List three books that have had an impact on you. Why?
Cosmos – Carl Sagan
Cider with Rosie – Laurie Lee
The bitter lemons of Cyprus – Lawrence Durrell
I was a kid of the sixties, one of Apollos children as I lived through those heady days of the space race. Carl Sagan was one of those superb teachers that could bring a highly complex scientific process down to a level every one could understand and there haven’t been that many people who have followed him who can do the same. I have read the book and watched the series many times, I’m sure I will do the same soon.
I love Laurie Lees ability to be able to teleport you into his life as a child growing up in the country. I first read this book at school and then read it again about 30 years later. The things you notice in this book as an adult against what you read as a child shows how much our knowledge and attention grows as you mature. It’s a go to holiday read for me as it’s one of those comfortable books. His other books about the Spanish civil war are also very well written and insightful.
I love Cyprus and everything about it. This book by Lawrence Durrell gives a fascinating insight into the old ways of the island pre-invasion, as he travels around documenting the many people and ways of the island. I must have read this book a good six times now and I never tire of it. I suspect number seven will be coming up very soon.
I’ve deviated from the usual WordPress daily prompt, as today just like many other days they seem very much the same.
Alf in his favourite look out position
Today I have decided to write about things that put a smile on your face, and today at just before 6am this morning I had an incident that made me smile. For the reader you will probably be thinking what the heck is he getting all excited about, however for me it means a lot more, there is a story behind it all so let me bring you up to speed.
I have owned dogs pretty much all my life, in our 33 years of marriage we have had 3 dogs all of the same breed a Bichon Frise.
Our latest incarnation, the little fellah that has been with us for 11 years so far is Alfie, a right little sweetheart who I can honestly say has never growled at anyone in all the time we have had him, I don’t think he knows how to.
Anyway Alf has an autoimmune disease that means his skin is trying to kill him, it’s an affliction called Sebaceous Addenitis, He is on tablets that do the same as organ rejection tablets do for humans, quite nasty little packages that have to be handled with care. He also has tumours around his rear end that need daily dressing and cleansing. He’s not well bless him, but he still shows us a wagging tail, and that really pleases me.
Anyway Alf has deteriorated quite swiftly over the last couple of years, he’s gone from a dog that loved to walk miles to one that just goes out the door to do his business, we are lucky if a walk now stretches to ten minutes when we used to be out hours.
I do shift work and when I’m on a night shift I’m usually arriving home sometime just after 05:30 in the morning. I used to love to come home, I’d know Alf would be waiting at the door and we’d go out for a lovely early morning walk, i absolutely loved these walks as they formed part of my routine and it was precious good time out with my companion.
However as Alf’s illness has progressed he’s no longer waiting at the door when I come in, he tends to be so tired and to be honest he rarely gets out of bed before 10am as he seems to sleep for the biggest portion of the day. I really miss our little early morning walks. I miss my lively little lad.
In fact both my wife and I have noticed we are not getting the exercise we used to but that’s another story.
Imagine my surprise this morning when I roll up onto the drive to see Alf sitting in his favourite place on top of the settee looking out the window. My immediate thought was “What’s wrong?” but my wife then puts my mind at ease by saying she got up early to put some washing out and Alf got up with her. I said that was strange as it’s far too early for him but he seemed so bright for a moment, so I asked him if he wanted a walk, so he went straight to the front door I put his lead on him and we did something we haven’t done for best part of a year. We had that early morning walk.
We didn’t go far, we probably managed 10 minutes, but do you know what, I felt like I’d won the lottery, I actually thanked him for the walk gave him a cuddle and told him how much I’d enjoyed it. For that brief moment I was the happiest man alive, strange isn’t it. The sad part is that this will probably be the last time we do this, but for me, for a brief moment early this morning I felt like the happiest man on the planet. Its made my day and made me appreciate all that I have. It’s those little things that matter.
Sorry to go on about it, it’s probably going to mean nothing to you the reader, but for me this is everything, and I had to write about it.
Have a wonderful day in whatever you are doing, and just rejoice in those small nuggets of happiness we all too often ignore and let them pass us by.
