I would edit it, but sadly the edit function doesn’t seem to be available. To be honest anyone looking at the lock would see the weakness. Heck knows why they designed it, this way. Just as well really.
I’ll let you know how I get on with the Safeman 😉 I’m just bloody annoyed that I the lock combination didn’t work. On amazon there’s a thread of some German users that had the same issue. I asked amazon to report to Hiplok because it would really strand someone.

Jez

I appear not to be able to post about my experience today with a Z lok it’s totally rubbish and successfully left me stranded today with my lock attached to my bike strapped to railings. So what happened? Well it decided it didn’t want to stick to the combination I set and wanted to have it’s own.
Managed to defeat the pile of monumental c..p with a penknife.

JeZ

Hiya,

For those that worked in the telecoms industry liz trussless, being totally crap was nothing new.
My only hope is she sticks to politics, rather than a return to telecoms. Believe you me, she was even worse at some of the companies I worked in…
Clucking useless.

JeZ

Get a Flu jab from you pharmacy is my advise. Since having them survived the last two winters unscathed.

JeZ

Hiya,

Just a quick note. Your house has a cavity wall by the looks of it.
One picture shows the damp coming into the house by the window. The render is butting straight up to the frame. Plastic and render have differing expansion coefficients, the water obviously comes in on the gap between the two. We had water coming in similar on our single walled 200 odd year old house, between the stone and wall for similar reasons. I figured it out pretty early on, when we moved in. I just used a multitool with cutting dish to make a gap around all the windows and resealed them. You’ll probably need to do the same. Here a lot of houses have been rendered over the stone and I noted all are cracked. Most people are removing the render these days and insulating inside to keep the insulation factor.
Myself I’ve just re-pointed all the stonework myself which has taken ages ;-(

JeZ

Does my Endura Merino neck warmer count?

https://www.balfesbikes.co.uk/clothing/hats-caps-buffs/endura-baabaa-merino-tech-multitube-in-black__9760?currency=GBP&chosenAttribute=E0110BK&gclid=Cj0KCQiAic6eBhCoARIsANlox87wEgUwdDUeoNMyEhT298GAomyUAg0fDv–ezGXh8osu1lGMRbkl_kaAq9OEALw_wcB

Bloody brilliant and beats my previous 15 year old buff one.

JeZ

Hiya,

Judging by some drivers in Portishead it is a competition on how close that you can drive past.
It honestly seems to be getting worse, here. Definitely more aggressive attitudes by drivers towards cyclists. Personally I think unless the punishments get more in keeping with the crime people will continue to use their vehicles as a vent for their own frustrations.

JeZ

I would install, then disable all permissions especially location services and of course notifications in fact have it installed but disabled. You’d be fulfilling the requirement ;-)

JeZ

Hi again,

Just seen the final photo. I think it may not be the flashing, but the mortar around the edge of the tiles, in fact I don’t like that at all as water can seep underneath and into the roof cavity. These days they have edge tiles for this. It would be a better design. Sorry to say I would just get the roof off the porch and redo it…

BR
Jerry

Hiya,

The flashing should be tucked into a slot in the wall, then sealed. You normally have a special type of sealant between the lead flashing and the wall. My guess is the flashing isn’t correctly installed and the water seeping between the top of the flashing and the wall. If it was me I’d dig out the area above and check the flashing, then reseal and if there is a crack in the flashing, replace that obviously too. Also check the width of flashing required for such a gradient of roof, there’s a calculation somewhere ;-)

BR
JeZ

Hiya,

To be honest will it matter? there is thousands of acres of land to monitor.
The wild camping fraternity should just all camp up there one weekend just to prove a point.

BR
JeZ

Hiya,

I have been using Hotpoint’s for a few years. If you look at the warranties alone they make sense.

JeZ

Hiya all,

You can all be happier not living in a Lame Fox constituency. Heck I knew he was a scumbag but this has highlighted how bad he really he is…
BR
Jerry

@dazh

Let’s be brutally honest here, no one in England really gives a f*** about Scotland.

hmm with half my family Scottish, I do…Personally I care less about your opinions though, to be honest ;-)

JeZ

Hiya,

My Fenix 6, when in MTB mode disables the incident detection system. I know your not riding off road, but after two incidents I decided to keep it in MTB mode.

BR
JeZ

Hiya,

The decathlon jacket is definitely a winner, far better than my Altura one before it.
Well designed, well made and a real bargain compared to the alternatives.

JeZ

Hey,

The problem is really the conservatives I don’t agree with the stance of labour but if I vote green I give the election to the conservatives. I don’t like this policy at all to be honest but the prospect of having another 5 years of the Tory’s is enough to make me vote tactically, just to get rid of them.

BR
Jerry

Hiya,

For me the article in the Guardian, sums it all up. The focus on the Brex5h1t voters is rubbish.
What about those that voted remain and who’s conviction to still be in the EU remains. It destroyed my working life, so personally I couldn’t give a flying F about those that chose isolation and division.
The focus on the Grumps is what is damaging this country and I personally couldn’t care less about them, they didn’t care about me when they voted so why should I care for their opinions.

JeZ

Hiya,

I’ve had problems fitting tyres since tubeless. The best technique I have found in general, is to warm the tyres first. Hence I tend to leave the tyres and rim in the house the night before fitting.
With respect to tyre levers I prefer the weldtite ones:

Tyre Levers 2.0

Of all the ones I have that I hate the most the park tools ones are truely woeful and I look at them in disdain, every time I open the bike tool chest ;-)

JeZ

Doesn’t look like a success if every case has to be evaluated which will lead to every one going to appeal ;-) Oh deep joy to see the government fighting each one. Sadly we will be paying for the legal bill though for the government that is, even though I fundamentally disagree with it having refugee parents…

JeZ

Hiya,

My house is a very old stone house with reasonable insulation but obviously not enough with the solid walls. We looked in ASHP’s but the advice seems that with the house as it is, that it probably wouldn’t work.
For us a wood burner back boiler seems to be a better idea. I may revisit the ASHP in the future, when I can figure out a better way to insulate the house, but for the moment the wood burner seems to be the better way to heat this house. The Gas boiler which is a modern condensing one we will keep obviously.

Maybe we will then switch the gas CH to ASHP, with the wood burner in the depths of winter providing a top up.

BR
JeZ

Hiya,

I think it is obvious we are being manipulated by the right wing media. This has been going on for years:

Ali -G summed it up a few years ago. I have cousins that have resigned from the NHS I can only think the Tosser Tory’s are doing this to deliberately wind up some services and as an excuse to have the running of the services privatized, well the ones they haven’t already. You only have to see the way some of the health corporations are lobbying some of the MPs and Lords to see the whole plan…

BR
JeZ

Hiya,

We have a massive driveway but the private road we are on is very narrow i.e. van width. After posts being knocked and cars damaged and our next door neighbour trying to imply our driveway was his, when he sold his house, I put posts up and a chain across (Marine quality heavy chain). No problems anymore because if they hit the chain it will do more damage to a car than my chain ;-) Neighbours were fine about it and didn’t take any offence. The Nieghbour that sold his property lost a load of money selling his property, but hey you shouldn’t lie and try and deceive…

My advice is to barrier it off we tried to be neighbourly, but people took the piss and hence we just fenced it off, it will only end in pain in the long term…

JeZ

Hiya,

Very old stone two bedroom cottage overlooking the Seven. We are £852 in credit now. The house has been re-insulated and I did extra loft insulation this year. Wood burner on full song in the evenings we really only heat for short periods during the day and house keeping to 18oC. Ovo predicting we will be £821 in credit, so probably going to keep the balance, just in case, then cash it in come holidays ;-)

JeZ

Hiya,

We’ve been experimenting here. My son and I both suffer in the colder months losing circulation. Now firstly remember why your hands and appendices can get cold. The first if obviously insulating against cold by gloves etc. The second is your physicality, and remembering what happens in extreme circumstances, i.e., your body to protect its’ core will reduce circulation to protect vital organs. What we have been doing is keeping our core warmer and hence we have found the numbness in our hands and feet wasn’t happening.
This doesn’t mean that you don’t need shoe gaiters and gloves it means you must ensure that you keep your core warm.

Hope this helps ;-)

JeZ

The skeptic in me thinks this is a distraction technique for the other stuff the government is about to do. Get all the public fuming, sweep something else under the carpet…

JeZ

Hey there,

My dog is scared of the Portishead fog horn. She goes nuts when she hears it and hides under my desk.
Funny enough no fog horn today, even though it is foggy.

BR
Jerry

Hiya,

What bugs me is the fact the media peddles the lines the Government feeds them. We are the first economy in the G7 going into recession our growth is pretty pants in comparison to our European neighbours.I personally cannot see if we do have a recession what will earnestly bring us back to growth. I know this sounds defeatist, but our lack of investment in manufacturing and balancing our economy between services and manufacturing isn’t there and dare I say that we are shut off from the markets that we need. I myself have had to move some of my business to Ireland to survive and this shows the key problem, in that to be competitive now and trade freely, that you have to move out of the UK for certain parts. I was hatting to my wife last night and I had to say unless it improves politically and economically in the UK, that I’m not hanging around for an improvement ;-(
I guess the politicians after all of this will say that we are growing again but that will be with an economy that will be smaller ;-(

JeZ

@qwerty

Hello, I’m Liz, and I’d like to tell you about my 44 days of running a country further into the ground.

For those that worked in Telecoms the LiZ being monumentally crap, is nothing new. She was useless at C&W and TalkTalk.

JeZ

Hey,

I’ sure he’s just trying to piss me off personally.

JeZ

Hiya,

The question is, if they get rid of Truss, then are we going to endure another 3 months of the conservative associations, the 1922 committee and party to vote another drone in that none of us voted for…

JeZ

Hiya,

As per most of my kit, I’m about to test a Decathlon:

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/mountain-bike-rain-jacket-st-700/_/R-p-330643?mc=8640904&c=RED

It has arrived, the weather wasn’t bad last weekend so haven’t tested it yet. My last expensive Trial jack lasted less than 6 months, namely a Altura Nightvision was a pile of rubbish. It leaked more or less from day one, had next to zero breathability and the velcro failed on the wrists. In fact all my Altura clothing been pants. So these days Decathlon or Endura stuff.

