Andy Hall

[The Natural Philosopher]

Or has he woud have instantly correcte you..

Hear Hear!

[Dave Liquorice]

Please add my name.

I can't think of any thing to say that hasn't been said already.

Farewell Andy, we never met but you will be missed.

[geoff]

Just goes to show that once the "If onlys" have gone, they are gone and that you only get one go

Andy put a fair amount into that one go (even if he could have fitted a bit more in without his crusade against the NHS, in whose care I presume he spent his last hours)

Maybe a wake up call for some of us

[geoff]

In message , Andrew Gabriel writes

Strange how he seems to be in most of the photos

[Mark]

Im truly saddened to hear this I had a number of disagreements with Andy over differing points of view, but despite this it was obvious to me he was a gentleman with great integrity and knowledge covering many subjects, that he was able and willing to share with other people on this group. My heartfelt condolences go to his family and all his friends.

Mark

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[robgraham]

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> --

I think like you all I have followed the enquiries as the Andy's whereabouts with increasing concern, and to find that he has died is truly a great loss. The list of contributors to this thread covers all the regular members and more, and is a true reflection of the respect we all hold for him.

I remember his ding-dongs with Dr Drivel - where is he? who is he?; perhaps DD is a pen name for one of us here just to drive Andy up the wall. And then his total resistance to anything that wasn't the best, which was all very well if you could afford that, but he wasn't prepared to compromise.

So sorry - the world is a poorer place. My thought are with his family - and so young too.

Rob

[Ziggur]

I, and thousands of manufacturers and retailers of cheap Chinese tools will miss Andy.

My sincere condolences to his family and real-world friends.

Mike Harding

[Andy Wade]

Certainly not old enough. I'd put him at about 55 or 56. I didn't know Andy other than through his articles here, but I must have met him. It emerged in a thread a few years back that we overlapped as undergraduates at Bangor in the 70s. Google's archive records him saying he was there from '72 to '75.

The month's silence was ominous, and the news is quite a shock. I add my condolences.

[GMM]

As a relative new comer and lurker, I can see how much of a loss this will be not only to this group but also, undoubtedly, to those closer to Andy. Not to mention the manufacturers and vendors of premium tools. A sad loss all round. RIP Andy.

[stuart noble]

I've been arguing with Andy for longer than I care to remember, but I don't think we ever fell out. Despite not agreeing on anything, I shall miss his consistency and reasoned arguments

[The Medway Handyman]

Maybe we should engrave a summary on a piece of laminate flooring with an Aldi Dremel clone? That would make him laugh.

I still can't believe it. So sad.

[Peter Parry]

If there is any form of continued existence I suspect their QC department is going to have a real problem on their hands when they have to explain to Andy his re-location was due to faulty pipework.

[Lobster]

Oh, wow. Having been aware of Andy's absence for the last few weeks, as soon as I saw Andrew's email header I had that sinking feeling in my stomach.

What a sad loss. Andy will really be missed round here; he's certainly helped me out on diy stuff over the years on more occasions than I can begin to count.

Please convey my sympathy to his family, too.

David

[unopened]

I'm late to the wake, but I'll add my own condolences to the family, and also say that he'll be missed.

I can only aspire to the thoughtful and knowledgeable contributions he made to uk.d-i-y. I'm glad that people like him take the time and trouble to help others using his extensive experience. As others have said, a gentleman, and the kind of person who makes life better for everyone, not just himself.

Sid.

[stuart noble]

Resting in peace? I don't think so somehow :-)

[jal]

Brilliant: well said Sid - for me too. RIP Andy.

John

[slais-www]

Like everyone I can only say that is truly bad news. I enjoyed his contributions here; his clear thinking, tenacity of expression, a determination never to settle for second best.

[Owain]

"Ah but, Mr Hall, you didn't come with any guarantee..."

Owain

[Roger Mills]

I've already expressed my respects and condolences in an earlier post, but Andrew's sentence which I quote here made me stop and think further.

I wonder just *how* technically minded Mrs Hall is - and how well she understands the various innovations which Andy will have introduced to their home. For example, I know from his post that he had a fairly sophisticated control system on his central heating, with effectively one zone per room. Does she know how to adjust that when needed, etc.?

And the same must surely apply to many of us, if we have wives/partners who are less technical than we are. If any of us were to go to bed one night in seemingly good health - but wake up dead the next morning like poor old Andy - how well would our partners cope with things like programmable thermostats, not to mention computer networks, audio/video distribution systems, internet banking arrangements, etc. etc.

I do, from time to time, try to prepare for such an eventuality by documenting stuff and putting it in a safe place - but the trouble is that much of it goes out of date quite quickly. What do others do?

[Mary Fisher]

I think that shows a lack of understanding of women.

Since he was away for much of the time I'm sure she does.

Oh for goodness sake!

I'm not at all alone in having no problem with such things. I just wouldn't want to have to do any actual re-plumbing, luckily I have plenty of sons who are capable and willing to do that (aka show off how clever they are to their poor frail white haired old mother - who taught them much of it).

Has it occurred to you that many husbands have no idea about these? Mine for instance, has always left finance to me and if he has a computer problem comes to ask me to fix it - even though he built the few we've had.

As for more important things like baking, cooking etc., he *could* do it but I doubt that he would ever make more than a pizza.

I once stayed with some very wealthy friends in Puget Sound. The wife, musing, asked her husband, if she died first, would he ever change the bed linen? He thought a bit and said that he supposed he wouldn't. The other husbands at that dinner party all said the same. Some things simply don't occur to men. Some men.

Same applies to some women but I do object to men making assumptions.

Mary