Member postings for Peter G. Shaw

Ady1,

After the reminder I do have a very vague recollection of it, but nothing really serious. Of course, this could be as much to do with it not having too much effect on me. Or perhaps the effect where I live wasn't that bad, although I do remember two wintry incidents: one was when a choral concert I was taking part in was cancelled due to bad weather; two, allowing my then car, a Focus Diesel, chug it's way up a moderate slope in 2nd gear without any sign of slip, and then up a steeper slope again on tickover in 2nd, but slipping all the while yet still making progress. That car was owned from 2009 to 2013 which would fit your date.

Other than the above, I have no recollection of any bad weather in 2010. That's not to say there wasn't an - just that it didn't register with me.

Hope this explains why I didn't mention it.

Bob Unitt 1,

I do remember talk of a Nuclear Winter, but not in that context. But of course, that was 50 years ago and memories do fade.

Cheers,

Peter G. Shaw

It does seem to me that there has been a change since the days of my childhood, say 70 or so years ago. Where are the snowfalls of my childhood?

I'm not old enough to remember the 1947 winter, but I have seen a set of photographs from then. I certainly remember 1954 (walking part way to school because the road was blocked): the 1962/63 winter (as a telephone linesman more or less on top of the Pennines where most of the side roads were blocked): and sometime in the '80's when in order to get to Stone for a training course, I firstly cadged a lift to the city centre (no buses), and then being told by particular British Rail employees to get on that train and get off wherever and then see about another train (timetables were all abandoned apparently). That journey, normally say 2 hours took 7 hours!

But I also remember sledging for weeks on end, or so it seemed: seeing a large 6 wheel drive lorry pushing a large V snow plough through the village, local farmers being paid by the council to plough the roads to keep them open. And a local hill, so blocked with snow that it had two JCB type units, one at each end and a gang of men in the middle to clear it.

But today, well the last significant snow I remember was the winter of 1995/96 when the temperature 7 miles away on the coast dropped so low that the hydraulic fluid in the lifeboats turned to mush and caused many thousands of pounds worth of damage. Of course, there has been the odd day or two when there has been some snow, but nothing that caused major shutdown of the country. Except for those people who found themselves unable to cope with the bad weather because they had no previous experience.

So is it global warming? Or is it just a natural phenomenon going in cycles? I don't know, but I will admit to a certain amount of scepticism when we get certain people shouting the odds and pushing their own agenda. I tend to think, "Just what, if anything, do these people actually know?" Probably the best comment I remember from quite a few years ago was when a certain lady member of the local Green party was spouting the odds, and in a letter to the local paper, someone said "Is this the same lady whose husband drives a rather large Volvo!" There was more to it, but it (not the letter, but what the lady was saying) so smacked of do as I say, not as I and my husband do!

One point that I well remember from the '70's, and that was that the then scientific opinion was that we were heading for an iceage. So what happened?

Cheers, from someone who readily admits that he doesn't know,

Peter G. Shaw

Dave W,

No problems. I simply took it as someone who had never come across asymetric hearing so I thought I'd explain what happened to me.

In respect of the singing, it hasn't bothered me having to give up: I suspect I'd probably come well towards the end of the road anyway as a lot of what I took part in tended to be repeats, for example the Haydn Seasons was to be repeated by the other choir 12 or 18 months later.

In fact, I do wonder if some of what happened to me was self-inflicted, eg listening to loud noises without protection just for the hell of it as a young man. I wouldn't do the same thing today, but as we all know, you can't put a wise head on young shoulders - and I certainly wasn't wise! And we just don't think of the damage we may be doing to ourselves.

But it's no good crying over spilt milk - it's happened, and that's all there is to it.

Cheers,

Peter G. Shaw

Dave,

My right ear succumbed to Menieres disease, probably initially in 2000, then started up in earnest in 2005 and in 2007 & 2008 I had two operations involving the use of gentamycin to kill the little sensing hairs in the semi circular canals. Two operations because the initial success rate is only about 70% so the unlucky people like me have it done twice. Now that worked to stop the debitating dizziness I was getting but at the expense of losing most of my hearing. It might have been failing before that, I can't remember, but since then I've had virtually no hearing in the right ear, hence the "ghetto" blaster to try and give me something.

In respect of the left ear, something happened in 2017. Prior to then, I had been singing with various choirs for something like 50 years and at the time of whatever happened, I was a regular member of two choirs and an occasional member of other choirs if needed. What happened was that one of the main choirs gave a concert performance of Haydn's The Seasons, and at some point during the performance I remember thinking that the little seven piece orchestra was rather loud. At the end of the performance, I discovered that I had lost low frequency response in that ear. Unfortunately, I was scheduled to take part in a concert the following evening, and another concert two weeks later with two other choirs. The only way that I could take part in those concerts was because there was another singer adjacent to me who I could just about hear. I obtained a referral to Audiology who confirmed what I already knew, namely loss of bass response, and gave me a hearing aid. Since then, that ear has changed again. Apparently I now have poor overall hearing in that ear but the bass response has returned. So overall, I've sod all in my right ear, and less than normal response in my left ear. So a hearing aid adjusted for my left ear response and the "ghetto" blaster above.

Singing has come to a dead stop - I just daren't take the risk of losing what hearing I do have, even though I don't actually know what happened. And lets face it, a choir and orchestra going "full chat" can produce a heck of a lot of sound.

Just for the record, one of the most exhilarating concerts I took part in was one where we ended by performing Handel's Hallelujah Chorus. The way the conductor conducted us was that during the closing phrases, we had a gradually increasing crescendo such that by the time I, and I think other people, got almost to the end, we were going absolutely flat out. This was followed by a silent bar and the cutoff was amazing - flat out to zero in nothing flat.

Tootle pip,

Peter G. Shaw

I don't know about climate change as certain people are saying but it's obvious that something has happened. Where are the heavy winter snows that we used to have? And read about in the past. I haven't seen one for I think about 25 years. And certainly, I've seen nothing like the 1962/63 winter since then. There have been some wintry scenes since then but in general they have been short lived.

Is it too much population? Don't know, and can't really see it given that there are many large unpopulated areas. One thing I absolutely cannot understand is the attitude of our lords and masters in forcing us to adopt Net Zero when there are places like China pumping out far more muck that we do. Some people say that the UK contribution to Global Warming is 1%: that leaves 99% from the rest of the world. Doesn't seem right that we should wear a hair shirt whilst other countries blithely go on their way. And no, I don't want to set an example - it's got to be everyone, or no-one!

Incidently, my workshop is my garage. I can open front & back doors and thus get a draught blowing through. Unfortunately, because it is a garage, and a flat roofed one at that, there is no insulation and so in conditions like this although I can get the afore mentioned draught at floor level, I can still feel the heat beating down from the roof. Not pleasant.

Peter G. Shaw

Mine are 312 - left & 675 - right.

Peter G. Shaw

Might not do any harm to the hearing aids, but what about battery life? I have hearing aids, and frankly, I find it a right p-in-the-b when my left one beeps at me, waits a short while, beeps again, then shuts down. The right one, a much more powerful one, beeps at me, waits a while, and then shuts down without any warning. I seem to think that the LHS one lasts about a week, whilst the RHS one perhaps 2 weeks. Hence, anyway I can get maximum life before having to waste time changing them is welcome.

Happy hearing!

Peter G. Shaw

Well now, they have arrived. Both in the same packing. So someone must have realised that the two separate orders were from the same address. Good marks for that, but still poor of Ebay. Let's not go down that path again.

The address they've been sent from is actually what seems like a private address in a village near Stroud in Gloucester. So much for for the other addresses, but full marks to whoever found Stroud. You were right. It's a lady who's sent them, and she's included on the invoice this comment: "Thanks for your purchase! I hope you love it!" Somehow, I doubt I'll "love" them - it's a tool for heaven's sake.

