Smart Lunar 35 Bike Light

I ride to work most days and up until the clocks changed I didn't really need a very bright light.

I used to ride to London, via an over ground train, in to the office everyday.  So I was using a CatEye OptiCube HL- EL300 and it was fine.
It didn't need to light up the road too much because of street lights, it just needed to make me be seen and, although it was a bit battered and scratched, it did it's job very well.

Since then I have changed jobs and didn't ride to work any more until recently.  I moved office which was closer to home, which prompted me to cycle to work again.

All was fine until the clocks changed over at the weekend, meaning my cycle home was now in the dark.
The journey was going well until I got to a stretch of road that was unlit.
The CateEye OptiCube HL-EL300 was not up to the job on this stretch of unlit road.  I could barely see the road in front of me and if it wasn't for the headlights of the cars going past I'd have probably crashed in to the curb!
It was time to get a new light, so I cracked open my laptop and searched the internet.

While searching for a new bicycle light I found that there are two types of light, those with a built in rechargeable battery and those that require batteries.  I can see why it's nice to have a built-in rechargeable battery but after a limited number of recharge cycles the battery will eventually die.  This means you will eventually have to purchase a new light.  Rather than have this happen I wanted a bike light that needed batteries.  The only down side to this option is that there are a limited number of high powered cycle lights that use batteries.

Searching around on the internet, and reading reviews, I came across a bicycle light from Smart; Smart Lunar 35.  It requires two AA, LR-06, batteries and has three different modes; steady low power beam, steady high power beam, and flashing high power beam.
The stated running times are:

• 12 hours in low power mode.
• 5 hours in high power mode.
• 18 hours in flashing mode.

It comes with a mounting bracket that doesn't require any rubber padding and just a screw driver to fit.

Also included are two alkaline AA, LR-06, batteries.

When I first received the light I was wondering how it would compare to my old CatEye, would it be brighter?  The short answer is yes, yes it was!
It was a lot brighter than my old CatEye OptiCube and was focused in to one point.  With the light off you can see that it is just one LED bulb with a reflector behind, which focuses the light in to a point.

I waited until it was dark and tried it out on my bicycle, what a difference it made!  This light, lights up the ground very well.  The light is focus in to a point about a foot, or so, wide but this is large enough to see everything you need to see.

I would recommend this bicycle light for use on lit and unlit roads but if your after car head light brightness then I think your only option is a rechargeable bicycle light.

Breastfeeding Low Milk Supply - Fact or Myth?

While it's true I am a man and as such I don't have first hand experience of breastfeeding.  However my wife successfully breastfeed our first child for 9 months and is currently breastfeeding our second, who is now just over a month old.

Our first child wanted to feed all the time anything between 30 minutes, at worst, to 3 hours at best.  This continued to for the first 8 weeks or so and was hard for my wife.  After those first few weeks it became a fair bit easier as he would feed more regularly around every 2 hours.

What made it difficult was the cluster feeding and using the breastfeeding to settle when nothing else would work.  I don't think we ever thought there wasn't enough milk just that it was hard going.  For this I am very proud of my wife.  It seems that women get to this stage and feel like they don't have enough milk and go on to the bottle, were in fact it's pretty normal if a hard work.  But, for us, after those first few weeks it got much easier.

I saw this article which prompted my to write this blog today.  I basically says that women do have enough milk, or rather have the capacity of producing enough milk.  The cluster feeding is the babies way of getting the milk supply of the mother to what it requires.  So you could say there isn't enough milk but the baby is telling the mum it wants more and she then produces more.

Good luck with the breastfeeding, remember you can do it!

DIY: How to Clean Your Car's Air Conditioning System in 10 Minutes

As the weather has just started to warm up, finally, I've started to use my car's air conditioning. But started to notice that it was smelling a bit when I turned it on in the morning after it had been on the day before. You know the smell, musty, old socks kind of smell, not nice!
So rather than going to the local car maintenance shop and spending £12+ on some air conditioning cleaner that doesn't work. That's right I tried one last year and it smelt nice and orangey in the car but that musty smell came back with a day or two. I decided to try something else much cheaper, £3 in fact from my local supermarket!

