I think my final word on the "usefulness" of the torque wrenches I own is to say that these days I'd be really toiling to actually tighten something to the max torque my big wrench is capable of - So, as with so many aspects of my life, it's the aging body which limits my activities these days rather than the availability of a suitable tool being in my tool cabinet. I find it interesting to reflect that, for most of my life to date, either the task I've been attempting to perform has been hampered by not having a suitable tool or I've aspired to own a certain tool I've seen in someone else's tool box. Now, it's been some time since I've tackled a job I didn't have almost exactly the perfect tool for but have run into problems because this old body is just not up to, perhaps, lying on it's back with it's backside on the front seat squab and it's feet hanging over the headrest of the passenger seat head down in the passenger footwell whilst trying to wriggle a pollen filter into a position which could only have been designed by a masochist, although actually my Ibiza has one of the easiest pollen filters to do I know of - my boy's Punto though? Phew!
Abject apologies offered to all offended for mentioning our "magnificent" new St James Quarter in the same sentence as the old, now demolished, St James Centre! https://stjamesquarter.com/ I do find it quite amusing though that, so my dear Mrs tells me, some of the locals are bringing all the "hype" down to earth by naming it the "Walnut Whip"! - hint, look at the roof!
Regarding the flooding, yes that rain was pretty spectacular. My wee conservatory roof has a small water "weep" - you couldn't really call it a "leak - which only becomes evident when it's raining heavily and the wind is driving it against the back wall of the house. The rain was hammering so strongly on it's roof that I was expecting it to really leak, but it didn't! Which reminds me I really must investigate that "weep" before the winter comes in this year. Strange how comfortingly snug it feels inside the conservatory, in the dry, when the rain is hammering on it's roof? My oldest boy has taken his wife and boy off down to Biggar for a few days away and he saw the reports on the TV about the flooding. He was so concerned he rang us up to make sure we were ok - I was rather touched by his concern, thanks son! Although we weren't flooded out - no water in the house for instance - our back garden was about 50% under a few inches of water. We've had a wee bit of water lying in the lowest bit before, but nothing anywhere near what we saw that day. I feel very sorry for the people to the back of our gardens who are lower than us. I haven't talked to any of them since the rain fell but I would imagine they were considerably wetter than us.
A final wee, possibly amusing, anecdote (for those of us who understand the implications) was that yesterday, shortly after we returned from picking up our grandchildren - we have them all day on a Tuesday - our front door bell rang. It was the, very pleasant, young man who, last year, moved into the house second from the end of our street with his family - The same one I lent my hammer drill to shortly after they moved in. "You know a lot about cars don't you? said he. "Well, maybe", I said, wondering what was coming next having learned to be very cautious when people start off a conversation with words like that. "Do you know what this is"? he asked, holding up a large piece of road spring coil. "The car made a very loud bang just as I turned into the street and I found this in the road". A brief examination shows it's obviously the O/S/F strut spring. He next asked if it was Ok to drive the car to his garage - he tells me he's still using the same garage he used when they lived to the west of the city, so quite a drive. I advised him this was probably not a good idea (visions of cut end of spring puncturing the tyre and/or other problems) So I gave him Kenny Harrison's number - Harrison's Garage in Jane St - and he came over and told me later that the car was booked in for this morning. I use Harrison's for some of the heavier stuff I can no longer manage like gearbox out clutch etc, and find them very friendly with a good standard of workmanship so I rather hope he mentions it was me who recommended then as It might do me some good next time I have to call on them?
