I have a London Undercover in black with white/black fine houndstooth lining, think it’s a classic or city gent model, bought it years ago so they may have changed the names and they don’t do that lining now but loads to choose from, has a one piece wooden shaft and is certainly well made, would probably buy a more funky colour if buying again.

Full length, none of this folding nonsense for strutting around town. I did bend a strut in an epic storm but just bent it back, keep meaning to drop it off at the shop for a new strut to be fitted.

edit, it’s this one  https://londonundercover.co.uk/products/black-and-white-houndstooth-classic-umbrella?taxon_id=57

all your questions are answered by googling ‘mortgage charter’ and the name of your lender.

your credit rating is not affected, you can only do it once, you can’t arrange or lock in a deal while on it and it isn’t available for consent to let or buy to let.

You don’t have to jump through hoops to take advantage of the government backed mortgage charter, you might even be able to do it online without speaking to anyone. And you will revert to your rate once this period is over.
we did six months interest only without issue, this was because there were 2 parts of a three part mortgage about to jump from 1.4%  right at the wrong time due to the antics of Lizzy Truss along with a job change/period of unemployment. Wasn’t bothered about kicking the can down the road as another property is going to be sold in a few months time which will cut the mortgage in half.

do check the sums though as changing the duration of the loan is also an option on the charter and you need to work out what’s best for you.
you may find saving up while on interest only with the aim of paying the exit fees and remortgaging at a lower rate works out better in the long run as rates will likely drop a little further.
sounds like you may have taken a 5 year fix at the wrong time, sometimes this just happens as we don’t have an accurate crystal ball.

You may have used bolts that are too long on the disk mount, have seen this before where the bolt hits the carbon inside the fork beyond the threaded insert.

“ always dress in black?”

do they? Just got back from a short road ride and didn’t see anyone in black apart from black shorts and a lot of  other colours as well, had a fair few hello’s  from others when at slow speeds.

I usually just do a little left hand finger wave off the hood if overtaking and an index finger lift of the right hand if passing in opposite direction but make little note of anything in return as often speed, how busy the road is and how focussed they are on the abysmal road surface/potholes dictates if they will notice you.

None of these interactions require starting a thread on a cycling forum though, that’s just weird.

Even handling ‘live’ sourdough dough is beneficial for your microbiome, don’t have the time to bake now so buy faux sourdough from the polish deli which has some yeast in it but a high proportion of rye and spelt plus wholemeal. It’s very tasty and much better for you than supermarket white bread, even going back to the premium supermarket wholemeal stuff tastes horrible in comparison and has an odd spongy texture which I guess is down to the poor quality of the gluten structure.
we also have rye pasta and buckwheat (a pseudo grain that’s actually a grass) in a lot of meals now, again much healthier and I like the flavour.

refined white flour is evil and happy to eat a lot less of it.

not a full member and have used messaging very sporadically, there are a few conversations there that i would like to delete but clicking the delete button does nothing, either on the conversation or individual message.

And to move between the conversations by clicking on the profile does nothing. I have to control click ‘open in new tab’ to get to that conversation.

would like to delete some old messages and I way want to send one in the future if possible.

up to date Mac OS/Safari (same on IOS)

@TiRed I can’t reply to your PM directly as I ‘have reached my message limit’ but thanks for the voice of reason and your helpful response to my question on viruses.

“ Private landlords defend themselves by trying to make out that renting out their second  properties to those that cant afford to buy is some kind of altruistic act, but by far the key beneficiary of that arrangement is the landlord who without much effort continues to make a huge profit on their investment whilst continuing to contribute to why folks can’t afford a place of their own in the first place”

Huge profit? Don’t think so, it’s probably far better to invest in low risk investments and not deal with tenants and property upkeep.

I’m an accidental landlord which will only be for 12-14 months. Am renting to a friend for below the market rate by removing the agent percentage. It’s nearly double the mortgage but by the time I factor in the hit on my personal allowance, the service charge, landlord insurance, consent to let fee, updating fire alarms I’ll be in a slight deficit especially if she manages to buy somewhere before I can sell and I’m left with a few months of paying 2 mortgages before it goes on the market.

I am actually helping her buy as she’s paying below market rate thus saving a little bit more each month.

The only people making a huge profit are those who have been in the game for decades or have inherited a property.

