What's made you grumpy today?

[The Panda Nut]

Had my spring covid booster jag yesterday at just before 5pm. Felt Ok last night but definitely "croak" today. Shivery, dizzy, aching all over - sore just to take a breath! and have a dull oppressive headache.

On the up side, I'm sitting here going into parts of the forum I don't often frequent and enjoying the distraction.

I hope you feel better soon usually its all sorted in 36 hours. Im now feeling battered after my fall the other day. My left foro feels awful, like its swollen up, but it isnt, so Im going on teh basis that keeping going, gently , is best. More risk assessment for me from now on. 3 Pandas all need a light wash and the new one needs its ceramic treatment , the garden is going mad and stuff is appearing in the greenhouse with alarming speed. My best news is the 10 Yew cuttings I took in November are nearly all clearly growing well. As these tings are £15 a pop at 3 years old I am well suited. This year I shall take 200 cuttings. I reckon I can sell them for a bit of profit, but all teh thorn hedges are goin to be replaced. SO far this yeat the thorn has needed cutting already as its 18" long. My Yew is now 1.5 inches long and will be cut in August. TAke it easy for now!

 

[The Panda Nut]

I hope you feel better soon usually its all sorted in 36 hours. Im now feeling battered after my fall the other day. My left foro feels awful, like its swollen up, but it isnt, so Im going on teh basis that keeping going, gently , is best. More risk assessment for me from now on. 3 Pandas all need a light wash and the new one needs its ceramic treatment , the garden is going mad and stuff is appearing in the greenhouse with alarming speed. My best news is the 10 Yew cuttings I took in November are nearly all clearly growing well. As these tings are £15 a pop at 3 years old I am well suited. This year I shall take 200 cuttings. I reckon I can sell them for a bit of profit, but all teh thorn hedges are goin to be replaced. SO far this yeat the thorn has needed cutting already as its 18" long. My Yew is now 1.5 inches long and will be cut in August. TAke it easy for now!

 

[The Panda Nut]

Nudaffo, Peanut, Daisy... or whatever needs a new tyre. I got my sub standard wheel... ET 42 , fitted with a tyre 165 65 14 and tried it. Its Ok and will be better than a space saver. I decided to check the wheels all come off. Rears were well stuck but now sorted. At least 1 front tyre is a chuck out job. The cracking is major so although 6mm of tread its a bin job. I will buy a pair and keep t'other as a spare for a while. Another £200 down the drain. May as well swap to Continental or Michelin maybe cross climates.... at the same time as I want youngest having great grip in all circumstances. The way she drives its vital..... Im even more unconvinced about Goodyear after this. Now Ive over tightened the nuts so.must go out again and slack them off. Daughter consulted Fiat forum for the correct torque and burst out laughing as first thread giving the right figures was authored but T.B. Panda Nut lol

 

[StevenRB45]

Wife got a new phone...

Although both are nano SIM apparently she has an old style nano SIM and this phone takes new nano SIMs.

Apparently there are 3 different types of nano sim, anyway phoned provider to get a new SIM.

As it's a modern phone thought I know we'll get it working today with an e-SIM rather than wait until the post on Tuesday. But of course they only send the entirely virtual QR code based e-SIM in the post as well.

What the hell is the point in sending a virtual SIM in the flipping post? Just got a physical one coming instead as at least that they are actually delivering something that couldn't have been an email.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Wife got a new phone...

Although both are nano SIM apparently she has an old style nano SIM and this phone takes new nano SIMs.

Apparently there are 3 different types of nano sim, anyway phoned provider to get a new SIM.

As it's a modern phone thought I know we'll get it working today with an e-SIM rather than wait until the post on Tuesday. But of course they only send the entirely virtual QR code based e-SIM in the post as well.

What the hell is the point in sending a virtual SIM in the flipping post? Just got a physical one coming instead as at least that they are actually delivering something that couldn't have been an email.

Oh deary me. Nano sim, e-sim, virtual QR e-sim? you might as well be talking Martian. I know my phone has a sim in it, it was there when I bought it. Other than that?

When I got home tonight the car said it wanted to do an update so I touched the start icon and it told me to get out of the car and not to come back, or allow anyone else near it for the next half hour! Honestly, I mean what is this? I just want a car to drive around in!

 

[StevenRB45]

Oh deary me. Nano sim, e-sim, virtual QR e-sim? you might as well be talking Martian. I know my phone has a sim in it, it was there when I bought it. Other than that?

When I got home tonight the car said it wanted to do an update so I touched the start icon and it told me to get out of the car and not to come back, or allow anyone else near it for the next half hour! Honestly, I mean what is this? I just want a car to drive around in!

Sim cards are reasonably simple or can be...just the bit of plastic with your network info on it.

E-Sim in theory is saving your network info to the phone instead of having it on a chip on the piece of plastic. Except in this case...they were going to post out a piece of paper with the required info on it which meant they might as well post a SIM.

I've not had the pleasure of over the air updates...last one I did required a USB stick

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Sim cards are reasonably simple or can be...just the bit of plastic with your network info on it.

E-Sim in theory is saving your network info to the phone instead of having it on a chip on the piece of plastic. Except in this case...they were going to post out a piece of paper with the required info on it which meant they might as well post a SIM.

I've not had the pleasure of over the air updates...last one I did required a USB stick

Thanks Steven, I think I understand now. Anyway, Mrs J and I have decided we really do need to buy a modern smart phone which we'll share between us so, soon, we'll have to learn all about it.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Thanks Steven, I think I understand now. Anyway, Mrs J and I have decided we really do need to buy a modern smart phone which we'll share between us so, soon, we'll have to learn all about it.

