I Can't Imagine Anyone's Finding It Particularly Thrilling.

However I'm finally getting around to repainting the rusty a'sed metal gate on my front garden path. Which was the next job on my list before all that Dragon Drama started.

Of course the first stage is stripping all the rust and what's left of the paint from it. A step I'm learning the last person to repaint it didn't bother with.

I've got all the appropriate drill attachments to do it. However I'm discovering that the battery on my drill only lasts for about 45 minutes. Today I went at it with a corded sander, despite only having wood working sanding pads.

Already having multiple batteries it's the sort of situation where a Ryobi angle grinder starter kit would be extremely useful. Working over concrete, rather than grass. With a fire extinguisher to hand.

I also managed to go to the recycling centre today. Meaning I finally got to donate lots of precious metals. Including the microwave I got a replacement for, back in November 2025(!)

That might sound heroic until you realise that most of was spent on a air conditioned car. Which really made it the most pleasant part of the day. I really felt the heat about 16:00, having pretty much acclimated to it. 

Every day seems to be a heatwave warning these days. However I do remember the one that was declared when I was visiting my Mothers. Salisbury is always 1-2°C cooler than London. Also this summer's heat has mainly been focused on the east, rather than west of England. So I couldn't sleep because I was too cold. Their 28°C heatwave now feels chilly to me.

That said, last week the push button lock on my shed door stopped working. The reason it stopped working is that the metal spring holding the spindle in place had expanded in the heat. So it no longer held the spindle in place.

Of course the spindle that came with it broke when I first installed it. Forcing me to make a new spindle from Steel plate. I contemplated doing that again. Then remembered how annoying it is precisely cutting metal in the summer heat. So I brought a new one, just for the spindle and spring.

So it's the same lock and the same door. Yet, for some reason, I still had to cut the same bolts to shorten them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byBv-LOqMWM (Hard Travelling, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Audio, Topic).