We stopped pressies at Christmas and Birthdays years ago, on the grounds
that we just go and buy whatever we want as the need arises. It's truly
liberating!

As an aside however, we were idly talking about pressies over our morning
bath, and decided that the second-worst present to receive is a paper back
book either of jokes, local interest or trivia, coz you take a look as you
open it and think 'I actually do want to start reading that right now, and
I can't coz the house is full of guests!'

The worst present is getting that same book when you've treated yourself to
a copy two weeks earlier! :-)

--

The Wanderer

Statistics show that statistics can't be trusted.

On Thu, 25 Dec 2008 09:02:26 +0000, "The. Wanderer"
wrote:


The worst present is getting that same book when you've treated yourself to
a copy two weeks earlier! :-)

I got a book called 'The book of Senior Moments' from my brother and
s-i-l. Exactly the same as last year.
And they're YOUNGER than me...

--
Frank Erskine

In message , Frank Erskine
wrote
On Thu, 25 Dec 2008 09:02:26 +0000, "The. Wanderer"
wrote:


The worst present is getting that same book when you've treated yourself to
a copy two weeks earlier! :-)

I got a book called 'The book of Senior Moments' from my brother and
s-i-l. Exactly the same as last year.
And they're YOUNGER than me...


What about a present where the box it came in probably cost ten times
that of the contents?


--
Alan
news2006 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com

Alan wrote:
In message , Frank Erskine
wrote
On Thu, 25 Dec 2008 09:02:26 +0000, "The. Wanderer"
wrote:


The worst present is getting that same book when you've treated
yourself to
a copy two weeks earlier! :-)

I got a book called 'The book of Senior Moments' from my brother and
s-i-l. Exactly the same as last year.
And they're YOUNGER than me...


What about a present where the box it came in probably cost ten times
that of the contents?



Applies to most things I would have thought.

In article ,
Frank Erskine wrote:
On Thu, 25 Dec 2008 09:02:26 +0000, "The. Wanderer"
wrote:


The worst present is getting that same book when you've treated
yourself to a copy two weeks earlier! :-)

I got a book called 'The book of Senior Moments' from my brother and
s-i-l. Exactly the same as last year.

But are you absolutely certain?

And they're YOUNGER than me...

I find everyone is these days.

--
*Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

The. Wanderer wrote:

The worst present is getting that same book when you've treated yourself to
a copy two weeks earlier! :-)

Well the day is not over yet, so there is still scope, but I am hoping
that the early mornings realisation that the drain was blocked and SWMBO
expected me to go fix it will probably take some beating for fun
Christmas tasks! (24 drain rods later, (and I will spare any further
description), and I just had my second shower of the day)

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

John Rumm wrote:
The. Wanderer wrote:

The worst present is getting that same book when you've treated
yourself to
a copy two weeks earlier! :-)

Well the day is not over yet, so there is still scope, but I am hoping
that the early mornings realisation that the drain was blocked and SWMBO
expected me to go fix it will probably take some beating for fun
Christmas tasks! (24 drain rods later, (and I will spare any further
description), and I just had my second shower of the day)



My parent's previous house was an end of terrace (of three). The sum of
all the drains passsed (pun intended) through their property. You
could, almost, set your calendar by the regularity with which the
penultimate chamber blocked on Christmas Eve. The other two properties
used to put sanitary products down a drainge system that was built way
before such items were invented. The neighbours never ever offered to
help despite the blocking items being demonstrably from them. He did
threaten to block the drain upstream of his property to no avail.

Happy Memories!


Seasonal Greetings

Richard

John Rumm wrote:
The. Wanderer wrote:

The worst present is getting that same book when you've treated
yourself to
a copy two weeks earlier! :-)

Well the day is not over yet, so there is still scope, but I am hoping
that the early mornings realisation that the drain was blocked and SWMBO
expected me to go fix it will probably take some beating for fun
Christmas tasks! (24 drain rods later, (and I will spare any further
description), and I just had my second shower of the day)

No competition from me. A few days ago, realised that stopcock under
sink was leaking. (Had already changed the washing machine tap, and it
must have been using the stopcock that made it leak. Or at least
escalate a weep into a leak.) Then realised that the whole cupboard, and
the one next to it, were sodden.

