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Sunday 15th Jun 2008 21:01:39
Clifford spills the beans, Martha escapes unharmed
 
Today I achieved something: got the door-bell working! This is a proper, old-school, two-tone, battery-powered, door-bell (hyphenation-tastic). I took the thing apart and it all seemed pretty straightforward: a solenoid in the middle of a battery holder (for four D-type batteries), with a metal bar positioned within the solenoid in such a way that when the door-bell button is depressed, the circuit would close and the charge in the solenoid would move the metal bar towards a dangling metal plate (DING!). Opening the circuit (releasing the door-bell button) moves the metal bar back again but, due to some recently gathered spring energy, it moves back with sufficient force to strike another dangling metal plate (DONG!). Fantastic. So, anyway . . . I oiled the only moving part (the bit within the solenoid) and improvised the D-type batteries using two sets of two AA batteries taped together. Having realised it worked fine, all I needed were some D-type batteries and a button to go outside on the door frame. During the afternoon, A****** and I gave M**** a bit of a break, popping into B&Q for some supplies, then Booths and then my parents' place
 (for today is Father's Day, of course). Later on, I put in the batteries, wired up the switch, and all working fantastically. Today M**** also made her first venture out of the house, following the birth of R****** (I think I mean 'since the birth of R******', as otherwise it sounds like we were literally following something, although I'm not sure how you would follow a birth . . . hmmmmm). We walked to the fish pond at Cumbria Uni, kicked a ball about (that was just lurking around by nursery) and headed back home. A******, bizarrely, got completely freaked by the decision to walk back the long way home (i.e. going down Ulster Road, then Leinster, then Windsor, rather than straight down Cork Road and onto Windsor, thereby entering Windsor Avenue from the other end). I think all the way along Ulster Road, A****** was like, "We have to go back," but reluctantly followed, and only seemed to calm when we got to the familiarity of Windsor Avenue. This is a fairly typical account of a day of paternity leave.
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