Death of a friend

My very first post on Pattaya Days paid homage to my coffee machine; and rightly so. It had been making us a daily cup of coffee for more than five years, and it continued to do so until about three months ago when I changed my diet.

Starting the day with a large glass of water and then accompanying breakfast with a freshly made juice, broke the coffee spell and I suddenly no longer wanted to my morning shot of caffeine. And although I have had the occasional cup of coffee while out and about, my lovely coffee machine has sat idle. Time to sell it.

Over the ten or years of ownership, it has needed servicing, and particularly in need of attention has been the bolts which hold the head to the body which rust in the steam. So I sent off to the parts shop in the UK for two new bolts and the accompanying washer. Replace the bolts, give the whole machine a shine, and maybe someone would like to continue producing the fine coffee of which it is capable.

Unfortunately, after three months of not being used, one of the bolts had fused into the body and could not be removed. Eventually I managed to move the bolt, but it turned out that just the head was turning and so the head broke off. Several hours with assorted tools convinced me that there was no way the remains of the bolt would come out, and the only fix would be to find a machine shop to drill out the bolt and re-thread a larger hole; without damaging the integrity of the boiler at the same time.

I decided that the chance of that being done successfully was not worth the risk compared to the price I may be able to attract for the machine once it was fettled. And so, it was with a heavy heart that I declared my once-lovely La Pavoni coffee machine to be dead; and she was buried this afternoon with full military honours.

Farewell my lovely, and thanks for the estimated 5,000 coffees you made for me.

Anyone want to buy some beans?

Comments 🔗

2013-08-03 | Kevin Moore says

Did you have it put in the ground or was it roasted?

2013-08-03 | Chang Noi says

In the selling mood …. does that mean you are in the camera-buying mood?

2013-08-04 | Spike says

Spent the night trying to come up with a suitable reply; but failed. So: I put it in a bin bag and threw it in the rubbish.

2013-08-04 | Spike says

Have certainly been selling a lot recently, headlined by my Canon lens and camera. I now have a kitty of some $7,000 which will be put in a trust fund and applied by the trustees (me) as appropriate in years to come. No cameras are currently on the agenda for purchase, but when Panasonic get off their collective arse and release the 150mm F2.8, there will be an emergency meeting of trustees to consider an investment.

2013-08-04 | Clive says

Will have to dig it out for you - and sorry this news comes too late - but yesterday I read somewhere that someone is making an adapter to connect EF mount lenses to M43 bodies - with full electrical pass-through of the main electronic functions. It didn’t say whether that would include using the camera’s battery to power AF [which seems ambitious] but it might have been nice to see how your 300MM f2.8 fared. I do think a Panny 150 would be rather nice though!

2013-08-04 | Clive says

Way OT [sorry all] but as Spike occasionally offers us some amazing macro images of Pattaya insect life, I thought you might be interested in this article

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/08/nicky-bay-spiders/

I can’t be certain, but one of the images [3rd down] seems vaguely related to a critter Spike took found…

2013-08-04 | Spike says

I saw that and spent an hour or so marvelling at his images. He lives in Singapore and runs occasional workshops; I will sign up for the next one.

2013-08-04 | Spike says

Not much point buying a very expensive adapter to put a monster lens on a tiny body; especially when someone is prepared to give you a shitload of cash for the lens.

2013-08-04 | Kevin Moore says

Some truly amazing images there, busy having a look at his blog and it’s well worth a look. http://sgmacro.blogspot.co.uk/

2013-08-05 | Billy says

RIP

2013-08-07 | ChristianPFC says

When I sell something on ebay, I leave repair, maintenance and cleaning for the lucky buyer.

2013-08-07 | Donovan says

Whoah! You’re just chucking out a La Pavoni because of one fused bolt. That’s a few minutes with a drill press and a thread cutter. If the rubbish hasn’t been collected, please rush outside and fetch it. I’ll happily pay shipping to South Africa and a little something on top….

I’m not ready to go healthy yet despite advancing middle age, and an aeropress is only borderline adequate for my morning coffee.