Having search YouTube I came across a video that someone had made about using a household aerosol disinfectant. The chap on the video was American and was using a brand called Lysol, but we don't have that in the UK. So on a trip to the local supermarket I found this; Dettol Disinfectant Spray.


How Clean the Air Conditioning System
First of all you need to find out where either your recirculate air duct is, inside the car. It's where air is recirculated in the car rather than pulling in fresh air from outside. It's usually in the passengers side foot well. If you put the recirculate on and turn the car fan up full you should be able to feel around and feel where the air is going.
Alternatively, like I did, you can locate the out side air intake for the fan. It's usually underneath the plastic shroud beneath the front windscreen wipers. On my Seat Ibiza it is just a case of unclipping the plastic and pulling it away and out. Yours may have some screws or require the windscreen wipers to be removed. On my car this revealed the pollen filter. I'd say remove this because anything you spray my well just be soaked up by the pollen filter! I simply took this out, by prising it out of the clips, which exposed the intake duct (you could see the fan inside!).
If you can see the fan and put your hands near, be careful the fan moves very fast and could hurt you!

Now you need to do the following:

• Start the car and turn on the air conditioning.
• Open all the windows in the car as this will get quite smelly and could be dangerous if inhaled!
• Turn the air conditioning down to it's lowest setting, cold as it will go!
• Turn the fan speed to it's maximum.
• Shake the disinfectant can and aim the spray in to the air intake, whether it is the recirculate or the outside intake.
• Spray around half the can in to the duct. I did this in busts of a few seconds at a time so that not too much liquid would build up near the fan.
• Leave the fan on full and air conditioning on for around 10 minutes.

That's it! If you took the outside air intake route then you will need to assemble this.

You may want to leave the car windows open for a few hours after performing this as it will be a fairly strong smell inside the car.

SAFETY
Be careful with Aerosols they can be dangerous.
Please note any warnings on the aerosol can.

Favourite Peugeot 306 Diesel/Hdi Starting and Running

After many hours of searching around, and watching videos on the famous www.youtube.com, here are some of my favourite 306 diesel videos.

The first one is this. Seems like the injectors are a bit shot but shows quite a bit of smoke:


The second is this, which is a follow on from the first one:


The third video is, talk about cold -22!


Forth video I found is this, a bit of a slow starter but much smoke!


Fifth is this, another smoky revving one:


Sixth video:


Seventy video, which is HD starting a 306


Eighth video is this flaming exhaust 306 Hdi:


Ninth video is a 0 to 60, well you have to show that the old Hdi has a bit of power in it!


Finally the tenth video of the classic 1.9 diesel engine running:


And lastly this one, which isn't a 306 but I wanted to put on here as I do secretly, and oddly, like watching it.

My Two Peugeot 306 Diesel and Hdi

I have owned two diesel Peugeot 306's over the past 8 years! And you can't help but love them!

The first one I owned was a 1998 1.9 diesel, non turbo, model. She was a pretty simple car with manual windows and no air con but did have power steering.

I'd never owned a 306 before and from the moment I started it and drove it, I loved it!!
It is difficult to say why I loved driving her so much but I think it had something to do with the sound of it, on tick over, that I found relaxing - especially in traffic.

She was pretty cheap and easy to maintain mainly because she was a diesel pretty much mechanical rather than electronic. That means that in the 6 years I owned her, and with nearly 140,000 miles (225,000 km) on the clock, she didn't break down once!
The only reason I sold her was because I needed a car with 5 doors rather than the 3 it had. So I opted for another 306! This time a 2001 306 2.0 Hdi! Here she is being started up from cold:


I have owned her for 2 years now, although it's mainly my wife that drives her at the moment, and haven't had any major problems so far.
When I got her I changed the timing belt and gave her a good service. The timing belt wasn't too difficult, it took a few hours to do because it is a bit fiddly and at one point my stupidity thinking I had lost a screw but in fact I hadn't!
I did need to change the crack shaft pulley, a few months back, because it was making a terrible noise - more so when revving the engine. It was a close call because when I removed the belt I found it had a 6 inch split down it! So was lucky it didn't rip completely and rap around the pulleys.

