Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[v8druid]

,

The Mahon tribunal which went through a few name changes as the chairmen retired, it was about politicians, brown envelopes, developments, politicial donations. It was traced to the highest office, started with a returned investor vetting ripped of by a group of lobbyists, public officials and politicians. Only the ones on the lower level were held to account ...........................https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahon_Tribunal

Why does this not surprise me mate

[v8druid]

........So ordered a new one .......... so hopefully there will be a return to normality for it some time Monday !!


I thought the bugger was gonna have me beat................. for a while ....!!

Rang the suppliers first thing Monday ........ " Um ... er ..... what was the name again .... er ..... it's not arrived "


" You mean you forgot to order it "


" Um ..... it'll definitely be here in the morning "


So rang 'em Tuesday ... yep it was in, so shot off to Hereford ..... to find the wrong tranny ... FFS !!!


" Well it's the part no. you ordered.... where'd you get the part no. from? " .....


" Off your invoice for the last one in 2004 .... this one in my hand "


The idiot who booked it out in '04 had only put down the wrong part no.


Hereford is a bitch of a place to navigate .... hour in and an hour out .... soooo needs a by-pass


Anyway after yet another call to check the right one had arrived Wednesday, I shot off up there yet again, after I'd MOT-ed the Rangey (booked weeks ago) and picked up the right item, after yet another hour negotiating the bloody traffic to get into H/ford centre, followed by the inevitable hour to get back out ..... it ain't a big place FFS


So ... back to worshiping said boiler on my knees, stuck it all back together, hit the go button and ................. mission accomplished .. the return of heat at the flick of a switch, to Clara's household.
Sooooo relieved to have it sorted ......again!

[v8druid]

season's greetings all

The main reason I stick with this old girl is that it's a simple animal .... replacement for this old Selectos D11/20 burner unit is 430 quid plus the Vodka and tonic .... however ...

A motor for it's only 34 quid, 'tiger loop' pump's 40 summat .... tranny was 50, electrodes and nozzles are pennies and the Satronic/Honeywell control unit was 24 bucks, so pays me to keep the old girl ticking along ... it doesn't all go west simultaneously either


If / when the water jacket ever goes south, it'll make a real nice double/triple drum heater for yours truly's boxes/shed and at 0.8 ltr/hr, flat out, is cheap enough heat ....


Got a few more spares to go yet, before I hit the new price level and it's a POP unit to maintain ....... I'd bet the bugger's 40 yrs old and I'd "rather the devil I know ....... "

As said ..... it may be a bit of a 'trigger's broom' but it's basically a damned good boiler

On another note .....

don't yer jus' love ebay bought a new toy for the 'Drema Sunday


Shopping for yer digger on Christmas day


Watch this space .........


Was going to try and go pick it up mid week ....... if I could escape for several hours !! Not happened yet though! ..... The boss has had other plans

I was hoping for a 'spedition Norfward today/tomorrow ..... but banned ... so Friday 'praps ......... otherwise, it's gonna have to be a next week jobby


Been keeping an eye open for one of these for ages ..... bugger me, buy this one and damned if an even better one doesn't come up the following day ... not so cheap, but a better 'spec.' ..... might just buy that one too and press button B on the first one. 'praps

They just don't come up that often ..... especially not as cheap as the first one was ..... or as sorted as this other one is

We shall see ........... pix to follow shortly

[v8druid]

So ..... crimbo over for another one ...... just about !!


Been a bit of an extended event in Chez Druid ... Kicking off Christmas Eve with a sit down with Pam's Daughter, hubby and Clara here and an early prezzy arrival for a certain small person !! ....
This was a HUGE success !!




They'd decided they were going no-where on Sunday and having it at their home ... so everyone was gonna have to go see them. So that was round 1


Round 2 was a rather relaxed affair for us at least ... other than a post lunch/late afternoon trek down to see the lil' un !!


Round 3 kicked off the following day with the arrival of Pam's son Josh and his wife, from Plymouth .... via Solihull ...... where they'd spent Christmas day with KM's folks.


I'd asked him to call and see Del from t'other, on his way out of Plymouth to make a collection for me ......





