Variable speed is desirable and a decent throat size, 16″ usually biggest on the cheaper end saws. Quick change blades are good as you will break them and it’s quicker setting up blind cuts i.e. if you’re not sawing from the outside of the work.
Get one with a cast iron top if you can, far less vibration and more control.
Axminster are ok but get good prices second hand, same with Hegner but if you can get one you won’t need to upgrade.
I personally wouldn’t bother with the generic £99 Record, Scheppach, Rexon etc. but if you do then the Aldi one is exactly the same but can be had for under £50.

A weekend shooting party in the loft with beer and a few mates, sounds like a giggle. What could possibly go wrong.
You’ll easily know whether it’s rats or mice, rat droppings are pretty big compared to mouse ones. Chocolate raisin sort of size. They’re a bloody pain to get rid of, better getting the experts in as suggested for a quick solution.

The boss took me to see Alabama 3 at the Ironworks in Inverness for my 60th and I was bouncing like a youngster for most of the evening.
Absolutely the best gig I’ve ever been to.

Olympus perform well above their price range would suggest. You’d only appreciate the difference if you’d tried a few cheap ones but well worth looking at.

Good advice from convert and Dave and I’d add that planning fuel stops is quite important too on a bike. There are unmanned fuel stations here and there and probably enough manned ones open to keep things moving but you can’t expect just to stop at the next Tesco for petrol, that might be a wee bit far.

I’ve got Bostitch framing and finishing guns, both great. Light weight, no misfires and cheap to buy.
The Senco framer I’ve got is good but does misfire now and then. Not the end of the world but takes a minute or two to sort out, especially if it decides to try and put three nails through at once.

13thfloormonk’s idea worked for me. YouTube play lists are plentiful and any excercise is better than none I’d have thought. It really didn’t take long for me to notice a difference in fitness levels and I’ve managed to carry that on to real life cycling. As said, you can’t go far wrong at that money.

Another Rangemaster fan here, bought second hand for £150, over £2000 new. Needed a clean and a new igniter when we got it and a new oven fan a year ago. Well made, dead easy to work on, spares readily available and cheap as chips.
We had a De Longhi previously and it was absolute junk.

I retired 3 years ago at 60 and I’m loving it. We’ve got a few irons in different fires to keep us active and give the bank balance a boost now and again. You can’t be “on holiday” permanently, you’ll soon get through the cash like that but the lack of pressure will allow you to find what works best for you and you’ll wonder how you ever managed to fit a days work into things.
Go for it if you can and the best of luck.

I’m with hols2, compression test and/or exhaust off completely and see if that sorts it. Probably the other way round as the exhaust experiment is free.
Love the expression parts darts, that’s all that modern day vehicle repairs are a lot of the time.

I seem to remember watching a programme about this years ago. Dogs, if I remember correctly, have no real sense of time passing and the trick is to leave the house then go back in almost immediately and make a big fuss of it. Repeat a few times then when you go out for real it’ll just happily wait for you to come home and praise/treat it.
That’s maybe over simplifying things but that was the general idea.
Most dog behaviour problems are easily solved if you can understand the reasons for the dog acting in a particular way.

Ah right, didn’t know that but makes sense right enough. Sorry I just thought van when I saw it was a Partner but obviously the car /taxi thing is a more likely scenario.

But if it’s a 2014 van it shouldn’t have been motd until 2017 first time round. Import motd when it was registered? Two mots close together could have been police or vosa stop and made to do it because of dodgy condition?
Sounds well suss but I’d be curious to see what the story is.

Another vote for Aviva from me. Added a third vehicle this week, an extra £60 per annum for a 2013 Berlingo van.
I thought that was reasonable, takes the annual premium up to £380ish.

Lots of good advice above, definitely practice before you head off, if only to find out what you’re going to need to take with you.
North Connel and Morvich would definitely be on my list, both great places for slightly different reasons. I’m a big CAMC fan, you know exactly what you’ll be arriving to and we’ve never yet been on a site that disappointed.
Don’t over estimate your abilities with regard to achievable daily distances but you’ll get that fairly early on and pre booking takes a huge weight off, especially with the wee ones on board.
Good luck, enjoy and be prepared to buy a caravan for yourselves.

No nonsense outdoor paint from Screwfix, half the price of the rest, covers well and gives a really durable finish.
Limited colour range but what they have is nice. Just built a new workshop in the garden and painted it Sky Blue to match the older bike and lawn mower shed and that’s what everyone comments on, not the fabulous workmanship but the lovely colour.

Alabama 3, Hits and exit wounds is my go to at the moment. Saw them live a couple of years ago and they’re possibly the best live act I’ve ever seen.

All of the organisations concerned are well used to dealing with these circumstances and are, mostly, very sympathetic and helpful. The banks, as stated, all have different policies. Standing orders and direct debits will still get paid as long as there are funds available. It’s worth approaching them in person with a copy of the death certificate. You’ll usually leave with a cheque if the amount involved is below their threshold, varies from bank to bank. If any large bills have to be dealt with then usually funds can be released for this, funeral costs, house repairs prior to sale etc. Car insurance is still valid assuming the policy payment is up to date but you need to contact them to explain what’s happened.
Gas and electric will resolve itself when the next tenants/owners submit an initial reading. You’ll then be billed for the difference. The council can be a bit officious, they insisted on dealing with my solicitor with regard to a rebate of £16 which was due to us. I argued that it would cost me far more than that for the solicitor to deal with it so just forget it and put it in the tea kitty. They weren’t happy about that and pestered me for months then eventually a cheque for £16 arrived in the post, why not just do that in the first place?
Good luck with it all, it’s not a pleasant thing to have to deal with but it can help to have practical actions to deal with.

