You can also change it’s name from “Alexa” to “Computer” if you want to go all Star Trek…

Turning a consumer unit round isn’t as easy as just grabbing it and turning it.
Cutting your way through from either side is risking cutting cables.
As others have said, CCU in a bathroom isn’t a good idea.Think of it this way, to be allowed a plug socket in a bathroom it has to be 3 meters horizontally from the edge of zone 1.
As suggested elsewhere, pay the cash and get it moved to somewhere safe and accessible.

OK, so it’s a survey done by a place that does training courses for electricians, but it’ll give you a starting point.

2016-electrician-salary-survey

No way are you too old for the retraining, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

I had been in a very good office job for a massive company for 13 years. I sacked it off in my late 30s to run a self catering business on a Scottish island. Since then I have also retrained as an electrician and now do that self employed as my day job while my partner runs the self catering (both of us do the cleaning on changeover days)

I trained with Trade Skills 4U in Crawley. Biggest drawback would have been if I were still in England I couldn’t have started on my own straight away whereas my first job after passing was a full rewire! It was a full refurb that I was involved in and learned a massive amount from the other trades. Oh, and not that it makes any difference I turn 42 next week.

Thanks for the responses.

My claim with Gladiator was taking so long I eventually gave up as it was costing more to chase than it was worth and as my renewal was due they wouldn’t give NCB until it was complete even though the other party had admitted full liability.
Direct Line are on my shortlist as are Adrian Flux.

Depends on how tight you like your laces to be, but I found the knotted elastic ones were quite slack even when tightened to the point where I could hardly put my trainers on.
The pull tab ones with a locking slider are much better but the number of times the end comes off was kinda annoying.

Barstewards!! Hope you get it back.

Thanks for the replies.
The last solar garden lights I bought were the cheapo spike ones from a garage years ago and I had hoped that there would be something better these days.
I was hoping something like these would be good for on the side of the house but also need something for in the garden for the steps – but no wall near by to attach to.

They’re really easy to grow in the UK. I’ve grown many different varieties over the years and now live off the west coast of Scotland so location isn’t a problem.
The don’t like cold (a frost will kill the plant)
Keep the soil moist (if it dries it will kill the plant) – that’s moist not water logged.
Little black flies love the plants and are a pain to get rid of.

To grow stick some seeds in a pots of compost and keep the compst moist. No need to do anything fancy, just be patient. Don’t try replanting seedlings until they have at least 4 leaves as they will be very fragile.

Oh, and top tip for cooking. For chopping hold by the stalk and use scissors to chop direct into the pot.

I hopped straight onto a 600 Bandit after a direct access course. It was a bit of an eye opener but I’ve still got it and without the urge for mega top speed I can’t justify anything bigger. No fairing will help keep your speed sensible and make you think twice about going out in horrible weather. As said above, go for standard but I stuck some renthals on mine and it feels a lot less cramped. Mine has done getting on for 30k and has been very abused (living outside all year round doesn’t help) so again, as above buy on condition rather than mileage.

Apart from everything else suggested:
Head back over onto to Mull and go to Duart Castle (can get a family ticket including ferry, bus and entrance to castle) or on Thursday it’s the Salen Show?
Kilmartin Glen to the south of Oban is nice – Carnasserie Castle and “one of the most important concentrations of Neolithic and Bronze Age remains in Scotland”.
Inverary – Castle & Jail.
Lismore is worth a trip across if it brightens (looking out my office window, it’s not raining in Tobermory just now).
Seafari will take you out to see Corryvreckan if you’re feeling brave.
Roads are good to get you to The Scottish Crannog Centre at Loch Tay with numerous options of castles and other stop offs that can be tied in. Or head north and across towards The Great Glen and Loch Ness.

Next couple of days are due to be OK, so make the most of it.

I choose Blip s because it’s designed for the job and you’re be surrounded by like minded people who will encourage you.

