I blame you lot.

[Feltwell]

Last weekend I decided to replace a number plate bulb on my car, having got fed up of the car nagging me with beeps and messages every time I got out of it. So, how long to change a number plate bulb? 5 minutes at most?

Step 1 - look at number plate bulb holder. No obvious way to get it out of the car, and I can see that the other one has been damaged by someone getting it out in the past.

Step 2- consult car manual. All very clear, but will the bulb holder budge? Will it 'eck. Finally get it out, breaking it in the process, then discover that the manual is wrong - you don't slide it to the left, you clearly have to slide it to the right. Discover later that on t'interweb there are loads of BMW owners complaining that they've broken their bulb holders because the manual is wrong :roll: So much for Teutonic efficiency.

Step 3 - bulb is black, don't bother testing as it obviously blown, take half hour round trip drive to buy a new bulb as I haven't got one.

Step 4 - glue broken bulb holder back together, fit new bulb, discover it doesn't work. Check old bulb and discover that it hadn't blown and my trip to get the new one was not necesary. Check wires with multimeter - no current, despite other bulb holder only 6 inches to the left working fine. No evidence that they share the same supply - can't find any wires that go between them. It's very cold and it's raining. Much investigating of fuse boxes, that are in the most inaccessible places that the car designers could find, to no avail.

Step 5- consult t'interweb, what did we do before it? Discover lots of stories of broken wires where they flex as they enter the boot lid, check mine and sure enough that's the culprit. A pig of a job to put right, 2 hours later it's done.

Moral of the story - don't buy a BMW, I mean never assume that a "5 minute job" will ever take less than 4 hours!

 

[Penners]

I suppose the good news is that you didn't find any dry rot.

That's unusual on this forum.

 

[Keith Bowman]

Just be grateful it wasn't a head or sidelamp bulb. You might still be trapped inside the bumper

 

[worms]

A pig of a job to put right, 2 hours later it's done.

Moral of the story - don't buy a BMW, I mean never assume that a "5 minute job" will ever take less than 4 hours!

I didn't need to read this...just in for a tea & kit-kat break between tasks - the next task being Volksawagen bulbs. User manual gives no instructions and recommends bulb replacement as a dealer job. I've done it before, but it can be a ***** in cold weather!

 

[tycarregydwr]

On a positive note, a job we expected to be a completely horrible has been done in a matter of hours! In some parts of the old house the original ceilings were replaced with plasterboard covered with polystyrene tiles, which are ugly and also a serious fire hazard. Particularly in the old kitchen, now the brewery. Poor other half has been brewing on a gas ring outside - clearly unsustainable with winter weather setting in with a vengeance this weekend. We didn't think at first that we'd be able to get them off at all, thought that we'd have to take all the ceilings down, then figured out they would come off, but it seemed slow when I started in the front room. However they were more yielding in the brewery and are now all out, in just a few hours! Wahey, no more outdoor brewing. A truly remarkable result, whoever heard of starting a job around lunchtime on a Sunday and being done before dinner :shock:

 

[Penners]

whoever heard of starting a job around lunchtime on a Sunday and being done before dinner

If you're going to spin us a yarn, tycarregydwr, at least try to make it a bit believable. The above are clearly the ramblings of a deranged mind.

 

[tycarregydwr]

whoever heard of starting a job around lunchtime on a Sunday and being done before dinner

If you're going to spin us a yarn, tycarregydwr, at least try to make it a bit believable. The above are clearly the ramblings of a deranged mind.

:lol:

Honestly! After the job was miraculously finished, we went to look at some lovely stoves we can't currently afford, and dinner is now being prepared. I can hardly believe it myself.

If it makes you feel any better, we were meant to be building a shed this weekend, a job thus far delayed more than two weeks while we await the wood.... and on Saturday, while preparing the site for the shed-to-be, other half disconnected the mains water to move some mains tubing, and still managed to release a soaking torrent of ice-cold water, thus slightly elongating the estimated time for the job.

 

[Penners]

slightly elongating the estimated time for the job.

You see, I find that the word "slightly" still casts a shadow of doubt on your veracity. :wink: