Can just see the Daily Mail headline “Mars taken over by Japanese Knotweed”.

Another vote here for Plume of Feathers in Princetown. Good rides out the back door up onto Dartmoor, and pub does excellent food and beer.

Rosebikes[/url] are worth checking – they were significantly cheaper than CRC for DTS last time I looked, but not sure what (if any) other spoke brands they stock.

Red Spokes Tajikistan trip was something special . . . some of the most remote and most beautiful places I’ve ever been to.

I should be away doing the Lhasa/Kathmandu Red Spokes trip that Kojaklollipop did right now, but the trip was cancelled a few weeks ago as its impossible for UK passport holders to get Tibet visas at the moment . . . . Chinese government took offence at the recent visit to the UK by the Dalai Lama and their retaliation is to withhold visas. Situation will probably change by the time you do your trip, but I’d suggest that you make sure that you can get full refunds on any flight tickets that you might book – just in case. Red Spokes were brilliant at refunding their element of the trip cost.

I’ve done four Red Spokes tours in the past (Tajikistan, Bolivia/Peru, Laos and NW Vietnam) and as Kojaklollipop said the experience is vulnerable to the dynamics of the group – so far I’ve been lucky and have always had a fantastic time.

As jota180 and Kona TC says, 1900 is very early for cavity wall construction – not used until 1920’s. If the surveyor hasn’t even got the basic construction method right then I’d take everything else that they’ve said with a very big pinch of salt . . . and I’d also start looking for a more competent surveyor.

Peli’s “Micro” case (10X0) range gets IP67 rating (1m submerged for 30 mins). My experience of their cases is that a very light lubrication of the o-ring seals with silicon grease helps to keep them sealed in the splash zone; take them a little deeper underwater and the water pressure compresses the case lid onto the seal even tighter.

Pelican sell these cases in the US – take out the memory card insert and you’d have a waterproof and rugged box that’s small enough to fit into a pocket. Likely to be available soon in the UK . . .

You could make something up like the thing shown in theflatboy’s post using a few cut lengths of galvanized scaffold tube and some tubeclamps – would be much more robust and you could custom make it to fit your particular bikes and the space you’ve got available.

If you want something different at a good price there’s a watch shop in Plymouth that has had a few Fortis watches in the shop window for a while now . . . significant savings over current list prices.

Volvo C30 T5 might be worth considering . . .

Something like this should tick the boxes; should be enough in the budget to get a legitimate copy of Office too.

Could use some of that sugru stuff[/url] to keep water out of the electrics. See what you mean about the location – I assume the toggle gets “flicked” by some other part of the gear linkage ? – might find that damping the contact between the linkage and the switch with a bit more sugru would help the switch to last a bit longer, or perhaps somehow mount the switch on a slightly compliant mount ?

This would seem to be the sort of thing you’re after.

Highways Agency would probably love to permanently close many of the elevated bits of the M4 into London and rebuild them, but the practicalities of doing so are quite scary – especially where the motorway runs above other roads – so the politicians over the last few decades have avoided making the difficult decisions . . . . hence the need to occasionally make emergency repairs. Solution will be very expensive, very difficult to build and very disruptive to everyone in the vicinity. Expect to see more lane restrictions and weight limits soon.

Just got a Miele S2111 – pretty much bottom of their range, but well impressed – very effective, well made and very quiet. If you’re quick there’s a mail-coupon-in-to-Miele promo going for a year’s free bags (think you get 10, including filters) – worth about £20.

As Nick says – a few (mainly the merchants in the cities) get obscenely rich, while the vast majority find themselves priced out of buying the basic foodstuffs. Subsistence farming used to keep the majority fed . . . global trading steamrollers over far too many rural communities in far too many countries . . .

Spent some time in Peru (and Bolivia) last year – some locals have been sucked in to the idea of growing a variety of crops for export (where they can earn a higher price). Unfortunately that then means there is less land area available to grow their own staple food crops, so the price of these (which affects everyone) has risen significantly because of local shortages. Quinoa is an example.

Another vote here for SnowCard.

