The hiring is a good idea, but it’d be ~£200 with nothing at the end of it (apart from decent photos, obv).

The 30d was – back in the day – the semi pro range. Lovely camera, but just too big now to carry around all the time. Especially as phone cameras are a lot better.

If I got a compact i’d like to think I’d use it out all the time, but again it would probably come down to another thing to carry.

yeah – was thinking that. The 30d is 8.2mp, but the sensor is a decent size, so…

Jetwashing puts it all down into your soakaways (if you have them, obv…). Digging out a blocked soakaway takes a little longer than bouncing up a ladder

i have something like this https://www.aldi.co.uk/workzone-multifunction-ladder/p/096729221911100 from aldi – and it’s great for that sort of thing. Can’t slip over, and has a nice solid platform

Don’t seem to do it anymore, but have this instead https://www.aldi.co.uk/workzone-scaffold-and-ladder-system/p/098136286491800

Although Clas do the same thing https://www.clasohlson.com/uk/3.5-m-Multi-Purpose-Ladder/40-6947 – free delivery and it’s normally easy to find a 10% voucher.

The US has said that her husband is

her husband isn’t – the list is here (top link) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/foreign-embassies-in-the-uk

Craig Murray is a tinfoil hat, but this is quite interesting https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2019/10/jonathan-sacoolas-is-not-and-has-never-been-a-diplomat/

Edit – Actually, there’s a 1994 Mutual Legal Assistance treaty that stops assistance if it impinges on security, and as it’s at Croughton, that probably does.

Me, the wife and the boy went for Indian last weekend

Massooms?

we’ve a factory in lisbon (well, alcochete just over the river).

This place http://www.becodoforno.pt/en_GB/ is always a favourite. Doesn’t look much, but lovely. Shuts early though, and is down a little back alley

Find a bar at a miradour and watch the sunset (the miradouro da graca has a good little bar)

if you ever do find yourself over the bridge (longest in europe etc etc) then you won’t eat better or cheaper than here https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Restaurant/C7-271504336288205/

@weeksy

decent pizza near us is either at the Catherine Wheel – mostly in the summer though
https://www.inapub.co.uk/uploads/dbfiles/1b049b1208fc471a88cf8d7f3494c605.pdf

or more especially Sole Luna. In the carpark every Wednesday, and various other locations!

http://www.pizzasoleluna.com/. They’re lovely.

Both a bit pricier than others though

it’s the first book I’ve not been able to find on Abebooks

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?an=Vernon%20Bartlett&bi=0&bx=off&cm_sp=SearchF-_-Advtab1-_-Results&ds=30&recentlyadded=all&sortby=17&sts=t

this was my actual coat https://www.decathlon.co.uk/offshoroa-mens-sailing-jacket-dark-blue-id_8319503.html

obviously they don’t do it anymore!

it’s not too bulky. It is obviously bulkier than the summer rainjacket, but I’ve moved onto it this week. The summer jacket is a Didriksons, like (but not) this https://www.didriksons.com/en/men/jackets/shell-outdoor-jackets/calvus-men-s-jacket-502523-108

Had that about 10 years, packs into the smallest possible size, and is so incredibly waterproof.
Reasonably tricky to get over here though

always love to be different, but I have a decathlon sailing jacket

not exactly this one, but close enough

It’s longer than my other waterproof, and for that added delight, comes with a bright orange hood, should you fall into a deep puddle.

we have a long thin house, with thick concrete walls through out – probably about 2k feet

i tried four google mesh dotted around the house. It was rubbish, despite the £500 (?) cost. Couldn’t get out of the first room, (thick walls…), despite trying to hop upstairs, then along the top, and back down. So trying to go through floors and not walls. It couldn’t keep a connection

what does work is a load of TPlink powerlines – basically one in each room. If you time it right on amazon, you can get returned ones for half price. They all have the same SSID, and because of the thick walls, there’s no real overlap. Total cost – maybe £150? You can of course also ‘hardwire’ through most TPlinks, to take TVs etc off the wifi

You only notice an issue when using the VOIP phone and moving between rooms; you have to remember not to

one thing I always love; couple of pints on the albatros, followed by F&C at French’s

Don’t eat at the Hoste – overrated. The Victoria at Holkham, and the Globe at Wells are good.
The in-laws like Briarfields, but it’s a little twee.

The Neptune in Hunstanton, and GinTrap in Ringstead are good.

