Not “new this year” as we’re new to the area (we moved to Cambridgeshire from the Liverpool suburbs in November), but I’ve seen quite a few birds I’ve never seen / noticed before, and loads at our feeder: yellowhammers, greenfinches (gregorious little things keep bullying everything else out!), chaffinches and coal tits we never got in Liverpool, and a green woodpecker (woot!) a few weeks ago, before the big chill. Thats in addition to the usual crowd (sparrows, robin, wren, blackbirds, starlings, jackdaws, blue tits, great tits, collared doves, wood pigeons) … I like the countryside.

Try holiday-rentals.co.uk and filter for “pool”, “near beach” etc for some inspiration. Also ownersdirect.co.uk and vrbo are also worth looking at once you know roughly where you fancy – north coast of the Balearics, Costa de la Luz, a greek island?

What Binners said, or if you just want cheap, you can ring the University of Manchester or MMU accommodation offices and see if they are renting rooms out over summer for those dates. Usually ~£20-30 a night for non-students.

lol at the power shower! Can you not work out what the flow rate is and then how much it must be using? To the OP, I have to presume you are on a meter. Might be worth investing in some water saving items if you think you can cut down on general use, e.g. water-reducing shower head if its not an electric or power shower, newer washing machine with less water usage etc. Obviously depends if your having two baths a day (one for you, one for the toddler), running the washing machine twice a day (toddler), use an outside hose for garden/bikes/washing car etc. whether or not you can make the kind of savings suggested above.

If you are the owner of a house, you can elect to have a water meter fitted and depending on the area, you can usually chose to have it removed within 1-2 years (we can in Anglia). The problem comes if you already have a meter or in some areas, when a house is sold a water meter will automatically be fitted, and in these cases you cannot subsequently have it removed.

Genuinely, making us pay a fair value for the water and sewerage we use is not a bad thing (particularly in the south-east) – it should be making you think about the value of the service provided to you and the rates system is just not fair.

We went with these guys in Liverpool, if thats nearby. No sales pitch, just clear prices. We had 3 upstairs windows and new front door for about £1,600 which seemed reasonable for Rehau A rated. You can also just look for fitters of certain window frames, e.g. Rehau suppliers / fitters.

We also went for the internet purchases. We had a good look around the DIY stores then bought the furniture (inc. cistern, toilet and sink) from plumbworld and separate shower, enclosure and bath from different (cheapest) companies once we knew what we wanted. Can vouch for Merlyn shower enclosures, their customer service was excellent when we managed to destroy one of the shower seals, they just sent us another free of charge. Also the Victoria Plumb bath we had delivered was much better quality than the one we eventually went with, but we had 3 damaged baths delivered so I gave up with them in the end. But again good customer service from them. For ‘bits’ we used Toolstation and Screwfix as they were cheaper than PlumbBase and Plumb Centre, but depends on what you have available in your area.

All I can say is, if it isn’t just replacing like-for-like, plan everything, particularly where pipes will go, waste, connections, tolerances etc. and make sure it all fits sensibly before you start!

Without knowing how good or how fit your better half is, I’ll give my experience. When I started riding a few years ago (about 7 years ago) I did the same, wore clothes I already owned, kept costs down until I knew if I enjoyed it. For me, the biggest thing was getting padded shorts, as that made longer rides SO much more comfortable / bearable. If she doesn’t want to get into lycra, you can get some padded liners to go under her normal shorts / leggings. I still just wear ‘normal’ trainers rather than MTB shoes, they’re comfy (and battered so I don’t care when they get muddy), why change them? I also just use a standard walking waterproof I already owned rather than cycling jacket, although I /might/ invest in a cycling one for the longer arms and back once this one dies. I personally don’t like many cycling-specific tops and bottoms because they’re tight and the tops are short – I like them to cover my bum! Each to their own…

Rather than spending lots on clothes, could she get more out of a training day or something instead? If you want to get clothes, I would go for padding her bum and layering on top to mix and match to the weather. Depending on the type of weather you are likely to go out in, get a good waterproof shell (if you’re likely to be out in the rain, but accepting they can get a bit sweaty) or a good windproof shell both of which can fit in a backpack, rather than trying to get somethnig all-singing-all-dancing. Sorry no specific recommendations!

