I would *think* that a well managed credit card would boost your score more than a mobile contract.

if you can afford to pay more than the minimum payment and clear the balance quickly then this is often considered a Good Thing.

i take it you’ve done all the usual things re credit score:

– make sure you’re on electoral roll

– try not to change address or banks too often

– check for any erroneous defaults, judgements etc

– never miss a payment

-try to stay lower than 50% into any credit limit

– check your financial associations and linked addresses

– never take cash out from a credit card

– NEVER take a payday loan (they can kill any mortgage applications for 6 yrs from when taken out

I’m probably telling you what you already know but it’s worth bearing in mind that there’s no overall credit score, more three companies that log your details and obviously lots of lenders who have their own algorithms to tell you to bog off or not. The likes of Experian/Equifax scores are an indicator only.

Take a look on the money saving expert site and sign up to their (free) credit club – lots of explanations as to the various elements of your file

I must admit, I’ve been put off by manitou stuff in the past – particularly where proprietary tools are needed to service them. That and finding someone to service them when you can’t find the tool!

Re budget – needs to be under £300 really.

Hmm the Fox DPS Evol looks interesting, thanks.

How’s the performance been?

I have seen a few monarch plus’s on fleabay but am always worried about getting burned ..

*insert tumbleweed gif*

Booking cinema tickets for MrsRRR and MiniRRR to see Paddington 2 – £20! Twenty flippin pounds!

I think I preferred bored

We have an oil filled electric radiator in our ice box “conservatory”.

It works well – put it on Nuke mode for 30 mins before people arrive and then turn it down to simmer mode and it maintains the temperature pretty well.

I am unsure however of the baby robins/ per unit ratio in terms of that environment..

Yep I’m not sure this area warrants much of a spend although there hasn’t been a car fire in a month or so now :-)

Yep, I’m guessing the garage should be the focus initially and yes all the junk prized possessions would need dumping in a shed.

What sort of costs (vaguely) do rear single story extensions er cost? I assume £20k+ ? I need to befriend some builders I think ..

« Stalking hat on« 

I wondered how long that would take!

Well we’re in the catchment areas for decent schools and MrsRRR is a teacher so we’re less worried about that. Thing is, expanding a bit could be 10-20k, anything bigger worth moving to is £60k+…

Sharkbait – very nice ! Please come and do the same to ours. Kind regards

Also looks like you’ve got a load of wasted storage space under the conservatory if it has a suspended floor

Sort of. The whole plot is in a slope so the conservatory is about 3 feet off ground level at it’s furthest point from the house. If we had a new conservatory i’d think about putting some storage space in there. However, I’d really much prefer a proper extension than a new conservatory – ie something that can be used all year round. The more I think about it the more a full height extension seems unlikely to be do able and like you say not too fugly..

Is gas and electric meters, fuseboard etc in the garage?

Nope, they’re stuffed in the corner of the kitchen next to the garage at the front of the house.

^^ yep i guess a rear extension would need to be flat roofed.

I like the idea of converting the garage and extending out into the porch and to the side.

The thing is, upstairs is pretty damn tiny too – 3 small bedrooms and a micro bathroom. I guess we’d use the space downstairs more though.
If we went for a double height rear extension I can’t imagine how the rooms could be configured (i have no imagination) as we’d lose one existing (box) room to get to the extended bit…

^^ interesting , thanks

Our garage floor is concrete at ground level and about a foot lower than the floor of the kitchen so would need joists, insulation etc . I was thinking £5-8k for garage conversion but I’ve no idea really :-S

^^ probably right.

So there’s an integral garage to the front and the conservatory is out back onto the garden – hence wondering if we could flatten conservator and build up 2 stories at the rear?

Re moving – our dilemma is that within the local area anything the next “step” up is likely to be semi detached and we really like knowing that it’s only us getting disturbed by the mini RRR’s :-)

Re garage – one of my neighbours (in an identical house) has already converted her garage although it was 20+ years ago.

The roof pitch is too shallow to go up given that I can’t stand up in the loft ..

Tbh as for getting our money back on our development it’s hard to figure out – we live in an area which isn’t exactly affluent (lots of council houses) but we’re close to transport links and the peaks. There’s also a giant eco dome mega resort complex being built down the road which I can’t figure out will have a positive or negative effect on the house value!