I used a Cerasit foam adhesive when I internally insulated with K118 boards, they are very heavy so fixings were required but this is because they need to hold the board in case of fire and them coming off the wall and blocking the escape route, only 3 fixings per board which is less than required for dot and dab.

would definitely use foam over dot dab adhesive as its quick and easy to use, there’s a roughneck gun that’s worth getting  if you close the gun and  wipe the end with white spirit the Teflon lined nozzle doesn’t need cleaning between use.

400,000 nectar is 250,000 avios, if you had a companion voucher earned by using an amex card you could have a business class return at peak time to japan (or similar distance BA destination) for 2 people, you still have to pay taxes etc.

I convert all our nectar to avios, nectar is not a significant amount as most comes from business spending on Amex but we get to travel in Luxury for a long haul trip every now and again. worth every penny for being able to sleep properly on the flight and sit in comfort.

” Stuff is bought for function and convenience and price.  Not for aspirational reasons.”

How did the purchasing go with your style reinvention which you started a thread about?…

Think rapha did one? Or it may have been Paul Smith or Dashing Tweeds.

I like the look of that SWIP system though it’s probably not as high an insulating value as K118 but if i had solid walls or an older property then it’s probably what I would go for.

I did our 1960 flat with 65mm of K118 (72mm inc the plasterboard bit) and the difference it made was huge. the walls are mostly cavity with one solid wall with a huge 5m long Crittall window in it but it’s tile faced so no issues with moisture transmission. 65mm was the sweet spot and going any thicker was into the law of diminishing returns. I used foam adhesive with 3 fixing per board as per the guidelines, they are only there to stop the boards falling off the wall and blocking your exit in a fire.

I did check if it was a notifiable work but it wasn’t, there were guidelines that suggested if you were insulating then you had to have a certain depth/U value and under insulating was frowned upon. As stated above it’s not a huge issue if you can’t bring the building up to spec 100% due to size/construction/access etc.

Whatever you do take lots of photographs and keep receipts of materials for when you get a new EPC or come to sell.

Made a small batch of pesto last week, mix of cashew/walnut/pecorino though I need some better quality olive oil with a nice sweet grassy flavour. Have frozen some and thinking of cramming what’s left under the skin of a roast chicken.

live in London but lucky enough to have a small nature reserve over the road with a little patch, few locals pick there but nobody seems to take the piss. There is a bigger wood down the road so I’m going to have an explore and hopefully find a bigger supply.

Scribe internal and mitre external, I bend the saw in the block or stick a spacer in to angle the skirting when the corner is not exactly 90º gives me a very close join and looks like it’s done properly. (i.e. not gobs of caulk/filler or overlaps)

“I have built a collection of trickers over the last few years but they could last a decades tbh.”

Same here but i’m about to spend several hundred pounds on resoles for them along with a pair of redwings but looking at the cost of ownership over the years they are terrific value and make throwaway plastic trainers look like an extravagance. Have had them for over a decade and expect at least another out of them.

I guess I spend anything between £400-£1000 a year including cycling but tend to buy a mix of very high quality bought in the sales and reasonable quality ‘cheap’ stuff like Uniqlo V-neck jumpers, I find stuff lasts for years if you look after it.

I buy a good pair of selvage jeans every year or two and have about 6-7 pairs on the go in various stages of fade from smart to DIY use, when the DIY pair gets binned I’ll buy a new pair.

A friend is a Saville row tailor and I had a shirt made (sourced but not made by him as shirtmakers make shirts) and i’m not buying any shirts from the high st now but will get one made a year as once you have a proper fitting shirt you realise how uncomfortable your other shirts are.

Have loads of cycling kit for road/mtb and buy very little though had to get some new road shoes as the sole came off but they were about 8 years old.

It’s great for home broadband where i live, 580 down/48 up for £22 a month. would be less but it’s a rolling contract as we intended to switch to community fibre but all the time it’s doing it’s thing we will keep it. Router’s wireless isn’t that good so we are using it in passthrough mode with a mesh system, we are on the 6th floor with 3 transmitters in line of sight but would imagine it would be lower speeds if we were not so high up.

Seems to work on the phone out and about o.k. too though this is in that London

TJ. it’s not the 80’s any more, that was decades ago.

lots of things have changed since then but one thing that remains the same is the appalling dress sense on display by your average football fan.

“ Surely pringle for the ” casual” fan”

it’s football not golf.

James Gourmet coffee. I don’t subscribe as I want to pick and choose, they do filter, omni and darker espresso roasts.

the coffee is up there with more expensive speciality roasters like Alchemy, Colonna, Roundhill etc.

