Did you post off your licence to them at any stage (seriously!)?

My wife had something special similar a while back – responded and paid the speeding fine, but there was a follow-up whereby they also wanted to physically see the licence by return post, which didn’t happen within the unknown time period.

We didn’t know anything about it until the SJP notice came through and found the speeding fine payment had been refunded. She had to plead guilty again and paid the speeding fine plus additional SJP cost.

The car hire company will have them, but will probably charge you more than for the car itself!

Many airlines allow you to bring one for free on the flight, up to 11 years old.

https://luas.ie/car-parking/

From Roundwood, take your pick of any of the green line Luas park and rides

Another vote for Wirral.

Great beaches on the west and north sides of the peninsula, but oddly all the tourist traffic from Liverpool/Manchester drives right by and goes to Blackpool or north Wales instead on the sunny days.

Plenty of decent road cycling around; north Wales for mountains and Liverpool, Chester and Manchester are all easily accessible for city pursuits.

You apply the insulation direct to the substrate wall, without additional backing boards. You can also apply it onto intermediate battens, which by forming a small cavity can be helpful in avoiding condensation risks in timber structures.

The systems I’m familiar with have a typical service life of 25 years when installed well, so durability shouldn’t be an issue. They’re all from mainstream suppliers and need to be specced up as a complete system though – don’t accept substituting of parts or a mix’n’match.

the failures that I’ve seen have all been a result of poor design, detailing or workmanship rather than material failures

I know a lot about the systems through my occupation, but am quite hopeless with a trowel, so can’t comment on which substrate would be easier to render.
For a DIYer, I wouldn’t have thought there’s much difference between setting out battens and boards versus fixing up the EPS panels. Doing the insulation does require specific fixings with large heads. Insulating between battens does still leave a larger thermal bridge, which may or may matter in a shed…

I think it comes down to whether you want to insulate the shed or not – if yes go with the insulated system and if not, just fix up battens and boards.

Both types are multi-layer systems, with basecoat, mesh and finishing coat required.

You can’t render onto OSB, or any other wood board for that matter.
Render carrier boards are usually fibre-cement or MgO boards. You could install these over the  existing shed with battens to form a cavity.

You could also board over the shed with an EPS or mineral wool insulation and render onto that (known as an EWIS or ETICS system)  – silicone renders are very commonly used for this purpose.

Is anyone with an XR in the XL (or L?) size able to comment on sizing? Does it feel like a long bike?
I’m right on the border between L and XL at 184cm, but with a longer torso and arms than average (ape gene!)  Currently on a long Large Giant from 2012, so not much in modern geometry to compare with…but XL on road and cross bikes.

Obviously only XL is available, so it’s a go/no-go decision and none in stock anywhere convenient to try out

I’m more driving miss daisy than Ken Block, but granted it is a front-heavy diesel MPV which is usually good for a minimum of 12k from other front all season tyres. Think it may have been a duff batch.

The current Hankook all seasons are on 16k miles and have plenty of tread left – I’ve been very impressed with them from a price/lifespan/wet performance perspective

I had the Bridgestone A005 and found the durability to be really poor. Never quite got a straight answer from Bridgestone as to whether 5000 miles was expected lifespan or not. Tread depth decreased rapidly, but they actually failed in quite a strange manner with large chunks of tread coming off.

Replaced with Kumho and Good Year all seasons, which have been equally good and lasted longer than the Bridgestone. Chosen due to availability and price

I’ve got a few:

1. Get on top of the sugar addiction before it starts to cause real problems

2. Exercise more consistently – after several years of young kids, career, fixing up a house etc (aka life) getting in the way, I’m determined to get back to regular training – ideally working up to running a trail ultra or some interesting off-road races and days out. Some down time over Christmas reminded me how essential being outdoors and active is to my overall wellbeing, and how I behave as a husband and father. It is one of the reasons we moved across the country to our new location, so it’s time to capitalise on that.

3. Finish the bloody house! We’re at the final knockings now, but it’s all those little jobs that take longer to get the tools out and clean up afterwards than it does to do the actual work, so a few decent days of effort should box it off. Apparently, I’ve grown oblivious to the odd incomplete skirting board or bit of trim missing here or there, but Mrs Import has not.

