Dash Box: Micro update...

Well, THAT was a whole lot easier than I was expecting!

If you've been keeping up, I laid my mitts on some polystyrene sheeting (2mm thick) to replace the loose fascia panels that came with the instrument case that's forming the body of the Dash Box. These are slide-in panels that are nominally held in place by the frame of the box at each end, in grooves moulded into the case for that purpose. Problem is that the panels supplied were slightly shorter (by roughly 1mm in length), and a bit thinner than the (2mm wide) grooves. In use, this would cause all manner of rattling when in the car, and that's unacceptable. So, panels that fit more snugly were required. Since these aren't sold, I had to make them. After getting the polystyrene sheeting from Amazon, I had to cut it to size, something I've not done before with polystyrene.

Turns out it was dead easy.

All I had to do was measure, mark, and scribe the size required onto the replacement sheet (roughly A4 in size), and then cut out (with the aid of a steel rule, a steady hand, and extreme care not to slip up) the required shapes of polystyrene from the sheets to form the replacement panels, using a sharp hobby knife.

Sorted.

Now to mark out the holes to be cut.

Now, cutting those out is gonna be... interesting...

Project Dash Box - Quick update:

Arrived yesterday through Amazon, a 2mm thick plastic (polystyrene) sheet for use as the front (and possibly rear as well) panel of the dash top box, and a tool I should have had when I drilled the Meccano girder, a deburring tool. This WILL come in useful for tidying up the panel cut outs I do this weekend, and will save a mahoosive amount of grief by not having to use the Clarke Rotary tool to do that particular task.

Project Dash Box - another update...!

Dash air vent mounting, Meccano Girder, and alternative phone mounting method...

The Dash Air Vent Mounting bolts...

The ‘L-bolts’ a mate of mine (Thanks Dave!) threw together, using his welder, arrived today. And it was immediately apparent I may have cocked things up a bit. The holes in the vent between the vanes are smaller than the bolt shank, dammit, by about a millimetre and a half or so side-to-side: Yup, the damn vent slots are OBLONG, not bloody SQUARE. D’OH.

There’s little point in remaking the bolts in a smaller size, as the welding (I’m not a welder, but I believe it’s something to do with the flux on the welding rods) just would not hold on such a small thing (M3, maybe M4 or so, I think), so instead, I may well use my Clarke rotary tool (a Dremmel-like hand held power tool), and saw off a vent vane at each end to make room for the bolts to go into place.

This seems to be the best way forward, without entirely disassembling the dash, so it’s the way I’m going to go, unless a better way comes along before I install everything.

The Meccano Girder...

Well, the painting of the girder was almost flawless. Unfortunately, I didn’t check to see if the paint can had a trap attached. Oops. Rolled a Snake eyes. It DID have a trap. A small break-off tab that lands in front of the spray head nozzle.

Plastikote rattle cans are wonderful things, they have a lock/unlock head unit over the spray nozzle that locks the spray head off when not in use: You have to manually rotate the thing through 90 degrees, to unlock it. But before you use it for the first time, make sure you’ve taken off that tab, or you’ll wind up spraying the inside of the locking head, with the overflow dribbling down the side of the can. Glad I was wearing nitrile gloves!

Anyhow, tab removed, lock head and can top cleaned, spraying actually done now, and the girder is now drying in the sunlight of an unusually warm April afternoon. I’ll give it another coat on both sides in a couple of hours. After that, I’ll give it a coat of Plastikote clear matt lacquer (I’ll remove that damned tab before I begin THAT operation!), and that’ll be that, ready for installation.

Alternative phone mounting method...

I’ve also figured a way around the phone mount issue. I’m not going to mount the phone on the girder after all.

Instead, I’ll be installing the dash box so it’s overhanging the centre console, and I’ll then screw the mounting into the underside of the dash box instead. This will result in the box pulling the box directly (near vertically downwards, in fact) onto the girder, and not exerting undue angular rearward and downward tension on the girder, and thus the phone mount will not be imparting the resulting excessive torque on the rivnuts to be used to hold the girder in place.

So, now I have to go back to the CAD package, and work out how I’m going to alter the front panel layout, now that the I have all this extra space I’m not going to use for the radio control head, or the phone :)

Any more physical work on this project will have to wait for another weekend on the work rota.

Still, two steps forward, one back, and all that…!

Project Dashbox update...

OK, I have the Meccano 'girder' prepared for painting. However, I have encountered an unforeseen problem.

Enlargening a pair of holes in the girder (the first one I messed up: I opened out on of the holes nearest the sidewall, but the nut for the mount wouldn't fit there!

So, plan B: Open up another hole, this time in the centre line. Job done on second attempt ;)

However, on testing the fit with my phone fitted into the mount, it was very clear that a LOT of mass was involved, so much so, that I'm concerned that the rivnuts (to be installed) won't be able to handle the weight of the mounting with the phone attached, without bracing from the top - in other words, it'll pull out the rivnuts out of the dash top, unless the box is also mounted on top of the girder, providing reinforcing strength.

Oh, FUDGE, And other words.

So, I'm going to paint the girder (no reason not to), and consider my next move.

Irritating is not the word... :(

Anyhow, the photos. There are three here, showing the girder in detail in two (top and bottom shots), and the tools involved; I utterly shagged two dremmel-style wire brushes, and two sanding bands, in preparing the surface of the girder to be painted (I used my Clarke rotary tool for that).

Ye gods, that Zinc is tough stuff!

The holes in the girder were enlargened with a 6.5mm high speed steel drill bit (using my Bosch PSR-18 cordless drill), and I then de-burred the holes using a couple of grinding stones in my Clarke rotary tool.

In between every part of the job, I had to recharge the Clarke tool; that battery needs replacing, but they don't sell spare ones :( Guess that's another task for me to do... crack open the battery casing, and replace the NiCads in there with new ones... shouldn't bee too hard ;-)

Oh, and note the filter mask. ANY time you're sanding something, be it wood, plastic, or metal, you produce dust. Metallic dust is especially bad news for your lungs. So, if you're sanding - especially using power tools to sand something - wear PPE; in this case, a filter mask and goggles. You don't want that crap down your lungs, or in your eyes. Oh, and wear gloves, too, if you use power tools - even a Dremmel or similar rotary tool.

More tomorrow...

Dash Box project: Musings and developments...

OK, an update on Project Dash Box...

Following a couple of really good suggestions, I’ve laid my grubby mitts on a Rivnut installation tool with assorted metric sized rivnuts. It’s a bit like a pop rivet gun, but for threaded pop rivets style nuts to accept screws and bolts. I’m awaiting delivery of a few metric Cap Head Socket Screws (hex, or Allen key sockets).

From the imagery and measurements I’ve taken of the centre console assembly, it looks as if I should be able to stick an M4, maybe an M5, rivnut in the console flat top, so as to fix the Meccano ‘girder’ in place. I’ve therefore chosen the Cap Head Socket Screws, as I can reach into the screw holes in the top of the girder, to screw the screws down into the rivnuts.

I reckon five of the rivnuts, spaced equally along the dash top plastic surface, should do the trick, with M4x10 or M5x10 screws to anchor the girder in place on the console top with a fair amount of rigidity. The instrument case that forms the dash box will then be mounted on top of the girder, and bolted to it using conventional nuts and bolts through the casing of the box. This will provide resistance to forward and rearward motion of the box at the front.

With the two L-bolts I have on the way from a friend to lock into the air vent I mentioned in a previous posting, and as well as holding down the rear of the box to the dash, the rear of the box will be anchored in place at the rear, and will prevent both lateral and forward/backward motion of the box.

Before I can get moving on this, I have to prepare a few things first.

The Meccano ‘girder’ is covered in a zinc coating, which needs to be roughed up with sandpaper to accept a couple of coats of matt black paint (this to prevent reflections in the cabin of the car).

Once that’s done, the girder will be ready. Then all I have to do is test and install (one trial rivnut smack dab central on the plastic flat top of the dash, to check for practicality), and then it’ll off to the races.

I also have to bend the girder base back slightly - there’s going to be some testing and adjustment to this, as I need the box to rest on top of the thing flat, with no gaps; one ‘leg’ will be at a right angle (and won’t be messed with) - that’ll be the leg to be mated to the dash box. The other will be bent back slightly, so as to provide the correct angle against the plastic dash top, for when the dash box is eventually mounted in place. I’ll have to use a large vice to bend that metal girder ‘leg’, as the girder is remarkably tough for a meccano part!

I also have to enlarge one of the mounting holes on the girder to accept a standard 1/4"-20 pitch thread camera mounting screw. That’s going to be fairly easy (you use an electric drill, and re-drill the hole required).

The initial aim here, is to get the basics done, in preparation for the installation of the box itself, which will be a monumental PITA of a job, but which also lays the groundwork for future upgrades to the wagon.

The box installation will require wiring runs and routing, and may require major parts of the dash to be removed for the purpose. I’m looking at doing that after the first week in June, as the first week, I’m planned to be in France for the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. All of this, by the way, when I’m on leave from work for three weeks from the beginning of June (leave tends to be block allocated by the company).

In the interim between this week and the beginning of June, the girder installation will provide me a reliable mounting point to remount the Yaesu two-way control head, and my (new) mobile phone mounting assembly.

Should be interesting!

Dash Box developments...

Right, interesting developments and a couple of follow-ups. The latter first, I think...

As promised, here are the links to those two items I mentioned yesterday.

The red phone mount from the previous posting:
Ulanzi ST-03 Metal Smart phone Tripod Mount with Cold Shoe Mount for Microp... https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07D4D3XND/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_6.1QCbW99F6GZ

Double ball joint armature from the previous posting:
Zhiyou Mini Magic Arm Friction Articulated Ballhead Arm for Monitors Led Li... https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077HR66X5/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_..1QCbX2EJM66

In conjunction with todays developments, this could get really rather interesting - and handy, to boot.

Today, I was woken, five hours earlier than I wanted to (today's a work day), by the postman. He delivered five Meccano parts from a specialist Meccano parts supplier here in England, imaginatively called "Meccano Spares". These guys are incredible: I ordered on Saturday, expecting maybe to get the bits later this week. They arrived today!

The four yellow plates are p/n 53a "Flat Plate 9x5 UK Yellow Original".

The aluminium doudle edged U bracket is p/n 1019 "Channel Girder 19 hole 1x3x1 Zinc"

The yellow plates are to provide a large surface with which to bolt the underside of the box to the dashboard panelling; the idea is to use these inside the box to spread the load under tension, preventing the box from breaking (it's a plastic case) under the stress of the bolts pulling it against (or certainly towards) the dash top surface. Two of these plates will go in the case. The other two, if needed, will be used underneath the dash, to do the same for the dashboard material (also, to prevent the vents that I'll be threading the bolts through, from being pulled out by mistake!).

Now, the girder came as a tad of a surprise - I thought it would be shorter between the upright 'arms'. In this case, it measures roughly 14mm x 40mm x 240mm. I got my sums wrong, it seems, when I calculated the measurements from the description on the website. Now, it might seem that I'm complaining: Far from it - this size opens out a couple of unexpected options for me.


The idea of the girder was to raise the front of the dash box and get it relatively horizontal, given the dash curves down front to back from the windscreen. I currently have my Amateur Radio control head mounted on the top of the dash console (the only bit of hard surface on the dash, the rest of it being that weird spongy surface that's an utter sod to work on, as can be seen in this photo.

The odd black coloured thing behind the radio head is my temporary phone mount, which slides all over the shop, as it can't get a good grip on the dash (one of the reasons for this project).

I'm now thinking of using the girder not only to fix the front of the Dash Box in place (screwing both edge strips down, one side to the base of the box, the other to the strip of console where the control head currently sits). I'll then, I think, be able to mount both the control head bracket, and the new angle phone bracket (see previous post), to the front of the girder.
This will give me all the space I need on the front panel of the instrument case that will become the Dash Box, for such things as stitches and accessory power sockets (and a car battery voltage monitor), future proofing myself for when I get a front winch and the associated lighting that will be installed at the same time as the winch.