First impressions: they are rather small, in fact too small for my machine so I'm going to have to make some sort of adaptors to hold them. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained etc. Perhaps it was me who didn't really take note of the stated sizes.

And that's it. Off to the quack's now. Wish me luck!

Cheers,

Peter G. Shaw

Nigel,

I always thought that the BBC adoption of "pop" music was caused by the likes of Radio Caroline broadcasting just outside the 3 mile limit which meant that it couldn't be touched by our broadcasting authorities. As a result, the BBC started playing "pop" music in direct competion, ie a case if you can't beat 'em, then join 'em.

Third Programme. I've actually never really listened to it so I can't really comment on it other than my perception and we all know how wrong that can be. Today, if I listen to anything, it is indeed ClassicFM.

I think the last BBC radio programmes I used to listen to regularly were John Dunn on Radio 2, '60's? '70's? And was it "The World at One" on Radio 4 during the '70's. That programme was a group listening exercise - six of us in a smallish room with opinions ranging from far right to far left. Had a few good arguments back then.

I agree about "smart" 'phones. I do have a very basic mobile 'phone. If I'm right, I believe it's a 3G version in which case shortly I'll be forced onto 4G or 5G along with whatever piece of electronic flummery has to be used. I do find it objectionable, this attitude that expects every one to have a moble 'phone of some description. The fiasco above with Ebay is just the latest. I have had a mixup with Patients Choice at the GP surgery expecting me to use a mobile 'phone. That resulted in me reverting to using their answering machine service every time a need a repeat prescription. Not my problem, if they can't provide something that works for everyone, then tough, they can provide a body to transcribe the answering messages. In fact, it takes less time for me to use the answering machine than to wade through all the levels of the internet so it's actually faster for me.

I do find Google maps still easy to use, but of late I have also been using Bing maps and Openstreetmap. What I don't like is the way Google, and Youtube, now ask you to agree to various things before they let you use their services. Of course, I simply deny everything. I also use something to do with Overlays, an addon for Firefox which disables any overlays it finds.

Tootle pip,

Peter G. Shaw

Dave/SOD,

I was a BT technician, later engineer, during those years so I was well aware of what was going on. On the engineering side, redundancy didn't really start to hit until digital, System X & AXE10, started making real inroads into exchanges. Then it became pretty dramatic with technicians having to learn new skills and travel to different, larger locations where the control centres for the exchanges were situated. Or take early retirement. Just for information, in the '60's, GPO telephone employment was in the region of 240K with around 20K being employed on exchange duties. By 1994 when I left on early retirement, employment was down to 105k.

Prior to that, it was the conversion of manual exchanges to automatic, and the introduction of STD & ISD that caused redundancies in the female operating staff.

As you correctly said, a lot of the earlier problems were caused by the Treasury deciding how much money the GPO could spend so a lot of choices had to be made as to where spending money had the most beneficial effect. Indeed, during the big snow of 1962/63, I, as a linesman, was specifically instructed to report overhead routes as being storm damaged purely so that we could claim the repairs on a different budget.

Another problem was the quality of the workforce. Coming from a low wage area in the North of England, a telephone technician working in an exchange was on quite a good salary, but in London, where salaries were much higher, even with the London weighting allowance, exchange technicians were poorly paid. Any London based technician who was any good could, and plenty did, leave the GPO/BT to work elsewhere and receive an immediate pay boost. Thus, the remaining technicians were of the lower ability, people who either couldn't get a job elsewhere or were too lazy to try. I knew of one northern technician who went to London on a temporary basis and made a lot of money: apparently they were so desparate for good quality staff that my colleague could virtually write his own terms of reference - as much overtime as he could handle, free board & lodging plus free travel back home every now and then. I also overheard a conversation between a student and a demonstrator at the Stone Training Centre to the effect that the demonstrators only had to look at the headquarters of the students to be able to determine their calibre: north good, south poor. Of course, I'm only generalising, we in the North had our share of deadbeats, but in general, there were a lot of very good technicians in the North.