I don’t think they can be beaten for value plus they do some interesting anaerobic processed coffees.

How is reading a technical manual going to inspire?

that’s coming from somebody who read all his books, used a spot meter (with my home made zone sticker stuck on the dial) and used low agitation compensation development (HC110 and pyro) and printed using cold cathode enlargers.
All that helped but it’s the first step. It taught me to control the medium and get to a point it was second nature, in essence the pre-visualisation technique advocated by Adams. It didn’t make me take better images just perfectly exposed ones.

In the age of auto everything, raw files and extended dynamic range I would argue the inspiration should come from elsewhere.

For me now that inspiration comes from other photographers work but not in the area I work in, art and film or more specifically the work of dop’s

Tarkovsky, Crewdson, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Ralph Eugine Meatyard, Minor White, Han  Yang, Roger Deakins.

those are some of mine, they work for me, might be meaningless for you.

@JR.  I’m in Crystal Palace SE19, the southern end of the Dulwich estate

I’m not ready for the provincial attitudes (grew up in a small village) and lack of choice in small towns/villages so we still live in London where our work is. We both like what we do and are fortunate to have a 6th floor flat that overlooks mature oaks and a woodland nature reserve so when working at home I’m distracted by raven and peregrine spotting.

have friends locally who mostly work in the arts/media and have similarly moved slightly further out to find the right balance. One thing we were not counting on was the other residents here who are all sound people who are happy to help out and look out for each other, something I hadn’t experienced in other parts of London.
A good mix of young families and ‘interesting’ professionals, actors, architects, furniture makers etc.

Richard Ayoade used to live in our flat, it’s a popular area for arts/media types.

Couldn’t think of anywhere else I would want to move to apart from a lottery win house a few mins walk away, it’s going to be hard to find somewhere to move to once we retire, I’m not sure if it will be in this country.

ride less MTB these days and am about 25min ride away before I hit the decent roads/hills, more natural wine bars than I can drink in  and one of the best bakeries in London on my doorstep, only downside is I’m a little bit too far from Jay Rayners favourite chippy Ken’s in Herne Hill.

£315k? not much to choose from round here.

found this but it’s quite grim
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/142053209#/?channel=RES_BUY

this is the next one up in price but it’s over budget.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/144871010#/?channel=RES_BUY

nicest one near me on the Dulkwich Estate is this.

https://www.themodernhouse.com/sales-list/ferrings-2/

it’s the same architects as our flat but our place wasn’t £2.6million..

Guards obviously and decent overshoes but I also have some pearl izum bibs that are made from a softshell fabric, thing is I haven’t used them yet despite buying them a couple of years ago, moving and then renovating a property put paid to that but I’m just getting back on the bike and I’m sure the weather will turn.
They have an ‘Elite’ label inside and a nifty pocket on the side, softshell is on the front/top of legs and the seat/back area, I do have an old pair of sport full  tights to go over shorts that are ‘no-rain’ but whatever coating they had is long gone, no idea what the castelli ones are like?

Secondary glazing and the gap between the 2 panes makes a big difference to sound, we have just done a project where we internally insulated and sorted out the reveals/window sills and added secondary glazing and it’s made a massive difference to external noise not that it’s very noisy but there is a road 6 floors below and to the side.

basically if you have different widths of glass and a gap you break up the sound, so having 4mm glass in old crittall windows we have 6mm in the secondary, the gap is huge but 10cm+is ideal ours ended up about 15cm. you can get stadep sound glass that is laminated but we didn’t need to go that far and went for low-E glass instead for the energy saving. if you can retrofit secondary or triple to your frames then that is an option.

A decent glazing company can work out what the max width glass you can fit in a frame and spec accordingly, so you could end up with 6mm glass/5mm gap/4mm glass/7mm gap/6mm glass in a triple glazed unit and because the sizes are all different the sound deadening is improved. that would not get close to a big gap say 100mm between 2 panes with one of them laminated, that’s what you get in hotels near airports or busy main roads.

I have owned a Pegoretti since 2007, completely different experience to solarider,  mine is a Duende so different tubeset to a responsorium. Wouldn’t swap it for anything apart from a new one.

If I was after another  bike then Casati, Cicli Barco or Legend would be my first ports of call.

