China will be the world’s biggest economy within our life-time. It will never be a liberal democracy. To the degree ‘this’ <gestures around at the politcal-socio-economic sphere> is a race, China will ‘win’ eventually.

I’ve worn an Oura ring since June 2019.

Good: sleep tracking and reporting has been useful to me (insomia sufferer), it’s a pretty friction-free activity / health tracker compared to some alternatives (you just stick it on your finger and forget about it – I even shower with mine), charge it every four days or so. App (iOS) is excellent. It ‘spots’ activity / workouts accurately. I don’t know how good the quality of the heartrate measuring etc is – but for me it’s less about medical grade precision, but about a consistent dataset (if that makes sense – problematic if comparing Apple watch data vs. Oura data over time, but as a single data source it’s fine). Hardware is pretty reliable…

Bad:..but my first one was ‘bricked’ by a firmware update from their end which meant that battery drained very quickly. I don’t think this is unusual – the ring still worked but it needed charging every day and a half – just gets ‘noisy’ (which is why I didn’t really get on with the Apple watch). There is a weird flaw in the iOS app that means you can’t log workouts etc historically which is a minor gripe that they just don’t (oddly) seem inclined or able to fix.

Oh, and it’s not cheap.

Has anyone used Chrono24 or similar to buy an expensive (few thousand) watch?
Lots of options on there significantly cheaper than AD’s for brand new with papers and box, and it sounds safer than the likes of ebay. Just a little scary trusting them that much money…..

Yup. Same as anywhere – you buy the seller more than the watch and if it seems to good to be true etc.  I’ve bought from private sellers and dealers on C24. In either instance, using their escrow service. I’ve then had the purchases verified by AD / Service centre before approving the release of funds.

EDIT: I’ve also just had a bad experience with one of the online platforms that promise to ‘authenticate’ the items before they send them onto you. The watch that turned up was so obviously a replica as to be almost funny – I had used Paypal so leant on their refund process to ensure I got my money back. So I wouldn’t put too much store in these places that offer to verify anything  – you want things checked out by the brands themselves where possible. Depends on the brand too though – especially where ‘standard’ ETA movements are concerned some of the replicas are pretty much true 1-to-1 with gens.

I’m not sure England currently deserve their football team.

This + 1

Honestly – the state of Trafalgar Square and London this morning was utterly, utterly vile. Christ only knows what it was like straight after everyone had gone home but at 5:30am today it was too disgusting for words. Piles of glass, vomit, trash, beer cans etc – all along the front of the National they’d had great fun destroying the bushes and lawns – the destruction carried all the way across the square and the poor street teams were still struggling up through St James area.

The whole lot can get in the f*cking bin. The team is a shining beacon next to the sorry bunch of flag-shagging idiots.

Urgh. I despair.

Do you take it off to do the washing up? 😁

Ha. To be honest it’s worn pretty frequently, and yes, even when washing up – mine appears to have been well-used – like most examples – they were typically purchased as tools and used professionally. Seems daft to stick it in a drawer or watch-winder when it’s been subject to far rougher treatment than a bowl of fairy-liquid.

A proper tool watch and another chunky vintage Omega – original Ploprof from mid-1970s – like the Flightmaster, wears surprisingly well given it’s hewn from a solid chunk of steel.

Easy to unbolt the rear seats and build a flat plywood platform if you just need a 2 seater with bigger boot, then some drawer, then a 12v setup, fridge and you have your own mini overlander!

This. The car is much like my old Mk1 MX5 – there’s nothing on that I’d be afraid of spannering myself (the right tools not-withstanding). And like 5s, some people spend a lot of time and money ‘improving’ their Jimnys – rise kits, snorkels, interior fit-outs etc – the list is endless.

Check out the Japanese brand Apio – they do all sorts of things for every version of the Jimny. Not everyone’s cup of tea but I think they’re ace;

I’ve had a Jimny 2003 for a couple of years.

To fold the back seats down completely flat, the rear bench folds out and up behind the front seats. This means that you’re not going to get a full, front-to-back, flat ‘bed’.

