Mark Szeliga Szolkowski's Blog

I was miffed on Sunday for Rossi when first his back tyre went, and then his engine blew. Since then, I have been pretty disgusted with the way that Ferguson is running the squad at United - getting rid of Ruud Van Nistelrooy and trying to convince us we'll be OK in the upcoming season with the current squad. More than time he went. However, I've just seen the news article on the BBC web site about David Gemmell dying at 57 after a heart bypass, and figured that there are worse things than not winning everything. If you've never read any of his books, then you really should. Try some of the ones with Druss in them, or Waylander (I prefer Druss, but a lot of people rave about Waylander).

I became frustrated this week hearing people say that it is currently "hotter than a desert".

I have been putting them right by pointing out that it would be more correct to say that it is currently hotter than in a hot desert. This is because the weather in Sale is nearly always warmer than in a cold desert such as Antarctica.

Surprised? Well, most sources agree that a desert is simply an area that receives an annual rainfall of less than 25cm (10"). See Wikipedia's entry for more details.

(Click image to zoom in)

I bought a Numax 85Ah leisure battery a few months ago, along with the power wiring kit from Chris at C5 Alive. At the time, I couldn't get the original battery strap around the new (larger) battery and asked Chris about it. I remember he said that it didn't fit, and that it wasn't normally a problem except under heavy braking.

Well - after the last trip to my Dad's, when I took a 90 degree right hand off a main road a little too quickly 'cos a car was coming the other way (hanging off the side like I was on my motorbike), I had to grab the brakes mid-corner. The battery shot forward and cut the back of my left Achilles. Worse than that, one of the spade connectors came off the back of the switch and left me in the middle of a busy junction without forward propulsion. Pedals don't really cut it when you're in a hurry, do they?

So, tonight I finally got around to having a closer look. Without the power wiring kit fitted, I could get the battery all the way back and the original battery strap secured with length to spare. I realised that the problem was that the black connector wouldn't be able to go all the way back under normal circumstances because the on/off switch was in the way. Thus, I took the following steps:

1. Unscrewed the on/off switch holder and moved it out of the way


2. Used some spare 32A (overkill maybe but better safe than sorry!) mains cable to act as a "spur/flying lead" from the black power connector for when the battery is locked in place and I want to charge it in-situ


3. Fitted the black connector, and slid the battery in place before fitting the battery strap holder


4. Screwed the on/off switch back in place


5. Left the red connector off, and connected my battery charger to the positive terminal on the battery, and the flying lead from the negative battery terminal

The BBC have an article about his latest invention.

There is also an entry on the Sinclair Research site, that links to the distributor's site.

I think London 2012 might come round a tad too soon for her, but she enjoyed her first day at Trafford AC yesterday. Click an image for a larger version.