It always pays to wave a flag

A while ago I noticed one of those pieces of passing PR that are so easy to let wash over you.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2387293/Mrs-Hastings-I-make-mend-addicts-But-todays-young-think-past-sell-date.html
(actually it was in the Telegraph, but they have a paywall limit so this'll do)

In this case I decided to pop the good Lord a missive:

"Reading your plans in yesterday's Telegraph, I can only wish you well.

There are of course many ways to encourage folk to 'save', both planet
and money, and more and more seem keen to embrace them.

What would be good is to further bridge the gap more between
manufacturers/retailers doing as little as they can in compliance,
often hiding behind the jargon of the CSR industry, and consumers who
tend to think more in terms of simplicity and end benefit."

It took a while but I am glad to say it has been replied to, in as nice a way as may be hoped:

Dear Mr Martin,

Waste reduction

Thank you for your email of 8 August to Lord de Mauley about waste reduction.  I have been asked to reply.

"As you may know, the Minister’s statement was linked to our publication on 6 August of a public consultation on our draft proposals for the Waste Prevention Programme for England (consult.defra.gov.uk/waste/waste prevention/).  The results of the consultation will inform the final Programme, which is due to be finalised in December.  We are grateful for your comments, which have been passed to the relevant policy officials and will be considered as part of the consultation exercise.

Preventing waste from being produced in the first place is not only good for the environment, but for the economy and household budgets too.  Research shows that businesses can make £17 billion in annual savings by taking simple steps to produce less waste.  Everyone has a part to play in reducing waste.  Our proposals in this programme will help individuals and organisations recognise the savings they can make by cutting waste and passing on items they no longer use.  It will explore ways to make it easier for individuals to reuse and repair items.  It also aims to ensure that products are designed to last longer, contain fewer hazardous parts and reduce the environmental impact of the waste they create."

REPAIR - TIP - Sticky Knobs

Oo-er, missus.

All through my ad career I always got my best briefings on the client's product not from the marketing guys in their ivory towers, but from those in sales. The ones dealing with the thing, and customers, day-in, day-out. Who I dubbed 'the sharp end'.

They knew the product backwards, its foibles and fabluousness. Plus, of course, the audience.

It's the same with the world of engineering repair.

For some reason, we are going through a spate of break-downs at Junkk Towers.

Age the primary reason. With which I can identify. But also poor design.

Luckily, our belief in repair has meant we have invested in insurances to cover such eventualities, even though I suspect we are paying more as a consequence over the lifespan of kit we're nursing things along.

And this means I have been happy to meet, and chat, with a bunch of cheery guys who know their kit backwards... faults and fabulousness both... as they sort 'em out.

I have just bid farewell to Dave who fixed our oven. A sticky fan was a fuse blow away. But in replacing that I also gleaned a ton of other useful snippets. Seems insurances don't cover self-tapping screws pulling out as 'rust' is excluded. On a device meant to create heat and steam in a steel box that seems quaint. But he was up for a quick bolt substitute.

In passing, he also noted the hob burner rings were now too old to be efficient and needed replacing. These are the metal plates that create the mini gas jets in a circle. Worth investing on new ones for more gas efficiency.

Sadly, with a fried circuit board in the microwave it was deemed easier and cheaper to buy a new one than replace. Good job we still had the 2-ton mechanical monster in the basement. And it works.

But today's tip concerns knobs. Specifically the on/off switch to the washing machine.

I thought it was broken and had booked a repair. Dave knew better.

And his solution...? Spray furniture polish. Worked a treat. I suggested WD40, but he said the polish was better, and smelled nicer.

I just put the phone down to the insurers. That's a van and man not having to come out Monday. And a little bit of planet eased along a smidge better as a result.

Mr. Sheen... we salute you in your new role.

RE:PAIR - If it rains, this reigns

A little repair to the missus' brolly I am quite proud of.

And very 'Junkk', as it saved us £15 on a new one, and cost no more than a few moments of my time.

Play it forward

Hope I got that right.

Not sure if I will be able/have the time to blog over the next few days, so as I head out into the still dark morning (and a series of rush hour nightmares) I share this:

The best shop in London

Here's to those who do, and do so in the best of ways, with the best of intentions.

Next stop... Ally Pally, London!

Do come and visit.

Washing machine blues

A while ago our dishwasher packed in.

