----------- Kayle Garkut's Blog ----------- Allotment - Computing - Music & Misc.

Not the most exciting title for a post but neither is the content. I just fancy wrapping a few things up...

The car is finally fixed after about two weeks having to put up with the eye opener that is public transport. Turns out the ECU was faulty after all and had to be sent off for repair. Overall cost: £350 approx. I will not forget those bus journeys for a while I can tell you.


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Managed to do a bit around the plot last night. I transferred some Tom Thumb Lettuce, hoed between the onions again, re-filled the slug traps with Morrisons bitter that only cost 97 pence for 4 cans! and scattered some slug pellets.


The rhubarb leaves that have been breaking down in water for nearly a week now absolutely stink and look awful. I'm really not sure about putting the stuff anywhere near my veg. If anyone has tried this as an organic slug pesticide and knows it is safe to do so, please let me know.


The beans are now on day gawd-knows. I looked away, looked back and this has happened:

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The damn things have gone a bit mad. I'm not even sure if they are edible at this size, especially with the little leaves they have developed within their own eco system in a jar. This is the last picture of beans I promise.


I have seen on quite a few allotment blogs lately, pictures of the bloggers allotment from Google Maps. Well, here is mine in Risca:

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And finally, Louise and I are off to watch Richard Digance tomorrow night at Newports Riverfront Theatre. Should be good.

Labels: Allotment, Car, Photos, Risca

Found this while doing some casual surfing recently:-



http://www.speedcam.co.uk/gatso2.htm



Please note, I do not endorse this sort of thing.

Labels: Car, Misc

I honestly feel that news coverage of this is being deliberately suppressed to minimise the support it can generate.

In a nutshell, Saturday 15th December 2007 - 10:00am is the chosen date and time by Transaction 2007 for peaceful fuel price protests at currently un-named refineries and/or storage depot's.

You can read more here.

If this is going to be anything like the last fuel protests in 2000 & 2005, then take my advice and fill up ASAP!

UPDATE 1: Transaction 2007 will be advising on locations and meeting places on their website (and forum) at midday on Thursday 13th December.

UPDATE 2: Here are a list of meeting places as described on the Transaction 2007 website:

Meeting Points

Stanlow Refinery:
All person(s) wishing to attend the Stanlow Demonstration are requested to meet at the following location:Chester Services - M56 at Junction 14 - Please make your way to the first car park on the left as you enter the service area. Be there around 09:30 for a briefing by the organiser.

Fawley Refinery:
All person(s) wishing to attend the Fawley (Southampton) Demonstration are requested to meet at the Hardley Industrial Estate SO45 3NQ situated off of the A326 Hardley Roundabout. Please park sensibly. You will be met by the organiser and briefed at 09:30, whereupon we will make our way to the staging area for 10:00.

Jarrow Refinery:
All person(s) wishing to attend the Jarrow Demonstration are requested to meet at the Jarrow Refinery entrance area. Please park sensibly. You will be met by the organiser and briefed at 09:30, whereupon we will make our way to the staging area for 10:00.

Purfleet Refinery:
All person(s) wishing to attend the Purfleet (Essex - Thurrock) Demonstration are requested to meet at Thurrock Services. Please park sensibly. You will be met by the organiser and briefed at 09:30, whereupon we will make our way to the staging area for 10:00.

Cardiff:
All person(s) wishing to attend the Cardiff (Texaco-Roath Docks) Demonstration are requested to meet at the entrance area of the Texaco refinery. Please park sensibly. You will be met by the organiser and briefed at 10:00, whereupon we will make our way to the staging area.

Immingham:
All person(s) wishing to attend the Immingham Demonstration are requested to meet at Ulceby Fork Truck Stop, Ulceby Road, Immingham North Linc. DN40 43JB. Please park sensibly. You will be met by the organiser and briefed at 09:30, whereupon we will make our way to the staging area.

Labels: Car, Misc, News

I had a spot of car trouble last weekend. The following is a recap of what happened and probably cannot be read that well as I am trying to recall what happened.

It all started (or didnt!) on Saturday where I spotted that my front tyre was pressed up against the kerb, so I started the car, reversed it about one foot and turned off the engine. All in all it took about 5 seconds to do. This was the only time the car was used all day.

So, Sunday came and we had a mad day of Christmas shopping planned. I jumped in the car, popped the key in the ignition, turned it and a 'vuvuvuvuvuvuvuvuv' sound comes from the engine :-(

Oh dear. I was gutted. A combination of emotions hit me all at once ranging from mild panic to anger followed by fear of repair costs and then sadness.

Knowing next to nothing about engines I started to think methodically about what the problem could be...

I knew there was plenty of fuel in the tank as I filled it all the way to the top on Friday.

The battery is good as it was only put in last winter.

I looked up the exhaust to see if anyone had been playing silly buggers - nothing.

I checked the dash board for engine management lights - nothing.

Just to be sure it was not the immobiliser I tried my spare key anyway to no avail.

Turning the key two clicks and listening near to the fuel tank I could hear the quiet buzzing of the petrol pump so that was fine.

I even tried putting the car in first gear and reverse and rocking it back and forth - don't ask why it seemed the right thing to try at the time.

I popped the bonnet and checked for any obvious leads that had come disconnected or any hoses that were leaking or split - I could'nt see any problem at all.

All the oil and water and fluid levels were also good.

I checked the airfilter casing and pipe for splits but it too was fine.

