Replacing my iPhone 3GS screen myself

The iphone screen I had ordered finally arrived, so I wasted no time in getting to work replacing it. I made sure and watched a couple of Youtube videos all the way through to make sure I knew what to expect, and one of them was a guy filming himself to see what mistakes he would make. His main one was pulling the screen too hard, thus pulling all the connecting cables away instead of gently removing them; noted. The part that concerned me, and would ultimately lead to a lot more money being spent, was the fact that a hairdryer/heat gun needed to be used to remove the glass! So it wasn’t just a case of unscrewing stuff and replacing; there was some fiddly stuff to do. It wasn’t this part that screwed everything up however, it was removing the LCD screen. In the video the guy is seen taking out the screws then using a tool to slip under the LCD to remove it. Mine didn’t just slip out, and I spent a while jostling with it. In the end I put too much pressure on it and heard a light cracking noise; I turned it over to find I had damaged the LCD. This was what I was dreading the most, just making it worse and worse. I didn’t know at first how damaged it was, so I got on with sorting the glass section out before worrying too much. The glass was not what I was expecting, I though it would just separate with a little bit of heat, instead it deformed the frame and damaged all the rubber sealing. Okay, so it would be a little exposed to increased moisture, at least I will have saved on taking it to Apple; that’s what I was telling myself. When it came to sticking the glass to the midframe, it was as bad as I had imagined; a very uneven seal, and the rubber peeling away. I plugged it all back in anyway, just to see where I was at, and the LCD was in quite a bad way; only the top half was barely visible. When I tried to push it all back together it was a struggle as you can imagine, and once it eventually did go in (after cutting away most of the rubber seal) the screen was just a mess of colours. I quickly got on line to find an LCD screen, and although there were plenty about, and for a reasonable price, I couldn’t wait for several days for it to arrive. I eventually found a place in Bermondsey that stocked them, but unfortunately they were double the price of most on line stockists; I had no choice. When I arrived, I walked into their workshop, and asked for the LCD screen only; I did ask the price for the whole front unit, but £69.99 was a bit much. Now, as I was a little shaky due to my iPhone being completely stuffed, I had a little trouble putting screen together with all those minuscule screws. The two guys in there saw this and insisted they help me. I didn’t want them doing it for nothing, and already felt like an idiot because I had tried to fix it myself to save money. In the end they said they would be happy to do it for free, so they did, and pointed out that I was a second away from breaking the screen again by placing it over a part that should have gone above it! I took a £5 note out of my bag and told him to buy himself a drink, but he flatly refused. I persisted, pointing out that I would have cost myself even more if he hadn’t of stopped me; again he refused. When I told him the least I could do was tweet about the company and tell others, he said this was what he really wanted – word of mouth was the best thing for a company like his. Now, the question is would I do it again, and the answer is yes, because my phone worked, although I will buy a complete mid frame assembly to replace the deformed one. The problem with the LCD was that the frame needed to be separated in several places with a sharp object that could slot between them. The rest of it was a doddle, so I am buying a new mid frame assembly, and putting my iphone back into it’s previous cosmetic state. Funnily enough, when I got onto eBay to buy a complete mid frame assembly, the only company selling this, besides ones in Hong Kong with up to a month delivery, was this same company! In the end the total for parts was about £83, and all the running around. But, I didn’t have to send my phone away, it was cheaper than Apple, and for the future I will buy the cheap mid frame from Hong Kong in advance, so if I do break my screen again, it will be a fraction of the price.

http://www.parts4ipods.com/

They're great people, and much cheaper for parts and repair than Apple stores.

A phishing scam sent to me, paleeeeeese.

Dear,
Greeting to you,

I am Mr Yannick Ahmed from Burkina Faso I want to seek your assistance, I’m a staff
of BANK OF AFRICA,(BOA) In my department I discovered an abandoned sum of
USD$7.8million US dollars in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers
who was assassinated with his entire family since 2003,

Since his death, the bank has been expecting his next of Kin to come over and claim
his money because the bank can't release it unless somebody applies for it as his
next of Kin, please I want you to stand for me as his next of kin so that the bank
will transfer the fund into your account then I will come over to meet you in your
country for us to share the money, do not view this as been illegal but an
opportunity as await your urgent response to enable me give you more details.
Please reply with those information's below so that I can know you very well before
I go ahead with you,

Your Full Name
Your International passport or ID card.
Your age.
Your private telephone number.
Your country.
Your profession.

Remain bless,
Mr Yannick Ahmed

We received a PCN in the mail yesterday for our car allegedly being stopped in a box junction on New Cross road. At the moment in that area there are lots of roadworks and road changes that have been ongoing for many months (even years). Recently Kender Street was closed, as can be seen from this photo http://www.flickr.com/photos/35264141@N06/5059872374/ I took which is at the junction the alleged offence occurred. Because this street is now closed off, it is reasonable to assume that the VERY faint box junction at the intersection of these roads was no longer in use/being monitored. This is even more apparent when you look at it from this angle http://www.flickr.com/photos/35264141@N06/5059872728/in/photostream/ and see that several sections of road have been relaid on it and nearby, but the "box" has not been repainted, so it basically looks again that it has been left faint or partly removed because it will eventually be tarmacked over. What I am pointing out here is that the box is very faint - if you look at the first photo with a freshly painted red lines, you can see the difference in visibility between them and the box junction - WHY WASN'T THE BOX JUNCTION REPAINTED FOR BETTER VISIBILITY? We all know why, because it's a money making scheme that no one will fight, that is except me. I fight all my PCNs, and have won 80% of them for reasons such as this.

looked at from this angle http://www.flickr.com/photos/35264141@N06/5059261423/in/photostream/ it doesn't look like there's any box junction there at all. Yes it's easier to see from a camera mounted on a 30 ft pole, but when you are low down in a car, in the haze of the afternoon traffic, a faint yellow line is hardly visible to 90% of drivers.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35264141@N06/5059261773/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35264141@N06/5059873536/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35264141@N06/5059260839/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35264141@N06/5059259217/in/photostream/


These other photos show areas of road nearby that have had paint removed, or other box junctions that have also been tarmacked over and not repainted - what exactly is supposed to be being enforced in that area at the moment is anyone's guess. Certainly not something that it should be legal or moral to charge unsuspecting motorists over.