Today, I can't see there being very many exchange technicians. And with the proposed transfer of calls onto the internet with the consequent closure of local telephone exchanges, then there will be even fewer exchange technicians.

I have to say that on a personal basis, I find myself in a peculiar position. I can see that the world will move on, yet at the same time, it hurts that all that training I undertook is now obsolete.

Peter G. Shaw

There are two other threads running, one about buying unknown tooling (MAX-T) and the other about Brand Names. It seems to me that possibly the one thing that is missing from these threads is the consideration of time, money, and age.

For example. 50 years ago, when I got married and the children started arriving (never did understand how that occurred) we didn't have over much money, indeed I can well remember doing financial balancing acts in order to avoid defaulting on debts. But life seemed so very much simpler back then. One electric supplier, one gas supplier, one 'phone supplier. Even the buildings insurer was chosen by the mortgage company. There was, (or should that be were) three TV stations (C4 didn't start until 1982).

I can even remember long before then, that as a teenager (were they even invented back then) in the 1960's there was the Light programme, the regional Home Services and for the highbrows amongst us, the Third Programme. Plus, for the teenagers, Radio Luxembourg on 208 meters. As far as the (posh voice here please) BBC was concerned, anything to do with "pop" music was relegated to the last request on Two Way Family Favourites, and even then some records (posh voice again please) simply were not suitable for the BBC.

Entertainment was self-made, cinema or a dance hall on Saturday evenings. And don't forget, the buses ran until 11.30pm, non of your 24 hour (eg 23:50 hrs) stuff here please.

We didn't have much money. Car maintenance for a lot of people was DIY. OK, cars were a lot simpler as was a lot of household stuff. But as time went on, pay improved, stuff became more reliable but at the same time less able to be DIY'd. Regulations were introduced, restrictions increased - who can remember the time when there was one speed limit of 30mph? And so on.

So now, I'm 79, been married 51 years, the kids have left home, two of the grandchildren have either left home or are trying so to do. We have money available (not bragging here - no mortgage, no kids to support etc), but what about time? I'm concious that time is marching on. I'm not a well man. But now I have to decide which 'phone company to use, which electric supplier, which gas.... I go out in the car and I am faced with six different speed limits. I have Freeview, Netflix, Sky, etc to choose from, and I am bemused by it all. And I feel that I am being forced into a complex life style which takes time to sort out. And that I don't like. I can see that choice was supposed to be a "good" thing and should have resulted in the efficient surviving with the inefficient going to the wall. But has it? All I can see is the ever increasing cost of services just to live, let alone for hobbies.

I don't want to go back to the '60's & '70's. Or maybe I do? Is there a case to be made for one company serving the whole of the British Isles for each of the major services and for which everyone pays the same price? Is there a case for removing so much choice? Are we in danger of being overloaded by "choice".

Regards,

Peter G. Shaw

Reputation does have a lot to do with choice. Remember back in the '60's & possibly into the '70's when British motorbikes were unreliable, and leaked oil everywhere? Then along came the Japanese with their reliable leakproof buzz boxes. A passing fad, perhaps. Only the British motorcycle fraternity deserted the British manufacturers in favour of the Japanese! Where are the British manufacturers now? Having said that, I did have a Yamaha SR500 single cylinder, big thumper. Nice machine, too fast for me, but it did have a serious design flaw in that mine did not have any means of lubricating the rear swinging arm pivot with the inevitable result of an expensive repair after a MOT failure.

Similarly, think of the British motorcar industry. Leaky, possibly unreliable although mine were not that bad, not well made. Along came people like VW - remember the original Beetles? You could drive them all day flat out without a problem and without any oil leaks. And so on. Where is the British motorcar industry now?

