If you had a million dollars to give away, who would you give it to?
At this very moment it would be going to help a very frightened lady in my family, my niece bless her. She’s had problems all her life and has pretty much won every fight despite the odds being against her. She’s now fighting the toughest fight of her life as the Big C has entered the ring, she doesn’t fully understand, and he doesn’t fight fair. I think a million would go quite a way to get her the best treatment possible.
But I haven’t won it, I can’t pay for that treatment so unfortunately the fight goes on. But we’re fighters and we will be beside her all of the way.
Hedgehogs. 🦔
There are so many little hedgehog sanctuaries around the Uk constantly fighting a battle to save and protect this wonderful little creature of the night. They won’t hurt anyone, they do wonders to your garden, however we as a population are killing them just by going about our daily lives, butchering their environment for crappy estates and making their existence intolerable. Now I have regular hog visitors to my garden as it has been built around them. They have easy access to water and food and a section of the garden that I have classed as the wild part where I know they live. I see them in the garden as youngsters in the early part of the year and only last night I saw one of them in the garden and he is now a lovely fully grown male, quite a lump. Earlier this year I had three at the food bowl at the same time, a first for me, probably all from the same family, I believe I posted the video here: And then we had three..
I love to see them grow and I am so proud of myself that I’ve developed an environment that they feel safe in. And that’s the problem. I’m not in the country, I’m in a city with two horrendously busy roads and occasionally I see them as victims. However I’m really surprised that the majority thrive, and seeing now that the suspected hedgehog population is now less than 2 million across the UK (it was 5 times that only a few years ago!) we need to protect them.
Humankind in its worst form wipes other species out without a thought. If a million dollars, pounds or whatever currency you use could help stop this rot then there would be no second thought, I’d do it.
But again I dont have it so I’ll just keep doing my little bit to help these beautiful little beasts.
I admire anyone who has artistic talent. However at a push I’d easily rate Bob Ross as my favourite.
Why?
If you were an easily influenced teenager through the eighties, you couldn’t help but see this easygoing extremely pleasant individual on your television screens in the afternoons trying to convince everyone that they had a masterpiece within them.
Bob Ross Golden glow – my first “Masterpiece”
He wasn’t wrong, I’ve had a few lessons using his technique and I’ve produced a personal masterpiece in every session.
The guy had the ability to pull achievements out of people that they didn’t know they had inside them. He taught that art was for everyone not just the gifted few, and I loved that.
Bob Ross Crimson tide my second attempt
Beyond that my favourite artist is probably Constable, as I loved his detailed countryside landscapes.
But Bobs the man for me. And a local artist called Raymond Riley who taught me Bobs techniques, superb humans in my eyes, and wonderful teachers.
Been a few days since i last posted, to be honest we’ve been that busy and enjoying ourselves that there has been little time to put aside any time to anything else. However, back home now, I’m sitting in bed as the wife watches “Who wants to be a Millionaire?” and i now have that time to spare.
I last posted about our spontaneous decision to leave for Devon a day early and I’m pleased we did. we took a bus to Brixham and spent a lovely day browsing old shops, galleries and markets and to top it all the sun shined throughout.
GoodringtonArty picGolden hind – BrixhamBrixham harbour
Our relations made contact and that evening we went out for a lovely dinner in the country side, one of those eateries that the locals keep quiet from the tourists, splendid food and fantastic company – their secret is now out!
Friday, we are still awaiting the arrival some more relatives so i popped along to the train station owned by Dartmouth Steam railway to check on timings for a trip out to Dartmouth the following day when they all arrived. Tickets booked, i took some pictures of the train working the service that day and then returned to meet up with the wife.
Lydham ManorA coach called DaveLydham manor
The current batch of family had all gathered at a local pub, so we made the decision to join them, i then reacquainted myself with a local brew called “Devon Dumpling” that i’d last tried at a remembrance festival in Paignton a few years back. God was my head heavy the following morning, I’ll never learn. But it’s good to meet an old friend.
Devon dumplingBike display in pub
A night off from the family and we ate at our hotel and headed off to bed. Our hotel funnily enough used to be a napoleonic naval hospital, and a nunnery, this probably explained some unaccounted bumps in the night, that said it was generally quiet and comfortable.