What else?

Ride is not the most restful – pretty choppy and they’re really not fast – fine for pootling around but I’m not sure I’d want to spend any time at anything more than 50mph. Fuel economy isn’t great. There’s not a great deal of room in them. I’d describe it as ‘agricultural’.

Residuals are really strong – I bought mine for £2K – it was a student’s car and used to occasionally run back and forth from London to Brighton. I’ve serviced it annually and had the underside waxoyled. From looking around at used prices, I’d be making decent money on it should I want to sell. People are buy MOT failures as off-roading toys so should something major go I’m unlikely to lose much (if anything) on it.

They seem reliable – mine’s gone through 2 MOTs without issue. Rust can be a problem – check under the boot / rear seats as the back pan can go. Used parts are cheap as chips. Mine will happily sit for 3 months and starts on the button.

We’ll be keeping ours until it goes to scrap, whenever that is.  Love it.

I think after what Rotary have said he’s worrying a bit because of the parts issue they mentioned.

The chap I used can make parts – he mills them himself. He gets a lot of referrals from high-end London dealers and watchsmiths to make obscure watch and clock bits.  This is why he did the Tudor – there was only one London repair workshop who would have gone near it – and they wanted silly money just to open it up and check it out. This chap in Tonbridge works out of his flat and said that any parts he couldn’t buy, he’d just make.

I don’t think he’d be particularly cheap though. My service on the Tudor was £400.

Drop me a PM and I’ll send you through his details.

I can recommend a decent independent down in Kent if you’re local – he restored a Tudor 7928 that others wouldn’t touch.

Leftfield recommendation for Lloyds – been banking with them since forever in some form or another and their app / online portal does everything I’ve needed to do. They’ve also been accommodating when it comes to customer service – I’ve a relationship manager type bod with a direct number who does all the co-ordination when it comes to setting up meetings etc. Importantly they seem to have got the whole “a bank should be seen and not heard” thing right – there if I need them but not constantly bombarding me with selling / ‘reviews’ etc.

In contrast, we’ve also tried the following and moved within a year or two – typically due to issues with customer service, payments being messed around and I’ve not got a great deal of patience with being on hold, payments not being made, spurious charges (and lengthy wait-times to get them reversed).

Santander. A complete shower.

CO-OP.

Direct Line.

But you are paying for that protection. With the new payments and £1 selling I’ve probably saved enough for 3 or 4 sales to go wrong and still be ahead. As they haven’t gone wrong so far I’m well ahead.

I’m not a business – though selling more than usual recently as we’ve been clearing out a bunch of clothes, bike bits, some expensive pens etc over the last six months or – only takes one pricey sale to go sideways – and it happens more and more frequently – then no number of listing offers would offset the downside. Most people are honest but someone wants to claim a £300 fountain pen is fake I’ve got zero redress.

So then it becomes a case of only selling stuff where the potential loss is not material. Which renders the whole thing a PITA with limited upside.

If you are that paranoid just change your dispatch time to 7 days. Then you can dispatch after 2 or 3 days when you have the money in your bank account and still be well within your stated dispatch time.

I ‘think’ there’s a link between dispatch and receipt of funds. Regardless, I think (?) there are no set rules as to when the money will get deposited so you’re at the mercy of their discretion anyway.

Had a mk2 petrol – bought ex-demo from a Honda dealer, ran it for 8 years. Apart from annual servicing at the local independent garage, the only thing it cost us was a passenger side seatbelt stalk thing where the old one was sticking.Every year the mechanic would offer to buy it. Depreciation was pretty good – it sold on eBay literally within minutes when we came to sell it.

Super reliable. Ace family car for kids + dog. Not exactly an inspiring drive but did everything asked of it without issue – country roads in the snow, long holiday trips etc.

My parents had the mk2 diesel with all the bells and whistles – leather interior etc – which was a lot nicer than our poverty-spec version. They had the exact same experience. Not particularly refined to drive and reliable if rather dull.

