I have a spurious need for some small, thin, unobtanium washers. Well, stainless steel actually but it seems that no one makes what I want, which is M6 Form C shims in about 0.3mm thickness. Oh and I need four of them.

The thickness is not too critical but the Form C bit is. That means that the outside diameter is greater than Form B for a given ID. Form B M6 (standard washers) have an outside diameter of 12mm whereas Form C has an OD of 14mm. And that is the critical bit.

The only thing commercially available seems to be M6 Form B in any thinness you like (I tried these but they don't work) or Form C in 'normal' thicknesses. I even tried US stockists for thin 1/4" x 9/16" which would do also.

So, do we have any clever clogs in here who can think of how to reduce common Form B 'thick' stainless washers down to sub-millimetre thickness or even have the wherewithal to do so...plenty of washers and beer provided to the successful wizard.

Of course, a lathe and some stainless stock would work too...

...to save your licence.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-65222222

Let's face it, with the mega lens on the Glos Constabulary Camera Vans nicking you form 1100 metres, I thought we were all doomed, because whilst it can see me, I'm damned if I can spot a camera van at more than a kilometre.

But 3.7 miles ffs. That is not playing cricket chaps   

So, having decided never to rely on a Garmin device ever again (don't ask, it's way too boring) and having never worked out how my TomTom works, I was left with only the smart phone route.

I decided to go with MyRoute app Navigation and once MRA have finished building it I'm sure it will be wonderful.

Of course, I then had to buy an old phone cos I don't want to wreck my real one but eBay was my friend.

Then I had to sell a kidney (again ebay to the rescue) to buy new mounts for the bikes and the car. QuadLock to the rescue this time.

And then the real obstacle popped up on the horizon. Having been out on the bike last week it suddenly dawned on me that new phones need new tech to be able to operate them with gloves on. I am already suffering with this with the iPad when I am out stargazing and navigating the heavens which is way easier than navigating the roads. I have some really warm shooting gloves which have roll back trigger finger ends and that works well for touch screen use on freezing winter nights but they are about as much use as a chocolate teapot on a bike.

I can't be the first etc. etc. and lo, it turns out I am not...

https://www.oxfordproducts.com/motorcycle/brands/oxford/rider_wear/gloves/oxford_smartfingers/

...and so a bundle are winging their way as we speak.

Other 'nano-technology' paint solutions are available but I decided to go old-school. More anon!

Jon (#gibbo) just spotted this...

https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1535310

Someone must love it...

Well, mine was a terrible delivery experience courtesy of DPD. It was so bad it just went on and on...

So, how does one complain to an entity like DPD? Well, the delivery advice e-mail I received had a contact number and so I called them. Lovely chap (same one who works for Barclays, Lakeland and a dozen other companies) spoke nicely to me, identified the parcel tracking number, told me it was NOT a DPD delivery but a PackLink one, that DPD couldn't help me but I should go to the PackLink website and then hung up on me. How rude!

I duly went to the PackLink website where a chat bot couldn't understand simple English phrases and told me I should call DPD on the number I just got hung up on...

This was a person to person ebay delivery and so I rang ebay and spoke to a lovely human being who apologised, explained that PackLink was an ebay delivery service and had I heard of Resolver? Resolver? I've got a revolver if I don't get my delivery.

Anyway, she sent me a linky thingy and off I went to Resolver.co.uk

Resolver claim to be able to get results for any problem with any company, just try us it said.

Well it cost nothing, was simple to use, just put in the company name and tell em what was wrong. Resolver set up a case file for me and asked me to give more details. I had a right old rant but eventually crafted a reasonable outline of my complaint and told them what I wanted to happen. Click the 'Send' button it said, so I did and promptly forgot all about it and went on writing Christmas cards.

Imagine my utter delight later that day when I received a notification from Resolver that my complaint had a response. Clicked the linky thingy in the mail and there was a reply from Courtney (she/her/he/him but most definitely not 'it').

So, in less time than it takes me to tell, I was in mail communication with a real person in the DPD complaints department working for the directors of the company (she said).

Well, of course, Courtney found my parcel instantly but has no power of life or death over the delivery depots, but at least she was in contact with them. Eventually (I did say it went on and on...) my parcel arrived 8 days later. Another couple of days of backward and forwarding and Resolver gives you the option of escalating the matter to the CEO of the company but I had my lovely new curtains and knowing how organisations work I was sure that it would have been the lovely Courtney who ended up in the loop again and so I closed my case.

Now obviously, Resolver doesn't have a magic bullet (back to my revolver then) and works with companies who have elected to join their service at a cost, but I was mightily impressed by its ability to seemingly instantly by-pass the auto-shop-front systems designed to stop you ever bothering the people in charge of things.

And so, being the sort of non-confrontational, easily pleased and even more easily fobbed-off guys and gals that you all are, I thought I would pass on this little gem of a service.

Now then, what's your problem?

...kills! According to the last e-mail shot from my local police force. I always thought it was a total lack of attention, awareness and skill but hey-ho.

So, even though I know that, just like me, you all abide by all the relevant speed limits all of the time, be warned that plod forces are having a crackdown on speeding in the coming weeks.

Now is the time, therefore, to make sure you lock all your doors and windows and keep an eye open for footpads, rogues, villains and ne're-do-wells in your local area because the force will most definitely not be with you. Unless you are out and about making progress that is.

...so, I finally found out how to stop random music popping up on my sat nav whilst riding. I hope...

There is a feature called auto play that you can turn off, but my iPhone SE doesn't seem to have this feature so I can't blame that.

So, I don't know what causes random music or even the random appearance of the music player on my sat nav screen but it appears that there is a way to stop it. Simply delete the music app. But that also loses all your music, which is a bummer because I love playing music through my Bose speaker when relaxing in the summer house, or working under the car or decorating the ceiling, just NOT while in control of a lethal machine at speed.

However, there is another way. You can 'offload' the music app (and other apps I guess) which stops it working but keeps all the music you have on your device.

Settings > General > IPhone Storage > Music

You have two options, Offload App or Delete App.

Once offloaded the music ghost should never appear again. When I want to play music, I can go back and the Offload App has turned to Reinstall App and clicking on it does just that and takes no time at all.

Alternatively, simply click on the music icon and it will automatically reload the app and all your music is still there.

Simples! And hopefully, blissful silence apart from the sound of the music of my tyres, engine, the wind and the nagging of the sat nav.

I'll let you know if it works.

I should know the answer to this. But I don't.

I have LED lights all over my house. Stone cold when they are on and even colder when they are off 

So, how come LED bulbs for a car or bike run hotter than the sun and need a fan to cool them. I have an LED torch with about 15 'normal' tiny LEDs and that doesn't get even warm. I also have a gob-smacking new torch with just 3 Cree LEDs and on full it gets so hot you can't hold it...so really useful. It also powers down after 45 seconds on full so it doesn't set fire to itself. None of my head-torches with Cree LEDs get warm in use.

Perfectly cold and safe LEDs in the home and on my head, thermo-nuclear devices that can burn up all the oxygen in the world in about 2 minutes in a bike or car.

I understand Ohm's Law (unless physics has changed since the 1960's) but the difference is baffling.

So, what's going on in the LED world that I don't understand?