4. Less screen time, more reading.

5. Find a friend in the locality. Just one or two would do. It’s been a lonely few years.

Second the SMax, or Galaxy which has the same underpinnings but is a little less desirable, and therefore slightly better value

Mine arrived late Saturday night, for a week.
MIL spent all day yesterday cleaning – which would be fine except she’s a compulsive tidier, so everything just disappeared into random places. I dare not open any cupboard for fear of whatever has been stuffed in there all springing back out. Highlights include 20 mins spent looking for the pillowcases left out for SIL’s bed, which turned up in the kids’ sock drawer and missing packets of blutak which will probably show up in July. This morning has been spent stuffing the discarded cardboard boxes and wrapping paper behind and under the sofa, including the ones I’d already piled by the back door. She’s also washed every floor in the house with the manky old mop she found outside, so the place reeked by bed time last night.

FIL arrived with a suitcase packed with food prepped for both Christmas Eve and Day dinners and his apron, so all is well.

May need to take my new running shoes for a test drive later.

Came down with the lurgy on Friday and spent the weekend shivering under a duvet.

Doesn’t normally register on the stupid scale, but we’ve got a tiler coming tomorrow and the weekend was supposed to be spent stripping out the bathroom and de-tiling the walls

In the spirit of recommending what you have, either of our cars do long distance quite comfortably. Both are diesel and cruise at low revs, which I’ve found less fatiguing than a higher revving petrol – something about the vibrations I guess.

Ford SMax, manual, diesel – can be set with a fairly  upright driving position, with hips and knees level and a bent knee down to the pedals, much like a truck driver’s position. Seats are nicely firm and supportive. Also, very large windscreen makes for an airy ambience.

Jaguar XF auto – complete opposite of the Ford, much more laid back position –  just a quick recliner chair really. Auto is definitely preferable to manual in motorway traffic jams. Bit of a gamble to buy at the lower end of the market however! Ours was well looked after by the original owner and came with a full service history, but even at that there’s a constant spend required to keep it going.

We were on the beach at West Kirby for the afternoon and had one Strikemaster (G-SOAF) come overhead, returning to Broughton from Ayr. It was the first time I’d seen it, despite one apparently being based at Broughton. Quite conspicuous – very, very loud and faster than most small planes we get buzzing about here. You could hear it almost all the way down to the airport 15 miles away. It came back out a short while later and did a lap at the Southport show before returning.

Am I missing something obvious, or is the XC not in BBC tv or iplayer? Is it only GCN/Discovery today?

What are yours skills, qualifications and interests?

What level of seniority are you looking for?

I’ve got plenty of people in my team who fit the same description to some extent – all engineers & scientists, many of whom are in fairly senior roles and are real industry specialists. In many respects, credibility and competence in one’s field can make up for a lot, but at the very pointy end the good ones are both technically competent and have good interpersonal skills.
<p style=”text-align: left;”>I’m far from comfortable doing a lot of what you describe, but unfortunately it comes with the territory of being a manager. I end most weeks emotionally exhausted as I spend most of the working week dealing with people (colleagues, clients)</p>
<p style=”text-align: left;”>Earlier in my career, I found attending trade shows and conferences helped a little – lots of fleeting interactions with people you’ll probably never have to see again, to build up confidence, but with a safety net of being able to fade into the anonymous mass of people if you need.</p>

With experience of the pre-facelift model and enough time spent on the owners forums, I’d definitely take a higher mileage, newer (2011, post facelift) one over the older 2009/10 model.

Obviously buy on the condition of the actual car, but 2007-2010 seem to be a real gamble

Had a 2008 Cooper S (R56). A great car to drive, when it worked. Unfortunately I spent more time under the bonnet than behind the wheel. In the few short months we had it, it went through:

-coolant hose (fouled by the gear shift linkage)

-high pressure fuel pump (very common failure, can get reconditioned ones

– stuck in place ignition coil (that engine runs very hot)

-something else which I can’t now remember and finally,

-head gasket

…at which stage we got rid for a decent loss, as we couldn’t find a garage to take it on. I believe the post-facelift models were more reliable. Every job on the engine was a chore as so much had to be stripped out for access.

