Signs that a DIYer is in da house

~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Lime plaster repairs / ^^ \ // Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc |____|

I've read this book over and over ... but skipped over the abstract philosophy in the middle ;-)

There's loads of stuff in it relavent to DIY.

My favourite quote is :-

"Assembly of Japanese bicycle require great peace of mind."

(I wonder if there really /was/ an instruction booklet containing those words ....)

Jeremy

When the clutch cable on my bike broke I converted it to a hand clutch by fitting a Mole wrench to the actuating arm. I only needed it for pulling away, as the rest of the time clutchless changes were okay, so it worked until I got a new cable.

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Kevin Brady" saying something like:

Yep. You'll realise that it's got buggerall to do with Zen and sodall to do with bikes. A useful life lesson.

Which is pretty much what Pirsig says in the introduction!

Oi! No wimmin!! There's secret blokey things being spoken of!

Lime plaster repairs?

Oh ok then, as you were.

Si

That was the most challenging part I agree, but the most rewarding.

I'd like to think so :-)

Mary

Without wimmin you'd have to d-i-y, Si.

Mary

But...oh right. :)

Si

changing gear.

You've definitely won the contest :) No-one will top that, I'd almost stake my beloved circular saw on it.

NT

It may be quite right too. Assembly of complex mechanism (by someone not experienced) can indeed require great patience.

NT

? A bicycle isn't a complex mechanism ...

NT wrote | > In Ladakh a while back some friends were travelling in a taxi - | > the ubiquitous Austin Ambassador - when its throttle cable broke. | > The driver fished around and brought the end of the cable in | > through a hole in the dash and drove on, working the throttle | > with one hand whilst steering with the other. The front seat | > passenger was given the job of changing gear. | You've definitely won the contest :) No-one will top that, I'd almost | stake my beloved circular saw on it.

My mother tells of the time, well before I was born, when my father whilst driving said "hold this" and handed her the steering wheel which had come off the column.

It's okay, you can keep the circular saw.

Owain

Spouse once drove his motorbike home by winding the throttle cable round his thumb ... but from listening to other bikers that seems quite a common story.

The worst journey I ever had was when, as a passenger, I was driven from Leeds to London by a chap with extremely poor vision (I don't KNOW how he got away with it) in the filthiest weather imaginable. His wiper motor wasn't working and he kept putting his hand under the dash and moving the wipers manually ... just every now and again you understand, it apparently wasn't necessary all the time because his nose was pressed to the screen.

It was a few years ago but he was still doing 85+ mph and I don't think I was the only worried passenger. His upholstery changed colour ...

Mary

Yah boo sucks. My trowel is bigger than your trowel :)

Anna ~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Lime plaster repairs / ^^ \ // Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc |____|

Ohhhhhh no it's not! ..........I just don't know where mine is.

Si

With the tape measure?

Mary

There's a frood who really _should_ know where his trowel is.

With apologies to the late, great Douglas Adams. It had to be said.

And I wish it had been me ... :-(

Mary