What are your reasons for using it?
Personally I’m not keen and wouldn’t specify it – I don’t like the use of EPS, the amount of on-site concrete and potential for that to go wrong, the solid-wall construction that you potentially end up with etc.

They are superb live! Have a great time.

Probably oak. Love the pegs!

Yep, last year I pulled into services on the M4 westbound (or maybe it was the M5 south, can’t remember) and there were 2/3 newish German estates, each with very high-end full-sus bikes on the backs, being driven by middle-aged slightly paunchy men dressed in enduro gear and fleeces, obviously on a trip somewhere for a day of gnarr. I looked at them/you and thought – you’re obviously from STW but I’m not going to say anything.

I use an Anker Vertical Mouse – only £11.99 on Amazon so not a huge investment if you don’t get on with it.
I do a lot of CAD work and can’t get on with a rollerball. A normal ‘flat mouse’ gives me RSI within about an hour these days.

Cool. Well they’re healthier than traditional flapjack with golden syrup, sugar, butter and oats! Comparatively low GI. You could reduce the fruit and honey content if you wanted to get it down further.

If you know what type/breed of dog you want, there may be an existing group specialising in rehoming. For example, if you wanted a sprocker (aka best dog ever) then there is a group called Sprocker Assist & Rescue (http://sprockerassist.org/) who help to put together people who have to give their dogs up and people who are looking to adopt. When we are able to get a second one we’ll be talking to them.

As you have young children and a specific set of requirements I would be extremely wary about finding one on Preloved or Pets4Homes etc, where you are dealing direct with the owner. Obviously there are exceptions but be careful.

My gran was affected by this, they weren’t able to get an engineer out for months but sold her a new “£299” machine for £99 instead so she’s happy.

I don’t have a recipe handy, but when using peanut butter instead of butter I do still put a little butter in there. I am using Skippys peanut butter incase it is my peanut butter that lets me get away with it.

Also, with the oats I take about a quarter of them and then chop them up as fine as I can, you need the nice big rolled ones for substance, but you need some dusty bits in there to help hold it all together
If you use a peanut butter like that, the relatively high added sugar will melt and help bind everything together! Not really so healthy though. I can’t stand peanut butter with sugar in it. Meridian is half price in Tesco at the moment, 99p/jar which is very cheap for what it is (no oil, no sugar).

You should go along this time as has been pointed out, it’s nice that she’s remembered your birthday and tried to organise something special for it (although I’d be fuming if my partner had done the same and misjudged me that badly).
However a lifetime of ‘family holidays’ to Center Parcs sounds absolutely crap! Offer to organise the next holiday yourself and choose somewhere good with lots to do for everyone.

Fionap – they sound great but I hate peanut butter (reminds me of dodgy satay). Do they have a strong taste of peanut butter? Could that ingredient be swapped for something that won’t test my Pavlovian reflux action?

I don’t think they have a strong taste of peanut butter but it sounds like you’re quite sensitive! I guess it depends what type of peanut butter you use.

You could up the honey and/or butter to replace the peanut butter, or maybe swap in some coconut oil (I sometimes add some dessicated coconut for the flavour). Using the mashed banana like in Hugh’s recipe also helps it to bind (if you add this you might need to chuck some more oats in to balance the moisture again). As long as you end up with a fairly sticky consistency before it goes in the tin it’ll be fine.

I make a bastardised version of Hugh’s booster bars: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/22/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall-honey-peanut-butter-bars-recipes

Over 160C for 30min

125g butter (or a few tablespoons of veg oil)
125g peanut butter
150g honey

300g oats
100g seeds (could use nuts instead)
100g dried fruit (dates/raisins/sultanas etc)
Mix and add to melted stuff. Put in greased and lined tray and mush down with a cold spoon so it’s quite dense.

Congratulations to her, that’s awesome!

Friday bump to counter the anti-dog crowd in that other thread.

That’s great stereotyping, in the same class as “all dog owners are irresponsible”.
So, say I was attacked and bitten as a 6 year old by an Alsatian. And say I’ve since been bitten by a Jack Russell whilst minding my own business in a public car park, had my heels nipped by a Collie whilst on my bike and seen my son flattened and bitten by an out of control dog. Do you think I might have a reason to dislike dogs in general?

No. You have a reason to dislike those four dogs. I hope you’ve given your son a chance to meet some nice, under-control dogs and appreciate they’re not going to hurt him so that he doesn’t go through life scared of dogs.

Interesting report on R4 this morning about increasing violence in schools – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35431782

My parents have happily recently retired from teaching, in nice, ‘good’ schools etc, and yet they still strongly warned me off getting into it.

I tend to think that people who have a blanket hatred of dogs aren’t worth knowing.

