This may well be my last post before we are back in India only one more get up before we start the two day trek out to Kovalam. I know some of you will actually be popping out to see us while we are there but for the rest of you I hope to bring some of the fun using my blog. Oh don't panic you won't be inundated with my drivel quite so much as recently I wanted you to get a feel for my inane ramblings before we went and let you know how we managed to be such lucky bastards. Its called setting the scene, I learnt how to do it by watching hours and hours of TV mini-series, and reading Winnie the Pooh. Did you know Winnie has published lots of self help and educational books? I have quite a few of them, Pooh and the Philosophers was my first, it was a gift from a friend while i was at Kings Fund.
Then i found out he also co-wrote with piglet The Tao of Pooh & the Te of Pigglet, which believe it or not is in fact Amazon's #1 Best selling book on Taoism. Seriously, look for yourself if you don't believe me. I couldn't make this up if I tried could I, Ok so yes I could but in this case I didn't. here is a bit of the best, most helpful review on Amazon..
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars For anyone that thinks they think!
Taoism (pronounced Daoism) is an easy concept to grasp, but like all ways of thought can be a bit dry to swallow. The Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet provides a much more palatable form to digest this ancient Chinese philosophy.....
The review carries on in much the same vein.
For all you mental health workers, mentalists, friends of mentalists i.e for everyone there is another book in the series you might enjoy.
Hmm side tracked again, wandering around with Pooh in my head has its down side, back in a mo, need more coffee, toast and Hunny.
Back. Sarah has just pointedly put the central heating timer manual in my hand as I need to reset it so it just so the heating keeps the house from freezing while we are away, no more, no less. I fitted the timer 5 years ago when we re-did the kitchen the old one worked fine but just had a time to come on and go off in the morning and evening. I knew we could save money by having more control over how we heated the house so i got a new one. In know a bit about electronics so it would be a ten minute job. It was from B&Q and top of the range at the time, obviously its not WiFi enabled (note to self on return - Search ebay for Bluetooth 4g WiFi central heating timer, pref in barbie pink and limited edition) but it did the job. Obviously i read the quick start guide, looked at the Youtube video and downloaded the full user guide .pdf file. (I was in luck there were no software updates to download in those days.). Here is the process if you want to try it for yourself. The timescales are as it actually happened.
Installing the SuperDooper 500n Heating Control Panel
Stage 1 Switch off the heating and turn off the Mains Power (tick, 2 mins)
Stage 2 Insert rechargeable back up batteries (tick, 4 mins, the cover was tricky and I broke off one of the tabs but it super glued ok))
Stage 3 Connect the mains feed, slave solenoid to the incoming thermo-sensor ensuring the polarities and voltages are correctly set on the master unit and slave satellite unit(s) Important - failure to adhere to this protocol may result in system failure and serious injury or death. (tick, 2 days)
Stage 4 Return to B&Q to buy another timer (tick 0.12 seconds after the first time the timer turned on there was a blue flash and a lot of smoke. Drive to B&Q, mooching around the lighting department to get another one and consider upgrading time, 4 hours)
Stage 5 Call local heating engineer to book installation (tick, 30 mins phone call plus 5 working days)
Stage 6 Timer installation by engineer(tick 45 mins)
All I had to do now was program the thing and we would easily recoup the £327 plus VAT it had cost. I consulted the new .pdf User guide (I'd decided to upgrade so i'd had to download a new one). It started well.
Congratulations on Purchasing the SuperDooper 500n/j/i Heating Control Unit !!!!
WARNING THIS UNIT MUST BE INSTALLED BY A QUALIFIED ELECTRICIAN
I must have skipped that bit last time, i never read the first few pages they are just full of stuff for people who don't know how to work consumer electronics or how to throw them away. I've never understood the need for that bit, surely any fool can operate a wheelie bin but there is usually a little picture of one with a big cross through it which i suppose is there to remind people to mind their fingers when they chuck the item away.
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| The mind your fingers and put it in a bin bag icon? |
I flicked straight to the back and onto the good stuff, the index, I knew what i wanted to do so no need to read the rest of the book. Here's the list...
Programming the Timer to match Heating Requirements, Setting the Clock, GMT/Auto-daylight saving, Basic Programs - hourly, daily, Mon-Fri, Weekend, Holiday Mode, Frost Guard, Multi-zone settings, Setting your timer to heat the water - start time, end time, auto temperature mode, day/night settings, duel fuel top up, Default, Display settings Advanced Settings, Engineers Settings, System reset.
Obviously I did what most men would do at this point, I set the clock and went straight into Advanced Engineers settings. Two hours later, i rang the Product Helpline (98p per min), explaining i thought the timer i'd bought had obviously been returned by some fool who couldn't cope and he'd buggered the unit up.
Having pressed the up and down keys simultaneously for 10 seconds as suggested by the nice gentleman, Michael he said his name was, from the Helpline which was in Bangalore (We had had a lovely chat as Sarah was out and I had been there last year, I told him RCB was my team, he was a Mumbai Indians fan. We got on like a house on fire, I disagreed about his fantasy T20 XI though and had to go and find my copy of Wisden before he acknowledged though a great batsman Sachin was happier in the full version of the game. He kindly held on while I looked for it as there was no guarantee I'd be put through to him if when called back and I didn't want to have to explain the merits of Kevin Petterson to someone new, that would have been silly). i selected the default program and we were in business. It worked brilliantly, OK we had been without hot water or heat for 10 days during which time Sarah wasn't speaking to me much and had decided to visit the grandchildren in London. But it worked!!!
It comes on twice a day, first thing in the morning and in the evening. We have to hit the boost button around two-ish as it gets a bit chilly in the afternoon and leave the windows open at night as it can get stuffy and there's never quite enough hot water for us both to have a bath but with its little blue back lit lcd panel it looked so cool and matched the one on the fridge.
Money well spent there I think you'll agree.
p.s. I have switched off the back light at night (Settings, Display, Advanced settings, timer, off/on cycle, set start time, set end time, enter, up arrow, return, exit) as I don't think its very eco-friendly, good job i paid the extra £45 for the upgraded one, the standard model doesn't let you do that and i dread to think how much money that would have wasted!!!!
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| My Heating Control Panel, before I turned off the light. |
p.p.s Sarah has gone out to see some friends before we head off, I've decided to spend some time looking on the internet for a new fridge as the LED can't be turned off at night like it can on the Heating Control Panel - Just who do these manufacturers think we are? Do they think we have money to burn!!! And then there's the Polar Bears to think about!!!! Come on Samsung, do your bit!!!
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