1) The air conditioning in the house has gone up the spout. Normally not the end of the world but here the summer temperatures break the 90f mark pretty regularly.
The company who I've been dealing with for near twenty years has informed me my maintenance subscription now doesn't afford me any favours in these situations. Indeed, they want an $80 "despatching fee" to come out, that before they might do anything. Over the years they've gotten worse and worse about such things, and now want to literally hold you up (in the sense of "Stand and Deliver!") because you are thought helpless in this heat.
I went out in the workshop behind the house where not only the cars and tools reside but my spares, fetched out a couple windowbox style A/C units, and we are sofar quite comfy whilst awaiting their kind ministrations. They might well be disappointed in the fact we can fend for ourselves and aren't as helpless and at their mercy as they hoped we were.
If they can fix it reasonably, that'd be fine if not optimal, but if they decline in favour of selling me a new system, they might discover we are not vulnerable in our misery and have the time to find a new vender that might not be "too big for their britches", not to mention as predatory as they've become. When this system does go, that will happen anyway.
2) You might remember the tale of last fall when the experiences of the Fortnight of Technology Hell were recounted. In that legend, a sector of the screen on my 13-month-old Iphone died and, in an attempt to remain civilised, I endured the lies, fobbings off, obfuscation, and denials of service from AT&T, Apple, and Best Buy in trying to get this thing repaired. The end result? I bought an industrial grade flip-phone and spent the next month dealing with the physical effects of the anger induced by this horrid service.
Fast forward to today, my son's iPhone battery has pretty much declined further life support, so a call to the people who I have engaged in an insurance plan (he needing the instrument at university and being far enough away that getting it fixed if needed on his own with no fuss a requirement).
They made him an appointment at a place within a 45-minute drive, very pleasant, did the deed in 40 minutes from drop-off. On a hunch, I brought my iPhone as well to get their take. Sure, they do uninsured walk-ins as well as insured repairs, can fix it for under a hundred bucks, a year's warrantee, have it done this afternoon, they say.
All done, will pick it up tomorrow and, given it is in serviceable shape, they have a new family unit customer in us. There are people out there with a grasp on service. Take heart!
3) Our railway modelling group has taken on a bit of a civic project. There is a show locally, three times a year, held at a volunteer fire company hall. Covid has really hurt them with respect to fundraising and they are still digging out. The show organiser has been holding an auction each year for the last couple years, things donated to be auctioned off by individuals and clubs, all proceeds to the fire company who has hosted us.
This year, the show organiser has produced an old exhibition railway that has lain dormant for over fifteen years. Our group is now in possession of it and we are giving it a good restore, scenically, mechanically, and electrically. It is hoped it will auction off for some serious money.
So, it is in my workshop, the cosmetics done up now. I am about to start rewiring it, then its on to testing and proofing. Looks like this: