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Upt'North ¹ said :-
Old age I'm afraid Ian, not me, well OK me too. It's where the flex turns through 90° to enter the handle. The vacuum is over 20 years old and Er'Indoors does like to vacuum. I renewed the motor and seals in the spring, a cable is £15 so it'll have a new one, I'll ring "Manchester Vacs" in the morning. I noticed a clip has lost a lug too, so hopefully they'll have one handy off an old machine. They're very good. I can verify that Dyson's are a pain to take apart, they're obviously meant for a visiting engineer to visit but then they don't offer support for older machines. Their service/recondition visits were well priced but is irrelevant if they don't fix the old stuff.
Upt.
11/10/2026 13:21:15 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Sounds like pretty poor design from an "engineer led" company. If there's flexure there should be some support like a sleeve or it should be constrained so the flex moves further away from a pinch point.
We still have a Miele that we bought about 30 years go and it still works fine although neither of us is very keen on using it........
12/10/2026 14:37:15 UTC
nab301 said :-
I've found Miele to be excellent also. A while back I had a new electric hedge trimmer with 10 minutes use go boom with a ball of blue flame coming out of the motor, I prefer two stroke hedge trimmers now !
Years ago I remember a neighbour recalling how their young child thought they would help their mother who had been vacuuming , the child managed to switch on the vacuum cleaner and placed the nozzle in the toilet bowl... It wasn't a composting toilet , luckily the child was unharmed but the vacuum didn't survive!.
Nigel
13/10/2026 11:51:47 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Was the child's name "Henry"?
I'm here all week.
14/10/2026 16:11:21 UTC
nab301 said :-
Very Drole Upt !
Nigel
15/10/2026 13:56:54 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
I resemble that remark.
Did you know that "Drôle" is a French adjective. I bet Ian did.
Pffffffftttttt.
Upt and drôle'ish apparently.
15/10/2026 14:47:47 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
I did Upt' except for your apparent confusion between umlauts and circumflex......
This side of the channel we usually spell it droll of course.
16/10/2026 10:00:39 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
On a completely different topic (and probably of little interest to many).
Ren was recently talking about his future employment options following his sad redundancy. It's probably worse than he thought (although good for lots). I discovered the other day that someone has used Claude AI to build fully working replicas of Adobe's software, eg Photoshop (which is all eye-wateringly expensive to rent - you can't buy it). Apparently this was done in a "clean room" environment ie didn't reengineer the compiled machine code but just examined the behaviour of the software. It took a small team a week. Adobe has spent decades employing hundreds of softawre engineers to do more or less the same thing. They'va also started producing Microsoft Office doppelganger apps (Word, Excel etc) although I haven't checked these out yet.
So the jobs of software engineers, system analysts, programmers etc will very shortly effectively be about as relevant as flint-knappers. I didn't see this coming but I suppose it was inevitable. What next I wonder. The link is to the home of this new stuff. I have tried out the pdf and photoshop applications and have to say they're faster than Adobe and as far as I can see pretty much complte. And as open source anyone can tweak and enhance them. I have no doubt this is already happening.
https://getartcraft.com/apps...
17/10/2026 14:33:47 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I've seen this Ian. It crossed my mind many times over the years to create a piece of software that I then sell and make my fortune. It seems that horse has left the stable. There's still plenty of developer jobs being listed but in the long term I believe these will greatly dwindle.
I don't yet know what's next. Back to development for the last hurrah? IT support? I looked at a medical motorcycle courier position part time this week. Go work for Uber eats for pocket money?
I'll think of something. I am open to ridiculous suggestions as long as they are hilarious ?
17/10/2026 22:51:13 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
I have an acquaintance who makes a decent living fixing people's PCs etc at their homes (and over the phone). Mostly pretty trivial stuff, and I can't see AI taking that over - unless of course they use Claude or similar and ask it the questions! May be worth a thought? It would probably take a while to build up though.
Of course we should never trust a programmer with a screwdriver......
This isn't him but that's the sort of thing.
https://reddipc.co.uk/...
