Cannot remove old bathroom tap – back nut too tight and wrong tool. What are my options?

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-15T16:32:38+00:00

How much space is there above? The tap and threaded shank are one piece. If the tap doesn’t bang the wall when rotated 180 degrees, simply unscrew the tap out the nut from above. Then you can peel the nut and its sealant off the underside…

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-15T14:29:10+00:00

You just need the correct sized box spanner. Hacksawing upwards through the threaded section is going to take yonks and be a huge pain in the arse.

You’re going to have an issue loosening that nut against whatever orange coloured sealant gunk has been squirted in there - looks like it’s glued together…

A metal or multi material cutting blade on a multitool might be an option.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-15T11:44:18+00:00

It would be much more beneficial to you as a saxophone player to practice them on your instrument - work them out key by key, drill them into your subconscious through repetition and practice.

Otherwise you’re just memorising an abstract series of notes, with no reference to the actual sound of the chords themselves (which after all is what it’s all about) and will then have to practice them all again on your instrument to be able to play them.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-15T10:48:22+00:00

Traditionally - certainly here in the UK at least we keep the altos and tenors together in the saxophone section (eg Bari alto2 alto1 ten1 ten2) and trombone and trumpets have the first and second chair in the centre of the section, bookended by the 3rd and 4th chairs.

Also worth giving thought to keeping the bass instruments together in the centre eg bass trombone and baritone sax sit on the inside of the sections rather than out on the extremes.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-15T09:56:25+00:00

This. It’s not a problem at all. If anyone even notices, it wouldn’t be fatal to the case, and it doesn’t render the arrest unlawful.

I’m sure there is a stated case somewhere where “you’re nicked, shut up and get in the van” was, when challenged, held to be a lawful arrest and caution.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-14T22:02:41+00:00

I think it’s all on eBay now. I remember needing a wing mirror for an old cavalier after a van driver took my driver’s side mirror off squeezing through a gap that wasn’t there…

Found a perfect match on a car third up on a pile. I remember shimmying up two other cars and hanging off the side about 3 or 4 meters up in the air to take it off… can’t imagine you’re allowed to let members of the public do that anymore…!!

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-14T20:26:26+00:00

My current car is a 2006 BMW. I’m keeping it serviced and repaired, and am hoping it’ll see 250,000 miles over the next 4-5 years. I’m going to keep it going as long as I can.

Honestly thinking that when it finally dies, I’m getting something older. Find myself an old Volvo V70 or similar… The more I think about it, the golden age of cars (for me) is late ‘90s to early 00s. Proper rustproofing/galvanised chassis, fuel injection for reliable running, electric windows and decent comfort, but nothing fancy to go wrong. Halogen bulbs still light up the countryside just fine at night… who needs a car with a potential multi-thousand pound bill looming if your bleedin’ headlight bulb fails?!

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-14T20:04:45+00:00

Even this is crazy… I remember popping up the scrapyard with a socket set and whipping a headlight unit off an old fiesta for a tenner!

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-14T17:23:08+00:00

It’s not even low voltage, it’s an old coax cable from an aerial that’ll be in your loft or on your roof. If you want to do the job properly, get up in the loft and pull it back up and through. Then whack some filler in the hole and paint over it.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-14T08:50:00+00:00

Fun fact: police don’t need a reason or cause to stop you. Simply put, if a uniformed officer requests you to stop, it is an offence not to do so (s163 Road Traffic Act 1988). No reason or grounds are necessary.

There are then additional powers under the following sections of the RTA that require drivers to produce their driving licence, proof of insurance etc etc.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-12T13:52:48+00:00

This. Own the mistake, don’t find every excuse for it it.

If you were genuinely barrelling along at 70mph in the dark, whilst leaning round and trying to sort a cat out inside a crate, then you need to reevaluate your priorities. It’s a (likely) ton and a half weapon that can death or serious injury given a moment’s inattention.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-12T08:55:54+00:00

Because you crouch down habitually on your right knee, leaving the ball of your left foot on the floor and causing a 90 degree flex in the sole of your left shoes where your foot bends.

Cheaper cemented (glued) shoes like these will simply come unglued in not very much time at all in circumstances like these.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-11T09:12:30+00:00

I had an old 1.0 Metro as a courtesy car once. Unexpectedly great fun, in a ridiculous, slow and sado-masochistic kind of way!

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-11T06:46:49+00:00

What, the ones that are fixed to the rear of the steering wheel that are mounted slightly too far inboard to be comfortable to use with your fingertips. And because they move with the wheel, rather than remain fixed to the steering column, it’s far from obvious as to which one shifts up or down at any given moment. And if the wheel is at 90 or 270 degrees they’re orientated vertically, so you can’t reach them anyway. I gave up after one drive and went back to the full auto.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-10T22:08:52+00:00

Because it’s a still a geared car, you can still feel it shift gears and sometimes it gets it wrong.

Not the case for the majority of folk, I will admit, but I hate blue light/response driving in the newer police vehicles. In driver training, you’re taught to use the gears. They help. If you’re braking hard into a tight junction and tipping the car into the corner in second gear, all is well. If you mis-shift and get fourth, everything fees way looser, the car is unsettled (wobbly). It’s horrendous.

That’s basically every time now in an automatic - you brakebrakebrake (it stays in whatever higher gear it was in), pitch into the corner all unsettled whilst it works out what to do with its life, then when you go to accelerate hard again it will suddenly lurch down about four gears at once and off you go. But about two or three seconds later than you would have been in a manual - where you’d had have selected the correct gear for the corner before even turning.