I’m also now getting a slew of offers – all linked to me updating my account to the new system.

I’m running down my listings to the end of the month and then stopping selling – TBH there’s other places to list anything, and if I REALLY need to sell on eBay then I’ll move over to the new system then.

It’s the increased risk as a seller that bothers me and off the back of recent experiences just makes it too much of a risk / PITA – it’s beholden on you to send the item whilst eBay merrily runs its ‘checks’ (collects interest) and you get your money at some point thereafter. You’re fully on the hook if the buyer decides to play the system – from experience you’ve the sum total of f*ck-all protection via eBay. With PP, for all its flaws, at least it added a modicum of fallback – and you had more control over the money itself (to a degree).

I like @woffle.  It looks like a biggun though! Whats the case size?

It’s hefty – single block of steel – 52mm in length, 46mm with the crowns, 43mm without, and 15mm thick. Around 140g without the strap. Doesn’t seem so excessive now but it was VERY oversized for 1969 when it was released.

That being said, the hidden lugs means it wears surprisingly well. It was designed to be functional – it’s a tool watch, deliberately oversized for pilots to be able to tell the time instantly. They had a dig at Rolex in the marketing – “a Pilot’s watch that has rather more than a revolving bezel,”

The other Omega beast of a watch is the Speedmaster 125;

They have a wierd backstory related to the supposed limited number sold vs. the number clearly on the market – it’s a solidly made watch with a really nice movement.

I had one but sold it on pretty quickly.  It was wildly impractical and kept on getting banged up on things – it wore every millimeter of it’s huge case and integrated strap. I think which accounts for the fact that they are remarkably common on the usual used-watch sites / dealers, with prices being relatively depressed given it’s supposed rarity and the quality of movement etc – they’re not a watch that can be easily worn.

In comparison, Flightmaster prices are all over the shop but seem to be slowly on the up.

Bought a Flightmaster back in the day as my first ‘proper’ watch (cheap as chips from a local auction). Sold it about 4 years later and regretted it ever since.

Managed to find this a few months back;

911 ST 145.036 from 1973. According to extract, sold in Switzerland originally – clearly well travelled as I bought it in Mexico. The case has been polished (and was a bargain because of it), but that aside, it’s in original condition – showing it’s age with fading dial, patina all round. But it’s a daily wear, keeps time well and for such a lump, is remarkably comfortable on the wrist.

ohh FFS – at some point I’ll get images working…

We put a mini-mezzanine above my daughter’s bedroom and got a space-saving/tight return staircase kit. It’s pretty narrow and has a small footprint, cost approx £400 and we had the chippie fit it – he was really impressed. We thought we’d be paying him extra to fix it up but not the case.

https://www.laddersandscaffoldtowers.co.uk/acatalog/Space-Saver-Staircase.html

Not sure if there’s anything suitable there but I think they do some sliding steps..

for all those with watches that have hard to find/replace parts – I have a local watchsmith who will make any missing parts from scratch. I had a Tudor 7928, a watch that many won’t go near because the movements are famously hard to service – many places wouldn’t touch it. He had it sorted and back to me within two weeks – highly recommended (at 1/3 of the cost that SHWR were quoting). He does a lot of very high-end watches and vintage clocks. He’s currently servicing a friend’s much beloved Oyster Perpetual.

Drop me a PM if you want his details.

Tombow Fudenosuke – the hard-tipped version.

Anything valuable – might be worth checking out Shiply for a door-to-door service – I’m not that familar with the ins and outs of it but it seems like there are chaps who will build a route of collections and deliveries moving across the country. You might have to wait to fit into their schedule but in the past I’ve shipped expensive furniture, a very delicate JDM car body kit, an adult trike etc. It doesn’t get to spend the night in a depot somewhere, there’s no sorting office or transfers, the chaps pick it up, strap it down and cover it with blankets, and then it’s there until it’s delivered from the same van.