In England and Wales it would come under something like the Land Drainage Act but I don’t know the Scottish equivalent sorry. The EA would deal with the case, but it would probably consitute a civil case between the land owner of the land the water is draining into against the golf course owner. So assuming parallels, SEPA is your first port of call, as above.

Samuri,

Kill yourself when you retire … it will give your wife the opportunity to cash in your life insurance

Sorry to burst your bubble but life insurance won’t pay out for suicide, homicide or drinking yourself to death. Mudshark’s proposal is more likely to be successful! ;)

Interested to hear different peoples’ opinions! I flew Cathay a very long time ago and they were great, but standards may have slipped since I guess. We flew Singapore last year because they had a dirt cheap sale on, the seats have marginally shorter leg room but service was fine / good (i.e. Asian airlines-style service, better than European, much better than US IME).

+1 for staying overnight for a day or two at least one way (I would say on way back), I personally would go for an East Asia city on your timescale.

+1 for the Singapore hotel within the airport (you don’t go through immigration / customs). The pool was a good way to spend a few hours and broke up the journey.

I personally found Dubai airport no better for transfers than anywhere else (except perhaps Singapore for the hotel and city tour offered from the airport), but thats just my opinion.

And I recommend using kayak.com to search for different airlines, routes and durations of flights to give you an idea of your options, once your return dates are released. You can search for flights to and from various airports too which is good.

Re planning permission, like ac505 says, best to contact your local Council department. In England and Wales it /may/ be permitted development (i.e. doesn’t need permission) provided it is located more than 5m from the house, but no closer to the highway / any pubic RoW than the house, takes up less than 50% of your garden space and is less than 3m high (4m ridge of roof). But if it’s to be located within 5m of the house, it counts as an extension, in which case it /may/ be permitted if small enough but it depends on what you are planning.

The tax benefits of putting money into a pension mean it is usually a better way of investing for the future, to a point. A rental income can be another investment but, IME, is a lot more risky (what if the tenants don’t pay up? What if they wreck the place – you need spare capital to both maintain and invest in it). At your age, it is definately not too late to start a pension. As long as you are prepared to start saving for the future even if it means cutting your current spending – and this is the case whether you invest in cash, shares, property, fine arts or a pension scheme. You still have near 40 years to save. If your employer has a scheme, sign into it, as their contribution can be worth a lot. It not, a personal SIPP is still worthwhile and depending how money savvy you are, you have more say over what investments to make (funds, individual shares etc.) If you aren’t comfortable with making those decisions, get the advise of IFAs and go with low risk, steady investments (funds that invest in the bigger companies). An IFA is a good idea as they should talk you through just how much money you need at the start of retirement in your pension pot for a given income, and it will probably seem quite scary! (around £100,000 at present day i.e. ignoring inflation gives an income of around £6000-7000 per year. To take home £18000-20000 per year equivalent at todays prices, you need to have around £300,000 in a pot at retirement, which ignoring inflation but allowing for the tax contribution from HMRC and a bit of growth on the stock exchange is still a big chunk of your salary every year*). But I would emphasise, at least with a pension, you buy a guaranteed annuity which will pay out until you die (and afterwards to your wife if you chose such an annuity) whereas property income can be unreliable.

(* I checked these numbers a few years ago and so they may be inaccurate – go see an IFA and do some internet reading!)

Just seen on another post also recommendations for groups of privately-owned cottages which have their own pool, games rooms etc (Sherrill Farm[/url] , North Hayne[/url]). Might also be worth searching for these type of accommodation, although the facilities may or may not be suitable for such a little one.