To add to what Slogo said above, fitting a Consumer Unit isn’t a DIY job, it’s a notifiable job, but…

To make it easier to understand your wiring later, as you connect to the neutral bar count in the number of slots – on the LH RCD you’re using the 4th MCB so connect the black wire to the 4th connection point on the corresponding neutral bar (4of6 counting from the left). Doesn’t seem important now but as the board gets filled up if makes life easier.
As mentioned above you’ve got no main earth connection to the CCU, but there does seem to be a small earth from the incoming supply? Sounds like you’re looking into your earth connection though.
To meet regs all earth wires need to be marked, so you’ll need the sleeving even though it seems a waste of money (should be able to get a smaller roll than 100m though)
As also mentioned before all an RCD does is measure the difference between incoming and outgoing supply. If it’s more than the stated 30mA it will trip as this indicates a fault to earth path. It’s your MCB that trip if it’s overloaded – this can either trip instantly or after a couple of minutes depending on the fault.
The bakelite fuse you mention is the property of the electricity supply company and you shouldn’t be pulling it – like me telling you is going to stop you!
If the incoming supply has a 30A fuse there’s not much point in anything further down the line having a higher rating than this as you are then relying on that 30A fuse as your protection and if it blows you can’t just pick one up at Toolstation. You need to limit the onward supply at the consumer unit instead so no one circuit is higher than the 30A.

I’ve been doing this since the start of 2013. I would have given up a long time ago if it weren’t for Blipfoto (This is me), it’s free to join and there’s loads of other people on there to inspire you.

Really feel for you. It pains me to even think of losing my current dog and I know that where you are at the moment is a very tough place indeed. Here’s me raising a glass to Skye.

Boiler temp should be set high, rad temps set as required and what should happen is the rads cut out when up to temp and then once the return to the boiler is close enough to to out let the boiler shuts down too – or at least this is the theory.
As mentioned above low setting all day long is a modern myth and will cost you a fortune.

I’d just like to add to the group hug.
Good on you for giving him so many happy years and remember the good times.

It all depends on the type of pub, how it’s staffed & run and the opening hours.
A reasonable size locals pub that’s open 11am to 11pm will see cleaning starting at about 8am, general bar prep will take you most of the way up to opening time and you’ll be lucky to be in bed before 1am.
Days off will be a long distant memory unless you’re paying for a good bar manaager – but even then you’re effectively on call 24-7.
Yes, there’s a lot of doom and gloom stories and it’s bl00dy hard work but it can be very rewarding. Personally I loved the cellarwork side of things and working the bar can be great.

Bottom line, if you’re serious about it make sure you actually know what you’re getting into before you jump in & if you do still go for it then I wish you the best of luck.

Cheers guys. I’ll have a propper look next time I’m round and see if there’s anything on the bike to give away the age. Failing that it’ll be take the old hanger off and send some good pics to see if I can find a match.

Just as everyone else is saying listen to your instructor and if in doubt ask. You’ll be fine.
There’s a lot to take in on one day and I had to go back the following weekend before I was given the thumbs up. If they’d passed me on the day I would have been worried though as I didn’t feel safe at all but a few days for it to sink in and I sailed through.

When you say steering wobble do you mean it tries to wrench the wheel out of your hands at anything above 35 mph? If so, panhard rod bushes as mentioned above are where I would start. If your new steering damper is good it will mak this but will wear out quickly.

Hopefully by now you will have been persuaded to not let your dog go for anything, but if you’re still looking for a home our neighbours are looking for a Springer. They’ve had lots of dogs over the years and are are outdoorsy people. Finn would have their 100 foot garden to play in and there’s a way through into our garden (same length) if he wants to call on our 2 year old border collie (called Fidget) to have a play.
They’re looking for a dog as their current dog (Toby) is about 14 years old and has really started to struggle with his back legs/hips. You’ll know yourself it’s easier to have a good overlap between dogs.
Anyway, if you are still looking for a home for Finn, drop me an email to “superwix AT googlemail DOT com” and I’ll swap contact details with you.
Thanks
Wiksey

Knowing whereabout in the country you are might help?

