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I am in my second week at court today but I don’t need to be there too early the first day as they will be bringing in new would-be jurors and will be processing them. I was told that there will only be a few new recruits this time, far fewer than those of us who started off the new year. Last week there must have been more than two hundred of us assembling in the main hall. Many will already be engaged on a case, I think there were five or six new cases at the end of last week, which means there will be 60-72 acting as jurors. The case I was involved with was thrown out of court after two days so I start afresh this week and may get a case or not. I am hoping I shall. During last week I was getting calls for electrical work even though I am not advertising just at the moment. Word gets around, recommendations and such playing a big part. It was Christmas Eve when I last did some work but Saturday saw me breaking the ice and doing a small job for someone local. I visited another client to assess another job but wasn’t able to do it over the weekend. That job will have to wait until at least the end of this week. When I went out in the morning I discovered a problem with the garage door. This door was fitted many years ago and is manually operated. However one of the draw cables has been jumping off the pulley when the door is fully opened, something I have to do in order to get the van in and out when there is a ladder on top. As I lifted the door off came the cable with a twang. The other end of this cable is connected to a very large spring which draws the door upwards making it easier to open. The door is quite heavy so it needs the springs to aid the lifting process. I reached up and put the cable back on the pulley knowing full well that on my return to open the door it would come off again. That is what happened. This time I was determined to fix the problem and I checked out what was needed. In essence, the pulley was too far off-set for the cable when the door was raised and what was needed was to reposition the pulley. This meant a longer bolt and spacer. To my amazement the pulley was very easy to remove and I took the bolt into my storeroom in the cellar to change it for a longer one. The first bolt I put my hand upon was exactly the same thread but a couple of centimetres longer in length. I selected a suitable spacer (I have various bits and pieces to choose from) and went back to fit everything back in place. Some grease on the pulley wheel to lubricate the cable and then a test run. Done! That was my first job at home this year but I know it won’t be the last! The ice has been broken, now I wait for the deluge.

Shirley Anne