Just to add my 2-p worth! I have also used Hoseasons before but for couple-y breaks with hot tub. Only stayed in the north of England but found their accommodation to be very good, but we stayed well out of season and so got a good price. I suspect that by June prices go up, and to get the facilities you want (i.e. pool) you would be looking at more of a ‘park’ than a small quiet set of lodges. Can I suggest if you don’t get any more site recommendations, try ukcampsite.co.uk for honest reviews of holiday parks. If you use the map search (option 2) you can view those with pools and narrow down those with static caravans, most of which will also have lodges / apartments to rent. Places like Haven at Manorbier get good reviews. Unfortunately the closer you are to amenities (i.e. to the coast and towns) the more popular and IME more ‘chavvy’ a place. If you are willing to drive to attractions etc, you might get a better site and overall experience.

Again, sorry for your loss. IME close family tend to visit the Chapel of Rest if they weren’t at the death and want an opportunity to have a few moments in private prior to the funeral, which can feel much more public. It is just an opportunity to say goodbye in private, and like others have said you are very aware you are speaking over a body but it is as symbolic as visiting a gravestone to have a private moment of remembrance. With the nature of your father’s illness, you may feel that you have been grieving his loss for the last 2 years. In which case, it may not be helpful.

As wwaswas says, there is nothing legally you can do. As a buyer you take the risk until the contracts are exchanged. BTW you don’t “have a mortgage” yet, i.e. the money hasn’t been drawn from the mortgage provider, you have just (probably) paid a hefty fee to agree mortgage terms and interest rates for a certain period (fixed, tracker or otherwise). This mortgage agreement could still hold if you find another property, i.e. you might just have to pay a small admin fee to get the total value changed. You can see why gazumping is considered so anti-social!

Let it go and hope you find a better property soon.

Since it looks like you can’t fly direct from a North-East / Manchester airport to LAX, you need to decide what you think the kids will deal with the best: a 3-5hr car or train journey to Heathrow (including the retun leg when jet-lagged) or connection through either a UK (LHR), European or US airport. I would note that at least connecting within the UK or Europe you don’t have to go through immigration, whereas you do in the US (and because of this the airlines have no control over your connection). Whereas, for example BA or KLM are more likely to hold a plane for you when connecting through LHR or Schiphol because they know you are in the airport and getting through security (your boarding passes are scanned at each stage).

Also note that not all airlines are selling tickets for December yet and many have sales towards Easter, though it’s up to you if you want to chance it. I use skyscanner and kayak to determine routes, cheap(er) dates of travel etc and then use sites like Expedia / Opodo to see if you can get discounted travel & hotel. For a big group of you, might also be worth looking at renting a home (e.g. vrbo) but might be very expensive especially if you are travelling around Thanksgiving. I would also recommend BA over carriers such as Delta / AA but thats just my opinion and your finances / ease of travel might be more appropriate considerations!

Good luck!

You’re probably asking the wrong person about where to go out (31 and drink beer, don’t really do clubbing anymore!) but… there are comedy nights which actively encourage stag parties (Blue bar @ Albert Dock, Rawhide at Royal Court and Laughterhouse nearer Matthew Street) and I’m sure all of the chain pubs and bars won’t have a problem with a stag do – Revolution, Walkabout, etc all off Concert Square / Wood Street. If you find your having difficulty getting in, them just split into smaller groups. Plenty of nice smaller pubs/bars in the cobbled streets between your apartment and Concert Square. If you are into rock and indie, head to Crazy House on Wood Street, or indie/alternative but less hardcore go to Heebie Jeebies on Seel Street. Otherwise you can drink around Concert Square until the wee small hours.

As said, it is easier without a car in the city centre as parking charges have gone through the roof since LiverpoolOne opened…

But since you ask, the only places I can think of are Mount Pleasant multi-storey at about £7 per day and the Q-Park at the Royal Hospital at about £8.20 per day. The Mount Pleasant locks up at night and though that should make it safer, is in the middle of town so not perfect. And the Q-Park is a very long walk from where you are staying. There is street parking around that area, which only charges from 8am to 6pm, but you are in the middle of town and I wouldn’t personally leave my car overnight anywhere around there – sorry! Mostly because of the drunks but also the risk of a smashed window that could wreck your stag weekend! There are ‘cheap’ £5 per day car parks around but they usually lock up at night and aren’t any more secure than leaving the car on the road.

