sharplittleteeth

Okay. The electrician has just finished fitting an exhaust fan to our bathroom window. Houston, we have ventilation.

There was the usual tradesmen farce. Electrician turns up, fits power line for fan, but needs glazier to cut hole in window so fan can be mounted. Glazier doesn't turn up. Electrician goes off to do other job, says he'll be back later. Glazier turns up five minutes after electrician leaves. Glazier cuts hole, leaves. Electrician doens't come back for another hour.

Ther best bit was watching the glazier cut the hole. He was an affable old coot who kept dropping things. He said all that Mission Impossible glass-cutting was nonsense. You have to cut the galss on the outside, then tap it out from the inside.

He went outside. Wiped the window down with turps. Measured. Suction-cupped the glass-cutter in place, and ran the blade around in a circle. The cut is less than a millimeter deep. Then he cross-hatched the circle with a different glass-cutter, scoring it in overlapping semi-circular arcs. He came inside, and carefully tapped out the little pieces with a special mallet, tapping along the score-lines. The tap causes the shallow score-line to fracture all the way through the pane. He worked his way out from the centre of the circle to the edge, because the glass is under tension. Once the tension is relived, the rest of the scored fragments more or less just fall out.

Well, I found it interesting.

Tai Chi last night. Started off very stiff and clumsy and annoyed with myself. Got smoother as the session progressed. Master Liu lead us for some of the form. Always a pleasure to watch him, and you learn a lot from observation. Wish I had him doing the form on tape.

We were working on Snake Parting The Grass and Golden Roster Stands On One Leg- essentially a low, slow lunge followed by standing up on one leg. Good for toning the buttocks and thighs.

Which should keep a certain someone out there happy. ;)