Ferdinand

@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.

Belt, braces, underpants, and a jockstrap.

Axonometric, please.

In my book: don't touch this with a bargepole. Before long you will probably need 250-270mm insulation in the loft anyway to meet your EPC D or C requirement, which is most likely coming down the track for 2030 and 2025 respectively. I have a couple of setups - my normal rule is that lofts have 250mm of insulation in them, as it has been mainly free for years and therefore completely nuts not to do as part of 1st renovation. If it has that in it they can't put stuff up there without being stupid or reckless. I don't normally fit loft ladders so there can be no claim that access is encouraged (H&S potential liability in case someone falls through). The exception setups are one property where the boiler was up there before I bought it, so I installed an OSB walkway over the bottom insulation to the boiler, with a removable section of top insulation over it, and a notice on the wall above the loft hatch for gasmen. And a bungalow with a small fitted storage area and a high quality loft ladder; there is a bit of service gubbins and spares up there too, and it happened in a floor out drains-up reno without me having a say. T does not use it. And one where they asked me for a proper storage loft, as they were having a third sproglet and the dad's fishing gear and other things were being 'temporarily filed'. Used loft legs over the normal 250mm of insulation and created proper storage and a designed base for a ladder in a cupboard. Very long term tenants. Some LLs have a "no storage in loft" clause in the contract, or even padlock it. I have not gone that far, for reasons of emergency access etc. In your circs I would spend the small amount of £££ to put the correct insulation in, and literally "bury" the issue. You can sell to T as an upgrade, and lower bills should help keep T. Or go the whole hog and make a loft room if you want to upgrade the house (current grants can apply?), and it adds up. But then you will need to remove T. F

Which one is the typo? ie How big is the gap?

+1 Ask them in writing to supply you with a copy of the Wayleave or Easement. With luck they will reply saying "none exists to our knowledge". I think you can probably just serve notice for them to remove them, though that is not something to do without some thought first. Their offer of £2000 - you have it in writing, yes? (If not, get it in writing) - is effectively an admission that there is an issue, so perhaps a glimmer of light. There could also be a "dangerous installations" angle somewhere in this. Just to be clear - it sounds as though someone may end up spending 5 figures. F

That just went up from 35cm to 350cm didn’t it? In that case you need to talk to whoever owns the land in the gap. On the footpath The Ramblers of Cycling UK might be interested it actually goes some where, as I think it takes 20 years of obstruction for it to disappear. For the Ramblers you would want the nearest Footpaths Secretary. I hope this is a plot of opportunity rather than one you have paid 50-100k for.q Ferdinand

if you are concerned I would suggest sketching the requisite number of rows of tiles onto your elevation or 3D view if you have one. Should give something of a sanity check. The small cottage I used to live in had been done with inappropriately large pantiles , and there were only SEVEN rows on each side of the roof. Made it look like a dolls house. Ferdinand

If anyone is interested in this area, there is usually a committee at County Council Level called something like "Rights of Way" Committee that are often looking for co-opted members. It is one of the key places to be represented if you are eg interested in cycle routes. Quite often consulted for Planning Apps on various strategic schemes - eg stuff being done by Network Rail. F

Real men make their own blueberry muffins at home. From their own blueberry bushes. Pshaw! I will have blueberry muffins in 2 years. As they say in Dublin: Omnia bona expectantibus eveniunt. * F ( * Doesn’t work with sex or absinthe.)

Agreed. I think that is not a reason for invalidating the validation.

It's quite possible that I have the wrong acronym, and could mean EPDM, but I mean the long lasting sheet that is used for the best pond liners and also used for roofs. Someone will be along in a minute with the correct thing,