Well happy with Fox F120/QR15 on mine.

Case – just started to become available in UK (mine arrived in the post today) – Pelicase 1065CC

Getting some heat/cold involved might help to loosen things up too – some rag tightly wrapped around the frame metalwork (heat this up with a kettle of boiling water to get the frame part to expand), then a blast from a freezer spray (the sort of thing used by plumbers to freeze pipes) on the bottom bracket bits inside to get them to contract and hopefully loosen.

Also worth a “all else has failed” try – if you’ve got a power drill with a hammer-only facility put a chisel or point tool in and try and get some tangential blows onto the bottom bracket shell – similar has worked for me getting well-stuck-in-frame steel seatposts moving.

Keep an eye on the Alpkit light suggested earlier – they drain the batteries ever so slowly, so if you pack it away at the end of a camping season expect the batteries to be flat and to have leaked by the time you come around to trying to use it again the following year.

Samsung “Extreme” cards are claimed to be waterproof, so should hopefully cope well with the roughest handling in the worst of conditions. I rely on several 16Gb cards, and store them in a Pelicase like this to keep them safe and sound.

If you’ve got something like Photoshop you could Open the PDF file, then adjust the image resolution before saving it.

Starting to become a bit more of a mainstream idea – some of the bigger Builders Merchants (such as Burdens) are now offering off-the-shelf systems.

Kelly Kettle[/url] is great if you’re not constrained by size or weight, and it’ll run on any “fuel” that you happen to have to hand. Have used one regularly throughout the last winter and it’s been brilliant.

Aspire still have one or two Thomson ones in stock – haven’t purchased from them recently, but in the past they’ve always been a quick and reliable supplier.

Try and check that the camera will focus close-up before you part with your cash.

This sort of stuff is worth considering – used it in my own kitchen and it’s great – warm underfoot and very robust too. Make sure that you budget for using the correct adhesive, consider getting it laid by a “pro” and finish it off properly with the correct polish.

I wonder if Ducati own any interesting “technology” copyrights or patents that could be of use to Audi – if you own the company you own its knowledge.

Would one of these replace the engine with the unwanted hole ?

Might be worth you looking at a Snugpak Jungle Bag – I’ve just bought one for travels to tropical places and am very impressed by its small pack size and level of comfort – and at about £35 its WAY cheaper than PHD stuff, even if it is going to be a little bit heavier.

Some TV’s have a USB port and can be set up to show a sideshow of JPEG images – sort out the best pictures, edit them to the correct size (eg 1920 x 1080 for showing on a full HD TV) , store them as JPEGs on a USB memory stick and you’re good to go.

Ascaso i Steel here – works well and gives a very consistent grind.

One word of warning: start off with the grind set quite coarse and gradually set it finer little by little until you get it fine enough . . . the adjuster on this type of grinder doesn’t have a “finest setting” stop and it is possible to mesh the grinding discs together and damage the motor/grind mechanism if you set it too fine.

I have a last-generation-from-the-far-east Cotic Soda and I’m very happy with it indeed; it has already taken me around some lovely parts of the world (Tajikistan, Laos, Vietnam, Peru, Bolivia) and it will be accompanying me around Tibet and Nepal this summer.

Think the iPad discount is about 3%. Longer warranty – eligable purchase of computers through the Apple Education site gets three years repair warranty but only 1 year telephone support.

Gary_M – “Apple” store – was it a proper Apple-run store, or a franchise ? – franchise might have offered a discount to get the purchase from you but its probably not obliged to give the extra warranty.

Bought a bottom-of-the-range Miele a few years ago primarily because of the build quality and the fact that it runs so quietly (something to do with the heavy cast chassis inside the case which helps to smooth out any out-of-balance wobbling). One thing to watch out for though – they come in very heavy (something over 90 kg empty) and the two man delivery crew were unimpressed when they were told I lived in the second floor flat ! (and there’s no lift).

One of these does me fine as far as a cheap GPS is concerned.

Another vote here for the Powerex C9000 one suggested by Lakes_Puma – a good bit of kit.