Last night's bilk

I was heading down park lane when a hand went up at a bus stop, so I had to do that thing where you look in the rear view mirror to see if there’s a bus behind you, then, make eye contact with the person to make sure it’s definitely you she is hailing. There was no bus, so I pulled over, only for 3 young guys to come to the window from the back of the queue instead of the woman whose hand went up first. As she wasn’t walking toward me I asked where these people wanted to go. They were about 20 years old, two black and one white, and they type of people that used the phrase ‘ya get me’. If there’s anyone on this here Earth that I immediately take a dislike to is those people who use this term; NO I DON’T BLOODY GET YOU, WHY DON’T YOU EXPLAIN IT TO ME? They asked if it would be more than £30 to Fulham Broadway, even though I had a little feeling that this was to put me at ease; that they had £30 and therefore I wouldn’t have anything to worry about. As I hadn’t had any “trouble” for a long time (except a couple of sickies and some spilt wine) I let them in the cab against my better judgement. They were right young geezers, and even though they were trying to be chatty and overly friendly (something that would usually make me very suspicious) I gave them the benefit of the doubt. The first spike on my concern graph (besides the “street accent”) was when they said they needed a cash machine literally as we pulled away. They said there was a Sainsbury’s in Fulham they could use, but I decided to stop at the first I saw in order to see that they actually had access to money. The first was on Knightsbridge, and as soon as one of them was out I was already being told that these machines didn’t work with their card. I didn’t understand what that meant until the one that got out came to my window and asked what ‘you card has been denied’ meant; well, exactly what it says on the tin I would have thought. He then showed me his card, which looked like a very basic credit card. He told me that it was a cash card, and that it’s the type you put funds on. One side of me was saying to get rid of them there, but the other side was saying ‘they owe for the trip to here so far’. Well I took them on to Fulham where they said it could only be used in supermarket machines. One of them asked me about my sat nav, how much it cost, and what model it was; his response told me what kind of people they were – ‘I can get you lots of sat navs’. Why the hell would I want more than one? Another little sign that this was all wrong was while we were stopped, and one of the boys asked me if we could stop the meter until we were moving again. He then went on to ask if he could have me number to use me privately. I asked him why he would want to use a black cab if he thought they were so expensive (he also commented how unfair it was about the £2.20 minimum at the start). He tried to say it was because it would look better among his friends if he was driven around in a black cab instead of a cheap minicab. Instead of stopping in Fulham Broadway as asked, they took me all the way to the Sainsbury’s in Townmead Road. As soon as I was at the cashpoints and one went over to them, the other two got out and started edging closer to the riverside. The one by the cashpoint said there was a problem, that he couldn’t get any money out, so I locked the cab and went over to have a look; I could hear a small jeer from the other 2 who obviously weren’t expecting this. He told me to watch what happens when he put his numbers in; it told him he had insufficient funds. I then got very serious and said ‘right, this bulls**t, you better find some other way of getting the money or I’m calling the police’. He then motioned to the other two to give him their phone so he could call his mum. He went through 3 phones, all of which went dead conveniently as he was typing the number in. I then got my phone out and asked for the number; now a number they were typing into their own phones was suddenly impossible for them to remember. ‘Right, I’m calling the police’ I told them, and as I dialled the number they a laughed and jogged off around the back of the supermarket. I got the police on the line as I still had them in sight, then while still giving location and descriptions, I got in my cab and headed down the adjacent street to where they had gone. There were several exits through the flats, so I was trying to guess how far they would have got to, but as I got out my cab and turned, I saw them running toward Townmead road. I quickly got back in and headed after them again. By the time I pulled up next to them they hadn’t even noticed I had caught up with them. I had the officer on the phone all the way to the end of Stephendale Road, where I knew a dead end was on its way. Just before we all got there I had put all my equipment and money in my rucksack ready to get out on foot. I wasn’t quick enough however, because when they headed through the gate and into the dark green, I lost which direction they went in. I had the police on the phone the whole time, and picked one of the exits to try my luck – they had definitely gone. There were some nearby flats which they would have definitely gone into by then, so I knew the chase was over. I met a police van on Imperial Road coming out of Fulmead Street in a hurry, and I made contact to confirm I was the driver. We both knew they would have gone inside by now, so I shook the drivers hand and thanked him for coming. I keep looking back over the whole thing and wondering what I can learn from this. Unfortunately because there have been many people I have picked up, who I had thought were going to be trouble (and sometimes were) but still got paid, it’s impossible to know who the ones are that are actually going to do a runner. In 6 years of doing this job, I would say that, off the top of my head, I have only had about 4-5 runners (ones that actually got away), so it’s not something to warrant a complete change of practises unfortunately. Several others have tried, but I caught them, called the police, left the meter running, and got the police to make them pay the amount up to that point.

So remember that one cabbies –

-‘ya get me’ boys
-cashcard that can only be used at their destination
-2 black and one white.
-the white was skinny, short hair, blue shorts, grey and blue rucksack
-one black boy had 2-3inch afro, reasonably built, wearing an Orange JD sports bag diagonally over his back
-other black boy had short plats, was a bit overweight, and was wearing (I think) a grey t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms
-they were all about the same height (about 5ft 3 – 5ft 5) and were not intimidating
-They lived in the vicinity of Peartree Court and the end of Stephendale Road SW6.

Predators review.

