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Showers are now the norm. I had a bath for the first time in ages yesterday. I realized that judging the appropriate temperature before getting in, is something I am no longer any good at (it always feels too hot to cold feet, but isn't really). What other skills are dying?
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In reply to MG:
When climbing, reaching any hold which involves raising your arms above your arms above your shoulders, or your feet above you knees.....
When climbing, reaching any hold which involves raising your arms above your arms above your shoulders, or your feet above you knees.....
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In reply to MG:
wasnt sticking ones elbow in the bath water a classical old fashioned way of testing for water temperature.
wasnt sticking ones elbow in the bath water a classical old fashioned way of testing for water temperature.
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In reply to MG:
Well seeing as people's life expectancy is getting longer, you could say that dying itself is a dying art!
Well seeing as people's life expectancy is getting longer, you could say that dying itself is a dying art!
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In reply to MG:
I picked up many DIY skills from my dad but my own son has no idea how to saw a piece of wood never mind mix cement or solder a joint (not that that's necessary anymore.....)
On the other hand I can't service my own car and I only know one person among my contemporaries that would take a look at a car issue before going to the garage.
I picked up many DIY skills from my dad but my own son has no idea how to saw a piece of wood never mind mix cement or solder a joint (not that that's necessary anymore.....)
On the other hand I can't service my own car and I only know one person among my contemporaries that would take a look at a car issue before going to the garage.
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In reply to MG:
Rewinding audio cassettes back a bit to repeat the thing you just heard.
Manually setting a camera's shutter speed and f-stop.
> What other skills are dying?
Rewinding audio cassettes back a bit to repeat the thing you just heard.
Manually setting a camera's shutter speed and f-stop.
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In reply to MG:
Young kids like baths, in my experience. When mine were young I found I had to get good at judging temperature. So not necessarily a dying skill.
Young kids like baths, in my experience. When mine were young I found I had to get good at judging temperature. So not necessarily a dying skill.
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In reply to MG:
Wiring a plug.
Thinking about it, changing a fuse in a plug.
My Mrs would buy a new kettle before doing so.
Wiring a plug.
Thinking about it, changing a fuse in a plug.
My Mrs would buy a new kettle before doing so.
Post edited at 11:14
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In reply to Tyler:
"On the other hand I can't service my own car and I only know one person among my contemporaries that would take a look at a car issue before going to the garage."
Very understandable with modern cars. I remember servicing my parents cars with my dad. We had two of those metal ramps you could buy in Halfords, drive the front wheels onto those and then support with bricks, get underneath and empty the oil. Jacking it up to replace brake pads etc. Nowadays, the thought of attempting any of that fills me with dread. Probably ok with a classic car, but not with a relatively new one.
My dad had a spark plug cleaner I bought him once for fathers day from a catalogue that blasted the plug with black dust (as far as i could tell) Seemed to do the trick
"On the other hand I can't service my own car and I only know one person among my contemporaries that would take a look at a car issue before going to the garage."
Very understandable with modern cars. I remember servicing my parents cars with my dad. We had two of those metal ramps you could buy in Halfords, drive the front wheels onto those and then support with bricks, get underneath and empty the oil. Jacking it up to replace brake pads etc. Nowadays, the thought of attempting any of that fills me with dread. Probably ok with a classic car, but not with a relatively new one.
My dad had a spark plug cleaner I bought him once for fathers day from a catalogue that blasted the plug with black dust (as far as i could tell) Seemed to do the trick
Post edited at 11:21
In reply to andyjohnson0:
"Rewinding audio cassettes back a bit to repeat the thing you just heard."
And sticking a pencil in one of the holes to wind in loose tape...
"Rewinding audio cassettes back a bit to repeat the thing you just heard."
And sticking a pencil in one of the holes to wind in loose tape...
Post edited at 11:21
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In reply to Tyler:
> I picked up many DIY skills from my dad but my own son has no idea how to saw a piece of wood never mind mix cement or solder a joint (not that that's necessary anymore.....)
Same in this house. My daughter is a dab hand with an electric screwdriver though.> On the other hand I can't service my own car and I only know one person among my contemporaries that would take a look at a car issue before going to the garage.
Used to be able to do the basics. But fuel injection and computerised management systems have killed off my interest. Still have some basic tools in the boot but I've no idea if I could fix anything trickier than a loose windscreen wiper these days. In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:
" We had two of those metal ramps you could buy in Halfords, drive the front wheels onto those and then support with bricks, get underneath and empty the oil. Jacking it up to replace brake pads etc. Nowadays, the thought of attempting any of that fills me with dread. Probably ok with a classic car, but not with a relatively new one."
I've still got a bottle jack down in the basement. The last time I used it was nearly twenty years ago, to jack up and wedge a few under-floor joists in our old flat. Can't seem to part with it for some reason.