The following morning we headed up the hill into town where we had a light breakfast prior to joining our steam train to Kingswear, where we would then catch a short ferry ride across the river Dart to Dartmouth.
View from the hillPaignton harbour75014Our train todaySteamingLeaving Kingswear
We spent a lovely few hours walking around the town, what a beautiful town it is too. Lots of shopping by the ladies, we had a lovely cream tea at an old establishment where the floor was about 2 degrees off of level, this was strange as we were all leaning slightly to the left to counteract the feeling, I’ve never eaten at an establishment and came away with a pain in the side purely down to the angle of the floor and not because of what we had eaten. Nice place though.
Wonky floorsArghhhDartmouthKingswear
Another trip back home to get ready for the evenings party, the train was fantastic, it always amazes me the engineering that went into making these trains. They truly are works of art and deserve to be preserved for everyone by the fantastic individuals that volunteer their time to keep these amazing beasts on the rails.
It’s rained… it’s been dry since we arrived and tonight, the night of the party the heavens have opened. The party went really well and a good time was had by all, much was drunk, eaten and all topped off with questionable dance moves by the “Dad” contingent. Memories have been made throughout this break away.
And today we have all departed to our little corners of the uk, in fact we even had family from Johannesburg and Sydney, their journeys are a little more complex than ours however they are remaining in the Uk for a little longer before they depart. We’ve had invites to go to Australia, but thats not for me, I don’t want to be travelling for those ridiculous lengths of time and to be honest I don’t want to go to a country where every animal wants to kill you, and i have a an absolute fear, or should i say terror of spiders. It’s just not for me.
B/WColour – time to go home
We had a good journey there and back and we are back home to more rain, it’s like we’ve never been away. Back to work tomorrow night, with a smile on my face and some fantastic memories.
We had a lovely lunch out yesterday, it rained as it always has of late, it was so damned wet that we didn’t get to look around the 38 gardens at Barnsdale created by Geoff Hamilton off of BBC Gardeners world.
As we were pretty miffed at this we made the spontaneous decision to bugger off to Devon a day early so we could benefit from an extra day on the coast.
We left the East Midlands about 16:00hrs and arrived at our destination at around 20:15, a good journey with the only real traffic experienced as we circumnavigated Birmingham’s rush hour.
My god, it’s dry!
It was obviously dark on arrival, very windy and you could hear the waves crashing on the sea walls, the hotel is comfortable and we have had a cracking nights sleep. Just had our first cuppa and the sun is rising, it looks gorgeous out and guess what….it is dry!
The last few days haven’t been much to write home about but ill give it a go. Tabs the feral cat is most reluctant to go anywhere near her new house despite the weather still being awful. We have tried to coax her in by putting food in there but she will only go half in and half out preferring to hide away under the winter covered furniture down the garden. That’s her choice, we respect that and we will see what transpires.
I have managed to repair a couple of items that you will have seen separate posts about on this site. I’m really enjoying repairing the old retro stuff as well as taking a trip down memory lane at the same time. I have these now restored to such a good condition that i am keeping these displayed within the house and using them in equal measures.
Recent retro repairs
I’m looking at an old 70s digital watch that needs repair, it’s unknown territory for me but it’s something id like to have a go at. It’s only a low outlay, so there is no real loss if things go awry.
We’ve been shopping for decorating items for the ground floor of the house that the wife decided she wanted decorating prior to the arrival of family on Christmas day, who have been invited to dinner. We’ve seen wallpaper for the conservatory, paint for the hall and front room, but we just need the attention of an electrician and a plumber prior to these works commencing. That should be fun as no contractor seems to take on small jobs around here!
The winter heating is on. The boss lady decided it was going on, on the 1st October at 16:30 and I’m pleased to announce that it seemed to work in places. What i mean and i think i have mentioned it before , is that this is an old house that seems to prefer to stay cold, especially the kitchen and bathroom that both have a Nth facing aspect. They are buggers to try and get any heat into. But we will persist. One of the valves in the main bedroom has a tiny leak, nothing major but it will need replacing, hence the requirement for a plumber.