(got it together a couple of days later ... arrived as Meccano)


So that was Crimbo day No 3


A few days .... and several batches of visitors later, ..... plus a couple of hours on the bench knocking out a 'pipe hiding pedestal' for 'the boy's' re-vamped bathroom and particularly, in this case, handbasin,








came round 4 ....



Pam's Crimbo family gathering .... for 18 !!

We'd moved the venue from 'ours' last year to a local 'eatery', which went down pretty well .... 'specially with our dishwasher ... so she'd sorted the same again for this year, at an alternate location, which does the most awesome home cooked grub








.....followed by ..... an exodus to 'ours' .... again !!





Pam's never happy 'less we got a houseful !!!!!! A few had disappeared 'en route' .... or we'd have been sat on each other's laps !!









trike.jpg

[v8druid]

Have had some pretty cold nights and mornings this last week, but at least it's been relatively dry, for a change ......





The driveway's been a white ribbon through the landscape, several mornings, but with the sun right behind/above it, has taken some trying to get a pic ... worth looking at, at least ....... and has produced some really good scenery ......







Main road below us has had some pretty foggy mornings !!


Oh and 'a certain package' arrived too .... postage correctly paid this year ... LOL ..... Ollie screwed up with the stamps last year and I had to pay to collect it from the local post office





....... seems to be quite a sought after item on FB ATM ..... and have had a bit of a 'craic' / leg pull going on, on there, with one of the guys from t'other






Not managed to escape the asylum, to go get me new toy for the 'Drema yet ..... but having emptied the house of 'extra bodies' this morning .... I might stand a chance shortly !!




So.... did everyone else have a good time ...... so far ????



Round 5 yet to come !!

[Nobody]

Looks like you've had plenty to deal with!

What is it your picking up for the drema??

[v8druid]

Looks like you've had plenty to deal with!

What is it your picking up for the drema??

Aye .... been a bit full on ... but spread out a bit ..... just !!

The new toy ......... will get some pix up when i get it collected Boyo ....... "patience is a virtue" ....... specially when duck hunting

[Nobody]

Aye .... been a bit full on ... but spread out a bit ..... just !!

The new toy ......... will get some pix up when i get it collected Boyo ....... "patience is a virtue" ....... specially when duck hunting

Hehe, patience isnt my strongest suit! but i may pick you up on the advice, and give myself some time to set aside more coin for the hunt

[v8druid]

Hehe, patience isnt my strongest suit! but i may pick you up on the advice, and give myself some time to set aside more coin for the hunt

LOL ....... in my case my patience was damned near exhausted when the 'Drema popped up !!
Didn't think I was ever going to find what I was after, had upped the budget a couple of times and was trawling Finn daily for suitable candidates .....
my mate in Norway, Frank, even had a look at a couple for me ..... but good ones didn't sit for long and were often snapped up very quickly .... a difficult thing to achieve from a distance ... speed, even with 'a man on the ground' who spoke the 'native tongue'

Keep up the hunt .... some thing will crop up

ON EDIT

Forgot to say .....Happy New Year to everyone .... let's hope it'll be a good un ..... and a drier one than this morning is ..... 'kin lashing it down here

[Nobody]

LOL ....... in my case my patience was damned near exhausted when the 'Drema popped up !!
Didn't think I was ever going to find what I was after, had upped the budget a couple of times and was trawling Finn daily for suitable candidates .....
my mate in Norway, Frank, even had a look at a couple for me ..... but good ones didn't sit for long and were often snapped up very quickly .... a difficult thing to achieve from a distance ... speed, even with 'a man on the ground' who spoke the 'native tongue'

Keep up the hunt .... some thing will crop up

ON EDIT

Forgot to say .....Happy New Year to everyone .... let's hope it'll be a good un ..... and a drier one than this morning is ..... 'kin lashing it down here

Atleast i got that advantage, distance!
By the looks of it atm I'm gonna travel the same road as you! Figured that upping my budget a bit will really increase the possibilities alot! Dont think the market will change much within a year or two anyways.. if anything machines will get changed out sooner/with lower hours!

Happy new year!

