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Saturday 12 April 2014

My gun arrived, using bike.4 and testing bike.5

The soldering gun that I bought via Ebay, has arrived, and it looks very nice. I've been doing so much soldering, that an instant-on (well, ten seconds) tool sounds good, and since my El Cheapo soldering iron failed, there was an opportunity to try a soldering gun. It works as I expected, and it's very nice not to have to wait ages for the tip to heat up.

I used Bike.4 today as a substitute for the car; about a mile or so, to Little Chalfont, for my two-year eye checkup. My vision is unchanged, I don't need updated spectacles, but the pressure in my left eye is too high, this is called Glaucoma; about half a million people have this in England, so it's quite common. It's easy for the opthalmologist to diagnose, but if left to develop, it can cause vision problems. That's one good reason why people should have an eye test every two years.

The opthalmologist got quite concerned about this, and has booked me into Stoke Mandeville for further investigation and, probably, treatment. It's not as bad as it sounds, it just means eye drops. Although Wikipedia says that smoking marijuana is just as effective, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

So what caused it? She said that the primary cause is "getting older". I plan to do lots more of that.

I also did the "field of vision" test, which I passed. So now I'm just waiting for the summons to Stoke Mandeville.


Yesterday, I replaced the controller on bike.5 with somethng a lot nicer, and it's brought the performance of the bike up to what I like. Using an 8S battery, my test run along Doggetts Lane got me up to 20 mph (on a very slight uphill), and the "peppiness" of the bike is much improved. It has my usual voltmeter/ammeter, a back rack, a GPS holder and it's now very suitable for caching. It even has a centerstand, which should be a lot more convenient than the side stand, which tends to let the bike fall over if the ground is at all soft, or if it's too uneven, or even (this has happened a few times) in response to a strong gust of wind. Unfortunately, with most of my bikes, I can't see a way to fit a centerstand.


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