Hopefully we will get quite a few more years of work out of her, she's currently up to 104,000 miles (about 167,000 km).

Weight Loss, Diet, Health and Excerise

Every time I turn on the television I seem to be told that I am overweight or eating too much sugary/fatty, 'bad', food.  I should be eating 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day, not to much red meat, don't drink too much, blah, blah...

I don't disagree with all that the media say about eating but I am getting a little tired of it being rammed down my throat!

As a kid I wasn't the smallest, bit over weight with a bit of a belly, actually!  But when I got to 18 and started a part time job in my local supermarket, I started to loss the weight.  Since then I've pretty much, apart from a bit of fluctuation around the 1 stone mark, stayed the same weight.

Because I was chunky as a kid I've been quite aware of my weight over the years, which means I've always wanted to try and be thin.

To keep my weight in reign I've always tried to do do a fair bit of exercise.  I have been a member of 4 gyms in about 12 years.  I went through a period of two years when I cycled every day to and from work, while I worked in London.  About 10 years ago I took up jogging and over the years, while going to the gym, took part in two 10 mile runs, two half marathons and two 10 km runs.

During that time my weight has pretty much stayed the same.  The reason for this is, is because as I do more exercise I eat more food!  Pretty simple really.

Drinking alcohol hasn't changed much either, although while training for the runs I did notice the effect of alcohol the next day!  If I'd had just a pint or two I would feel it the next day if it was a longer run, say 1 hour plus.

So what is my suggestion for keeping the weight off?

• Don't worry about cutting everything out of your diet for good.  If you eat a lot of a 'bad' food, say chocolate, then go cold turkey for a week or two so that you don't crave it so much or rely on it.  For example it's easy to eat a bit of chocolate after dinner in front of the television.  Soon you develop a habit of eating chocolate and your body expects it.  Cutting that out for a week or two stops the habit.
• Don't go on a diet!  Going on a diet is quite short sighted, in a way.  You end up focusing on your goal weight, which means you loss the weight, and is great, but doesn't help for the time after that.  What happens after you reach your goal is you will start to slip in to your old habits, thinking I'm thin now I can eat that and I'll be fine.  It builds up and before long you undo all the great work.
• Rather than a diet look at what you eat as long term, something that you want to keep up for the foreseeable future.  That doesn't mean boring food all the time either or missing out on 'bad' food.  If you eat a piece of cake on one day, that's fine, just don't do it every day.
• Try eating less but a little slower, you will realise that you don't feel hungry and you don't need as much.
• Try to fit in some exercise, that doesn't mean you have to shell out lots of money by joining a gym.  No try walking for 30 mins most days, briskly.  Or find something you like doing, first time you do it, it may be hard but if you keep it up you will grown stronger and will be able to manage to go further.  Take jogging - first time I went to a gym I could only manage 2 minutes on the treadmill before feeling like I was dying and my heart was about to come out of my chest!  But after building it up I've run 13 over 13 miles in half marathons!

Go on give it a try!

My Seat Ibiza 1.4 Mpi, cool/s, Year 2000 (1999 - 2002)

I was just thinking about my Seat Ibiza and thought I’d blog about it!

Here is a video of me starting the beast!


I brought my Seat Ibiza back in April 2012 as a replacement to my Toyota Corolla, 1997 Sportif - which had failed it’s MOT.

