Wednesday, June 22, 2022

How to find and photograph the model number of your hob

 



We have a broken part on a Neff hob. 

What is the part called? The saucepan support. 


I took a photo of it to send to Craig on the Neff chatbox.

He said he needed to know how old the hob was. About twenty years old. 

And what was the model number?

No idea.

The website advises that the number is on the underside. A photo shows the hob with the front raised. 
I told the patient and sympathetic customer services person that I could not lift the hob and was afraid or dislodging wires or pipes.

I sent him a photo of the broken part, above.
He was unable to find the part. He said he had to hunt through lots of catalogues. A pity he did not have them online. He might have been able to do a picture match.

I looked at the picture of the place of the number. Where was it? At the front - or the back. Could you actually see it, from underneath, if you were a contortionist, or was sight of it blocked by a shelf supporting the hob and protecting the electrics or gas pipe?

I found what i thought was a raised section near the front. But how to see it?

I looked around a spotted a magnifying mirror. I tried holding that under the hob, but no luck. What I saw was distorted and dark.

So I called my husband, Trevor. 'Trevor - do you have a torch?'

He said, No, but you have a torch on your mobile phone.

Torch In Phone
You go into settings. Find the symbol for torch. Switch it on. When you have finished, you tap the symbol again to turn off the torch.

Yes, the words and number were there. How to take a photo in the dark? Use flash!

After that, you can expand the picture on the phone. And email it to yourself and then forward it to the appliance maker's spare parts department, or hunt online for a spare parts supplier. i found them on ebay, amazon, and comparison sites.

I pulled out the drawer below the hob and felt.

Make a record of your hob number and email it to yourself. Write it in a book, or on a page of vital information about your property.

At the end of the year, review and recall and remind yourself of all dates. We bought this house in such and such a year. We replaced the car in this year. He bought the oven in that year. We bought from this shop. From that manufacturer. The guarantee and instruction book are in this colour, with this label on this shelf in this room in this property.

Useful websites
ebay
amazon
Neff

Tuesday, June 22, 2021

How I lost so much weight - from 56.5 in January 2021 down to 47.9 in June, that is about 7 stone 7 lbs


Angela on the left in red at Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters club. Between 2018 and 2019.

Angela After 2021 about June 20th.

Before Covid-19 when we met at the Community Centre



Let me tell you how I did it. First you need a good enough reason. Not just, 'I would like to wear that dress.' I was weighing I didn't know what, and had to wear caftans to be sure the sleeves would fit over my arms. I bought cape blazers which don't fit over the upper arm, just the shoulder. I was

 I had a good reason to slim. I wanted to lose weight to look good in the photos at our son's wedding. September 2019. I used to swim intermittently. I ate lots of pizza and samosas and chocolates at Toastmasters International meetings.

The Slimming Mantra

'Move more and eat less.' So said my husband. I was moving a bit more and eating a bit less, every now and then. We had to change that to every day.

The motivation came with the start of Covid-19. Danger, or rather risk factors, were being older and overweight. I could not change my age, except by lying, but that would not change my body. I could, however, change my weight.

I started by swimming. I used to swim when I felt like it. I often postponed until later in the day. It sometimes rained in the afternoon. I changed to swimming in the morning.



Slimming By Swimming

I was swimming most days. 

 I knew I had to increase the number of widths. So I increased gradually. Each month I added an extra width.

Slimming By Moving

While waiting for the lift, I walked up and down. Walking to the swimming pool and back increased my steps. So swimming every day not only increased my swimming, it increased my walking.

When I woke at night, or early in the morning, I kept moving. I twirled my ankles, cycled with my legs in the air. I lifted one leg when I was on my side. Anything to keep moving. 

When I remembered, such as right now when sitting at y laptop, I swayed from side to side, or lifted my feet off the floor and taped my feet together.

I weighed myself every day and wrote the result in my diary.

It was easy to see that when I ate out at a restaurant I put on weight.

I cut out eating out. When we had a stop for coffee and cake, my husband and I ordered one coffee and one cake. We looked up the calorie counts. He had two thirds. I ate one third.

I hope this helps you. To motivate you. You should consult your doctor who may give you a diet sheet, taking into account your needs and medication.

Diet

No Sugar


Elevenses at 11 a.m. each morning, consisting of half a biscuit with a smear of soft cheese, an apple slice, and half a teacup of apple juice and a glass of water.

First I cut out sugar in my coffee. 


Less Alcohol

I cut out alcohol altogether some months. Otherwise I limited myself to wine with one meal at the weekend and only half a glass.


Less Milk

Later I went onto skimmed milk. 

Not enough result. 

When I stopped losing weight, we changed to low fat yogurt and the slimmest milk.


Less  Dessert

Instead of dessert I ate a piece of fruit.


