Rant of the Day v2.

[OFSO]

No English newspapers today. No FT. Disaster. Newsagent called distributor. Told no flights !

[Pontius Navigator]

'Cheap' readers.

Since then I have been buying from the local discount store @ £2.99 but they only last three or four weeks before they fall apart!

For a long time I only needed readers for close work but didn't need distance correction. Found a lady in Sandy selling cheap Chinese bifocals on ebay. The upper part was plain and the lower different strength readers.

When I eventually went to an opticians and requested exactly I was told it was impossible. Some tosh about the reading portion was a difference from the distance portion. Why distance could not be zero I don't know.
Probably to do with the machine only able to measure difference rather than absolute.

Another case of Chinks identifying an opportunity that at global scale can turn a profit.

[Hydromet]

Since my last eye test I've bought a monitor that I use for editing photos, and a great thing it is. However, I use reading glasses, which were great when I edited on the laptop, but the monitor is, perforce, a little further away - at just the distance that is too far for reading glasses and too close for no glasses at all. (I don't need distance glasses.) Has anyone have experience of single purpose glasses for similar purpose?

[Pontius Navigator]

Yes, essentially specify the 'reading' distance for what you need. However easier said than done.

I got new glasses that are good for reading but the car instruments are not as sharp as with a different pair. If you can, measure the distance so you can tell the optician exactly what you need.

[OFSO]

I told the optician the distance between my eyes and the computer screen and had lenses made for just that distance. It worked but since I don't need specs for reading, when flat screen monitors came around I just bought a longer or deeper wall mounting that brought the screen nearer to my eyes.

[Woody]

Anyone got 50p for the meter

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... tmare.html

[llondel]

Since then I have been buying from the local discount store @ £2.99 but they only last three or four weeks before they fall apart!

Agreed, I have a few million pairs around the house and garage, all with "repaired" sidepieces that will no longer close, but .... at $2 Shop prices I'm still ahead.

I buy packs of three from Costco, works out at about $3/pair. One of the dogs chewed one pair and I think I've broken a couple more, usually by wearing them to read in bed and bending the frames between me and the pillow, and I've probably lost a couple. I keep multiple pairs around: one by the bed, one at the desk, one in each car, one at the workbench, one under the sleeping cat one in the family room and a couple of spares. A couple are showing signs of wear and tear, but mostly they're all good. I also have a mix of two different strengths, one is best for computers and the other is a bit stronger and is more use for reading books and looking at the phone.

[PHXPhlyer]

Since then I have been buying from the local discount store @ £2.99 but they only last three or four weeks before they fall apart!

Agreed, I have a few million pairs around the house and garage, all with "repaired" sidepieces that will no longer close, but .... at $2 Shop prices I'm still ahead.

I buy packs of three from Costco, works out at about $3/pair. One of the dogs chewed one pair and I think I've broken a couple more, usually by wearing them to read in bed and bending the frames between me and the pillow, and I've probably lost a couple. I keep multiple pairs around: one by the bed, one at the desk, one in each car, one at the workbench, one under the sleeping cat one in the family room and a couple of spares. A couple are showing signs of wear and tear, but mostly they're all good. I also have a mix of two different strengths, one is best for computers and the other is a bit stronger and is more use for reading books and looking at the phone.

I did that with Dollar Store readers, glasses everywhere plus atop my head,
I went to progressives about ten or so years ago and always kept the older one after I got a new prescription, plus carrying an extra pair in both my flight bag, as required by company, and my overnight bag.
A cat seems to have disappeared my newest pair, a few years old, so I am using an even older back-up pair which are not optimal.
I was told by the optometrist that any increase in the reading strength had an affect on the distance portion, never zero strength.

PP

[Hydromet]

Thanks OFSO & PN, that's what I expected. Will do.

[OFSO]

French ATC workers at the Marseille centre went on strike yesterday, affecting flights to Spain, as did workers at most French airports. EasyJet has joined Ryanair in striking. Summer chaos.

[Pontius Navigator]

PP, worse than that, not top of my head but on the front of my face.

[Pontius Navigator]

French ATC workers at the Marseille centre went on strike yesterday, affecting flights to Spain, as did workers at most French airports. EasyJet has joined Ryanair in striking. Summer chaos.

For anything in particular?

Nephew is EJ FO based in Nice. Sweating on left hand seat and still loves to fly any time any where (North of Nice )

[Woody]

For anything in particular?

Because they’re ffrench

Mass meetings planned for tomorrow by BA ground staff over possible action against the company, expecting Arther Scargill to attend

[OFSO]

How effing stupid the locals are. The large stately home near us is in two halves. The dilapidated half has impoverished descendents of the noble family that built it living in it. The grand half was rented out to a young couple who had permission to run a weekly flamenco show there, ending at around 23:00 - early for Spain - and doing weddings in the immaculate gardens. Young couple printed leaflets, website, got a local artist (Mrs OFSO) to paint back drops.
First three evenings, huge success. Show was very high class.
Then the ancient family stopped it, kicked young couple out. Too much trouble having cars turning up to park at eight pm and leave at eleven. Did not like public being there, although given the prices, it wasn't the oiks and yahoos who attended.

So much for revitalising the fortunes of the ancient family. This is the second case of which we heard in two weeks. Well, three if you count the town council of ancient Castelló refusing to allow the flamenco show in the town square.

[G-CPTN]

My energy supplier seems to have dispensed with their 'customer service' staff as calls to their lines remain unanswered.

[Pontius Navigator]

G CPTN, try the 'new customer' option. Mine, before it went belly up, would answer new customer number in
a minute and complaints never

[4mastacker]

My town will have to wait a tad bit lot longer for it's by-pass as the discovery of soft ground where bridge abutments are being built means it's back to the drawing board to re-design the structure.

I thought there was such a thing as surveys which are meant to discover this sort of stuff before building starts. More delays and more £ millions needed.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

What happened in Saskatchewan recently is that a council decided not to pay for the survey in the middle of a river for the supporting pier of a new bridge. They just paid for the cheaper survey of the abutment soil on the banks. The bridge collapsed within an hour of opening because the soil under the central pier gave way. Council sued the bridge builder. Builder pointed out they recommended the survey and the council refused. It's like house surveys, there's a range, and you get what you pay for. Saving on survey, $20,000. Cost of replacement bridge and removal of collapsed one, $1,300,000. Plus legal fees for the pointless suit.

[PHXPhlyer]

Sand filter for the pool was leaking around the pass-throughs for water going in and out.
I had to wait a week and a half to get repair guy over. Everyone backed up. He eventually subbed the job out to another guy. It took him several tries after replacing pass-through parts to get the seal right.
The pool went very green as the salt chlorination system couldn't be run until the leak was fixed.
After the repair I have been running the pump 20 hours a day, only off during 4 hour peak rate period.
Pool starting to show improvement until this morning. I went out to make sure the system was running in turbo mode only to find leaks in the newly replaced pass-throughs.
Of course, now at the weekend, not much chance of getting anyone back out.

PP

[OFSO]

Three years? ago I had all the pool plumbing renewed. As it's below the pool, it had to be emptied. Job wasn't expensive, refilling was. Three weeks later, drip under one new joint. Had chap back up, was dry by the time he arrived. "Nothing wrong with my work... " etc. Three months later, dripping again. I've made a drip tray with a tube siliconed out of one side, feeding out thru a hole in the wall, into a rock cellar we never use. Cheaper than draining the pool again!