Work has been all that was expected of it in the last few days with autumn hitting with a vengeance. Leaves are falling at a greater rate than last year already as this year isn’t as mild as last, we’ve already had a couple of frosts and the trees are now doing their thing and letting go of their leafs. We’ve had a suicide that was quite traumatic for all involved, first for a while but even for these events we are now entering the season where more are expected, a horrible season for us all and for all those related to those who decide they just can’t go on anymore.
We’re off out for lunch today, with my in laws who live opposite us. Off to Rutland water, an immensely beautiful spot in the county of Rutland (Leicestershire) at a place called Barnsdale. I’m the nominated driver for today’s activity and it should be a nice afternoon away. However rain is still persistent as it has been for almost two weeks now, so it will not be dry, that is a certainty.
Normanton church – Rutland waterRutland water
Tomorrow we are heading off for a few days to celebrate a relations 60th birthday in Devon. No work now for 5 days before heading back to a run of nightshifts from Monday. I’m looking forward to some nice romantic sea side walks, whatever the weather, and just spending it with the one my life revolves around, my lovely wife. I just can’t wait.
Your life without a computer: what does it look like?
As I have a hunger for knowledge I guess I’d be doing a lot more reading. I’d probably not be blogging, I’d be doing my daily journal. Beyond that as a kid of the 60s i guess I’d just be getting on with things. I don’t do the social media stuff, I’ve never had it so I’ll never miss it, so that would never be an issue for me.
And I believe that’s the difference. If you lived in an age when you didn’t have a computer, stepping back to that way of living wouldn’t be so much of a hardship. Yep there are things we all benefit from as a result of having computers, but we managed without them and we survived.
A child of the computer era would suffer purely as they know no other way. For them it would be a totally new way of life, but for us of a certain generation it would be “Ok, let’s get on with it”, we’ve done it before, we can do it again.
I love art, I love to draw I love to paint but realistically I am crap at it.
My father, both sisters and both brothers were so artistic but me? No. I just can’t do it. But I love it.
I often wonder if other people over time, artists, that is, were also crap . So crap that they invented such art forms as cubism and such. I’m not in anyway calling myself an artist, a P*ss artist maybe but never an artistic fellow.
I have lessons, I attend art classes but I just don’t cut the mustard. I guess I’m just destined to be one of life’s tryers.
I’m sure I’m probably beyond learning now, god knows I’ve been trying long enough. However I enjoy it, it keeps me calm and relaxed, and that’s not such a bad thing.
You may wish to refer to this post: Sega game gear 2110-50 where I purchased a non working Sega Game gear and brought it back to life.
The (I thought it was repaired) Game gear
I’m now ready to do some modifications on this unit, and I will save the replaced items for use on later projects.
Pretty much every Game Gear that was ever produced (and that is approximately 10.6 million units) has suffered with the dreaded (Capacitor plague) that I have discussed in an older post. The first job that is recommended to be carried out when purchasing an old Game Gear is to replace the old capacitors, it’s quite an easy task and nine times out of ten will remedy any issues that you have and allow you to continue gaming for years to come.
However there are other issues.
The screen is an old tube powered system that is exceptionally power hungry, you can replace this with much superior LCD versions, I’m withholding from doing this at the moment as I want to get as much use out of the old screen, and to be honest my unit doesn’t require replacement just yet, there’s still life in the old girl. I’m sure that this will be a future project though.
Occasionally after doing the capacitor replacement on the power board, other components such as a small IC and three transistors that control voltages across the system, start to misbehave causing the unit to switch off after just a few seconds. This is currently occurring with mine and I am intending to replace these components to see if this sorts out my issue. I have also ordered a replacement power board from China that is a fraction of the cost of a European one, it may work, it may not but if the change out of components dosen’t work at least I’ll have an alternative option.
There are a few checks we can do prior to replacement of these components on the power board that will confirm the various voltages required by the system. It’s best that these tests are done prior to diving in head first to replace them. You could be just wasting time. You may need a new power board or maybe even consider converting to a rechargeable battery system. It’s all doable.
