Post a bad thing that happened in your life today

[Bryan]

9 hours ago, Harry Harrison said:

I also try to have a cheap pair in each room, somehow they always seem to end up in the same room, but which room?

I've tried cheap specs, and when I was younger, it worked, but I need a different prescription for each eye, and, for driving, varifocals enable me to both see clearly ahead and read the dashboard instruments. 

 

I've resisted using contact lenses, as  I don't like the idea of throw away kit, nor the slight possibility of an infection, 

 

I do carry an old pair of bifocals in my bike bag and they enable me to see well enough to unscramble the allotment digital locks etc. 

[StokeCreative]

10 hours ago, NYCat said:

I just use drugstore glasses for reading so have a pair in every room. 

 

Paulette

haha me too, but should really get a lanyard

[NYCat]

I need a new TV. I can't complain about how long my old Zenith lasted. It must be 40 years old. What I dread now is learning about what is available and making a choice. The technician who was checking my cable said Samsung is a good brand. Any suggestions? I need to learn.

 

Paulette

[Michael Ventura]

43 minutes ago, NYCat said:

I need a new TV. I can't complain about how long my old Zenith lasted. It must be 40 years old. What I dread now is learning about what is available and making a choice. The technician who was checking my cable said Samsung is a good brand. Any suggestions? I need to learn.

 

Paulette

 

I have a couple of Vizio tvs and have been happy with them. 

[Rebecca Ore]

Samsung does appear to be a good brand.   I had a cheaper Chinese-made 32 inch TV and it gave up the ghost when I sold it to my helper, so refund.  If I were  buying another TV, I'd look for blue tooth enabled if possible, so you could use a keyboard or touch pad to control cursors.  Samsungs here were assembled in Mexico if I'm remembering correctly, and cost around $100 more for the same features than cheap Chinese-made.  US Samsungs might be assembled in Korea, but my Mexican stuff seems to be okay (Mabe refrigerator).  Keep an eye out for sales at Walmart (there, here it's Maxi-Pali).  Other consideration is wall mounted or on a media stand. 

[Betty LaRue]

I have two Samsungs, one up, one down. Both smart. Love them. I can cast something I’m watching on my iPad (you can do it with phone also) to the television if I want.

[Cecile Marion]

I like the Bluetooth idea. I’ve had a flat screen TV for 16 years now. Panasonic, I think. I’d love to be able to connect headphones or ear pods for listening. Unfortunately mine doesn’t have that capability. 

[NYCat]

Thank you Michael, Rebecca, Betty and Cecile. I am making a list. I have a really small space and won't even attempt anything larger than a 32 inch size. And the surface it will sit on is only 24 inches so I see that some of them have a base that is too wide for me. I really loved the picture on my old Zenith. It had beautiful colors and a soft focus look since it wasn't digital. I don't like the high definition for people. A young Chinese guy who was working on my telephone line was really interested in my antique TV. He asked if I would turn it on for him and when I did he said "Oh, it is blurry."

 

Paulette

[Betty LaRue]

37 minutes ago, NYCat said:

Thank you Michael, Rebecca, Betty and Cecile. I am making a list. I have a really small space and won't even attempt anything larger than a 32 inch size. And the surface it will sit on is only 24 inches so I see that some of them have a base that is too wide for me. I really loved the picture on my old Zenith. It had beautiful colors and a soft focus look since it wasn't digital. I don't like the high definition for people. A young Chinese guy who was working on my telephone line was really interested in my antique TV. He asked if I would turn it on for him and when I did he said "Oh, it is blurry."

 

Paulette

I understand young people like your phone worker immediately noticing the blurriness of the Zenith. It’s all down to what you cut your teeth on. I cut my teeth on blurry & lots of snow! 😁 (parents’ tv on antenna)

Zenith was my brand of choice for many years also. The colors were excellent back in the day when many other brands had bad colors. I think we gave up our Zenith around 2010-11 when we gave up our season tickets to OU football. It was still working fine but nobody wanted it, we couldn’t even give it away. Sad. Remember when TVs were set in fine wooden consoles? Talk about space-eating.
For sports, flat screens are wonderful. Short wall clearance since your space is limited. You do get used to the detail on faces pretty quickly. Of course, I watch many things, not just sports. My sports largely are of college football on weekends from Sept 1 to bowl games in January. I watch morning news then turn off the TV until evening.

[Michael Ventura]

1 hour ago, NYCat said:

Thank you Michael, Rebecca, Betty and Cecile. I am making a list. I have a really small space and won't even attempt anything larger than a 32 inch size. And the surface it will sit on is only 24 inches so I see that some of them have a base that is too wide for me. I really loved the picture on my old Zenith. It had beautiful colors and a soft focus look since it wasn't digital. I don't like the high definition for people. A young Chinese guy who was working on my telephone line was really interested in my antique TV. He asked if I would turn it on for him and when I did he said "Oh, it is blurry."