Good cafe in Wells called Bang. Lovely cider shop. Good ice cream shop. The Wells Crab House is good.

Lovely coffee from GreySeal.

the ideal thing to do is walk on holkham; good walk from holkham village, to the beach, to wells, and then back via town through the east of the estate. But you can walk for hours and just soak in the big open sky.

Norwich a fine city, with more to do than you’d think!

we own a track, which 5 other houses have access over

it’s a dirt/gravel track

we do not have to maintain it to any level. It’s up to us what we do with it. The other houses can mend it if it’s in a terrible state, but only up to the level it is now. They cannot improve it, without our agreement. So no tarmacking, but a ton of gravel is okay.

They also do not have to contribute to the maintenance. It’s down to us. I think this bit is slightly unusual.

now, in reality I also need to get over it, so I make sure it’s okay up to my garage. The rest of it is up to them. We all have to live with it, so there’s no point in causing ructions.

Glyphosate (something like Rosate 36 is good) won’t contaminate the soil and only affect the plants. It’s better than roundup, as you can really bump up the dose for something like brambles/ground elder etc

if it’s for a path/patio you’re never going to plant anything then Ammonium Sulphamate is very good. Officially not used as a weedkiller anymore, but very effective. It will kill anything

@ericemel

I had (note past tense….) the Yoyo (M) at home. Absolutely superb speakers; odd blip here and there with the sync between the two, but 99.5% of the time very good. At the time there was no other bluetooth proper stereo speakers (there may be now)

then the Bluetooth died on the master speaker. Meant the other one couldn’t be used either.

It was 18 months into a 2 year John Lewis warranty. Took them back, and got the Google Home max (which was reduced at the time). Now that is lovely – superb sound again, but so much easier to manage over the wifi. And, it’s also bluetooth should the wifi be no good.

I’m tempted to get another for the lounge.

we’ve just moved to FTTP and therefore had to get rid of the landline. Not a problem for me, but elderly parents apparently need a landline to call.

so I’ve set up https://www.sipgate.co.uk/

Port your number to them (£20? Possibly)
download an app like Grandstream Wave (both iOS and Android)
whenever some one calls your old landline number, it obviously rings on the mobile. Anywhere with a data connection, so better – in reality – than an old fashioned landline.

Doesn’t cost anything. Obviously would do if you call out (but got mobiles for that), but incoming calls are free. Again obviously voicemail etc costs.

Also now have an old iphone permanently plugged in at home, so there’s always a phone handy if it rings

Sorry @weeksy – spontaneous – and went a lot further than anticipated as such a nice day.

Did a lovely 50km cycle off road yesterday from Streatley and back. Up the ridgeway, and then south to peasemore and around. Probably 5km on roads (and that was in Streatley). As mentioned, not a lot of mountains, but short sharp tracks. Few ruts – as mentioned – but an awful lot of wide tracks, and then singletrack through the woods. Despite it being a superb autumnal day, there was – i think – 4-5 other cyclist that i saw. Few walkers of course

The on road cycling – i think – is better in the berkshire downs than the chilterns. Some of the hills can be bruter; straight up, straight down into the next valley, then up the other side again. The chilterns is a lot busier than it used, with packs from marlow/henley/etc cycling clubs. But again, you can go on the quieter roads. Get decent tyres though, these quieter roads have an awful lot of very small, very sharp flints.

we’re camping this weekend

we’ve changed plans on friday night from BBQ to pub.

That is all.

a lovely area.
many years in Port Manec’h and nearby, albeit not for a few.

Very Cornish really (Breton I guess) – in place names, culture etc etc. Like Cornwall, the rocks are granite, so take water shoes…

Very quiet on the back roads. And Kervaillet has a lovely beach and cider maker.

the old fort at Concarneau is good for a couple of hours. Nice market there as well. Pont Aven is a bit touristy, but very picturesque.

You can hire kayaks on Port Manec’h beach, and paddle up the Aven a good distance. And the island just off shore is accessible by a spit at low tide. Really used to love that when I was 7ish.

