A pair of these will make any hand signals you make just that little bit more visible.

Camera set to 4:3 aspect ratio rather than 3:2 ?

A good lanyard will keep Mr Jones cameraless . . . .

Has a limited shelf life, so don’t buy too much – it does “go off” if left on the shelf for too long. However, excellent stuff with a multitude of uses.

Canon’s G15 is also worth a look – and because of the soon-to-be-available G16 the old (but broadly the same) G15 should be available for a good price. You can also get proper waterproof housings for the G series of Canon cameras.

Slow down (stop) and collect some blackberries – seen (and tasted) more already this year than in the whole autumn season last year. Make a lovely addition to an apple crumble or apple pie, or a bowl of vanilla ice cream.

Likely to find footpaths busy with grockles and emmets at the moment as its peak holiday season. Plenty of bridleways and legitimate trails to be had if you get a map out and look closely.

Worth asking to see if significant repairs have been done recently, or are planned/needed in the future – such as roof, windows, gutters, drains or similar – decision may have been made to spread the costs over a longer period, rather than lumping the leaseholders with a very big on-off bill.

Using 700 x 40c Marathon Plus Tours on my Roadrat – very happy so far, with no punctures in several hundred miles. Spaced the rear wheel back about 10mm in the slots to stop the tyre from catching the front mech (XT M771), but otherwise plenty of clearance.

The original one, but toasted and then smothered in proper full fat butter.

Advanced warning: in my toaster it turns from “nicely toasted” to “cremated fire hazard” in just a few seconds, so you need to keep a very careful watch on the toaster.

tony can you get a bike in a gt86?

Yes – actually much easier than I expected; pop the wheels off and an XL hardtail will fit in through the boot opening without too much trouble. Boot space isn’t very tall, but with the rear seat back folded the carrying capacity is very good (in my opinion).

Would definitely suggest having a good long look at the GT86 – had mine for nearly a year and it still makes me smile every time I drive it. Getting an average of 35 mpg, and is surprisingly practical as a day-to-day vehicle. Has been absolutely faultless to date, and purchasing experience from dealer was also good.

These people should be able to supply what you’re after . . .

winston_dog’s toothpaste-to-get-rid-of-residue mask glass cleaning tip is also a good one – do it several times, rinsing out thoroughly in between.

Keep a good listen out for jet skis – as others have said you’ll be difficult to spot in anything but absolutely flat calm conditions.

Fill the air vents with bits of open cell PU foam – the air will still get through but the foam will catch the bugs.

HD resolution 1920×1080 TVs came onto the market before Freeview HD was available, so early model HD resolution TVs only had a standard definition Freeview tuner built in; the high resolution 1920×1080 screen resolution was only exploited if you connected a Blu-ray or other HD source.

I’ve now connected an external Freeview HD tuner to my early model HD TV – gives me a great picture on four HD channels and a better EPG; didn’t need to alter the aerial at all.

Not free (£6.99) but Apple’s Pages App would probably do the job.

This tour from RedSpokes might suit – I’ve done four of their other tours (Tajikistan, NE Vietnam, Laos and Bolivia/Peru) and have always had a great time.

A good few years ago I had the same issues with a plain red Vauxhall Corsa – achieved pretty good results using a coloured T-cut polish/reviver – car was about 8 years old so wasn’t expecting to get it back to “showroom” standard but a few hours of effort got it looking quite reasonable.

Same money would get you to a hub airport in the Far East (Bangkok). Then possible to travel around very cheaply using local buses or trains. Did this for a couple of weeks last year – travelled into Lao, then on to Vietnam – only pre planning we had to do was get Vietnam visa in advance. Ended up spending an average of less than £20 a day for EVERYTHING – travel, food, drink and somewhere to stay each night.

If you enjoy driving get a Toyota GT86 / Subaru BRZ . . . smile every time I get in mine.

Something like this might suit – cut to order, so should be able to specify a simple straight length.

Try Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour – Rose Bikes usually have them at a good price.

If you do buy a new tent then suggest you get one in a subtle shade of dark green – makes the selection of discrete ad-hoc camp sites so much easier if you know your tent is going to blend in with the background.

Thanks for the info – deal too good to be true.

Collected today from local Halfords – comment from staff was “that’s a cracking deal !” . . . and I agreed. 🙂

Anyone know how the young get fluids ? – what/where do they drink – or do they get enough liquid from the food provided by the adult birds ?

Nottingham camera – looks like some very slight movement – asleep/resting ?

One of these might suit – I’ve had one of the “printer only” versions for a couple of years now and it hasn’t missed a beat. Not wifi (but cable it up to a wireless hub and its as good as) but the next model up is (adds about £15 to the cost).

Worked earlier . . . . hope it isn’t another case of “pricing mistake / order will be cancelled” . . . .

These people are pretty good if all you want is a plain shirt – need to add delivery and VAT to the prices shown, but prices are good, and service is excellent. No minimum order size, but makes sense to order a few or the minimum delivery charge becomes significant per item.

Don’t forget to cast a decent security anchor loop or similar into the base to lock your bikes to.

DIY materials for 1.5 cubic m of concrete would be 3 bulk bags of aggregate and 18 bags of cement. Don’t underestimate how much effort this is going to take to mix – there’s over 3 tons of material here, and that’s about 30 mixes in a small Belle-style mixer. 6 minutes per mix would be good going, so 3 hours of non-stop graft.

Have a look on the Rose bikes website for their wheel packages using DT Swiss 370 hubs – I picked up a pair of 29″ Mavic TN319-rimmed wheels for a very good price; quick delivery (just over a week from order), and they even came with some decent QR skewers for free. Web site lists loads of wheel options – some include tyres, tubes and rim tapes, but if you look closely you can buy just the wheels.

Check Amazon for Canon 260SX @ £150 in pink.

An old Gaggia Coffee Deluxe here – would replace it with its modern equivalent in an instant if it ever died. Amazon have the Gaggia Classic for £170 at the moment.

Worth trying some proper penetrating fluid (Plusgas or similar) rather than WD40; also worth applying some gentle heat (wrap a towel around the seat tube and pour on a kettle of boiling water; wait a minute or so and then try a twist – remembering that the frame/post will be hot).

In the past I’ve resorted to applying an air chisel (or drill set to hammer only) to the underside of the seatpost’s top clamp – the repeated high frequency hammering action worked to remove a well-stuck seat post for me.

Backpacks which unzip fully are great – until the zip fails, which it will do eventually (usually at the most inopportune moment). Single compartment rucksack is what you need if you want to keep your stuff secure (and dry – zips are a regular source of water ingress).

Me too – supposedly by next Friday.

One of these[/url] might suit the bill – I’ve been using one of the printer-only versions for a year or so and it’s been brilliant – fast, quiet and pretty economical on the ink (if you get the XXL versions they’re good for several thousand pages). Have mine connected to a wireless network hub and PC, Mac and iPad all connect to the printer first time every time. Not small, but OK in my office. Copes well with thick card and envelopes (straight-through paper path if you use the rear sheet feeder), and prints double-sided on plain paper.