Managed to get replacements day before yesterday. Am now fitting them -
and the job *MUST* be done ready for dinner... (Just as well it is only
the two of us.)

--
Rod

Hypothyroidism is a seriously debilitating condition with an insidious
onset.
Although common it frequently goes undiagnosed.
www.thyromind.info www.thyroiduk.org www.altsupportthyroid.org

On Thu, 25 Dec 2008 11:31:44 GMT, wrote:

On 25 Dec,
Frank Erskine wrote:

On Thu, 25 Dec 2008 09:02:26 +0000, "The. Wanderer"
wrote:


The worst present is getting that same book when you've treated yourself to
a copy two weeks earlier! :-)

I got a book called 'The book of Senior Moments' from my brother and
s-i-l. Exactly the same as last year.
And they're YOUNGER than me...

Was it not /two/ years ago -- and you passed it back last year?

Well I *think* it was last year - but I still have the original copy..

Swaps anyone?

--
Frank Erskine

Rod wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
The. Wanderer wrote:

The worst present is getting that same book when you've treated
yourself to
a copy two weeks earlier! :-)

Well the day is not over yet, so there is still scope, but I am hoping
that the early mornings realisation that the drain was blocked and
SWMBO expected me to go fix it will probably take some beating for fun
Christmas tasks! (24 drain rods later, (and I will spare any further
description), and I just had my second shower of the day)

No competition from me. A few days ago, realised that stopcock under
sink was leaking. (Had already changed the washing machine tap, and it
must have been using the stopcock that made it leak. Or at least
escalate a weep into a leak.) Then realised that the whole cupboard, and
the one next to it, were sodden.

Managed to get replacements day before yesterday. Am now fitting them -
and the job *MUST* be done ready for dinner... (Just as well it is only
the two of us.)

Got the old unit out, the tap changed, then ran out of time. :-( Now
cooking dinner in a kitchen with a sink suspended in mid-air.

Those taps with horseshoe thingies - I wish they wouldn't make the bolts
out of steel. It rusts. Badly. Takes ages and enormous effort to remove.
Not enough space for an angle grinder. :-( O well, the new ones have
brass bolt and nut. :-)

--
Rod

Hypothyroidism is a seriously debilitating condition with an insidious
onset.
Although common it frequently goes undiagnosed.
www.thyromind.info www.thyroiduk.org www.altsupportthyroid.org

On 25 Dec, 14:05, wrote:
On Thu, 25 Dec 2008 09:02:26 +0000, "The. Wanderer"

wrote:
We stopped pressies at Christmas and Birthdays years ago, on the grounds
that we just go and buy whatever we want as the need arises. It's truly
liberating!

likewise,but usually have a low value item for each other almost as a
joke.

This year I got a tomatoe sauce dispenser in the shape of a red
plastic tomato, as once graced the tables of thousands of greasy
spoons before impregnable sachets were imposed on us.

She is quite taken with the large bright red oven gloves I gave her.
Wether that will last when I also present her with the leather apron
that came with them and confess they were intended as welders gloves
and bought dead cheap at Aldi some months ago we will see later.

G.harman

Gloves ... good one. Missed those and will look for them in future -
in fact come to think of it Lidls are having a whole lot of welding
stuff shortly. Nothing like buying now for next year .... and
forgetting all about it until discovered in 5 years time!

Rob

Well I've been given one of those bloody contraptions which is supposed
to solve global warming by converting your newspapers into papier mache
logs.

Can anyone confirm, is it as crap as I believe it is...?

Rod wrote:

Those taps with horseshoe thingies - I wish they wouldn't make the bolts
out of steel. It rusts. Badly. Takes ages and enormous effort to remove.
Not enough space for an angle grinder. :-( O well, the new ones have
brass bolt and nut. :-)

Quick, stick a multimaster on your pressie list!

