Oh dear, I finally got to find out today about the MOT advisories on my car. Not good as it involves the suspension and catalytic convertor and even worse is quoted as in excess of £1K to resolve!! Now with my motor being over 8 years old the cost of repair is almost half it’s value (according to ‘What Car‘). So I’m now in a dilemma whether to get it sorted and run it into the ground over time or do a part-ex and get out now. Somewhat bizarrely though, despite all of it’s apparent faults the car passed it’s MOT (2nd time around). Hmmmm.
On a far more positive note my Swans season ticket arrived today, so at least that cheered me up no end after having been to the garage. I’m really looking forward to the start of the season, which is next Saturday when the Robins of Cheltenham come to town.
Even better is that the DDWT family are off to Center Parcs in Longleat tomorrow for 3 days – so that’ll be a cracking laugh. I can’t wait to see how DDWT Junior enjoys the water dome and all the forest wildlife that is always out and about in any Center Parcs venue.
Getting your USB cable to work with your mobile phone. Yes it’s true after all my muttering and whinging yesterday I finally got the desired result today after trawling around cyberspace for several hours. So in an attempt to save someone else the frustration I endured, I’ll now try and explain how I managed to resolve the issue.
Firstly it’s mentioning that my cable is a SE DCU-11 USB data cable and for the benefit of Googlers (DCU-11 KQ-U8A ID: VID_6547&PID_0232). Upon trying to install the cable I was prompted for a driver file called ‘usb2vcom.sys’ which I didn’t have and not even the drivers from the Sony Ericsson site would work (Grrrrr). So after googling the cable details, I eventually came across a site/company called ‘Port Wireless’ who happened to have a driver file called ‘Drive01.zip’. Well believe it or not this driver actually worked first time. So my advice to you is try it the first time around not 20th time like I did (I lost count of how many USB drivers I tried to be honest!).
Another tip – in terms of managing your phones content – is NOT to use the crap software provided by Sony Ericsson, but to use something called ‘floAt’s Mobile Agent‘ instead – it rocks and worked first time *smile*
If only I could say I was happy about the outcome of my car MOT today. It failed and to add insult to (potential?) injury on a split windscreen wiper blade and one tyre tread. There were also several other ‘advisories’ (AKA licence for garage to print money) which would require some urgent attention – but not to pass the MOT of course. The more I think about it, the more commuting to work via my trusty mountain bike appeals to me.
I’ve had the day from hell today with my newly acquired DCU-11 USB cable. I bought the cable in order to make full use of my Sony Ericsson K300i mobile which I bought a few weeks back, but unfortunately I seem to have developed a unhealthy habit of not getting these darn cables to work. Previous experiences involved a Nokia 1101 and Nokia 6310e.
Having delved further into the continous driver problems I encounter when try to install the darn ‘Plug and Let’s Not Play’ cable, I came across numerous other people who are having the same problem (with the same cable from the same company I bought mine from!). Still being the persistent kind of guy that I am I’m going to be relentless in my quest to find a solution! So watch this blog for further frustrations and tribulations on the matter.
One good thing that came out of today though is that my lawn laying is coming on great with another 3 hours spent ‘shifting grass’ (no not the type you smoke) this evening – so our garden is getting better (and bigger) by the evening!
No the weather hasn’t suddenly gone all artic here in Swansea, I’m referring to the band called Snow Patrol, whose album ‘Eyes Open’ I’ve been listening to non-stop over the last few days. I must confess to not having really taken much notice of them before, but the our local radio station ‘The Wave‘ have been playing their ‘You’re All I Have‘ track a lot lately and it’s just one of those tracks which keeps going round in your head! Their new single ‘Chasing Cars‘ is of the same ilk and will no doubt have the same effect.
I’m no music expert, so I couldn’t really comment on the type or brand of music they play – except to say that its catchy in a “ballady” (is that a word?) kind of way. Anyway, I think that’s enough of a plug don’t you!
Mrs. DDWT took DDWT Junior to Fendrod Lake today to feed the ducks and to relieve the monotany of being in the house watching Bob the Builder or Dora the Explorer again and again, as DDWT Junior is more than happy to do most days! Whilst there Mrs. DDWT was able to take a snap or two of the large number of swans that inhabit the lake.
It’s near to car insurance renewal time for me at the moment and it’s at times like these I really love the internet and in particular sites like Screentrade – which is basically a insurance comparison tool, which searches out the most competitive car insurance quotes for you. The beauty is that you only have to enter your details once and it searches through loads of insurance companies. It saves sooooo much time and money!
In complete contrast to my usual exercising activities, today’s exertions consisted of shovelling earth and laying part of a lawn – all in aid of the DDWT garden regeneration project (AKA making our garden child friendly). I thought that starting this job after 6pm would be an easier option given the sweltering temperatures that we are currently experiencing, how wrong I was. I still managed to perspire like a sheep stuck in the sahara.
DDWT Junior was obviously impressed by my efforts as he constantly insisted on telling me it was “gweight” – which was his new word for today. In fact I have to say he also commented that Mrs DDWT’s Chicken concoction was also “gweight” and I must confess that I have to agree with him (well I’ve got to say that haven’t I).
Seriously though it was rather nice and consisted of roasted chicken breast (diced) served with potatoe escalopes, asparagus, leeks, cabbage and mushrooms. As you can imagine with that amount of greens there was a bodily impact in terms of flatulence, but I won’t expand on that subject any further!
I splashed out on a book called “Not for the faint-hearted: My life fighting crime” today which is basically the autobiography of John Stevens, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner (2000-2005). It has received some very good reviews and I’m intrigued into the way he managed to turn around the Met Police from a demotivated poor performing force into one which has never been in such a good state.
