Skill Issue

 I can think of nowhere I'd rather get injured than the Climbing Hangar in Plymouth. I fell off a climb and gashed up my shin on the way down. I asked for help at the front desk before I went in to shock and was looked after unbelievable well. Three beautiful young women sprang into action as highly trained first aiders while still being caring, compassionate and helpful. The wound was cleaned and dressed. I was laid down when I got faint. They ran around after me picking up my stuff. They got me a sugary drink from the café (jumping the queue, and not charging me) and found me somewhere comfortable to sit while I got my wits back. Their medical assessment was also spot on, they said I should get it checked at the urgent care unit, and it did indeed need to be stitched closed.

Richard "game leg" B

Rake and Trail

 The windscreen wipers on my Fiat Panda judder and creak, even when you fit new wiper blades. My friend (who works in vehicle development) asked the very wise question, why do they judder on old cars, but not new ones? What has deteriorated? On Sunday I spent a fascinating hour in the rain with my car testing different theories and remedies.

 His theory is that the spring that holds the blade down onto the windscreen is weak.

 Some random chap on youtube says that the wiper arm is twisted and that the blade is contacting the windscreen ahead of the arm.

 The advice on the Euro Car Parts website is to change the wiper arms.

 I was interested in the behaviour of the wiper blade. In cross section it's shaped like a Christmas tree and it's supposed to flex at the "trunk" so that it follows behind the arm (kind of like the bristles of a paint brush) .

I didn't have new springs for the wiper arms, but I lubricated and exercised the hinge and the spring attachment points. I also added extra pressure to the wiper arm with my hand. This all affects the nature and frequency of the judder, but it didn’t solve it.

 My theory is clearly wrong because new wiper blades exhibit the same judder, but I cleaned and examined my blades. It made no difference.

 The random guy on youtube is right! My wipers only judder on the way up. I put a little twist in the wiper arm with two adjustable spanners so that the blade was a little bit further behind the arm and they started to work perfectly. My theory is that the arms haven't twisted over the lifetime of the vehicle, but that the hinges have worn asymmetrically and the twist I added to the arms is counteracting that. I think that buying new wiper arms would probably work even better, but cost more.

 Richard "North Plymouth Drizzle Laboratory" B

Plug Hole

 My week away was slightly spoiled by the rubbishy plumbing in my posh looking bathroom. The plug is one of those ones that you push down to close it, and then push down a little bit more and it will pop up to open. It stopped popping back up so my departure was delayed by my trying to empty the sink, and while I was away I had the constant niggle that I had to fix my plug hole before I could ever have another shave.

I spent an inordinate and unnecessary amount of time replacing the plug hole with one that had an actual plug on a chain.

This is what I've learned:

• It's not called a plug hole – it's a basin waste.
• The type of plug I described is called click-clack.
• The mechanism that pops the plug up and down is also called a click clack.
• Click clacks are standard parts, they cost about £4 and they can be easily changed without taking the waste out of the basin.

Had I known, I could have done it in 5 minutes with a pair of pliers.

Richard "hindsight" B

Triathlon

 I'm better at running than a shark, but a shark is better at swimming than me, so in a triathlon it's all going to come down to the cycling.

I've got involved in a culinary triathlon, and I'm not confident that I'll win. My brother and  I can be quite competitive, but we're also sportsmen. He's better at pool than me so the recent Bolingbroke Handicap Invitational Pool Tournament was set up as best of 7 games, but I got a 1 game head start. I lost, but I only lost 4-3.

I have learned to cook on an induction stove and I now like it very much. My brother is very much of the opinion that gas is best. The competition we've set up to gauge which is best consists of 3 different races, each scoring one point. Race 1) Bring 0.5l of cold water to a rolling boil. Race 2) bring .05l of water at a rolling boil to a controlled low simmer. Race 3) Fry a single slice of white bread to crispy and golden on both sides.

I'm confident that I'll win race 1). I think race 2) is in the balance. In preparation for the triathlon, I've discovered that I'm not very good at frying bread.

Richard "cooking on gas" B

Courteous Driver

 My dad used to talk about coming home from sailing trips "cold, wet, and frightened". The same happened to me after a short journey by motorcycle. I was riding on a 2 lane section of the Tavistock Road with a 40mph speed limit. The rain was so unusually heavy, the surface conditions so wet and slippery, and the visibility so poor that I was only doing about 30mph. A large, heavy car behind me (I think it was a VW Toerag) was impatient and pulled out into the outside lane and accelerated sharply. He hit a large patch of standing water that was 3 or 4 inched deep and sent up a huge plume of cold dirty spray. As our speeds weren't very different I was hit full-force with a powerful jet of water for a few seconds. I was blinded and deafened by it hitting my visor and helmet. I was instantly drenched and got cold-water-shock (it makes you gasp and flail). The force of the water made the bike very hard to control. I rolled off the throttle, but I didn't apply the brakes because I didn't know what was behind me, or whether I'd stay upright. Thankfully when my vision cleared I hadn't fallen off and I was going in roughly the right direction and still just about in my lane.

I can only think that if I had fallen off in those conditions the next car behind me would have squashed me under its wheels before it saw me.

Richard "super-cub" B

Johnson&Johnson Muffgone

 My favourite razor is an old fashioned safety razor that unscrews to let you fit a single blade. The blades are cheap and I probably have a lifetime's supply in the bathroom cabinet. It has quite a large gap before and after the cutting edge to it's quite easy to cut yourself with it, but with skill you can give yourself a very close shave. I can also shave with a cutthroat razor, and I find sharpening it fascinating, but it's too much palaver to be practical.

I went on a long weekend away and while I had packed my razor, shaving brush, and a stick of shaving soap I hadn't packed a razor blade. At the little Sainsbury's I found disposable razors, but they were quite expensive and sold in large bags. The cheapest option was a pack of 4 "Simply Venus" from the women's section. I argued that there could be precious little difference between a man's and a woman's razor, that Gilette doesn't run a different blade grinding factory for each sex, and that I didn't much care about the colour.

I did shave myself, and the razor is surprisingly different to what I'm used to. The two blades are very close together and the gaps before and after them are very narrow. It's seemingly impossible to cut yourself with it, and also impossible to get a close shave without making multiple strokes, but it can be done. The weirdest difference is a little strip of water soluble lubricant after the blades. In combination with my (harsh) shaving soap and scalding hot water it made a gluey slime, but I was intrigued by its lubricity.

The question I answered at the sink this morning was "in an emergency, could you shave with one of these things without all the rest of your shaving kit?" The answer is yes, and I haven't given myself razor burn, but it takes a while. I've already put one in my wash bag for the next time I go away and forget part of my shaving kit, and they'll be perfect when I'm travelling with a minimal luggage allowance.

Richard "Bic Classic Razor" B