We replaced it briefly with a modified 2004 Cooper S, which was even more fun once the supercharger kicked in, but the stupid boy racer exhaust drone became a bit embarrassing after a few weeks and it wasn’t such a good car for the wife’s motorway commute.
If I had the money, space and time for a track/play car, I’d have another as they can be had fairly cheap.

We’ve got an upright cordless Shark – the suction seems fairly feeble, but it does a decent job – and it has headlights! Being cordless it is super convenient to just run around the kitchen and living space after dinner. It is quite neat and tidy too, so picks easily away in a cupboard.

However – the £40 corded, bagged (retro!) Titan from screwfix is probably more effective and not really that much more inconvenient at 10% of the cost. It only suffers with hair (we don’t have pets) and lack of the clever spinny heads and soft attachments that Shark and Dyson come with, plus takes up more storage space.

<p style=”text-align: left;”>I’ve found the last 10 days have been especially bad for me – much worse than I recall over the previous few years. May passed without much more than a sniffle though, so the bad weather we had has obviously had an effect on pollen production. Hoping least peak pollen season will be over soon – usually by the end of June I’m through the worst of the symptoms</p>

A concrete lintel would be marginal for that size of opening. Might depend which way the floor above is spanning too. 100x65mm definitely too small- if concrete it would be at least twice as deep at a minimum.
If you need someone to check and spec up an appropriate lintel for you, send me a DM. My wife is an SE who carries the PI insurance for work like this and will produce a design proposal which is acceptable to Building Control – which you will need.

I’m not from around here.
Registered, I think, just after I’d emigrated

IAASE – I’m also married to one who deals almost exclusively in these kind of projects. There’s plenty of very skilled engineers working on domestic stuff, but they’re all busy and finding one is not so easy. Good architects and contractors will have a working relationship with a preferred engineer – most of my wife’s work is repeat business.
Smaller projects can be a massive pain in the arse – there’s usually quite a difference between what the client wishes for, what the builder can build, what’s possible in engineering terms and the budget everyone is willing to work to for design, materials and labour. The skill of the engineer is finding the best intersection of that particular Venn diagram.

I don’t know what the fees the OP has paid and the terms of engagement, but my wife usually prices fairly high – for that she offers a good level of support and engagement throughout the project to optimise the solution for both client and builder and deal with issues along the way. It can be a struggle to convince clients it is worth it from the outset (it’s still a very small percentage of the overall cost, and peanuts compared to Architectural fees) – but she’s taken on enough projects involving recovering other engineers and builders work to have been proven right. If she’s been beaten down on fees then it’s likely to be a one-off non-negotiable design and Building Regs submission. I know what some others charge for domestic work, and the fees available mean you’d have to churn out a dozen simple calc projects a week to make a living on it at that end of the market. That leaves next to no time in a project for anything a bit bespoke or rework on something after the fact. I’m not making excuses for the situation the OP has found themselves in – but it’s a simple fact of economics.

So to answer the OP – engineering calcs are definitive by nature (it either works or it doesn’t) but design solutions are infinite – if you can’t get one out of your current engineer, find another.

I’ve found Salomon Sense Ride 4s to cover that particular running need pretty well, if you can get on with the long, narrow foot shape

Not quite sure what the first paragraph means exactly in terms of acting as a lid, but a granite worktop meets all of the other criteria.
There’s lots on Facebook marketplace or gumtree for very little money (including mine!)
Obviously it’s too heavy to lift up and down if that’s what you meant, unless you were to add gas struts…at which point this starts to sound like a good project

My wife raced an Air 9 Carbon going back a while. It was a gorgeous bike, but had its faults – far too stiff and harsh in the rear end (especially in the xs/s size she had) so as to be almost unrideable on anything bumpy and the paint chipped if you even looked at it sideways, so it looked battered after just a season of use.

Both it and a Niner EMD I had suffered from horrendous chain suck issues, which I’ve not experienced on any other brand before or after. The paint on the EMD was similarly soft, but it rode oh so nicely – completely the opposite to the Air 9.

Every now and then I find myself tempted by and RKT 9, but won’t be going there again.

