Ferdinand

Thinking laterally about this, I am reminded of a column by a characterful writer of pungent (provocative?) opinions called LJK Setright who wrote for Car Magazine for 30+ years, and was right often enough that disagreeing was slightly perilous. I remember him noting that he had kept a TV out of his house for years until one came in non-negotiably with the wife. In one column he pointed out the full width "touring" screen option for a sports car, then aero screens, then that windscreens could become so small that they could just be driving goggles. If you proposed that the boss embrace ear plugs and a sleep mask, rather than windows and curtains, it would make your ventilation problem much simpler, in that you could use a small jet engine should you wish. If an intermediate solution were required, you could propose that she follow the Buffy the Vampire playbook, and make like Dracula (lid down option). However, either of those may be more perilous than disagreeing with LJK Setright. Ferdinand ————————————— Found a bit. LJKS on how the proliferation of car safety equipment also threatens safety: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/comment/ljk-setright-safety-features-can-be-downright-dangerous-486124.html

Shave a bit off the bedroom door and it will come in from the landing. Being an old house it may permeate through the gaps in the wall, the skirting, through the ceiling or the floor, or round the windows etc. F

Remember that eg Nuaire do a PIV unit designed for flats that goes through the wall, or various companies do single room Through The Ball units. But it is a stone cottage which makes it difficult and obvious outside, and you would perhaps want that out of the bedroom for noise rasons, and you do not want an HR unit in the ensuite because it gives a slightly cooler than room temperature draught when you and the boss are naked and dripping for which you would be held responsible. F

But you only need a marginal difference ? But running a larger dehumidifier on a timer during the day would leave you quiet at night. Or or you could fit a small dehumidifier and a small loft type heater - 20-40 ukp - heater which will make it work better. F

But that will only help if you have better ventilation in the en-suite, which helps the bedroom whilst not generating intrusive noise.

I wasn’t earning a vent .. I meant trim 8mm off the door.

Perhaps set with a timer to run during the day only, or with a built in humidistat (perhaps with *that* on a timer).

Do you have an en-suite? Could you put a quiet trickle fan ie fan With a background say 6l per second setting in there and either leave the door ajar or trim the bottom? Or trim 6-8mm off the bottom of the landing door and better ventilate that? Just trimming the doors migh help. Of your options 1 sounds the best.

I hope we keep this one open and take the police culture conversation somewhere else if we have it ... I have found this a very useful thread and still have a couple of substantive things to add, espially a reply to ST wrt bedroom statistics that I am still digging in to. F

I know that they had lots of problems a couple of years ago. Is it worth looking at yet, or is one committing to long, cold nights mending it or tending to engineers?

Had a chance to watch the whole programme whilst baking bread this afternoon. Recommend others watch and disagree if you do. My comments are harsh on the programme editorial: The landlords in the programme all seem absolutely fine. Long term business people investing in their houses, building up their businesses long term and providing a service to their customers that those customers want. All reputable, all straight and all competent, significantly taking on projects the Councils would not tackle. A couple of criticisms can be made eg the 3x chap with the flash car, but they are relative fleabites. Will return to that. I would expect any competent long term risk-taking business person to build a decent lifestyle over 10 years; my kitchen fitter has a replica Cobra in his garage for fun. Comments can be made around the issues of "one way bets" in the property market, and "tax breaks" and so on, and especially around Councils not being allowed to reinvest etc. I think that is the real target of the programme makers, but the fools decided to go the traditional shock horror individual landlord demonisation route instead of making a serious argument. Instead they put forward an editorial account that is half prejudice and half lies. And the environment businesses operates in is set by the framework created by government. IMO the most egregious lie was the one I pointed out - multiple references to the reduction in Council Home since 1980, juxtaposed with shock horror "some are now in the PRS", when in fact the vast majority of the fall in Council House numbers is down to stock transfers and houses now Owner Occupied. 800k are now in the PRS. 1.2 million are now Owner Occupied. 1.3 million are with Housing Associations. 0.5 million are with ALMOs - Arms Length Management Organisations. There was only one accurate mention afaics, about 30 minutes in. There were rather strange suggestions about "Investors snapping up council houses at bargain prices". A transaction between a willing buyer and a willing seller at an auction or via an Estate Agent is a market price not a "bargain". Even the signoff line was "But should investors be able to snap up ex-Council Houses at bargain proces". Again, stoking up prejudice. It is correct that there have been abuses - but this programme did not document any. The only slightly flash LL was a 32 year old who had built up a 25 property portfolio over 10 years - very much not get rich quick - and was shown with a flash car. But he was supplying inclusive bills rooms near central Manchester for under £100 a week, which is not gouging, for flexible tenancies for short term tenants. Not quite as savvy as he should be, because he mixed workers and students iirc. There was an attempt to do the "turning lounges into bedrooms cruel horrible bastard landlords" thing, but if you talk to those kind of tenants they usually don't want and don't use a lounge and like the lower rent. A big dining kitchen is far better. Interesting programme, but an editorial cesspit. There seemed to be a couple of Generation Rent activists on the team - not acknowledged in the titles. Ferdinand

