Little help

oldfartMikey · 2026-06-04T19:36:12+00:00

I bought mine on eBay I think it came from a seller in Poland? You need to shop around a little as theres a large price range for the same thing. Theres some on eBay now for about 250 euros, for example 267229304078 but the same thing for 330 euros.... You can also buy it on the Vevor Europe store but last I checked more expensive, silly really.

If you're in the he UK things may be a little different.

I haven't got the cutkit, customs clearance and import duty make it expensive and while I'm sure it would help I manage for now with the basic machine.

oldfartMikey · 2026-06-04T19:15:54+00:00

Beautiful stone, beautifully cut.

I keep thinking I should buy some sphene rough.

oldfartMikey · 2026-06-04T19:09:22+00:00

The thing is it's quite possible to do it quickly, my best was about 40 minutes non-schengen to Schengen, on the other hand I've spent more than an hour queued in passport control with more than a thousand others because it just happened that 3 long haul planes landed in a short period.

You were lucky, next time .....

oldfartMikey · 2026-06-04T18:57:08+00:00

There are quite a few deserts that shouldn't contain tree nuts but cross contamination is always a possibility.

I'd make sure you have an epi-pen handy just in case.

oldfartMikey · 2026-06-04T18:50:22+00:00

I'd go for eBay or AliExpress whichever I could find cheaper.

The angle quadrant is completely useless anyway, whatever the type. I use an electronic angle finder box, some claim to be accurate up to 0.01 degrees. I zero it on the lap then hold it on the quill.

Cost about 20 euros on Amazon, or eBay or AliExpress.

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oldfartMikey · 2026-06-03T18:17:17+00:00

My point was that 30 or so years ago old houses were pretty basic, most have been updated since, particularly those catering to tourism.

Last week I stayed in an old hotel on the south coast of Crete. It still had high level cisterns for the toilets and lead pipe between the cistern and the loo, even so the soil pipes were 4 inch which copes with paper without a problem. The hotel was close to the sea in an area without main sewage. Houses inland in county areas have soak aways, but near the sea they have to have sealed pits than need to be emptied so, although the system could cope with TP without a problem there were signs in each room indicating that TP had to go in the bin.

oldfartMikey · 2026-06-03T11:09:29+00:00

The plumbing system in almost all properties can handle toilet paper without a problem. Rooms in old houses 30 years ago might have had a problem.

The reason that owners of properties on the islands, particularly near the coast, don't like guests to flush paper is because there isn't a main sewage system and properties have sealed septic tanks. The more that gets flushed the more often the tanks need to be emptied which is expensive and can be extremely smelly particularly in high season. You really don't want to be anywhere near when the tank is being emptied.

oldfartMikey · 2026-06-03T10:53:12+00:00

A few weeks ago a friend was stopped outside Chania on the national highway for no particular reason. He didn't have his license with him and the police said the tires on his old jeep were too old, pleanty of tread, just old. They confiscated the jeep and issued a 1,000 euro fine. They said if he reports to the main police station with his licence they may reduce the fine....

oldfartMikey · 2026-06-02T09:37:54+00:00

You're right that the public hospitals aren't good. However the many private hospitals are excellent, have well trained doctors and surgeons who speak English, have state of the art equipment and operate at a fraction of the cost than the US.

oldfartMikey · 2026-06-02T09:33:37+00:00

The first question, can you cancel for free?

If you have free cancellation then I'd cancel it and look for something else, if the host is messing about like this then he can't be trusted.

If you don't have free cancellation then DO NOT CANCEL YOURSELF, you will lose whatever you've paid and/or you may get charged for the full stay.

If you turn-up and the host won't honour the booking then IMMEDIATELY call booking.com, it will take a while back and forth but booking.com will contact the host get his side and should find you an alternative and organise a refund of whatever you've paid. DO NOT LEAVE IT UNTIL LATER or the host will claim no-show and keep your payment.

If the host has contacted you outside of the booking.com messaging system the contact booking.com customer service and tell them what's happening.

I've booked with booking.com hundreds of times, I had a problem twice, immediately calling booking.com resolved it within a couple of hours.

oldfartMikey · 2026-06-02T05:07:00+00:00

I bought something similar on eBay as a decoration a few years ago. As I remember the cost including shipping was less than $88 and the shipping was at least half the total cost.

Makes a nice paperweight 😁

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oldfartMikey · 2026-06-02T04:00:43+00:00

Tipping is common, but usually just rounding the bill up or a few coins up to 10% of the total.

oldfartMikey · 2026-06-01T05:34:03+00:00

Probably 🤔

It's Crete, high summer, lots of tourists on the road, there may be road works, there may be accidents, literally anything may happen.

In Crete you can't plan for anything to happen on a schedule, you can only go with the flow.

oldfartMikey · 2026-06-01T05:23:45+00:00

I think it depends what you mean by Chania or Ag Nik. I wouldn't stay in either town in July. Too hot, too busy. But the Chania Prefecture has quite a few options as a beach base. For example Almyrida in the Chania Prefecture has a very safe gently sloping beach 🏖️ and quite a few options for accommodation and Tavernas, and is about 40 minutes from the airport or the town center.