I can do, my mrs can do it. They cant be difficult! But can be very handy.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Oh, by the way, after the covid jag making me feel pretty croak yesterday, I woke up feeling much better this morning and was back to normal around 11 o'clock. Now just got to wait for the rash and hope it's not too itchy.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Oh, by the way, after the covid jag making me feel pretty croak yesterday, I woke up feeling much better this morning and was back to normal around 11 o'clock. Now just got to wait for the rash and hope it's not too itchy.

You may be lucky. Ive never had a rash. Is it a common side effect?

 

[StevenRB45]

Thanks Steven, I think I understand now. Anyway, Mrs J and I have decided we really do need to buy a modern smart phone which we'll share between us so, soon, we'll have to learn all about it.

Your old phone will have a SIM card as well, the issue will likely come in that there's multiple different styles. Nano, Micro and Standard.

Everything made now uses a nano, if your phone is old (as in pre-2012) it'll likely use either standard or Micro.

My issue comes from not requesting a new SIM with a new SIM only upgrade..and then discovering that although the SIM size hasn't changed the standard has so the SIM card from my wife's old phone fits but won't work.

So basically you'll get a SIM with a new contract, take it and don't say you'll keep yours at which point the SIM goes in and you can forget about it until next new phone.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Thanks Steven, I think I understand now. Anyway, Mrs J and I have decided we really do need to buy a modern smart phone which we'll share between us so, soon, we'll have to learn all about it.

Do look at Smarty for the sim. I PAY £6 a month for all calls and Ive never run out of data allowance. Some deals give money back if you under use what you pay for. They prompt you if your paying to much and, no price increases for 3 years now. It seems as fair as it gets.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

You may be lucky. Ive never had a rash. Is it a common side effect?

It's a problem which dates back to when i was in my twenties. I was doing skulls and seals on a series land rover when one of "the lads" did the usual (gave the wing an almighty slap as he was passing. I was sitting in the wheel arch working on the axle and got covered in a cloud of dry dusty crud - it was a dry summer's day. Later, when I got home and had stripped off to shower, My Mrs gave a wee shriek and said "just look at yourself in the mirror! I was covered in a bright red rash (which later became very itchy) Straight off to the doc, in those days you could see one right away, and he diagnosed an allergy - probably to the animal much and/or fertilizer in the dirt from the Landy. Ever since I've come out in rash whenever I've had a virus. The worse the virus the greater the rash. Not expecting it to be too bad from the injection.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Your old phone will have a SIM card as well, the issue will likely come in that there's multiple different styles. Nano, Micro and Standard.

Everything made now uses a nano, if your phone is old (as in pre-2012) it'll likely use either standard or Micro.

My issue comes from not requesting a new SIM with a new SIM only upgrade..and then discovering that although the SIM size hasn't changed the standard has so the SIM card from my wife's old phone fits but won't work.

So basically you'll get a SIM with a new contract, take it and don't say you'll keep yours at which point the SIM goes in and you can forget about it until next new phone.

Aye, very very old pay as you go. So, a friend has said to buy either a used phone or refurb and a separate sim as it'll work out cheaper. I really haven't a clue though.

 

[StevenRB45]

Well back came off wife's phone while we were away..

Cheapest option for us for a decent phone was the new Pixel 8a (529 for a big memory one you'd not need that the smaller one is 499). Then an "upgrade" of a sim only contract at 12 quid a month for unlimited texts and calls and 60gb of data.

In total it's 36.12 per month once the 0% instalment on the phone is included, smaller version would be 34 or so until the phone is paid whereby it's 12 quid a month.

This is for a brand new phone that came out last week with 7 years of software support and all the data my wife can use...

Personally I've got a pixel 6 pro (which is what I take all my photos on) and that would be a cheaper option but software support ends this year as it's a nearly 3 year old phone though security updates continue for longer.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Well back came off wife's phone while we were away..

Cheapest option for us for a decent phone was the new Pixel 8a (529 for a big memory one you'd not need that the smaller one is 499). Then an "upgrade" of a sim only contract at 12 quid a month for unlimited texts and calls and 60gb of data.

In total it's 36.12 per month once the 0% instalment on the phone is included, smaller version would be 34 or so until the phone is paid whereby it's 12 quid a month.

This is for a brand new phone that came out last week with 7 years of software support and all the data my wife can use...

And there's the problem. It's just so damned expensive compared to our old "dumb" pay as you go phones.

 

[StevenRB45]

And there's the problem. It's just so damned expensive compared to our old "dumb" pay as you go phones.

Other options not including a brand new phone are available...

Literally the same phone I'm typing this on (except not a 256gb) and the same phone I take all my photos on.

Has a telephoto camera and all the jazz...

But software updates end October for everything except security updates.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Thanks for trying to help. I really do appreciate it. However, as usual with "computery stuff", It'll probably end up with us taking advice from my friend two doors down who used to write security protocols (whatever they are) for DELL and is now head of computer security for a large educational establishment and from my son in law who does "very clever stuff" with computer programs for fast jets - I'm not allowed to know what. Your advice is not wasted though as I've learned from it, so thank you.

 

[StevenRB45]

Way I look at it is this.

It's an expensive phone...but if I tot up how much it would cost for a digital SLR camera, music player, car satnav, something to play audio books, home computer, messaging device etc etc it's decent value.

It just happens to take calls...

So took it away, I took one call...but several emails, arranged wife's new phone, took all the photos, did my banking, booked activities, used the satnav across the country while listening to Spotify from it..way back lad was board so he was listening to octonauts off audible while I was using it to satnav.

They aren't cheap but it does a huge amount in one device.

 

[vexorg]

You still cheap cheap new phones that act like old ones: https://www.amazon.co.uk/uleway-Button-2-8inch-Display-Elderly-RED/dp/B0CFTY4CGQ/