Hmm, as a border collie owning mountain biker I’ve got a foot in a few camps on this one.
A responsible dog owner will have trained their dog to listen to their commands rather than it’s own instinct – if you can’t control your dog when it’s off the lead in public then it shouldn’t be off the lead.
A responsible mountain biker will allow the dog owner enough time to control their dog – if you can’t control your riding when you’re riding on a shared use track you shouldn’t be riding.

Here’s a bit of collie psychology for you: Everyone know that a collie’s natural instinct tell it to chase and round things up – the harder you make it chase the more likely it will be that it will resort to nipping to try to convince whatever/whoever it’s rounding up to go where it wants. This is why in general a collie is not an ideal pet if you have kids as a child’s natural reaction to being rounded up is to scream and run in the opposite direction and the dog sees this as more of a challenge.

Thanks muchly. I’ve been close to purchasing before so £10 was a no brainer.

Jumping back to the OP, why would you mount a wind turbine on the back of your bike?
If it’s mounted on the bars like the HyMini the wind would be hitting the rider anyway so surely the diference in drag wouldn’t be noticeable?
I’ve got both the HyMini & also a Freeloader Globetrotter set. Both are great at reducing the rate at which your phone drains it’s battery when using GPS allowing you to use your tech for longer.

I’ve been using a Vert up front and a Vapor out back for a few years now and like the combo. I’ve been looking at an Advantage for the rear but not sure about steering duties?

A few thoughts, if I may:

Belief in some sort of life after death is one of the things that keeps most of us from going mental – if everyone believed that this one life was all there was and that death was final society as we know it would be very different.

You have to be very naive to think that nothing paranormal exists and that absolutely everything can be explained away. There are things that happen that our tiny little minds can’t comprehend… at least not yet.

Ok, I’ll give it a go then.
The non-drive side has enough clearance to easily spin round.

Thanks for your help.

That’s a great idea, I’ve got a few of those spacers in the spares box.
I assume that I shouldn’t ride it with a spacer in, but just do it to check clearance?

The middle ring was pretty close when the crankarm was first slid onto the axle, would the extra 5mm really make that much difference? (is it an extra 2.5mm each side?

Ah, so a different crankset with that axle length could have worked but for my Truvativ one I’ll need to buy another with a longer axle.
I never could get my head round the older BBs.

Hmmm, ok. Thanks for your help.
Looks like I’ll be shopping for the bits to make my spares bin parts into useful brakes again.

So I should be OK mixing & matching LX (M585), SLX (M665) & XT (M775)?

I’m trying to cobble a hydraulic brake set together out of my parts bin but only want to carry one type of spare pads when out on the hills.

A few years back I looked at a few different volunteering options like National Park Ranger but the Lakes & Dales are very oversubscribed. So I started helping out at a local independent animal sanctuary walking dogs for a few hours most Sunday mornings. I top this up by fundraising for them and have sponsored a dog pen for the last three years now.

Ah, miles away then (I’m in the north west).
If you’re keen on building up for a summer of fun then go for it, but to get as much back as possible strip it back down afterwards.

You would always be better off selling as parts.
Whereabouts in the country are you?

With the right type of panels you don’t need direct sunlight just daylight. REUK is a good place to start getting info from.
I’ve just got panels on the shed (old car battery and LED lighting) for bike tinkering duties in the dark but a chap at work has a solar water heating system and swears by it.

No need to lose it as you are currently “aerobellied” meaning you will be able to go faster downhill with less drag. You should pity the aerodynamically challenged skinny people you ride with that have to put in more effort to keep up with you.

Not a lot you can really do wrong with chillis.
– The bigger the pot the bigger the plant will grow.
– Don’t let them get dry as the leaves will shrivel & die (a healthy plant won’t have dried out crispy bits at the end of the leaves).
– Sure fire way to kill them is exposure to cold (keep them somewhere warm & well lit over the winter and they carry on fruiting).
– black/white/green flies all love to munch on your plants. If infected a regimented spraying with a soap solution will clear it eventually.
– If you keep getting flowers but no fruit then just rub each flower in turn transfering pollen around (earbud, paintbrush, finger etc)
– If the plant looks like its struggling (infested/lack of water/been to cold) removing all fruit & flowers will encourage growth