I know plenty of people who, if they had the money would do it but sadly they can’t afford to so will never have a child because they are classed as too old.

But quite often people are “classed” as too old because they are actually too old. I know that that means that maybe there will be a bit of injustice in some cases, but personally I don’t think the solution is that anything goes.

Personally I’m not looking forward to the day that 8 year old Zachary comes out dressed as Louis the 14th for his dad’s 70th birthday party, though I’m sure the editors of Hello and OK are already busy pencilling it into their diaries.

allthegear

The question is whether they are fit to be parents. In my book that means more than deciding if they are “nice”

Personally I am deeply suspicious of anyone who decided to circumvent the normal adoption procedures or UK surrogacy procedures by going abroad. In particular, in California there are far fewer restrictions on surrogacy than in the UK – ie it is OK not just to cover expenses, but to pay the surrogate mother however much you like.

emma,

I wouldn’t be in favour of him wandering into a seedy club and having a one night stand either.

Why do you think that citing some circumstances that would be worse than those we are presented with is relevant?

Why do you imagine that my discomfort is just to do with the fact that they are a gay couple?

Actually I think that is certainly an issue, but I’m more concerned about their age, their lifestyle and the fact that they seem to have chosen to “buy” a baby.

And as far as their “rights” go, I couldn’t give a stuff – I’m actually more interested in the rights of the child.

Why the need to post on an Internet forum?

To see if my reaction was in step with my peers. Isn’t that one of the things that internet forums are good for?

And BTW, I don’t think it is a question of whether Elton is “nice” or not.

They have as much right as you or I do.

Are you sure that it is a “right”?

So far as I can see, they would be nowhere near the top of the list if they wanted to go through normal adoption channels in the UK. Leaving aside the issue of whether it might be good for a child to have a female “mother” figure to run to as it grows up, they are both knocking on a bit, and Elton at least has not been without a few problems in his personal life that would lead me to question very strongly whether he would be a good parent.

But it seems that it is OK for them to effectively go to the US and “buy” a baby.

How might that make the child feel when he finds out about what happened in later life?

Looking for some Dadsnet hive-mind reassurance. At home with our week old first child, who is as good as gold all day, but then screams and screams all night. Can anyone assure me that a) this is normal, b) that it will pass, and c) what the likely time frame is? We can’t find any obvious cause for this; she’s much more chilled when held but is too little to understand that we can’t do this all the time. We are both threaders and exhausted; community midwife suggests things might be better by the weekend. Anyone able to advise?

Haven’t read all the other posts but from my exeperience:

a) Ours didn’t do it, but I know others that did, and worse than yours sounds.

b and c) Ours seemed to change to different patterns a few times, notably at about 3 months.

I’m sure your community midwife/health visitor knows the score better than most. But just keep trying different things. I found that a bouncy chair worked well with our first one, who went through a bit of a period of not sleeping (though just crying, not screaming) and I used to sit doing stuff on the computer (in the middle of the night) whilst rocking the chair with my foot. You are just finding out that having kids is more difficult than you can imagine before you have them yourself. OTOH, chances are everything will be fine, and should you have another you’ll find it much easier second time around.

Extra loft insulation is an absolute no brainer – do it ASAP, but don’t block up the eaves as you need ventilation above the insulation or you’ll get condensation/damp/rot. Although you can get vents to poke through your sarking between the tiles/slates and/or ridge vents.

Cavity wall insulation is a cause of debate. It will make a big difference to keeping the house warm, but may cause damp problems.

Also like Gillian Welch, but also (on the bluegrass theme) anything featuring Alison Krauss (or both together on the O Brother Where Art Thou sound track.

A country(ish) band I like, but maybe a bit more of a rock cross over is Cracker.

Perfect for those midnight shopping trips to Asda to buy your cheese string.

My *guess* is that there is a liner in the chimney from the gas fire (and probably that it isn’t backfilled with insulation around the liner). Hence no problem with gases from the gas fire into the bedroom up to now.

But having your chimney swept has dislodged a brick between the two chimneys and smoke is now passing from the active chimney into the one that has the liner through it and then through some other crack or hole out into the bedroom.

The solution is probably to get the chimney repaired by opening it up, fixing the dislodged brick then making good the hole you’ve made for access.

Might pay to put a camera up or down the chimney or consult a chimney sweep, then hpe that they make the hole into the chimney in the right place first time (although in your case it sounds like it can be done from outside so maybe not too messy – should take one bloke one day – so around £150)

Coming soon “penny farthing 4X”

I’ve taken pics of the event for the last 4 years, following the race for the whole week for the last 3.

The rain in ’08 was horrific, but amongst those who didn’t crack it did engender a kind of war mentality that made for a pretty interesting experience. And in all honesty the event barely coped with the strain on the logistics.

However, since then the organisers have prepared a lot better for the possibility of rain and if it did happen again I don’t think the experience would be half so “challenging”.

As it happens though, for the last two years the weather has generally been pretty good so it has been slightly less of a test of mental toughness.

I suspect that with a few enduros under your belt, and so long as you put in a few long rides in the run up that you would be fine so long as you pace yourself from the start.

