SteelSkin.net – The Ramblings of Chris Nutt

Well here it is, my new mota, the Ford Puma. So far I am loving it, as the kids say.

It is a wee bit more sporty and luxurious. The fuel economy works out the same as my old Ka. I am currently purchasing bits and bobs for it, like mats and an extra key.

It was Top Gear car of the Year 1997

The hifi is good as it has line in, the speakers are ‘acceptable’ rather than great. They really lack punch.

I am cuurently selling the Ka on ebay, so hopefully I will be down to one car soon.

Will miss the old thing, but the Puma is cut from the same stock and so is good fun to drive.

Words can not describe how weird my TV signal is. I live close to a very good transmitter, with immediate line of sight being just blocked by the cusp of a hill. I also live very far away from (30 miles) from another transmitter, but with perfect line of sight. This means I get one strong, but incomplete spectrum of signals combined with another complete, but weak set of signals.

I have a HUGE loft aerial, that can only fit in certain angles due to its 1.5+ metre length. I always used to use this pointed roughly at the weak, but complete transmitter. This works for my Samsung TV’s DVB-T and my old dual DVB-S/T set top box.

My dream is a three plug home setup; 42″ Plasma, PS3 and Home Cinema amp/speakers. For maximum simplicity. The amp should never have to change source, the TV never change source either.
Now and then I will plug in a 4th device, currently an Xbox 360. PVRing should be achievable via one mains socket, so I can switch everything else off.

As mentioned, I have a crazy TV signal. I have tweaked and tweaked my loft aerial and I always end up loosing a channel I don’t want to, annoyingly the channels I couldn’t care about are persistently hanging on. I am now either using an enormous aerial or a very small one. I bought a DVB-T stick a while back, it came with a tiny aerial with a magnet in the base. If I connect that up to the bare metal joint in my front window I get all the channels I want, aside from Dave (but I get Dave Deja Vu). I bought a £5 aerial, that didn’t work as well, but is enough for my spare room TV.

Gah, at least it works.

PLEASE SONY GIVE ME A FREESAT PLAYTV!

I had a great time at Dave and Rosie’s wedding at EICA in Ratho. It was a wonderful setting and the company was great.

Dave and Rosie are away now on their honeymoon in Japan, snowboarding and lying on beaches

I hope they have a great time.

I got a voice mail Saturday evening from my good friend James, I could tell by the tone of his voice something was up. I called back and he is in A&E in Dunfermline. Oh s@!? I can hear James OK, he is explaining that himself and the missus, Susan, are alive, but have been in a bike crash. Oh s@!? I can hear Susan in the background, phew! He asks me to pop around to the hospital as soon as I can. I am round a friend’s, so I jump in the Batmobile and head on home to wait for the call to pick them up. I call them from home and head on up to Dunf to see the damage.

Now as a friend my first thoughts are thank goodness they are alive, my next thoughts are for how I can help. I freaks me out now that I have time to think how I feel, but that pails in comparison to how all involved must feel and have felt.

I wish them a speedy recovery and so should you. I have never known such a motivated couple in my life, they have done a lot for the community and good causes of the years, and it is a privilege to call them my friends.

Please head on over to their blogs for the full accounts and to show your support.

The Gerbils are down, but not out.