I went to see ‘Predators’and was very excited. The film hadn’t had much press, and there wasn’t even a poster for it on the outside of the cinema; hell I only even got wind of it a few months ago, so I was a bit suspicious to say the least. I have just read that it didn’t have a great budget, but saying that it is 2010, 23 years after the first one, and the special effects were better in that! At first when I heard the soundtrack I was happy that it was all the recognisable jungle stuff , but then as the film progressed I started to get annoyed that there had been no addition to it whatsoever; even the song over the credits was ‘Long Tall Sally’. It made me think that the film had literally just been made for die hard fans, that had a gaping hole in their lives where there hadn’t really been a decent Predator sequel ever. Some scenes were literally cloned from the first movie, which again was nice as a homage, but there were far too many. The actors weren’t believable enough in their roles; a couple were supposed to be some really nasty characters, but here they just appeared as quivering wrecks. Also, 2 of the characters being in the film didn’t make any sense whatsover. Firstly the Lawrence Fishburne character who not only could have been left out of the whole film, but for someone who had made it through “10 seasons” without being killed, died very very quickly and far too easily. Then there was the doctor, who it sounded like was brought in, with all these macho types, to be on hand when one of them needed medical attention. This wasn’t the case however, and at the end of the film it is revealed that he was some sort of mad person; what the hell was that all about??!! At no other point in the film was this suggested or hinted at, so for what purpose did they put it in? Then there’s the fact that they are on another planet, and not once does anyone say ‘bull****, there’s no such things as aliens and alien worlds’ they all just accept that they are in a “game reserve on some far off planet”; not even a mention of “it’s gotta be a dream”. Special effects, oh my, I haven’t seen fire like that since some of the early Disney animations; I even heard several people in the audience laughing because it was such a cheap effect. Unlike the first predator, played by the sadly deceased 7’ 2” Kevin Peter Hall, these predators were only around 6’ 5” – 6’ 7” in height, and it showed. The only thing that kept the film slightly together was the use of the oscar winning actor ‘Adrien Brody’, who if it wasn’t for him, this could have gone straight to DVD as far as I was concerned

My review of 'The Killer Inside Me'

The scene where the prostitute gets beaten up wasn’t as bad as I was worried it would be; although it was pretty uncomfortable. The cinema only had about 6-7 people in it, and up until that point there hadn’t been any noise or sounds. As the beating progressed I felt the uncomfortable air now present in the theatre, and there were little noises here and there, such as audible groans and what sounded like shuffling in seats. I can only imagine that not everyone reads or listens to reviews like I do, so I knew this particular scene was the main talking point between all the reviewers. Some of these people probably thought it was just going to be a dark thriller, and didn’t count on the multiple sex scenes and a whole new level of graphic violence. Although I am still unsure about the violence, I felt the amount of sex didn’t add anything to the film; he didn’t do anything different each time he had sex, therefore a lot of it could have been much shorter, or simply just left on the cutting room floor. It was definitely not the usual portrayal of a psychotic, basically where they have cast someone who obviously has the presence that fits the bill such as ‘Kevin Spacey’ or ‘Anthony Perkins’. As soon as Casey Affleck appears I thought ‘they have miscast him here, how is he going to be a believable killer?’. When he was with the two women he appeared to be very loving and kind, so when the violence starts, it completely takes me by surprise. The other thing I liked about the film was that the rest of Casey’s character was both written and acted well. When someone is trying to get away with a crime they always sound a bit edgy or uncomfortable, but because of the psychotic nature of this character, you would assume that their mind is very different, that they would react very well under pressure and tough questioning; which he does. Also, the good thing about having it set so far back, meant that you believed he could get away with it for as long as he did, that if it was today, the forensic evidence against him would have been overwhelming. The other controversial subject (although still in the same area) is the sexual violence that all the women in the character’s life enjoy. I don’t get it myself, but I have been told many times by “people” that this sort of thing does go on, and there are women and men who do get off on it; knock yourself out (not literally of course).

