FWIW, just got my Marantz amp, Mission speakers plugged back in, and the sound ‘enjoyability’ is brilliant Vs the albeit, good little Nest speakers.

But voice control is a requirement for Mrs A … so thinking Santa could try and find a bargain Audio Pro C10 II, and the amp/speakers go to my workplace!

@ legometeorology – you’ve summed up my confusion more concisely than I did.

It just lacks transparency … and bizarrely, they seem entirely reluctant to supply any details on electricity!

And you have to phone to discuss lowering the dd or discuss the bill, but obvs, they’re sorry, but they’re extremely busy at the moment… (thankfully it’s in Mrs A’s name, so I can’t do that bit of it!!)

I don’t begrudge paying whatever we use, but I begrudge being unclear as to how and why.

No encryption on iMac or external drive

That’s eased my mind somewhat as the boot seemed to time out!

Zilog – aghhh, wish I’d thought of popping a second screen onto my iMac!! The screen was solid green/grey lines.

captmorgan – I don’t think so. I generally back up stuff, say monthly, and some big files, I keep on the external hard rive and then access as I need them. Nothing unusual or different I can think of

Zilog – thanks, I’ve tried working through a few of these options with no success. I think
– diskutil list finds it, and suggests it’s mounted. But then in terminal I can’t get it to mount.
– over numerous attempts, I got it to show in disk utility and it showed a full disk, but would not let me unmount it
– have tried ejecting in terminal but fails or times out
– it’s been in use with me, weekly/monthly for the last few years on my iMac and MacAir and always been seen, reliable

So yep, guess it’s got corrupted!

Thank kinda makes sense. We tend to have higher bills than typical as Mrs A is a hairdresser with a ‘salon’ at home, so hot water a necessity.
Will see if we can reduce the dd, would rather save money myself for surprise bills than them doing it!

Thanks all – really helpful. Just a minefield if you’re entering as a newbie into this whole area!

MarkyG82 got it right – I’m not esp tech interested (hence Alexa and Google voice being much of a muchness to me!!) but probably reasonably OK at getting tech solutions done, am fine working on car/motorbike electricals and pretty good at spannering so would be happy to explore bluetooth options.

The one thing that has struck us having experienced a Google Nest Mini is just the ease of selecting, playing music … v lazy I know, but I don’t have my phone on me all the time, and Mrs A loves the voice control. So I reckon that’s a core requirement.

I’d come from a 1970’s Marantz amp hooked up to Mission speakers, so a little dated … but the sound is brilliant. I’m not an a big time audiophile, but like a pretty decent sound, and really enjoy music, so much as the Nest Mini is incredibly good for what it is, at an absolute level it’s so-so!

I was maybe naively working off a basis that a speaker unit would need to be visibly big to produce good sound … seems not a necessity.

We’ve borrowed a second Nest Mini and paired them and it’s noticeably better. But, still feels ‘thin’.

Thanks for all the pointers … will peruse!

Apologies for my ineptitude, we’re currently on ‘Hey Google’.

Sounds like 2 could be the solution, and I am impressed with the Nest Mini we’ve got, just asking a bit much from a single one in a big room. A pair of Nests might be the solution. The Sonos get good reviews but quite spendy.

That’s a thought – can I continue with my Google Nest (I think) as the Alexa part, and ping it to the bluetooth speaker? Will the Nest deliver pretty good sound?

And, I’ve an old set of Mission speakers which sound great – could I bluetooth them?

thanks all.
Darkside – have PM’d you – thanks!

Agree re personal contact or issue specific – the challenge is getting a call through, or a conversation … is my hypothesis that …

1. A really pithy, but direct and positive provocative email heading and paragraph could attract some attention.
2. Follow this up with LinkedIn msg and another excellent email msg.
3. Then there’s a slim possibility that they might give me 5mins conversation?

This is great, thanks and keep it coming!

Thanks, Burn Ake looks good but no availability. And the Cornwall one wants a longer stay.

Looking for 2-4 days of ‘luxury’ as best as one can do with4 dogs!!

Thanks all, v helpful.

Liking the maxtorque look! Current tyres are vancontacts – suspension – unsure, think original bar being lowered a little?

By the sounds of it, my current tyres/wheels probably sound like they’re about right, unless we decide to do significantly more off-road stuff and go for AT tyres. May look at Agilis tyre for these wheels – see how we go now it’s getting wetter.

Thanks all.

Had the chance to do long drives in both a Avensis (saloon) and Mazda 6 and for me, the seating was pretty uncomfortable.

My 530D has been anything but wallet emptying – remarkably frugal, trying to think of a repair bill outside consumables, which over 150K miles, have been few. I guess rear tyres if you’re heavy footed!!

The Skoda in autotrader looks ‘too cheap’!!! Why?! And the Passat, thanks – got it saved!

It becomes a minefield!

Our BMW 530D gets c.30mpg based solely on short trips (on long, it’s 45-50mpg), has been faultless in 150k miles, fits the 4 spaniels v well(!) … just the ULEZ thing otherwise we’d just keep.

But thanks all, v helpful food for thought and for ruling some out. mpg isn’t the main criteria as we’re not huge mileage, and if anything it’ll go down a wee bit. Probably electric would suit us well but probably out of budget.

Well, having more room (we’ve 4 spaniels) is always going to be a bonus … so based on that, I’d discount the Golf estate say in favour of the Passat.

Interesting re Ecoboost being poor mpg, happy to discount that too as guess it’s a little smaller than Passat.

The Octavia got favourable comments in the other thread … Passat Vs Octavia?