Here’s a slideshow from 2010[/url]

At what point do you stop?

Not before you start.

The fact that the word “reasonable” comes up a lot in English law is the answer to your question.

I don’t know – I think they are Schwalbe ones.

Protest gets slightly out of hand.

Police over-react.

Protest gets more out of hand.

Police over-react more.

Protest gets really out of hand…

Etc etc.

I don’t condone violence, BUT… if that police van wasn’t left in the middle of the kettle in Whitehall specifically to encourage things to kick off and give the police “reasonable grounds” then I’ll eat my hat.

There’s a lot of cynicism on both sides I’m afraid.

I once ran over an adder on the road, and had an instantaneous vision of it somehow being flicked up and wrapping round my neck – yeuck.

Also wasp in the bike helmet that stung me on the head (but not on the same day).

Hula hoops

Colande,

Can you help me with my book on Avocado stone removal accidents?

Actually, I do make sure that I take out any occasional plastic bits (sometimes found on the blue pallets) and also the compressed woodchip blocks that are often used as spacers go in the rubbish.

I burn them when I get them, mixed up with lots of other stuff (some old wood from my builder, some logs and occasionally coal bricks if I want the fire to stay in for a long time).

RE’ the evaporating/melting nails – in my case I once found that a bunch of nails had melted and then reformed into the exact shape of a Chris King headset once the fire was out – double plus good.

I’ve had 2 big compost bins that are around £70 each (think I paid about £3.23 for them as the bloke said £5 but that was all I had in my pocket). + both of the kids first bikes for £1 each. A nice big wicker log basket for 50p! (would have been £20-£30 easy in a shop), loads of old terracotta plant pots, a laminated OS map of Purbeck (rolled up in a tube – as new) + various other bits and pieces.

The guys at our tip are great – they have a separate area where they display things that they think are worth reusing and only charge a few £ (or even pence) for stuff. I think they have it drilled into them that the company that runs it has to pay for each skip that goes into landfill and they are pretty keen to minimise the volume of stuff that does.

Funny thing is, I immediately thought of

You’re not telling us something.

No dilema at all. Put yourself in his position, imagine him in your position, then do what you’d like him to do if the tables were turned.

Go on then, here are ours.

Living room

Bedroom

MidlandsTrailquestGraham,

Did you get styling advice from KingtonTrailquestJeremy?

Smuttiesmith,

You’ve moved from one extreme to the other (quelle surprise), but as has been pointed out above it’s not so much the winter or summer that this will affect, but the spring and autumn.

Why don’t you have a look at a date in early May, or late August?

But that would mean loads of people North of Dorset would then end up having to take their kids in the darkness rather than just slightly less light

I suspect that some people, even as far N as Somerset, might like it.

We know you don’t like the idea, but some of the people on here who’ve been positive baint frm Drzet, otherwise I’d know them.

It’s 3:50pm just now and it’s getting dark. Where’s the benefit to people who live in the north and finish at 5?

Try thinking about how it might work on other days of the year than today.

Not very off the beaten track but northern part of the Czech Republic is fantastic riding. There are loads of forests,some mountains, no gates and if a track is on a map it’s legal to ride.

& you rather it was dark then?

Not a student? Southerner then

I’d rather it was light. BUT, on balance, I’ll put up with taking them in slightly less light in the mornings if it means we get more light in the evenings from May ’till Sept for having fun.

higgo, you could e-mail your MP via this website[/url] – it’s the same mechanism that Lighter Later are using via their website to encourage people to ask their MPs to support it.

It would probably be more persuasive if you could come up with a good reason not to vote for it though.

I’m not a student. Actually at 8 I’m getting my kids out of the house onto their bikes to ride to school with them.

Scaredypants – this proposal is for a year round adjustment, so autumn and winter would be covered.

BTW – I don’t live “in London”

How very odd – seems like a no-brainer to me. Shift an hour of daylight in the morning (from when most people are asleep) and add it onto the end of the day instead (to when they are awake).

I know that your days are only around 7 hours of daylight in Scotland in the middle of winter, but given that, I don’t see how it would have a detrimental impact there (it would still be dark both morning and evening), whereas it definitely would have a very beneficial impact for anyone who likes doing sport after work for most of the UK (which is where most of us live).

Did I just give this a crap title? Doesn’t anyone like the idea of an hour’s more riding time on summer evenings?

Ditty Bops
Walk or Ride – song about riding bikes (sort of)

Warm hands, thin gloves: Choose any one.

I wear lovely thick skiing gloves this time of year, and my lovely toasty Shimano winter boots too, bought half a size bigger than normal so I can get thick wooly socks on inside.

It may not look good, but by crikey, it feels good.

We currently have 2 local renewable energy schemes in planning.

One for 4 turbines on a worked out gravel pit near an army training area at Bovington that may possibly annoy the residents of 6 houses.

Another for a plant on Portland that will burn palm oil brought in from Indonesia, where it is currently being planted on freshly cleared areas of ex-rain forest that is annoying a large % of the world’s remaining population of orangutans.

Guess which one is likely to get the go-ahead.