I’ve got the Bosch 18V drill.
It’s great – fairly light, compact and feels good in the hand, was on a Screwfix offer and generally does exactly as you’d expect. The other tools in the range that we’ve had in work have been great too, which is why I went for Bosch.
However, as I’ve been looking to add a few more tools for more irregular use, I’m kind of wishing I went for Makita, as there’s much more availability second hand. Plus, Makita do gardening tools on the same battery system.
So if I was going again, I’d probably go Makita.

I’m recruiting for civil, structural or mechanical engineers and materials scientists for product certification roles. Construction and quality management experience would be beneficial but not essential, my team comes from all sorts of backgrounds.
Liverpool or Watford base with hybrid option (2 days per week in office)
£30-60k depending on seniority and experience.

I might also have a need for a Copy Editor in the near future, preferably Liverpool based.

We got there, at last!
A few late nights and early mornings of packing, but we’re now Wirral residents.
Had a bit of sweaty palms as we were halfway through the journey north before Barclays released the funds for our buyers to start the chain moving at 3pm, but it all came together nicely by 4:30. I was just glad that I wasn’t one of the removal guys having to turn around and drive the return journey at 10pm after that day and could just fall onto a mattress instead, the celebratory champagne bottle still standing on the kitchen counter unopened.
It’s about 8 months since we actually viewed the house, so we’d built up a completely different picture of it in our heads. Everything is much larger than we remembered.
Bonus points for the sellers leaving behind a whole lot of useful furniture and bits as they’re downsizing.
And the garage key came with a retro MBR key ring!

We exchanged today, almost 6 months to the day that sale and purchase were agreed. Moving in 4 weeks. Not ideal, but our vendor eventually agreed to have his daughter pack them up whilst they’re on holidays so it’s not delayed further at the risk of the chain collapsing.
I estimate there’s about £25k in professional service fees tied up in the chain, but none of the agents or solicitors seemed remotely interested in agreeing a completion date so that they all get paid. It was like watching some sort of weird adversarial dance going on via email. It wasn’t exactly a negotiation required – we’ve all agreed to buy or sell the houses in turn – so why all have this brinksmanship over a date to complete the whole thing.

In contrast, the mortgage through Principality was suspiciously easy. I’m just waiting for something to go wrong there!

I’m feeling the pain and frustration tonight too. 3 houses in a chain, nothing very complicated.
We should have exchanged contracts today, or yesterday, or was it Wednesday? to move next week. Our buyers has finally sorted themselves out after months of delays, not helped by a less than stellar performance by our solicitor. Pieface there is right, it’s all just an illusion of work being done, passing things back and forth to each other with no real value being added. Our buyers have had terrible advice from their conveyancer and surveyor, leading to all sorts of delays. I sort of feel sorry for them – they are first time buyers. FENSA Certificates for >22 year old windows anyone? (The windows predating FENSA itself by several years). “Rising damp” was another show-stopping issue created by the surveyor which then magically resolved itself with nothing other than asking where exactly he had seen it, as we’d like to know ourselves.
By 4pm today we still had no word on exchange so following up with the solicitor, it seems that, having had 6 months to prepare, our sellers can’t now vacate for another 6 weeks at least as there’s no removal companies in the north west available at all this month (???) and they’re then going on holidays. Which is all well and good except our extended mortgage offer will have expired again and our buyers will be homeless long before that. So on Monday it either all goes ahead quickly, or not at all and everyone is back to square one.
The solicitors say they don’t negotiate dates, that’s for the agent to do; the agents say that’s absolutely for the legal firms to sort and they’d never interfere, but after 15 minutes on the phone the agency principal finally agreed to at least speak to her client.
Why is this so difficult – at every moment, the whole chain is teetering between complete success or failure. It shouldn’t have to be like this!

It’s giving me a few additional grey hairs.
We’re very close to exchanging on a house move to the other side of the country. The mortgage offer expires next week and the bank are very non-committal on extending for a couple of weeks to get it over the line. There’s been 2 rate rises since the offer was made early February and looking at the numbers over the weekend, the affordability calculators have taken a sharp downward turn, despite a pay rise for both of us in April.
If we had to apply again, the equivalent rate on a 5 year fix is nearly 1% worse than on 1st Feb, which will make a material difference over the fixed period. Some evidence that house prices are slowing down where we’re buying, but availability is still poor and things are going on and off the market quite quickly.
50:50 whether we can the whole thing, or stick our fingers in our ears and plough on regardless.