Now, this all hinges on the new height of the front of the dash box (as propped up by the Meccano girder) not obscuring my view to the front of the car. More testing is required, but that won't happen today, as it's a work day.

More to follow, obviously...!

OK, another update on Project Dash Box...

OK, an update on Project Dash Box...

I hit a snag as I was working on the design today. While I no longer need to mount the dash camera to the new box (it's fitted to a bracket mounted on the rear-view mirror now), I still need to find a way to mount the phone to the dash in a way that is a solid mounting, not something that meanders all over the shop every time I go over a pothole. So, mounting it to the top of the dash box seemed to me, to be a good idea.

Uh-uh.

I checked this out today, and the damn thing blocks my view of the road to the nearside (left front), with a good 30 degrees of view completely blocked off, which is obviously unacceptable.

So, mounting the phone on the top of the box is a no-no, then. I can't fix the phone to the window, due to the inexplicable inability of both suction cups and self-adhesive mounting systems to remain attached on the windscreen. Likewise, due to the spongy nature of the dash trim covering, I can't fix either of those types of system to the dash.

So, I'm left with either drilling holes in the dash, or using something to attach the phone mount to the side of the dash box. I *think* I have a solution, and it involves the items in the photo below.

These are camera mounting accessories for tripods and the like; the one on the left is designed to fit larger phones to tripods for photographic or video purposes; the item on the right is a friction dual ball-head articulated armature (hey, don't laugh, this is what the damn thing's called!); both use the de facto standard 1/4"-20 threading standard to camera, tripods and photographic quick release systems.

If I can somehow screw the armature into the side of the dash box, and extend it to the front, the red phone mount will screw into the other ball joint, thus providing a fully articulated mounting for my phone.

That's the plan, anyhow.

I'll look further into this tomorrow, and if it works, I'll add links to these items at that time.

The Dash Box. Oh joy, new problems...

Right, there I was, ready to set-to and sort the box out, and a fresh problem, one I thought I had a fix for, popped up and said "AAAAARGH!"

I have the measurements for the front plate, where I'll be fitting some of the USB power sockets, the switches, and the control head for my Yaesu FT-8900R Amateur Radio transceiver. I thought I had sufficient space to mount my phone atop the box, and still have adequate (room to spare) view to see the bonnet and road to the front left.

No such bloody luck. There's a massive slice of view that's just completely obscured from the drivers seat, and that would be an MoT fail, let alone a common sense safety failure.

So, now I have to figure out where I'm gonna position my phone. Again.

Mutter mutter wibble grumble coffee coffee where's me coffee...!

In less than 24 hours, one of the best social media platforms is being murdered.

I just made what's likely to be my last posting over on Google Plus, which is scheduled to be murdered by Google for the crime of being too civilised.

Too civilised as it was easy to prevent idiots from ruining our corners of the playground (blocking, circles, privacy, they all worked perfectly).

Murdered, because there was no trial conducted, no appealable verdict: Google have acted as Judge and Jury. In around 24 hours or so, give or take local time variations, they'll act as executioners as well, and stick the real-world equivalent of a non-conducting penetrating weapon through the power cables, a knife to the fibre optic data cables, and an industrial magnet to the hard drives.

At that time, one of the most user-friendly, usable, actually friendly, digital societies it has been my pleasure to be a member of, will be no more.

To say that I'm incandescent with fury over this is putting it mildly.

It is grossly unfair to faithful users who would have paid subscription fees to continue to use this platform.

I have my suspicions who was responsible for making the decision, and why it was made, but all I am able to do is curse that cowardly little wimp to the fifteenth level of hell (Dante only wrote about nine levels. There are another six at least, that he never even considered going to or writing about, they are so bloody terrible), and move on to other solutions that are not nearly as good.

I'd say more, but then I'd have to use some really horrid swear words, and I don't want my parting comment to have that content.

To everyone I've met on Google Plus: Thanks for the laughs, the tears, the creativeness, the lessons, and the entertainment.

Don't be strangers: https://wheretofind.me/@rjls

I'm also on Signal, and if you have my phone number, that's how to get me if no other ways are possible. It's on close hold, so family and close friends have it; if you haven't, don't sweat it, I likely don't know you well enough (yet).

https://youtu.be/jwIxL6p6jJ4.

The Dashtop box: Interim measures...

Dashcam installed, cable management improved

Right, progress :)

I have:

1. Removed the spaghetti junction of cabling in the front dash and centre console area.
2. Installed the dash cam on the Unimount set, attached to the rear view mirror stalk.
3. Replaced the haphazard mess that was accessory cabling into a more tidy and safer temporary installation, pending the installation of a properly (not a bodge job) Dash Top Box.

All in all, not a bad afternoons' work.

The camera installation. Look for the white thing centre top of the windscreen (that's my Payage auto toll dongle thingamibob for use on toll motorways in France). Look slightly left of that and a smidge lower. yep, that's the camera, hanging below the line of the rear view mirror.

Side view of the camera and mounting system. I'd have hung it higher, but the articulation of the Unimount accessory mount just wouldn't let me. That's something to work on later :)

The view out the front. Not perfect, but good enough for the moment.

Vastly (trust me on this) improved cable and accessory management. Note the liberal use of cable ties and self-adhesive mounting platforms. This is a temporary measure, while I work, 'slowtime', on the dash box. Also, I'll add a shout out for a bloody helpful tool, called a "Cable Tie Gun". It does the job of two hands, freeing up one of yours to hold things in place. Normally with cable ties, you tend to find yourself needing three or more arms and hands. Since the Human body does not readily accept such additional accessorises, mechanical tools have to suffice - this one's a doozy. You loosely attach the cable tie where you want it, then stick the free end in the teeth of the cable tie gun, and squeeze the trigger a few times. This tensions the tie, and then cuts it off neatly. My one came from Amazon. It's been an essential tool since I got it.

The plan is to have all the cables coming up into the dash top box via the venting behind the coin tray, over which the box will mount and be secured in place. I'm still working on how that'll be anchored in place.

Oh joy, it's before sparrow fart a.m....

Well, Amazon woke me up this morning, mutter mutter wibble burble before coffee etc. ;-)

So, the Plastikote paint and matt ("clear sealer") rattle can sprays, the new dashcam (A "YI Compact Dash Cam, 1080P Full HD Car Dashboard Camera with 2.7" LCD Screen, 130° WDR Lens, G-Sensor, Night Vision, Loop Recording - Black" Good lord, why do people give things such loooooooong highly specific names, when something like "Yi HiDef DashCam Mk xx" would be a lot easier?), and the Unimount system have arrived.

A word of warning: The adaptor plates on these third party add-on mounting systems are fragile. I broke the one for my new camera in testing it for fit. Luckily, I have a spare from a less capable kit, which uses the same ball joint size for the elbow fitting. Be careful, if you get this kit, folks. It's really handy, but treat it with great care!

The interesting thing here is that I _think_ I might be able to fit this to the rear view mirror. I'll give that a go in a bit, and get back to you.

Now, the raison d'être for the entire project was primarily because the phone and dashcam would not stay in place attached to the windscreen, using either suction cups or adhesive mounts (the adhesives lasted longer, but still gave way).

The new modular Unimount system looks like it might clamp directly onto the rear view mirror stalk, which is this works, takes one item off the dashbox project requirement.

This, if it works as I think it might, will reduce the pressure to finish that project today, and thus gives me more time to do a proper job of the Dash Box, rather than hurry up and maybe bodge it under the self-imposed pressure of getting it all done with the available light before dusk (have you tried working in a car after dark? Trust me, it's no fun at all).

More in a bit...

Further notes on the Dash Box project...

OK, a little planning progress while I await parts from Amazon Prime tomorrow.

My existing Dash Cam is also being replaced (time to upgrade, my current one is five years old, and has the resolution of a dinosaur!), and I've found an excellent way to mount the replacement without using suction cups that regularly fall off the windscreen, and adhesives that lose their stickiness. I'm going to bolt the mounting to the dash box!

I'm going to be using a "Dash Cam Mount, Anumit Universal Car Rear View Mirror Mount Holder with 16 Types, Fits Z-Edge, Old Shark, YI, KDLINKS X1, Falcon Zero F170HD, GoPro Hero and Most Other Dash Cameras/GPS" (Lord, what a mouthful. Let's call it the Universal Mounting, or Unimount, for short. You can find that worthy accessory here.

I'll be using the camera screw mount plate to anchor the unimount to the dash box, the double ball joint, and one of the dashcam plates to mount the new Yi dashcam I have on order. The idea will be to mount it either off the rear of the top of the box, or from the back plate of the box. I suspect it'll be better mounting it to the top of the box (there's more rigidity in the actual casing than the front and rear panels), but we'll see when it arrives. I would have fitted this mounting to the rear view mirror stem for a better view, but the stem is too short, which is a pity.

I also have some rattle can spray paint coming from Amazon with which to paint the box, so as to blend it in with the slightly off-beige (Land Rover call it "Bahama Beige", but that's expensive stuff to buy, so I've gone with Plastikote grey beige, and a matt finishing spray to save from any glare issues whilst driving.) colour of the dash trim. If the colour doesn't work, no worries, I can just spray the thing matt black, if I have to.

More later...

On a brighter note...

...I'm working on a car-related project this weekend.

The amount of cabling running around the dash of my Land Rover Discovery 2 Td5, from both the accessory power socket (Cigarette lighter socket) and the amateur radio installation in the car, is nuts, and gets in the way a fair bit (not in normal driving, but in plugging in the phone, the dash cam, and so on). Also, the darn window mounts for the phone and dash cam for some utterly weird reason aren't holding their grip, and keep falling off. So, it's time for a tidy-up.

At the same time, I'm future-proofing myself for some accessories I hope to install over the next couple of years, such as a winch, and external accessory lighting for such things as off-road driving in low-light or night conditions (it happens).

So, a dash box is the way I'm going. The inspiration for these are such products as the "Mud Pod" from Mud Stuff and the "Discovery Dash Console" from Raptor Engineering.

I'm fairly well trained as an electronics technician, being a Radio Amateur of thirty-plus years experience. I'm also a reasonable hand at vehicle electrical systems and installations, having played around with car electrical bits for many years. So, it seems to me that I can do a custom, future-proofed dash-top case for mounting a radio control head, accessory switch controls, power, and similar.

So that's what I'm planning to do this weekend.

I'm going to run a power lead from the fused accessory line up to the dash top, run it into an instrument case that I bought from Farnell, which will be large enough to mount USB power supply sockets, switches, and my two-way radio control head, securely, and tidily, with room inside for additional accessories over time, such as a Raspberry Pi for amateur radio usage (there are many digital modes that can be accessed using an analogue radio via computer), maybe even a HotSpot for my DMR hand held radio.

I need to get my hands on a few bits of hardware (that's Saturday taken care of!) for this project, but I already have most of the stuff I'll need.

I've managed (with a little help from other Disco owners) to figure out how I'm going to run the cables into the box. They're going to be run UNDER the dash board, up through the vents to the front of the rubberised coin tray, into the new dash box by means of a hole I'll drill in the base of the box. From there, the power wires will go to the 4 x USB power sockets (2 at the front, 2 at the back), the radio remote head control cable will be fed through another hole behind where I'll mount the control head on the front fascia panel of the box, and the external speaker cable will be run to the back of the case, where I'll mount the external speaker. I'm going to have to raise the front of the dash box by about 15mm-20mm, but that's because the dash itself curves down in a pseudo french curve to the front console panel. That's likely going to require some plastic card or similar.

