Lots to report...but can I remember it all ?

Well as we speak (or type!) i am currently on a few days leave from work trying to catch up on all of those "little" jobs that seem to get pushed to the back of my "to do" list all the time.
This morning I was up with the lark (or was it the sparrow?) feeding the rabbit family that have now taken over the living room (it's a long story...see previous rabbit post) then it was time to set off to Pitstop Garage to take the Scirocco in for the front wheel bearing change.
The bearing had needed doing for about 10 months, having taken a hell of a thrashing last year on our way through(over?) the Pyrenees mountains during our S2M adventure. I have been employing the "if it makes a noise just turn up the radio" technique for some time now, but last week the volume dial on the said sound unit finally reached it's maximum point and i could still hear the ruddy wheel bearing...so i figured it was probably a good time as any to arrange to get it fixed.
I have replaced a few wheel bearings in my time, but faced with the possibility of taking layers of skin off of my knuckles, having to buy several tools to carry out the task, and finding a spare hour or two to do it, i decided to let the fella's at Pitstop have the pleasure.Sometimes it pays to...pay someone else to do it :-).

In other news.

About 2 years ago i did a "temporary" repair to my bathroom floor after the cistern on the bog decided to leak badly resulting in the toilet attempting to leave the bathroom by way of the floor!.My repair was nothing more than to cut out the offending area of rotten floor and "patch" it with a sheet of replacement chipboard.Suffice to say, the repair lasted well for over a year, but by the end of last week it had taken on a decidedly "saggy" appearance :-0.So yesterday I asked a fella to come around and give me a quote for replacing the floor and making the pigs ear of an install of the bathroom suite look decent.The work starts next week :-)

Laptops and liquids...not a good combination !

My long suffering Dell 9300 was back in work being repaired again last week after the socket for the power supply finally gave up and stopped working. The repair went quite well, and after removing the mother board,drives,keyboard,various leads/connectors and "bits", i managed to solder the offending connector back into place.
Imagine my surprise then when after re-assembly it actually worked ! :-0.Amazing.
Sadly (as is always the case with anything that appears to be going my way) disaster was only a cup full away...read on.
Having sorted the lappy on Thursday, I was busy "blogging on it on Friday evening (i managed to secure a small window of opportunity between my 2 daughters Bebo,facebook and MSN appointments!) when my daughter approached with a refreshing glass of blackcurrant. Need I elaborate more? You will already have guessed what happened next, but for those who have not here is a clue:

Blackcurrant+man not paying attention to relative location of hand to said cup of blackcurrant = spillage= very wet laptop = very bad language, rapid turning off of laptop and its subsequent transit up to, and into the airing cupboard to dry out!
The following morning i replaced the battery and keyboard (removed to assist the drying process) and..................it still worked!.Amazing :-)

Of course this is me we are talking about, so it simply can't end at that can it ?.Fast forward to the following evening.Yet again I am busy on the laptop, still quite amazed that it still functions after its drink when i am asked to pop into the kitchen to fetch some food.I am gone from the computer for less than 30 seconds when i hear a commotion from the 3 kids. From what I could gather it appears that my young son "mini me" has picked a fight with his older sister, and in the ensuing mayhem a glass of milk has landed on...............yes, you guessed, the laptop.

To avoid going into details about the actions that followed, simply scroll back up to the previous paragraph, but replace "blackcurrant" with "milk"!

End result? The laptop yet again survived, although knowing my luck it will be found to suffer from a lactose intolerance and fail on that basis.......good grief :-)

Anyway, nearly time to pick up the car, so will leave it here...until something else prompts me put finger to key on this blog....take care...and don't drink near computers!

Balham neighbours support milkman in leukaemia battle

A small Balham community has united in declaring their milkman of 16 years a “local hero” after beginning his tough battle with leukaemia.

Last week residents on Round 16 threw a huge party for Grant Ramsay, 60, who they said always looked out for them and once even saved a church from burning down.Mr Ramsay gave up his round to undergo treatment, but customers missed him so much they arranged for notes to be attached every milk bottle inviting neighbours to send cards.Kate Cheshire, 48, of Balham Park Road, said: “He is just the kindest man, and he has made us into a community. He looked out for everybody and put everybody before himself.“We wanted to say thank you. To us, he’s a local hero.”Mr Ramsay, who was born in the borough and now lives in Lucien Road in Tooting with his wife Linda, 59, was presented with more than 80 cards last Wednesday at St Mary’s Church in Balham.
The vicar was only too glad to host the celebrations, since Mr Ramsay had once spotted the church ablaze and called in the fire brigade.Mr Ramsay has now set himself the task of writing back to every card - at a rate of 20 per day.The much-loved milkman is undergoing a two-year treatment programme after discovering his illness at Christmas while giving blood.He said: “I miss my round. When you talk to people, it’s so nice - I couldn't be stuck in an office all day.

“I would like to thank my customers for all their loyalty and commitment over the years. The people of Balham have done me proud.

This story was published by "Your local guardian.co.uk".To visit their site, please click HERE.