house. A nice new set of unsullied feeler guages. Oh, God, lovely.
Oh God, Tool porn.
Mmmmm, me too. Torque wrenches, old style and new, though the ones that actually bend are more satisfying. Lathes. Pillar drills. Routers (NOT rooters). A lovely old fashioned Brace & Bit. A two-handed rip saw, six feet long. A band saw half as high as a house. A nice new set of unsullied feeler gauges. Oh, God, lovely.
Come over here, my boy. Come look at what I have here..
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/
Look.. Lathes, electric log-splitters, arc-welders, pneumatic torque wrenches, trash pumps..
I'm not normally a James May fan
- can we just leave it at that?
yes, well
after spending the last few weekends trying to replaster my stairs and landing and making a complete pig's ear of it, not to mention the mess and resultant rows with Mrs SinW, he can shove DIY where the sun don't shine. I'm getting a man in.
Know your limits
I agree with all of the above. Shelves, curtain poles, wall papering, painting, simple electrical stuff, I'll have a go. But plastering is a dark art and you have to know your limits. Generally I find you have to do everything at least twice - once to cock it up and then again to redo it with the benefit of experience. I rebuilt and rewired an old outside light and it was deeply satisfying the first time I switched it on - and is so every time since. Unfortunately a side effect is that Twang Jr now thinks I can fix anything so the most battered toys are handed optimistically to me for repair.
Seconded
When we moved in here, the light switch inside the front door was a three-switch monstrosity. Muggins decided to split it into a single switch (for the porch light) and a double switch (for the upstairs and downstairs landing lights).
I switched off the lighting circuit, removed the 3-switch from the wall, and yanked out all the wires (without making any notes.....)
You know the rest.
It took me three hours to recover everything to a working state. With 3 circuits, 3 wires, and about 6 connection points on the back of the switch; you need a computer to work out the possible combinations of connection, let alone which ones do what you want.
Think first, act second; if you're not sure, call an electrician.
Digital
Before I take anything apart, especially when there's wiring involved, I take pictures. It's a lot easier and quicker than taking notes and 9 times out of ten you don't need to refer to them but when you do they're often better than notes because they show you not just what goes where but how the wire was routed. A few more pictures when it's half dismantled never goes amiss either.
I like mending things when I can
very pleased when after foolishly breaking my laptop screen I managed to order the replacement unit form the web and fit it and it worked at the first go.
Liked the manlab and really liked his Toy stories.
DIY
I was brought up by my mum - who did know how to change a plug and that was about it - but it wouldn't have mattered because my dad is about as practical as a chocolate teaspoon.
So I'm not the most confident of DIY people. However when discussing this with my (very practical) father in law, he asked what I could do in that area. After a little thought I realised that I had repaired several guitar amps and rewired the pick-ups on my aging strat copy. I had repaired and replaced two or three toilets, including replacing the ballcock assembly completely. I had dug up and remodelled a garden, building in terraces into the flower beds. Fixed a camera, three computers and a broken synth, all with my sausage fingers and a soldering iron. I had put up a 15ft in diameter mirror on the wall by myself. Fixed some trellises to a wall. I had accumulated seven or eight screwdrivers, two hammers, two saws, a spirit level and a drill with a standard set of drill bits and some masonry bits. And (being a non driver who has never owned a car) I fixed a faulty rear windscreen wiper in my wife's car.
I was quite pleased with myself after that. The only problem with that is now the wife says: "You're good at DIY. Now you have no excuses on a bank holiday weekend."
Our late lamented local college
Offered DIY courses.
I took one a few years ago. 2 hours each Tuesday evening for 6 weeks.
I was one of two blokes and seven women. The guy who tutored it was great. Rather than make it anything formal he set us to make, plaster and tile a stud wall. Not that any of us would ever need to do anything as large as that but in doing so we'd learn how to measure, cut wood, build simple wooden frames, fit plasterboard, plaster it and tile it. Individual skills you would assume would come in handy at some point in life.
I enjoyed it no end but have never needed to apply those particular skills. But my extended family thinks I'm Tommy out of Ground Force. 'Can you help out with the kitchen extension next year maybe? We'd like to knock a wall out and build a downstairs loo?'
I have to explain that if they want a 12 foot slightly off square, pointlessly tiled stud wall then I'm their man. Otherwise get the Thomson Local out.