I'm still none too sure where or how I'll be mounting the dash cam and phone mounts; I'm still looking into that.

More to follow!

Veni, vidi, et murmurastis sit amet...

("I came, I caw, I grumbled a lot...")

As a first-time political protest attender, this was a mahoosive damp squib. Nothing happened.

Allow me to be a little more accurate. A lot of things happened, but none of them amounted to much more than the civil disorder version of a wet, dribbly, fart.

So what, pray tell, was this waste of time I attended? The 'Save Brexit' rally in Parliament Square today. I left about an hour or so later, utterly bored and tired (I'm not had a good sleep last night, which didn't help).

So what the hell did I attend this afternoon?

Having seen these kind of things on the television news in the past, I was expecting an energetic crowd, full of righteous anger as to the utter farce that Brexit has become, shouting from the rooftops so as to even be heard in the chamber of the House of Commons, so as to coerce them into doing The Right Thing and nailing a leaving date to the calendar.

Alas, that was not what I got a hefty whiff of.

It was crowded, smelt of diesel, sweat, and spilt beer in places, didn't scream as much as grumbled, and Police and media helicopters, two at a time, hovered overhead, so we got their rotor sounds in stereo (that certainly didn't help the sound system on the stage, and more on that later!). The overall impression we got from this was that no-one had a bloody clue what to do next.

A good couple or few thousand people in that Square were milling about, trying to find somewhere to stand where they weren't being barged into by others with the same idea, tourists meandered all over the place, apparently wondering, like the attendees, WTF as going on, and asking me - ME! - what was going on, as if I had a bloody clue (Hells bells, I wasn't even wearing a high visibility vest, the usual people-magnet-like clothing that normally attracts such inane questions as "how to I get to Sutton, please, guv?!").

We couldn't even understand what was being said on the makeshift stage, as the sound system was emphasising the bass range, and not the mid-range, thus rendering any speech to what can only be described as sounding very much like "Argle bargle gargle margle bargl buggle muggle parp". I have NO idea what bloody language that is, by the way, so don't ask. Others around me were looking just as confused and bored as I was, by this time.

It felt as if the effort was being sucked out of the place, there was such a feeling of muted mass depression and impotence. The BBC earlier reported that there was a feeling of mass anger. Maybe. From where I stood, it was a lot different to that, truth be told. Disquiet, yes. Anger, yes, to a certain point, but more than that: Impotence, due to our not being able to affect or influence those people we put in a place who were supposed to actually LEAD us out of the EU, not prevaricate us to a consignment of eternal bondage to the EU.

This was not, on balance, something that was going to erupt into a frenzy, an orgy if you will, of mass hysteria and violence. Mass muttering appeared to be the order of the day, instead.

It had the civilised nature of a middle-class "That's just not the done thing, old chap" tea party gone slightly awry.

Even that right wing nut "Tommy Robinson" (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, now there's a really matey lower class name for you. Not) couldn't rabble rouse more than a muted few jeers (or was that cheers? No-one could really tell) on his reporting that the House of Commons had, once again, failed to reach a verdict on how to proceed on Brexit.

The assembled pissed-off people didn't, it seems, even have the energy to spit on the tarmac, let alone riot. It would appear that the utter mind-sapping farce that is Brexit has robbed us of even that capacity.

Then the drunks appeared, from the direction of Trafalgar Square, coming down Whitehall, with a bevy of skinheads of equally soberless nature. Once on Tower Bridge Road, opposite Parliament, and between us and the tube station (dammit), and with a couple of carriers-worth of Public-Order-kit-equipped members of the Metropolitan Police's finest standing, poised in epic boredom behind them, did they then break into song, which, in the event, was an off key (painfully so, God help our ears) rendition of "Rule Britannia". Repeated a few times, it was even more off-key with every verse, if that was even possible.

Even THOSE worthies hadn't the energy to break into riot (of course, the previously-mentioned riot troops behind them might have had something to do with that).

It kind of summed up the event for me.

So, the hell with it. Nothing of any real worth was going to happen, and certainly nothing of any massive bad either, aside from maybe drunken scuffles. So I left, just under an hour after I got there.

