i personally quite like Julbo, with some of their reactive lenses

especially these ones

still made independently

easy for the next owner to dig up

This – we have the base of an old garage in our garden. A concrete slab 6m x 4m. And at least a foot thick. Absolutely solid.

Impossible to really do anything with (without spending a lot of cash!). It would be lovely to get rid, and grass it, but really cannot justify the cost

Witshire chilli farm stuff is good

This – although I do quite like the Trinidad Scorpion one, over the Mango etc

Couple of drops makes all the difference, but it’s not just chili – you can taste the flavours as well

start letting him sleep in the house

steady on, don’t go too far!

it does work
And teeth can affect confidence (in adults as well as kids)
There are cheaper versions; like https://smiledirectclub.co.uk/en-gb/. No idea if they’re any good

ordered 8am, arrived 10:14

if memory serves, you’re very close

pang valley are lovely. Their royal county was up there with the best, but then they changed it slightly (presumably a different batch), and reduced the ABV. It’s not quite the same….but still very good. And cheap when delivered straight from them

Locally, there’s also Red Dog – but they don’t do mail order yet. Upton shut of course when the new owner took over, and really only wanted the land. All the apples from there now go to Tutts Clump

As to why Rhubarb cider is always more expensive (and always 4%…), Tim at Tutts has told me as soon as you add another juice, the duty changes exponentially. He pays more duty on a 4% rhubarb than on a 8.5% normal one.

The ideal solution is to get a normal cider, and add some rhubarb concentrate

careful you don’t fall down the cider world rabbit hole; a lot don’t consider lilley’s to be proper cider….as it’s made of concentrate. The Rhubarb is great after a long summer cycle though

The chap near us is Tutts Clump – very good, nice chap. Bit pricey

Couple of chaps in the village run BumbleBee – bit mainstream, but refreshing at least

My favourite is Whin Hill from Norfolk, believe it or not. The Dabinett is superb

However, since lock down I’ve been buying 20l boxes of Tricky Cider’s Wizard. Very nice, authentic, lasts a while. Gone up in price since last March, as has delivery, but easy to find a 10% off as he advertises it himself.

I spoke to the school and they are still really insistent she does it

She should do what is right for her, not for the school.

If there is no demand she does one, only a request, then don’t put one down. If that’s what she wants, obviously.

As mentioned, we’re at the same stage. The school ‘wants’ him to do a language, but until it’s ‘must’ there are other subjects more suited to him

And I realise the benefits of a MFL; our office is mostly French, with large numbers of Spanish and German.

+1 with W00dster

none of my business, so I don’t care.

the only thing I would comment on is the “side by side comparisons of her treatment and Kate Middleton”. I remember – before they were hitched – the press ripped into her and her parents for years. “Waitey Katey”, “Doors to Manual” etc. So she’s not had a particularly easy time of it either. Ditto Camilla. Ditto Edward’s wife, or Fergie. Etc.

Course, it shouldn’t happen for any of them (and I’m not saying it’s not worse for DoS). Unfortunately – as mentioned – it’s a Heat style thing. They are – for good or bad – celebrities now. And celebrity sells. The royals are just the UK equivalent of Keeping up with the Kardashians or whatever. The Kardashians have to be dramatic to keep relevant (and keep money coming in). The royals do not; civil list etc. The Sussexes will now have to keep in the news to keep the money coming in; this may be the first of many exclusives.

Get rid of all salacious gossip over people you don’t know (royal or not), and the world is a better place. But anyone watching it, or buying a paper over it is complicit in it.

Sorry, personal opinion.

@woody2000

That sounds similar to our situation. We own a track, but have to allow access to five houses access to their garages. It’s a gravelled track, and not even.

It’s fine 99% of the time; one of the other five runs a sports therapy business out of a shed, and some of his clients go a bit fast up it. Quick word with him, and they’re more understanding for a while

Another one’s ex partner had a racing Porsche (so even more low slung than a normal Porsche). He used to try and level the track to allow his car to get up and down. We had polite words. The deeds say ‘access’ not ‘access in a sports car’

As the servient owner we allow access. They’re the dominant users and are allowed to maintain the road for access. They are not allowed to improve it without my permission.

