Stu

[slinger]

This is the exact model and year (not my truck) except my alloys are different. Daihatsu stopped making them in 2001. Not too many of them still on the road but there are loads SORN'd and pulling cows out of swamps across the country.



The engine, gearbox, transfer box and drive train is legendry in the 4x4 world. The engine must be good for 500 000 miles as they are are so simple and built like a tank. None of this modern computer driven electronic junk which goes wrong at the drop of a hat with built in obsolescence.

The thing that gets these things and why they end up being scrapped is rust. Still, they don't rust as bad as Land Rover - they leave the factory already rusting. Mine isn't too bad - rear arches could have been patched but in the mad world of Stu's head that wouldn't do. I want to be buried in this thing so the plan is to rip out both back arches and weld in custom 2mm steel of my own design. Welder is warming up and raring to go.

Sills are another common thing to go but I replaced mine eight years ago with 100mm x 60mm x 3mm box section. I won't need tk do them again

[slinger]

Sounds like you've got plenty to keep you busy, mate. Don't forget to treat yourself; you can take Christmas Day off.

[karatestu]

I hope everybody is having an enjoyable Christmas break.

We went to the local Indian restaurant for Xmas lunch and mighty fine it was too. I almost rolled home I was that full. Still no drinking for me whilst the whole world seems to be getting pissed. This is my first teetotal Christmas.

Today I had a quick look at the hifi forums that I used to look at and found nothing of interest. I think I am finished with thinking about and experimenting with sound reproduction equipment . It does nothing for me anymore and I never thought I would say that a few years ago.

My hifi will remain wiim pro, AP20 and B&W CM1 until something goes pop and I will replace it with something or other, really not bothered what as long as its small and cheap I don't don't listen yo much music anymore, it us playing a lot of the time but I'm not listening.

There are no bands around that I would move heaven and earth to see. A bit sad really but at today's ticket prices it would have to be something really special like The Wurzels.

I do enjoy playing gigs still although I never practice my drumming at home at the moment. I know enough to perform the type of music that we play so I'm not really that bothered to learn more rudiments and incorporate them into my playing for the sake of it. It's more about what I don't play these days.

Rock on.

[Lindsayt]

...My hifi will remain wiim pro, AP20 and B&W CM1 until something goes pop ...

You'll be getting plenty of sleep then.

[slinger]

...My hifi will remain wiim pro, AP20 and B&W CM1 until something goes pop ...

You'll be getting plenty of sleep then.

I am actually getting lots of sleep. A friend gave me the B&W's , he's not with us anymore so I had to keep them. They do everything I need and are quite small with a bit of stunt bass.

The aim of the game for me now is to make the hifi as small as possible with the least amount of wires and better than a Bluetooth speaker. That'll do and will stop me obsessing. It really is liberating to be free of that shit.

[Vinyl-ant]

Im kinda similar at the moment stu, mentally checked out of it all a while ago and since i have gone back to a proper job (lazy godfornothing civil servant now) i havent really used the hifi at all. I have used the little headphones system i put together much more. I can piss off out of the way, stick the cans on and relax in my own little bubble. In truth its been a long time since i really gave a shit, i found i was more interested in making and fixing things than i was in using them which is counter intuitive, but i never get the chance to sit down in front of it and listen anyway

Still cant resist a turntable though, hence why i have bought the oracle delphi. A last hurrah so to speak. However i am getting moaned at to sell some of them.
She can bugger off.
Think i might fetch the oracle upstairs and use it with the cans.....

[karatestu]

Im kinda similar at the moment stu, mentally checked out of it all a while ago and since i have gone back to a proper job (lazy godfornothing civil servant now) i havent really used the hifi at all. I have used the little headphones system i put together much more. I can piss off out of the way, stick the cans on and relax in my own little bubble. In truth its been a long time since i really gave a shit, i found i was more interested in making and fixing things than i was in using them which is counter intuitive, but i never get the chance to sit down in front of it and listen anyway

Still cant resist a turntable though, hence why i have bought the oracle delphi. A last hurrah so to speak. However i am getting moaned at to sell some of them.
She can bugger off.
Think i might fetch the oracle upstairs and use it with the cans.....

Mentally checked out. - I like that.

"It's been a long time since I really gave a shit" - I'm with you on that one. I got addicted to the rush of trying something new. I realise now it's not important and I was just trying to get a rush and cover up the real problems I had.

Life is full of all sorts of things not just hifi and music. At 50 years of age I realistically don't have that much time left. I need to stop obsessing about things and just go with the flow, it's not a rehearsal. When you are inclined to see the bad in everything it becomes very tiring. I wish I had that rosy outlook and bubbly personality that some do. They seem to get enjoyment out of all sorts of trivial things. I on the other hand, have to remind myself that I am actually having fun and tell my face to acknowledge it. Small talk is really boring, I have the social skills of a five year old. I'm not interested in a lot of things people have to say, my mind is off elsewhere thinking of the best way to resolve the latest problem I have.

That's enough about my personality defects.

[Vinyl-ant]

I got to the point where the only thing that mattered was making something for someone else as perfectly as i could, that was the be all and end all.
There wasnt anything left for me.
So mr smith could request a turntable or a preamp or whatever and id put my heart and soul into it. It would be as good as i could get, and i was obsessing over every little tiny thing. Partially because work started to get thin on the ground for obvious reasons so it absolutely had to not come back once it went to whoever bought it, and partially because thats the way i get with things.
It was getting to the point as the work got thinner and thinner on the ground that i was just being a right dickhead all the time because i was so stressed.
The job i got, i applied for on a whim and was rather surprised when i actually got it.
The weight lifted off was astronomical, the need to constantly be tinkering did not come back and hasnt come back so far.
I think the cans are enough at the moment

[karatestu]

What a day. I found out a friend had died yesterday and then this morning somebody jumped off a bridge in front of a train less than half a mile from my house.

I need cheering up.

[slinger]

Did you try battering a set of drums to within an inch of their lives, mate?