Have fun though, it’s a great city and you’re in a good location for some of the better bars and clubs…

Similarly to Capt John neither Uni of Liverpool or Bristol appear to subscribe to that issue. You’ll have to try an interlibrary loan through the British Library. Usually takes 1-3 weeks (IME).

Loddrik, as Capt John says subscriptions are extremely expensive, so Uni libraries will only subscribe to journals (and dates) which are considered ‘useful’. Most articles can be obtained from the British Library for a small fee otherwise.

I would note that Vistaprint for one don’t include VAT on their advertised prices and that most of the big companies will make their money back on postage prices to get it printed and delivered by Christmas (i.e. it won’t be ‘standard’ delivery).

Here looks a reasonable offer but never used the company so can’t comment on quality.

My better half and I have been using e2save for the last probably 6 years. You pay up front for the contract and get cashback by cheque (redemption) which covers some or most of the contract cost. My partner got a HTC Wildfire S which does everything we need, with unlimited data on T-mobile for around £6 per month after cashback, but that was 18 months ago.

The only risk with cashback websites is if they go under / disappear as you are still contracted in to pay the provider the full fee for the length of the contract, but e2save are part of Carphone Warehouse and we have successfully claimed cashback for years. Just need to remember to send off the original phone bill every three months and get a cheque through the post.

May or may not have an offer for the phone you want, but worth searching around online. If you definately want the Galaxy S II then just search for that… T-mobile seem to do mostly unlimited data.

What Three-Fish said is good advise. And getting counselling…

Good luck.

Just to wish you both the best with learning to deal with this. In my experience, talking to the police and explaining that you are both struggling with the emotional side should help, both in reducing the call-backs you get to give statement(s) and in finding counselling services. Organisations such as roadpeace[/url] have leaflets explaining the legal process that will now occur and what your role will be. Be aware you may be asked to give evidence at both the Coroner’s and criminal and/or civil investigations (if there is a criminal or civil case). Also be aware that, if a criminal case is brought, it can take up to 2 years after the event for the case to come to Court. Which I realise is a nightmare for witnesses and I hope it for your sake that no prosecution is drawn, so that you can both move on.

It sounds like you both need counselling, and I would advise you go independantly, just from my own experience. You might not need much, just someone independant to talk to. Whilst it makes no odds to you whether or not the lady died due to unlawful behaviour (of the driver), you may find that a civil case is brought in due course where you could recoup the cost of private counselling, if you find you struggle to get counselling on the NHS, but that is something you would need to speak to the Police / CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) about.

It does depend on how severe it is, but my mum got very bad tinnitus in both ears due to an infection, which caused permanent nervous damage. She now uses hearing aids in both ears and she says that the whistling is lessened when wearing them, as they make the brain concentrate on the sound coming from the hearing aid instead. I presume the OPs symptoms aren’t quite that bad, but if they worsen it is worth investigating.

To midlifecrashes, if the tinnitus is a lot worse due to infection, you should ask your GP for something to treat it. My mum’s permanent damage might have been preventable or at least not as bad if she’d taken something against the infection, apparently.

In response to Lady Gresley, if there is an early imbalance in your hormones (i.e. well before 50) then it is worth discussing treatments like HRT, which TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR mentioned, with your GP to act against conditions like osteoporosis.

greggparker9 – Member

Looks like L1-22 are very high risk, so if that’s where you are then there’s your answer!

This is a load of bollocks, I never had any problems with my car anywhere in Liverpool. Nor people I know. Classic age old stereotype of Liverpool!!

The L postcodes are “high risk” in the insurance industry models. All to do with number of claims, cost of claims (i.e. small bumps vs write-offs inc. ‘whiplash’) and the number of uninsured drivers. Some statistics recently suggested 20% of Merseyside drivers are uninsured, which will hike up the premiums.

Having said that we live in L13 and always have to shop around for car insurance. Each company will change its mind on whether they want to ensure us one year to the next (50-100% increases in price on renewal), so whilst most companies will offer £1000+ for a 10 year old, group 11 car, partner has 10 years NCB, we usually find something around £350-400. Although we have no points on our licenses.

