Reasons

[George_Race]

John, I am so pleased to see the kind of help you are getting.  Here in the states, it would be nearly impossible to have that kind of a job done without paying a lot of up front cash.
Looking forward to your posts and comments in the near future,
George

[Raggle]

My stairlift has a right angle bend at the bottom which deposits me at ground level right across the front door. The lower straight guide can be powered out of the way when door access is required, the chair being parked elsewhere when this is necessary. But we rarely used the front door anyway.

It was in the house when we bought it 4 years ago and happily I have not needed to use it much until recent months. I have a severe case of gout which has flared up a great deal recently, eventually affecting my legs in a collateral sort of way. Knees distorted by the search for comfortable position for my feet in bed so I can get some sleep. Can't manage without it now, at least till the symptoms subside a little more.

Another recent acquisition is a bath lift. I've not been able to get out of the bath unaided for a couple of years and can no longer adopt a kneeling attitude which did work for a while, and I don't really like showers. It cost ?230 and I noticed a replacement battery/handset would be about 75% of that price. If that is ever needed I have it in mind to get a new complete lift and will have a scissors table powered otherwise for dry use

Not been up to my workshop for a long time as it means climbing half a dozen steps, but I'm working on that

Ray

[Stuart]

good news there John that the state is giving something back and that it has considerably reduced your pain without more medication thats always a good thing



the guy across the road had a lift ( not a stair lift but a proper up and down job ) put in under the same system

I to need crutches and wheels for longer journeys over ten yards, but as yet stairs are not a problem all fours up and bum down


looking forward to you workshop tutorials

Stuart

[bp]

Well done John, all the best.
Everyone seems to knock the National Health, but I'm very grateful for it.  Many years ago I broke my leg fairly comprehensively in a motor cycle accident.  I found out when I was about to be discharged as "fit for work", that the initial response of the Doctors was to remove it.  Fortunately they didn't, as a result of which I've led a more or less normal life for the last 40 odd years, whatever "normal" is. 
So good on you, enjoy!!
cheers
Bill Pudney

[Raggle]

The best thing about John's new home comforts is that he gets to keep his workshop.

Who here has not learned something from his posts? And the number of people he has helped directly is uncountable. Everything based on pure logic.

Who else could convince a beginner that he could build a twin cylinder reversing piston valve steam engine by following the Paddleducks book? And without a "proper" engineering drawing in sight, just a Crap-o-Cad for each of the many parts, with a lead-me-by-the-hand explanation of how to produce them.

John, you are a member of Cameron's Big Society and the investment they have made in you is fully justified. Long may you continue to inspire us.

Belligerent? Bogs?   -  Thank God for that!  -  HMEM now seems a distant memory, long live MEM

Ray

[Bogstandard]

Well, the next part of this saga started this morning, a wrecking and rebuilding crew started work on my bathroom, demolishing everything that I had done about 7 years ago, with my own blood,sweat and tears.

What first greeted me when I went up this evening.



The following pics are as I swing around.







Because when I first designed and made my bathroom those years ago, I used all the best adhesives available for the wall tiles. In fact this caused me to stop all work on the job after only two hours.
I overheard the French foreman saying to the other workmen that rather than removing the old tiles, the holes in the walls showed their attempts to get them off, they would just stick the new ones over the top. Well I saw red at this proposed 'bodge' job and told them that they were all 'cowboys' (a name we give to rogue and bad workmen in the UK) and got them out of my house.
It wasn't until later, when the local council designer and building inspector turned up to sort things out, and told them to do the job properly and to my satisfaction that they were allowed back in. So now they are going to have to remove the three stud wall plasterboard coverings, with the tiles still attached, and reboard the three bathroom internal walls before tiling over it all.
I hate having to do things like that, but one thing I won't stand for is bad workmanship, even though someone else is paying for it all.

So I will have to keep a close eye on this lot now, and they sure now know that I won't stand for any bad practices on my property.

It was only because of my planning in the first place, using stop taps on all feed pipes, that allowed them to take out all the normal bathroom fittings in less than an hour. Without those, it would have meant draining everything down and blanking everything off. I will now make sure that when they start to put all the new ceramics back in, in different positions, they do the same thing.

The best bit of fun I've had in ages.

John

[steamer]

Funny ......we use the saying "Cowboy up!" to describe someone who through great adversity, stood up straight and got the job done.....right.

[tel]

Over here it means someone pretty rough and ready, with no real thought for consequences. The original meaning here tho' was the description of someone, usually an old, wore out, bloke that did the outside chores (including milking the cow) on the stations.

No comments about old, wore out, blokes please!

They look to be progressing pretty well John.

[steamer]

How about old wore out dropbar's?

Keep em in line John!

[AussieJimG]

It is looking good John and I am pleased that it is making a difference. You deserve it after all the pleasure you have given us with your posts and advice.

I look forwardbto chatting with you on Skype when the smoke and dust clears.

Jim

[sshire]

Excellent, John!!
Just wonderful.
This looks like just the thing to radically improve quality of life.
I say this a bit selfishly as you have been such a great help and inspiration, not only to me but to so many here and on other boards.
If the longer drives look like they may be possible, that will be excellent.
If more shop time is possible, that would be even better.
Looking forward to more progress pix.

All the best to you,
Stan

[Captain Jerry]

John

Congratulations on your good fortune to live in a society that can manage to provide for all of its members, and to do it in a reasonable manner.  We don't do it that way in this country.  We should, but we don't.

I know that this will make a big difference in your life and I look forward to your return to this forum as a contributor of reason and thought.

Jerry

[Bogstandard]

What you all don't realise that while all this is going on, and ladies please excuse the language now, I will be standing in my kitchen, all over bare a**sed, first thing in the morning, in fact, today, in about an hours time, trying to give myself an all over scrub down. The sight will be enough to scare the dogs and cat to death.
Luckily, I still have a downstairs toilet as well, so I don't need to do everything in a bucket.

But it will be well worth it in the long run.

I was going to go down my mates house for a shower each morning, but I thought that, because he is on permanent night shift, it wouldn't be fair for me to keep him out of bed while I get myself cleaned up.

The battle continues with the cowboys in a couple of hours.

John

[Maryak]

Hi Ho Silver

Yippy Ky Yo Ky Ya.

Oh Cisco

OK Pilgrim gimme the Jemmy

Nous frangois tout savoir sur la plomberie

Why do you ask Kemo Sabe?

Best Regards
Bob

[Bogstandard]

Actually Bob, the plumber is about the only good one amongst them.

He got more done yesterday than anyone else, and to a good standard as well.

John