I’ve just brought one of these, it’s a toy and I’m heading for the senior end of adulthood:
Big Trak CE3962
BIG TRAK / bigtrak is a programmable toy electric vehicle created by Milton Bradley in 1979, resembling a futuristic Sci-Fi tank / utility vehicle. The original Big Trak was a six-wheeled (two-wheel drive) tank with a front-mounted blue “photon beam” headlamp, and a keypad on top. The toy could remember up to 16 commands, which it then executed in sequence. There also was an optional cargo trailer accessory, with the UK version being white to match its colour scheme; once hooked to the Bigtrak, this trailer could be programmed to dump its payload.
WikipediA
Here’s what the original listing said:
Item probably does not work. I recall attempting to fix corroded terminals years ago and it’s still not working. I do not have D cell batteries to test now.
EBay
I was just browsing around as I do and this popped up on my timeline, the wife is going to disown me for bringing such junk into the house, however for a split second 14 year old me was in the house and a flood of memories, not all good came back to me. These toys came out in 1979 when I was aged 14. My friend over the way from me was brought one of these for Christmas and I experienced one of my first ever episodes of Jealousy. Back in 1979 I believe they retailed for approximately £39 Gbp, and my parents weren’t about to part with hard earned cash to invest in developing technology like computing – “It’ll never last, it’s just a fad” (Famous last words).
I made every excuse possible to go around his house to play and even offered to look after it for him when he went on holiday, he never let me though and I believe at that moment my friend realised what the term obsessive meant, as he was experiencing it big time with me.
Now I own one, however this is the later version from 2010, it only cost me £9.99 Gbp and its probably a wreck, but I’m really going to treat this like a proper full sized car restoration and I want this to work, crikey I’ve even found out I can buy the original decals from Australia, so it’s patently obvious the obsession is still there.
I can’t say I have genuinely looked so forward to a parcel arriving as much as this one. I sincerely hope I have no regrets…. And I have all fingers crossed.
This is going to be a labour of love and I can’t wait.
Describe one simple thing you do that brings joy to your life.
Contentment
I awake every morning, turn to my right and see the wonderful lady I married 34 years ago. She may have awoken before me and I see her smile, she may be asleep but I watch her breathe.
Either way I am full of thanks and gratefulness that our paths crossed that fateful day we first met.
She is my everything, to wake up with her every day is my simple joy in life.
How do you know when it’s time to unplug? What do you do to make it happen?
Unplug
There are two ways at approaching this. Are we referring to unplugging from technology or unplugging from life when things start to get on top of you?
In technology apart from using WordPress as I am using currently for this blogging thing, I don’t use any other social platform apart from Twitter or “X” or whatever it is known as now to keep tabs on some groups I follow. I don’t partake in posting on it, it’s a vile, filth filled platform of hate that you only have to log into to witness. I don’t really need it to be honest and can delete it and feel no loss, and the world in my eyes becomes a better place. This is where social media falls down, the low life element of society now has a platform to spread its questionable ideology.
So technology in this aspect can just be deleted. In fact I’ve just this minute deleted Twitter so that’s a positive move, no antisocial media to worry about. Ignorance is sometimes bliss.
However the second aspect of when things start to get on top of you will differ from person to person. Personally for me as I have stated in the past, my job role bleeds over into my private life quite literally and I have now put measures in place to stop that. Previously I was available 24hrs, believe me you cannot do that and enjoy a healthy balance in life. You must stop and make immediate changes.
Work phone goes on when I start work and off at the end of the day. The business has been informed not to contact me via my private phone or email. All company WhatsApp groups have been deleted, I will find out what’s happened when I book on. All overtime shifts have been refused.
Result: my home life has improved, I’m a better person to be around and my priorities have been realigned. I’m resting better, my mood has improved and I’m starting to enjoy a life with my loved ones that I was in danger of jeopardising.
This will be a running repair with regular updates. There is quite a bit going on.
The bargain basement DSLR has arrived (See original blog post here: Canon EOS 5D Mk2) and I’ve been able to give it a quick once over. It’s not had an easy life and has taken some bangs and knocks. Other than that it’s about 16 years old and has had about 69000 actuations, I don’t think it looks too bad personally. I’ve spent a good hour just giving it a good clean up and it was filthy, all knobs and buttons are working fine, the shutter isn’t locked and when a lens is attached, manually it all focuses just fine and the screen looks clean. There is no evidence of damage to the curtain however I can’t test this further until the battery and charger arrives.
