Bloodstock Community

Looking to DIY CAT8 my house, and I'm actually enjoying the process. Not sure whether I should get a handyman in to run the cabling from my downstairs living room to my two spare bedrooms (one of which is a foster kitten room with a livestream), and/or whether I should split the cabling into two lengths and have a patch panel in the middle. Leaning towards the latter -- I've pretty much decided that the dead space above the staircase is ripe for a patch panel (and possibly an extra wardrobe/cupboard...), but I'm mostly convinced that I can work the cabling myself. The hardest part is running the cable from the living room to the main bedroom directly above it -- I'm pretty much going to have to cut a drill sized hole in the bedroom wall to make a cable-sized hole in the wall/floor cavity. between the two rooms -- it's deciding whether I want to get somebody else to do it, or at least suggest alternatives before I commit to the process. :l

Turns out I don't need to drop 500 quid on a replacement aircon compressor for my car. After a bit of research, the pulley clutch no longer spinning when it's disengaged is normal. Local mechanic seemed concerned when it wasn't spinning freely when disengaged.

Got my BGC e-ticket today. Barring a positive test, nothing stands in the way of me and Bloodstock now. \o/

Update on car: I now possess 2 new pre-cat and 2 new post-cat lambda sensors. Now to hope they can be fitted before Bloodstock...

Never trust cats. Pre or post, cats only want fed.

Kittens however...

(our current Foster kittens)

Final shift before Bloodstock done, nothing to do now but pack and wait

I know I'm going to sound pretty pathetic saying this, but technically it did make me happy.

We're a week into our hardest lockdown since the pandemic began: no visitors at all, no travelling more than 10km from home, plus all the other fun stuff. A friend who lives close by and I were discussing how we could exchange home grown fruit without breaking protocol. I drove to his house, he left a bag of mandarins by his front gate and I replaced it with a bag of lemons. He said hello from his front door, I said hello from the gate, and his dog barked at me from inside the house.

AlixB wrote:I know I'm going to sound pretty pathetic saying this, but technically it did make me happy.

We're a week into our hardest lockdown since the pandemic began: no visitors at all, no travelling more than 10km from home, plus all the other fun stuff. A friend who lives close by and I were discussing how we could exchange home grown fruit without breaking protocol. I drove to his house, he left a bag of mandarins by his front gate and I replaced it with a bag of lemons. He said hello from his front door, I said hello from the gate, and his dog barked at me from inside the house.

Well just having homegrown fruit is amazing regardless of a lockdown so you don't sound pathetic at all. I grow pears, apples, gooseberries, strawberries and raspberries. Would be great to have mandarins and lemons but I wouldn't want the hot weather you have

The pathetic nature of my post was more related to my handling of our most recent lockdown, as my state has so far had awesome luck and awesome management of the pandemic so far. Until now we've been able to do so much social stuff that much of the rest of the world hasn't. Up until recently we've even had local shows at some capacity over the whole last 12 months and spectator sport at full capacity. Being in lockdown sucks, but I'm not jealous that you get to do stuff now. Enjoy it while you can.

Le Mans starts today

A day late but I broke another deadlifting PB last night by 5kg. No videos or pictures were taken, but I did have eyewitnesses. I hurt now but it was totally worth it.

So, after getting rear ended just before New Year (not in a fun way), halfway though March I have finally got my car back.

Bought it back from insurers after they tried to write it off. Bought donor car from the only Subaru breakers I could find, in Norwich. New boot, new bumper, new crash beam. Damaged part of frame cut out, frame from donor car cut out and welded in (parts of which were different to my original so some of it had to be fabricated). All this not long after having the timing chains replaced. Next up: New shock and there's some further welding needed soon.

For those thinking about an MG HS as a next car: Don't bother. The only redeeming features I could find from my courtesy car (which had all sorts of bells and whistles) were fuel consumption, the satnav is kinda alright and the internal lighting is a bit nice. Everything else though...

Lane guidance system tried on more than one occasion to pull me towards oncoming traffic. Turned that one off.
Automatic lighting tried on more than one occasion to dazzle other cars cresting the top of a hill. Turned that one off.
Cruise control notifications had a nasty habit of covering the screen displaying my current speed, where I would have to spend more than a few seconds refocussing on the much smaller speedo dial instead of the road. The control stick was also on the same side as the high beams so I flashed a few drivers with full beams every now and then.
The E-brake... Slow to hold and release in traffic so borderline unusable. Instead, the car automatically holds the brakes when stationary. This also means the brake lights are illuminated, meaning I slightly dazzle the driver behind at traffic lights. These brakes don't activate after just starting the car and releasing the e-brake, so you're likely to roll on any kind of incline when you'd be used to having them on. They only release if you press the accelerator peddle too, so if you're making a maneuver close to another object, there's a risk of a bump as you suddenly release the brakes.
Rear view camera takes your attention off your surroundings.
2 litre engine has some fairly decent poke... eventually. Accelerate through the gears and the naturally aspirated petrol engine tries to convince you it's turbo lag.
It's too wide.
It's too tall. Felt like I was climbing into a lorry cab.

I hated that car.

Our pregnant foster cat gave birth to three healthy squeaky babies on Wednesday. She's been doing an amazing job looking after them, and it's so exciting to be raising newborns rather than ferals or semi-ferals for a change!

We named the mama Daifuku (a glutinous rice cake with a sweet filling) and we've called the kittens Dango, Mochi, and Ohagi. Livestream here: https://youtu.be/MEHiKx-2Ue0

WorMzy wrote:Our pregnant foster cat gave birth to three healthy squeaky babies on Wednesday. She's been doing an amazing job looking after them, and it's so exciting to be raising newborns rather than ferals or semi-ferals for a change!

We named the mama Daifuku (a glutinous rice cake with a sweet filling) and we've called the kittens Dango, Mochi, and Ohagi. Livestream here: https://youtu.be/MEHiKx-2Ue0

This post made me happy- I've had nothing but aggro from builders and neighbours for months and I think I will use your mummy cat's name when i next see them- pronounced thus...'Die Fuk U.' (sorry but it made me laugh out loud.)

Daifuku was adopted on Sunday. Both she, and her kittens, have been spayed, and are doing great. The kittens just passed the 2kg mark, and will probably be adopted soon themselves.

In other news, I've started brewing my own ginger beer. It's slightly alcoholic, and doesn't have the most pleasant smell, but it's significantly cheaper than buying a decent mixer for rum form the supermarket (literally all you need is ginger, sugar, water, a mason jar and valve for your 'gingerbug', and plastic bottles for fermenting the actual product.

Oh yeah, and my Steam Deck has been shipped. Hopefully I'll have it by the end of the week.