I grew up nearby so know the area well, spent a lot of chilly nights there as my dad liked cod fishing in Jan/Feb.
It’s road bike territory or gravel/light MTB for paths.
If you want to avoid the hot-spots it’s worth a look at Fairfield church near Appledore, It’s quite unique. You can get the key which hangs up outside by the door on the cottage opposite if you cycle there go by the tiny backroads and avoid the main road to Brenzett.
if you are swimming then go on the Dymchurch side as it’s way more sheltered than by the power station or ‘the point’.
There is a very good crab shack just down from Jarman cottage, they do great lobster/fish/crab rolls.
if you venture further afield the Ferry in Stone-In-Oxney does great food and you can stroll up to Chapel bank, there’s no church, they moved it half a mile away.
There is a nice loop from Rye to Winchelsea (old town) and along Wickham rock lane stopping off at the fizz vineyard for a glass then to Pett level, Winchelsea beach and along the beach road/cycle route to Rye harbour.

We exchanged on a flat 16th Jan.
Will not be doing everything but the list is/was:
Internally insulate exterior walls in 2 bedrooms and lounge including hiding new pipework
remove windowsills as reveals are now deeper, make template for new stone/corian windowsills
strip by hand all crittall windows back to galvanised and repaint
strip/sand iroku floor in lounge/hallweays and pine floors in bedrooms
remove boxing in and old radiators for plumber to fit new rads and pipework
make good all ceiling chasing on first fix electricals
remove coving in hallway and fit plasterboard ceiling
remove all skirting and fit new skirting throughout flat.
remove doorframe and extend stud wall for neater look once door frame removed
do various bits of bonding/filling ready for plaster skim
remove bathroom bits ready for new bathroom to be fitted (not by me)
go up and down in the lift to garage with what must be 60+ rubble sacks of waste/bits of wood and plasterboard
strip wallpaper and do loads of little spot repairs and making good with mortar/filler/self level/fine surface filler
a million trips to Wikes/toolstation/scfrewfix Howdens etc and being outside at 7:30am for a kerbside delivery.
repaint the whole flat including woodwork/doors etc.
oil floors.

I haven’t had any time off since Jan and do some of my freelance work in the evenings and weekends in between working on the flat, this seems like a very small refurb project which while i’m putting the hours in is taking far too long!
I’m no spring chicken and my hands/knees/arms ache depending on which job i’m doing, think i’m about 2/3-3/4 the way through now and so looking forward to being able to have my life back, how people manage with huge year long projects is beyond me, I could do the work it’s just the putting everything else on hold including relaxation that would do me in.

” Its not really for peacocking or for others but for me to feel good about myself.”

Sounds like a very worthwhile pursuit. I would ignore ‘fashion’ as that’s a status thing for anxious millennials.
Style is something else and never goes out of fashion, If you are unsure where to start just look at style blogs not by big media but real people or try instagram and you might see stuff ‘oh i quite like that’.

Keep it simple and start with a few quality items and some cheap every day basics like linen shirts and merino jumpers from Uniqlo etc. Scotland has some really good clothing, obviously not cheap but some of the best cashmere comes from from there.

Learn about levels of formality and what does/doesn’t go with what. No 2 piece jackets with jeans and trainers!??
Aim for the ‘sprezzatura’ look not the trying too hard look.

I’m quite envious as i’m 3 months in to a DIY home refurb project and skint so been wearing kneepad trousers and old t-shirts and not worn any decent clothes for a long time.

NuPhy Air75

We had a long protracted purchase and only completed a couple of weeks ago, had a pre interest rate rise mortgage and a ported fixed and our buyer paid way over our asking price expectation and again had a favourable mortgage agreed so nobody wavered and no interest in stopping the sale for fear of overpaying or big falls to come.
similar properties on the same estate have seen reductions but still only down to the ‘right’ prices.
Those who need to move right now will do so especially if they don’t need a huge LTV or are porting/downsizing.

FTB’s and those sailing close to the wind will not but I think people will just wait for mortgages to drop as there have already been below 4% fixed deals released in the last week, those waiting for huge double digit falls will probably be disappointed, wouldn’t surprise me if stuff starts shifting in the spring but there will not be so much of the sealed bids/open house on friday sold by Sunday going on.
If prices drop they will be by single figures.
(all depending on location as i have no idea of the market outside of my area in london)

EDIT, just looked at my saved search on right move and ticked the ‘show Sold subject to contract and Under offer’ and there’s plenty of properties that were listed in December and January that are now sold or under offer so i would say there is not much reduction in volume for this time of year but it’s probably a bit easier for the buyers to not have to overpay or compete with other buyers.