As has already been mentioned, try looking at insuring both cars with the same company, although one of you may have to sacrifice your NCB. Or change your car! (We just insured a 1971 Lotus in the garage for £200, even though its worth more than the day car, their risk model suggests you won’t crash a classic!).

I am interested that Direct Line won’t insure you. I have that problem because I am a mature student. Cna you ring and find out what it is in your profile that they consider so high risk they won’t insure you?

To the OP’s response, you could always do Llandegla with the neice and do another set of trails; either Penmachno / Marin Trail (as suggested) or chose a natural trail from one of these: ride the clwyds.

And to Garry Lager, there are green and blue routes and skills loop, although the skills loop is more a bmx track and gets busy. The blue is one big up (the same as the red/black) and then a lovely flowly down, which is great fun and usually empty, but your kids’ enjoyment of it will depend on whether they are fit enough to get up the hill without being knackered. Had a friend who chose to bail out at the bridleway because his son was too tired, which is such a shame as he was nearly at the ‘top’. The green route is just fire roads, as far as I know.

You can purchase the wall mounted radiator and use a ‘straight’ valve like these to connect your pipes from the floor. They just don’t show any connected like that in the brochures because it doesn’t look as neat as having pipes from the wall.

I would note, however, that you need to know if you’ve got some decent supports for the wall mountings, as they can be pretty heavy once filled!

or as ads678 said, hire some drain rods and try and clear it yourself :D

As already said, if the sewer is draining surface water from two properties or more to a public sewer, from 1st October it will become the responsibility of Southern Water. However, if it is discharging directly to an adjacent watercourse, then this might not (probably won’t) happen. In which case, it is likely to be the joint responsibility of all properties who discharge to the sewer. It is /very/ rare that a private sewer would be adopted by the land owner (council or developer), just because it lies beyond your boundary. Which is why the Government has tried to force developers to get sewers adopted (by the water board) to stop any confusion.

Your solicitor should have done the relevant drainage searches during your purchase of the property, so should be able to tell you who owns / is responsible for that drain at present. If you wanted to get a copy of the maps of the public sewers, can you pay £48 to Southern Water here, but this won’t show you the private drains / sewers. The council might have copies of the planning proposals from when the houses were built, but they might not because of their age. In which case, the only certain way of ascertaining where the sewer flows from and to (and hence whos responsibility it is) is usually by CCTV survey or similar.

When you say “constantly overflowing” do you mean it surcharges when it rains heavily, it surcharges when the stream is in flood (high flow), both, or literally all the time (the latter would suggest that non-surface water is overflowing into the wrong drain)? And is this recent? If it only surcharges when it rains heavily and is a recent problem, it’s likely to be a blockage or break in the pipes that a cctv survey would identify. Your house insurance /might/ cover survey work, particularly if you can show there is a potential risk of flooding to your property from the overflowing water (i.e. it would be a preventative measure). It’s worth asking.

As well as Song of the Paddle, this is also a useful resource: Canoe&Kayak

We did the Balquhidder route with two cars, one at the top one and at the end, and ended up wild camping on the river section in the middle. We heard the stags rutting at night which was cool (we camped end of September). Although you say you don’t want to go to Scotland, Loch Ken and the River Dee is only an hour extra drive compared with going to the Lakes, it’s a relatively long lake with fishing and you won’t get bothered for wild camping.

If you’re intent on avoiding going that far north, Song of the Paddle is the best resource for wild camping spots: Ullswater has some cheeky camping spots on the east shore; Derwent Water has plenty of islands, but people try and camp there relatively often so you might struggle to get a spot to yourselves.

Have fun whatever you decide!

The cheaper Accor brands (Etap, Ibis) only usually release their rooms for sale 250 days ahead, so you might be in luck if you stay up til midnight 250 days before you want to book. Might be worth ringing to check they haven’t already sold all of their rooms to tour operators.

Alternatively, I would recommend trying independent B&B type accommodation as it’s less likely to be to be bulk bought out by tours / people trying to make a quick buck. If you head out south-west, you can get the regional train into Waterloo and tube from there and you could also watch the road cycling / time trails around Surrey and Hampton Court Palace if the dates coincide.