I strongly suspect that has SOMEONE decided to take proper charge, a meaningful rally could have been had. But there as no apparent programme, no actual aim, no guiding hand to a higher political goal.

There was nothing.

It had been billed as a celebration of Brexit, back before Parliament buggered up the 29th of March as the leaving date.

And no-one had the foresight to retroactively make this a day of political action.

Political inaction was the order of the day, today. Even Parliament noticed that, as it again voted to fudge up the mess that is Brexit.

Sad, innit?

So much for them paying attention to us, the people.

I've been told that the rest of Europe views the UK as a laughing stock, due to the Brexit mess.

I can honestly say I cannot bloody blame them one sodding bit.

Anyway, here are a few photos that I took. Enjoy.

Panoramic shot of Parliament Square at around four in the afternoon of the rally.

One of the two helicopters (in this case, a Police one) that hovered overhead, drowning most of any remaining coherence out of anyone even trying to use the public address system on Parliament Green.

The marchers arrive to a bit of "Oh, alright, if I must" clapping and tired cheering, and one, lone, solitary apparent 'Remainer', who booed. He later left, completely unmolested (and probably very upset that he couldn't sport war wounds to the press).

More of the marchers.

And more of the crowd, trying to hear what was being said on the podium (the "stage").

I didn't bother photographing the off-key drunks. You can find those most Friday nights, in most high streets across the country.

IMPORTANT CONTACT/FOLLOW DETAILS: PLEASE TAKE NOTE:

It's less than a fortnight until Google Plus is going to be assassinated with a knife through the server power lead and an industrial magnet in the hard drive.

So, this is a post to let you all know how to find me online after G+'s murder.

I'm remaining, for the time being, on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009392713468). It's there, I'm familiar (if not completely happy with it), and at least the various groups/pages on there cover most of my interests. I got off Twitter a few months back, as their privacy and data usage policies sucks galactic-sized lemons.

I'm on Pluspora too (as "RogerStenning", in case this link doesn't work: https://pluspora.com/people/f440a220087c0137b3a6005056264835), and I'm not at all impressed with it. I'm having a similar reaction as another friend on there, where we both agree that the interface sucks lemons compared to other SM sites out there ("whaddya mean I can't block an abuser/stalker/moronic git/idiot/great heaving tit of any proportion?! GAH!").

I have not yet tried MeWe or whatever it's called. I'm not a fan of closed-book (Walled Garden is another way of putting it), and Pluspora has confirmed that aversion in spades with its interface and lack of clear groupings, etc. The Interface is the key there - if they improve it by a couple of orders of magnitude, I suspect the place will be usable. Until then, it's a PITA. I suspect MeWe is a similar fish, sadly. If anyone wants to try and convert me, a couple of screenshots of the signed-in interface (blurred/barred in the usual privacy places, of course) would likely help.

I restrict my phone number to trusted friends; likewise my email is private too. If you're a mate, you've likely got either or both. If you haven't, don't sweat it: I check my FB feed practically half-daily (more often, even, it gets boring waiting for a departure slot on a bus stand!), and DMs there appear reliably. So do tagging notes on posts, come to that.

I'm active on CoTI (http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/, a sci-fi RPG forum devoted to Traveller in all its forms) as "Redcap".

I frequent the EDCForums (https://www.edcforums.com/), and am a regular user there (under my name).

Oh, and I have this blog, the one you're reading right now, in fact! This is likely to get a lot more use again, after G+ shutters the damn doors (yes, that's right, Google, that voodoo doll with all the pins in it cannot possibly be of you!)

Can't think of much else to say at this time.

Have fun, and hopefully see you all out there :-)

Clear Jets and open Skies!

Time to resurrect this, I think...

With the imminent passing of Google Plus, this blog is likely to get used a lot more than it has in the past three years.

So, this is RogersBlant, testing, testing, one, two, three, four, two two two dials down the bass a touch two two two... nods to self yep, that's about right.

Watch this space, more coming soon.