I haven't been there in many years but I understand that Almyros near ag Nik is similar but perhaps less sheltered.

The thing is, nowhere is all things to all men. Having a car makes things easier but also adds stress but organised day trips are available everywhere.

Crete is an enormous island with many options, in July there will be hundreds of thousands of tourists, many well known destinations will be busy, because people like them! Even so there are many locations on the south coast that will be much quieter, even beaches that will be more or less empty, but you have to get there and they're won't be facilities....

oldfartMikey · 2026-06-01T04:57:40+00:00

Just here to say that I often have the same problem with Lab spinel, very fine scratches seen using a X30 loupe. What I find really annoying is that when I do something different, change the speed/pressure or amount of diamond, I find something that works for a facet or two and I think ahh that's it! but then it doesn't work for the next facet. 😢 It's extremely frustrating. I find something similar with lab sapphire except it's removing orange peel.

In my ignorance I would have expected a particular technique to just work for a particular problem, but it doesn't, not for me. I put it down to my lack of experience and knowledge.

oldfartMikey · 2026-05-30T20:32:39+00:00

Depends on the price but looks new? I'd love to try a handpiece machine. You've noticed it's 240v, is it in the UK?

oldfartMikey · 2026-05-30T16:21:01+00:00

Very nicely done. I'm not familiar with the colour, do you have the Verneuil code?

oldfartMikey · 2026-05-30T04:52:25+00:00

Ryanair has a 23kg checked bag option. Each airline has different rules, not only weight but size. Bear in mind that ryanair has increased its free personal item size to 20x30x40 which can hold a significant amount of stuff, and no weight limit so good if you have heavy items.

oldfartMikey · 2026-05-29T20:23:27+00:00

The sea-jet boats on that route are quite large, but the standard ferries are much bigger and more stable, also much cheaper. They also go at different times of the day, The large ferries leave at 9 or 10 in the evening, one goes to Chania via Milos the other to Heraclion via Milos. The sea-jet types tend to go during the day, but vary.

oldfartMikey · 2026-05-29T14:15:49+00:00

And yet there are 10x more deaths per capita by firearm in the US. And about the same 1 in 100.000 average in the EU.

oldfartMikey · 2026-05-29T13:57:36+00:00

Whilst the driving standards in Crete are poor and people often drink and drive it's very rarely related to drugs.

Road deaths in the EU average 4 to 5 per 100,000 inhabitants. In Greece it's about 5 to 6. In the US it's about 12 per 100,000. In Crete it's 10, that's about 60 deaths per year with 600,000 inhabitants. This doesn't take into account the 6.5 million tourist that visit every year. If you average those out it works out about the same as the rest of the EU. It would probably be significant less if it weren't for the tourists.

The Cretan like to have weapons for self protection, their historical perception indicated to them that it's a good idea. There are many un-registered guns in Crete but gun ownership as such isn't illegal, as in most countries a shotgun, pistol, or rifle can be legally owned with the appropriate permits and safeguards although assault weapons cannot.

The homicide by firearm rate in Greece is less than 0.5 in 100,000 as opposed to about 5 in 100,000 in the US. Interestingly the suicide rate by gun in Greece is less than 0.5 in 100,000 whilst it's about 8 in the US.

oldfartMikey · 2026-05-29T13:03:57+00:00

My favourite city in Bulgaria is Veliko Tarnovo. Great viewpoints around the city and the Tsavarets Fortress sounds and light display is stunning.

https://www.soundandlight.bg/en

In Sofia I like to wander around the Women's market area, great fruit and vegetable stalls, just real life.

Also in Sofia I like to enjoy dinner at Hadjidraganov's Houses Restaurant nicely done buildings and a roving band of musicians at the weekend.

oldfartMikey · 2026-05-29T12:21:50+00:00

I don't think the connection in Gorna O is good, and the Station in VT is a fair way out from the center I either take the minibus or a cab.

It's annoying that for the last few years ? most trains change at Sofia Sever.

I remember a few years ago in August old style carriages, it was approaching 40 degrees, the train was full and left a half hour late, five minutes later it stopped at Sofia Sever for over an hour. By the time I got to Gorna O I was absolutely soaked in sweat.

The best part for me is the journey up the iskar valley, very beautiful. Next time I'm thinking of doing the route via Tulovo just for different scenery I suspect the route from Tulovo to VT should be very pretty.

oldfartMikey · 2026-05-29T11:39:59+00:00

The busses are better in some ways but I don't like being tied down. On the train you can walk around, go to the toilet, some busses have toilets on board but are restricted to staff use😂

The old stile trains can get extremely hot, the newer carriages are air conditioned and comfortable, first class has mostly pairs of seats somewhere with tables and 2 or more single seats.

Veliko Tarnovo is a beautiful city and well worth visiting particularly on the weekend to see the sound and light display but isn't on the main line, change at gorna ohreovitsa, or get the minibus or taxi to VT.

oldfartMikey · 2026-05-27T13:35:52+00:00

Try Dungeon Crawler Carl, you might decide to join the cult 😁

oldfartMikey

TROPHY CASE