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

John Rumm wrote:
Rod wrote:

Those taps with horseshoe thingies - I wish they wouldn't make the
bolts out of steel. It rusts. Badly. Takes ages and enormous effort to
remove. Not enough space for an angle grinder. :-( O well, the new
ones have brass bolt and nut. :-)

Quick, stick a multimaster on your pressie list!

Damn! I *knew* there was a reason not to agree to a 'no presents' rule. :-)

--
Rod

Hypothyroidism is a seriously debilitating condition with an insidious
onset.
Although common it frequently goes undiagnosed.
www.thyromind.info www.thyroiduk.org www.altsupportthyroid.org

I've brought this up on the local freecycle group - my mother always
used to give free aftershave / perfume samples, nothing else, just
free samples.

Sad to say, I think someone managed to top that, by getting a half
empty bottle of Baileys from their mother in law the previous year.

Rod wrote:
SNIP

Those taps with horseshoe thingies - I wish they wouldn't make the
bolts out of steel. It rusts. Badly. Takes ages and enormous effort
to remove. Not enough space for an angle grinder. :-( O well, the
new ones have brass bolt and nut. :-)

I once had one so firmly rusted in I had to take the sink out to remove it
:-(


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

Well I've been given one of those bloody contraptions which is supposed
to solve global warming by converting your newspapers into papier mache
logs.
Can anyone confirm, is it as crap as I believe it is...?

At the temperature of a domestic fire, the chlorine content of the
paper (from bleaching) will mean it produces vast amounts of dioxin.

And you'll probably use an appreciable fraction of the energy released
by combustion simply to dry the papier mache out fast enough that it
doesn't go mouldy.

==== j a c k at c a m p i n . m e . u k === http://www.campin.me.uk ====
Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557
CD-ROMs and free stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts

The Medway Handyman wrote:
Rod wrote:
SNIP
Those taps with horseshoe thingies - I wish they wouldn't make the
bolts out of steel. It rusts. Badly. Takes ages and enormous effort
to remove. Not enough space for an angle grinder. :-( O well, the
new ones have brass bolt and nut. :-)

I once had one so firmly rusted in I had to take the sink out to remove it
:-(


That sounds bad. It would have been very bad for us. No sink until we
could source one because I doubt we would have refitted the old one -
which would probably have meant new worktop as well. And that would not
have matched the other worktops...

Well I did manage - eventually. :-) It was at its worst when I had
undone it by a few turns - so the tap body was entirely free to move.

--
Rod

Hypothyroidism is a seriously debilitating condition with an insidious
onset.
Although common it frequently goes undiagnosed.
www.thyromind.info www.thyroiduk.org www.altsupportthyroid.org

"Colin Wilson" o.uk wrote
in message g...
I've brought this up on the local freecycle group - my mother always
used to give free aftershave / perfume samples, nothing else, just
free samples.

Sad to say, I think someone managed to top that, by getting a half
empty bottle of Baileys from their mother in law the previous year.

When I was courting No.1 wife, my future Grandmother-in-law gave me an empty
ginger jar!

Mind, she had an excuse...she was loopy....& German !

Don.

"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
The. Wanderer wrote:

The worst present is getting that same book when you've treated yourself
to
a copy two weeks earlier! :-)

Well the day is not over yet, so there is still scope, but I am hoping
that the early mornings realisation that the drain was blocked and SWMBO
expected me to go fix it will probably take some beating for fun
Christmas tasks! (24 drain rods later, (and I will spare any further
description), and I just had my second shower of the day)

--
Cheers,

John.

I was spared the usual Xmas eve drain blockage this year!

Adam

Colin Wilson wrote:
I've brought this up on the local freecycle group - my mother always
used to give free aftershave / perfume samples, nothing else, just
free samples.

Sad to say, I think someone managed to top that, by getting a half
empty bottle of Baileys from their mother in law the previous year.

My notoriously stingey brother gave one of my kids one of those
disposable 35mm cameras - that wasn't so bad until the film was
developed, whereupon we found half-a-dozen photos taken by one of his
own kids at his birthday party (at which, on assumes, he received said
camera as a gift.