And in getting it going again, I managed to spin out a blog post. I have of course now lost it, but as a consequence of chatting with an engineer at the sharp end, I learned a few things, one of which was cold water washes may save on the water heating, but may not be that great on enviROI due to pipes getting bunged up through hot water not scouring them .

Well, it has happened again, and I am faced with a a similar dilemma on the price, if not principle of insurance.

Tricky. Stuart, the engineer, says it is a good model with loads of life in it, so I am tempted to keep on. But it is really a bet with the actuaries. 3 more years and I could buy a brand new one on the annual fee. Not a Miele, of course, but still...

Anyhoo, a few tips to pass on. All as a result of that rather nasty collection in the picture.

First up, change is very bad. Do try and ensure you do not leave any in. Thanks to the boys we did end up with enough for a pint, but it could have been at major cost. If the coin does not slide to the trap and gets wedged... major.

The other tip is as a result of the main blockage culprit, namely cord ties.

It is well worth putting any garment with flappy bits in a net bag first. Saves the bits being ripped off and the resulting strands starting a healthy bung.

RE:PAIR - Chips with everything

In the spirit of twitter's followfriday positivity, I am happy to share this.

Especially as it is in the realms of re:pair over replace.

That picture is my car windscreen.

It was worse.

But thanks to Autoglass, some sensible preventative support by my (I think all) car insurers, a FREE call out (£60 excess on a £400 newbie) it lives to tackle the elements another day.

Recommended.

CATEGORY - RE:pair

There is already a 'REPAIR' label at the end, but this is to try and start pulling things together under a category.

Articles

Observer - NEW - Sack the builder, do it yourself

Website

AUTO

breakerlink.com - Ta to Dave of Solarventi for the tip
carsparefinder.co.uk - ditto

Observer - NEW - Don't be a dipstick: Get your spanner out

Repairpal - US-based

CLOTHES

Observer - NEW - Pretty darn good -

HOME

fixya.com -
letsfixit.co.uk - Niiiice
safemanuals.com -

IT

applemacrepair.com
ask rick -
A worthy specific one on PC maintenance: BOOT CAMP 554 – Make Do and Mend, part 6
crucial - Mac upgrade advocacy as greener option. O...k, I'll bite.
e-repair.co.uk - Monitors
fixya.com -
ifixit - OK, it's a tad niche. But I use a Mac and it's in for me!
macfixcentre.com -
safemanuals.com -

ROADS

fixmystreet.com - A little off our patch, but hey, it's repair and nifty, so why not?

Beating the crunch

Sadly, not the credit crunch this time:(

However, in the spirit of 'it's good to share', and my last car-borne outing had a relatively happy outcome (our re-engined Golf doing sterling work as we speak... long may it continue to do so), let's try again.

Monday was, according to the Daily Telegraph, 'the most stressful day of the year.' Well, yes, I could get around to accepting that.

For this was the day my tropics-trained missus met black ice for the first time, and that's one postbox that won't be taking mail for a wee while.

Now it was an incredibly slow impact, as even the airbags didn't go off.

And, though it really... really looks worse in the picture, after a quick gander my hopes were raised.

Sure, all the crumple zones had done what they were meant to, but as far as I could gather, beyond the front, bonnet and a few important bits of engine that bore the brunt, it was all in one piece. And nothing major bent any further back.

Sadly, this seems not enough to be worth saving to the counters of beans at my insurers. I guess the cost of mending came in above the cost of slipping us the road value and, well, money talks.

So again I am presented with a series of dilemmas that span the whole gamut from enviro to eco.. nomic.

Take the money and get a replacement? If so, maybe an existing LPG? Or try and 'save' it. I am not sure what one can do, but assuming they give me the write-off value I can still 'buy' it from them and then try and fix it. But... is it worth it?

Another journey is embraked upon which I'll share....

UPDATE

The plot thick... well, goes further downhill.

It really is not worth trying to save. It can be fixed, but to do so would take something like £5k, and that's to end up with a car 'worth' £1300 (according to the nice man from Norwich Union - I then had to spend all day yesterday 'proving' it was worth more, and ended up in some bizarre Marrakesh-market haggle. Not what I expected from a top insurer).

