Loads of conifers removed, a lot of stonework done and the back garden has no vehicle access so everything was done by hand……

We had ours done a good few years ago. £ 50 k for the back garden and £ 30 k for the front. Neither is that big but both needed a lot of work. From what I remember the designs were £ 2-3 k for each and then the designer also did the project management for which we paid separately

I’m guessing that the off-site analyses they have to wait for are done by something like HPLC so they get a definitive but delayed answer. However, they have on site FTIR so they’d like to use that but lots of components of the sample contribute to the FTIR spectrum so it’s complicated and they need some sort of multivariate approach to separate out the signal they want.

I must admit, if I owned their lab, I’d be asking the boss for HPLC although you can do FTIR online so maybe they are just looking into the operating process plant, whereas you might have to tweak things to get samples for HPLC. But they do that anyway…..

This is chemometrics. Tons of literature on use with vibrational spectra and in process control.

It’s not my thing but drop me a PM if you need to get hold of some journal papers

….. and Christmas Day blown apart by my mother who’s been feeling rough for a few days and has now set me the task of tracking down a prescription for antibiotics.

I’m bottling it. Too many of the tracks and trails have a covering of compacted snow, or are coated in ice hidden under a dusting of snow, and I have Sale v Ulster to watch this afternoon

Clearing a retired colleague’s office, in the back of a filing cabinet drawer, a cardboard box labelled “Plutonium. Do not open”

It was too, but not very much of it

There is a lot more science & technology horsepower in the Lords than in the Commons. The current Commons S&T Committee has one chemist, one biologist and one physicist among its ten members. I’ve dealt with both, and they are quite different. Don’t assume though, because the Commons committee has fewer scientists and engineers in its membership, that it is not a seriously challenging experience.

Westinghouse AP1000 could be back for Wylfa, backed by Bechtel. The Vogtle units in the US are finally making progress.

But while this might contribute to solving the underlying problem which arises from having messed about for more than 15 years, it doesnt help at all with the immediate crisis, which is a symptom of that deeper problem. Decarbonisation is so huge we need to back everything- renewables, nuclear, gas with carbon capture (which I am a bit leery about), plus demand reduction.

@otherjonv When I was involved in admissions, a lifetime ago, the various bits were not well joined up and there was always some horrible tangle where everyone waited for everyone else to do something. What harm would it do for your daughter just to contact the admissions team and send in confirmation of Maths GCSE?

Oh well. I tried. I might have to grit my teeth and put up with Ebay/FB idiocy then.

I’ve got a 21″ Ti Sherpa frame, Gen 3, never ridden, that needs a good home. Price would be sensible so please PM if interested.

Chinese leaves, bean sprouts, cashew nuts, chopped mushrooms with a dressing of soy sauce and sesame oil (go easy on the sesame)

Coleslaw- white cabbage, red onion, grated carrot, chopped apple, modest amount of mature cheddar cheese; mayo/Greek yogurt dressing

Well, I have a never-ridden 2021, 21″ Ti Stanton Sherpa frame which I really should move on so I’d let it go for a reasonable price to a good home. I currently have two other Sherpas, one steel, one Ti, built up rather differently and get on well with both. Please PM if interested

Stealth Ad Alert- I do have a 2021 Stanton Ti Sherpa frame (21″), never ridden (long story), which I really ought to move on. I’d be flexible on price if it was going to a good home. If you’re interested, drop me a PM

If there is a house, investments etc, then I guess it’s quite likely you’ll be paying inheritance tax. From what I remember, you have to settle the tax bill before you can get probate and until you get probate you can’t do anything else.

It may well be that you’ll have to sell the house to clear the inheritance tax bill. You’d also have to get a valuation of the house for inheritance tax purposes, which might clarify things (she won’t be able to buy it cheap from the estate on the QT). Also, you only have 6 months from the end of the month your mother died to pay inheritance tax. If you don’t pay, you start clocking up interest on the tax bill, and that is certainly not in the best interests of the beneficiaries.

Well, I am a (sort of) inorganic chemist and I had never heard of this scale. From a bit of digging a 45 Baume solution of ferric chloride is pretty concentrated- close to saturated if I am reading things right.

theotherjonv is right about diluting with water to make 38 from 45 but if you add bicarb it will get very messy- it’ll fizz like mad because ferric chloride is acidic and precipitate a horrible goo.

You clearly need rapid intervention, but universities are taking a lot of interest in their students’ mental health. Have a look at what longer term support is on offer from the university.

A6 is an OK commute from Whaley. I do it regularly but I wouldn’t describe it as pleasant. I’ve tried various alternatives over the years but all seem to take quite a bit longer. The bit from Hazel Grove has got better since they opened the A555 a couple of years ago and that draws off quite a bit of traffic.

@P20 I’ve an 853 and a Ti but they are set up quite differently so I can’t really tell if the Ti is harsher than the steel one. I find both really good to ride. I guess I’ll just have to find some other sucker to offload the spare frame on then….

Well, @P20, I have a never-ridden 21″ Stanton Sherpa Ti frame (loooong story) which I really must get round to finding a home for……

@squirrelking I’m NDA rather than Magnox, but we are all one happy family these days……

Geek really- worked at a university for a long time, then a few years ago realised the new boss was a complete knob and fell out with him big style. Now largely focus my interest on outside activities in industry and Government. If I am right we are one of @stingmered’s big clients, and we may be about to take ownership of @squirrelking’s place of work. But best of all, the university hasn’t quite worked this out and continues to pay me.

My ****hole boss still won’t retire….

13.5, well down on last year but happy with that given a couple of extended timeouts for injury

I got a wheelbarrow too, from Mrs DPFR, but mine has a solid tyre, a bit like the Tannus material. Green barrow with a fetching yellow tyre- what more could I want?

Because lockdowns have health and social consequences- lost jobs and businesses, more sitting around WFH, domestic violence and the like- harder to identify and quite possibly fewer deaths than rampant Covid, but lockdowns are not without costs.

The Mighty Eighth covers the role of the US 8th Air Force. Quite dry and factual but I found it fascinating

. Dumb post

I took a ticket all the way to an independent adjudicator and won, on the grounds of inadequate signage. It wasn’t the money- I was just so annoyed with what felt very unfair. The adjudicator was actually a very sensible person who didn’t get hung up on the legalities (and I am not just saying that because he came down on my side). In my case the signage was legally correct but positioned where it was not readily seen (in the shadows under a flyover with a bus lane, part of what was then Europe’s busiest bus route, between car traffic and the sign so a fair chance it would be completely obscured).

I’d have thought they’d issue ‘Parking restictions have changed. Next time it’ll be a ticket’ notices for a short while?

I’ve abused a pair of DT EX1501 for the last 18 months, bashing them for over 5000 km round the Dark Peak, and they have suffered only cosmetic damage. I can’t see myself buying anything other than DT from now on.

Yep. 19 months without a snuffle. Back to work for 3 days and went down with it. A week of a really nasty cough, snot, sinusitis which is largely gone now after a further week, but still an irritating cough and even more useless than normal on a bike.

Depends on the origin of the leak. We had something very similar. The origin was a sewer from a couple of upslope properties which had broken but the water was leaking out of our wall.

There was lots of humming an ha-ing between the local authority and United Utilities while they sorted it out but in the end UU fixed it once the origin of the problem was clear. Part of the problem for us was the lack of records on the drainage layout so I’d expect to start by getting someone to shove cameras up drains. Then you get all sorts of silliness becase a contractor you engage won’t touch water company infrastructure……

Good luck!

I got on OK with it recording 12 hours of lectures but kept it very very simple because I was running on a Windows 7 laptop. Mrs DPFR, on the other hand, struggled with her fancy Windows 10 computer and in the end had to borrow my primitive computer to get it to work.

So keep it simple and use a crap computer!

Fancy Ti frame ordered in June 2018, deivered to LBS for building up in May 2020 (101 weeks lead time) just in time for the pandemic to screw everything. Still waiting for the fancy parts we’d decided on (and I have made a £ 3.5 k downpayment on). Vaguely hopeful of progress by Spring 2022 but not holding my breath so could easily be 4 years from order to first ride. I’m not really that fussed though since I have a decent bike and a spare, so iam still riding happily.

I’ve seen a short-eared owl out and about several times over the last few weeks. That’s pretty cool and just minds its own business.

Further afield, Arctic Terns and all types of Skua are psychos

I had some of this a few years ago at my request, to try and get better at dealing with difficult people. I learned a lot about myself and something about other people, but the main thing I learned is that complete ****s like my boss will always be complete ****s.

I’m staying where I am because my boss is a **** and staying annoys him far more than my leaving would. Also, I don’t really have much contact with the fat *****r

Depends what type of bee. We have a couple of smallish colonies around most years and just leave them alone but they aren’t honey bees (red tailed bumble bee I think). Honey bees would be more problematic. BBKA website might be helpful.

….and melting an entire Dutch nettle cheese on to the rear parcel shelf leaves a smell that you can never get rid of.