ToughButterCup

Learn to love it man! Won't be long before they've flown the nest and you'll miss it. That deep visceral retching; only matched by a decent case of necrosis

Digit trouble. Worse for me than many, now that I have only eight left.

Phone call to Tanner's Structural Design the other day........ 0 0 3 5 3 2 5 5 1 0 0 0 (Tanner's number) Brr Brr Brrr Brrrr "Hallo Luxemburg Post Office" Ermmmm, is that Tanner's Structural Design? "No, .... Its Luxemburg Post Office" Yeah right , Hilliard, stop messin' about ..... , now about our steels design.. "This is Luxembourg Post Office, Sir" It was the 'Sir' that brought me up short . I'd dearly love to know which digit among the correct ones listed above that I had mis-dialled. I've done a brief search, but...

They are currently using the ' space ' provided between the notion of a ' building start' and the twelve year rule. The Enforcement Officer told me that " There is no significant difference in law between residence in a caravan (with in this case a partner) and the occupation of a site hut for the purposes of building a stables. " So, thats OK then.

Here's a wheeze that works very locally to me... very locally indeed... you can even see it on Google Earth Make an application to put a stables on the land. While that application is being considered, put a caravan on it (in anticipation of a successful outcome) , and call it a site hut : then just live in it. To date, that's worked for 4 years. The application process started in 2009. You think I'm joking? No I am not. Not one little bit.

There ya go! That sentence alone will save me a hundred quid I bet. Thanks. (PS, some little toe-rag has nicked my artery forceps. Any chance you could bring some with on the next visit? )

Professional indemnity Insurance is expensive. Let us know what happens. Ian

Incursions I think. AKA .......annoying inconsistencies ......... One of which nearly caused the piling company to have to cut the probe off at 2 meters (out of a four meter probe) - at a cost of a thousand or so quid, (cut off, replace, re-weld, re-pile) while driving the last pile

It is possible and it isn't folly. @Construction Channel and @Mrs Construction Channel are too modest to point out that they have done a series of videos on how they did it here The Devil is in the detail (says the guy who's never slated a roof). But I have built a roof, and felted it. And I will be slating that roof when I know I can afford the slates. There are lots of videos about slating on YooChube. I found the videos by this guy particularly good because he takes care to explain a little more than the average Monkey-See-Monkey-Do approach to skills-based teaching and learning. What is clear to me after a few years in touch with online self-builders is that there is a generosity here which often provides enough moral support to get started. Once that happens, we also enjoy unpicking the inevitable cock-ups. All that's needed is a bit more courage than average. Self builders have enough of a push to Just Bloody Do It. And a poor bank balance is a real help . Just think of it if you had too much. You'd miss the buzz of Just Bloody Doing it. Make your own mistakes: don't pay someone else to make them for you

Who knows, we were all working really hard at not looking at the dungarees. For a moment I considered asking her where she bought the clogs. But uncharacteristically, I restrained myself. Shame really.

Breakdown in a shower? Wadja mean? Spark plugs wet or something?

Attagal! (You asked for that ) My results came back less than two weeks after the job was done. But I was comprehensively - though informally - briefed by the geologist at the time. He could ( just like the piling guy who came along later to inspect the ground) tell almost exactly what the composition was. And, as I later learned, it was almost the same stuff that was found a few hundred yards away. Alluvial Till with Mudstone incursions

Before replying, it's brilliant to have you two on this forum. Thanks @ProDave and @Onoff One gable end has been partly removed and so is open to the elements: that's where the bins and meter box are, still covered by the roof . Its a bit like a large sentry box. The meter is in an external meter box on the inside of the 'sentry box' wall. Like this..... (meter box not illustrated because its hidden by the bins) Yes, it is the back end of a smart meter; and I have been given the gubbins for use inside the house. I remember reading (you perhaps?) outlining why they aren't all that good an idea. But the whole job was free, so maybe I cannot moan too much.......

Sid - from British Gas- came to see me today. And a very nice man he was. Didn't charge a penny. This is what he left me..... and now a bit like @nod on this thread I need to decide on which CU to buy. Or CUs ? - There's the question This installation is in our piggery, some 5 meters from our house. The piggery act as our rubbish store, laundry room and will have the socket which powers the digester, some soffit lights, some lights of its own, a small under sink water heater, and a few sockets. In essence our piggery is the same as most people's garage (but no pig - or car for that matter) Never one to keep it simple if I can possibly make it complex, I'm thinking that the piggery should (must?) have its own CU perhaps? With a separate one inside the utility room in the house. The house is five meters away, and we've already laid the electricity duct between the house and the piggery. Simple question. One CU or two? More? And, if you are feeling kind, please explain why. Thanks

Ya beat me to it Hugh............ anyway, shouldn'a worried ; he doesn't understand the words anyway....