Smaller Snacks

For elevenses, I had coffee and sometimes a dice size piece of cheese. 

For tea time mid afternoon I had apple juice and a date, or at weekends, for a treat, one third of a scone or crumpet. 


Fruit

Half an hour or an hour after dinner in the evening I had four grapes, or two sections of an orange, or both. With a glass of water.

I never felt hungry.


Useful Website

https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/weight/kg-to-pound.html 


About the Author

Angela Lansbury, is a semi-retired travel writer still researching bucket list countries and seeking out the special, unusual, people, places,  landmarks, hotels, museums and trails, fabulous foods, recipes, clothes and online souvenir shopping.

Angela Lansbury is a member of Toastmasters International.

About the Author Angela Lansbury

The Author - Quick Quotations

Angela Lansbury B A Hons  is the author of ten books by regular publishers plus another ten self-published books. 

About Angela The Speaker & Trainer

Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters clubs and businesses.

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Vice President  Public Relations, Immediate Past President. VPPR
Former Area Director S3. Club Coach for Nee Soon South Toastmasters Club.
Also Member of: TCA Toastmasters Club; Singapore Online Dynamic; Harrovians UK

Past meetings have included Garen Tee on using story telling in business, on 
bha.learncool.sg/meet/bha . 

Recent meetings of BHA included an educational session on using Powerpoint for posters.
Next BHA meetings, always first Wednesday evening, 7 pm Singapore time. Next meeting is  the third Saturday afternoon, June 19th 2pm Singapore time.  Inauguration of the new committee by the incoming Director of S, plus a lively speech on teamwork.
 
Angela The Blogger 

Angela has several blogs speeches, comedy and song writing and organizing, writing intermittently, but writes almost daily on these three:

See many varied posts such as the post on sculptor Tom Harvey.

Please share links to your favourite posts. 

Next BHA meetings?

Wednesday July 7th 2021. 7 pm Singapore time on bha.learncool.sg/meet/bha

Meet Angela and the new committee.

Friday, June 18, 2021

Glues of different kinds


 What is contact adhesive? A strong glue which needs two piece to come into contact with each other.

Glues start with the weakest and simplest glues suitable for positioning paper. Some allow you to slide the top piece around and get it straight long before they set.

Paper glues are often like roll on deodorants in small sold sticks at small prices from craft shops. You can wind them up by twisting the base like a lipstick, without touching the glue. Advisable to wear an apron and place an important piece of paper below. Practise on an unimportant objects. Wipe your fingers before touching the front of any drawing or photo.

Shoo goo.

For shoes you want glue which won't pull apart. But you don't want a glue which sets so rigidly that your sole of your shoe cannot flex as your foot bends as you walk along.

Next we come to tougher glues. 

Evostick

The strongest glues stick firm. But you don't want them to glue your fingers together. Nor to glue to the table top the item you are repairing on constructing.

To prevent any danger of making a mess on a precious work surface, it is a good idea to use these stronger glues outside and not on a precious work surface. You might want to wear old clothes or overalls or protective gloves or use tongs.

You can also buy spray on glue. Not cheap. About 20 US dollars.

Read the instructions before starting.

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Broken spectacles



The glass fell out of my spectacles. Again. 

First we hunted for the missing teeny screw. We have a kit for mending frames. You can buy the kits online. The kits consist of teeny screw and a teeny screw drier.

You might be able to find the screw - easier at home.

Don't sweep or vacuum clean!

You need strong lights. The overhead light. The table lights. The light from your mobile phone . A torch.

A magnetic picker.

Look from different directions. Look in your clothes. Shake your clothes over a white plate or large with a deep rim. Then you will hear the clink and see the teeny screw.

Glues

 A temporary fix when the thread was worn: superglue. (Ordinary paper blue won't work. See later article on glues.)

The problem is worse if the thread is worn. You cannot get the screw to fit back in. 

While we waited for it to dry, I used those glasses you can buy everywhere. My eyes are different. However, the reading glasses, size one, were good enough for me to read and look at the computer screen.

Opticians

I had already looked for frames in two local shops. The frames (plus lenses!) were all expensive - but looked cheap. I want cheap but look expensive!

So the next hunt is for an optician. Google to find one.

Useful websites

https://www.amazon.sg/Kingsdun-Screwdriver-Eyeglasses-Sunglasses-Spectacle/

https://www.amazon.sg/MagnetStick-Telescoping-Retractable-Neodymium-Extendable/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spectacles-Including-Silicone-Assortment-Screwdriver/d

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Bury An Egg In Your Garden Soil and What Happens A Few Days Later Will S...


You can take a whole egg if you have leftovers before going overseas. Or eat the egg and just use the shell. Best of all, use the egg shell in the egg box to grow the seeds.