" We had two of those metal ramps you could buy in Halfords, drive the front wheels onto those and then support with bricks, get underneath and empty the oil. Jacking it up to replace brake pads etc. Nowadays, the thought of attempting any of that fills me with dread. Probably ok with a classic car, but not with a relatively new one."
I've still got a bottle jack down in the basement. The last time I used it was nearly twenty years ago, to jack up and wedge a few under-floor joists in our old flat. Can't seem to part with it for some reason.
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In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:
This is a complete myth which people have been pedalling for as long as I've been driving (25+ years).
Its perfectly possible to do routine servicing and most repairs on most cars, its just that most people can't be bothered and can afford to pay a garage to do it these days (or they've been put off trying by all the people pedalling the myth).
> Very understandable with modern cars. I remember servicing my parents cars with my dad. We had two of those metal ramps you could buy in Halfords, drive the front wheels onto those and then support with bricks, get underneath and empty the oil. Jacking it up to replace brake pads etc. Nowadays, the thought of attempting any of that fills me with dread. Probably ok with a classic car, but not with a relatively new one. >
This is a complete myth which people have been pedalling for as long as I've been driving (25+ years).
Its perfectly possible to do routine servicing and most repairs on most cars, its just that most people can't be bothered and can afford to pay a garage to do it these days (or they've been put off trying by all the people pedalling the myth).
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In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:
I still do minor servicing myself, oil, various filters, brake pads, spark plugs. Last time I took my car to Honda to maintain a service history I paid a small fortune for pretty much nothing, and the stuff they did, they didn't do correctly. Now that the car is older I can't be bothered with the service history.
Saying this, when we cleared my dad's shed he was trying to palm off on me a timing strobe and a piston ring compressor so things have moved on a bit.
> "On the other hand I can't service my own car and I only know one person among my contemporaries that would take a look at a car issue before going to the garage."
> Very understandable with modern cars. I remember servicing my parents cars with my dad. We had two of those metal ramps you could buy in Halfords, drive the front wheels onto those and then support with bricks, get underneath and empty the oil. Jacking it up to replace brake pads etc. Nowadays, the thought of attempting any of that fills me with dread. Probably ok with a classic car, but not with a relatively new one.
> My dad had a spark plug cleaner I bought him once for fathers day from a catalogue that blasted the plug with black dust (as far as i could tell) Seemed to do the trick
I still do minor servicing myself, oil, various filters, brake pads, spark plugs. Last time I took my car to Honda to maintain a service history I paid a small fortune for pretty much nothing, and the stuff they did, they didn't do correctly. Now that the car is older I can't be bothered with the service history.
Saying this, when we cleared my dad's shed he was trying to palm off on me a timing strobe and a piston ring compressor so things have moved on a bit.
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In reply to MG:
Some time ago I found this in a Tumblr blog:
'Of all the skills that futurists predicted would become valuable in the era of constant communication, I don’t think anybody saw “conversational multithreading” coming.
No, I don’t mean holding multiple conversations with different people at the same time. I mean holding two or more completely separate conversations with the same person, via the same medium, at the same time.
Like when you’re texting, and the person on the other end asks you a question, then mentally eight-tracks and asks a different, unrelated question before you’ve finished keying in your response to the first one. So you answer the first question, and a conversation based on that answer ensues; then you answer the second question, and a totally different conversation based on that answer ensues, and now you’re having two separate conversations with the same person at the same time, and have to keep track of which responses pertain to which conversation purely from context.
Sometimes I wonder what the generational cutoff for that seeming unusual is - I didn’t pick up the skill until I was like thirty, so there’s always that undercurrent of generational novelty there.'
... load of self-congratulatory guff I thought. The skill is nothing new. My generation called it 'starting a new paragraph when writing a letter'.
Seems letter writing's become a bit of a lost art.
Some time ago I found this in a Tumblr blog:
'Of all the skills that futurists predicted would become valuable in the era of constant communication, I don’t think anybody saw “conversational multithreading” coming.
No, I don’t mean holding multiple conversations with different people at the same time. I mean holding two or more completely separate conversations with the same person, via the same medium, at the same time.
Like when you’re texting, and the person on the other end asks you a question, then mentally eight-tracks and asks a different, unrelated question before you’ve finished keying in your response to the first one. So you answer the first question, and a conversation based on that answer ensues; then you answer the second question, and a totally different conversation based on that answer ensues, and now you’re having two separate conversations with the same person at the same time, and have to keep track of which responses pertain to which conversation purely from context.
Sometimes I wonder what the generational cutoff for that seeming unusual is - I didn’t pick up the skill until I was like thirty, so there’s always that undercurrent of generational novelty there.'
... load of self-congratulatory guff I thought. The skill is nothing new. My generation called it 'starting a new paragraph when writing a letter'.
Seems letter writing's become a bit of a lost art.
