- entry 2026/01/21

Car repair

It was planned that I would go there to have the foglight replaced (as the break was too close to the plug to be fixable) and also that rubber shroud fitted.

So I handed over the keys, then went to wander around the shops in the new shopping area. I saw a tiny little Maxi Zoo so I got some fancy nosh for Anna (tuna and shrimp, with actual pieces of each; and a pouch of that stuff with the reindeer in it). In the Leclerc Cultural Space, I got a book about autism. Good point, might help explain me to me. Bad point? It's a few hundred pages of French - complete with words I've never heard before in my twenty three years of being here. "jouent à huis clos" means "behind closed doors". I didn't know the word "huis", and when I first read it I misread it as "huit clos" and my brain immediately sulked.

When I went back, turns out that far too much crap had gotten into the mechanism and it was "nearing the point of being dangerous". I asked him to define dangerous. Well, this part and this part don't stay connected any more. Yeah, that doesn't sound ideal.
Because of this, he went ahead and replaced the entire left axle. So my €60 part became a €200 part. Add in the foglight. And then the tax... That repair just cost me a little over four hundred.
Though, oddly enough (and I certainly won't complain) he charged me for a quarter of an hour of labour each time. I don't know if it's because he was being nice about the change in what was supposed to be done, or if he doesn't know how to use the computer (sorting out the bill took nearly twenty minutes and by the end we were both mocking the printer's inability to do anything useful).

A new axle.

As a potential side quest, I asked for the old fog light. I'm not going to do anything right now, it's soggy and muddy. But future possibilities await.

An old LED foglight unit.

How about a nice game of chess?

I wonder how much they weigh? Weather too naff to try...

Unfortunately the weather, possibly the ice, has done a real number on the board layout. I think it's a nice idea, actually. Unfortunately the weather, specifically the storm passing through at the moment, meant that it was drizzle in between driving rain. I was able to cross roads and walk across the car park without dodging cars, there was just nobody out and about.

Crisps

I was a little upset at not finding those nice non-salted crisps the last time I went. I rarely eat crisps because I find the flavouring to be quite awful, and far too much salt.

I guess they had run out of stock or something as there were eight packs on the shelf.

Were.

Lots of unsalted crisps.

Picard and the free food

A few days ago, Picard sent me an email saying that I had points and that they must be used by the end of the month. 503 points, in point of fact.
Well, a hundred points would get me a ready meal. But I was only allowed two. That left 300 points, which is enough for a pack of frozen fish.

In order to use the points, I could install the Picard application. No thank you. I could probably save money at Lidl by installing their application but I noped out of that when I saw the permissions. If you want to track when I go to your shop and the sorts of things I buy, that's fine, I'm making a specific choice to go to the shop. But permissions like "start at boot" and "run in the background" and "access device location" and "unfettered access to the internet". Picard actually goes a step further into the OMFG zone with "add or modify calendar events and send emails to guests without owners' knowledge" - why the hell does that permission even exist?
Now, don't get me wrong here - Lidl and Picard may not be doing anything untoward here. They may not be attempting to track what other shops you visit or whatever. It's just, in this day and age, one should expect the worst. After all, look how Google themselves quietly removed the first word from their "Don't Do Evil" motto.

Luckily for me, there was a plan B. Sign into the website. Select the products, use my points, get emailed a coupon (to, what, to print?) that says that I can use my coupon as of tomorrow. Why tomorrow? Are they trying to make this difficult?
The woman said that I should just bring the stuff, and my loyalty card, over to the till. I did, she saw the coupons, and tap-tap-tap done.

Picard gave me this for buying some stuff in their shop over the past year, and honestly I didn't think I bought that much from them. So, thanks anyway? ☺

Some free food.

Oh, that tarte normande. It's quite nice. Apple chunks that have a consistency of having been boiled or something, they're soft and don't have skins, sitting atop a... it's supposed to be cream of some sort but it is almost like custard. I break off a piece, pop it on a plate, and microwave it until nice and warm.
Sadly, my stomach is not a lover of apples. But it is, I guess, a useful way to clean out the plumbing.

At any rate, I'm basically waiting for my car to finish charging and then I'll airfry some of those fish pieces along with chips. Mmmm, neither BBQ nor tomato really go with fish, so I might pop a blob of Heinz Mexican Style Chili sauce for dipping.

Linux and the heartless hub

When connected, the machine logs this:

usb 1-4: New USB device found, idVendor=05e3, idProduct=0610, bcdDevice= 6.63
usb 1-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
usb 1-4: Product: USB2.1 Hub
usb 1-4: Manufacturer: GenesysLogic
hub 1-4:1.0: USB hub found
hub 1-4:1.0: 4 ports detected
usb 1-4.2: new high-speed USB device number 14 using xhci_hcd

Notice, by the way, that it reports itself as a 2.1 hub, not a 3.0 one despite having an extra-wide 3.0 socket and cable. When plugged into the 3.0 port on the left, attaching harddiscs simply does not work. The computer cannot see them.
If I plug it into the USB 2.0 port on the right, then it works.

So I have the 500GB drive on the USB 3.0 port, and the hungry 1TB drive on the USB 2.0 port via the hub for powering it.

It works, but not as fast as it could (both drives are USB 3 capable) because the hub. I don't know if it's a shonky device, some weird negotiation failure with Linux, or what. But, it works. Oh, and as an extra, this thing can also be used to charge my phone should I want. But within limits, the power brick is 2.5A so one can't pull ~2A from each port.

But, whatever, it's not perfect but it works. So I'm currently making a copy of ~ as well as having made (another) copy of the Mamie sources.

A powered USB hub and a meaty 1TB harddisc.

My car is only drawing a kilowatt now, so I'll take this as my cue to sort out the pictures, publish this, and then I can crawl into a nice warm (electric blanket FTW!) bed with my fish and chips. Oh, they're small. So four of them (half the pack) with chips. Sounds like a plan to me.

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Zerosquare, 22nd January 2026, 09:13

To be fair, I'd bet most French people don't know what "huis" means, either. It's an old word that's pretty much never used nowadays, except in the set phrase "huis clos".    Regarding your usb hub, according to this page:  https://goughlui.com/2013/04/10/quick-review-cheap-unbrande d-4-port-usb-3-0-hub-from-ebay/  ...you should see two entries: one with idProduct=0610 for USB 2, and one with idProduct=0612 for USB 3.    If you only get the USB 2 one, it could be a software problem, or a bad cable, or a defective device... or maybe deceptive marketing, indeed. A good excuse for taking it apart, and checking which chip is used and whether the extra pins on the USB 3 connectors are indeed connected.

jgh, 23rd January 2026, 18:55

A few hours ago I set off to visit family 100 miles away and within seconds there was a great clonking grinding noise from the back end. Calling the AA resulted in a diagnosis of "brakes fallen off" (or something), so with a temporary wheel and no rear brakes (yikes!) the car is now parked at the g'ridge waiting to be seen on Monday.  Haruumph!  Nice AA man gave me a life home instead of walking back in the rain. ;)

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