Welcome
to the world of John Robinson the Umpteenth of Upminster

see copyright notice. Page created 2-Jul-2015 updated 26-Aug-2025. Use the button groups above to navigate quickly around the site.

Much as I loved my parents, I do wish they'd given me a more distinctive name! To clarify: I'm the John Robinson who was schooled at Engayne, Brentwood and Cambridge; worked at the BBC, Goldsmiths' and King's Colleges; walks everywhere, takes lots of pictures, and likes big old computers. You can read more about me on the 3 pages of this CV. To complete the profile (and just so that everyone knows): I'm British, male, single, heterosexual and omnivorous (and determined never to be denied the pleasure of eating well-reared and skilfully-cooked meat). I respect all religious beliefs, but personally hold sacred only the balance of nature - howsoever it came about - which I believe to be catastrophically threatened by burgeoning human numbers. Best stop there, before the profile morphs into a mission statement! Oh, and another thing - I can't be bothered with "political correctness".

This website first appeared in 2000 (as www.genre.fsnet.co.uk). Most of the popular pages are still here, with lots of new stuff and more to come. If you're looking for specific content, the site map will locate it faster than the navigation buttons! Throughout the site, red text and red-bordered images are links. I welcome all constructive comments and enquiries via the contact page.

Quick links to popular pages

Sloe Gin recipe
How to make the liqueur (and what to do with the leftovers)

Virtual Paper Tape Reader
Decodes (and encodes) images of punched paper tape

Photos of mammals
Squirrels and foxes are here, with links to many other photo galleries

Digital clocks
and lots more from my electronic projects museum

My working years
in BBC Engineering Designs and elsewhere (part of a 3-page CV)

Site map
A complete list of the 75+ feature pages on this site

Recent changes (latest first)

Updated 26-Aug-2025
Sloe Gin recipe
Sloe Port suggestion for re-using leftover sloes

Updated 10-Jun-2025
Map-it-Yourself
UI redesigned for a smartphone

Updated 8-May-2025
Upminster photos
Hall Lane Pitch & Putt added

(johnr's occasional bloguette)

Our daily ropy bread

29-Jul-2025: I've been making "real" bread on and off for many years, based on a simple recipe of wheat flour, water, olive oil, yeast and salt. But the last two loaves went badly wrong; after 2-3 days a dark patch appeared in the middle, gradually becoming coarse and sticky in texture and with an unusual smell that I'd describe as "fruity". It took me a few days to associate eating this bread with a persistent stomach-ache and, er, a "dire rear"!

A bit of research suggested the problem was "ropiness", caused by a type of bacterium (Bacillus spp.) whose spores are heat-resistant; able to survive the baking process in the middle of a loaf, where the temperature hovers around 100°C even in a hot oven. As I hadn't changed my recipe or storage régime, suspicion fell on the sack of flour from which both loaves were made – but my supplier assured me there had been no other complaints. As a precaution, I added a dash of vinegar to my next loaf, made with a fresh supply of flour and yeast, and I'm pleased to say it turned out fine.

Thermal Phews

21-Jun-2025: Last week, soaring temperatures triggered the deployment of my trusty 15-inch fans: a desktop model in the bedroom, and a pedestal one in the living room. Unfortunately, the latter didn't want to play ball. Starting on its lowest setting, it gained speed as normal for a few seconds but then emitted a faint "phut" and slowed down by about 50%. A wisp of white smoke from the motor housing signalled that its occupants had reached a decision about their future – and it wasn't a healthy one. Luckily I switched off in time to prevent a conflagration. A familiar smell of hot plastic filled the room; it's rare nowadays for appliances to fail like that, and I found the smell strangely nostalgic!

It transpired that a thermal fuse in the stator windings, intended to cut power in the event of overheating (!), had spontaneously turned into a 2k ohm resistor. That meant the poor little mite suddenly found itself consuming several watts – no wonder it had partly melted. Luckily I had some spare thermal fuses; they were rated at 102° instead of the original 115°, but I figured that wouldn't be a bad thing. I fitted one using the old heat-proof sleeving and new tie-wraps, and the fan is now back in service as good as new.

Needless to say, don't attempt a repair like this unless you've spent a lifetime working with electronics, and still retain The Knowledge. And I guess the story should serve as a reminder never to leave appliances such as fans running in an unattended situation.

Cactus Exactus

28-Dec-2024: Two years after regaining its fertility (see 27-Dec-2022) my rescued "Christmas Cactus" has bloomed once more. This time it produced four flowers all of which opened, with uncanny punctuality as before, within a day or two of Christmas.

I can't help feeling this is symbolic of the fact that four dear friends have passed away during those two years...

Kitchen-sink drama

22-Aug-2024: After washing up the other morning, I was quite worried to find this object in the kitchen sink. It was translucent, with the look and feel of polythene. Had a washer, or some other vital component, split and fallen out of a tap, or the kettle? Or was it just a piece of packaging that I'd torn off? I spent ages thinking back over what I'd opened or unwrapped nearby during the previous 24 hours.

What I hadn't done was to smell the object; on doing so, I instantly remembered slicing an onion. It was a tough old specimen with multiple cores - and this was an inner "ring" from one of them!

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