Social distancing.

[#1]

What’s with social distancing and some tradesmen ?

Have had to get a plumber in this week re the heating and he needs to return to finish the job, also needed the services of a joiner regarding replacement of a door.

In both cases the chaps were friendly and efficient but.......social distancing, I wonder if they had ever heard of that, during the work the continually stopped to chat, (no mask) and when I stepped back attempting to keep 6 feet away they stepped forward closing the gap, why is it some people feel the need to have their face only a couple of feet from your face...?

No doubt some of you might have told them to wear a mask and keep their distance but the problem is if they take the huff and go you are stuck, sure there are a number of plumbers and joiners around but it can be a nightmare getting a good one who is reliable and can do a good job at a reasonable price...

To make matters worse this area has one of the highest corvid figures in the population....with numbers rising everyday.

[#2]

It is odd I agree, but not unexpected.

Don't or won't have that trouble m'self as I'm a bit of a 'know it all DIY freak' and even at my age still do all my own plumbing, door hanging.... and electrics.  😋

[#3]

Our County Council are now starting to put up barrage balloons - which going by current attempts to restrict the spread of Covid are going to be just as effective as hand washing, mask wearing and that social distancing.

[#4]

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@Minivanman wrote:

Our County Council are now starting to put up barrage balloons

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Eh? Is someone planning to bomb Wales!?

[#5]

@198kHz 

You can't be to careful with those airborn viruses y'know. 

Sneaky devils. 😈😈😈

[#6]

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@Minivanman wrote:

It is odd I agree, but not unexpected.

Don't or won't have that trouble m'self as I'm a bit of a 'know it all DIY freak' and even at my age still do all my own plumbing, door hanging.... and electrics.  😋

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Bit of a DIY person myself but this was a new door & frame so with all this poor weather thought it wise to get a professional in to do the job....as for the plumbing, always did it myself in the past but this job involves flushing then draining the system and then replacing several seized thermostatic radiator valves, could manage all that but recently have been asking myself at my age do I really want to be doing this ?
As my wife says I must have saved a lot of money over the years having serviced my own car and done numerous DIY jobs over the years.

Have to accept I am getting old.....even getting the lid of some jars is a problem these days.

😀

[#7]

I've done loads of jobs in the house this year, only effort involved was opening my wallet.

[#8]

Strange that, it wasn't any effort opening my husbands wallet 🤣

[#9]

@gleneagles 

I certainly do far less DIY these days than I used to, in fact I've even started to give away some of my heavier tools. Always did work on my car when needed but those jobs are long gone partly because cars are far more efficient and trouble free, and partly because I recognise very little under the bonnet, I mean, where are those spark plugs and what on earth happend to the carburetor that used to be next to the distributor.... hang on, that's gone as well!

Very few plumbing or electrical bits and bobs as well along with many of my old spanners to those that would have use for them - which seem far and few these days especially amongst the younger generation dare I say it.

Who'd have thought eh? 

[#10]

I’ve a tool chest full of AF spanner’s and sockets, might be worth a few quid in years to come....

[#11]

I've sometimes intentionally used an AF socket on a tight/awkward metric nut or bolt to give a bit more certainty of not rounding it off, or sometimes on a rusty one where the size has been reduced due to shedding the rust.  Sometimes even using a hammer to tap the socket onto the guilty rusty nut or bolt to get that tight fit!

Admittedly you couldn't make use of the complete range of AF sizes, but for those which are close in size, e.g. 13mm / 1/2inch they can be handy.

[#12]

I recently bought a new set of spanners.

Spanner sets have a very strange property.

Whatever size you need, it's always the one in the set that is missing.

[#13]

For years I've always thought that AF stood for 'American Fine'.

Don't know where I got that from but somewhere obviously, only now it's been mentioned and now in the world of Google I thought I'd check and yep, totally wrong, it stands for Across Flat. 

Who said you can't teach an old dog.  

@Strat 

Same with screw drivers. If I want a flat bladed one the first ones out of the tool box are always those phillips types - the same when I want a phillips the first ones to hand are always those the flat blades.

Are they all social distancing or what? Grrr. 

[#14]

Live scenes as northern leaders meet to discuss new lockdown measures:

@haveigotnews

[#15]

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@Strat wrote:

I recently bought a new set of spanners.

Spanner sets have a very strange property.

Whatever size you need, it's always the one in the set that is missing.

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Have a vast range of spanner’s but for some reason they never seem to fit certain nuts used by plumbers, often used mole grips when really stuck assuming there is enough clearance to get the things in.

AF, metric, whitworth,....are there other sizes available ?