There was me thinking that Willow Park was some sort of celebrity sproglet.

‘Some insulation in the loft’ .. does that mean it is difficult ie warm roof or so,etching else? And how much is some? In many places in the UK a trad cold loft can be insulated to 250mm rockwool for free. You can actually use an ASHP with radiators ... you just have to size them correctly for the lower temperature. if you did go that route it would probably replace your gas boiler when it dies, and I do not know if the insight helps but the last time I replaced a boiler I got a whole new set of rads and plumbing for only a few hundred more than the cost of a British Gas power flush of t existing rads. if you intend Underfloor insulation then there are ufh systems which simply go down as an 18mm layer over the top. That depends on your structure, however. Ferdinand

Static caravan parks usually have a "stay" limit from say March to October, and an age limit on caravans of about 10 years. Ferdinand

Put a 15ft monolith outside and call it "Standing Stone" ? I say create something you want and name it after that. As you say, you only get to do this once. F

I think the original post on changes of Ministers is significant in that short tenures prevents strategies being pursued for long enough to get them done, and then it all changes and we go back to the start. If you change them every 12 months there will never be *any* chance of successful long term policy. If you leave them in post then there at least exists the chance that it could happen. One of David Cameron's strengths was that he left people in post to get on with it for longer periods. Compare to Blair (or perhaps Thatcher) who were micromanagers, though they arguably had Ministers who were big enough characters to argue back, or Brown who was a bear with a sore head. We may not agree with the policies, but a modicum of stability is necessary to find out what works and what does not. That we have recently existed in political earthquake-land has not helped, either. Example: Ministers changing jobs How many people have held each post since 1997-2019?

I think a name will emerge as you build. Just keep a notebook or chalkboard and note them down. Build a track and call it either "Field of Sheep" or "Old Lady's House" ! Or more seriously plant an group of interesting trees, or plant hundreds of some unusual flowers in your wildflower meadow area that are rarities and need preserving, and name it after that. Somebody on BH has called theirs "Turner's Oak" IIRC. Look at the list of trees suggested for replacing ashes suffering from dieback which is quite interesting - I think I heard them mention Red Oaks, which are distinctive and grow quickly throughout the UK. Can you grow a Cedar of Lebanon up there - you have the space? You need to think what you want it to look like for your grandchildren, or in 2070. We used to have a 2 acre garden planted by the mid-Victorians, and it was a delight. We used to get daffodils from February to May, and it had the best weeping beech I have ever seen. Let it steep for a couple of years.

A very wise question to ask first, @Gem77.

Looks good.

Have you taken a set of photos from the outside while it is cold to look for warm spots, which may show up some of the ones you cannot find from the inside by looking for "cold"? Ferdinand

The man clearly needs a Dvorak keyboard, then the typos will be even more fun - what my dad used to call a (phonetically) "Vorjack" keyboard after the composer. He never quite got the hang of it, even though he became quite dogmatic about using it and it protected his PC from anybody else most successfully because it completely wrecked normal touch typing. It also wrecked his touch typing on anybody else's PC. Here's one to the Vodka, and the Schnapps, which probably both help us British monoglots. Ferdinand

See if you can get a look under that cover.

The problem is that I can move those stats by a third or more each way just by changing the detail of the measurement, eg even if it is relative to pre or post tax or pre or post benefit income. One of the numerical games played with inequality is that there is a habit of quoting Gini Coeffficient based on figures of raw income not benefit-adjusted income. Oxfam play similar games with their claims about wealth distribution eg ignoring that we all have the asset of a state pension, which really is also "wealth".

Not disagreeing and will comment later, but can you link a source for that stat so I can see what it actually represents - region, before or after the benefit system, household or individual income etc. Cheers F