It appears that it was an aggressive cancer that got him – according to a post somewhere else.

My understanding is that it was Pancreatic Cancer. A real t### of a disease. RIP TH, The Specials were (like many others on here) a part of some very meaningful music from my youth.

A timely post, we (rural SW France) have either squirrel or more likely a stone marten (slightly smaller relative of the pine marten) in ours, large area. We have started with a couple of ultrasonic devices ( https://www.gardigo.com/marten/car/ ) and will escalate from that to a trap. Be interested in anyone elses ideas.

The other factor for me with the cheap octopus rate when I looked was with limited hours you can only get a % of the battery fully charged during those overnight hours from a low point.

(I may have misunderstood this but…)
Isn’t that only a factor if you need a fully charged vehicle day in day out ? Very few ever will. Most people would manage for 99% of the time on 4hrs x 3kwh (and that’s discounting a 7kwh charger obviously)…which would give 40-50 miles per day. (Or over 100 miles on 4hr x 7kwh)

Bear in mind that if your record shows ‘Full Year’ it does not necessarily mean that the full ‘non contracted out’ contributions have been made. My records show Full Year for each and every year of contribution but several were only full in as much as I paid the required amount having been contracted out….if that makes sense. The only way to really get to the bottom of it is to ring and speak to someone.

I presume that you’re 55 ? And have made 31 years contributions…with a further 12 to go you will have made 43 yrs contributions, yes ? You need 35 full years contributions for a full state pension which at present is £185.15. I was contracted out for a period of time so despite paying in for 35 yrs….I only have c29 full years contributions. This is an aspect that seems to confuse some who state ‘I’ve paid for 40 yrs but I don’t get the full amount, it’s all wrong!’

If you go on the Govt site and register. It may well state that your forecast is for that full amount but it is based on you paying full contributions for the next x years.
Mine states that if I contributed nothing more, my pension would be c £153 rather than £185.

As stated above, ring them. They are very helpful
0800 731 0181

That was one the hardest reads I’ve ever ‘done’. Terribly sad.

To the OP, I can’t answer your question but this line stood out for me.

10% of a house for an offspring aged 25 is much more useful than 30% of a house when they’re aged 50

Gas: 21,000kWh p.a.

Electric: 6,500kWh p.a.

Daily that’s 59kWh gas, 18kWh leccy.

Previously £145/month, now looking likely at £300+ according to Octopus’ calculations but I expect higher.

Octopus haven’t said yet what they’re going to do but the Oct cap figures put your usage at £544 pcm (plus daily charge bumps it to £566) I suspect the octopus calculator is based on prices as of now. Some scary numbers

Don’t know how much energy I use but my energy bills (combined gas & electricity – I am with Bulb) used to be around £45/mth in the summer time, but now it has gone up by around 90% to 100% to £80 to £85/mth. I think I will need to add another 50% to the bill for winter (when central heating is switched on).

If you have them, have a look thru some old bills at what you were paying last winter. If you’re on a normal variable rate….The increase this summer from your old £45 to £80 will be due to the price cap increase (now at 27.35p per kWh electric and 7.28p per kWh gas) The new cap coming in in October sees them rise by c80%. So your SUMMER bill would be c £145 (we use 3x the summer energy thru the worst months of Winter)
I’d urge you to give this a very good looking at…..

Is there a reliable objective professional who I could pay to assess my house and suggest most effective/best value improvements? Don’t want an EPC or a builder who has a vested interest in the work.

We had a recent EPC for a house sale. The guy was very good at explaining stuff to us, what was cost effective, what wasn’t etc. He wasn’t aligned to any window firm, boiler co etc. Just impartial chatter. There’s a cost obviously (£75 for ours) but I’d be wary of anyone coming to do a ‘free survey’, they’ve got to get their money somehow, their own product or companies they ‘represent’

….

Our payments have gone from £53 per month to £169 for both gas and electricity.

Are your current costs £169? Did the energy supplier put them up by 300% and if so, I am presuming you’re well in credit ?

c1800kWh of electric, 6000kWh gas. 3 bed mid terrace with very good loft insulation and some underfloor insulation I put in years ago. Easy to keep warm in winter and cool in summer.
We currently pay £100pcm for both. That’ll obviously need to go up in a months time to c£180 (But we are selling up and moving to France in 2 weeks so won’t be our bill to pay)

Hobnob has a great point re buying a plot and building a house. Perhaps brave at the moment but in not many years you could be mortgage free with savings and a valuable property that is specific to you and your family & cheap to run.
(Unless you really love your work (same goes for your wife) I’d look at cutting a day of work each and enjoying ‘time’. You can go out and earn more money, time is your limitation. My grown up kids never mention ‘things’ from their childhoods, they mention events, stuff we did, places we went etc…most of them were simple things, Mildenhall Cycle Rally every August bank hol etc)

There are grants of about £5K available for heat-pumps, so should sort of equalise the cost.

I read the OPs £8700 as already including the grant (v£2250 for a replacement boiler)

Generally it’s just fork flex and braking power varying slightly that causes it, it’s fairly normal as well as annoying.

The judder on mine is dangerous. It is the first time I cannot ride down various local hills on the hoods of a drop handled barred bike and have to do most of the braking with the rear brake rather than the front. (I’ve never had fork judder before)
I’ll start eliminating potential causes…when the rain (yay) stops

Chapeau. (Great read so far)

Definitely the forks…..they literally judder back and forth several mm. All bolts and headset checked. I may just tweak a little more before starting to swap pads/disc. Thanks people.

On a bike fit I learned that being hunched up at the shoulders, due to a badly set up bike, can cause numbness and other hand and wrist problems as the ‘hunching’ can trap nerves that start or end in the hand area….perhaps something to consider ?

Probably of little relevance as I had mine removed together with half my pancreas, some stomach and my small intestine and then some re-plumbing……but after a tough first few months, I can eat pretty much anything but avoid too much fat. (Home made pizza are great, most in Italian restaurants have way too much cheese for me) I do have to take an enzyme tablet (6 or 8 with each meal actually) but that is because of the loss of the head of the pancreas. No meds re the gall bladder being removed.
Hope it settles down for you.

Don’t you mean 4 miles per kWh?

Yes.

In response to the link to National Grid Mythbusters about EVs.
They seem to base it all on an annual average for power production and consumption by EV users. Everyone will be fair and use a smart device and charge their EVs when they’re told to…which is obviously nonsense as many in the UK are selfish.
The head of Decarbonisation at National Grid was on Top Gear and came out with the 10% extra statement. He wasn’t that close if you look at number of cars and average mileage and convert that to EV and energy use. (32 million cars, an average of c7000 miles per annum and use an optimistic 1kw per 4 miles you end up adding 56 billion Kwh to the c 300 billion kwh the UK uses. Domestic use is cited as being c 27% or c80 billion kwh)
56 billion is over 18%. They’ve not even added the push for ASHP into the EV equation nor have they mentioned the loss of most of our nuclear in the coming years. (We lost Hinkley B on the day National Grid did the mythbusters page)
They obviously have time to sort stuff out by 2035/40 but the overall plan for energy seems somewhat foolhardy. That buffoon Johnson obviously believed that wind could power the entire country by 2030, if only he’d thought of those cold, grey winter days when it is still and energy demand is high.
The road I live on has about 50 properties. The cables supplying electric are decades old. I have my doubts that they would stand up to a doubling of power thru them if we are pushed down the ASHP route, coupled with EVs (and perhaps electric hobs/ovens etc)

I’m sure it will be do-able….but it was the last thing I wanted to do with my daughters 10+ years ago. We went to an old airfield and paid £20 ish an hour to drive our own car round their little private road system and that helped enormously but I was happy to pass on the baton to an instructor for some proper road lessons.

I did 100 miles of it last Summer on an OnOne big dog, supporting SiL who did it all in a day. He did it on an old rigid MTB with road tyres. His big mistake he says, is stopping for too long a few times. Where he should have done a quick 10 minute refuel, he had a half hour break….multiply that by a few stops and the 11-12 hrs becomes 15. (He had a back up driver meet him at a few pre determined points…it worked well and meant he (plus 2 others he did it with) could be dropped at the start and all picked up at the finish)

Had a woodburner for 30 years. Never felt a need for an ash vac, we just sweep it out carefully every few weeks and very occasionally use the house vac to get into the corners.

I’d leave it as a romantic dream and just get something better in almost every way. (The same can be said for the new Jimny, mediocre to drive, dire on motorways or faster A roads, cramped etc…but hey, they look cool)

I don’t know your budget so can’t meaningfully suggest anything

Chapeau. I hope you actually enjoyed it while riding. Some lovely roads.

I’d go with something like this. (The french use flexible conduit extensively, red for electric)

https://skyplastics.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/687?gclid=CjwKCAjw_b6WBhAQEiwAp4HyIBy7xV9WQwhJav3Dt7ZeYSZOSJUGMYY8wyi9Z5L0E4YN3sE2IGnkPRoCshcQAvD_BwE

OP. What exactly are you wanting ? A faster average (for what purpose), or just up your speed on the flat bits?

Carl Stuart, Huddersfield

https://www.carlstuartbespoketailor.com/contact

A chap I knew never got over the loss of his son, so took his own life by jumping off a bridge spanning the M62 (Up past Scammonden Dam if you know it) He had R Kelly, ‘I believe I can fly’ played at his. I kid you not.

A pro tour rider called Robert Gesink. Lives in Andorra and does some hellish climb metres in his varied rides. He also takes some great pics and just loves riding. His ‘ride of the week’ is generally him on a trail with his young kids on their bikes. Inspiring feller

How did the 4-5 hr road ride go ? All set for the Hawes and back day tomorrow ?

You can get the 500 bus from Hebden over the tops to Oxenhope…Worth Valley railway runs from there into Keighley. In Haworth you have the cobbled main street and a fair few pubs (One directly opposite the train station does some good beers, Mill Hey Brew House) Up at the top of the village is the Bronte Parsonage Museum….moorland walk? keep going to Bronte Water Falls (don’t expect water in summer) and further still is Top Withins. If you’re keen walkers you could do a one way bus ride, one stop on the train and then walk beyond Top Withins down to the 3 Walshaw Reservoirs which neatly leads you back towards Heptonstall (via the Pack Horse pub) and all downhill to Hebden. (The old footings of the wooden tressle bridge can still be seen just off the road after the 3 Res’s. (11.5 miles to Heptonstall, 12.5 all the way back to Hebden)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake_Dean_Railway

Dying inside while working/waiting 25 more years for a pension wouldn’t be my chosen option. Go with the ‘speak to a recruitment bod’ suggestion.

You have answered many of your own questions and have started the process of sorting it out….todays appt. Pick another aspect, I’d say a little pre work exercise will be easiest. Things will start to slot into place but ultimately that will be down to you…once you see that it is you doing the changes you’ve sussed it. Work wise, sorry no idea really, what do you fancy doing ? What do you need to earn ?

What climbing is involved in this ride? A quick strava check shows c 17000 feet for a straightforward there and back route. That is one immense one day ride. For the coming 3 and a bit weeks I’d ditch everything except getting miles in and hours in the saddle. It has all been said above really….no new kit for the day, no new saddle for the day, no new nutrition for the day. (Daughters chap did Liverpool to Leeds last summer, their biggest issue was that they took 30 minute breaks rather than 5-10 minute ones. It meant that they were out riding until 2100 rather than finishing at c 1830. Do that on this ride and it will make an 18hr ride take well over 24)

The ‘Live’ coverage has a 20 second delay, so anyone fancying seeing 3 or 4 races tomorrow can still sign up safe in the knowledge that they won’t see anything terrible.

Not strictly true that you have to leave the premises. It is generally allowed to happen as it more often than not assists in proving the offence of theft, but the actual points to prove are
1. Appropriation
2. Of properrty
3. Belonging to another
4. Dishonestly (putting it in your pocket rather carrying it in your hand)
5. Intention of to permanently deprive

Something like this perhaps ?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202205135645133?include-delivery-option=on&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&sort=relevance&radius=1501&make=Citroen&postcode=bd229ql&advertising-location=at_cars&model=C8&price-to=20000&page=1