The weekend stay at Patterdale was great fun. To tide you over until I've finished the report, here are a few pics from Friday night:
The Plough above Place Fell
Jupiter over Kirkstone
Orion rising over Angletarn Pikes
Sorry about the poor quality pics. Doing hand-held long-exposures in sub-zero conditions wasn't easy....
and neither was the photography.
😯
Last Christmas I had an uncharacteristic fit of generosity which culminated in me buying Chris a laptop. I took all the necessary steps to ensure that it was well-insured and I completed the warranty submission at the point of purchase. So far, so good. Manufacturer's Warranty cover is active until January 3rd 2012. Buildings and Contents insurances are paid-up. Even the Pet Insurance is paid-up.
A week or so ago one of the cats decided to piss on said laptop. Yeah, I know, you can see where I'm going with this. 🙁
Anyway, Muggins here had the job of mopping-up and drying-out said laptop and associated battery. After several days said laptop and battery were dry, so we reassembled the thing and fired it up. One long beep on boot-up, and eventually XP loads and everything looks fine. Some keys don't work, though, and the touch-pad screen/buttons are dodgy. All subsequent reboots are the same as this. So it's broken. No problemo, it's covered.
The warranty folk were all prepared to fix it until they were told the cause, then they bailed on the basis that the laptop is now a "biohazard". In short, they're not allowed to touch it so they can't repair it. Indeed, because they're not allowed to touch it, they can't verify that it qualifies for straight replacement on the basis of not being fit for purpose (it's reasonable to assume that such portable devices should withstand a certain degree of environmental factors that would kill a desktop PC, so a bit of moisture should be withstood with ease). So, no joy from them.
The house insurance company declined to help out because their policy specifically excludes "damage caused by chewing, scratching, tearing or fouling by domestic animals." If I'd dropped it, melted it, lost it, ran it over accidentally or anything like that it would have been covered, but there's no cover for pet-damage.
The Pet Insurance doesn't cover anything that doesn't involve a vet.
The Financial Ombudsman believes that if there is any claim to be made it must be against the warranty provider, but "comes-with-the-product" warranties aren't within their jurisdiction (although extended warranties are). The F.O. referred me to the Citizens' Advice Bureau.
The C.A.B. phone helplines were open but unmanned, somehow I got referred automatically to Consumer Direct. They suggest going back to the retailer/warranty provider and making a "not fit for purpose" claim.
But now for the cherry...
The postman delivered into my hand today a letter from Mastercare, tempting me with their Coverplan. Here's some of the blurb:
For this, they want £71.
In short, said laptop would have been covered against "unintentional breakage" (caused by cat-piss) after 3rd January 2012, but wasn't before.
Oh, and just to rub it in, they've recorded my attempt to claim and so said laptop no longer qualifies for their Coverplan.
'Tis the season of good will... allegedly.
Yeah, I know that I'm not the best outdoor-gear reviewer out there, but looking at the site stats it seems that my reviews get a fair number of visitors. To make things a tad easier to find by those who visit in seek of my humble opinions, I've knocked up a reference page. I'll tart it up and add some pics later as time allows.
Allegedly it's no longer OK to suggest that a woman's place is in the kitchen.
Fair enough.
In a bizarre twist, however, in the building where I was helping out with some PAT Testing today it seems that the kitchen's place is in the Ladies:
This must be a one-off, I thought. Down to the constraints of the arrangement of the building, or because of the whims of the planners, or something like that.
But by strange coincidence, the same situation exists at the other end of the building.
Some might suggest that there's just a hint of gender-discrimination going on there.
But then again, all this is in a solicitors' office.
More W.C. than P.C., I'd say.
Another night looking at pretty much the same as before. The seeing was better but still not brilliant. Visual observations of Jupiter, Mars, Andromeda Galaxy and several star-clusters. Tried to image M97 (Owl Nebula) but got the settings completely wrong and so ended up dumping the imaging data. Managed to do better with two other Messier objects as follows:
M38 (aka NGC1912), an open cluster in the constellation Auriga.
Subs: 18 light @ 300s, darks and bias frames, ISO400.
1000D on the 6" R-C, guided with PHD.
M103 (aka NGC 581), an open cluster in the constellation Cassiopeia.
Subs: 19 light @ 300s, darks and bias frames, ISO800.
1000D with 2x PowerMate on the 6" R-C, guided with PHD.
This was the first proper night using the warm-room. The excuse was that I was testing the data-cabling and control-wiring systems. It was a nice clear night that started cold and reached minus 3 before dawn. The seeing was awful! Visual observations of Jupiter, Mars, Orion Nebula, Andromeda Galaxy and several star-clusters. Pics of Messier objects as follows:
M36 (aka NGC1960), an open cluster in the constellation Auriga.
Subs: 16 light @ 300s, darks and bias frames, ISO400.
1000D on the 6" R-C, guided with PHD.
M67 (aka NGC 2682, King Cobra), an open cluster in the constellation Cancer.
Subs: 13 light @ 300s, darks and bias frames, ISO400.
1000D on the 6" R-C, guided with PHD.
