What I Did This Weekend - In Pictures!

The Notorious A.N.T.

Well-Known Forumite
You know there's a cat cafe in Stone...

https://www.charliescatcafestone.co.uk/
My Sister-in-Law got me a voucher for Charlie's last Christmas. Looking forward to going, it looks a bit more relaxed than the Kitty Cafe in Birmingham's Grand Central. We went there about 12 months ago & didn't particularly enjoy it. Even in the week it was very busy & I think their claims to be a 're-homing centre' are pretty dubious!.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
We let a cat into the pub when the (very much not a cat lover) landlord was away.

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BobClay

Well-Known Forumite
When I first came down here the local pub had a cat named Thomas. He was the most peculiar cat I've ever seen. One of his tricks was to sleep on the jukebox, one of those flat topped ones with rows of buttons. One day a visitor went to put some music on and had to move Thomas from over the coin slot and got a scratch for his trouble. I couldn't resist saying: "Thomas doesn't like Cliff Richards records mate" which earned me the dirtiest of looks.

The visitor complained to the landlord (still there) and the landlord said: "That's his bed !! ... what can I say ?" and gave him a free pint so it ended well.

As he got older and the juke box disappeared he took to pacing around in front of the fire until one of us put a chair in front of it for him to sleep on. This was much to the delight of visitors. "He's the landlord's cat," we would explain. "He's the real boss around here." He's gone now but he's still missed.
 
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BobClay

Well-Known Forumite
I power an aerial head amplifier (up near the the aerial itself) via a 12 volt motorcycle battery. The reason being the battery provides pure clear DC voltages without the inherent noise of switched power supplies. I wanted to monitor the battery voltage without tying up my digital voltmeter (DVM), so I bought a small cheapo DC voltmeter which I'll eventually mount near the battery somewhere. However this meter itself will load the battery, and although DVM's have a high input impedance, which means it isn't much of a load, I was curious to see what current it pulled.
This is just a quickly wired test using my old Avometer (and I mean OLD as I've had it since college) to measure the current when the meter is connected to the battery, i.e. inline with the meter wire from the battery. Here you can see the battery voltage which is about half charged, and the AVO reading at just under 10 milliamps. So given the capacity of the battery, it would take about 1600 hours for the meter to flatten the battery on its own, which I can live with. Long before that happened the meter reading would warn me to charge the battery.
I've thought about measuring what the head amplifier pulls but that's not really necessary as it's only ON when in use and disconnected when not. And the meter will tell me all I need to know about the battery.
I've spent half the weekend on this, soldering and wiring up the necessary leads and digging the AVO out of the attic.
There you go, managed to complete a post without mentioning the pub ..... AAAAARGH!! :o

Meter.jpg
 
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Trumpet

Well-Known Forumite
Just have, I know where I'm heading next year for my Hollibobs!!!
I'd be in absolute heaven!
Looks like someone started a refurb in 1964, ran out of money and have done nothing since. Very little in the way of wines and spirits.
For entertainment there's an old turntable and a selection of old 12" records.
Loved the place.
 

Glam

Mad Cat Woman
Looks like someone started a refurb in 1964, ran out of money and have done nothing since. Very little in the way of wines and spirits.
For entertainment there's an old turntable and a selection of old 12" records.
Loved the place.
That'll do me. I don't like trendy wine bars etc. Somewhere comfy and friendly.
 

BobClay

Well-Known Forumite
That Avometer brings back memories of Physics at school!

Avo's were excellent meters, but with the advent of solid state gear, (what we then called transistorised gear,) the AVO wasn't always the best for fault finding because its low input impedance tended to load the low voltage circuits under test, throwing off the results. We were supplied with AVO's at sea, but eventually I had to buy a Fluke DVM and carry it with me (that's 40 years old, but they are very tough and this one survived being dropped into the engine room bilges, which would have done for the AVO I think.) :|
 
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Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Last night, under extreme duress, I had my third night in a row in a pub.

This was a more local venue, accessible on foot, which hasn't really got the facilities to open under the restrictions that are current here, but a further relaxation is imminent, so a dry run* of the the many modifications that have been carried out seemed like a good idea.

This resulted in some further decisions being made, amongst which was that two of the older stools were now redundant.

They were a bit tatty, to be fair, but cleaned up well and took a new finish to be well acceptable for the Shed and the Greenhouse.

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They are a perfect height for the new benches, and the backless one will store under the Greenhouse bench, in front of the pressure washer shelf, out of the way when the full floor space is wanted, without putting it outside on a wet day.

* Obviously not completely dry.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Today looked like it might get damp beyond midday, so I weeded until then and moved onto a further part of the bench project in the shed.

This stage is intended to produce a dropped section, to allow for the window opening, then back up to full height for a desk area.

The first job was to remove the existing recycled cupboards that were there.

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This revealed that there had been some earlier habitation on the site.

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This is part of the idea, to avoid have 'protected areas' where lodgers can establish themselves.


The existing windowsill board was removed and a substantial batten attached to the wall, pre-notched for the supporting strut structure, as with the previous bench along the back wall - but, the speaker was an exact match for the height, so that is performing the function, until the under-structure is done.

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The bench will come back up to the 'standard height' where the chest of drawers is now and that will be found a home elsewhere.

In the end, the dampness didn't arrive until teatime, so all the 'big work' could be done outside, which I much prefer.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
The window bench struts are done and I've cut out the top of the desk section, giving it a 'finish' that can harden off overnight.

It may be mounted a couple of inches lower in the end, half-way between the two existing bench heights - some experimentation on the ergonomics has occurred.

A step between it and the window level may help to prevent encroachment - I hope.

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I've 'flared' the edge by the door, to avoid repeatedly dead-legging myself on the way in and out..

This will allow the computer to be used without the glare issues from the outside world that sometimes happen - reflections off the greenhouse glass can be particularly difficult at times.
 
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