Ferdinand

The house insurance call is a good Plan B. If the level has raised over time, then it will have achieved a position where it cannot be enforced under *Planning* rules due to time (10 years?). There may be some "right to support" achieved under Common Law, which I think is 20 years, by the same process that a "right to drain onto adjacent land" is created by the existence of such unopposed and tolerated drainage. I am not sure of the detail on that. I do not think you will fix this easily through legal process; imo redoing the wall may be less expensive. Would your insurance covers it if it collapses? On the BBQ, are you sure it has moved, or was the BBQ built away from the wall? I would do so if I was aware, and would have documented it. Horribly tricky. Sorry you have this issue. Ferdinand

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Perhaps he could build an Arc de Triomphe without the top bit ?.

So I have a somewhat decrepit 1.7m (ish) stone wall between me and my neighbour on the West side, on the South side of the house. The wall is in poor condition - I have this year removed the ivy that had come over and *through* it. Small stones can be removed by hand. It is full of solitary bees in the spring / summer. The ground level on the neighbour side is approx 12-18" higher. And the boundary is my face of the wall. It is 14-15m long. Something needs to be done. Neighbour is please that I removed the ivy. I would like to grow things like a black berry and fruit espaliers on the wall as it gets quite good sun and shelter. Obviously that needs permission from N. How would you proceed? Relations are fine, but I do not see the neighbour spending a couple of K to restore my side of the wall until after it has fallen down. Had a chat and he said "yes you can repoint it". ? He also has a further 45m of the same wall between him and the lane, which I do not envy. Rebuilding fully by a real stonemason would be perhaps £200-250 per metre. I am wondering about the benefit of repointing this myself. Any thoughts would be most welcome. Ferdinand

Refraining from asking you your weight or shoe size, can you have a suitable sheet of eg OSB around to put on top of the worktop and spread the load? The other thing that you could use would be the spare cupboard shelf you will have in the garage.

I had a look, and I am surprised how many are still left on my Bramley.

So I take it the deeds do not show responsibility for maintaining the boundary? Admit I do not know how the traditional "land supported has responsibility for supporting structure" would play out here. I have one I am just about to ask about that is probably in worse condition, but not quite do formidable.

Not solutions, but grist to the mill. - Think about a (perhaps even a larger 8 person one?) table oriented in a landscape format, and treating it as what is known as a "farmhouse layout" where your table gets used for some food prep etc. - Look into peninsulas as you are doing. - Compile a list of the cupboards etc that you actually need from your current usage, and dividing up into kitchen / utility in the new house if you have both. See what that means for length of unit runs etc you need. - Can you use one of those mobile trollies as produced by eg Ikea as a movable island? eg Bror or Forholobalobalob. https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/foerhoeja-kitchen-trolley-birch-80035920/ https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/cat/kitchen-islands-trolleys-10471/ - Alternatively, can you consider a smaller table against the wall with traditional leaves or drop down sections? F

Who will own the drain? If it is 4 four houses does that make it owned by the utility as being common?

Alas ! You will never have the chance to taste homemade fat free beetroot crisps. Or not yet.

Do you have an air fryer? I would love to know how verithin slices of beetroot do in one of those. (Having just observed that a packet of Tyrells root vegetable crisps are £2.50 in Tesco, albeit for a 125g packet).

@Dreadnaught When I tried Toolstation a couple of years ago their discounts seemed to be oriented to big customers such as public bodies. Hope it has changed, and best of luck. Judging by the companies involved, that looks like a Travis-Perkins group card. There is a long thread about discounts etc that was running for 2-3 years, but fizzled out as I think we had covered nearly everything in the toolbox. Here. Ferdinand

Beetroot crisps? ie Thin slices of beetroot dried on wire cooling trays in the warming drawer. The apple, banana and figs seem to be working but I won’t know for sure until the morning. 3.15 9.15

Why not an air gun and eat the rabbits? (Have I missed something?)

Mine were just really late. Not out in the growhouse until July 31st. All now in a (small !) paper bag with a banana. Currently have a nice apple smell in the kitchen as I am doing dried apple rings in the warming drawer for the next 12 hours. First batch below was on a string for 4 days then an evening in a cool oven - far too much of a pfaff.

The context here is a colleague with a family member who gets S.A.D. potentially in lockdown alone at the other end of the country, hatching coping strategies. Normally takes a holiday in the sun as a mid-winter relief, which may not be possible this year. F

I just picked the entire tomato harvest in 45 seconds.

Thanks @Big Jimbo. Yes they are; I am wondering about more general environmental changes which are more built in to the house - and so of benefit without needing to sit down with a specific device. I started from wondering about swapping out LEDs for ones with a sunny daylight tone of light, and then spotted stuff about "tunable whites" and Smart Lighting. So I thought I would ask.

Does anyone have any experience, or ideas, or suggested products, which could be used during COVID lockdown etc to help family members who have Seasonal Affective Disorder and find winter, especially when unable to go on a sunny holiday, a challenge? I am particularly interested in adjustable smart lighting setups, and if anyone has used one, and whether it was beneficial. Cheers Ferdinand

As it happens, dankworth’s Experiments with Mice came up on my Alexa this morning.

What ? ?

Badgers and rabbits don't seem to have these problems...

Can you glue a piece of wood on, and screw into that? Or get one of the Wilko coathook blocks (about £10) and glue that on? I have about 5 of those, and it still is not enough ?. Ferdinand

You will need Puff the Magic Dragon with his Ceiling Wax to get that lot back..

I think you need some lighter relief. Come back tomorrow.