 

Paulette

 

Pretty much any new TV will seem razor sharp compared to your old Zenith....but you do get used to it and then it seems normal.  As for bases, I know, because I had to buy one, you can get a good sturdy universal base that is easy to install.  Most flat screen TVs come with these cheap flimsy feet that are set to the widest points of TV's bottom edge. I got a universal base at Target that is really really good and not too much $$. Of course Amazon has them.  All new TVs have universal holes in the back for wall mounting...so the universal base fits within these screw holes.

 

This is similar to what I have.

[Cecile Marion]

I kept my huge, space-hogging Zenith for several years, using it as a second TV so my grandchildren could watch DVDs of their favorite animated films. I got rid of the Zenith in 2020, but only by taking it to the hazardous waste/recycled materials drop-off place. Hopefully, someone found a good use for its parts. 

[Cecile Marion]

I like the looks of your base, Michael. Sturdy enough to protect the TV from excitable cats?
My flat screen is wall mounted (by techs from Best Buy), and I’ve been happy with the setup. 

[NYCat]

Such good information about the base. Thank you. I wonder if the technicians who bring my TV would be willing to install it. Perhaps the store will want me to buy one there.

 

Paulette

[Michael Ventura]

I think the base I have is even more story than the plastic legs that came with the TV.  My daughter had a friend drop off a cat for five days, last week, and he was very TV curious.  It made me nervous but no harm was done. Our cat has no interest in the TV...we have a window bed for the cat and so he has a panoramic view of our neighborhood!  That's like having a super high def ultra wide screen TV for him. Never a dull moment outside.

[NYCat]

Cats are a consideration. My current one is not much of a jumper and the TV would be in a bit of a nook so I think pretty safe.

 

Paulette

[Betty LaRue]

2 hours ago, Michael Ventura said:

I think the base I have is even more story than the plastic legs that came with the TV.  My daughter had a friend drop off a cat for five days, last week, and he was very TV curious.  It made me nervous but no harm was done. Our cat has no interest in the TV...we have a window bed for the cat and so he has a panoramic view of our neighborhood!  That's like having a super high def ultra wide screen TV for him. Never a dull moment outside.

Michael, I’m puzzling over what your first sentence above means. Did predictive text get you?

[Michael Ventura]

28 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said:

Michael, I’m puzzling over what your first sentence above means. Did predictive text get you?

Yes, should have been “more steady”.  Dang iPad 

[Betty LaRue]

6 hours ago, Michael Ventura said:

Yes, should have been “more steady”.  Dang iPad 

Yes, my iPad does that to me too! 😁 I always do the forum on my iPad.

[sb photos]

Arrived home last night after a lovely week away in Cornwall. Our cat Bran was pleased to see us return . A friend of my wife had been feeding and looking after him, and we do the same for her cat when she is away. It has worked well. Went to move some unused cheese from the cool bag to the fridge/freezer and no fridge light came on. No power to the fridge, a trip on the consumer box had blown. We had to throw away around 90% of the fridge and freezers contents. Salvaged what used to be frozen vegetarian sausage rolls, now defrosted, by cooking them. Luckily we stopped off at our daughters in Bristol on the way home and had eaten there.

 

The reason for the power failure was the kettle heating element had failed. Before leaving for our break we had boiled a kettle of water to fill a flask with hot coffee and left the kettle near empty. The most likely reason for the elements failing was if tins and sachets of cat food left out with feeding instructions had been nudged against the protruding kettle power switch turning it on with no or little water in it. We should have switched off the kettle wall power socket before leaving. Bought a new kettle last night, and will be restocking the fridge/freezer later when the supermarkets open. I can only recollect one other more serious disaster when returning from a break away over 30 years back. After a shipping blockade at Calais, drove to Bruges and queued for hours for a ferry to Dover. Arrived home at around 7am only to find our house had been burgled, so it could have been worse.

[Cecile Marion]

That’s really too bad about losing most of the food in your fridge/freezer. Not a fun thing to come home to, I’m sure. However, as you say, it could have been much worse. 
I’ve been in the UK for almost a month now and I’ve wondered how you Brits handle the wall power socket switches, and if you regularly switch them off after using a socket. I suppose it becomes second nature after awhile, but several times I’ve found that I’ve forgotten to switch off the wall switch on the kettle or the oven.

[gvallee]

1 hour ago, sb photos said:

Arrived home last night after a lovely week away in Cornwall. Our cat Bran was pleased to see us return . A friend of my wife had been feeding and looking after him, and we do the same for her cat when she is away. It has worked well. Went to move some unused cheese from the cool bag to the fridge/freezer and no fridge light came on. No power to the fridge, a trip on the consumer box had blown. We had to throw away around 90% of the fridge and freezers contents. Salvaged what used to be frozen vegetarian sausage rolls, now defrosted, by cooking them. Luckily we stopped off at our daughters in Bristol on the way home and had eaten there.