This was an excellent read – slightly long, American based, but good

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/09/life-with-lyme/594736/

it will come with Maps (europe if you buy in europe), but I’ve just put talkietoaster’s free one on there. And also downloaded France, and NYC, for the holidays later in the year from http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl/

The loaded maps are fine – but I wanted contours as well. They’er surprisingly useful given the size of the screen. Better than the usual breadcrumb

talktoaster does a good comparison of the different types of map https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKScv6qR_f8

Streatly up to Ridgeway

Ahem. Streatley :-)

That Ridgeway climb is the longest around here. Obviously you can go down the other side, and then turn round and do it again. The beauty of the North Wessex Downs hills (and Chilterns) is they’re short and sharp, rather than long and slow…
But the alternative is to just do reps of the hill – the ridgeway is about 7 mins up, and 3 mins down. People do.

The Henley to Pishill bit is – apparently – the longest continual uphill in England. Albeit not very uphill at the bottom… https://cyclinguphill.com/100-climbs/

Or if you really want a 25 min climb, just do it slowly

the usual link

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/144109/

there is only one

https://www.johnlewis.com/bialetti-moka-express-hob-espresso-maker/p1407523?size=6-cup

Used the same one for 15 odd years. Daily use, on gas/electric/dodgy camp ground stoves/woodburning stoves etc. Never had an issue. Starting to get a bit battered though.

Doesn’t work on induction though

i have a Neos outside. Pretty good for £25.

I’m going to get at least one more – if only to work out what time the bloody deer come and eat all my apples (1st world problem du jour)

it’s wet. As it’s the first rain for ages, it’ll mostly not soak in though, so you should be fine.

Probably

have a look at gas permeable lenses

https://www.allaboutvision.com/contacts/rgps.htm

cost more upfront, and have a breakin period, but last an awful lot longer, and provide better vision. Also allow more oxygen through to the cornea…

depends which office…

https://www.slatergordon.co.uk/contact-us-b/

or just mail this solicitor https://www.slatergordon.co.uk/our-experts/alicia-alinia/ – head of PI

If I were ever to be given the go-ahead by an understanding wife, I would be getting a ‘King of Mercia‘. Classic, proper bike.

Look at the Lugs on that! fnarr, fnarr. Etc

stretch a bit more, and get one of these https://www.clasohlson.com/uk/Asaklitt-Shackle-Lock/31-2166

We’ve got three or four. Never had an issue – leaving one at the station every day for years. Stopped at least two attempted thefts. Just make sure the key mechanism is oiled…

Generally does very well in these reviews https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/144109/

North Norfolk. Been going 26 years as the inlaws live there….wells/Burnham etc.

Lovely cottages/beaches/quiet roads (well, away from the A149).

we’re off for the normal couple of weeks in two weeks, and I cannot wait.

Cor – anyone seen the new offering from Gillette

The Heated Razor – £250! I thought my Titanium safety razor was pricey, but it’s nothing on this

Still trying to work out what the heat actually does. Surely it won’t open the pores in that nano-second before the blades go over them?

I’m very much enjoying Julbo reactive glasses

https://www.julbo.com/en_gb/lunettes-de-soleil/race-2-0#216=198&318=4928

you can get them a lot cheaper – like here

Bell at Aldworth

I’ve done a few Ridgeway bimbles after work this week, and dragged the wife up the Bell tonight. Always a lovely pub on a sunny evening (well, always a lovely pub full stop I guess)

Just had one done in proper felt that was 3.2m x 10m. It was £1980, + VAT. Usual guarantees. https://www.newburyroofing.com/ – not exactly someone who took it up last week.

@phil5556

itchy/flaky head

This https://www.amazon.co.uk/Birch-Tar-against-Dermatitis-Seborrhoea/dp/B00L373R7W wukk cure that. It does last ages

bit of a smell to start off with maybe, but it’s very good. And I’ve used it as a shaving puck – works well there to (albeit not as good as something like https://shavelounge.co.uk/product/razorock-the-dead-sea-shaving-soap/

live feed

Oh really? – my live feed is working fine. Can see the daisies moving gently in the wind at the moment.

Did they say if it was widespread? – just wondering if an update is coming that’s going to kill mine!

external cameras really

Our Neos are under the eaves of the garage, and still in one of those cases. They’ve not got wet in the torrential downpours we had a couple of weeks ago. The motion sensor is fine – I turn the motion to the second lowest setting, but i do turn the sound sensor off, otherwise every single bird will fire it.

The only slight downside I can see is the fact they’re all armed, or all not. There’s no zoning, but I think it’s in the pipeline.

i have been banned them actually in the house, which is a shame as it would help greatly on finding out which child eats all the biscuits.