I have decided to go with the new CU at £650, but no VAT. It will be a bigger CU with spare slots for if we go EV or Heat Pump at some point in the future.

We have a week in La Plagne/Les Arcs booked for Easter. Driving out from Scotland.

We are looking at adding a 2nd week somewhere. I have seen cheap deals to Chatel.  I know Chatel is low and runs to resort level will be sub-optimal on 2nd week of April, but what about the rest of PDS? I would imagine that the Avoriaz sector and the Swiss sector will have reasonable snow. I would appreciate any advice or knowledge-based predictions.

Other options are Les Sybelles or Val Thorens, but VT is double the price.

The warning categories are rain, thunderstorms, wind, snow, lightning, ice, extreme heat and fog. That would be quite a week.

Well, our Tesco delivery has been cancelled! I am sitting up and taking notice…

I salute you. I know these are not decisions that are taken lightly and can only imagine the challenges that led to this brave and justifiable decision.

I work with looked after children and some of the foster carers have been pushed to breaking point and beyond. One carer felt they were in a position where they had to choose between the placement or their marriage and chose to persist with supporting the placement, definately at a cost to both.

Children who find themselves looked after have had it very hard to be in that position, and consequently can find any placement very difficult. This increasses the potential pressure on all involved.

I work with other families where IMO the children should have been taken into care at birth, but weren’t. As a consequence, resource after resource is piled into the family from many agencies, but there is no lasting change and the life experience of these children is very, very poor. The echos will be felt for generations.

Decathlon for decent value gloves and goggles. For clothing, layering is important as the temperature can vary a lot day to day, during the season, and by altitude. At the top of the glacier will be much colder than down at Ponte di Legno.

Rent a helmet, buy a helmet, be definately wear a helmet. If your boots hurt, go back to the shop and see if you can change them.

Passo Tonale is a nice open resort and is a great spot for a first trip. If the weather is nice then decent dark sunglasses will be better than goggles, but I would take goggles too. I have some CAT4 from Decathlon that are perfect for sunny ski days. Do not forget decent 50+ Suncream. Take a larger tube (stays at hotel, use every morning) and a smaller pocket tube (top up during the day). Take a lip balm with sun protection too. DO NOT FORGET THE UNDERSIDE OF YOUR NOSE/CHIN.

As for what to do after skiing, I don’t have social atom in my body, so I am not the guy to ask, but:

Stop skiing, have a beer or coffee, head back to hotel, put away skis and poles then SORT BOOTS AND GLOVES so they are dry in the morning. Hang up ski clothing. Shower, nap, dinner, beer/coffee, sleep like a baby!

Take painkillers, voltarol & KT tape with you, but enjoy yourselves.

After speaking with the retailer there has been a blanket readjustment in price today to £3600ish. I have been told this by the retailer.

I have emailed for confirmation.

Cable, consumer unit and certificate is £1170.

It isn’t 6 grand just for the shower. The shower install was about £1400.

The 6k covers additional install costs across 2 bathrooms being installed where we have already paid over 6k for installation, so this latest addition doubled the insulation cost.

Some of the other items were PVC panels on the ceiling £100 +vat per m2, laying click lvt flooring at £50 +vat per m2 and replacing plasterboard behind new wetwall panels at £42 +vat per m2.

The main concern was the prices exceeded the “guide prices” we’d been given.

We have already paid direct to the retailer for the materials – wetwall, sanitary ware, taps, shower etc. We’d bought a shower tray and enclosure separately as they didn’t do the size we needed.

We had also paid the retailer for “Installation”, but these extras are “Specialist Works” that are to be paid to the installer, plus other things we’d asked for like the ceiling panels.  The panels were the first to be scored off the list.

One of their suggestions today was to postpone the install and proceed with a new installer. I have no reason to doubt the quality of the work, it is now more trust thing as the retailler also has concerns regarding the timing, some of the high pricing, and contravening their terms by not communicating via the retailler’s portal, therefore taking them out the loop, adding VAT and the payment terms.

Short notice is exactly the issue.

It is the price direct from him. The retailler knew nothing about it. As far as they knew the only extra he had informed them of was the 120 +VAT for certification. They have raised a concern about some of the prices – the total for his extras came to just shy of £6000 – , the fact they were out of the loop, the fact that he is charging +VAT on top of prices that exceed their maximum, the 90% upfront, and the fact that he only dropped it on us yesterday when the install is scheduled for Monday. He should have given us the quote 14 days after we innitially booked the install in mid November ’23.

The shower circuit can be added to an auxillary metal bodied Shower CU in addition to the current CU. After query on full new CU he has quoted 400 +VAT for additional shower CU.

The 12 m run is from the back of the CU, through the block wall (existing hole) follow existing cables (upstairs lighting & ring main) to attic. 3m across attic (boarded), then vertically down inside partition wall to point of shower.

The “guide price” from the DIY chain was £280.

Sorry, didn’t mean to cause offence. When I looked at the prices, my gut feeling was that the electrician sub-contracted by the installer (who is subcontracted by a national DIY chain) maybe didn’t want the job.