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In reply to andyjohnson0:
My 2 have a bath most nights - the skill part that evades me is not having to put a dry shirt on afterwards
Oddly, my eldest used to love showers - she'd come into our room in the morning rubbing her body with her hands, as she couldn't say "shower" at the time. Now, she prefers a bath.
> Young kids like baths, in my experience. When mine were young I found I had to get good at judging temperature. So not necessarily a dying skill.
My 2 have a bath most nights - the skill part that evades me is not having to put a dry shirt on afterwards
Oddly, my eldest used to love showers - she'd come into our room in the morning rubbing her body with her hands, as she couldn't say "shower" at the time. Now, she prefers a bath.
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In reply to Tyler:
Same here. My daughters like to play with a screwdriver, tape measure and hammer (they've got a toy tool kit) and the older one loved helping paint the dining room - and Grandad loved helping her, too. She did a pretty good job with the skirting board, but needs more practice with a roller. Long term forecast is that they'll both be more interested in pink fluff and shopping, though.
I've done most things on a car - my Dad's a trained mechanic, so learnt loads from him - but not much point touching the engine these days, due to computer management. Did quite a bit on my last car, but current car still too low mileage for anything to need properly getting the spanners out. Still got my trolley jack and axle stands, though. Next job will be motorbike chain and sprockets.
> I picked up many DIY skills from my dad but my own son has no idea how to saw a piece of wood never mind mix cement or solder a joint (not that that's necessary anymore.....)
Same here. My daughters like to play with a screwdriver, tape measure and hammer (they've got a toy tool kit) and the older one loved helping paint the dining room - and Grandad loved helping her, too. She did a pretty good job with the skirting board, but needs more practice with a roller. Long term forecast is that they'll both be more interested in pink fluff and shopping, though.
> On the other hand I can't service my own car and I only know one person among my contemporaries that would take a look at a car issue before going to the garage.
I've done most things on a car - my Dad's a trained mechanic, so learnt loads from him - but not much point touching the engine these days, due to computer management. Did quite a bit on my last car, but current car still too low mileage for anything to need properly getting the spanners out. Still got my trolley jack and axle stands, though. Next job will be motorbike chain and sprockets.
In reply to andyjohnson0:
My sister and most of my friends my age with young kids use a thermometer - so maybe it is a dying skill!
> Young kids like baths, in my experience. When mine were young I found I had to get good at judging temperature. So not necessarily a dying skill.
My sister and most of my friends my age with young kids use a thermometer - so maybe it is a dying skill!
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In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:
Most warranties probably require you to have adhered to the service schedule, so no running it for 5 years on the same oil and then taking it back when something in the engine seizes, but they aren't allowed to specify that it's with a specific garage due to competition laws so you could take it to whoever you like so long as they can safely be considered competent.
It's the element of proof that's the issue and as I mentioned in my post above, taking it to the dealer doesn't guarantee that the service will be done correctly.
Honda don't even change the air filter on the normal annual service whereas I'd do this as standard as it's a £10 2 min job, and they won't look at the spark plugs until 65,000/6 years whereas I'd always check the plugs to check their colour as an indicator of how well the engine is running. And when it suggested in the service schedule to "check valve clearances" they do this by simply listening to the engine with the naked ear, not even using a listening bar. I'd have taken the cam case off and got the feeler gauges out.
I wonder what the verdict would be if say someone like my dad who was a diesel mechanic for 30 ish years were to service his own car and then try and claim on a warranty.
> does it invalidate the warranty?
Most warranties probably require you to have adhered to the service schedule, so no running it for 5 years on the same oil and then taking it back when something in the engine seizes, but they aren't allowed to specify that it's with a specific garage due to competition laws so you could take it to whoever you like so long as they can safely be considered competent.
It's the element of proof that's the issue and as I mentioned in my post above, taking it to the dealer doesn't guarantee that the service will be done correctly.
Honda don't even change the air filter on the normal annual service whereas I'd do this as standard as it's a £10 2 min job, and they won't look at the spark plugs until 65,000/6 years whereas I'd always check the plugs to check their colour as an indicator of how well the engine is running. And when it suggested in the service schedule to "check valve clearances" they do this by simply listening to the engine with the naked ear, not even using a listening bar. I'd have taken the cam case off and got the feeler gauges out.
I wonder what the verdict would be if say someone like my dad who was a diesel mechanic for 30 ish years were to service his own car and then try and claim on a warranty.
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In reply to kathrync:
I can't help thinking my Mum might have just erred on the side of caution, and asked us if I we were warm enough or wanted a bit of hot adding, during her parenting years and running us baths. I'd guess there's some leeway before a child dies or suffers due to bath water temperature. I'm sure this reads in a 'When I were young' tone.
> My sister and most of my friends my age with young kids use a thermometer - so maybe it is a dying skill!