Had the timing belt snapped? To check this, Louise sat in the car, I removed the oil cap and watched the cam as Louise turned the key. Everything jumped up and down so that was also fine.

It was a very damp morning and realising that the sound was as if the engine was 'turning' but not 'firing' I made a guess that the HT leads and/or spark plugs needed to be dried off with moisture dispersing spray (WD40 or in my case TESCO's own brand for a fraction of the price :-) )

This is where the fun began. Have you looked at a modern engine lately? The last time I messed with an engine was about 11 years ago when I had a mk 2 Vauxhall Astra! The engine of my Vectra is totally different. There are no high tension leads, I could not even see the damn spark plugs nor a distributor! To top it, before I could even start to dig deeper, I had to locate a bloody size 25? star screw driver that I did not own!

A quick walk to my local Aldis and £5.99 later I had one, though it did not really help. I removed the engine cover to reveal what I know now is called the 'Coil pack'. Under this coil pack is where the spark plugs are. The coil pack is a solid unit and is held in place with 4 or 5 weird sized star bolt things that my uncle had a set of.

My uncle popped down to see if he could help and I'm very glad he did.

I sat in the drivers seat and turned the key to show him what was happening. Unoticed by me the engine actually tried to fire up once, so we switched places. My uncle jumped in the drivers seat, turned the key for a while and then suddenly, to my relief and total amazement it started!!!! A big puff of smoke escaped the exhaust and the engine was running.

In all this time there was no smell of fuel indicating to me that the damn thing was flooded.

Flooded!

Thats all it was. From the day before when I reversed it a bit. From what I understand, this is what happens: when you first start a car, loads of fuel gets pushed into the engine. If you shut the engine off too quickly after starting it, then not all the fuel has been ignited and it just sits in some chamber. This is where flooding occurs.

To fix the problem, my uncle pushed the accelerator all the way to the floor (which I thought would actually flood the engine more!), turned the key while slowly lifting the accelerator.

There. Problem solved. A HUGE, MASSIVE thank you to my uncle!

I hope this account will help someone in the future. Here are some keywords / keyphrases:

Vauxhall Vecta 1.8 16v
Will not start
Engine turning but not firing up

Labels: Car, Misc

We had a rude awakening at 5:30 this morning due to a car horn constantly going off, so Louise took a look out of the window to see what all the commotion was about only to find a car on fire at the bottom of our back lane!

Louise quickly called the fire brigade who arrived soon after to put it out.

Here is a small video I took of it.

These pictures were then taken later on in the morning when it got light enough to see the damage:



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Labels: Car, Photos, Risca

Getting into my car after it has been to a garage for an MOT and having to:...

1. Remove the plastic from the seat that is obviously put there to stop the seat from getting oily. Why leave it there for my back to get oily?

2. Remove the newspaper from the floor that always seems to have some young girl from Essex exposing her assets for the world and its wife to see.

3. Adjust the seat - fair enough, not everyones legs are the same length as mine.

4. Adjust the temperature and blowers - maybe the the mechanic was cold?

5. Change the radio station back to the one I listen to - Change the bloody radio station! What the hell were they doing? Joyriding my car around town all lunchtime with the windows down blasting this 'hip' radio station out or what ?!?!

I'm fairly certain it's not compulsory to make sure the cars radio can be tuned into 'Galaxy 101' to pass it's MOT.

I can just see it now.... "Your car failed the MOT because we could'nt tune in to our favourite station. It'll cost you [strokes chin, shakes head and sucks in air] .... £100." As every visit to the garage does.



Rant over.

Labels: Car, Humour

I'm not sure if this works with other cars but it certainly worked for my Vauxhall Vectra, saving myself gawd knows how much money by avoiding a visit to a garage.

The central locking was not being activated by any of my key fobs. I knew the battery in the key was OK, the fuse for the central locking was also OK and I knew that the central locking unit was fine as it worked via the keyhole on the drivers door. It seemed to be a 'receive' problem and for a while I had to physically lock the doors with the keyhole on the drivers door which was a pain especially when it was raining.

That is until I found a rather brilliant fix for 're-syncing' the key fob to the car!

The fix is this: Get into the car and shut the doors, insert the key into the ignition, turn the ignition on but do not start the engine, then simply press the lock button on the key fob and then unlock. Thats it! The key fob is now synced to the car and I dont have to fiddle around with the keyhole therefore saving valuable seconds when leaving the car. :-)

Labels: Car

A bit late I know, but things have been a bit hectic around here lately.

Anyway here are some pictures in no particular order of the 2,3,4 wheeled show organised by The Grinning Idiots at Risca Rugby Club on June 4th 2006...

You can click any of the pictures for a bigger view.

Labels: Car, Days Out, Music, Photos, Risca

The Grinning Idiots
Present
The 1st
2,3,4
Wheeled
Custom Bike - Scooter - Trike and Car Show!

6 Live Bands
& 50's Record Hop
Kids Entertainment
A Great Family Fun Day!
Gates open at 12 noon

Sunday 4th June 2006
At Risca Rugby Club
Admission Only £5.00 per person
(Under 16's Free, if accompanied by an adult no concessions)

TRADE STAND ENQUIRIES CONTACT 07756 56 32 35
BIKE, TRIKE AND CAR SHOW ENTRIES, CONTACT 07855 95 40 39
BACK PATCH BY PRIOR APPOINTMENT

EMAIL: grinningidiots@aol.co.uk - WEB:www.freewebs.com/thegrinningidiots

Labels: Car, Days Out, Music, Risca