Appreciate it might not be cost effective but I’ve always been nicely surprised by how cheap it can be…

@woffle I really like that. Nice patina! The only thing i’d do is replace the lume pip (suitably patina’d). I’m looking for something similar from around ’77.

Cheers – I’ll be back to the watch chap to have that done in a month or so when the bank balance allows and when I’ve found an OEM replacement.

That’s the only issue with these watches – there’s no way I could afford one ‘usually’ – so it’s a gamble that’s paid off – I’m a smidge over £1.5K into it after servicing etc – that’s a lot for any watch, but I couldn’t replace it for that. If you want it serviced or repaired by the only approved workshop for watches of that age (SHWR in London SW1), you’ll be looking at really hefty bills and astronomical waiting times. There’s also the inherent danger that any original pieces then get swopped out (service bezels, replacement dials etc). Until I found the local repair shop I was looking at either selling it or breaking it for parts as the bill (and timescale) was going to be prohibitive.

I have a Ducky in the studio at home, and a Cherry in the office. The Ducky was approx 30% more than the Cherry but worth it – seems better built, detachable/replaceable USB-C cable, and even though they’re meant to be on the same switches, action just seems nice on the Ducky.

We’ve got an old Advanced Elements tandem (Firefly?) in the loft somewhere. Haven’t used it for a good few years but it used to be grand for messing about in the mouth of the estuary on holidays. Packs down small which is a necessity when camping with kids, but as mentioned ^^, does rather catch the wind…

Bought this as a complete gamble from eBay – crappy pics, listed as “In need of attention” and importantly, cheap. Been owned from new (apparently) and supposedly on a Rolex bracelet. Arrived with the seconds hand loose, plexi and bezel falling off and movement not working (couldn’t even get the back open). From a cursory once-over, it seemed genuine, ditto the bracelet so all good…

Then went to try to find someone decent to get it serviced and repaired. Which was a challenge! It’s from 1967 and turns out most places won’t touch ‘vintage’ Rolex / Tudor due to scarcity of parts. Had a quote from SHWR in London – starting at £400 odd, more if I needed it back in under six months (!) and repairs would be on top of that. It’d be two weeks and £90 before they would even look at it and even then no guarantee they’d want to do the work. In end, I discovered someone about 15 miles from home – he works out of his house and does a lot outsourced from workshops who are limited to servicing or the more straight-forward repairs. He even makes parts where availability is limited – old Rolex balance shafts being an example.

Anyway. 2 weeks (!) and not-very-much money later, back on the wrist. The movement was soaked in oil and someone had attempted a bad repair but otherwise all good. Got a full service and now ticking away fine.

If anyone wants the details of an ace watch repair and restoration chap in Kent, let me know!

You could always try and tame it. I saw a great book in the library all about it

Might try charming it instead…

(it’s bringing all the nesting materials into the shed by the looks of things, rather than making use of anything that’s lying around. Watching it carrying scraps of leaves etc)

<edit – need to work how to get Insta working>

We all loved any book by Oliver Jeffers.

I’ve been selling off assorted stuff the last year. Basic rule is tracked and insured postage, to a home address, always and without exception. Add tracking info once it’s gone and keep an eye on it arriving. Oh, and keep the receipts for postage – I had someone open a claim in April, for an item they received in Feb (!) via credit card chargeback. And this was despite them leaving feedback for the item. Luckily I had the postage receipt, could evidence the tracking info, showed them the feedback. But usually I would throw any old receipts out, especially when it was two+ months ago and the seller had come out and said how much they loved it etc!

But, even then, they took the £80 out of my paypal account for the duration of their ‘investigation’. As a seller you’re incredibly exposed to people trying to scam you – even if you do have proof of postage, I have had people claim that it wasn’t them signing for it etc etc. Ebay make all the right noises about seller account protections but generally they’re not worth a jot.

I just order exchange direct from the Sodastream website. We took out their annual plan last year but used the full allowance before the period ran out.

