What's made you smile today?
- Thread starter angel
- Start date
Currently reading:
What's made you smile today?
I agree thoroughly with @Pugglt Auld Jock and his thoughts re pits, especially welding fires. When working at a Dealership in 1980, I was under a car on a ramp using Oxy/Acetylene to bend an exhaust with a "fire watcher?" many years ago and a plastic petrol pipe ignited, it was only as the fire and fuel was dropping to the floor around my feet that the idiot bothered to draw my attention to it, being a ramp I was able to step away from it, though things would have been dire in a pitSorted a big deposit at close of play today for a new house with a garage and a pit offer goes in tomorrow fingers crossed always wanted a garage with a pit the house ain't to bad either
.Any way on a more happy note, you can work on your car in a nice dry garage, though I originally could fit two cars inside my garage but it is invariably so full of other stuff I still end up outside in the rain.
I'd never given a moment's thought to air con gasses Andy, very interesting, thank you.
Oh yes, "Pits" are well named as most I've ever been in were indeed truly disgusting!
One garage I worked at, after heavy rain used to get frogs in the MOT Inspection pit, I wasn't a fan of the pit for that job as it created a blind spot when checking for rusty sills etc.
.There was a Ford Dealership up the road that had been a tram depot in the past with pits in between the tram lines for servicing, someone forgot to replace the boards and a mechanic cycled into work one day straight down the pit!
just to add to the fun modern Gases R1234yf, is flammable, and the same issues with displacement of breathable air also applies when welding with heavy inert gases like xenon and Argon so if you are welding with either of those, stood in a pit, they will slowly start to pool and build up in the pit below the car until you're standing in a pit that is full of gas you cannot breath.
The problem with this is your brain doesn't know and you will take several lung fulls of the inert gas before you brain realizes there is something wrong by which point you will already start to experience hypoxia and if you don't act extremely quickly you can quickly pass out, falling into that pool of gas you still can't breath. It's a similar issue suffered by pilots of unpressurised aircraft, who without oxygen at high levels fail to recognize the danger and therefore carry on what they're doing till they pass out.
For this reason I would be extremely cautious of ever getting into a pit. More so with Aircon gasses which can leak without you knowing.
Thank you for the tip, Jock! Might give them a buzz and see if they will post it to aged p's down in sunny Scarbados.
Although I did promise I'd stop sending them random parcels for myself. Plus they keep putting them somewhere 'safe'. So safe nobody can find them
I do find those stories fascinating, though. There were some remarkable characters getting up to extraordinary things. Like the tragic Robert Benoist, or mysterious Grover Williams who may also have perished in the French Resistance... Or did he...?
Robert Benoist: the bravest of the brave
Robert Benoist was a world champion driver before the war, and a resistance leader during it. Phil Llewellin looks back over the too-short life and times of a true superhero.…
www.motorsportmagazine.com
Ouch!!One garage I worked at, after heavy rain used to get frogs in the MOT Inspection pit, I wasn't a fan of the pit for that job as it created a blind spot when checking for rusty sills etc.
There was a Ford Dealership up the road that had been a tram depot in the past with pits in between the tram lines for servicing, someone forgot to replace the boards and a mechanic cycled into work one day straight down the pit!
Well on the proviso that I like the house with viewing tomorrow 'my wife went there as I was working for the 1st viewing' then we have got the house I'm buzzing
Yup, dangerous things pits. ever tried putting a 3 wheeler over one?One garage I worked at, after heavy rain used to get frogs in the MOT Inspection pit, I wasn't a fan of the pit for that job as it created a blind spot when checking for rusty sills etc.
There was a Ford Dealership up the road that had been a tram depot in the past with pits in between the tram lines for servicing, someone forgot to replace the boards and a mechanic cycled into work one day straight down the pit!
The kind of place that when the boards are down grows some pretty nasty mold and fungus which can be pretty harmful to your lungs.
this was the same problem my parents had with the pit in their garage. They put some boxes down their for storage when they moved in and all of the stuff was destroyed and turned to a kinda mulch.
In the same vein of thought, my oldest boy is always looking for books and videos which he thinks might interest me - which boils down to Science fiction or any thing to do with cars/motor bikes/horticultural machines. A few years ago he gave me this DVD:Thank you for the tip, Jock! Might give them a buzz and see if they will post it to aged p's down in sunny Scarbados.
Although I did promise I'd stop sending them random parcels for myself. Plus they keep putting them somewhere 'safe'. So safe nobody can find them
I do find those stories fascinating, though. There were some remarkable characters getting up to extraordinary things. Like the tragic Robert Benoist, or mysterious Grover Williams who may also have perished in the French Resistance... Or did he...?
Robert Benoist: the bravest of the brave
Robert Benoist was a world champion driver before the war, and a resistance leader during it. Phil Llewellin looks back over the too-short life and times of a true superhero.…
It's an absolute must for anyone who likes racing, had me in tears where it covers how he died but also some fascinating stuff about his early life. and oh boy, those Can-Am monsters!