Interesting – is that place like a bunk house so potentially I could be looking at alien bikers wandering about ?

I know a decent one in chesterfield – he might travel..

Email me for details. He was very quick and very sympathetic when I ahem disabled our upstairs lighting with a misplaced loft board :-S

Don’t dis the Value Diet Coke, man… Less than 20p for 2 whole litres and it tastes like Diet Coke!

Made from kittens

^^ aww thanks. It’s no less than she deserves :-)

^^ yep, problem is Mrs RRR is a teacher and is back at work on the 4th September :-/

.. considered camping but we have naff all kit so would have to spend £££ on a tent and everything else ..

Hello. Late to the party but:

Theo needs: 8, 11, 18, 27, 28, 44, 45, 54, 71, 75, 77, 93, 96, 114, 118, 123, 125 & 140.

Swaps we have: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 56, 59, 60, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 92, 94, 95, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 115, 116, 117, 119, 120, 121, 122, 124, 126, 129, 130, 131, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137 & 139.

Unstone then?

We were first time buyers :-/

We’ve not had the children stolen nor car set fire to yet..

It’s still technically Dronfield …

/other generic justification

There a few pubs that have rooms that are on the edge of Sheffield / edge of peak(s)…

The Norfolk arms at ringinglow for example, there’s a few others.

There’s probably more to do in Sheffield than Chesterfield although Ches isn’t too grim if you’re away from the endless bypasses/roundabouts.

Hey! Stop slating Dronfield.

It’s officially the 9th best place to live in England (Google it!).

RRR of just south of Dronfield but not quite Chesterfield

Well I normally destroy jackets so thought I’d try to look after this one.

It’s definitely leaking rather than not breathing. I can’t seem to find what the guarantee / warranty period is ..

It has been washed and tumble dried a few times.

I doubt anyone at Gore will want to listen to my outrage though?!

^^ thing is it wasn’t sweaty wetness more just a few random patches on my chest where the rain was seeping in…

Larvely underwear there – alas not my size.

Lunge -4yrs can be Linen I believe? I got the wife a nice painting (print) because apparently they’re actually on linen, technically… just a thought.

Anyway, ideas needed urgently .. thanks and regards

^^
Thanks :-)

Worst part is that she’s obviously already got me something that she would have put a lot of thought into :-/

I bought a Felt F85 or 90 or something for £400 about 4 yrs ago and it’s amazed me as to what it’s done and put up with. Even the cheap Felts seem really well finished..

Yes!

This place was ace (in Dolgellau) and we rode from the door into CYB. It’s a basic sort of B&B but the rooms were clean, the owner very helpful and the price reasonable too! It attracts a mixture of road, MTB and motor bike ists. Highly recommend.

http://www.bikersretreat.co.uk

Edit: just read “don’t want a B&B” it’s not a normal B&B and there are communal areas and a sort of bar too..

You bellowed m’ lord?

I do miss the way in which you could be silly on BM and no one cared. This place feels a little more ahem.. regulated :-)

Anyone remember when I started the “Once upon a time” story board thread? :D

http://forums.bikemagic.com/showthread.php/77350-once-upon-a-time?s=3690d969f6cb14e23316a4bc99658e77#W3mwWheh6kjixwhe.97

Anyone else remember when I started the Make Mike a Bike thread and then you all made mike a bike? We woz a comoonity..

I miss Dylan and his unique personal take on logic, science, reason and so on… :-(

^^ this :D

I’m just interested – is it considered accurate?

I mean, from the graphs is seems your 12 yr old engine was producing a little more than rated when new, before the remap???

Spooky – battery is brand new and I have today topped it up and checked the voltage.

Ulysse – well it’s no longer intermittent starting! It refuses point blank now. As far as I can tell all lights on the dash are as normal. I shall indeed have to get someone to look at it somehow :-/

^^ errrrm no, its otherwise acting normal . It just seems to not want to fire :-/

Sobriety – thanks, I’m inbetween Chesterfield and Sheffield. I might look at a fault code reader thingy as my laptop has a smashed screen currently :-/

I just had a look this lunchtime and just don’t think it’s sparking at all. Unfortunately I don’t have a spark plug socket to actually check…

No wd40 and it’s supposed to be a water displacement thingy.

I know diagnostics would be the proper approach but can’t move the car and don’t know anyone who’d be able to do it :-/