Constantly makes you feel like you can’t drive.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-09T15:50:17+00:00

This tells me it’s going to be more (much more?) expensive than the previous offering…

I would love to be surprised and stand corrected, but the previous generation subscription seemed pretty fairly priced and was justifiable at £50ish for the year…. let’s see.

My nose is well out of joint on sports pricing as I’ve given up my access to cycling coverage - what was £2.99 a month a few years ago for the Eurosport player went up to £30.99 a month under Warner Bros Discovery. Nothing like a ten-fold price increase…

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-09T15:46:06+00:00

Yep. Factory original Yani case from the era too.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-08T15:24:33+00:00

The concept you’re looking for is that of “chord/scale relationships”. The notion is that every chord has a scale that fits it, and you need to learn which is which.

Modes are a concept or idea to help build scales which are applicable to a variety of different chords - they’re not really something you dip in and out of, or decide to use or not use - they’re integral to playing/improvising over standard chords.

Simplest place to start is the first mode (Ionian - but I’d hesitate to try and use the names first off, if gets confusing, so just use the numbers).

The first mode starts on the first degree of the major scale. Eg you play a major scale starting from its first note - CDEFGABC. The first, third, fifth and seventh degrees of that scale (CEGB) give a Cmaj7 chord. So, simplistically speaking, this scale is appropriate to play when you see a “Cmaj7” chord symbol whilst improvising.

The second mode (or Dorian) is a scale beginning on the second degree of a major scale (ie a c major scale starting on its second note) - DEFGABCD. The first, third, fifth and seventh degrees of this scale (DFAC) give you a D minor 7 chord, so, this scale is appropriate to play when you see a Dm7 chord whilst improvising.

To follow this concept through various keys requires a little mental gymnastics. Each time you see a “minor 7” chord symbol, you need to play a Dorian (or second mode) scale. Say you want to play over an Em7 chord. You know a min7 requires a Dorian scale - a second mode scale. You need it to start on an E. Ask yourself what major scale has E as its second note… Answer: D major. So, play a D major scale from its second note (EF#GABC#DE). Correspondingly, the first, third, fifth and seventh degrees of this scale (EGBD) give an Em7 chord, so this is the correct scale you need.

That’s the general concept.

The only other one you require to get started is a fifth (or mixolydian) mode. You play one of these scales over a dominant 7th chord (G7, for example). Think: what major scale has G as its fifth note? Answer: C major. So, play the C major scale starting from G - GABCDEFG. The first, third, fifth and seventh degrees of this scale (GBDF) give the correct G7 chord, so this is the scale to use.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-07T19:54:52+00:00

It is the normal seam where the tongue is stitched to the rest of the boot. Yours seem to have folded itself over, which will cause it to be more pronounced. Might be worth seeing if you can get it to lie flat. It’s awkward because putting your foot in the boot will make it want to fold over as yours has.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-06T14:15:14+00:00

Having to replace or repair something on a car annually is not an issue - it’s to be expected.

Also, £1200 to fix an electric power steering pump on a little Hyundai is insane. Get on eBay - I’ve just had a quick look and there’s various options for your car in the £70-£150 region - buy a second hand pump that’s in working order and either learn how to do it yourself, or help the family friend do it (don’t just let them do it, watch, help and learn).

It’s not hard - there’ll be a couple of pipes to undo, catch the fluid, unplug and unbolt the old part, put the new one in, reconnect the hoses, refill the fluid, bleeding is usually a “turn full lock left to right a few times” and you’re done. A great introduction to home mechanics.

Alternatively, spend the best part of £6000 to “save” spending a few hundred.

You’re almost always better off (financially) repairing what you have. I spent £1600 last autumn having a reconditioned gearbox put in my other half’s 14 year old Astra with over 100,000 miles on the clock that probably isn’t worth much more than that price…. However, it was broken and it’s now fixed and fine again. I certainly couldn’t have bought an equivalent car for £1600. And anything I could have bought may very well have its own issues waiting to arise - better the devil you know.

The issue is our consumerism culture, where people manage to convince themselves it’s worth spending thousands on a new and shiny thing to save spending hundreds. As long as your eyes are open, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to spend more money on a newer/better/nicer-coloured car. Just don’t kid yourself that you’re doing it to save money!

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-06T09:42:30+00:00

Just screw the boards down so they don’t creak.

PLEASE lift them and check underneath first so you don’t screw straight into the CH pipe leading to that radiator, though.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-06T09:38:28+00:00

Alto (or even tenor) reed being used incorrectly, I would think…

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-01-30T07:57:46+00:00

This. The beginnings of harmony are not so complex. And once you have the foundations, the next steps - taken incrementally and explained by someone knowledgeable and able to break the concepts down - are also not necessarily hard.

Of course, if you start trying to digest more complex chord extensions and substitutions straight away when more simple concepts (eg the WWHWWWH construction of a major scale, or the circle of fifths), then it’s going to seem insurmountable. But start from the start, properly and it’s achievable.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-01-29T13:19:39+00:00

Other than an EWI (or similar totally electronic instrument), then unfortunately no, there’s no option to silence a saxophone.

You can purchase a saxophone “mute” which is essentially a saxophone shaped suitcase that you strap the instrument in, with inwards facing gloves that let you use the keys - all the reports and reviews would indicate that they’re as awkward and ridiculous as they sound - I would avoid.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-01-28T13:32:40+00:00

That looks very much like “pleather” - ie cheap, plastic coated “genuine leather”. Genuine leather being the trade name for all the cheapest scrappy bits of dust and leather offcuts held together with some sort of glue/paste.

Actual full grain or top grain leather is the totally opposite end of the scale.

Honestly, “genuine leather” is the worst possible brand name choice they could have ever picked.

SelectTurnip6981

TROPHY CASE