I’ve been watching with amusement the videos of @warzan telling us all the joys of blindly believing every word of “some bloke off the internet” but must admit to having been a little skeptical. Some crackpot theories did seem a little far fetched. But recently I had my own encounters with “some bloke off the internet” and must admit, I’m a convert.

First up, my Peugeot has been giving me some grief; it’s full of electronics and when they go wrong, they seriously go wrong. I’ve been getting all kinds of warning messages on the dashboard about faulty indicators, sidelights blown, system failures yet each time I’ve stopped and checked, everything worked as it should.

Some bloke off the internet said it’s down to a faulty earth and showed me how to make a replacement earth strap. I paid quite a bit for the car just a few months ago and recently threw another few hundred quid at it, trying to solve these issues so was really putting my faith in some bloke off the internet…. but he came good! Instead of £415 for a new electrical loom, everything is working as it should for the cost of some left-over electrical cable and a couple of crimps. And all thanks to some bloke off the internet.

Inspired by this, I decided to have a go at fixing my rotovator. Reading the manual this morning on how to get it running again, I realised that my method of storing it (covering it in a duvet and leaving it behind the shed for two years) isn’t quite as laid out in the instructions. So, needless to say, when I tried to start it this morning, it didn’t work.

I put fresh fuel in and there was petrol leaking everywhere. I’d been quoted £200 just for someone to take a look at the engine. Using my rudimentary knowledge (and some Youtube-ing – is that a verb?) I put it down to leaking gaskets. Some bloke off the internet said you can make paper gaskets using cereal packet so, since I have a laser cutter and am not too shabby with my Inkscape skills, I laser cut a Coco Pops box.

Ta-da! Installed the new gaskets and everything worked – no leaks, no petrol spoiling the front garden any more, everything running as it should, and over £600 saved in three days! (I’ve yet to convince my wife this means £600 to spend on miniatures and terrain, since we didn’t have the money to spend on it in the first place).

And all thanks to @warzan and his faith in some bloke off the internet.

I’m a convert. And put my full faith in some bloke off the internet too.

Maybe I’ll write a blog post about it all – and become somebody else’s some bloke off the internet……