I can't help thinking my Mum might have just erred on the side of caution, and asked us if I we were warm enough or wanted a bit of hot adding, during her parenting years and running us baths. I'd guess there's some leeway before a child dies or suffers due to bath water temperature. I'm sure this reads in a 'When I were young' tone.
Post edited at 17:49
In reply to deepsoup:
I imagine soon typing will also go that way as speech recognition takes over. I daresay we will no longer be typing text replies etc. on our phones.
I imagine soon typing will also go that way as speech recognition takes over. I daresay we will no longer be typing text replies etc. on our phones.
In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:
Only if the car is under warranty and the small print says so. Nevertheless, most repairs and servicing are still possible on most cars by anyone with the desire to do so.
> does it invalidate the warranty? >
Only if the car is under warranty and the small print says so. Nevertheless, most repairs and servicing are still possible on most cars by anyone with the desire to do so.
In reply to MG:
Remembering to push in the small plastic tab on a VHS cassette to ensure your parents don't record over your beloved A-Team episodes.
Remembering to push in the small plastic tab on a VHS cassette to ensure your parents don't record over your beloved A-Team episodes.
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In reply to MG:
I used to service our runabouts - not any more.
If you park our two cars on the drive and go to check the oil, under the bonnet of one you will find a dipstick along with a myriad of pipes and a big sheet of black plastic with an oil filler cap in it. So far so good - if you assume that below the black plastic is an engine. You will search in vain in the other one though. You'll find the plastic cover with the oil filler cap, but no dipstick. If you read the manual it will guide you through the procedure to get the car to tell you how much oil it has got in the engine. It takes considerably longer than just looking at a dipstick, but you can check the oil whilst zooming along the motorway. Topping the oil up whilst moving would be a neat trick.
Changing a wheel - don't have those any more.
I used to service our runabouts - not any more.
If you park our two cars on the drive and go to check the oil, under the bonnet of one you will find a dipstick along with a myriad of pipes and a big sheet of black plastic with an oil filler cap in it. So far so good - if you assume that below the black plastic is an engine. You will search in vain in the other one though. You'll find the plastic cover with the oil filler cap, but no dipstick. If you read the manual it will guide you through the procedure to get the car to tell you how much oil it has got in the engine. It takes considerably longer than just looking at a dipstick, but you can check the oil whilst zooming along the motorway. Topping the oil up whilst moving would be a neat trick.
Changing a wheel - don't have those any more.
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In reply to MG:
Reading a map and general navigation skills like reading signposts, or even remembering a route after you've driven it once. So many people are totally dependant on Satnags these days.
Reading a map and general navigation skills like reading signposts, or even remembering a route after you've driven it once. So many people are totally dependant on Satnags these days.
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In reply to MG:
Wheels, not eels.
> Changing a wheel - don't have those any more.
> You use a hovercraft?
Wheels, not eels.
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In reply to Tyler:
>I only know one person among my contemporaries that would take a look at a car issue before going to the garage.
And yet the technology to aid motoring DIY has never been so good.
(You could find a video for most DIY motoring tasks on You Tube. )
>I only know one person among my contemporaries that would take a look at a car issue before going to the garage.
And yet the technology to aid motoring DIY has never been so good.
(You could find a video for most DIY motoring tasks on You Tube. )
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In reply to MG:
This is a high tech bath temp solution, and once you convince your wife to buy one, you can use it on your car etc.)
youtube.com/watch?v=6zNSoDJ4EPk&
( but the colour changing duck and using your elboware good to, just not ideal for other purposes)
This is a high tech bath temp solution, and once you convince your wife to buy one, you can use it on your car etc.)
youtube.com/watch?v=6zNSoDJ4EPk&
( but the colour changing duck and using your elboware good to, just not ideal for other purposes)
Post edited at 09:14
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In reply to Big Ger:
The guys at the local dump tell me that most of the electrical devices they received, and that were tested for reuse , were either working properly , or only had minor 'faults ' like blow fuses, or worn carbon brushes.
> Wiring a plug.
> Thinking about it, changing a fuse in a plug.
> My Mrs would buy a new kettle before doing so.
The guys at the local dump tell me that most of the electrical devices they received, and that were tested for reuse , were either working properly , or only had minor 'faults ' like blow fuses, or worn carbon brushes.
In reply to pec:
Dodgy garages just love the engine error light, it's a licence to print money .
It can come on for simple things like a poorly sealed petrol cap.
Dodgy garages just love the engine error light, it's a licence to print money .
It can come on for simple things like a poorly sealed petrol cap.
Post edited at 09:25
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In reply to john arran:
..although the actual death rate per capita has remained pretty constant.
> Well seeing as people's life expectancy is getting longer, you could say that dying itself is a dying art!
..although the actual death rate per capita has remained pretty constant.
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