Expected voltages – photo courtesy Retrosix
Here are the results from my test of voltages on the power board, I’ve injected 9v via a bench power supply to the battery contacts on the board:
At the 34v pin I had 0v
At the 9v pin I had 8.9v
At the 1.28v pin I had 1.28v
The three ground pins read as ground
At the two 5v pins I had 0v
So as a result I obviously have an issue with the 5v rail and the 34v rail, I believe the 5v rail is the one that affects the boot sequence and the 34v is not an issue at the start up, however, it’s there for a reason and this simple test proves there is an issue. I will therefore only change the IC and three transistors as the capacitors were changed when I did a full recap.
Advertised shellWhat actually arrived Clean Amp duo soundPower board components Three of the above Photos courtesy of Retrosix
For my modifications I am getting a new clean amp duo audio board with dual speakers instead of the single mono one that is standard. This is an upgrade on the original, extremely efficient and with better sound processing.
I am also replacing the shell with a new Blue case and glass to replace the scuffed old screen, this shell also has dual speaker outlets to compliment the audio board replacement. The shell is already prepped to accept a rechargeable battery system should I decide to install it at a later date.
I shall be getting these upgrades from Retrosix who specialise in supplies and modifications for gaming consoles.
All the items have now arrived and the first thing I’m going to do is sort out the replacement IC and transistors on the power board. The rest is fairly straightforward. However they have sent me the wrong shell, a single speaker one instead of a dual speaker one, so I’ve now got to await a replacement, annoying!
Scratch that, they are saying that they never did have any duo speaker ones even though they were advertising them on their site ( as per picture above..) and after a protracted discussion with the supplier / owner i’ve come to the conclusion that he might think he is a wizard at modding and designing circuitry but is totally and utterly inept at customer service, he wouldn’t know good service if it bit him in the ass. Hey ho on we go, it is what it is.
If you choose to use them in the future then just be aware. They have an uncanny knack of trying to pin their inadequacies and mistakes on you, the customer. Caveat Emptor – as they say.
So now the sound will be original mono, but hopefully improved. I have a spare speaker and mount as a result and I can use the new clean amp duo board in a mono configuration. Should I get a duo speaker shell sometime in the future I can always do a swap out.
Blank shellNew speaker and buttonsBlank shell and new speaker and buttons
Today I’ve taken the empty new shell and installed the new audio card and speaker, as well as the new buttons and silicon pads. I’ve then installed the main board minus the power board that still needs the new components.
New board and old boardMain board installedAudio and power boards connected
I’ve also installed the new front lens on the unit and I must say it looks nice.
New front lens on unit
Let’s get to the difficult bit, replacing the components on the power board. I’m not joking when saying that some of these items are not much bigger than a grain of rice. I suspect a lot of bad language will be used here, as this is a new level of soldering for me. I’ve never replaced anything so small before. If I balls it up I’ll just have to await my cheap Chinese power board.
Ok, the power board from Ali Express got here really quick, to be honest even before I could set some time aside to change the components on the old board, so therefore I’ve decided to try this new board as a straight swap.
I will keep the the components and the old board to use at a later date.
First though I have used the bench power supply to test it is ok, and it’s a big tick on all voltages as per the test I did on the old board. All voltages are stable and consistent, so I have secured the board in place and put the required batteries inside. Works perfectly.
Back together, awaiting the big switch on
Working perfectly
I now have a perfectly good looking updated Game gear that I am exceptionally pleased with. The sound system is a good upgrade, it has a really loud volume (adjustable) and is crisp. The powerboard from China at a total cost of £10.80 is an absolute bargain, and works perfectly with good stable voltages. The case is good, fits well and the lens is clean easy to install and scratch free, the whole thing looks brand new.
Two old rebuilds, rejuvenated
I now have two perfectly good looking and working examples of 90’s retro rivalry in perfect working condition. The plan is to display these in the house, on a custom made display. I’ve really enjoyed working on this little project and I’m made up with the outcome.
The only things left to be done would be to change the power supplies to rechargeable and to change the screens to new IPS/LCD screens, but I don’t think I’m going to do that on these two, I’m keeping them original or as close as possible to original, I want to keep these as they are, to cherish in this condition for as long as I can.
Foxes Den 
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