ToughButterCup

Two Bosch workbenches. PWB 600. I've had them since 2016, been outside in all weather for almost every day since then . Cost £80 ( then) I'm going to replace them with the one @Nickfromwales suggests because the replacement cost of the Bosch is now £120 - at least Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask.

"Freedom Citizens, Freedom. Come the revolution we will remember..."

Language matters. Reading it with care matters more. Thats why any text should be read with polite, respectful scepticism. Hardest of all is reading ones own words with the same detachment.

Its worth doing a @markc above anyway because stainless set screws reduce the annoyance of lifting the I/C cover when - several years later - you're in a hurry to get it lifted . And, of course, the slot for the screw driver has been buggered. Might be worth a Torx screw head (?)

Thanks @SteamyTea . yes, it is useful Ian

Skips: I hate them. Specially this one: after ten years at this game, the last one (maybe) And I love them (other peoples). The day before they are picked up, I dream about them. Sad Bastard ======================================== Monument to ten years toil You hold the decade carved from sleep, Heavy tax of muscles, laughter, cash, and tears. Buried in your belly, dark and deep, Miscut rafters from the early days, Hardened mortar from a novice phase, (I know how to mix mortar now) Are stacked like layers of a lifetime spent. Each rusted panel of your hollow frame Has watched us age, yet stayed the exact same, (apart from the rusty bits) A silent witness to a spine well-bent. Ten winters bit our hands upon this ground, Ten summers scorched the dust into our skin, While every spare pound that our pockets found (well some of it was found down the back of someone else's sofa) Was swallowed by the walls we stood within. Now blueprints yield to final, finished stone, ( well cladding aksherly) And you receive the scraps of what has grown, ( to be fair some of it was rotten) The final clearing of a warrior’s field. Go ride the lorry down the tarmac track, Take all our toil, don't look back, For out of waste, a home is finally sealed. Still not signed off. Stuff it. Ain't gonna sell it anyway Little Miss Muffit. ( her from the LPA) Now other peoples skips - I just love em.

Selected with care and a view to the long term, plants are the best shade. But they weigh much more than I thought they would.

I didn't know that a meniscus had an arse. Ya live and learn dun'tcha....

As @Russell griffiths above. Gaulhofer 4.5 meter window -open 10mm for the last few days and locked in place, right next to the dog's cage. Why 10mm? So the bloody cats can't drop blood-soaked presents off for the dog, just outside her cage . little sods.

Thats the one big lesson for self building

Ughhh @steamy, genuinely sorry for you this weather: my son's pub kitchen is hot even in freezing weather. Not funny.

Working on the shady side of the outside of the house after about 9am. We both like the heat, SWMBO quite happily in her greenhouse (!) - I couldn't stand that. Sleeping is OK - blinds down all day and veranda doors open all night. Workwear Running shorts : nowhere to put my phone - so my watch has separation anxiety every few minutes No built-in knee pads : we now need three kneeling pads - but I can never find one No pockets : drill bits and screws line up along my lips - not long before I swallow one I expect Sandals : no toe protection - suddenly very fussy about dropping stuff Angle grinder: sparks look like fun normally, until the hot metal chipping stream fizzes down your leg and some of them get trapped against your skin under the sandal strap SWMBO feels sorry for me - jugs of iced water

Sometimes - with care - a heat gun (hot air, not a flame thrower) will loosen things up a bit

Ummm, how many of us have been looked after in hospitals by British citizens, how many of our parents are looked after by immigrant Care Workers? Without them ... ?

Culture cannot be lost. Ever. It simply is. The key issue is who is examining it and why. The motive underlying the examination is important. British Culture is not static. It is not fixed. It is - and always has been - an ever changing mixture of things. In culinary terms, its a Full Rolling Boil. And it always will be a mixture. The good people of Honiton took lace makers from Flanders into their community ( bobbin lace) in about 1500 ( Hence "He's spinning a yarn" today) . Or have your knuckles rapped as a child when the school teacher saw a child dropping a lace making bobbin. The rapping was done with a bit of wood. 500 years later the closest we get to their influence is a bit of fine lace and a couple of pithy sayings. And how many of us have not been really glad to see a Polish plumber ? Or a Philippino nurse ? Or a Ghanan Care Assistant? The UK has been immeasurably enriched by immigrants: over time they've contributed to our culture - not all of them, but the vast majority have come here and been a net contribution to the GDP and the Tax regime here. We can't lose it (British Culture) because - it - changes minute by minute, day by day. Culture is the very essence of Change being Normal.