 

The reason for the power failure was the kettle heating element had failed. Before leaving for our break we had boiled a kettle of water to fill a flask with hot coffee and left the kettle near empty. The most likely reason for the elements failing was if tins and sachets of cat food left out with feeding instructions had been nudged against the protruding kettle power switch turning it on with no or little water in it. We should have switched off the kettle wall power socket before leaving. Bought a new kettle last night, and will be restocking the fridge/freezer later when the supermarkets open. I can only recollect one other more serious disaster when returning from a break away over 30 years back. After a shipping blockade at Calais, drove to Bruges and queued for hours for a ferry to Dover. Arrived home at around 7am only to find our house had been burgled, so it could have been worse.

 

I can relate to both of our stories Stephen. When we lived in the UK, near Guildford, Surrey, we used to cross over to my weekend house in Normandy twice a month. We used to catch the ferry either from Portsmouth or Dover. If from Dover, we would get to my house around 2am. Once upon arrival, we found something oozing from the freezer door. The house was isolated in a hamlet in the countryside, a storm had blown the electric fuses...

 

Another time travelling on my own there, arriving at 2am, I unlocked the front door. Shock horror! Someone had been living there. My house was my pride and joy. Anger mounted quickly and before inspecting the whole house, I got hold of a weapon. I went from room to room seething with anger. Socks were still drying on an electric heater. Whoever it was had escaped through the back door while I entered the front door. Lucky for him or I would not have been responsible for my acts. Given that he had left his keys and jacket behind, I feared he might come back to get them. It was a bit too much for me so I went and parked outside my neighbour's house. In the morning the police was called. They knew who it was. A youngster with a terrible family life. It ended up in tragedy when I heard a few months later that he had taken his own life. The most shocking thing for me? He had gone into the attic, found my family photos and had spread them on the floor around a jacket of mine he had put on the floor and sat on. 

 

 

[NYCat]

2 hours ago, gvallee said:

He had gone into the attic, found my family photos and had spread them on the floor around a jacket of mine he had put on the floor and sat on. 

 

 

That is so sad. It's like he was borrowing your family for a while.

 

Paulette

[gvallee]

7 hours ago, NYCat said:

 

That is so sad. It's like he was borrowing your family for a while.

 

Paulette

 

Exactly! This was the shocker.

[Bryan]

On 25/06/2023 at 08:10, sb photos said:

Arrived home last night after a lovely week away in Cornwall. Our cat Bran was pleased to see us return . A friend of my wife had been feeding and looking after him, and we do the same for her cat when she is away. It has worked well. Went to move some unused cheese from the cool bag to the fridge/freezer and no fridge light came on. No power to the fridge, a trip on the consumer box had blown. We had to throw away around 90% of the fridge and freezers contents. Salvaged what used to be frozen vegetarian sausage rolls, now defrosted, by cooking them. Luckily we stopped off at our daughters in Bristol on the way home and had eaten there.

 

The reason for the power failure was the kettle heating element had failed. Before leaving for our break we had boiled a kettle of water to fill a flask with hot coffee and left the kettle near empty. The most likely reason for the elements failing was if tins and sachets of cat food left out with feeding instructions had been nudged against the protruding kettle power switch turning it on with no or little water in it. We should have switched off the kettle wall power socket before leaving. Bought a new kettle last night, and will be restocking the fridge/freezer later when the supermarkets open.

A most unlikely set of circumstances. Very unlucky !

 

We once lost a freezer full of food due to low temperatures !  The freezer was in the unheated garage and, apparently, most of them sense the outside air temp rather than that inside the food compartment.  We've since bought a freezer that is guaranteed to work down to -10 deg C.

 

On kettles, we use a small camping kettle (about 800W) that will make two mugs of tea/coffee without exceeding the daytime power output of our solar panels.  It would be great except that the thermostatic switch is dodgy and if you allow it to boil it doesn't reset on cooling.  This means that you have to keep the power switch depressed while heating water. Sometimes we carry parsimony too far !

[sb photos]

9 hours ago, Bryan said:

On kettles, we use a small camping kettle (about 800W) that will make two mugs of tea/coffee without exceeding the daytime power output of our solar panels.  It would be great except that the thermostatic switch is dodgy and if you allow it to boil it doesn't reset on cooling.  This means that you have to keep the power switch depressed while heating water. Sometimes we carry parsimony too far !

 

The kettle that failed was metal, had a domed shape, with the base much wider than the top. It was only about 4-5 years old. The power switch was as at the base, was long and needed minimal pressure to activate. It was a good kettle, but the power switch was a potential disaster in waiting. Its replacement, from a main brand, was smaller, much narrower and with a shorter and firmer power switch. It is also easier to fill for just one or two cups/mugs.