First started going out with wife number two and we’d stopped in a lay by for some adult recreation when I heard a hissing noise from the back of the car. Thought “Oh shit, puncture. It’ll have to wait a while.”
Got out some time later and had a look around but no flat tyre and the noise had stopped. Wasn’t until I opened the boot the next day that I found a tech. manual had landed on top of an aerosol of foam screen cleaner and emptied it over everything surrounding it.
Serendipitous allegory?

Gold money clip? I bought myself a silver one because I didn’t fancy spending £300 on something I might well lose or damage but I’ll get one eventually, once I adopt a more leisurely life style.

You’ll wish you had longer, beautiful place.

It’s one of those jobs you look at for days, imagining the worst, especially if it’s a brand new frame. Sweat a bit doing it then once it’s finished you think ” that was easy enough “.
Masking tape on the frame to stop the drill bit shooting off, centre punch the holes first then take your time. Sharp drill bits and slow drill to start with.
What grommets are you using, oval or round?

Send it now is Parcel Force and they’ll do up to 30 kilos for £12. They’ll come and collect or you can print a label and drop it off at any post office. I’ve had caravan awnings, table saws, all sorts, never a problem.

It is possibly that, I’ve had chain tension alone doing some horrible things to drive train smoothness. Wouldn’t have thought that pulling the clutch would have made a difference if it was that though, not impossible I suppose.
Do let us know what they find, I’m intrigued.
Engine mounting bolts are all tight?

How many miles has it done? The rubbers on the back of the clutch basket might be fubar? If it’s a two piece clutch cover you can take the outer off and try rocking the basket back and fore. May even be a broken clutch plate which might explain it going away when you pull the lever in.

Totally agree with “theotherjonv”, the young lad doing the woodwork is really encouraging. Nice to see someone of his tender years with enough experience and confidence to tackle some pretty challenging stuff.
I really enjoy that loads of people attach so much sentimental importance to family heirlooms, irrespective of their value.
Got to go, I’m presently crying at an episode of “educating Yorkshire”

The lad who did the swap sounds as if he knows his stuff rather than just being able to work spanners. A rare thing these days and worth his weight in gold.

Totally agree with that, we’ve rented a house to a Polish couple for the last few years and it looks exactly as it did when I’d finished renovating it except with their belongings in it. I realise we’ve been lucky but there are loads of good people out there.

You can get adapters on eBay for filling your gas bottle yourself, £7 or £8 if I remember. Takes the cost down considerably.
A few videos on YouTube about it, some scarier than others. If you’re a bit sensible it’s not hard and you’re better finding a sympathetic small fuel station that’ll not give you any grief. You’ll need to do a bit of calculation depending on the size of bottle you’re filling then as long as you fill from empty each time then you’re sorted.

I got bitten by one when I was 14 or 15, didn’t get it all out and it still flares up periodically. I’m 64 now.
Stanley knife would be my go to implement, mind you I tried that on a cyst I had on my neck and my doctor had a bit of an eppy at me for that one. Apparently there are people trained to do that sort of thing.

I had a pulley like that over the Aga in my last house but, sadly, no unicorns.

Google “sagulator”, that’ll give you an idea of what’s possible dimension wise. A 1.5m shelf full of books is a fair weight and over time an unsupported shelf will sag quite a bit.

Another vote for Ffordes here, Mrs Hotstuff uses them periodically and they’re excellent to deal with.
Realistic descriptions and prices on second hand stuff, knowledgable staff and good mail order.

I don’t know about guitars but I know that old wood planes with rosewood handles are on the cites hit list and as such can’t be exported.

Have to agree with that but what is he wanting to use them for?

Have you thought about what’s going to happen when the bottom of the parasol reaches the ground? If it’s going into a weighted base then the centre brace for the legs is kind of going to be in the way by the looks of it.

Wrap the caliper in a rag first and point downwards, towards bench, or you’ll get a facefull of brake fluid and piston. And keep your fingers out of the way.

I’d a customer who used to pay for his motorbike repairs with 2 litre coke bottles filled with whatever dram was available from his work. That caused more than a few problems with decanting, labelling and storing. Still, we made the most of it.

And if they ask to test ride it, quite reasonably, what then? Watch as they disappear over the horizon? I’m in the same position myself and I’m concerned already, even with no definite buyer yet.
Totally agree about the telephone conversation though, you can usually get a feel for someone when you’re speaking to them. Much the same with texts which are spelt correctly and punctuated.

Wise move I think. I’ll second the mot history doubts and question the headlight alignment issue which seems to have been a problem twice in its history. Coupled with the tyre wear it makes you wonder about front end damage in the past?
As Jeffl says, it hasn’t been a loved car by the looks of things.