What is really sad, and something I have never experienced elsewhere, is the number of parents up here in London who are visibly terrified of dogs and are training their kids to be the same. I can be walking along the pavement with the dog (a soppy-looking spaniel, not exactly a ferocious beast) on a lead, walking nicely to heel, and there are parents who will gasp and virtually throw themselves in front of their children to shield them. Children who will scream, throw their arms around and dart out into the road when they see a dog coming, and the parents do nothing to reassure them.

Children need lessons in how to deal with dogs – ideally from their parents, but if not, maybe at school (and I know of a rural school where they get a local farmer to take the occasional litter of puppies in to meet the young children). If there’s a young dog in the park, screaming and waving your arms around when it comes within 50m is going to make the dog think it’s a game and that children are fun. Simply ignoring the dog means most of the time it will ignore you back. A lot of these bad interactions that set the tone for a child’s impression of dogs for life could be avoided with training on both sides.

Currently have a V60 D5 R-design, acquired when it was a year old. It goes more than quickly enough and we haven’t noticed any issues with the gears as above. Great car overall and bikes go in easily enough, though it’s easier if the front wheels are removed.
The best bit is that it isn’t a 3-series so people don’t treat you like you’re scum and there aren’t many on the roads.

Yeah it doesn’t sound very appropriate.
Maybe go for more of a police-report type description e.g. ’30s white female, about 5’5, short light hair, average build’.

What sort of cover do you get for £21/month fionap? Dental insurance cost that!

It’s surprisingly comprehensive although it is their ‘core cover’, no extras, and I went for a large excess to keep the premiums down. It doesn’t include regular dental insurance although it covers max-fax type post-trauma work.
It probably helps that I’m relatively young and to date, healthy, and haven’t ever claimed. It’s tied into ‘lifestyle’ changes (e.g. gym visits) and annual health check-ups so I guess they keep the premiums down by not insuring anyone who isn’t healthy to start with.

If it didn’t make the gym cheaper I wouldn’t have private insurance – more than happy to support the NHS.

I’ve got Pruhealth cover because it makes the gym membership cheaper (price of both is cheaper than full-price gym) – £21/mo per adult for standard cover.

I previously worked for a big commercial practice who didn’t employ any technicians. They expected their architects to be able to produce technical work (and we could, because we had to) and therefore the role of the technician was completely redundant.

He doesn’t need to study art (or maths or physics!) even at A-level equiv in order to get on to an architecture course, let alone GCSE equiv. Graphics plus engineering would be a really attractive background and should mean he has a good portfolio for university interviews. He should try and keep up some sketching and drawing in his own time if he finds he’s not doing much at school. (I’m an architect and I teach at a university so I have some relevant experience here.)

Basically if he doesn’t do art it will keep his options open wider! I don’t know about chemistry for engineering but I would have thought it depends on the type of engineering he’s interested in. I’d be surprised if it’s a requirement for mechanical/structural/civil engineering but I’m sure some engineers will be along to advise.

You need the chap off this programme the other day: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06ygkk3/barely-legal-grafters

It’s illegal to sell tickets for sporting events so they’re quite shifty people. I wouldn’t trust them personally but you might get a good deal if you’re prepared to wait until just after kick-off.

When you say home made bread, do you mean in a bread maker? It’s just that I have some bread downstairs that was handmade, using a pottery kiln shelf as a baking stone, consisting of 2/3rds organic spelt flour, which is coated in a variety of seeds including pumpkin and caraway

Yes, bread-maker. 😳 But it is a stainless steel Panasonic.

Still don’t get it. What on earth has previous forms of marriage got to do with how things are today, and why would anyone let such an irrelevance affect their decision making?
It’s like not drinking coke because it used to have cocaine in it.

I suppose in part it’s because of the attitudes of the older generations and how marriage is still viewed by many as a very traditional institution. I just know that if we got married now, my gran (87) and his parents (60 going on 80) would be thoroughly relieved – and that really pisses me off.

I’ve been to quite a few weddings in the last three years, church and non-church, and there’s such a range of services I understand why you might think there should be an option somewhere. Was a bit surprised by the Devon vicar who did a sermon mostly about the fact that the couple could have children now they were married. The ‘obey’ vow seems to have gone but not the ownership aspect, entirely – ‘you may now kiss your bride’ is still popular but always seems properly anachronistic.

Took the raw-fed sprocker for a run in the park this morning with his new running harness then got home to have toast (home-made bread) with peanut butter (100% nuts). Now sitting at my desk, at home, preparing to do some drawing and typing for other middle-class people.

I hope they win. I’m not massively keen on the concept of ‘marriage’ given the historical and religious baggage but a civil partnership appeals.

The floor: depends if you are having to do the work from below or you can take up the boards. If the latter, then it’ll probably be cheapest to fix the fire-rated boards from below, then take the floorboards up and drop in some fleece/quilt type insulation. If you’ve got to fit the insulation from below then a rigid PU board like Celotex or Kingspan could be cut to size and wedged between the joists before you fix the boards under the joists. As the garage is still going to be a ‘cold’ space, I’d leave a gap between the insulation and the floorboards, like I would if it was a roof.

The roof void: if you insulate between the rafters, make sure you leave a min 50mm ventilation gap between the slates and the outer surface of the insulation. For insulating the back of the plasterboard wall then, as above, a rigid PU board would work. If you do both you’ll be warmer.

MoreThan here. The main thing to look out for is whether you’re getting ‘lifetime’ cover or single year cover. ‘Lifetime’ basically means that if they get something – a chronic condition for instance – that lasts for more than a year, you can continue the insurance. If it’s an annual policy only then you might struggle to get future cover. Note that ‘lifetime’ doesn’t mean you are locked into that provider, you can still get quotes every year and change (assuming you’re not claiming for a lifetime condition).

So sorry to hear that. At least you know he didn’t suffer with it at all – like you say, happily going on his walk shows he wasn’t in any discomfort.

Backie, Cornwall, 80s/90s.

If you’re going over a certain height you need planning permission. Have a look at http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/

Is it possible that your fingers may not be long enough to reach the levers? I’ve been wondering if I can adjust mine – I’m happy enough with the wrist/arm/hand position but the lever is just a tiny bit too far away. Will check out if I can adjust them.

Is it blocks or rammed earth-type construction? Either way I would assume it’s similar principles to a cob house here – tons of stuff online if you google that.

The main thing is to make sure it can breathe – if the render is cement-based, that might be why it’s coming off as moisture has been trapped behind. Use lime-based products e.g. render/mortar/paint etc both inside and out, keep the top and bottom of the wall dry and it should be fine.
If you wanted to add insulation then it would need to be breathable too, so no PU or PS based boards – sheeps wool etc would be better. With 450mm thick walls though there’s probably no need – try and draught-proof instead around windows etc and insulate in the roof. I’ve seen plenty of cob/earth houses with gas central heating – it’s not a problem. The thermal mass of the walls (and often, floor) is really useful.

Like any wall, if a structural crack appears then you need to look at why it’s moving but if it’s just cosmetic then don’t worry – you can just use a bit more loam to fill the gap, like polyfilla. If you wanted to extend you wouldn’t necessarily have to use the same construction method but if you do, it’s likely to be very slow and labour intensive. Would depend on the local availability of materials and skills.

SJ, we are of a similar view and experience to you – no intention of getting it done unless it becomes necessary medically or behaviourally. It does seem to be the convention up here in London but I’ve also met quite a few dog owners who’ve said ‘don’t get it done unless you have to’.
At 9mo old he’s a great dog with a lovely character so we don’t want that to change in any way. And yesterday he started weeing like a proper dog!

If you want a ‘granny annexe’ where the use is conditioned to be restricted to ‘purposes ancillary to the main dwelling’ and for family/non-paying guest use only, then it should be relatively easy to get permission.
If you want a completely separate dwelling (implied by the separate land ownership) then it will be slightly more effort. Whether it is easy or not depends on whether you are inside the settlement development boundary.
If the property is listed or within a conservation area there will be further restrictions.
The existing structures are basically irrelevant.

Adding a new access point depends on proximity to other junctions, visibility splays on road, whether that road is classified or not (e.g. A/B/non) etc.

Another vote for a sprocker. Ours is 9mo old, 18kg, doesn’t really moult much, is very affectionate, fairly obedient, great with other dogs, always happy. And he has a mohican.

her experences have nothing to do with the a babe calendar so why mention it. The exact same experiences I’ve had were nothing to do with a sexy hunk calendar but the fact that woman think its acceptable to behave in such a manor (the same as the men in her stories). why doesn’t she focus on that issue rather than a totally harmless calendar.

Are you now getting me mixed up with the author of the original opinion piece, or are you responding to me without addressing me directly? If I’m confused I can’t imagine how you must be feeling.

She opened with all the times she had sufferered from sexual abuse (for which there is no excuse) then said that she did not blame the calender for what had happened to her but said it supported a society that thinks it’s ok to treat woman like that.

Well I don’t think we do live in a society that thinks it’s ok to treat woman like that.
And used her experience which I believe are unrelated to this calender to add weight to her opinion that these babe calendars are wrong.

The good news is that it’s my opinion, so you’re welcome to disagree. That’s why it’s called an opinion and not a fact.

As for “playing the victim card”, you can f… off. Try talking to some actual women about their day to day experiences and maybe it’ll open your eyes a little.

edit: I’ve tried to remain very polite, calm and reasonable throughout this thread, without resorting to personal insults, but I’ve had enough, sorry!