It wasn't all perfect. I remember Japanese being a byword for being junk. But they realised that, and cleaned up their act, adopting things such as TQM (Total Quality Management) with the result we know today. It's fair to say that my present car, Toyota Avensis 1.8 petrol, 110K miles, 9 years from new, is the best car I've ever owned in every respect. I've had an A35 van (rotbox), Minor 1000 (incurable oil leaks), two Maxis (Oil leaks, suspension problems, clutch failures due to the oil leaks, door rot), VW Beetle (1969 1300 - generally reliable but ultimately body rot), VW Type 3 Fastback Estate (Crap), Peugeot 405 TDI, Focus TDI (fuel filter/clutch/airflow sensor/engine failure/poor tyre life). And the present Toyota? Erm, my wife broke the internal mirror, and the air-con has failed, but well that's it really. Of course, I am discounting what you might consider to be disposable items, eg tyres, brake components, bulbs, normal servicing, exhaust systems, but even here, the Toyota is still winning hands down.

We have two Canon cameras, more point and shoot than SLR, but they work. Actually, the older one has just failed at 16 years old. Before that a Russian Cosmic 35 which literally fell apart after 25 or more years, and a Yashica manual SLR. Nice camera that, but too much messing about to set it up for me.

I've already mentioned elsewhere the Toshiba laptops, now Dynabook. The Tosh's did quite well: the present Dynabooks are too new to say. Our first automatic washer, TricityBendix, lasted 5 years, then fell apart. It's replacement (same make) lasted nearer 15 to 20 years. The current Bosch is over 20 years old. To be fair, the amount of work they did has dropped as the kids left home. In the early years we had TCE (Thorn Consumer Electronics) TV's. Then a Philips 10" colour tv - that ended up as a colour monitor for a Spectrum computer. And then a Mitsubishi 21" tv. 25 years but then wasn't compatible with DVR's.

I could go on, but in reality I'm getting down to small consumer items, items which if they fail, are simply replaced. Most things usually work and work well until outdated, and even then we sometimes can't be bothered - if it works, why waste time and money updating it.

The one thing that does stand out to me is the preponderance of Japanese stuff. Makes one think, doesn't it?

Cheers,

Peter G. Shaw

Rob,

It would seem that both Bill & I are experiencing something different to you. I quite agree that what you are seeing is acceptable, but I, and I assume Bill as well, are receiving something much more intrusive requiring us to jump through hoops before we can proceed. And that is the problem - we have to do something, you don't.

Peter G. Shaw

Thanks Bill for the support. I did wonder when I wrote it, if I was indeed going OTT. Your message gives me heart that I'm not.

Regards,

Peter G. Shaw

Dave,

Over the years I have seen more and more onerous restrictions placed on people, restrictions which I for one resent. Refusing to supply me with a service just because I have changed my computer is one step too far. What business is it of anyone, not just Ebay, of which computer I use? Next stop, I will need to apply to some Ministry or other to obtain permission to do just that.

In fact, more and more, when I read of people who really should know better by now getting duped, then I tend towards thinking that perhaps it serves them right, perhaps they will now take more care. The problem is that we, the general, law-abiding, public, are having more and more restrictions placed upon us, more and more "nanny knows best" because of this. Why on earth shouldn't people be expected to look out for themselves, and not be expected to kow-tow to all and sundry under the so-called guise of security.

Quite how they know it's not the same computer, I do not know - I take care to eliminate all cookies, history, etc as soon as the browser is being shut down so if "they", the magic "they", are doing something so that "they" know which computer I am using, then it is time this was brought into the open and people knew about it. I do not want people tracking me in this manner - next step China! It's all rather Orwellian.

I'm well aware that we, the GBP, are being surreptiously monitored, that there are cameras all over the place, on the roads, in towns and cities, and I don't like it. What business is it of anyone if I'm somewhere for an entirely legitimate reason? Why should other people know about my private business? It's got nothing to do with them. I've already made the point that I have had multiple computers for a number of years, I think about 15, so does that mean that Ebay, and possibly other people/groups, are monitoring all of them? I dread to think of how large their database must be if they have lists of the computer every person uses who accesses Ebay to buy something. At the current time I could use any one of three laptops. Are they to be expected to know about all three?

