I can’t tell you how glad I am
That I insured both my dogs with petplan when they were puppies!!

One of them in particular.

We’ve claimed tens of thousands for her in the last 10 years (and continue to do so for medication and ongoing related issues). Petplan have been really good throughout.

Second dog bust a disc in her spine, 7k all in and all we paid out was the excess £80. Never had to pay upfront and claim back.
Even with us now paying £100 a month we are thousands of £‘s in pocket.

Without it I genuinely don’t know what we’d have done

I’ve got this just after Christmas … still on offer. not used it in anger but seems a nice bit of kit and well reviewed

https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-dcd778p2t-sfgb-18v-2-x-5-0ah-li-ion-xr-brushless-cordless-combi-drill/906kv

Do I need to be concerned about the longevity of small 3 cylinder petrol engines.

As posted above, superb and octavia are lovely but not quite the same in practical terms.

There’s the berlingo option. Seems
To Be more petrol cars available but that’s in Flair trim. Honestly I really prefer the XTR trim but they’re mega bucks.

Say I bought a 2 yr old 1.2 petrol rifter with 20k on it and planned to keep it say 5/6 years minimum so by that point I’d be looking at 80/90k on it.
Assuming servicing , correct oil etc can you expect these engines to go on and on past 100k?

My miles are generally 30 ish min each way to work and back with the Odd longer run of 200 miles wach way every now and again. Generally tho I’m work And back, ferrying kids etc. not really long, regular journeys.

The XL (and Most definitely the traveller) is overkill For my requirements.

Thanks @northernmatt. Tempted to go and see one.

@northernmatt I’d be interested to know how life is with the Jogger if you’ve time to give a brief update …

Check out Ben Parkes. I have used his half plan with good results. Got 10 weeks into his marathon plan but had to cancel my marathon but I’ve never ran so well during that training. Will be using it again for next year.
I guess it depends on what you want time-wise and how much you’re going to put into it but I enjoyed the mix of sessions and paces. It helps that he gives you paces to run at too

Marathon Plans

I’ve been running a 16 plate non-grand c4 picssso for 5 years without issue.
I add that it’s a diesal, ad blue type.

It’s just turned 62k and just last night heading home from work it’s flagged up ‘emissions control fault’.
The light went off 20
Mins into my journey into work today and ‘no fault’ showed.
This makes me nervous!

A quick Google last night suggested it could be nox filter (£400) or needs a whole new Adblue tank at over 1k. Apparantly it’s a common problem.

I havent had it looked at so it could be something completely unrelated. I’ll see if/when the light comes back.

Other than that it’s done the job it needs to – ferry kids and dogs about.

I do worry about it now given it’s age and mileage

Thanks for the input.
I’ve signed up for the 300mb .. you sign up for 12 months but you get two months free so I don’t start paying until December. Plus no price hikes over the course of that year. I’ll give it a go for that.

Speedtest.net result 288.51

Ran a speed test (are they reliable?!) and it gave me this

@pk13 on this site we can choose not to sign up with grain. If we do it’s only a 12 month contract.
It’s convenient tho that we move in and we have broadband. Can’t deny that but it doesn’t mean we have to stay with them.

It’s £25.99 for 100mb and £32.99 for the 300mb.

I could take a look at what BT are offering.

Sorry, I should add that my wife WFH 3 days a week. On occasion I’d be WFH at the same time so laptop each, teams etc. not sure if that affects your responses!

@mickyfinn we used these guys. Almost half the price of the two other quotes we got (Richardsons and Brittania)

https://www.mrshifter.co.uk/

Website shows the area they cover but the reviews indicate they go all. depends where you’re going to/from I guess.
We moved from Boro to Stockton area.

Having just moved house on Tuesday of this week I can without question say booking a removals firm was the best thing I ever did!
Two adults and two kids moving from a 3 bed semi and they packed the lorry top to bottom. No room to spare.
Part loaded it Friday (big help to us to get some gear shifted out of the house) and returned Tuesday am to finish it.
Straight to the new house 15 miles away and straight in with the unloading.
Not a cat in hells chance I would have wanted to have done that with a luton van and several mates. Cost £1k (I’m
In the north east) but absolutely worth it.

Two labs both with Petplan since pups.
Yep – expensive! They’re 9 & 10 now. Started at £26 a month each, now £95 each with £105 excess.

We’ve claimed ..a lot. Still do with the Ongoing medication.
Never an issue with claims – the vets have always put the claims straight through and we’ve never had an issue with them paying. Expensive but I really can’t knock them. Zero hassle.

Both my kids had a Puky and absolutely loved it. Great little bike.
Straight off it onto pedal Frog bikes

Has the cupboard got any ventilation?

No, but it’s a sizeable cupboard. They certainly wouldn’t be squashed in there…plus the cupboard door could be open. As I said, the dryer is so quiet so that wouldn’t be an issue noise-wise.

If it’s a condenser dryer it will still give off some humidity and heat.

It’s a Bosch heat pump dryer

Thanks @markspark! Good to know

Or are you planning to do do something wierd like put a car in the garage? 😉

No, the car won’t be going in there but we don’t really want the washing machine and dryer in there either. Tho I do agree it may be a good option for many reasons

Might be worth consulting with a spark since you’d need them to do the wiring (I think it’d be notifiable?).

