WCA: Ducks make a mess of ponds from what I hear; my local supplier sells some and says they can lay up to 200/year:
http://www.southmead.dsl.pipex.com/Duck%20prices.htm

Silkies have black flesh rather than blue I believe.

I’ve read that bark isn’t recommended for chickens as rot and can cause problems for the chickens, eg here

I’ve put down the dried bits that collect under my Leylandii trees which seems fine so far.

saladdodger – all my own design! Well, didn’t make plans but visualised what I could build based on the materials I got hold of then built to what I had in my mind. Worked out quite well really but took quite a while. All wood was scavanged from skips and some came from freecycle as did some wire fencing but had to buy the weld mesh and chicken wire as well as hinges, nails, screws and the like. Spent just under £100 on all that, bought a 30 litre drinker for £20 and built the feeder from an old desk – I reckon that can hold over 60kg of feed! I spent a bit of time on backyardchickens.com, especially the forums, and decided to get a bit carried away with my build based on what people were building on there – many of them are in the US with a lot of land.

Some great coops here:

http://www.backyardchickens.com/coopdesigns.html

I’m still here and eating eggs.

Pix of my chickens and build here:
chicken pix

Snowed in:

Really we should do away with the one pound coin and simply accept either section of a two pound coin as “a pound”.

I like the idea of that – take it further, make little jigsaws where each peice is worth £1. Or just use electronic transfer – don’t need anything other than some sort of embedded chip and then a reader can deduct money from your bank a/c when needed. Never be short of cash again – unless your poor I suppose….

4 for £9
http://www.dalescycles.com/SALE_SALE_SALE_Dales_Cycles_clearance_bikes_s/503.htm

England conquering Scotland is news to me. Someone better get EdwardI out of his lead coffin then.

Didn’t need conquering as ruined themselves and so needed England to bail them out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darien_scheme

I use normal rings on my M970 and space out the inner – no problem.

I don’t think the XTR rings are particularly light are they? Just stiffer and longer lasting than before.

I live in Leatherhead and ride with a small group pretty much every weekend (sociable pace!) doing a lot of the good trails so mail me if you like – address in profile.

Why would deore not be fine if ignoring weight?

I’ve got about 4″ in my loft but it’s boarded and if I add any more I’ll have to remove the boards; is there anything I can do to add insulation and keep it boarded?

A grad at a well known database company was sacked for altering taxi receipts she claimed for; when challenged she said that everyone did it….

This is quite interesting if you are interesting in the history of kilts…

http://www.albanach.org/kilt.html

http://www.dalescycles.com/ are good for tubes

We use plates the other way round in the south.

Including the original album is just a way of boosting the price – most fans have it surely?

I was born in Surrey, spent my teens in N.London, Chester and Kelsall, studied in Sheffield, Hull and Warwick, now live back in Surrey.

Chester doesn’t really feel like the North and Kelsall certainly didn’t; Sheffield and Hull aren’t much further North but felt like the real north t me….

Tobacco companies – I wouldn’t work for one and doubt I could be friendly with someone who did…. I once met somone who worked for De Beers and questioned how they could work for a company like that; hate them I do.

XT is twice deore is it not? Worth it? Last much longer or lighter or?

Does that count as Bedford Park? Guess not but it is close and Bedford Park can get pretty crazy with prices. I was the other side by Wendell Park which isn’t such a crazy place.

chiswick has seen 20-30% drop in asking prices if not more

According to mouseprice.com the house I sold near Stamford Brook, Chiswick 2 years ago (a bit below the peak) is down 3 or 4% in that time whilst the house I bought in Bookham, Surrey is down about 10%; oh well!

I’m not watching these days but seems to me a lot of people get hurt by cars in that programme….

I’ve taken one out for my both my wife and me and will do the same for the next financial year soon; they pay more than my mortgage costs me so a no brainer!

That graph has obviously fallen back somewhat now – average price around £150k? Salary multiples are only part of it though, interest rates have been lower over the last 10 years then the previous 10 years so debt was cheaper and multiples could go up.

I’d have thought a useful check would be to compare an MPs salary with their income before being an MP. And also afterwards – I daresay it’s a useful addition to anyone’s career path!

I don’t have a £30k expense a/c – who would? Salesmen?

If I could get a carbon road frame with a Ti mtb then I’d be doing my best to justify it.

On a different note…anyone want a used Inbred saddle for £35 plus postage?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=330318469860

I spent some time with a charity for school leavers in Hammersmith who are helped to become employable. These kids are from the council estate and live in a completely different world to what most of us could imagine; by this I mean that we were taught about how they lived their lives in order to be able to relate to them. Mant things surprised me and the main one is relevant here – they never left their local area. I don’t mean London I mean Hammersmith and not much more – never even been to central London! So not only did they have no idea about the countryside but pretty much nothing outside of their daily existance – which was pretty unappealing.

Keep them in their ignorance I say so they don’t spoil the green spaciousness….

Wikipedia seems to have a good list for me

Andrew Szydlo taight me – was in the Channel 4 TV Show That’ll Teach Them. A curious chap but my favest teacher.

Phil Tufnell
John Venn created Venn Diagrams
Sir Clive Sinclair
Sir John Betjeman
Johnny Borrell of Razorlight
Zak Starkey(son of Ringo Starr)
Crispian Mills of Kula Shaker
Jon Moss of (Culture Club)
DJ Yoda (!)

Highgate School

I’ve seen people park for free then ride over to the CyB trails!

Not sure I really understand this…but 953 looks good!

tubing comparison

May as well live in Guildford unless want to live somewhere more rural and be closer to the trails. I live close to Leatherhead and takes 30 to 40 minutes to drive in to Guildford in the rush hour.

how could i, been waiting six months for it…

Five months perhaps?!

Get my wife to ride regularly so as to build up some fitness and skill – nothing dramatic just enough to go out for a few hours and have a picnic.

A second option would be for her to leave me alone so I can ride whenever I want and have a meal and a beer ready for me when I get back.

2 drill drivers – one on charge

Obviously I’m very outdated as I use on that plugs in so no charging required – faux pas?

4ti eggbeaters

About £350? ;)

Oh well looks like the Kaffanback is out of stock now, at least in my size, so probably the Ridgeback is the way to go.