As said – Riding for the Disabled. It works fantastically as it gives the kids something really positive, and it seems that the horses bring the children on in all sorts of ways. Some start unable to hold the reins or sit on the saddles, but with perseverance they develop the ability to do so. It has great results on their whole lives.

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Out of interest – have you been intouch with the RDA? My Mum runs the Westmoreland group and has had HUGE success with Autistic children so it would be worth persuing.

Thermal mass is basically dense material that is open to the air – it soaks up heat when the air temperature is high and then slowly releases it as temperature drops. If you use it well it can help maintain a comfortable temperature (it’s why old houses are often cool in the summer, the reason that they often feel cold in winter is because modern living doesn’t really work with that particular style of house which was “lived in” all day long… so the fires were always running in the cold!) If you can get a flagstone floor in, or the odd unplastered wall opposite a south facing window, or a polished concrete/limecrete (in preference) floor – it basically acts as a big thermal sink to draw in the heat from either your central heating or solar gain and then release it as air temperatures drop… kind of stabalising temperatures.

One of my gripes with current building regs is that they obsess about keeping places warm at all costs, but there is nothing to keep them cool. Modern buildings are lightweight with little or no overhanging eaves and large areas of glazing, which is a really good way to make a house that is uncomfortable in warm weather… given climate change I really think this is missing a big point, and if you are building a house that you plan to live in long term I would pay a lot of attention to coolth as well as warmth. If you insulate on the inside of a wall that makes a building light weight btw, even if it is made out of solid stone, which is why I also don’t like these insulative panels that are sold to rennovate old houses!

Don’t get me wrong – warmth is still a deeply important thing in design, but I think the focus is waaay too much on that. Actually it goes beyond temperature too, if you start looking at the holistic “health” of a house then things get pretty complicated… but its an idea worth looking at.

There is a pretty decent book on all things eco-build: The Whole House Book

http://www2.cat.org.uk/shopping/product_info.php?cPath=46_47&products_id=788&osCsid=a9729fc3f5ea6d630385d19d1d083635

If you browse through other books in the CAT catalogue there are loads of interesting things. Stuff like passive solar design is very interesting, and something I would be really interested in implimenting myself. The Green Building Bible is probably worth looking at as well.

But the price of eleccy is probably going to go up ;-)

I just don’t like GSHPs (and I like air source even less!) and you are right to be conservative with efficiency ratings (I have heard lower than 2.5x talked about at CAT – alas my notes are packed at the moment so I can’t really quote but I think they were talking 2x was a reasonable expectation… could be wrong though!!!!)

Take your point on roof mounted gubbins. In that situation I would be looking even more towards woodchip/woodpellet. If I had the space that would be my heating mechanism of choice, and if anyone pulls off a micro CHP one it would be even better!!!! There is talk of fuel cell boilers (being trialled in the US I think), but they are probably too far away to be of any real interest at the moment.

When you are getting the place all insulated up remember you need to keep some uncovered thermal mass – it doesn’t count if you have insulation stuck onto the inside of it, or carpets. Verandahs and stuff to prevent excessive solar gain in summer months are really good too. I would also be looking into stuff like window placement if it isn’t too late to reduce heat losses as far as possible. I did have some ace modelling software for determining thermal performance, but alas my licence has expired and I aint paying for it again!

Its really interesting getting into designing buildings to work with the environment – I am big into very efficient design rather than relying on technology to “fix” poorly designed and built housing. Did my thesis on ancient buildings and how they were designed to work with the prevaling climate efficiently – and then comparing them to modern builds which are massivly compromised.

They aint that green – I would probably go with a wood chip or, even better, wood pellet boiler instead… so long as you have a reasonably local supplier of fuel that is!

I think GSHP get’s hyped a lot as it is a techy solution, and something people can get all excited about in magazines and the like. Me… wouldn’t bother (unless I bought an old watermill and could then drive the pump from the mechanical water wheel… that would rock!)

Why do you want to install one? Is it a new build you are going for as well, since with good design you can massivly reduce the level of heating you need (to zero if you are really keen). Get your heating needs down, pop in some solar hot water with a wood stove as back up and job done ;-)

There are rumours of Citroen C-Crossers going down Banbury way for £15k – pre registered but brand new. If I was in the market for that kind of vehicle at the moment it is what I would go for (low CO2 and high MPG)

The current Vitara is worth a look too (which is what I drive), bit thirsty but pretty civilized to drive and reliable. Done 35k in mine last year!

Otherwise I would probably be tempted by the Outback, the problem with Subaru is the price of parts. My old Forester cost a fortune when bits fell off it!

Especially if you have one of those wee compost bins on your kitchen worktop ;-)

On the original question – not at the new gaff I won’t, it’s a shared back yard and I have to climb up steps to the garden so not ideal for an al fresco pee. If I have to walk up steps I may as well go to the bathroom… there’s one on each floor with the living room on the 1st floor, so plenty of choice!

Best if you piss on straw rather than directly onto plants for fertilizer duty, though I can’t remember why as I was a bit hungover when we were talking about that at CAT ;-)

It’s not the BOD of piss that is the problem smiffy, we are finding that the EA are starting to put quite a lot of nitrate and pH requirements on treatment plants these days, which is a lot harder to deal with (and relates to wee). Means bigger, more expensive, plant – especially on places with high volumes of piss relative to other bodily functions… which is tricky for establishments like pubs.

I wouldn’t have thought Rannoch Station to Corrour would be any fun on a tourer, I know cutting across from Rannoch to The Kings House is a complete nightmare of bog though I don’t know what the ground is like heading north. Judging by the map it isn’t landrover track the whole way, but I could be wrong… which would put me off the idea of using a touring bike.

Enjoyed both the programs… and I sooo want that Vincent :-)

I decorate through Malaria myself – tends to make me use very suspect (and bold) colours ;-)

I will give em a ring in the morning (docs), suspect they won’t be overly interested though. Feeling a bit better (its all relative) now than earlier on, but seem to get lulls between feeling really crappy.

I have been out for a week now with it myself. May actually phone the docs tomorrow at this rate – which will be the first time in 7 or 8 years I have made an appointment! Usually when I get ill it goes after 2 or 3 days max so this has really taken me by suprise!

Moving house next weekend, so I need to get well by then – or at least well enough to shift furniture around for a day or two (the week after is booked off anyway!)

I think the trick is finding the green solutions that give the biggest bang for the buck, so that money is targeted sensibly. I was having a laugh at the HIPS report for the house I have just bought as the suggestions were obviously made by a complete numpty (or they just have automated ones, I don’t know which… but I can’t see me fitting solar PV onto a 300 year old town house as they suggested).

The problem is that there is a load of “green wash” out there, and a load of people going for token efforts to be seen to be doing something. Often these aren’t really well thought out, and hence the money used in implimenting them is often wasted.

Yeah – that’s what my head is saying, suppose I could even try selling the fireplace ;-) It’s a pretty small fireplace so getting a woodburner to sit in may be tricky… I will check the dimensions tomorrow though as there may be something! That would be the ideal though as it would only need a register plate fitted and job done. Could do that myself! I could probably just push the capped gas pipe up against the back wall of the old fireplace and leave that in situ too.

Grizedale Forest could be the best bet – you can link together bits of natural trail with bits of fireroad and make something pretty easy going, or have a play on The North Face trail if you fancy the manmade stuff. It isn’t too far from Ambleside either.

Another option would be to ride up past the Drunken Duck, follow the green lane up over Ironkeld and drop off down the bridleway that brings you down to Arnside (from memory) – technically easy by Lakes standards, but a lot of fun! Could probably drop down from there to Langdale and loop around Loughrigg Terrace which is also pretty good fun, especially on a hot day.

That photograph shows some spectacularly bad airbrushing by the looks of things! Looks like she is made of plastic, and her nose is missing in action!

Looks like Lola and Prodrive are looking for an in with this new series as well (according to rumours), and if more of these new teams decide to go with FOTA there may not be enough cars on the grid next season to make it worth a damn.

The writing has been on the wall for far too long with this – Max has been on some kind of mad power trip and Bernie thought he had the whole thing stitched up financially. This may be a good thing… in a year or two.

Isn’t the act of opening the door “work” though? Closing one would be “constructing a wall” so really they shouldn’t be going into the hall on the sabbath anyway.

Anyhoo – on these grounds I have decided to start my own religion that everyone should join. I believe that God said “when you go into a bank or shop they should give you all the cash available”. Once we establish then the providers of goods and services will have to comply with this belief in order not to discriminate against us.

I also believe that it is a sin, cos God told me so, to pay any form of tax.

So… whos in?

Option 1.

No, that was a blatent lie to seem different.

Option 2 – complete no brainer ;-)

Forgot – Point Reyes Beach is pretty special too.

I liked San Franscico, one of the few cities that is worth spending a few days in IMO. Some ace bits of architecture (painted ladies and stuff) along with the trams… just fun! Some good bars too – The Rogue Bar in Little Italy is supreme. Worth staying at Hotel Metropolis if you haven’t booked stuff already – nice boutique place that isn’t too expensive (on the corner of a bit of a rough area, but about 2 minutes into the heart of commercial SF, and the bar/restraunt is okay too from memory)

Yosemite yep, not that I have quite made it there yet (brother lives in LA, so over there a fair bit… speaking of which – don’t go to LA or Hollywood… it’s a shithole)

Mono Lake is well worth a visit for utterly insane landscape, and up to June Lake for that mountain community thing. Good bar there with some really quite nice micro brewed beers ;-)

When in SF get over the bridge to Sausalito (or take the ferry). Just a nice place to go and chill.

But will it be enough to stop people/the press calling for Browns head?
I think not, he will continue to be blamed for everything and the next guy will pick up the credit when the economy begins to recover

True… but Brown took credit for the booming global economy, which was a bit rich, so it’s all swings and roundabouts really ;-)

Or…

Though I think this lot would give him a run for his money.

Nuff said!

I lived in one for 4 months several years back (Amazonia and the Carribean)… it was utterly ace! I would have kept using it if it hadn’t rotted through at the chords :-( Very comfy, and with the shagging… where there’s a will there’s a way (and the challenge just adds to the fun!)

Keep thinking of getting a new one.

Solar hot water – yep, if you have a suitable house go for it! Works very well, even bodged systems in Mid Wales provide plenty of hot water ;-)

Heat Pumps – nope. Don’t like em, don’t believe the hype and by God are they expensive! If you don’t have a LARGE garden then you are getting into bore hole drilling for the installation pushing the costs up even higher… and they aren’t that efficient anyway (given that you are still using ‘leccy to heat water albeit very efficiently, but throw in the losses from generating that electric from… say… gas… then the transmission losses and you would probably be as well off burning the gas to heat the water in the first place. And better off from not shelling out the thousands for said system!)

If possible I would probably pop a dual coil hot water tank in, link one set of pipes up to a solar system and the other lot to a woodburner – generally a well designed set up should give you all the hot water you need most of the year around. The times it won’t you would want the fire on anyway ;-) The new water tanks hold heat like you would not believe (got one in the current rented house that runs on an electric immersion and it is better than I would have ever given such a thing credit for… so much so that I am already plotting a solar/biomass dual fuel system on a hot water tank for the house we are buying in a fortnight!)

Can you not do a hot joint or resin joint on it? Not that I am suggesting someone with no knowledge goes about doing such a thing… but if you know what you are doing it would be a lot less hassle ;-) I use them on 3 phase power cables that are underwater in use and they seem to be fine there!

Nah – it’s a long way from here… got to move and see what space is like and then perhaps get my Dad to ask if it is still there, and looking for a new home ;-)

The future is going to be hydrogen – I am almost certain of that! Most the big car manufacturers are designing such vehicles, and showing em off every so often… that pretty much seals it IMO. Batteries are just too compromised with both weight, energy density and charge times (though I like the idea of being able to swap em out… but you just know that someone will get all Apple on us and make a unique battery for it’s vehicle that you can only get from their special licenced sources).

Solar/Wind/Wave/Tidal all offer potential for splitting sea water to make hydrogen, and the nature of renewable energy sources being as it is (ie not convinient enough to kick in when we need it) means that additional capacity at periods of low load on the grid (which would be pretty common) would up the efficiencies of a renewable generation grid, and provide us with the portable energy we require to boot.

Admitably in the short – medium term it will probably come from fossil fuels and nuke, but I can actually live with that if it brings the technology to market and starts to bring the oil based economy to an end (and lets face it, BP and their ilk will be making, transporting, storing and selling the stuff anyway so it isn’t going to hit their bottom line too much once they shift production from oil to hydrogen!)

Bed now – too late for this stuff ;-)

I wouldn’t buy it. *If* you decide to move on in the future it is going to be an absolute nightmare to sell on. Bought a house in a not ideal area once myself, and would never do so again.

I entirely agree, much better than our queenie :-)

IIRC building regs are dictated by when the work was done, so looking at current ones would be pretty meaningless.

That said – I think current rules may state it has to be a non-combustable splashback? Vague memories of something from when we did our kitchen in the house before the last one. Could be very wrong though (my copy of the regs hasn’t been unpacked yet!)

You will need 6″ travel at both ends just for the roads over there :-)

Not done any riding around those parts, but whilst over visiting my brother a couple of years ago we did go skiing for a few days up around Mammoth Mountain – magnificent! Enjoy it!!!!

He he – I have just learned (well, yesterday) that my great uncle used to race one of these back in the day:

Rumour has it that before he died the bike, which was in absolute mint condition and fettled for racing, was dismantled, stripped, cleaned, wrapped in grease paper and stashed in a great aunts loft.

And it is still there.

I may have to make enquiries about getting my grubby mits on it… keep it in the family like :-)

Failing that I may just have to get me one of these:

There is indeed a horse riding centre… I was wondering if it may be part of the forest as they seem to be riding the footpaths. Saw quite a lot of hoof prints whilst out walking my pooch up there a couple of weeks back on said footpaths.

Wonder if that means they are fair game on mountain bikes too then ;-)

They do sound good through some nice loud pipes. That is all I can say for em! I did quite like the idea of the XR1200 until I saw one in the flesh though, and then sat on it, and then decided it was utter shite!

If I get to the stage in life that a cruiser is the only answer… the Rocket III does it all so much better IMO ;-) I loves Triumphs I do!

Though if I go retro next time it is between a Triumph Scrambler and a MAC Motorcycles machine of some sort!

Seen em in the Lakes (not the best place), Stirling, Orkney (lots) and north of Kiruna in Sweden – the latter being by far and away the most impressive!

Want to go back and see em again sometime, but as has been said, you are better waiting for a solar maxima to make the best of it, especially given the costs involved!

I would suggest the Arctic in early March though – enough light to do stuff during the day, and some ace light shows at night!

I went for one of these last year:

Lanmann Portable BBQ

For the simple reason I wanted something to take camping/out and about with us, but coudn’t justify spending too much cash. Works very well indeed!