My local Asda has the previous version of the Kodak Playsport (Zx3) on sale for £35 at the moment, which I reckon is a pretty good deal.

Padstow – otherwise known as Rick Stein’s cashpoint machine.

This[/url] might be worth a look – cracking price, and if its anything like their kit bags it’ll be good-for-purpose.

Does make you wonder though why when they were specifying their all-singing-and-all-dancing packing machine they didn’t decide to include a “one or two small items box” in the range of sizes that the system could deal with. Other big on-line companies such as Amazon seem to be able to do this . . .

All depends on what type of insulation has been used, and if it was fitted from the outset in a new build, or has been installed as an afterthought. Some good advice here.

Might be because its normal to have some ventilation space either side of a freestanding cooker to get rid of the heat leaking out through the sides of the oven. Built-in appliances (ovens) are usually double-wall with a fan that circulates cooling air around the outside of the oven compartment to stop the surrounding woodwork from getting too hot . . . . put a built-in oven under a built-in hob and the excess heat from the sides of the oven is removed safely by the moving air.

Basic rule for TV size used to be divide the distance of the screen from your seating position by 3 and that’ll give you the maximum diagonal screen size – if you get a bigger screen than this you’ll start to “not see” the detail at the edges of the image as your field of vision is too small to take it all in.

If you can afford a little more then you might find an Epson WorkForce Pro WP4515DN worth a look – I’ve just purchased the “print only” version (WP4015) and am very happy with it – networkable, duplex printing and decent sized individual ink cartridges. Best price probably from here – they delivered mine very promptly. Also comes with a 3 year Epson warranty.

Depends on where you live too – I swapped to a meter about 8 years ago when my “rateable value” bill for a one bedroom top floor flat went over £400 a year. Last year I paid about £130 on metered use – I reckon the meter has saved me well over £2000 since I had it installed.

Planet Rock – 7pm to 9pm – Nicky Horne with a couple of hours of “Amps Off”

Typical density of concrete is about 2400 kg/m^3 – so you’ll need 1/10th of this for your 0.1 m^3 hole. Very rough mix quantities will be 1 part cement, 2 parts sand and 4 parts coarse aggregate – so if you’re buying bagged ingredients from a DIY store then 2 bags of cement, 2 bags of sand and 4 bags of gravel should be about right (assuming 25 kg bags of cement and 40 kg bags of sand and gravel).

Bell Muni . . . I’ve used an earlier version (Metropolis) for a few years and it’s been ideal for the daily commute.

Picked up a Philips DTR5520 for £40 a while ago from Asda of all places – all it does is basic Freeview and Freeview HD (so no browser, recorder or any other clever stuff). Limited number of HD channels – but very happy with my investment at this price.

The combination of a big diameter hub flange and small diameter wheel rim makes it viable.

Might be worth having a look at this tour – this company have lots of experience running tours in the region, and good local contacts.

Well happy with the Miele one I got about 4 years ago. Very quiet and vibration-free, but weighs a ton (about 95 kg) so it was quite amusing getting up a couple of flights of stairs to my second floor flat.

Newly announced Canon G1 X looks like it might turn the “quality” compact camera market upside down.

Also worth a try is a pneumatic chipping hammer like this – apply to the seatpost clamp (put a block of metal between the tool and the seatpost to reduce risk of damage) and you might find that the rapid blows get things moving. Set the compressor’s air pressure low to start with; you can always increase the pressure (and thus the force/frequency of the blows) if you find you need to be a bit more robust.

How the hell am I supposed to keep to the New Year diet if you lot keep going on about marmite eggy bread . . . I’m just going to have to give that a try now.

Thanks for the offer Taff – will be in touch if needed.

Thanks – my e-mail address is in profile.

Another Troutie christmas special here – DD with the bigger battery pack. Blew the darkness away last night – 😯 – very impressive light output on boost.

Toasted malt loaf with lashings of proper butter. Care needed with the toasting ‘cos it has a tendancy to go from “nicely done” to “cremated” in a matter of seconds.

Look for S3 on the specification – which will mean they’re waterproof. As others have said Jallatte are about as good as you’ll get for rigger boots, but some sites don’t like them. I’ve found ordinary lace-up safety shoes from Scruffs to be really comfortable – I don’t need mine to be waterproof and have found their Lightning shoe to be excellent.

Overtighten – possible to damage threads in either the bottom bracket shell itself or the HTII bearing casing.

Super clean because they’re a comparatively fine thread – any muck or debris and you risk it damaging the threads.

Down here in Plymouth the City Council have a Corsa with a roof-mounted camera mast – vehicle is used for parking enforcement.

Another fine example of a solution waiting for a problem.

Extremities Velo are pretty good – I’ve been using them for the last four or five winters and have been well happy with the warmth. I’ve got quite big hands and their XL size is a proper XL with a decent finger length.

Another vote here for Roberts – I’m listening to the bigger brother of the one suggested by bbAardvark – (link) – as I type this and its certainly one of my better purchases – and it can be had for about £175 if you shop around.

This seller on eBay has a small stock of Camera Care System bags – if you can find one that fits your camera/lens combination then get it. CCS were a Bristol-based family run manufacturer that made excellent “rough conditions” camera bags – the ones I’ve got were purchased 20 or more years ago and they’re still looking good and working well.

If you can’t find a decent bit of concrete to fit the ground anchor in to then consider getting an old van or truck tyre and filling it with concrete – a bag of cement and two or three bags of “all in” aggregate from your local DIY store should be more than enough to make the finished article too heavy for all but the most determined of light-fingered sc#m to move.

What rims are you using ? – I’ve had a couple of XM819 UST rims fail due to cracking of the weld (starts at the valve hole, and then spreads along the rest of the weld; air leaks out into the rim’s “core” and then out through the spoke holes).

If you’re thinking of using crushed concrete then make sure the site is well away from water courses . . . can get alkali leachate washing out which is not too clever . . . Environment Agency are showing some interest in the problem, and inappropriate use might lead to an unwelcome fine.

Second that “ouch” comment.

This would appear to be a stonking deal – 40″ Sony Freeview HD for £350 after cashback.

This should do the job if all you want to do is get back to where you started.

Native XGA resolution (1024 x 768) should be good enough whilst keeping cost reasonable; get one that lets you run a slideshow from a USB memory stick and it’ll save you carrying a computer around too.

Descaling – might it not be cheaper to feed the machine with some low-mineral-content water instead ? – and the coffee might taste nicer too. Lucky enough not to have that problem here in S Devon – don’t get any limescale on anything.

Back to the original question – have you considered seperate machines ? – a Gaggia Classic paired with an Ascaso i-Steel would just about come in on budget – and the wife gets two presents rather than one.

+1 for Kelly Kettle.

Area around Verdun certainly worth a visit.