David

Anne Welsh Jackson wrote:
John Rumm wrote:

The worst present is getting that same book when you've treated
yourself to
a copy two weeks earlier! :-)

Well the day is not over yet, so there is still scope, but I am hoping
that the early mornings realisation that the drain was blocked and SWMBO
expected me to go fix it will probably take some beating for fun
Christmas tasks! (24 drain rods later, (and I will spare any further
description), and I just had my second shower of the day)

There was the most god-awful noise in our street, at quarter to three
this morning. Upon investigating (well, you've got to, haven't you!)
I discovered that someone was having their drain "jetted". At _that_
time, on christmas morning, I'm just glad that I'm not paying the bill!

Probably blocked with reindeer poo.

David

Lobster wrote:
Anne Welsh Jackson wrote:
John Rumm wrote:

The worst present is getting that same book when you've treated
yourself to
a copy two weeks earlier! :-)

Well the day is not over yet, so there is still scope, but I am
hoping that the early mornings realisation that the drain was
blocked and SWMBO expected me to go fix it will probably take some
beating for fun Christmas tasks! (24 drain rods later, (and I will
spare any further description), and I just had my second shower of
the day)

There was the most god-awful noise in our street, at quarter to three
this morning. Upon investigating (well, you've got to, haven't you!)
I discovered that someone was having their drain "jetted". At _that_
time, on christmas morning, I'm just glad that I'm not paying the
bill!

Probably blocked with reindeer poo.

ISTR that reindeer have a poo about 18 times a day. Amazing what the brain
stores innit?


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On Dec 25, 11:05*am, wrote:
On Thu, 25 Dec 2008 09:02:26 +0000, "The. Wanderer"

wrote:
We stopped pressies at Christmas and Birthdays years ago, on the grounds
that we just go and buy whatever we want as the need arises. It's truly
liberating!

likewise,but usually have a low value item for each other almost as a
joke.

This year I got a tomatoe sauce dispenser in the shape of a red
plastic tomato, as once graced the tables of thousands of greasy
spoons before impregnable sachets were imposed on us.

She is quite taken with the large bright red oven gloves I gave her.
Wether that will last when I also present her with the leather apron
that came with them and confess they were intended as welders gloves
and bought dead cheap at Aldi some months ago we will see later.

G.harman

NOT THE MR. HARMAN OF "YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO ON THIS FLOOR AFTER
9.00AM" (Are you being served) FAME, WE PRESUME?

And if you will tolerate the somewhat rambling and OT nature of this
posting at this festive season.

Agree somewhat on subject of 'useless/unnecessary) presents. But when
everyone else is flying around in the mood! One chronicler in the
local rag wrote that he was not going to be the 'Christmas Grinch';
no, he was going to be a 'Christmas Mooch'! All the free food and
drink he could lay his hands on etc. "Will drink any GIVEN quantity"
etc.

Thanks to whoever; for the memory of the red tomatoe shaped (ketchup;
as it is called over here!), tomatoe sauce containers.
If anything might well define a lorry driver's cafe (pronounced "Caff"
if I recall correctly), or similar cheap eating establishment of that
era, it could be shiny oilcloth covered tables each with it's bright
red tomatoe sauce pot. Sometimes with a 'slot' in the cover, for a
serving spoon to emerge?

Nice bit of nostalgia; from over 52 years ago as an apprentice, in the
UK, living as cheap as possible. 'Bangers and mash' (with lashings of
tomatoe sauce, if free for no extra charge) being the treat of the
week before going to night school on a Friday night (7.00 to 10.00 PM)
after returning to Liverpool by train from some work location in the
British Isles.

Net pay in 1952 being 'Three pun, six shilings and threepence
ha'penny'! Per 44 hour per week. Night school, unpaid being extra.

On the subject of welding gloves; the same idea had crossed the mind
here; and when the massive pair of padded kitchen gloves (my late wife
and I used, along with other enterprises, to run a catering company!)
ever or finally wear out, the slightly darkened welding gloves
presently stored in the spare front bedroom, along with 'slightly'
used welding rods, and the welders cap, goggles and mask, will be
pressed into service. The gloves that is; not the goggles and mask!