Eos 5D MK2- assessment Eos 5D MK2- assessment
To be honest if I can get this working it will be going into my own personal collection. As long as I can get some nice results I’m not that worried about how it looks cosmetically. The body can be touched up or I can add a skin, we’ll see how it goes.
Eos 5D MK2- assessment Eos 5D MK2- assessment
Update: 6/4/24
I’ve now received a couple of bits consisting of two new batteries and a charger as well as a new battery door cover. Once powered up all indications, buttons, sensors are working and TTL indications are displaying as they should.
New battery coverTTL indicationsBack indications Top indications
All lenses are working and moving and focusing as they should. The real good news is that the shutter fires at all speeds and is not stuck, and the sensor cleaner appears to be working.
I’m really happy with what I have found so far, I need to get a CF card to check the original issues that were reported with the suspect sensor. If that is the only issue I will get one ordered and install that at a later date. I have cleared all settings and the firmware is up to date. I’ve downloaded a raft of Canon software so I will be able to test this all once I get that CF card that should be here in a few days.
23/4/24
The CF card adapter has arrived from China. I’ve purchased this type as this particular adapter allows an SD card to be utilised in CF form. I have ample SD cards in use all around so this makes sense for me, I have nothing apart from this camera that uses CF cards so for a relatively low outlay this is the best option for me.
CF SD adapter
Now I have Every thing in place to test the camera. I’m using basic settings and an old test lens so I’m not looking for any spectacular photos as that’s not going to happen here. I just want to see what’s going on.
What happens most of the time
When I’m taking a shot everything lights up ok. Indications are all good, the shutter fires but all I see is a pinkish screen as demonstrated in the small video above. However every now and again I do get a “proper” photo, usually only the one then you have to turn the camera off then on again to get another and that’s not always guaranteed. As you will see in the two photos below you can get one photo and then the next has a pink band appearing from above.
No issues with picturePink issue emerges at top
Whilst taking a random photo looking at our ceiling, I became aware of what looked like a water leak by the chimney stack. This gave me some concern but I needn’t have been worried as it appears in other photos and is more than likely an Abberation mark on the sensor. The two pictures below show that mark on the sensor in the same area.
Sensor Abberation issueAbberation still visible
Occasionally the pink line that appears at the top of the photo also takes on a pixelated test card look. The weird thing is that if you put the camera into video mode the image is clear with good sound and no playback issues. Strange 🤷♂️
The general view and picture stateThe pink issue has occurred
It really is looking as if the issue is around the sensor that in this camera is a CMOS sensor. But before I make any decisions on what action I’m taking I’m exhausting all the obvious issues if I can. I have looked at several forums on line and there are a multitude of tasks I could try but it all seems to filter down to two in general. A full camera reset and a reinstall of the last issued firmware.
Now I have completed the full reset and on top of this I’m going to install a new CR1616 CMOS cell, as I just don’t know when this was last done.
Replacing the cmos battery
The CMOS deterioration rate is about 3% of the battery value per year, now if this camera was purchased around 2008 when they first came out then it dosen’t take a mathematical genius to work out that the cell could be sufficiently depleted. In fact I don’t know why I haven’t used the multi meter to test it🤦♂️
I’ll get on to that and will report back. It kind of makes sense seeing the sensor on this camera is a Cmos sensor. All tested, battery was at 2.3v, I have now replaced the battery but everything is still the same. I don’t know if updating the firmware will assist in any way, but I’m just following a procedure that most who have been in this position before have also done. it’s just a process of elimination before doing a full tear down of the camera. And if I can do anything to avoid that I certainly will.
I’ve finished all the testing and it is certainly looking like the Cmos sensor needs replacing. I’ve done all I can here, but I’m reluctant to order the new sensor from China as I’m not 100% confident of having the facilities or time to do the work required. Will I gain anything after the outlay? I very much doubt it. I’m going to move this camera on now with all my findings and hopefully I can find someone who will be able to take this project on to a successful completion.