BR
JeZ

Hiya,

Just looked at my Bill. We are hardly using any energy at all but left the balance to take into account the winter. I have done a lot of work insulating the house and we are really using very little energy it seems.
My account is now sitting at £823 in credit. I’m getting a little annoyed at the moment half of me thinks cash it in and go on holiday, the other is cautious and thinking keep the balance there and let it dwindle over the winter. It doesn’t look like it will much though the current rate of consumption. We are using wood mainly for heating and the plan is to use more reverting to a back boiler next year to run the CH in addition to the gas. The gas I’m going to request pay as I use and standing order thereafter…

JeZ

Hey there,

I have a Nukeproof Digger Comp curly barred latest marketing tool to get you to purchase bicycles.
My comment really is that after cycling to the Green Man festival on my road bike, I found that my skinny wheeled relic of 1998 Cannondale R300 was a bit lacking in grip, braking capabilities and actually gravely trail riding. It kinda of worked but it was very dodgy at times is the word I would use to describe it.
My riding locally here is more in need of road to trail than full mountain bike and something very light for the climbs. A gravel bike works far better at this than my mountain bikes. Ironically the best mountain bike for here is a 2002 26″ Rock Lobster 853 lightweight hardtail than a full sus heavier Cotic Flaremax.
So I started to look for something that was faster than a Rock lobster for the road part of the trails similar to the Cannondale, but with modern brakes, that I didn’t need a man in front waving a flag to warn of impending cyclist with little, to no capability to brake ;-) Also I bike pack and these Gravel bikes seemed to work very well.
The Nukeproof has fitted the bill very well and is super easy to maintain than the mountain bikes and here at least work very well. It is no mountain bike for sure and I will still revert to the four bother mountain bikes that I have for that.
Oh I live near Bristol and on the Seven hence the climb to get to Bristol needed a light bike and something faster than my mountain bikes. They are great urban two wheeled machines for this. Will I be getting rid of my MTBs for a collection of mounatin bikes, err definitely not they have their uses which is different.

JeZ

Hey there,

Airbricks springs to mind ;-) Seriously though they need to. I as told years ago by a builder mate that he was fed up removing sopping wet cavity insulation after it had been inserted after the fact. The issue being damp course of course and you actually needing airflow. My house has 800mm thick walls and sold stone so don’t have the issue ;-)

JeZ

Hiya @Granny_ring

I have a house built around 1780 all stone, super thick walls. The humidity is best solved by a dehumidifier and considering the recent rendering pointing of the house, if it has been done. We had problems with damp, till I re-pointed many sections with lime mortar and removed the Portland cement that does a very good job trapping moisture in and damaging the stonework as it reacts with the lime mortar, that is till there and the stonework. We reduced the humidity by 10% just by doing this. We still use a dehumidifier because the house is pretty well sealed, when the windows are closed but we do always have one or two open for airflow.

BR
JeZ

Hiya,

Get an armchair to watch this one out. All the lies and BS the Conservatives have sprouted is coming home to roost. We watching the unfolding civil war I think. I read yesterday that JRM own constituents are not happy about the shale gas plan near us, we are neighbouring his constituency in North Somerset. I notice Lame Fox is rather quiet these days, probably hoping no one will remember he is a conservative too..
The longer they stay in the worst it will get for them, who knows some may cross the floor to retain their jobs others will support a VONC.

JeZ

Hiya,

I’m wondering what employment prospects Kwasi will have after this? Even blotus would have more credibility on the speech circuit 😉
So if I get this correct now? The OBR was involved, then wasn’t, then was, but kwasi and trussless, didn’t like their opinion, then decided to put the report under the ministerial carpet.
Now I see 30 odd percent in favour of labour over the conservatives, and 300k people asking for an election now. This was always going to happen with what they had done. The best news is no chance of another Conservative government in a while.
Populists rarely can deliver what the promises they make.

JeZ

Hey there,

I now have a Nukeproof Digger Comp. Absolutely loving it and it’s flexibility.
The Boardman doesn’t look as nice as the Nukeproof and for an extra £200 I think the paint finish looks better along with the spec being 1×11 GRX.

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/nukeproof-digger-comp-alloy-bike/rp-prod202649

So far I’d ridden just under 100km and find the controls perfect. I’m very long in leg and short body so the medium size fits me perfectly for a 5ft8 size 75kg weight.
I ride rode bikes too these days and I’m finding that the Nukeproof does all my very old Cannondale R300 does but with more flexibility, where I want to switch to rutted trails, which I do frequently.

BR
JeZ

Hiya,

Is it time to say I have 1 year left of my mortgage. The interest rate is fixed too at 1.98% although I have one month over the deal for the final repayment, but can live with that, with the amount that would be left.

Seriously really feel for everyone at the moment. In 2008 we decided to pay off the mortgage off as soon as we could and thank god we did. It has been a rocky time as we are overpaying but at least at the end we have a moment of freedom and plenty of work years left to build up more savings.

BR
JeZ