However 'Princess Auto' who sell all kinds of useful hardware
(everything from fake Honda, Chines produced, small gasoline engines
to electrical connectors and plastic tie wraps, castors {casters:sp?}
of various sizes and spare wheels for everything from a wheel-barrow
to a boat trailer, also certain surplus items), have reasonable all
leather quality welding gloves; sometimes on sale for a few bucks, as
a 'loss leader'.

Princess Auto; the kind of place where one could browse for an hour
and ponder whether to buy anything from log splitter to a 'D' cell
battery, came into town a few years ago and have given all the other
hardware (ironmonger) type companies some real competition. Not only
on prices but also range of products. Also frequent 'sales'. Was there
recently needing two 230 volt horizontal pin plugs

Yes; we do use some 230 volts here, mainly for heavy appliances, and
'we' have 230 volt outlets above the work benches for those tools that
use it including the 1953 Wolf Electric drill, still going great on
its original motor brushes, although over the years most of the gold
colour paint has worn off and they had quite good quality standard
North American vertical pin plugs for less than $2 each. Also got a
few matching sockets to go on end of wire to repair some 'extension
cords'. Very useful to have some odd length extensions of different
wire weights. The somewaht portable, wire welder, for example is also
230 volt.

Also wired one extension with what in the UK would probably be called
an RCD (it's a duplex GFI outlet) eqipped outlet. So if necessary to
extend out into a damp location and there did happen to be any leakage
or a faulty tool the GFI would detect unbalance between AC current in
the live and neutral wires and trip the outlet. Reason did that was in
part that this was an older style GFI outlet that only protected
itself, it cannot be wired to protect any outlets down stream of
itself. E.G. equipping the first or a strategic outlet on a run of
outlets with a GFI type.

Note GFIs, here, not recommended for any appliance with a motor (with
exception of a lightweight counter appliance such as a blender or
electric hand mixer); e.g. a fridge or freezer etc. cos motor starting
currents can cause unbalance that trips the GFI/RCD.

PS. Wondering if, with a ring main system if the circuit breaker is
not an RCD type, to obtain same protection, each and every outlet
would have to be RCD (GFI) equipped?

PPS. Have read about that system apparently used on some UK building
sites whereby a step down from 230 to 115 transformer is used; and 115
volt tools are employed? Not only that the centre tap of the 115 volts
is earthed? Hence the maximum voltage to earth/ground etc. is only
57.5 volts RMS? Sounds like a good system? Also, allegedly, that
cheaper 115 volt tools can be used.
Here the maximum voltage to earth/ground is 115 volts RMS (about 165
volts). And that's from each 'side' of two legs comprising or having
230 volts between them. Have an old Black and Decker metal framed hand
drill, recall bought for $8 on sale some 30+ years ago that needs it
ground to be checked; another safety item for this season.

Another note: Have also bought replacement 9 volt (transistor radio)
type batteries for the three smoke detectors in the house. We change
them each New Year. Also believe have to check the age of one of the
detectors (although all are proven to work) when we occasionally
'smoke' something such as a bacon pan, something in the oven or a
piece of wood jammed in the bench saw! Apparently after a certain
number of years the radioactivity in the smoke detecting/ionizing
chamber ages? Thought that stuff lasted 10,000 years or summat; and
had to be disposed of as 'Hazardous Waste"?

Anyway: To everyone who reads, be safe. Greetings for the coming New
Year and any festivities warranted at this season of this year.
Hey; how's that for being 'politically correct'?

Cheers.

"Alan" wrote in message
...


What about a present where the box it came in probably cost ten times that
of the contents?

Perfume?

The message
from Colin Wilson
o.uk contains these
words:

I've brought this up on the local freecycle group - my mother always
used to give free aftershave / perfume samples, nothing else, just
free samples.

Did your mother use much aftershave?