I know parts wise I can make a good profit on the original outlay so maybe that is the route to take.
So I’ve failed on this renovation, but nothing is going to waste, it just needs to go to some who is somewhat more experienced with these type of upgrades than me. Hopefully I can gain some experience along the cheaper more available stock route.
I have learned some interesting things about this camera and it’s operating. So in many ways that’s a win, knowledge is everything.
To be honest I don’t have many. That’s my choice and I could probably count mine on one hand. Why’s that? Because I trust them and they trust me.
That’s the only two things I ask of in a friend trust and confidentiality. If you can’t give that I’ll drop you like a sack of spuds.
Nowadays people seem to have hundreds of friends on line but I bet you that there’s a number of them more than happy to gossip and to be the first one to twist a knife between your shoulder blades.
There’s too many fakes out there. I don’t need that in my life.
You know what I’m not going to list every job I’ve done as I don’t want the reader to fall asleep.
What I will tell you is I’ve never had a day unemployed in my life, no I’m not lying however years ago you could walk from one job on a Friday and be in a new job come Monday. That can’t be done now due to all the security checks and everything that is now in place, but I’ve been in my current job in excess of Twenty years now so I guess I’ve dodged that bullet.
My work ethic has been that I would do anything to earn a bob or two for my family. I’d do any job I’m not a snob in that aspect and no job was beneath me. I think the attitude with some these days is that cleaning drains and service jobs are not for them and they want to slot into a £50k plus job with no previous experience.
Oh yes I remember it very well. I came from a generation that was around just before computer technology started to appear. When I was at school I was probably in my fifth year as a senior at around the age of 16 and it was only just then, that computer technology was starting to appear on the school curriculum, as I was preparing to leave education.
When I left school and started my first job I remember my first months wages were spent purchasing a Sinclair ZX 81 microcomputer, wow this was amazing. I was a bit confused at first though because I opened the box and I plugged it in and I just expected it to work, it was a bit of a shock that you actually had to learn how to program the device before you got anything out of it, however I soon mastered the programming of the basic computer language and I was soon able to program some good little games. Next I moved onto the Commodore 20 a lovely little computer but all my friends were buying the better quality Commodore 64. From the Vic 20 I went down the route of trying the Amstrad Computers, i think it was called the 364 or 464 depending on whether you had Green screen or a colour VDU.
To be honest i still look today at buying an old Sinclair ZX 81 or spectrum, little collectors pieces now but I did enjoy it before the Internet kicked in.
I was just a standard youngster of the day who would go out with his friends and be playing football, cricket, marbles or conkers dependent on what season it was. We used to have great life climbing trees, making bows and arrows, catapults you name it. I feel sorry for the kids nowadays because they don’t have that freedom.
I went out for a meal with my wife a few weeks ago and there was a family of five, mum dad and three kids and I should imagine the kids were only About 12 years old ranging down to a youngster that was probably two years old sitting in a high chair. Every single one of them was on a computer device of some kind or a mobile phone or iPad and I just said to my wife at that point,”look at that, the art of conversation has totally disappeared”. There’s an entire family sitting there and not one of them was speaking to each other. They were all too engrossed in what was going on in other peoples worlds, rather than discussing their own families funny moments, concerns, or achievements.
Yes I do miss the time pre Internet. I think everyone was a better conversationalist back then, to say something to someone you had to walk around to their house, knock on the door, see if they were in and then tell them what you wanted to say face to face.
That dosen’t happen now, we have now produced a generation of people who just don’t do conflict unless they are hidden behind a screen and a keyboard, and that is where I believe most of the anger and hatred spouts from nowadays.
There’s no going back and I’m not saying we should, there was a lot of bad back in those days that is probably the reason children especially, don’t enjoy the freedoms today that we had back then.
So it’s horses for courses, we must move forward with the times, yes we probably had wonderful childhoods but we must not get stuck in the past and genuinely have to evolve, however much we dislike it.
I remember my parents fretting about the future back in the 70s, we are just clones of them and the never ending circle of life just trundles on.
Foxes Den 
You must be logged in to post a comment.