I also don't like the idea that my information is being held by an American company, and may therefore be available for American Nosey-Parkers to investigate me. Again, I have deep objections to this, but I put up with it in order to be able to do what I do, when I want to do it. Indeed, some years ago, I held shares in a British owned and run investment trust. Unfortunately, it was being run under the auspices of J.P.Morgan whose parent company was based in America. Eventually I received a W8-BEN (I think that's the designation) form to fill in declaring to the American IRS that I was a UK citizen etc. What business is it of the USA when I am holding shares in a UK based IT which I think was investing solely in the UK? I immediately took steps to remove any requirement to complete this form.

You know, if this trend continues, I could very well see me, and other people, reverting to telephone orders, or post, or even cash.

I'm sorry to go on like this, you've managed to hit a very sore point with me. I just don't see why I, and other law-abiding people, should be inconvenienced because some people are incapable of looking after their own affairs, and big business, to say nothing of a countries security services, think it acceptable to pry into a citizen's affairs.

Regards,

Peter G. Shaw

Edited to add missing sentence.

Edited to add missing apostrophe

Edited By Peter G. Shaw on 16/07/2022 16:11:41

Well, I have placed an order for the 3mm & the 6mm tools. Total price £13.50. Ran into problems with Ebay in that it recognised the userid I supplied, but then refused to accept the password. Went through the password change procedure, but then it said that I appear to have changed computer so ring "this 'phone number"and quote a long string of digits. I'm afraid I lost patience with it - as far as I'm concerned it's none of their business if I change computers, and anyway, I've long had at least two computers running, one for backup purposes. I then tried the alternative method of ordering stuff, ie as a "Guest", only to find I had to order each item as totally separate transactions. A bit daft really as I suspect that means two lots of packaging, two separate lots of postage, etc. Anyway, that's their lookout, but it's not a good advert for the usability of Ebay.

So, why 3mm? I thought I'd try it. That's all.

And 6mm? Well, the good tool that I allowed my grandson to regrind was 6mm for the actual cutting portion whilst the bit that went under the clamp screws was 8mm. Probably imperial actually.

I don't actually do that much boring work, so I doubt I'll be able to give an indepth report on them, but I will give a first impressions report when I get them. Or I will if, and when, I've got over a visit to the GP (nurse actually, GP's seem conspicuous by their absence) for an annual medical (Tuesday), a visit to the hospital for my next lot of pills (Thursday), and a tooth extraction on Friday - and that I am not looking forward to!

Cheers, for now,

Peter G. Shaw

Nick,

My choice to not support China was based purely on politics. I know that we have not been told officially where Covid originated, but to me it's clearly China. Since they won't admit it, then I conciously try to avoid buying stuff manufactured there. It's difficult, I must admit.

Cost, although relevant, was not that important. The Dynabooks I eventually bought were somewhat more expensive than the Lenovo's I fancied.

The other items were bought a long time ago, and were in effect what seemed best at the time. Cost wasn't, and isn't over important to me, certainly not at my age. It's experience as much as anything these days, eg, last year our Bendix double oven failed. Only 25 years old, or thereabouts, but as we had a Bosch washer, a Which recommended buy when we bought it 20 or so years ago and which is still giving good service, we decided to go for a replacement Bosch double oven rather than a repair.

Last year we had a new roof installed. £9600. We used a man who has done work for us before. We didn't bother getting quotes since we know that he is reliable, and does what he says he'll do, on time. We've just had new windows & porch door done by Everest. Ok, at £22K not the cheapest by any means but we've used them before and found them reasonable. Similarly, car servicing, we use a man we've used for the last 27 years. Again, we get good reliable service. And that is an important point for me.

Small items, vacuum cleaners, tv's, DVR's etc, well as long as they work, then fair enough. If it stops working then we'll replace it if doesn't seem easily fixable. But in reality, a lot of them just work, and keep working. My computer printer, an HP Deskjet, is now over 10 years old and, as I found out earlier this year, HP no longer supply ink cartridges for it. It's actually been repaired once by me, but I'll try after market cartridges before replacing it.

That's my philosophy, tempered by experience, plus the "advantage" of old age. That age thing is very important. We don't usually buy "to keep up with the neighbours", or because we fancy it. Instead, for big ticket items, we now only buy for replacement purposes.