My Seat Ibiza is a 1.4 Mpi, 8 valve, cool/s model, which means it has climate control - or Autoclima as Seat seem to call it. During the summer it works a treat, after a re-gas that is! I’d never experienced the air conditioning in a VW/Seat car before, really nice and cold!!
When it comes to winter, thought, it’s a whole other ball game! If the temperature goes below 2.5 deg C, that’s Ext temperature sensor, the AC doesn’t come on. The AC icon on the central display doesn’t show even after you press the manual override AC button.
There is also another sensor below the windscreen wipers, under the plastic cover, that also stops the AC from coming on. This turns off the AC if the temperature falls below -1 deg C and turns it on again if it goes above 7 deg C. So if the temperature outside falls below -1 deg C then goes up to 3 deg C, the AC doesn’t come on. The icon on the central display shows up but the AC doesn’t kick in. If you drive around for a while, and after being parked up for some time, the sensor seems to warm up and the AC will come on.
This is a bit of a pain during the winter months when it gets cold. Even after driving around for an hour the AC will not come on because the Ext temperature is, say, 2 deg C.

Engine
What can I say about the engine in this car?
Well for starters it sounds a lot like a Diesel! When I had the air conditioning re-gassed the bloke who did the re-gas mentioned that he thought it was a diesel! That is until he saw the 1.4 Mpi on the engine and realised it was petrol. What a complement!?
So, what’s it like to drive when you put your foot down?
Well, it’s pretty slow! This is down to the hair dryer that lives under the bonnet. It is a 1.4 injected, 8 valve petrol engine and produces 60 PS of power, which is about 59 bhp or 44 Kw. 0 to 62 mph (0 - 100kmh) takes 14.6 seconds, which seems like a long time when you try it!
The fuel economy isn’t that great either, at the moment it is running at around 40 mpg - combined driving. Which I think for a 1.4 engine is quite poor especially as I drive it like an old man, staying at around 60 mph on the motorway! If I compare it to car I used to have a Renault Clio, RenaultSport, 172, which was a 2 litre engine with VVT. That used to average 37 mpg, combined driving, and I was doing 70 mph (perhaps maybe more... ;o)) on the motorways.

All in though I do like driving my Ibiza! :o)

Nandos 1/4 Chicken - Rip Off

Today my wife and I decided we would treat ourselves to lunch out and decided on Nando's!

OK not the most extravagant meal out but a meal out all the same. Don't tend to get to go out much these days as we have a toddler!

Having driven in to town and parked up we walked to the restaurant battling the slightly drizzly and very blustery, cold winter weather. Despite the weather forecast for cloud and sunshine!
We opened the door and were greeted by a lovely warm blast of air and some gentle Portuguese background music.
The waitress picked up two menus and the obligatory chicken centrepiece, that holds the salt and pepper, and showed us to our seat - near the window.
I opened the menu and had a good look through it. Up and down the pages through the different versions of chicken, chicken burger, regular and posh side dishes before deciding on what to have. 1/4 of a chicken, chips and rice, twice!

My wife walked off to "powder" her nose and by the time she got back our food had arrived! No that doesn't mean she was a long time but in fact the food came surprisingly quickly!
All looked good on first inspection but then I noticed it, like a thump in the arm from someone nudging you out of the way as they walk past. My 1/4 of chicken was the thigh and leg and my wife has the breast and wing.
Now I don't know about you but when I order two 1/4's of a chicken I expect them to have the same amount of chicken in both portions! But no, my leg and thigh were far smaller than the breast 1/4!
So what did I do?
As you have probably guessed by writing this blog and by the fact I'm British, nothing! When the waitress come round to ask if everything was OK, of course my response was, "Yes everything is lovely thank you!". What I really wanted to say was, "No everything is not OK. My wife seems to have a chicken on her plate and I have a drum stick!". But I didn't.

So what's the moral here?
Well one is, make sure you ask for the 1/4 chicken that contains the breast otherwise expect to have very little chicken!
The other is; don't eat it and send it back!

You live and learn, not sure I'll be so keen to visit Nando's again any time soon, even if I do have a loyalty card now!!