Mind the Gap

Anyone who lived in London, or even visited the city knows this phrase. “Mind the gap between the train and the platform” says the recording and sometimes the conductor at almost any stop of the Tube – the London underground. This famous saying has some other interesting meanings, use your imagination, but it had a special meaning for me today.

Saturday, January 15th, 2011 – I can still hear the voice says “Mind the gap between the train and the station”. Patti and I used to live in harrow-weald, a suburb of London, for 6 months and take the tube every day to work. The connotation of this saying became so popular, and even the Underground souvenir store and the Heathrow stop sells thongs with this logo printed on the back

Mr. Fixit hat is too small

This saying came to my mind today when we tried to reach into a very narrow gap and… One second. I am jumping too fast.

Backing up.

On our way here, when we got the RV all ready and unhooked we found out that the sliding pocket door is stuck. Won’t go in, won’t go out. Just stuck. With a flash light I looked in the narrow space between the door and the walls around it and could not see anything! I shook the door, used a little force, used more force, yelled at it – but the door won’t move. I tried to talk to it nicely – did not help.
So what do we do? I released the clip that holds the door to the closer set of wheels on the track, and the door was now hung on a single set of wheels – the one inside the pocket.
With my big hands I could not reach it no matter what. I asked Patti for help. I help the flashlight and Patti used the awning rod and released the wheel. the door was completely lose now and I could just take it out, but the wheels were still in there. Turns out that a screw came lose and started sticking out. the screw got caught between the wheel and the track and the door could not move. Now that we can see it – we know!
Easy – all we need to do is put a new screw, right? No!
Look at it: this is the “Gap” and where the screws suppose to go:



So how in the ___ am I suppose to do that? My hand won’t fit in the gap! Maybe Patti’s…


After practicing with an electric drill , flexible extension, screw lock, lotion on the arms and lots of experiments Patti managed to get the screw in. Almost. it was a 2” screw, and about 1/2” was still sticking out bit would not go in further. So now we need to take the thing out again, oh no. Oh yes! well, we did! tomorrow a trip to the Depot to buy a shorter screw. Wait for an update.

In the fixing spirit

While we are at it, I decided to see why do we have a frozen pond under the RV. It wasn’t deep enough for ducks and birds, but enough to make me worried. Went out and checked. Came back in and had to defrost myself. The fresh water hose is leaking. Patti is going to Wal-Mart anyways – so I asked her to get a new hose, and new insulators from Home Depot. Since last time I did not show you how we made the “Winterized hose” I thought that would be a great opportunity.

How to prepare a winterized fresh water hose:

Step 1: Wrapping the heating tape around the water hose. 25’ water hose with a standard heating tape – Start on the male hose side that connects to the RV, and fix the heating tape flat end using some duct tape. Continue and wrap the wire around the hose, making sure there are no twist, and ending with the socket on female side - the connection to the shore water tap.
Step 2: put the hose insulation around the hose and the tape. Once on, start by pulling the straps to expose the sticky side and connect the lips of the insulation wrap. Put some insulation tape and zip lock on the end.
Step 3: Continue the process until the whole hose is insulated. We had to stretch the insulation a little to get 4 pieces of 6’ cover the whole 25’ hose. On each connection, we put insulation tape and two zip locks – one on each side.
Step 4: You are done. Drink a glass of beer and get outside to connect it!

We call it home

Since we are going to stick with being full timers – Patti wanted to have a more homey feeling, so she got some new Knick knacks. I think they are pretty, especially the piece on the table (Vanilla oil scented sticks or something like that)

The Boot Dance

Since Diva had hard time with the snow the other day, we decide to buy this Diva girl some fashion boots, so that the lady won’t have to suffer in the cold. I think it was Donna who mentioned the Boot Dance – we got the full show. Not to laugh? Forget it!

Last update

And just before I will say good night for the day, and close the – day, a small update: Patti sent the formal email notifying he company she is not going to continue. As late as it is – Sunday 11:00pm she already received an email back asking her to stay maybe they can talk her out of it. I was wondering if a company would agree to talk about it after the lay off an employee. When they give a notice- it is a done deal, right? so why would they think the case is different when an employee fires the company? Hmmm..
Good night!