CitroJim's AX, C3 Picasso, Cycling and Running Tales

[CitroJim]

Lovely pictures Jim

Seconded so COLOURful !!

Lots of proper ones to come once I get home and process them

Spent some time down there on my National Service back in 1953, stationed at Norton Manor camp, used to hitch hike to Blue Anchor Watchet and Minehead on days off.
The camp was a REME training workshop at the time but later became the base for 42nd reg Royal Marines.

Latterly the home of 40 Commando. The West Somerset Railway once temporarily renamed one of their Manor locomotives to 'Norton Manor' to commemorate it..

Why don't REME ever get lost?

Because they follow the oil trail home !

Yesterday was my last full day down here and another cracking day it was A good, long walk along the beach was enjoyed...

Last evening it was almost tropically warm so I went for a stroll along the beach with just my head torch to light the way. No chance of dark skies down here with the lights of Minehead and Dunster in one direction, the lights of the South Wales coast the other and by far the brightest, illuminating the sky like daylight is the light from the ongoing Hinkley Point 'C' nuclear power station construction works...

Travelling back to Paggers today I purposely didn't say 'home' as this is my proper home down here - something that's reinforced every time I visit. I'll be back very soon

If I could I'd move down here in a heartbeat. Sadly, for several reasons I can't in the foreseeable but never say never...

[Zelandeth]

...I purposely didn't say 'home' as this is my proper home down here - something that's reinforced every time I visit. I'll be back very soon

If I could I'd move down here in a heartbeat. Sadly, for several reasons I can't in the foreseeable but never say never...

Pretty much exactly my thought process every time I have to travel back from the Grampian area.

This is where I currently happen to live, but it'll never be home.

[Hell Razor5543]

How does that saying go? "Home is where the Heart is".

[mickthemaverick]

Lots of proper ones to come once I get home and process them

Travelling back to Paggers today I purposely didn't say 'home' as this is my proper home down here - something that's reinforced every time I visit. I'll be back very soon

Does that mean the processing won't happen until you go back to Blue Anchor?

[CitroJim]

Lots of proper ones to come once I get home and process them

Travelling back to Paggers today I purposely didn't say 'home' as this is my proper home down here - something that's reinforced every time I visit. I'll be back very soon

Does that mean the processing won't happen until you go back to Blue Anchor?

Well, I could take all my processing kit with me next time I suppose - I'd need a bigger vehicle though

Back in Paggers now. When I go out for my morning run in a bit it'll feel a bit different to my early morning beach runs of late!

It'll be good to see all of my friends at parkrun this weekend though

[CitroJim]

As mentioned upthread, I did a repair on the 'free' Olympus OM10 camera that came along with a lens I bought...

I popped a cheap roll of film into it (Kentmere 400) and took it on holiday with me in order to test it.

I processed the film yesterday and by and large, it's good There is however, a small light leak which can be seen in on the negative below along the sprocket holes in the vicinity of the frame numbers... On some frames, these leaks have caused a strip of lightness across the whole frame, especially when there was bright sunshine about...

This is due to the aged and crumbling foam seals around the film door. It's a very common problem and easy to resolve as seal kits are readily available and inexpensive. One such kit is on order...

Another small problem is a pale black 'crack' visible in the top centre on some frames...

It can be clearly seen on this one:

Kentmere 400 pushed to 800ASA

Likely a little hair or something hanging off the shutter curtains...

Apart from that, all good It does show that bargain basement Kentmere film does not like being pushed to higher speeds very much. That was expected.

[Stickyfinger]

I understand the Hubble needs a bit of TLC

[CitroJim]

I understand the Hubble needs a bit of TLC

A bit far to travel though, even in a C3 Picasso...

[Stickyfinger]

NP Jim, if the Ukrainians can get a Russian tank turret close to orbit I am sure we can make a good effort with a C3 given a suitable stock of Pe4

[Hell Razor5543]

Do you know what is believed to be the fastest moving Man made object? A manhole cover! During the 1957 'Pascal B' nuclear test it was sealing a shaft when the device was detonated. It appears in only one frame of the footage, and was estimated to be travelling over 125,000MPH!!! (This assumes it survived being vaporised in the atmosphere due to friction). This means it left the Earth at approximately six times escape velocity.

[PaulC5]

What, it is not the Astra 1.7 diesel van ?

[CitroJim]

Do you know what is believed to be the fastest moving Man made object? A manhole cover!

One heck of a way to clear a blocked drain

[CitroJim]

Did a little bit of work on Strawberry yesterday...

Replaced her LH headlight connector which was becoming ever more intermittent...

I had spares in stock and with crimps and crimp tool in hand it only took a few minutes.

The old connector was well tarnished. Also, not of a particularly robust or good design.

The RH one had already been replaced - before I took custodianship...

[CitroJim]

Just back from my normal Monday trip to Tesco. Except this morning it was anything but normal. It was rammed!!!

Happily, they had the self-scanners in operation so I got out in good time with all I needed. That's pre-Christmas now done

It's been a lively weekend. Steph called me in some distress on Saturday morning. She'd lost the keys to her Vauxhall Closet or whatever it is, and found her spare key was duff and locked out the immobiliser. She was inconsolable when the garage told her it would be mid-January before they could resolve. She's away to Norfolk on Christmas Eve...

Happily, on my advice, we got an emergency automotive locksmith on the job and it was all resolved, albeit expensively.

Meanwhile, I was her Uber all over MK as she did her shopping...

Yesterday, she called me in another panic - her battery was flat. My spare battery, the original from my old Pixo and now some 15 years old which I keep on maintenance charge, did the job a treat.

I hope her battery is OK, she's only been doing short journeys with all electrical bits on recently. I do fear for the battery. I checked the alternator and it's charging OK. Once I'd jumped it I sent Steph out on 20 mile tour of the area to give the battery a chance to charge.

Fingers crossed it's OK and I don't get a call this morning: 'Jimmmmmm....'

And I had my own bit of 'fun'. I treated myself to a half-decent inkjet printer mainly for a bit of photo printing. I chose an Epson Ecotank based on a slew of excellent reviews.

It was about as excellent as an overflowing dustbin. In retrospect, the best place for it. Flimsy build quality. The driver software seemed very sketchy and even the smartphone app. needed to initially set it up was as flaky as a cheap mince pie.

It sort-of worked with the native Windows 11 driver but the dedicated Epson one couldn't even find the printer! Parts of it never worked, including the maintenance functions even when trying to execute them from the front panel.

Finally, the smartphone app. seemed to get its act together and offered a firmware update. I took it, thinking it would fix things. It seemed OK until 95% done, errored and 'bricked' the printer

Game over. It's going back - and at least Amazon make it easy to do that. I've replaced it with a more expensive Canon machine which I hope will be OK. It is slated to arrive today...

We'll see

After all that, I really can't recommend an Epson...

[mickthemaverick]

I remember similar tales of woe when my daughter bought an Epson, not to mention exhorbitant ink costs!! I used to run Brother printers with no probelms at all but on our last upgrade to cater for SWMBO's desire to photocopy we moved to HP and that has now been running undaunted for 6+ years. Ink is reasonable and I did work out that a print of her club's dining menu was about 3.5p per sheet in full colour on glossy paper so we can live with that!!