I must admit though to being surprised when I bought our Toyota car. I had no idea that it was built in Derbyshire.

Cheers,

Peter G. Shaw

I might be wrong in this, but my admittedly limited experience is that recognised good quality brand names do indeed give good service. Ok, there will be the occasional dud, but nowadays given the choice between "Jolly Green Giant" (I'm stuck on that name aren't I? Sorry!) or a recognised name, I'll go for the recognised name even if it costs more.

To give some examples, Bosch and Exide batteries as against unknown marques, Bosch washing machine, now in excess of 20 years old, a Mitsubishi TV which was 25 years old and only scrapped because I could not get it to work properly to a DVR (outdated specs.), Toshiba (now Dynabook) laptops, three of which gave very many years of reliable service, etc.

On the other hand there are some marques that are proven to be bad despite supposedly having a good reputation, VW for one, and in my personal opinion, Ford. (It's rather ironic that I've never liked Fords ever since my mother had to "wind up" their Prefect in winter to get it working whilst Morris Minors at work started first pull everytime regardless of the weather and temperature. The Ford I bought, and which proved to be an absolute disaster, was bought because I couldn't find an acceptable alternative.)

As regards where are they made. Well, I tried that out when I bought the present Dynabook laptops. Specifically, I didn't want anything made in China, so when I discovered that Lenovo, who also owned the IBM brand, were made in China, that ruled them out even though there was a model I particularly liked. I then discovered that Toshiba had sold out to Sharp, who in turn renamed them as Dynabook, whilst still retaining the original Toshiba designation, eg. Satellite Pro. I bought a pair expecting them to be Japanese. Not a bit of it - a sticker underneath says "Made in China". I was not happy!

So yes, it's alright attempting to buy according to certain criteria, but it doesn't always work. Which is why, nowadays, I go for the recognised brand names, even if it does cost more. And, for what it's worth, why I was asking in the other thread to which DMB refers about a specific make of tooling.

Cheers,

Peter G. Shaw

Well folks, it looks as if this is going nowhere. But thanks for trying.

A bit like Tug, I'm in the process of making one from an old file. Only it's coming out rather larger than I wanted. But never mind, I've plenty of bits of old files to play with so having gained experience, I'm thinking I might try a smaller one.

I've actually wondered about buying a couple of MAX-T tools just as an experiment to see if they are any good, after all, 10 or 12 quid isn't going to break the bank. I'll have to mull it over tonight when trying to fall asleep - not always easy these days, and thinking about something like this is rather more useful than mentally reminiscing about events of 50 or 60 years ago.

Dave/SOD,

I don't necessarily agree with your thoughts about brand names. I've had a few occasions, mainly with batteries, where recognised & well-known makes have done what they are supposed to do whereas cheaper names with silly names like "Jolly Green Giant" simply don't cut the mustard. Mind you, it doesn't always work like that, eg our previous vehicle was a Focus 1.8 diesel estate and which turned out to be Friday afternoon and Monday morning job rolled into one. Even my wife, not known for commenting about cars, was heard to complain vociferously about the amount of time it spent being repaired. Our present car, a Toyota Avensis, completely meets that saying something like "If you want utterly boring performance allied to excellent reliability, buy a Toyota".

So, once again, thanks for all your thoughts, suggestions, etc. Let's leave it at that.

Cheers,

Peter G. Shaw

Peter Cook 6,

Yeah, I found that address, or rather the website, and tried to view 'phone no. & website only to come up against another website that wanted details of name, address, & inside leg measurements. So that was where I stopped.

I've now tried Google Street View, and I agree, it does look like a private house which fits with what appears on Ebay. So maybe it is a one man and a dog operation!

Bernard Towers,

Not to worry. I found a large commercial business offering this make, amongst others, but can I find it again? Not at all. I actually clear my history & other stuff every time I close the browser. So in that respect, I'm probably worse off than you.

Cheers,

Peter G. Shaw