18/10/2026 17:06:52 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Back in 2005 I started my own little one man IT Support business Ian. The first 5-6 years was mostly setting printers up, connecting "aged" folks to that new fangled interweb thingy, updating software for small business, and rebuilding Mr X's computer because "someone" had been looking at scantily clad females on virused up websites. I started to get asked for websites and that's where it slowly moved over to coding.
It's an option. The landscape has changed somewhat in that most users are now on mobile devices that we no longer fix, just replace every 2-3 years. There's still plenty of small business and home users with questions, and some of them have the spare cash to just pay someone to figure things out rather than do it themselves.
Right now I'm asking the question - do I want more of the same? On the one hand I've 26 years in the trade and it'd be a shame to not leverage that experience. On the other hand - been there done that and now I'm sick to bleeding death of having to learn a new protocol, connection, coding language, software package etc etc etc. I'm reaching that age where Sharon's new fangled TV streaming thingy just bloody annoys me when it won't do what I want it to do. I know I'm more than capable of working it out, watching a video about it, asking AI for help, or just playing with it till it makes sense. I can't be arsed that's the point. I find it's easier to call Sharon's daughter and she'll make it all better, and then you realise you've become like your parents and grandparents were when I was young.
19/10/2026 23:23:09 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Computers! No good will come of it. Scantily clad ladies you say? Hmmmmmm, pffffffftttttt.
I'm told by someone who knows that IT Security is where the serious money is, or was, I spose AI will probably take over there too?
I'd concentrate your efforts on getting a job with scantily clad ladies, sounds a lot more fun.
20/10/2026 11:18:52 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Scantily clad ladies sounds like a recipe for trouble.
I'm trying to think more lateral. How about investing in a fancy diagnostic tool for motorcycles and charging a fee to come and list your error codes and reset your service light? It won't make me a millionaire but I could make some pocket money.
21/10/2026 10:39:25 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Ed.....I've only gone and cracked it.
No! I have.....
Open a caff and charge someone else £3 for a cup of tea. £3.50 for a muffin, etc.
You're welcome.
I'm a blummin genius.
Upt. And elated!
22/10/2026 16:28:04 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Batties half price. Obviously.
Upt.
22/10/2026 16:28:30 UTC
nab301 said :-
Ren , how about budget guided motorcycle camping tours , spam suppers included, or specialist on site one make motorcycle maintenance , CB 500 valve clearance checks done in the comfort of your own garage or on your driveway in my portable marquee!
Nigel
23/10/2026 12:52:44 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
"Ren's Caff" has a certain air of je-ne-sais-quoi don't you think Upt'? I'm imagining tea stained cups and greasy plates, torn plastic gingham tablecloths over wobbly tables, red and brown sauce bottles with caked on dried sauce around the neck, I'll be wearing an apron that's not seen the inside of a washing machine for months. It'll be grand with it's one star hygiene rating.
Tell me Upt', how will batties identify themselves to receive their discount? I'm thinking of an ID card that only costs £150. Monthly.
On a more serious note - in a perfect world which I know it is not - I would like a job where I pick and choose when I work. A cafe ties you to a location for each and every open hour. Which makes nab301's ideas seem more attractive.
Ren's guided tour of North West England. See such wonders as Runcorn Bridge, Manchester City AND United football grounds (Liverpool and Everton option available), the luxurious mansions of Cheshire and the slums of Burnley, step back to the 70s as we pass through Haslingden, and round it all off with a McDonald's by the sea in Fleetwood.
After a restless night at Travelodge Bolton if you're motorcycle hasn't been stolen you get to ride home in the smug knowledge that where you live is nowhere near as bad as you thought.
What do you think nab301? How much should I charge for my splendid tour?
24/10/2026 08:14:23 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
I've gone right off the caff idea. Can't think why?
24/10/2026 10:38:13 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
OK we could combine all our suggestions. Get a ratty old bike (oh, you already have one), attach a tradesman box sidecar and logo it up "Ren's mobile computer and bike fixes" and load up your IT and bike fixing stuff. Tow a trailer with a mini cafe - people do this by chopping redundant 2CVs in half. Then use the ensemble to lead your gritty urban tours.
You'll be a millionaire in no time.
24/10/2026 12:43:52 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I'm starting to think Ian is onto something here...
24/10/2026 14:42:08 UTC
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