No but might try putting lawnmower in one
Our 1st panda.. A 1981 X Reg had new sills straight after purchase, on passing its MOT It was due at the local Commercials Garage for sprayed underseal
I was guided "a, touch to the Left.. Then a Smidgeon to the Right" over their pit
2 thumbs later
I stepped out, all 4 x tyres were 50/50 on the lip of the pit
The only time people drove down our pit was when they did it themselves without asking.Our 1st panda.. A 1981 X Reg had new sills straight after purchase, on passing its MOT It was due at the local Commercials Garage for sprayed underseal
I was guided "a, touch to the Left.. Then a Smidgeon to the Right" over their pit
2 thumbs later
I stepped out, all 4 x tyres were 50/50 on the lip of the pit
Would have given good access though.Our 1st panda.. A 1981 X Reg had new sills straight after purchase, on passing its MOT It was due at the local Commercials Garage for sprayed underseal
I was guided "a, touch to the Left.. Then a Smidgeon to the Right" over their pit
2 thumbs later
I stepped out, all 4 x tyres were 50/50 on the lip of the pit
Mrs J and I did a "big" supermarket shop yesterday. We took Becky, our Panda, as she's so much easier to find a parking space for and I'm still a bit "precious" about the new Scala. Our first stop was our local, very big, branch of Morrisons. On our return to the car there she was sitting very precisely positioned in the middle of her parking space with a gigantic SUV on either side. There was plenty of space to get her doors open but it was noticeable that the SUVs on either side had their wheels virtually on the lines delineating their parking spaces. The size of these behemoths really is getting silly, very few people really need something this big surely?
On another tack, Having had a big involvement lately with Mrs J's sister, who is a blue badge holder so we park in disabled spaces when she's with us, I've become very aware of people parking in disabled spaces at supermarkets who appear to have no impairment and aren't displaying a blue permit in their vehicle. It was particularly evident at our local Aldi recently when more than half the spaces were so occupied. the vehicles involved were high value examples like Porsche, BMW, Range Rover, etc mostly SUVs and all brand new and very "shiny". If I were to guess I'd say they were parking there to avoid door bangers? I've tried challenging this in the past but invariably am met with aggression so I just keep my head down and mutter to myself these days.
A colleague tried. Rare for us to see a 3-wheeler. This was a Reliant Regal, car version of the 'Trotters' van. Mechanic drove into the workshop, headed straight for the pit, on autopilot. Several of us yelled, and waved, for him to stop. He stopped with the front wheel teetering on the edge, and as it started to slip into the abyss, there were about six of us trying to hold it back. Difficult, as no-one could get directly in front, due to there being a big hole in the ground. With reverse gear engaged, and all of use lifting and pushing, it came out. Phew!
Of course, jacking the thing up is also difficult. It got reversed over the pit, with the front wheel just near the edge. that gave us access to the underneath of the engine and gearbox.
Never allowed another in the workshop.
Had the opposite of this. I have a Doblo wheelchair vehicle. It is not needed much, but leaving it sitting is bad for it, so usually at least once a fortnight, I use it for my shopping trip, sometimes other journeys. Just because it is adapted for a wheelchair, does not mean I have to carry someone in a wheelchair.
I parked in Tesco car park, as usual, some distance from the store. Before I got out, I noticed a middle-aged couple looking across at me. As I got out, the woman called across at me, "You shouldn't park there." This, and the ones next to it, are where I normally park, whatever vehicle I have used, so I looked at her, a bit puzzled, looked at the van, placed neatly within the lines, and shrugged. She repeated her statement, a little more loudly. "Why?" I asked. "You're supposed to park in the disabled spaces near the entrance."
My wheelchair-bound partner, was at home, some 12 miles away. No justification for using a disabled space. I wonder why it matters to others, and why they need to assert themselves toward me? "You're an idiot." was my reply. I walked away. They yelled something else, but my ears were no longer listening. I was half-expecting them to be waiting when I returned, but thankfully they weren't.
Parent and child spaces must have been full...which are even more fun as they have no legal backing at all. As a result it's parent and child + any bugger who can't dock in a standard space.
"Parking spaces are too small now! I need to use a big space" just perhaps buy a vehicle that fits in a space and then the problem might be solved..they only sell them because you're enough of a mug to buy one at a premium over a normal car.
Etc etc etc rarara *noises including a soap box being launched through a window*
How very strange. My only beef is with able bodied using up disabled spaces. I feel the same, but to a lesser extent, when I see folk, unaccompanied by children, using up the "mother and child" parking spaces. Personally, given the choice, I'd always park well away from the "door bangers" who typically frequent the spaces nearest to the shop entrances. Even if you park on the other side of the parking area it's rare to have more than a couple of minute's walk to the shops.
Ever tried putting one on a 4 poster? Our apprentice tried it. As usual he was going rather too fast and when the front wheel hit the cross bar of the front of the ramp it launched the front of the poor wee car almost into orbit. He cut his face on the steering wheel but it did somewhat steady him up. The foreman wasn't too happy. Tough wee things those Regals though, we were expecting to see some damage to the front suspension/chassis but it escaped unscathed. Like you though, not a vehicle we saw often - I think most owners were DIY types?
Weren't they originally used by ex motorcycle riders (who tended in the past to be DIY) as if reverse was blanked off they could drive on a full motorcycle license.
As an apprentice I recall there was a lad in the village who had the pi** taken out of him, for driving his restricted three wheeler into his tight garage and then being stuck as he couldn't open the doors or reverse out.
There were some strange driving regulations in those days. I had a 125cc Lambretta series one as my first "ride to work" vehicle, but was able to sell it and ride a 600cc Matchless G11 Super Clubman motorcycle complete with sidecar on L plates and take passengers, it was great fun for a 16 year old and spent a lot of it's time on two wheels, especially with my hard cornering, happy days.
