These were unknown funds to me until i did a little research,and some tips from this thread. Speaking to the banks adviser yesterday he’d never heard of them as well !

Well i’ve done it and committed some money.
Fundsmith
CF Woodford
Lindsell Train.
Obviously i’ve kept some money back for some new wheels !

Thanks Neil.
The Woodford fund is one that i had already looked at and had in mind.I’ve also got a Jupiter Merlin Accumulation fund.
I’m drawn to the Fundsmith Accum Isa Fund.Seems a pretty basic philosophy.
I could carry on researching for months to come and become further away from a decision.

Car parks were closed earlier in the day but the main one re-opened around 3.Cafe wasn’t open.

Its the upfront charge of 2.75%,or a minimum £960,that i’m unhappy with.
The bank already probably receives commission each year from my ongoing investments and i receive no advice or reviews.
The adviser recommended opening a new pension fund even though i have ones running that i could add to.I can only place £2880 in this and it would cost me the £920.
To make it easy for myself i could just add to the bonds and open ended investments i have for no cost,but they are not in Isa wrappings.I do really want a little bit higher return than the present cash Isa’s but also to make use of my allowance.

Drove my wifes Ford Ka to the petrol station and getting back in,nothing.
Battery dead.Got the AA out and battery was finished. I said it had started with no problem but the AA guy said batteries nowadays tend to just suddenly fail.

I had 3 Oranges,last one a 5,before swapping over to a Giant Reign.
Without a doubt for me,the Reign pedalled better.The Reign just felt far more enjoyable to ride.I changed the linkage bearings after about 4 years just as a matter of routine rather than a problem.
Its impossible to compare bikes unless the specs,especially the fork and shock,are pretty much identical.My 5 had a bolt thru’,while the Reigns was q/r.Big difference on extreme stuff.The only time the Orange felt better was in a straight line downhill and that was solely the fork.
I’d say test ride as many bikes as you can before plumping just for one bike due to its ” reputation”.It was a costly mistake for me.

About 4 months ago my mother in law went into a dementia home. She had been living in her own home with her son,who’s 59.
Initially the social services said that they would pay the first 13 weeks ( £500 a week )allowing this time for the house to be sold.
However,the son applied to be classed as a carer for the previous 3 years the mother was in the house. The council accepted this and have now allowed him to stay in the house and the council will contribute £230 a week after he reaches the age of 60 and the house does not have to be sold.The mother has pensions and benefits totalling £200 a week but leaves a shortfall of £70 a week.The council asked the son to sign a form to say that he would pay that,but after speaking to a solicitor he refused.This top up figure cannot be paid out of the mothers savings.
It seems that if you are a dependant living in the house over the age of 60 then the house cannot be used to fund the care home.
There didn’t really seem to be any set rules,and the care homes pricing policy seemed to be set on your ability to pay.

I had a W123 250 saloon auto with the straight six engine.My dad had the 200 model.
The 200 felt a bit underpowered for the weight of the body. He ran it for a lot of years with no mechanical problems whatsoever until rust started around the wheel arches.My 250 was immaculate and the previous owner had kept EVERY bill including fuel,tolls etc.No mechanical problems at all while i had it,although it was heavy on fuel.
A recent episode of wheeler dealers had them doing up a W123 230 and the prices for parts were dirt cheap. A pattern wing was just 20 odd quid. Steering boxes going giving a wooly feel to the steering seems common.

Seat Altea.XL model looks pretty big.Kia Carens.Citroen C4 Picasso.

I went through 3 thermostatic shower controls in 4 years. Would work fine first fitted then become erratic.Finally fitted a manual control one and have had no problems since.

Flight to Alicante.Hire car to Camping Sierra Espuna in El Berro.Small cabin.Great mountain village with bars ,etc. Campsite can sort you a guide.

I’m looking at going to the Vosges region next year.About 320 mile from Calais.
Have a look at the Gerardmer tourist info site for campsites and they do a mtb map with various routes. Not on the coast but by a very big lake. Seems to get the thumbs up on here from the few British that go there.

They’ve run the business down so its a bit rich to expect a substantial goodwill figure.
Don’t be sympathetic. Business can be harsh. The less money you pay for it the more is in your pocket.As far as i can tell its the value of the assets only because its YOU that will be putting the time and effort in to bring it back to profitability.

A friends Jack Russell was killed in front of her by a Bull Terrier.
This was the second dog to be killed by the Bull Terrier and the only police action was to advise the owner to keep it on a lead.
My dog,a King Charles was attacked by a neighbours dog and the owner had to beat it off with an umbrella.
It attacked again a few weeks later but luckily i was there and gave the dog a hefty boot to the chest to get it off.
Out on my bike i get a phone call from my wife saying don’t come back home yet as her boyfriend is here threatening to kill me.He’s shouting and swearing and going mental.
About a week later a car pulls up at the side of me and he jumps out.I wasn’t intimidated and told him exactly what happened and that if i’d had a stick i’d have you used that on his dog,and would do again.He said he wasn’t told about the attack,just that i’d kicked the dog for no reason.
Chewkw has it right. Hit the other dog as hard as you can and act quickly.

I’m working up there tomorrow as a volunteer with the forestry.
Probably is worth an hours drive.
Both the red and blacks are linked up with fire roads and there is a brand new red/black section after the Route 66 uphill section which looks pretty good.Plenty to ride but be prepared to do some pedalling uphill.Some sections are not “man made” so if the roots are damp it will keep you on your toes !