Yes absolutely. Just thought I’d float the idea on here for feedback, would need to make sure it was all done in the correct manner following regs etc. it is a top of the list job

Doesn’t that nix the whole idea?

Will need to check distances but Google says the average bath length is 1.7m so very possibly! Unless there’s an option for some cunning fused socket placement

Will be fun carrying it up the stairs

Oh aye! I had over-looked that little nugget!!

isn’t there a building regs no no re electrical sockets being a good distance away from the bath taps/shower?

I don’t know but something I’d need to check.
We could put the socket on the far wall of the cupboard so it’d be on the inside of the landing (if that makes sense) so it’d be as far away as it could be from the bath etc.
something to look into tho so good point

EDIT: looks like sockets need to be at least 3m away from bath/sink taps. Needs to be a fused socket too

Assuming the downstairs utility has pluming already, why not just put your existing machines in there?

No gap for a dryer so it’d be sat on the worktop. Besides, the utility units and sink sit on the back on the integral garage and ideally we’d like to move those to the other side of that wall INTO the garage and free up that space.

Tbh we’ve never had a utility and we’re struggling to see what we’d use a sink for. We could still use it in the garage plus I’d benefit more with it being in there anyway. But that’s another post!

I do like the Positive responses!

Comments regarding noise/vibration and leaks duly noted.
We recently got a new dryer that was pretty expensive but ultra efficient and VERY quiet. I know my wife would like the matching washing machine so maybe that would be a little less noisy. I’d need to check.

So in terms of plumbing – not too big a job?

we’re seeing some positive effects with the Librela injection

Thanks. That’s what she’s had today. Glad it’s working for your dog. We’re Hoping it helps so fingers crossed.

First of all thanks for the replies. I know there’s a lot of dog love on here.
Just a quick update having been to the vets this afternoon.

Just a bit of background – Tilly is 10 now, when she was 3 she had an operation to replace her left hip due to severe hip dysplasia in both back legs.
The operation wasn’t successful and she had a second operation to remove the recently installed gubbins. There’s a thread on here if you go back 7 years!
Anyway, I won’t go into it all but suffice to say she’s managed without a hip and we’ve always done as much as we can for her but clearly time and age takes its toll. She takes gabapentin and rymadyl every day (painkillers and anti-inflammatory).

So back to today ..After some questions from the vet Tilly was taken off for a health check and to have some bloods taken.

We get the results of the blood tests tomorrow.
However the health check has told us that Tilly is in quite a bit of pain, her aritritis coupled with her poor walking is really stressing her back and spine now so she’s been given an injection that we hope will help with that. The gabapentin just isn’t enough 😕
We’ve also been told she is blind in one eye and losing sight in the other. We had no idea. Ashamed to say that but we never suspected that so that came as a very unwelcome suprise.
I know it was mentioned up there ^ with someone else experiencing it.
She is losing her hearing and losing weight.
So we’re Feeling pretty devastated tbh.
For all of her problems she looks a happy dog, loves playing , playing with a ball .. just amazes me how they can hide so much. Feels like we need to make the most of her right now while we can.
I’ve cleared the spot out of kids toys behind the sofa where she’s been trying to get into, if she needs that spot to help her feel safe then so be it.
So We’ll see what the blood tests show.
Sorry it’s a bit long!
She says hi (January pic)

With hindsight (wonderful ain’t it), there had been little clues for a while 😥

Sorry to read this. Sh1t isn’t it.
I’d be interested to know what little clues you were seeing

Thanks for the replies.

Having looked at the signs of dog dementia I can’t honestly say that she appears to have any other symptoms. That’s not to say it couldn’t be the start of it.

I ended up outside with her last night at 10pm and she was happy as Larry just laid on the garden so whether @myopic has a point and she just doesn’t like taskmaster I don’t know!

I’ll give the vets a call

Fenix is a bit of a bargain. Absolutely love my 6x pro and at £340 it’s a steal (compared to what I paid it is!)

I’m on my third pair of LS Akasha shoes. Absolutely love them. Find them pretty good on everything .. comfortable … wear them for local short runs right through to 60 mile ultra’s without any discomfort. Hence I just keep buying them!
Generally getting 370+ miles out of them before I change them.

Generally I’m a size 11 in shoes.
Brooks ghost road shoes I wear 11.5.
LS Akasha I wear the 11.5+ (as opposed to the standard 11.5)

Good to hear @squirrelking

Well I’ve gone and bought it. It’s Sat under my desk at work all in its original box.
I left all of this behind years ago when I packed my Amiga 500 away so Thanks for the responses – Been a Big help.

happy kids tonight I suspect 😁

The Switch is better for kids than an XBOX one.

This is/was one of my concerns .. are they too young ..

I think there’ll be games they would play , I’ll have to do a bit of research to see what there actually is. I know football and driving games would probably go down well. Just May require practice!

Ok thanks. I actually think I’ll just look for fifa / forza going cheap to start with and keep Away from the online stuff for now.

Wowser! Thanks for the replies and the links … £1 for those games has Definetly peaked my interest!

does the price include controllers

Sorry, yes it does. Might be worth a punt then.
I’d need to buy a couple of games but assume they’re available cheaper / secondhand now?

Top tip: portaloo for overnight use by the kids means you avoid the overnight traipse across the campsite to the toilet block 🙂

Invaluable! Good for dad to use too ;-)
We just use a bucket type from Go Outdoors. Doubles up as a storage bin in the car (good clean required mind!)