I’ve got a 500g pot of bakers yeast that happy to send on for the cost of postage (well, courier collection and postage – we’re a ‘shielded’ household so I’m going nowhere near a post office any time soon. Which probably makes it relatively expensive TBH)…

With every loaf / batch. I’m learning. The last lot taught me;

– Leaving them longer in the fridge seems to enhance the flavour and doesn’t seem to affect the structure. I usually bake first thing but had to wait until 5pm – so an added 10hours. Made zero difference to the rise but subjectively the bread has a stronger flavour.

– Shaping makes a far bigger difference than I thought. Paid much more attention this time to shaping and pulling tension into the loaves. Consequently, they were much less inclined to flatten out when being transferred to the cloche from the banneton (my luxury spend last month was a spun iron cloche from Netherton Foundry – worth every penny). I’m used to making yeast bread in tins so my first few attempts, whilst they had a decent crumb, tended to be more cow-pat shape than farmhouse loaf.

All a learning experience.

Curious cider down here in the SE England – Kentish Ruben & Bramley apples.

’tis lovely.

(nothing quite beats the memory as a youngster being allowed Breton cider on our family campimng trips to France. Drunk nicely chilled, sat in the sun with sandy toes, usually whilst pigging out on moule frites. Sigh…)

New to the whole sourdough thing – though have been making yeast bread for yonks. My first attempts at a starter all failed horribly so I ended up buying one, feeding it for a week. Seem to have nailed the timings around the working day now too

My 2nd batch from yesterday am;

I used the method as outlined by this chap; his no-knead ‘beginner’ soughdough Joshua Weissman

what do people do with the water when changing it?

I’m being over-ruled at home and we’re getting one of those small intex swimming-pool things – essentially like an inflatable hot-tub but without the heating or jets. I suspect it’ll get used twice and then sit gently decaying on the patio for the summer.

The ladies of the house insist that they want the water sparkling clean so it looks like I’m treating it with something. We’re not on mains sewerage and that’s a lot of water to drain into the septic tank. I’m guessing the chlorine dissipates after a certain period but even so, I’m assuming there’s all sorts of nasty chemicals that we don’t want going anywhere near the garden…

corner of shame behind the greenhouse; spoil from when I dug the pong, a pile of unwanted roof tiles and a couple of oak beams taken from our kitchen ceiling during work on the house;

Decided to tidy things up and make a wall out of said roof tiles. The ridge-tile ‘hole’ will be a bug-hotel – going to stuff it full of twigs and bamboo for insects and bees.

Came out much better than I thought it would. Need to add some sand and topsoil and then grass-seed…

I’d like my modest pond to be bigger, deeper and properly lined. Chances of this happening = zero; our two teenagers are still moaning about how I should have made it into a (small) swimming pool instead. So if I dare to go near the ground with a spade, or any potential spend is going to be shot down in flames (the ladies in the house want a hot-tub or one of those overblown paddling pool things).

Other than that – being realistic – another bee-keeper in waiting so some hives would be nice. I was signed up to the Sussex associations course this year but that’s been cancelled what with everything going on. So the hives will have to wait until next year. Somewhere permanent and covered to leave the pizza oven and BBQ out. A decent outside furniture set would be nice.

If we’re talking money-no-object; a garden designer would be good, then someone to come in to move the chicken run, lay a proper area of decking and then install one of those garden pods, complete with heating and lighting…

2003-4(ish) I think for me – as per ^^ I think anyone prior to the Great Hack of 2008 gets a start date of December that year…

yes – bought a Monolith three years ago and it’s ace. Ours is the smallish one – just big enough for a joint, a chicken etc. Does an all-day brisket on one load of charcoal for low temp cooking, or can happily roast quickly at 300 degrees. Did our christmas roast in it last year. FIt came with with a stand, various internal grids, heat stone, cover etc.

There’s seemingly 101 different makes / variations on a theme.

EDIT – was approx £300 on a deal. Worth every penny, but it’s wholly relative as to whether it’s a worthwhile spend. Friend of ours has the big green egg proper, monster-size version. Ridiculously heavy, incredibly expensive to buy, and to fuel, but lovely to have all that cooking space.