Search This Blog

Saturday 24 March 2018

We Can See Clearly Now

Our fifth broken pane of glass has just been replaced, thanks to the heroes at Aire Valley Glass.   It was another spontaneous break of a large toughened glass window.   This one was at first floor level in an awkward spot too.   No insurance claim possible as it was a pre-existing fault.   It was a three van, four man job.   Expensive.



 click to enlarge


Tuesday 20 March 2018

Beware EBay 'Bargains'

For reasons which will become clear in a few months I have been researching LED lighting.

I have discovered that

1.  LED bulbs, particularly in those recessed ceiling fittings soon fail.   My theory is that they overheat.   Nowhere near as hot as the halogen bulbs but the confined space in which the ceiling fittings sit gets warm enough to be higher than the LEDs comfort zone.

2. If you want to really light up a room you do not want those pointy ceiling spotlights.   You want a large surface mounted diffuser - the sort of thing you nowadays find in shops and offices.

3.  Beware of cheap LED bulbs and fittings on EBay - and presumably elsewhere.   My theory here is that LED makers get rid of failed bulbs and fittings to rogues who advertise them on EBay at near give-away prices.   Unsurprisingly they just do not work or are dangerous, or both.   The buyer is likely to be phylosophical about it and put it down to life's rich pattern.   Not worth the hassle of returning the item, little lost, just learn and move on.

That last one has its limits though.   I bought, in good faith, a square shaped LED fitting for the utility room.   I wired it up to a temporary supply and nothing lit up.   I got out my trusty mains voltage tool.   Very handy - lights up and beeps when it finds mains voltage without being in touch with bare wires.   Useful when drilling walls and fault finding.

Take a look at this:

click to enlarge

On the right of the picture is my trusty mains voltage tester resting on the metal backing plate of the light fitting, glowing red and beeping away merrily.   No LEDs are lit but the whole fitting is live.

I have of course, raised the matter through the EBay system for these things - aimed mainly at getting recourse or compensation from the seller.   Money back and such.

This though is something potentially deadly.   I shall let you know what happens.

Update 21/3/18
From the seller:

Thank you for shopping with us.
Our apology for the faulty item. We would like to solve any problem you may have.
This is a hot sale item in our shop. We would like to send a replacement to have a try,is it ok?
Really sorry for any inconvenience caused by us.
Looking forward to your reply.
Best regards,Ada


My reply

I do not want a replacement. I want a refund and an assurance that you will test these things for safety before selling them. Better still, withdraw them from sale. I am disturbed to hear that these are a 'hot sale item'


From the seller:


Dear bu1539,


we are sorry about it .

We would like to refund you fully,you don’t need to return the item,could you leave a 100% positive feedback on our service,please?

We are really sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Looking forward to your reply.

Best regards,

Ada

- majeevv


My reply:

Are you really saying you will refund my money on condition that I give you 100% positive feedback when you sold me something that was dangerously defective and did not work?


Since then:

Nothing.   I submitted a moderately worded one-star (terrible) feedback via EBay, including the photograph.   It has not been published and the seller retains a 100% reputation so far as would-be customers are concerned.

Noting that the seller purports to be in Leeds* I thought it would be public spirited to refer the matter to the local Trading Standards people.   Turns out there is no such thing anymore, at least in Leeds.   Their website tells people with trading standards problems to contact the Citizens Advice Bureau.

* Their telephone number is 18815154455.   That does not sound like a leeds dialing code and it isn't.   Shanghai, China.

Caveat emptor


Sunday 18 March 2018

Ribblehead Station This Morning

Some photographers go out of their way for their art:

click to enlarge


Well done Thomas Beresford

Tuesday 13 March 2018

Wanna Know What It's Like Round Here? Watch THIS

People who live south of Potters Bar (a very English euphemism for Southerners) often ask, not unreasonably, what it's like round here in Yorkshire.   This two minute 15 second film just about covers it:

https://youtu.be/bgV9RZEGCj8

or this

https://youtu.be/qJTMeXUfLJ8

Best viewed in HD and full screen.

My childhood was in Surrey (well south of Potters Bar) and to the best of my recollection the furthest north I had` travelled until the age of 8 or so was Ruislip, north west London.    As far as I was concerned 'The North' was a foreign land of industry, grime and deprivation.   The 'Here be Dragons' on the map.   How wrong I was.

Tuesday 6 March 2018

The Railway Line is Open Again

Well the line was closed when the Beast from the East struck.   Not that it was physically blocked with snow, mind.   Network Rail took the view that the risk of a passenger train getting stuck was too great.   Not just that, the signallers (there are nine signal boxes along the line manned 24/7) could not get to and from work because of blocked roads.   The same blocked roads would impede rescue in the event of a train becoming snowbound.

Anyway, the line was well and truly re-opened on Sunday 4th March when two of the mightiest snowploughs and two of the mightiest freight engines blasted their way through from Carlisle to Skipton and back.   They left Carlisle at 0900 on Sunday and did not get back until 0345 on Monday. A very long day at the office, not just clearing snowdrifts but huge icicles in some of the tunnels.   Well done snow plough driver Willy Ward, seen here at England's highest station, Dent:

Snow Plough Willy in action at Dent

click link above; sound ON and full screen ON

The above was posted on Twitter and is being re-Tweeted widely.   In the spirit of the day, Willy give a wave to photographer Tom Beresford and a friendly toot-toot.   The S&C is like that.

A bit further on from Dent is Blea Moor tunnel where Willy stopped to take this picture:


The real danger to trains with icicles at air shafts is the build-up of ice on the rails below.



Just for fun, this is Willy's train at Horton in Ribblesdale, looking a bit like an angry budgerigar, don't you think?

click to make an angry budgie into an angry eagle.

Friday 2 March 2018

Settle Cut Off and Fffffffffreeeeeeezing

Well, the Beast from the East has well and truly struck hard.   The Ribblehead weather station recorded a gust of 61mph at 2205 last evening, 1st March from a direction of 90 degrees - due east!   Windchill yesterday was -17 C.       Brrrrrrrrrrrr.

Settle is cut off by road and rail so nobody is going far.    Here are some pictures at Settle railway station:





The snow is very powdery and soon blows away - inevitably causing drifts.   Railway cuttings are very vulnerable.


At the best of times we are a long way from hospitals, being about half way between Airedale and Lancaster.   Above is the air ambulance taken from the top of the tower on Wednesday.   It flew in bravely to the rugby field in a near white-out blizzard but took off into a clear blue sky.

Meanwhile, in Carlisle: