It’s a ‘PLC’. That’s all I know…

Thanks. I guess that answers my question to some extent. I’ll be interested to see if the insurer makes a significant change for preventative work over remedial. I’d hope not, especially as they didn’t pay out, but we’ll see as it’s a risk based thing isn’t it?

Thinking I might need to back off plans to remortgage and get this sorted first. Which is a bummer, because living with an ex for a year is less than ideal!! Hey ho 😉

OK, thanks all. So here’s my next question…

I’m planning to buy my ex-girlfriend out and in the process of applying for a mortgage on my own. It’s affordable, but if the insurer whacks up the premium right up (I’ve read about sums of £1000 pa) it might affect my affordability calcs to the lender. So I’m wondering if I do it now or after the mortgage has gone through…

No that’s fine appreciate your questions, thank you…

The work was carried out last August. It is thought that a leaking drain caused some issues. There is no visible sign of movement on the wall underpinned, but it was only when the builder was having a dig around that he noticed some voids probably caused by a leaking drain. As no movement had occurred, there was no actual subsidence. But we were bound to have this rectified as a duty of care (at our expense) before it happened. The insurer is aware of all of this but I need to tell them regarding the new work.

However, I am still in discussions with the neighbour over the drain itself. He’s being difficult. He shares it with a number of other properties, but it’s on his land so it is in effect still leaking but the concrete is going nowhere.

The underpinning has a 10 year guarantee with Build Assure.

Perfect, cheers 🙂

Urban mode

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Stealth cross mode

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Tourer mode

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Pose mode

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Love my Genesis. Ace bike.

Big bag of Chocolate Raisins. Nom.

I’ve contacted the owner of this place twice as we’ve stayed there and it was decent. But no response… Any alternatives? Looking to go in March/April…

I like mine a lot. There is a noticeable difference in apps, but not a disastrous level. Would I get another one when my contract is up? Yeah, quite possibly.

Stocksy is a well kept designer secret…

Images that don’t look like classic stock images. Pricey in comparison to the budget sites, but good value and ultimately you get what you pay for.

http://www.stocksy.com/

Looks like a future Tour Divide winner to me! Seems like a perfect setup with the addition of slicks 🙂

Have you thought about doing the Outer Hebrides some time? Whilst the Avenue Verte was a fantastic ride in itself, wild camping adds a whole new element of adventure… just thought I’d throw that in there for the future…

Road bikes would be perfect for 95% of the route. There are a few well surfaced dirt tracks. There was only one short stretch of flinty offroad that I thought was totally unsuitable for a road bike (getting close to Paris) but you can walk it in about 20 mins with no problem. If you’re on a budget a good mtb with slicks would suffice.

I’ve always found that side panniers are a bit like an anchor in the wind from both an aerodynamic and weight perspective. Fine if you have the strength, but for younger ones I wonder if they’d find it hard going on tougher days. Personally, I’d be tempted to be the carthorse and take the majority of the weight via a bob trailer and pannier rack but I don’t know how strong your lads are… they sound hardy.

If you keep yourself well fed, snack little and often, you might surprise yourself with the distances.

Hope that helps… Good luck!

What a fantastic adventure for a couple of youngsters. It’ll be tough for them, but if you’re going to do any kind of touring then it’s probably a good introduction. The terrain on the french side is rolling at worst, pancake flat at best.

The hardest part was the ride from Tunbridge Wells to Newhaven on the first day, followed by the overnight ferry spitting you out at Dieppe during the small hours.

We used airbnb to book some decent, cheap accommodation. It was well worth having a place with a good hot shower as it makes such a difference.

A good training ride is the London to Brighton route.

Do it!

I’ve been on antibiotics for 9 months and still feel like crap

constantly exhausted, aching, dizziness, brain fog, breathing problems, hot and cold sweats

it’s not good

Hang on in there Jools. You’ll get there. You’re being careful about Candida whilst on the abx I take it?

Had it.

More or less full recovery after a 4 year process of diagnosis and treatment.