I am now on the trail of some dual/bifuels, and they do seem to be like hen's teeth. Especially at the budget I have set. A further 'complication' is that having chatted with a few garages they seem to think getting a factory-fitted option is much safer to a retro-fitted kit version, and that reduces things a lot more. So far all I am seeing is a few Volvos.

The hunt continues....

PROF'S POSER - Where's an actuary when you need one?

The other day these bits of paper arrived.

At first I was going to bin them, but then I had a read, and as a consequence of that called up the sender.

You see, our washing machine is at last 10 years old. Still doing a sterling job, bar a few hiccups year on year that have been resolved.

Thing is, I don't recall ever seeing such an insurance before, so they must n=know what they are doing.

The deal is not cheap, coming in at well over £100 a year. But the up side is tempting. They either fix it if...when it dies, or give us a new one.

Now, my main aim is environmental (no, really) in that I like the notion of repair if at all possible (lord knows what the enviROI on a call-out is), but I was also wondering about the numbers.

Being that a new one is around £2-300, does it make any sense to take out such a policy at this stage?

REPAIR - The trouble is you'll soon fancy another

I pass this one on as it's certainly worth a try.

My lovely Singapore auntie has passed on a cutting that links to a Yahoo group that I can't access or figure out, so you'll just have to take my version.

Basically if you drop anything electronic - mobile, iPod, Blackberry - in water it's pretty much a goner.

However... there is a last ditch solution: rice.

If it isn't already, switch it off and get it in sealed container of rise asap.

24 hrs later you may find you're back to being good to go.

I am guessing that a container of silica gel will work even better, but you can't eat it afterwards, whereas, depending on where you dropped the thing (loo or a puddle probably not a good idea you might want to risk it.

I figure salt water is pretty much a killer any which way.

PROF'S POSER - Pixel reviver

I have been told of this rather clever notion which, if it works, seems a worthy mention in Junkk.com's more fromal REPAIR advisories: killdeadpixel

Bascially a means to restimulate dead pixels on a screen.

Before I give it a full blown big-up (which it may deserve), I was wondering if any IT whizzes had a view on possible pros and cons and value.

Friends in the best places

The thing that keeps me going with Junkk.com, against a load of hurdles from those (in theory tasked, and often paid well, to help guys like us help the public) who see gatekeeping as more of a door-closing exercise, is the power of one who believes. I am starting to think we may be starting to establish ourselves, and have a chance, when we get something like this sent in by a Junkk user (thank you so much, Mr. Smart):

'Thought I would bring to your attention this article in the Guardian today. You might want to put them in touch with 'the experts' !'

I was moved to reply (below), and rue the possibility that a time may come that I may not have the time or ability to do so, in such a personalised way, in the future.

'Thank you so very much for writing and telling us about this.

If you are talking about us being in any way expert you are too kind, but we do believe we know some stuff, and the collective brainpower and goodwill on our site (who are the ones you meant, for sure!) is a valuable free resource to share for the benefit of one and all, plus the planet!

I will of course try and get in touch, but we will not be holding our breath.

For some odd reason we do not seem in high favour with the media community, which is a pity. I don't quite know why, though we suspect it may be that we are a little more 'Fiesta family' from the rest of the country than 'Prius Person' from within the congestion zone.

I think we will get a lot further, and with greater strength in our foundations, by the support of such Junkketeers as yourself, rather than a flare of media hype (as they often like to tear down as much as build up), but a bit of a mention can't hurt!'

Here's what I wrote, as suggested:

One of our readers has kindly passed us your invitation:

'If you have any ideas for reusing yoghurt bottles, or any other items that usually end up in the bin, we would like to hear them'

Well, you could try here

[I provided links into the site, but won't bother here - you know what it can do).

Or here...

Or here...

Or here...

Or here...

Or... I think you get the idea (well, ideas).

But thank you for some natty new stuff in return that we didn't know about and will be happy to share:)

If you need any more from our archives, we're only a free click away.

Now, watch thi.... er... that space.

Re:prieve for Re:pair?

There's hope:

I've written to the author: On the mend

"I was very interested in your piece today, and as re:pair is very much in our re:mit, would like to follow up with you. By karmic synergy we are also based in Herefordshire, just like John Harris.

And we are starting to build up a good selection of those, near and further, who can and will fix things. Or the tools and techniques to do it at home. Ask and we may have an answer.. or be able to get one.

And even if the vacuum can't be fixed, there's always re:use."