Out for a walk on the Northumberland coast with my wife we passed a house with the name plaque ” Shavenhaven “.

I rented in Spain with Europcar and had separate insurance through the booking agent. The Europcar desk still tried to persuade me to take out their insurance and weren’t very happy when i declined it. They still take a big amount of deposit with your credit card.
If you feel confident with the separate insurance then it is a big saving over Europcars.
If its the same as Spain then Europcar will give you a small template to measure the marks on the body.Anything less in length and and its no problem but its best to go round the car and check the length of any dodgy marks and point them out before you drive away.

Looking to go there next year for some road and mtb’ing.
Gerardmer has plenty of campsites and their tourist board website has loads of info.
Camp Municipal Du Domaine de Longemer in my Caravan Club book gets a good recommendation and is on the lakeside.

A couple of friends out in Spain both bought ruined farmhouses but went about the renovations in different ways.
One chucked a load of money at a builder while the other tried to do it themselves bit by bit.
The builder did a good job but never registered the renovation or got the certificate of habitation from the local council even though my friends had paid for this. This meant a new escritura ( deeds) to be drawn up.£7000 for this.Getting mains electric has been a time consuming,around 5 years,and expensive time.Internet that worked would be a luxury.
The other farmhouse is not even 10% renovated,no mains water or electric and so far has swallowed around £120K over the space of 13 years.
If you feel confident then go for it as i’d set off back to Spain tomorrow.Just be prepared for the Spanish paperwork trail.

I used Holiday Autos brokers to book a car in Spain.They offered insurance cover so my liability would be down to zero.
At the car hire desk i had to lodge my credit card details to cover 1600 euros of liability.They tried to pressure me to take out their own insurance and were not happy when i declined.
A couple of Dutch guys in front of me paid over 400 euros for just 2 weeks insurance cover.

Watchdog are doing an item next week about the high oil usage on the TFSi Audi engines.

I’ve been using a Kawasaki brushcutter for over 5 years without any issues.

Nissan Terrano.Bought one new in 2000 and 15 years on its still going strong up and down the tracks in Spain.

Its a lot easier now than it was with the blood tests and waiting time.
Our dog is on its 3rd passport because of errors made by vets in Spain,UK and France.Check,check and recheck that the completed passport complies entirely with the Defra regs down to the finest detail.Its not very funny driving all the way from Southern Spain to Calais to be told that the Spanish vet was one digit out with the microchip number and the passport had to be returned to Spain for correction.That was just one of many !

Everwhite for me.Sealant used to get mouldy within a couple of months and so far with Everwhite not a sign of it in 6 months.

The maximum towing capacity is not the same as a safe towing capacity.
The cars kerb weight is probably way below 2,200 kg and i’d never like to tow above 100% of the cars kerbweight.85% is generally accepted as the figure to aim for.It must be a massive caravan at 2,000kg and if it is i’d be looking at stuff in the Mercedes ML/ Landcruiser class.

A friend of mine is pretty high up in a mountain bike manufacturers.Some years ago i needed a hanger for one of their bikes.He had a bagful.Cost to them was 70p and they sold direct to the public for £10.Probably double that now.

camping? Hotels ?

Had a caravan,then a trailer tent,and back to a caravan.
The biggest pain with the trailer tent was the awning part.This took ages to put up and peg out.It would be pretty gloomy sitting between the double beds all evening.
Sometimes it has to be packed away wet and then you have to find somewhere big enough to dry it.
Only benefit over a caravan is smaller car needed to tow,more mpg,and could be easier to store.

I have opened a case but according to what i’ve seen on ebay i don’t get a refund,just a credit.I’m not going to pay it and couldn’t care less now if i get stopped from using ebay.

In the last week i sold my full suss mtb on e bay by taking the best offer.
Contacted the buyer twice about paying and collecting and got a reply saying just because i accepted their offer doesn’t they are going to buy it.It was a pretty unpleasant e mail ending with me being called a douchebag.
Now ebay have sent me a bill for £60 for the sale!

I went from Aksiums to RS80’s.A noticeable difference ? Yes.Quicker to pick up speed and overall feel a bit more sprightly.I do have some DT Swiss wheels that are the same weight as the Shimanos but don’t roll as well so weight isn’t everything.

How did you change the seals without draining the damping fluid ?
On my 140 floats removing the lowers also drains the damping fluid.You only put 30ml in the bottom of the air side as the damping side is lubricated by the 160ml of damping oil.If they are a RLC model then the blue knob at the bottom of the lowers on the damping side alters the lockout force.They also need a small amount of oil on top of the air piston.

I’ve had this with expensive replacement bearings on a WTB hub. Pretty rare size and the originals in the hub came with play in them.

5ft 11 ins and a 56 fits me perfectly.Mine has Sram Rival and although its probably slightly lighter than Ultegra i do prefer Shimano.

I think in the long term Hamsterley may become a victim of its own success.Some bikers,and horse riders,are riding on sections classed as footpaths,and the first Gruffalo section over the new bridge should should be walkers only due to the amount of people with children using it.

If you go there regularly you can get a yearly pass for the car parks for £40. £7 is normally for mini buses.Cafe doesn’t seem to be open during the week at the moment though.

Beware of the caravan club classifieds. There has been quite a number of ridiculously under priced motorhomes.How the scam works i don’t know.

I have 3 road bikes and the biggest difference in ride quality is between the 2 aluminium bikes. My higher end aluminium one is pretty close in ride feel to my Scott carbon.The carbon one does come up lighter though.