And any issues with Japanese imports?

Thanks, just looked at the other thread – we’ve a budget of £9K max.
SUV’s are out as I think they tend to be a higher boot so old dog struggles to jump in.
Downsizing – not really, just better mpg/economy would be handy and assume smaller might help with that.

I’ll try and check bloat stuff too … albeit always though Motorola kept that side pretty light.

And, should’ve asked first time around, Mobile Network Standby eats lots of the battery up … never seen that before and not evident on our previous Moto phones?

OK, thanks. Music’s a big deal and a lot of his stuff on his SD card is pretty rare/unusual, so not always Spotify-able!

Looked at his browsing cache and it’s tiny at the mo. Spotify current 3.12gb, and tiny cache. He doesn’t really have many more apps than me, and we’ve similar phones – mine’s showing 11gb apps.

Will try the diskusage app tonight. And slo check thru apps transferred across … but old phone showed 12gb app storage before transfer.

mrwhyte … that’d be great as long as it’s not a hassle him … alternately, ping him mine if better … southbankaus AT
gmail DOT com

Thanks all … cookery class sounds great (likely to be a big win with Mrs A), train sounds good, and thanks BigJohn, some great tips, thanks!

Thanks, he’s v chuffed and it’s soooo much lighter than his old Bandit (loved that bike).

I’ll not mention the wheelie potential!!

And fingers crossed, it was a price that we hope he’ll be pretty close to selling it for end summer (fingers crossed!).

Thanks all. It’s a shower tray, with a 5-10mm gap for about 3″ (the tiling isn’t dead true).

I removed the sealant as it looked as though it was failing, and seems dry behind. There’s a little area of grouting that’s cracked, first grouting horizontal level from the bottom (if that makes sense). The tile has a very slight movement if pushed so possibly water seeping in behind, puddling on the kitchen ceiling and eventually causing a drip. So I removed the tile, again dry behind.

No sign of water leaks or signs of damp in water tank cupboard, loft.

Can’t say I’m enjoying being lumbered with this!!

Yep, I did it a year or so ago, as per superficial, building the sealant up in a few layers on the widest gap area. But it looks like it’s just peeling away v slightly and allowing water through.

I’ll check out the backer rod.

Any thoughts on this…
http://www.byretech.com/acatalog/ShowerSeal-Ultra-10—3-Sides.html

Thanks all, success with a modified headset press-like approach!

Thanks. No Allen key hole internally. No obvious circlips. Suspect more force required.

Is there a preferable axle end to tap? Would rather tap NDS as less chance of deforming.

After much consideration, picked this up

Low miles (10k), new tyres and C&S, well well under budge. Did a 100 miles on it but to check it(!) and seems good. Fingers crossed!

He’s not too keen on the adventure styling…thinking ER6N, F800R or Street Triple. Checking insurance stuff now

mboy – that’s possibly a game changer re getting ULEZ on an older bike … Googling a few forums, sounds like it’s doable but one needs a fair bit of tenacity to get it done!

He fancies an MT07 or Street Triple – of course he does! But if I can half the money that’d be good, altho I should be maybe more focused on the resale and cutting any losses.

Here’s our shortlist so far (not including mboy’s option of an older bike and getting it signed off for ULEZ):

1. Kawasaki ER6N – c.£2.5K
2. Suzuki SV650 (naked not the sports one I’d suggest) – £3K
3. Honda CB500F – £3K
4. Kawasaki Z650 – £3.5K
5. Yamaha MT07 – £4K (highish mileage)
6. Street Triple (2008/9) – £4K

And final consideration is practicality of carrying luggage/tent – would the Street Triple be OK for soft panniers? The others look like they would be?

Thanks.
MT07 might be a bit of a budget stretch?
Ideally ULEZ compliant, so I think, post 2007.

Really, the cheaper the better. SV650 definitely a good shout

Thanks all, really helpful.

I’m just a wee bit surprised I have gaps, as can’t imagine why (been employed, by a company and then self for the whole period). Will delve a bit more

Thanks all. I had been planning on going back to standard wheels as probably more practical for country lanes and fields, so this has prompted me to get on with that.

eBay came up with a local set, just fitted. Kinda miss the big bad wheel look!

No cords, but does look nasty. New tyre too!!

Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated.
Got a chance to go around and look properly with my multimeter, a bit odd. The couple only use the top up heating occasionally and don’t want to heat the whole tank, so resistant to switching power supplies.

But on cleaning up the elements a little, I think both are fine and in fact, both thermostats non functioning. Removed both thermos and pull off the casing, and on both, the bimetallic (?) strip clicked back. Then tested them with multimeter and now both working fine. So just refitted them and kept my fingers crossed as water heating now!

Thanks all – have re-checked this morning and think I’m beginning to understand it.

The lower element and thermostat are fine, showing 20ohms at the element and the thermostat. It’s linked to Eco7.

The upper element is showing no reading with multimeter on 200ohms, but the thermostat is fine (20ohms) so will replace it.

And thanks for the tip on cutting the gasket!

drnosh – just ordered that exact spanner.

I was getting zero resistance across the element. Didn’t think to check the thermostat but will do that later. And will try switching the power over on the 2 elements.

The lower one will be for Eco7 as this was installed on all the local houses, hence no power when I checked in the morning.

Tomd – good advice!

The pop out fuse is OK. There’s power to one of the elements. The other doesn’t have power and suspect it’s linked to Economy7

Is there a general rule as to which element is the top-up immersion, and which is the main tank (one’s at the bottom, one at middle of tank)?