A crazy last job

There was a call for cabs at The Grosvenor House via DAC, luckily just as I had cleared in W2, so I got there to find people streaming out onto the street. I couldn’t get right to the front, as I was flagged down by 2 women and a guy, the only thing was that they didn’t want him getting in with them. He was in that pissed state where your shirt is hanging out, your eyes are half closed, and you won’t take no for an answer. They asked me not to let him in, but what the hell was I going to do to stop him if they didn’t close the door? I found my moment however when both the girls were sat down with one trying to close the door; the guy wouldn’t let go so I drove away and he had to slam it shut. I noticed the girls were carrying two open bottles of wine, so I told them to make sure they didn’t spill any; ‘oh don’t worry we won’t, thanks’ they said confidently. The job was going to Forest Hill, and for the most part it was uneventful; I will say that I’m sure they were snogging each other at one point. They asked me to stop at a garage by Goose Green for cigarettes, and from then on I left the intercom on. There was lots of whispering going on, followed by speaking at a normal volume, so my concern was that they might have either spilt some wine, or, were going to try something with regards to the fare. As we approached Forest Hill station I asked if they needed a cash-point, and they told me they might just make it. So for the moment the wine thing was out of my mind, and now I was thinking, as I heard the jingle of change, that I would be told that they were a couple of pounds short and would they I let them off. What actually happened when I stopped was that they paid in full no problem, but then when I glanced back to have a look if they had made a mess, sure enough there was wine spilt on the ramp. At first they denied it was wine, but I told them I wasn’t stupid, and that it was obviously wine because there was a used tissue covered in red marks that they had used to try and clean it. I made a fuss that they had lied, which at first I was going to leave it at, but then when they were both out of the car and at their front door, I had a thorough check because I could hear them quietly trying to get in quickly; this is when I saw what looked like a shadow on the offside seat. I felt it and it was wet – a very large patch that was also on the upright section. I quickly shot over to the door to the building which was now closed, but there were windows at the top of the door, so I banged hard on them to get the girls attention. At first they looked at me wondering what to do, but as I banged louder they surely realised I would wake the whole block up, they opened up and I gave them what for. “I let you bring in those bottles because you assured me that you wouldn’t spill anything, but you actually spilled 2 loads – on the floor and on the seat”. All the while they were trying to calm me down, and that they hadn’t done anything wrong, but I then dropped the bomb “the car has been soiled and I want £40 to get the car cleaned and go home”. I told them either a check or a card, and when they said they had neither I told them that there was no way that neither of them had no cards. I threatened with the police, which they didn’t think I would call – they obviously didn’t know about the many times in the past I had called on the police and got my money. The mistake I made was going back to my cab to lock it, so I could go in and check their flat number – they shut the main door! For a second I tried to decided what I would say to the police operator when I called them, but instead I thought stuff it, I will just ring someone’s flat number so they get annoyed and come down – I will then blame the girls. A woman appeared at the main door in a dressing gown and asked why I had rang her buzzer; I don’t think I even apologized straight away, I just went straight past her and started banging really loudly on the girls door. I then apologized to the woman and said they had made a mess of my cab, and she said she had heard the commotion before her buzzer went. I assumed she would be really angry at me, but from her reactions when banging on the girl’s door, I concluded this wasn’t the first time they had caused a commotion. When I was outside their door, or what I hoped was their door – I had only seen them unlocking a door from the side, and when I got there there were 2 together – so I listened for any sound and when I heard it I started banging loudly. I knew they were thinking at first not to open it, but my message obviously got across that I would bring wake this whole building down to get my money. The door eventually opened and the anger on my face was clear to see. Anger may not work in other situations, but they knew there would be hell to pay with their neighbours later if this wasn’t dealt with. The more reasonable of the 2 told me she would pay me £30, while the other called me all sorts of names and told her friend “don’t pay him anything”; she was told to shush. When the card appeared I made it obvious that I was going to be quiet by whispering from then on. We (me and the reasonable one) headed out to the cab and I proceeded with putting the card through; all the while there were still insults coming from the other by the main door. By this time the girl with me was asking my name and telling me she was sorry for her friend. I replied “well there is always a sensible and not-so-sensible person in a friendship/relationship, I don’t know why it’s like that, but you are obviously the sensible one”. I was ignoring the regular insults now coming from the other, but she heard this and shut up. Once the receipt was signed and I was happy, the reasonable girl was worried that I was still upset, and she would not let it go. In the end I said to her “look what do you want me to do? Shake your hand, get on my knees…. I’ve got my money…” she interrupted “yes shake my hand” and she shook my hand and squeezed it “there, shake my hand like a man”; I was totally baffled now. I eventually pulled up around the corner and got to work with tissues, wet wipes, bottled water, upholstery cleaner, and a hard brush. I finished off with a good coating of Fabreeze, and opened the magic tree fully so it would overpower any remaining smell; and man was the smell of spilt wine strong.