Electrical Certification was £120 +VAT on top.

Board £650 +VAT

Cable £450 +VAT

Certificate £120 +VAT

£1404 total.

I am having a similar issue having “upgraded” to a rigid duct run. In addition, I can hear the fan blades hitting droplets of moisture that build up in the fan body of the inline fan – where the fan in actually mounted the diameter increases, allowing water to pool. It only takes a mm of water to make contact with the fan blade and make an irregular ticking sound.

The fan is the same unit as before – Manrose MF100T – and I never previously heard the droplet/fan noise. Perhaps the flexi duct didn’t transmit the sound, or the water was condensing out on the inner surface of the duct before reaching the fan.

The fan is extracting well. At night, a torch shows a huge plume of water vapour coming out into the garden, and the bathroom clears well. The only other change is that I have added a Humidistat to trigger the fan, so the fan does not come on immediately when the light is switched on.

This might mean that the duct stays colder until steamy air (triggered by the Humidistat) is drawn through the duct, contributing to the in-fan condensation issues.

Look at Fiamma arms for Motorhome/caravan bike carriers. Different lengths are available. Not lockable, but who trusts bike carrier locks?

https://www.agentfiamma.co.uk/fiamma-carry-bike-accessory/

This is an increasing issue, esp. post lockdowns. The best you can do is try to create the conditions where she can come out of her shell, but you can’t make her do it. All the therapy in the world will be insufficient unless she wants to change. What does she enjoy/look forward to? What makes her buzz and want to talk about afterwards? If you know, start here.

Many kids today think that they can lead a fully “normal” social life alone in their bedrooms, with a phone and wifi. Kids who used to tell me that they had good telephone skills because they could order a takeaway now prefer to use an app. Not all progress is goood for us.

We just drove from just south of Perth to Bourg St Maurice and back.

Day 1 – Home to Calais, via ferry. F1 Hotel.

Day 2 – Calais to Bourg.

Return Day 1 – Bourg to Calais. F1 Hotel.

Day 2 – Calais, Ferry, Home.

Ferry is cheaper (£160 rtn) than Tunnel, and you get a proper break from driving. F1 hotel is cheap and basic, and crucially, I do not care what anyone else thinks. Tunnel runs much more frequently (every 20mins or so).

We chug along in the Doblo at 70-75mph. I overtook maybe 10 cars in 400miles of French motorways. Everyone else seems to be flying along.

IMO your route is 2 easy days. You wouldn’t even need to leave early and coult havea leisurely lunch.

Surely no-one finds themselves as a pilot on a commercial aircraft without being aware that there are CVRs and FDRs? It is a known and accepted part of the job.

There must be 1000s of hours of self incrinination on UK dashcams…

I am dealing with one from the other end just now. A nightmare.

Mefty, I am afraid you are massively out of touch with regard to who is vaping. As above, it is rampant amongst Secondary school age young people who have never smoked a cigarette. I am not saying “all”, but significantly more than those who smoked cigarettes.

Vaping delivers more nicotine, more quickly and more often. Kids cannot make it through a lesson, let alone a day, without  NEEDING to vape. They are severely addicted to nicotine.

It messes with sleep patterns – I know kids who wake up to vape in the night – and it is having a significant negative impact on educational attainment.

The efficiency for the fan with regard to it’s displacement per hour is also effected by the length and “straightness” of the exhaust duct. Each 90 deg bend is the equivalent of an extra metre of duct length. Keep it short and straight! Also check for condensation build up in the duct causing a water blockage like a u-bend. Ideally have the duct go straight up, then down a gentle but consistent gradient to the exit point through the soffit. Any condensation should naturally drain out.

EDIT: I am just re-doing the extraction on both of our bathrooms. I am relocating the vent to right above the showers, and fitting a humidistat too. The fans will not be on timers, they will run when humidity dictates. I am using insulated ducting or rigid piping. The ribbed flexi stuff needs to be installed as taught as possible for max efficiency.

I bought a Hisense under counter built-in fridge when we redid our kitchen.

It was delivered and we fitted it and it sounded like R2-D2 on speed. The compressor was clearly not running smoothly.

I had to jump through repeated hoops with Hisense customer services, including sending numerous photos of various aspects of the fridge, including stickers in specific locations, except the stickers weren’t where specified, and were actually somewhere else. I was asked to send video clips of the noise, but their email struggled with file sizes. There was quite a bit of to and fro.

Eventually they conceded and agreed to send an engineer, from Durham, to Scotland.

The engineer came, when we were on holiday, and I had to get a neighbour to let them in. Apparently he switched it on and within 3 seconds said “The compressor is f*****.” He couldn’t swap the compressor, so some weeks later, when back from holiday, we arranged a swap, with the retailer, via a special code from Hisense, for a different unit. That was a bit complicated too, but I understand the need.

The new one has been faultless.

Would I buy another Hisense White Good? Yes.

