Full Metal Wheelbarrow

Looking at new vans in case of ours needing replacement.

The new Toyota ProAce , which seems to be the replacement for the Hiace we have now, is one of the ugliest vans I've seen in a long time. As Rob says, it looks like they've stuck a long nose on it and then hit it severely with the ugly stick.

Not the foremost consideration of course, but the spec looks considerably inferior to the Transit too...

Proving once again that truth is stranger than fiction is this story about a Victorian walrus buried (in a coffin!) in a London graveyard, and better still, nobody has been able to find out why...

I'm envisaging a complex plot, probably involving Madame Vastra, Jenny and Strax.

And a bukkit.

I especially liked this quote :- " “We did some research ... but we drew a blank. There was a reference to Prince Albert riding on the back of a giant tortoise, but unfortunately it wasn’t relevant."

Rob didn't go in to work today, being still poorly from yesterday's paint poisoning - he's feeling a lot better now though.

At intervals during the day, he called the rowing machine company and finally got to speak to the "technical man" at five to five….

Instructions were to put the thing together, see if the dent interfered with the fan and meanwhile the "technical man" would check if the fan cover was a user-replaceable part. If so, he'd send us a new one, and if not, he'd organise a technician to come and replace it.

After tea Rob, with occasional assistance from me, put it together, and found there's a bolt missing as well, but he was still able to test it. Does the dent get in the way of the fan? Well, judging by the noise it makes, which Rob compares to an old Qualcast push-lawnmower (other lawnmower brands are available), that'll be a yes, then.

So tomorrow it's my turn to ring the technical man :)