A quick read confirms that maintenance of a right of way by the servient owner is optional in common law and that if he/she choses to do so then it is entirely at their cost. The dominant user of a right of way has ancillary rights to maintain (at their cost) up to the standard, for example to bear the wheels of a carriage, if that is the permitted use. They may not however improve or upgrade the surface beyond the permitted purpose.

old Panasonic does both

I sit corrected then. Quick look at the JL website implies 30 odd for both Samsung/LG, and 2 for Panasonic. And 1 for Linsar, whoever they are!

freesat support built in

Most tellies don’t. Only – if memory serves – some Samsung and LG models have it built in. It is very good though – used it for the past 10 odd years

but the set top box is small now https://www.freesat.co.uk/why-freesat – and can record – apparently – four shows at once

Trust?

Just because people say they’ve done doesn’t mean they have

We’re not a linguistic family unfortunately. Scientists and stuff, so our preferences probably rub off.

Daughter – year 12 now – didn’t take a language, much to my disappointment. It’s not held her back (she had as much fun as is possible in a GCSE pandemic year…) and on investigation it was only UCL that needed a language.

Son is now choosing. The school are keen for everyone to do a language. I’d still like him to do one, but I’d prefer him to do further maths/stats/economics/triple science etc

As confirmation

Our members value language skills but there is no universal entry requirement for students to have studied a modern foreign language at GCSE or equivalent

https://www.informedchoices.ac.uk/FAQs

I’d suggest https://www.yell.com/biz/the-clockworks-didcot-3998896/ on theclockworks@btconnect.com

If anyone will be able to fix it, Ian will. Handy gadget that monitors the watch for 10 secs that tells him how many minutes it’ll lose/gain a week. If you take your watch to a normal jewellers, it’s often someone like him that actually does the work.

To get my watch serviced at Dunhill used to be £250ish. Then they confessed they’d run out of seals, and so it was no longer water resistant (somewhat important on a diver’s watch).

Next time it needed a service, Clockworks got a seal, put it in, pressured tested, serviced etc, and changed £75

there is also the bloke off the repair shop http://www.clockworkshop.co.uk/. Never used him though

when the boy first started on iPhones, we tried going down the A1 refurb route

After three failed attempts, we gave up and just go a new one

It just wasn’t worth the hassle to be honest

If you want a lovely ring , but at that there London prices, then I can highly recommend David Ashton

They will make anything but will obviously as well

Lovely people;when proposing 20 years ago, got an engagement ring on “Sale or return”.

Fortunately a sale!

It’s never done that for me, but I think the free version does this – are you on that?

or have you got the shuffle tag highlighted – green at the bottom of the screen. (or on Android, ellipsis top right, you have shuffle and repeat in there. They should be white)

https://support.spotify.com/us/article/shuffle/

where the cruelty lies

I don’t have an issue with Beeswax (I use Mink oil on my shoes after all).

Others, however, do. I was just alerting Houns to it, just in case.

Renapur Leather Balsam

it is very good. But it does contain Beeswax (you did mention animal cruelty). Neatsfoot is also good, but again, animal byproduct

And a pair of cedar shoes does make a big difference.

Been wearing hard/gas permeable lenses since 1985; never had any issues with any sporting event other than rugby. Different to soft; one pair last for years (think my dad had one paid for 20 years) and provide a clearer vision whilst being better for your eyes.

They’re a lot more expensive (about 70 quid each), and take longer to get used to though.

I am pretty short sighted, so always wear eye protectors when on the bike, as (for instance) cycling through a small swarm of insects can be a pain otherwise!

The lack of [proper] steps does enable you to get up the other side a lot easier now though!

steps aren’t there anymore now

oh they are. They’re just not completely across the path now
Steps stuff

Same as poolman

I never answer a call I don’t have in my contacts. And when asking for quotes, I ask businesses to email me (partly so I have a record of quotes, and what I asked for!). If they phone, they get ignored, until they email

picking up the ridgeway to goring

Especially not at the moment. I went up the Ridgeway yesterday with the boy, and it’s the worst I’ve seen it in the 20 years I’ve lived here. I don’t know if it’s the persistent rain, or the deep freeze, but it’s a 6 inch deep chalk soup at the moment, interspersed with much deeper puddles. Not pleasant, and not easy cycling.

land owners near Goring/Streatley are cutting down on cyclists on footpaths, after Streatley became the place to be for teenagers in the June lock down. More locked gates, more barbed wire on top of gates etc. Theoretically there’s a towpath (footpath) either side, but….