CS were easy to contact, but ridiculously needy with regard to photographic/video evidence. IANARE, but I could (and did) tell them the compressor was faulty, but some poor fella has a 400mile round trip to confirm.

I recently bought a s/h Carrera Crossfuse for £700, and swapped the rear wheel for an Alfine hubbed one. I now have the reliability of the Bosch mid-drive and the low maintenance of the Alfine 8. Perfect for commuting.

I think the mid/hub drive debate really depends on use. I fixed up a front hub drive bike for a friend. I expected it to be awful, but for commuting on a decent surface it would be fine. I went for Mid as I wanted the Alfine, and I couldn’t fit a front hub drive to my previous Alfine bike as it was not QR at the front.

Commuting at a steady pace on a good surface, weight distribution and the dynamics of power delivery aren’t too important. Ragging it up/down some fantastic involving singletrack, the balance of the bike and the nature of the pedal response are far more important.

Get the Lyca for now. Before you go away in January, port the number to Lebara – I dont think they have a Roaming limit, and abroad, the network doesn’t matter as it will always connect to a locally available network. When you return, port the number to  anew deal on Lyca.

I have been trapping Greys in my back garden. Just north of Kinross in central Scotland. We are right on the boundary of Grey/Red dominance.

I frequently see Reds, max 3 at the same time, commonly 2 together. Currently I keep seeing one Grey too, but I am struggling to trap it. Any tips on bait gratefully received… I have been using Nutella and Peanut Butter on toast, with good effectiveness so far, but the latest Grey is not going for it.

So far I have caught and killed 8 Greys. Locally there is a push on eliminating Greys that has had some success.

At Dunkeld I have never seen a Grey, only Reds. I have seen a Pinemarten at Dunkeld, and more locally at Pitmedden. We do need more Pinemarten.

Lyca Mobile are on EE too. Currently £2.99 for 20GB, going up to £9.49 after 6 months.

Clicked on this to say Harris Gin, but it has already been said a number of times.

A canoe + camp on the Thames. I have never done it – we live in Scotland – but my brother has.

I have made a bit of progress with the clawbar. If I get stuck I am milling out a bit of material around the head with the multitool, allowing the bigger prybar in. Cosmetically it is not great, but it is a loft floor! 2 boards down (up), 14 to go…

One of my boys once climbed onto a table in the middle of the lounge of the CalMac ferry to Mull, and proudly pissed himself.  He was 2, but I was not impressed. The table has a slight lip, and the  pee sloshed backwards and forwards with the motion of the ship. I did clean it all up.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Ideally I’d have forstner drill but recessed in the centre to clear the nail head. If it took out 2-3mm of depth over 30mm radius, the big pry bar would work on the surface of the board and be able to grab the nail head first time.

I don’t think I can try pulling the boards up as they are all t&ged together, and I cannot risk causing damage to the joists or the ceilings below. I think a 45deg plunge cut with the multitool might work

Update: current scratched ones are being collected Thursday. New ones coming from supplier, and should be checked before being sent out, probably be the end of next week. I think the supplier might be Raleigh.

Currently it is unusable. Carefully disassemble and check the screen type, size and connector type. Once you know this you can start looking fro a replacement. I have replaced 100s of Chromebook screens at work. I think it takes about 3-4 mins per screen, but they are all the same…

It takes about twice as long if you fail to remove the sctreen protector film before reassembling…

I’ve been buying Aliexpress specials at about £10 for 10 pairs. Riding in the Alps gobbles them up pretty quick – maybe 2 days on the ebike and 2 days on lifts. Maybe a little more. The resins were pretty soft, but at least they didnt wear the rotors. I’d rather wear out £1 pads than £20-£30 rotors.

Buy cheap, buy lots, experiment.

I would also add that over the years I have always found Superstar sruff to be reliable and the constant historical harping is OOO.

First two

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qSnzk5DB2MBkFF328

https://photos.app.goo.gl/3gLGPsGC2ePxgNQDA

Second two

https://photos.app.goo.gl/xvY5A6LYhvEhtei17

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wwS1i79FMMhNFxnx6

Sorry, images seem to have disappeared. Were linked from Google Images, and did work at first.

Yes. Looks like clumsy spoking to me. Were £20 ish each. Just a budget eyeletted disc rim for an Alfine + Bosch Active Line + commuter.

A friend of mine has just had a very similar thing with her Zafira (I think 67 plate). Occured when her partner was driving. They thought the clutch had gone, and booked it in for a replacement, but the garage said there was nothing wrong with it and it must be his driving style(!)

See if you can make it to 14 years….

Does distance selling even apply to privately traded second hand goods?

I had a similar issue where there was the feel of a knock/clunk, when starting to pedal hard. It would only happen on the first pedal stroke.

First I thought it was the freehub, but it turned out to be the BB, replacing the BB solved it entirely.

It sounds like the damper was fine, but the lowers just needed a little more lube oil to ensure that the oil cycling could occur. If you damper was short on oil because it had been purging but not ingesting, the standard amount of lube oil on the lower might not have been enough to keep it in equilibrium once reassembled.

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