Job wise we’re relatively secure but April’s sales figures in my company tanked and feedback from the sales guys is that no one is committing to any big expenditure.

Where in the country are you scud?
I know someone in Herts, but there’s bound to be somebody who knows somebody on here no matter where you are.

Or he thinks he is about to come into some money…

I just ofcourse, that’s a lovely thing Todo.

Or he’s got a big announcement to make.

My near-6 year old is fully convinced he’s a superhero-in-training and has asked Santa this year to bring him his superpowers of SuperSpeed and SuperStrength.
Not quite sure how we’re going to achieve that, but my suggestion of a can of red bull did not go down well with my wife.

We’ve also got a version control issue with the Santa letters, so not entirely sure which iteration is current. Thankfully both kids have got relatively modest desires.

I interview a lot for technical roles – everything from entry level to 30+ years experience and PhDs. I normally only get through 3-4 structured questions in an hour and prefer to let the discussion continue by picking up on points in the initial answers.

A few points from me:

At least 2 of my questions are situational. “What would you do if…” I really, really don’t care about the technical detail in your answer, but I do want you to answer with your head inside the business. I can draw upon approx 800 years of technical experience to teach you the specifics once you’re in the door, but I’m looking for you to demonstrate that you can see the problem from our perspective, understand the implications for us and our client and have at least read enough of the job description to know what tasks and decisions might be required of you in coming to a resolution.

Try to read the room (and the JD) before you overplay the ambitious, hard working, always looking for progression card. I mean, I’m very ambitious too and couldn’t criticise anyone for it, but my resourcing plan tells me I need 40% of my department to come in and do very routine technical tasks to a good standard day after day, and today could be the day that I’m interviewing for that role. My department’s success is every bit as reliant on the people doing that kind of work as it is on the high-flyers doing the shiny new headline stuff. I have had to turn people down because I knew they’d be quickly tired of it.

Usually candidates are fairly well versed in the STAR or SOAR structures but if you’re going to bring up an example from your past, make sure you know it inside out and back to front. 2-3 good examples that you can describe every detail will carry you through an interview better than 10 patchy ones. I’m an engineer, so I will pick on details and “because my boss/mate told me to” or “that’s just how we always did things” doesn’t give confidence in your critical thinking abilities. I value people who can reflect upon processses and outcomes, so I’m liable to also ask what you didn’t do to resolve your fictitious situation – what were the alternatives, what risks and benefits did they bring, why didn’t you choose them, did you seek and receive feedback, would you do it differently next time?

The end bit is always awkward, but have at least 2 questions prepared – make one about something in the job description and the other about the team or clients you’ll be working with -don’t overthink it.

I’m fine with people discussing salary or working arrangements at interview but be tactful when doing so. If aligning your office days with the rest of the team because your dog goes for a haircut every second Thursday (yes, really!) presents a problem to you, now is not the time to spend 20 minutes negotiating it. I’m an advocate for our flexible working arrangements but if it feels like that’s all that’s important to you then I’m not going to hire a headache.

Lastly, don’t worry about being nervous – it’s expected. If the interviewer is any good, they’ll see through it. It’s the over-confident ones I always watch out for because they’re liable to trip me up later on.

We bought a Coleman Mosedale 5 this year which would fit your brief. It’s fairly easy to pitch with 1.5 people (just need a second for about 2 minutes in the middle) and the blackout bedroom is revelation, especially with young kids.
We got a factory second/refurb on eBay for a lot less than RRP, which is what swung it for us over the equivalent Outwell. It’s also tall enough for me to stand in at 184cm and I can lie fully stretched out in the sleeping area without touching any wall at either end

Neff and Prevot had a run-in before in a CX race (Hoogerheide?)colliding on a steep embankment and resulting in broken bones for Neff – she’s probably right to be wary of PFP!

Sorrry if its old news, but for any David Hyde Pierce fans, we happened across The Perfect Host on Netflix recently which turned out to be a bizarrely brilliant film which captured some of the Niles Crane magic.