And Pangbourne to Goring is a spectacular stretch. Just be aware of the Whitchurch steps…

Excellent

You can of course replace the laptop’s HDD, and don’t need the USB drive. But the USB is good for the interim until you decide whether you can run what you need

I put in an old HDD when I did ours, replacing the SSD that was in there (so I can switch between the two if necessary). Even with a [10 year old?] HDD it’s ridiculously fast; it’s not really using anything on the disk, especially with a decent amount of RAM in there.

charming

so, you’re saying an equivalent machine, running chrome os vs one running windows 10, will be the same speed? Again, bearing in mind no one has mentioned storage, and all that is happening is accessing the internet – like STW for instance.

okay, entitled to your opinion. But could you point out – in layman’s terms, as I’m obviously so ignorant – why?

cloud storage

but who’s mentioned cloud storage, or indeed any external storage?

Cloudready just puts ChromeOS onto the machine, replacing Windows

honestly?

https://www.neverware.com/freedownload#intro-text

what have you got to lose?

we had a similarly aged laptop. Never used it, despite upgrading the RAM and changing to an SSD

I put on Chrome OS, using cloudready (actually using an HDD we had lying around). Amazing difference, even with the HDD. And if all you’re going to do is office work and t’internet, it’ll be fine. And, if we ever want anythingon the old SsD and OS, just flip it back and start up the PC

again, no, but I have a friend who has (he’s a bit bonkers like that; always holidaying in weird places. North Korea twice, yurt in the Gobi desert etc etc)

Any questions, I can relay etc

As far as I’m aware (and this is in England) there is nothing in the regulations that specifies “local”. The guidelines say keep local, the regulations don’t. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/coronavirus

however, like all these things, rule #1

i have a 5x plus. Not really for cycling (got a wahoo for that), but running/hiking/kayaking etc

Two observations from me

the sapphire glass is handy. I have a penchant for scratching watch glass. Not a mark on it – and it’s had some hard knocks (and tying kayaks onto car rooves)

Every time i go for a walk in a new area (and there’s been a lot of walks in the last 9 months), the maps is incredibly useful. Downloaded the free talkytoaster ones – and honestly, I now couldn’t have one without maps.

Obviously, others may disagree

I’ve set up garmin pay, but it seems ridiculously complicated in comparison with google pay. Not used the music, as I like to listen to the birdies when walking/running. And generally have my phone with me anyway.

not to leap in here, but whilst looking for boots 6 odd months ago, I was recommended Outdry boots – it’s apparently a different method of waterproofing that doesn’t wear out. So – with something like boots that move so much – it lasts longer

I got these – on [regular] offer. They’re very good. Despite the horrendous rain and mud recently (and long walks), I’ve never got wet feet. Bung a couple of shoes trees in when not wearing, and wipe/wash/dubbin once ever couple of months.

LISAs

unfortunately for me (and others….)

Anyone aged 18 to 39 can open a LISA

i quite like googlefinance (https://www.google.com/finance)

In sheets (the equivalent of excel), just type

=googlefinance(“Lon:Vod”)

for instance, and it’ll update every time you log in. It’s very simple

There are other parameters if you want to get fancy
https://blog.sheetgo.com/google-sheets-formulas/googlefinance-formula-google-sheets/

It may be a bit more work than “hoofing it into a shredder”, but the tree surgeons also don’t have to dispose of it…

Get two or three quotes. But last time I had a tree surgeon in we pruned 3 big yew trees, and took down one dead 50ft cherry. That was in 2017, and cost £395. I disposed of everything.

Between Oxford and Reading.

ETA – sorry, I realise this is a bit sensible compared with the others!

Cordless are good. Then you can cut your hair in the garden, which stops the need to tidy up (and, I tell myself, gives the birds something for their nests).

I use some sort of Philips one; it is a few years old, but them. But the new version.

Blimey – they have gone up a lot! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hair-Clipper-Philips-HC5632-13/dp/B081CYQVWG

but will still pay for themselves in a year