Suffice to say she doesn't think FY1 is the hardest time.

Apologies if my comment came across a bit off. I was trying to emphasise that, at least to begin with, the OP's partner might not enjoy her work. And from the experience of my friend, in the present training scheme, her first few months of FY1 and her A&E rotation were the hardest for her in terms of coping with the job, feeling unsupported and have no time outside of work to deal with the stress of the job. I would be interested to know if MrsGrahamS thinks that the job gets harder later on, the work-life balance is harder to deal with later on, or is she referring to the new scheme, where the meds trained in the old scheme perceive that the new trainees have been sold this idea that they should be working 9-5? (I say the latter because both my parents are Doctors and have quite a lot to say about my friend's expectations on working hours! But I hear both sides of the story and I do think that the new system is understaffed so the new trainees do have to work all of the hours rota'd whereas 'in the old days' you had to live in the hospital but at least you could usually take breaks during night shifts)

Check here: HMRC. If you didn't fill out a form at the beginning of the summer hols, then you just need to complete a different form and send off with your P45 once you finish work.

Glad to hear that the work-life balance seems to get a bit better once the first few years are over – I'll let my mate know!!

Mowgli, since all her colleagues will be in the same situation, she should get plenty of support from the people she went to Uni with. I hope you both make it – remember it will only be really bad for two years and it also depends on her choices of placement. Anyone, no matter what their career choice, can end up in a crap job for a few years! I would note, if she is thinking of doing A&E long-term then encourage her to try a placement – from experience it is the worst for work-life balance because of the shifts, although it can also be one of the most interesting jobs.

Really, best of luck to you both.

Some are doing 15 hours a day, with the remaining 9 spent commuting, eating and sleeping. Others doing 12 days straight with two days off.

Sounds about right! A friend of mine has just completed her FY1 and FY2 training and had exactly the same experience – worked way more hours than she was supposed to (responsible for making sure patients got the treatment they needed and doing all the paperwork afterwards – just not enough hours in the day); worked none stop during 'on-call' and nights so worked 14 hour shifts regularly; couldn't book any holidays as the doctors were expected to swap shifts in order to create holidays, so lucky to get more than 2 days off at a time, usually just one day off a week. Your GF needs to remmeber she is still in 'training', and she will be sh*t on for all the worst jobs and longest hours.

No doubt they enjoy the work

– FY1 is the hardest time of all so don't expect this!

Does it get any better?

The upside is Yes. As I said my friend has just finished her FY2 and started her specialisation. She now gets every weekand off (for 3 months, until they allow her to work on call and unsupervised) and she is actually loving the job. Really. And she gets paid well too. So in the long run, it seems the NHS do eventually give you some work-life balance, just not for the first 3-7 years!

Good luck!!

Been recommended on here many times, Cae Du between Llwyngwril and Tywyn is a lovely site right on the coast which allows camp fires (clicky). Costs £12 a night nowadays for two of us in a tent. No electrics, no pubs nearby, just the views. About 30 mins drive to Machynlleth, 30 mins to CyB.

Alternatively, if you want to be closer to Machynlleth, try Gwerniago. Pub within walking distance. (clicky)

Never camped near Betws or Nant yr Arian, but I would recommend you look at the 'search by map' option (option 2) at http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk to find suitable places (can filter by tent / caravan etc. campfires, pubs nearby etc.)

Or get the train from Salford Crescent to Blackrod / Adlington / Chorley and ride around Rivington Pike / Healey Nab.

got a Sevylor Pointer 2-man, which I think is a bit more expensive than the Colorado. For pottering about on lakes / rivers it is great, but note that ours has a skeg and that makes a BIG difference to tracking. Think the Colorado's do to, but check because they really make it more enjoyable! I've also found it does take quite a while to dry them out after use (have to get it back out again at home to dry out for a day after a weekend away) but I love it, as we can pack it in the car and not have to worry about roof rack etc. Also note that, although it packs away, it is large and heavy so need a good sized car to fit your weekend gear, bikes and inflatable in!

Have fun!