The year of antibiotics… now that left me feeling worse than I did to start with as they leave your digestive system in a terrible state. If you get it and it goes undiagnosed for a period of time, there is treatment available, but it’s a long road. It’s not just the physical symptoms, but also the mental ones that hit you hard. Sluggish thinking, inability to concentrate, etc.

Very real.

Edit – Had to go private. Not cheap.

Well done chaps, some really good insights there.

Will mull things over. Got the Alan Carr video which I admit is very good. I will try that first and if that fails, then I’ll think about the Champix.

It seems like there are side-effects, but I get the impression much of the scare stories are media storms judging by real-life experiences.

I thought I’d try this fishy one. Got messaged by a gorgeous girl 10 years younger. She seems to be interesting enough but unfortunately she appears to be a mentalist as she professes to having a love for stationary (has to be mechanical pencils) and has to wash her hands 4 times BEFORE going to the toilet.

Is it true that the slightly mental ones are always the most interesting in the bedroom? In which case I reckon I’ll stick with it. Purely for research purposes you understand…

😆

lol. Some good thoughts here. I think 🙂

Very general advice…. first visit should be led with your heart, second visit should be ALWAYS be led by your wallet.

Always have more than one viewing.

If you’re serious about buying, get separate contractors in to check the electrics, plumbing, etc. Surveyors can be utterly useless. It will likely save you money and give you negotiating power.

Also, make sure if you want to be taken seriously when putting in an offer, that you have a mortgage in principle agreed.

Have fun 🙂

Lifeforms is a double album of rare brilliance. Definitely one of the benchmarks as electronic music went mainstream. For me it sounds like a concept album, where FSOL had a pretty definite vision of the album as a whole entity, rather than a collection of tracks with a similar theme.

Spot on, Sir. Couldn’t have put it more eloquently myself 🙂

The Pachanga Boys track is a good one, although it does get a bit cut ‘n’ paste with the arrangement. I like it though 🙂

Gentlemen (and ladies) … a little less dancefloor than previous offerings. And there are possibly some live instruments (kinda hard to tell these days). But it’s an electronic production team. Soo nerr. Anyway, I give you this:

Guessing you’ve done all of the expansions? How about the Batman games? Dishonored gets good ratings, but I’ve yet to play it. Alan Wake is worth checking out too… 🙂

Played Deus Ex : Human Revolution? Elder Scrolls? Two of my fave games and you can get completely lost in them. Particularly Skyrim.

Thanks folks. I actually plumped for a 2013 model from my lbs as they had it in stock and in my size. They are hard to come by at the moment.

I’ve got some trips coming up that I don’t fancy being messed up by potential stock shortages come the new model.

Alb = Albert perchance? 😉

Edit – I like the older white, but I’m definitely coming around to the black too. Looks understated and classy.

I wonder if the OP has been scared off by the figures. Or has gone to check behind the sofa 😉

Johndoh – you’re right. But I’m just going on what the companies I’ve worked for have been charging out in the south east regarding bespoke b2b sites for SME. Clients are happy, so we must be doing something right. Everyone’s mileage will vary, after all, we’re just plucking figures here, aren’t we?

😀

Work out what you are expecting a website to achieve. It might be less than you think and you should only commit whatever you can reasonably expect it to return.

This 🙂

A CMS (Content management system) like jd-boy mentions, is pretty much required these days. Don’t go for anything that doesn’t at least have some basic CMS implementation as it won’t serve you well. You’ll have to go back to the designer for basic changes and either pay for this every time you update or wait ages for them to do anything.

Based upon the limited info you’ve mentioned, don’t be surprised if you have quotes for a basic site from a reasonable work from home freelancer in the £1000-£1500+ range. It will be a worthy investment if it’s done right. For this money it should start to take you out of the adapted template builds, but that’s not to say you shouldn’t pay more though.

A good agency will probably start at 10-15k for a custom site, but we’re talking proper b2b rates. Not really applicable in your case, but gives you an idea of scale.

Generally, you get what you pay for… to an extent. There are web designers who charge peanuts and deliver great sites. There are also designers that charge waaay too much for what they do.

Look for some good web freelancers in your area (think county, not town) that have done the kind of work that your daughter requires and scrutinise their portfolio. You shouldn’t need a separate designer/developer for this.

I would say that despite what others might suggest, if you want the best image projected for her business then you need to pay for something rather than trying to take on a templated design.

It’s hard to say what kind of budget you should be looking at without knowing a bit more of the scope of the site. If you want an impartial eye, then feel free to email me with the designer’s proposal and I will give you my thoughts on skillset and costings. I design sites for a living. I’m not taking on any freelance at the moment, so I’m certainly not trying to drum up work.

Email in profile. 🙂

Brill, thanks! 🙂

Anyone? Thinking 27.2?

Such fun! 😉

Pay up. I hate this blame culture when it is clearly your wife’s fault (sorry).

£300 is not a great deal in the grand scheme of things.

Are you saying, in the OP, that the damage was probably there when you bought the house? That might affect whether you can claim anything, as it was the previous owner whose asset was damaged. Worth asking the solicitor if it makes a difference – I might be wrong.

Yes, it looks like the drain has been broken for a while. The thing is technically the house is undamaged. The brickwork is still holding (for now), but the soil underneath the foundations is not supporting. There’s about 2 inches of space between the soil and the bottom of the foundation along a 3 metre section of wall.

Have you had a chat with him to find out if he’s actually going to do anything first, before spending/wasting money on legal fees?

You said you’d mentioned it in January, but since?

yes, I spoken to him several times and nothing, nada. He is a plumber(!) and wants to tackle the issue himself, but claims he has not had time as he is self employed and is always busy.

The pipework is under a layer of concrete so it’s not an easy job. Even so, now starting to get the feeling that he’s playing games.

Well he needs to get his drain fixed on the basis he is now aware of the condition and as no damage has resulted to your house any that does is while he is aware of the issue and he’ll have no defence if you have to sue him in the future.

This is what I think seems to be the case. I’m not sure he’s entirely aware of this though.

Thanks for your advice folks. I think I will speak to a solicitor asap to see where we can go. I don’t want to go down the legal route and find that we spend as much money on legal fees as it would have cost to get the drain sorted…

My very limited knowledge, based on some googling and a quick chat to my insurers a while ago, seems to suggest that property owners are only liable if they are negligent. I.e. they were aware of a pre existing issue and did not act upon it? Which in this case I do not think he was.

So basically, my understanding is that it’s unlikely that I will be able to claim against his insurers.

avdave, are you effectively suggesting that he claims on his own insurance for the drain and the underpinning?

Basically the underpinning is classed as preventative maintenance as the property wall has not yet subsided. It’s our insurance company that have stated this. As we are now aware of it we are under a duty of care to have this fixed. We were told this by the insurance loss adjusters.

Grumm – did not know that re solicitors. Appt is overdue I think.

Dj glover – pretty certain that its going to be his responsibility, but I will have a look at that link. Ta.

Marcus – it looks likely that the escaped water from the drain has washed the soil from under our foundations. It has probably been going on for years.

Cheers all.

Insurance won’t cover us as they class it as ”preventative maintenance”. We don’t have legal cover, but a solicitor is not out of the question

Thanks folks – I don’t agree with cheating or lying – it’s nothing underhand. It will get resolved, but I don’t want to stir up potential hornets nests. We won’t be moving for years anyway.

So would it be accurate to say that it’s official correspondence sent from the council that is stored?

You’ve got a robots.txt file explicitly telling Google (etc) not to index most of your site.

I’m really not sure, but I’ve got an inkling this might have something to do with it? 😆

Good spot.

Coz that gives you enough time to get settled by 11pm and gub a dose of mushrooms and come 00.45 you’ll be coming up nicely to immerse yourself totally in the film

Erm, don’t have any. Will Twiglets and red wine do instead?

It’s for comments like these I wish STW had a ‘like’/’+1’ button 😀

We spent 5 days in total, split between Ljubljana, Bohinj (inc. Slap Savica) and Bled. Highly recommended – we found the locals all to be some of the friendliest we have ever met on our travels. A hire car was a must for us, especially exploring some of the back roads, which were a great experience in themselves. It had snowed recently (later march) which made the trip even more magical.

Best holiday ever, actually.