Some will remember my little tussle with the weather . And while the weather was not to blame, I had simply assumed that July did not bring turbulent easterly gales. Once the mess had been cleared up, I started to think about the lessons learned. One conclusion was that I should keep a closer eye on the weather forecast. After ferreting around for a good while I have been using two Apps (applications, or programs) The Met Office Weather App and Windy.com And while they are both excellent in different ways, neither allows me to define my own alerts. The Met Office App produces excellent warnings, windy.com provides a huge amount of detail - really interesting to view. But in the way of things, I get my head down in whatever I'm doing and often forget to look at the forecast. And when I do, I look for easterly gales freezing overnight strong north westerly gales Is there an app which allows you to set your own parameters for an alert? What I really mean is a free app of course.....

Waiting in line at the local BM. An organisation that hasn't changed from the 1990s when I first set foot in Lancashire. But I suspect it probably hasn't changed much since time began. A powerfully built but small white haired man get to the head of the queue. No neck, just muscle, shoulders the size of an American oarsman's coach. His frame must have been put together before steroids were invented. Several staff are chatting behind the counter - there's a queue, no, audience of at least 10. All builders (except me) Roofer: Riaaat mate ah want sum roofing felt: cuppla roles laaak BM You mean Vapour Control felt: how many rolls d'ya wunt? Noooo mert, ah want sum roofin felt, just'a culpa rolls laaak. The BM shop assistant, spotty, super-clean hair do, biro tattoos : 'Mum' and 'Hat', one on each forearm looks flummoxed. Well we've got [................... A series of trade names.............] Silence. Complete silence. 10 builders (and me) , Hearts almost stopped. The roofer eyes the sprog behind the counter, and cold as ice and says Maaate if yer wanna know why wimmin dunt ever cum in 'ere, it cos o' twats laaak thee mekkin me feel laak a reet prat. Ah been cummin' in ere since long afore yer dad wuz born orderin' fookin roofing felt. '..... Kin rooofin felt 'assss all. An if yer can mek me feel laak a reet prat, yer can do 't same fer wimmin. Nay wonder ya never see a wun in ere. The shop door opens, all eyes swivel (just like a pub entrance door) and in walks a large female, in dirty dungarees, severe hair cut with purple and red highlights, forearms the size of my thighs , most things pierced - the list would be too long - sporting a chunky paint-spattered watch. And clogs - proper Lancashire clogs. Two days later my tongue is still sore where I bit it .

Its not an illusion. Put a glass of gin, ice and a slice in front of it, and it gets warmer. Same with a cold beer. Gonna try a ready meal in front of it next time Debbie is working late.

This thread is about Credit Unions. Merging it with others threads would tend to confuse.

Lots to get our teeth into here. Thanks F. Ian

Its no secret that we have hit such a rock. And privately I have been told of others. @ProDave makes no secret of the delights of caravan living either. I'm not sure yet how much we'll need, but I soon will know. It will certainly be less than £100k (If it's more she's in trouble). In thinking about P2P lending, it'll be sensible for us all to start small anyway. Thanks for the reference to folk2folk: (here). Makes interesting reading

Hmm. Was that on ebuild? Here? There , J mentions that he was looking for £100k, not that a lender (or group of lenders) needed to have £100k available.

On this thread @NSS makes the point that maybe we are as yet too small a group of people to consider operating this model to help our members. What would the critical membership size be to make it work? Is there a critical mass of money that we'd need to be taken seriously as P2P lenders? @SteamyTea has just posted that he'd need £100K he also asks if anyone has experience of Zopa Could we support a loan of that amount?

A quick read of the UK section shows that the P2P sector is significant. The entry is of interest to me principally because of the References section. There's plenty there for a quiet evening's fireside reading (ooops, sorry PH owners) The article is full of unsubstantiated assertion, so I'm treating it with a good deal of care: respectful skepticism even.

@MikeSharp01 posted an idea that we might in his words '... crack a series of issue...' Here's what he had to say (posted here) edited slightly below. I have and idea for the pot that might crack a myriad of issues. We could set ourselves up as a credit union. These are very simple mutual societies many of which are run by volunteers. They can take deposits and make loans. The deposits are protected by the FSCS up to max (£80k ish) so no risk to deposited monies. Loans can only be short term max 5 years unsecured or 10 years secured on the borrowing members deposits. The max loan to a member is £7500 in excess of that members deposits. We would need to find a pump priming sum to kick start the Capital adequacy rules. It is a regulated activity but can be run by volunteers the main leading group have to be 'fit and proper' and sign up to running the business. We could set up our own membership rules but would have to be limited to people with an assoiation with our goals EG self builders or interested in self building issues - called a 'common bond'. To be a member we could insist on regular deposits. Interest on loans is charged per month and is capped at 3% per month but we could just set the rate to beat the bank for the depositers. Obviously it is a bit more complex than set out above but no more complex or onerous than a limited company. The registration is with FCA rather than the charities commission or companies house. There are annual returns however. (accessed 01/12/2017)