On 25 Dec, 09:02, "The. Wanderer" wrote:

The worst present is getting that same book when you've treated yourself to
a copy two weeks earlier! :-)

Collected your own copy from the Post Office on Christmas Eve itself?

On Dec 26, 11:05*am, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

ISTR that reindeer have a poo about 18 times a day. *Amazing what the brain
stores innit?


I think they store it in their bowels, Dave. But maybe Kentish
reindeers are different.

On 26 Dec, 00:14, Lobster wrote:
Well I've been given one of those bloody contraptions which is supposed
to solve global warming by converting your newspapers into papier mache
logs.

Can anyone confirm, is it as crap as I believe it is...?

Yes.

Even if you ever do manage to get them dry, you're still left with a
paper log that burns only as well as a tightly rolled newspaper and
generates just as much ash.

Second only to the can squisher that contains as much metal to make as
the cans it can be expected to squish in its whole working life.

On Fri, 26 Dec 2008 09:49:20 -0800 (PST), Andy Dingley wrote:

Second only to the can squisher that contains as much metal to make as
the cans it can be expected to squish in its whole working life.

Ours did better than that, seem to remember taking £30 quids worth of ali
crushed ali cans to the Alcan Recycling place, that was a refuse bag full
at least may be two. Only suitable for ali drinks cans though, steel food
cans are too tough. Simpler to cut both ends off and stamp on 'em.

--
Cheers
Dave.

terry wrote:

Another note: Have also bought replacement 9 volt (transistor radio)
type batteries for the three smoke detectors in the house. We change
them each New Year. Also believe have to check the age of one of the
detectors (although all are proven to work) when we occasionally
'smoke' something such as a bacon pan, something in the oven or a
piece of wood jammed in the bench saw! Apparently after a certain
number of years the radioactivity in the smoke detecting/ionizing
chamber ages? Thought that stuff lasted 10,000 years or summat; and
had to be disposed of as 'Hazardous Waste"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americium

Half-life 432 years. So let's see... can I remember my calculus?
Assume a 10% drop is important. That'll happen in .... err no, I can't
remember my calculus but about 65 years. I think.

And it's spelt "Tomato". Even in American. :P

Anyway: To everyone who reads, be safe. Greetings for the coming New
Year and any festivities warranted at this season of this year.
Hey; how's that for being 'politically correct'?

Happy new year to you to!

Cheers.

Andy

--
I can spell but I can't type.

I've brought this up on the local freecycle group - my mother always
used to give free aftershave / perfume samples, nothing else, just
free samples.
Did your mother use much aftershave?

Not that I know of, but I think she used to get them from stores /
Avon (as a rep) etc.

In article , Andy Champ
wrote:


And it's spelt "Tomato". Even in American. :P


Happy new year to you to!


There's the infallible rule. :-)

--
AJL Electronics (G6FGO) Ltd : Satellite and TV aerial systems
http://www.classicmicrocars.co.uk : http://www.ajlelectronics.co.uk

Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics) wrote:
In article , Andy Champ
wrote:

And it's spelt "Tomato". Even in American. :P


Happy new year to you to!


There's the infallible rule. :-)

Uhuh. And you read my one-time sig?

Andy

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Owain
saying something like:

Lobster wrote:
Well I've been given one of those bloody contraptions which is supposed
to solve global warming by converting your newspapers into papier mache
logs.
Can anyone confirm, is it as crap as I believe it is...?

Probably, but if you stand it in a washing-up bowl and fill it with
apples you may be able to convert it into a cider press.

Or olive oil...

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember terry
saying something like:


PPS. Have read about that system apparently used on some UK building
sites whereby a step down from 230 to 115 transformer is used; and 115
volt tools are employed? Not only that the centre tap of the 115 volts
is earthed? Hence the maximum voltage to earth/ground etc. is only
57.5 volts RMS? Sounds like a good system? Also, allegedly, that
cheaper 115 volt tools can be used.

Most of the tools available in either voltage are the same price for
each version. Where it used to be worthwhile was buying an expensive
110V tool in the US and importing it - a DeWalt mitre saw in the US was
about half the price a few years ago.