[v8druid]

well .... I had planned to go to Ellesmere today ...
got up yesterday feeling like I'd been trampled in a stampede, so rang the guy with me new toy, to see if he'd be up for a direct transfer instead of folding and get it banged on a pallet, as I really didn't fancy 5 hours in the car today, ...
especially as it was 'hamster juice' night, last night.

He was, so couldn't fault him .. money sorted ... pallet booked .. will get collected Friday

Would've liked to have met him as he's a fabby too ..... annoyingly he was down here just before Christmas!! .... has an invite for a cuppa next/any time he's down here ... sounds a real decent bloke.

So with any luck it should arrive Monday ....... probably .......




model AM-18RF-13-3A .... auramo BA_Models_AM_RF_RH_en.pdf

with a bit of Druidisation, I reckon this'll make an interesting boulder/lump/rock/all sorts, handling device ..

Either as is, with its own rotator, under the Miller or, with it's rotator off and under the VA-r ...... we'll have to see ? Have had a few ideas in mind, for a while!

I've been looking for one for some time, as they look to have 'potential'' !!

Would've liked to have had one with both arms 'mobile', but can see certain advantages to one fixed arm.
As previously said ... 'twere very cheap and damn me if what I'd been keeping an eye open for, didn't come up a day after I'd agreed to buy the first one !!



Twice the price, but have been considering acquiring it too and deciding which one to keep .... I've a possible 'interested party' in the first one already ... so we'll see, once I've had a chance to suss performance.

Was going to get the alternate bracket sorted for the flail today, as it was a nice morning ..... that was until 'the boss' found that BT had locked her email a/c ...

Have had a couple of old ones of mine locked for a while .... BT got hacked a while back and several million ppl's data compromised... apparently !!
Anyway ..... took some time to sort and quite a loooooooooooooong conversation to regain access to her and my accounts .... knackered the best part of the day, somewhat !! Hoping for a decent day tomorrow .... but it's also a Clara day too!

[v8druid]

hopefully my Auramo should be here tomorrow ...... watch this space



I've been looking for a decent second hand trailer for a while, to go behind the 'Drema and provide storage/transportation for all it's toys, in one go
this looked large enough to fit the bill .... at a reasonable price. I also like the axle position on this ... ideal for a duck ....... and it has over run braking ..... perfect for a duck

















plus the bonus of a 3 way tip











Rang the guy for some dimensions and regrettably it was smaller than it looked in the pix .... a bare 2m wide by a bare 4m long, but 5 ton capacity ... he reckoned it weighs about 2 tons empty.


really want something over 2m wide internally so I can sit my 2m grading bucket across it and unload with it too.


It's 1978 vintage amazingly ... I know Krone are good but this must have had a 'sheltered' life ... literally.


down sides, other than the size, were; its brakes are seized - off, fortunately, the tyres are decidedly old and sounds as though they will need replacing at the first sign of weight and it has been repaired in the front right hand corner .. doubtfully to my standards
plus it's 160 miles from me and he is asking its top value IMHDO .... by the time I get it home, - 300 quid,- buy it new tyres (circa 150-180each +VAT) sort the brakes, the existing body repair and anything else he has conveniently forgotten to tell me about, with the asking price of £1550 + 20% VAT it has become one expensive trailer ..... for its age .... and it still isn't wide enough for what i want


he's keen to sell it as he's messaged me tonight to say he has a truck coming my way/past me on Wednesday ...... don't think it will have this on board though
I'm of the opinion it will still be there in a few weeks time ...... and perhaps he will be more amenable to a better discussion, regarding the price .... he won't currently budge from his figure!!



I've not been able to find anything locally worth looking at and to be honest, very little comes up at 5t capacity .... some quite decent stuff at 2-3 tons but again usually too small at that capacity

Anyone care to share any thoughts on the above ..... feel free to chime in

[Nobody]

That trailer looks really good for its age.. 3-way tipping can get real handy too..
The only real concern you got is digging out of it with your over sized grading bucket by the looks of it the rest is things you can deal with, and probably would have to eventually with any trailer.
well then, it's a matter of price. Almost perfect, and perfect migth get much more pricey

[AndrewMawson]

Down here that trailer would be pushing £1k so that price is a bargain.

[Muz]

Where / How will you mount the tow point ?