“But a bright orange carbon fibre bike (its whippet, isnt it?) locked outside on what is presumably some kind of shopping/high street – I wouldnt even consider it. At all. Ever. For 30 seconds”

30 seconds? that’s a lifetime in bike nicking.
A few years back somebody on here lost a Dean TI hardtail outside the apple store regent street, i was waiting for a bus 30m away and watched him lock it with a cable lock through back wheel and walk in, couple of seconds later somebody leaned over the back of the bike and fiddled and then was off, took about 5-8 seconds.
I was too gobsmacked to do anything and too far away on other side of road.

Never lock a nice bike outside, i have an Abus GraniteX plus D-lock but have only used it a handful of times outside my home.i either take the bike inside or use a Brompton.

” clearly demand is not outstripping supply to the extent they say it is…”

That depends where you are. we are selling my partners flat and buying a 2 bed for us and renting my one bed out in the new year. talking to agents they said that there were only 6 1 bed flats for rent in the whole area between a dozen or so estate agents and you will have an open day on a Saturday and then several offers over the asking rent on Sunday.

I’m not after the max money and will check people out on social media as well as the usual checks the agents do and pick a suitable tenant(s) that will hopefully treat the place well and not annoy the neighbours.

My mortgage is locked in and i’m not sailing close to the wind (70% equity) so if it does go up in a year or 2 it will be by a single digit percentage

“You almost certainly won’t be the only one suffering shit service.”

We should be exchanging yesterday/today/tomorrow, just waiting for the last document to check (a one page retention of funds for some service charges) chased yesterday, this lunchtime and this afternoon so we can approve the final draft.
evidently they are ‘feeling unwell’
If we don’t exchange by Friday our seller is pulling the plug after the pointless delays mostly caused by our solicitor, it’s been 5 months and several escalated rollockings from us and yet they fail to see the urgency.

It’s just a cash cow system and really should be reformed.

Not a fan of russian vodka, much prefer polish rye based ones, nobody seems to mention what it’s distilled from. it makes a big difference to flavour.

good quality layers rather than all the cycling gear you own.

for biting cold rides i like a decent winter weight soft-shell but for 2-7º i’m impressed with alpha insulation with a further windproof layer over the top plus the obligatory base layer
(rapha brevet insulated jacket and a very old rapha wind shirt)
I also have a gore C5 thermo jersey which is very thin but surprisingly warm, when worn with the above plus winter bibs i don’t feel constricted by the layers and the small air gaps created by the alpha insulation seem to make a difference, i get cold shoulders and arms but can overheat my core and this type of insulation has been a godsend for winter riding.

She was great in lots of ways, her voice, her songs but i liked her attitude too which came across in the various documentaries on the band over the years.
RIP

Retrofit like this requires good attention to detail. Your insulation should be fully bonded to walls and carefully sealed to prevent air leakage behind or it will turn into a mould sandwich. Personally I’m not a fan of foam insulation but it will be the thinnest option. Insulate into window reveals, head and window board to prevent thermal bridging.

I’m aware of interstitial moisture so will be fully sealing each board edge rather than just dabs of adhesive. plus any fixings that go right through to blockwork i’ll probably squirt some sealer in before fixing, less heavy stuff i’ll use an undercutting tool for some grip-it’s that will not penetrate into the void.
window reveals are tricky as there is simply not enough room to insulate due to the thin crittall frames so i plan to cut back the insulation edge to fit a strip of 12mm foil backed PB which will but up against the existing reveal corner then when the secondary glazing is fitted this will have a 10cm gap meaning most of the ‘cold’ reveal is inside the air gap. i’m hoping by not having a 20º/0º cold bridge interface (the existing crittall window) the air in the gap will be somewhere between the inside/outside temp and dry meaning less condensation. we will be buying one of those karcher window vacs as a precaution. the tado TRV’s have humidity sensor (i think).
In the 50’s when built they fitted a drying cabinet with a small gas heater in the base and when you closed the door a lever opened a flap directly into the central communal flue, surprised nobody got poisoned by CO2, it was quite a nifty system for the times, along with a little hatch in the corridor where bread and milk could be delivered directly to your larder cupboard these were blocked off as kids were nicking stuff.

the flats are not prone to damp transmission from outside just human made inside but having viewed a few before putting an offer in including one that had been insulated i haven’t seen any major condensation issues apart from in the corners of the window frames where people haven’t cleaned or painted them properly and without secondary glazing.

I don’t expect it to be passive house perfect but i’m doing what i can without going OTT.