Open Gardens in our village this weekend, so everything’s been bullied into shape, and the kids made a scarecrow for a laugh.

The tricky corner for us is under a NE facing hedge (next doors lelandii), so dry, fairly shady, and all the goodness sucked out of the soil by the hedge. Aside from the obvious (deeper border, manure, etc) thoughts on suitable planting welcomed.

The good thing about glyphosate is that it only works on plants that are actively growing, so you aren’t poisoning your soil for whatever it is you fancy planting in its place.

You’ll still have to clear up the dead bits/dig out the roots though.

toxixsox’s extreme version aside, I’ve had good results in the past with a roofer’s torch to burn off weeds. Until I got too close to the hedge.

one of these paint scrapers that uses a stanley blade

I’ve got the crud guard mounted on the frame – I threw the rubber shim away and used a bit of inner tube, and it just goes on the ‘stub’ of seat tube. I’d rather not cover myself, or the dropper.

Fair point ptrockymountain, but if you put another stone on top of that, what happens? No argument that things get damp – just the whole rising damp industry seems to have grown out of scare stories. Isn’t the important thing to find out what is causing the problem and deal with that, and provide means for it to dry out a bit?

The guy at RICS link seems clear in his mind.

[edit: that link worked when I tried it, but now seems to be paywalled – maybe its my cookies]

Cool, if you are redecorating anyway, just do that bit last.
Hope the move goes well.

I’m not really seeing the problem here.

Ahh, drat. Must have forgotten to fill in the ‘log book’ that day.

+1 for Abney and Teal, esp the poc pocs.
Also we have a DVD of Ivor. I’m getting a bit worried we might wear it out.

The old routine was shoes and suit, towel and toiletries in a locker at work. Rucksack with shirt, keks, and lots of lunch each day. Fresh towel when needed, and just topped up shower gel etc from town, so that never got carried anywhere.
There was a shower at work, and a bit of space for hanging clothes. Worst bit was putting on wet kit to go home, but I think I read somewhere that you only really get wet on 12 trips per year. Getting wet on the way home doesn’t matter. Lunch never lasted much past 10 o clock, especially in winter.

[Edit: what they^ about tubes and pump. It pays to get a bit obsessive about picking flints out of your tyres and washing, lubing, fettling.]

New routine is stumble down stairs, make coffee, log on.

Am missing the miles, a bit of a tubby tustard these days…

I’m with you on this one op. Rising damp is a myth, although Leonard Rossiter is a legend. My view, is not to let it sway your decision too much, if you like the house, go for it. If this is you rationalising a gut feel that it isn’t for you, then trust your gut.
Live in it for a bit, put the heating on, open the windows, if it’s still a problem later then look at it.

Whatever you do don’t tell the bank!

@bigbutslimmerbloke:
Millport?

What about mounting the rack differently? Something like this link[/url] might be the way to go?

Or maybe this sort of thing other link[/url]to sort the top end out and onto the skewer at the bottom?

we tend to do turn about with others in the village – pretty much the other much the playground /nursery mums. Otherwise, the rate in the OP sounds fair to me – just enjoy your night out and don’t worry about it.

Hiya vorlich
I’ve got a few names I’ll dig out for you.

I think roof should be more like 3 K for a materials – more if there is wood needing doing. There’s a bunch of crooks been round here offering to spray some grey ‘thermal’ paint on them that cost the old boy 2 up 7K – they wrecked the roof doing it so he paid 4.5K to get it re tiled.

Wiring depends how much you do yourself, cutting channels, etc is easy but messy. If it’s just new sockets and fittings do it yourself. I did about half the work on ours then got a sparky to finish off/fit a consumer unit. £700 (homer)

8 rads and a Vokera boiler cost 4K (semi-tame plumber)

I know a guy does chimneys, but no idea what he charges, will ask if you want?

edit – oh and what ever the survey says about rising damp, ignore it. There’s no such thing!

I liked the 20l one of these, till I fell off and it wasn’t waterproof any more.

So I got another. It had a waist strap, which I found a bit restrictive (you can clip it round the bag, rather than yourself, or just cut it off), and I didn’t use the side straps, cos they buzzed in the wind. Plenty of room for shirt, work papers/laptop, lunch, shoes at a push, etc. lasted through several Scottish winters and still going strong. Totally dry – like not even a hint of damp.

Back ventilation wasn’t its strongest point, but there were showers at work, so I put up with it – it didn’t really seem to be an issue on the bike to be honest.

Yellow seemed the obvious choice for visibility.

Hard to look past the Felco’s for my money. There’s a set that comes with a small stone to keep them honed.
As thepurist said: bypass and anvil do different jobs.

Avoid wobbly rotating handles – they are the egg-rings of the secateur world.

there’s an obvious pruning joke, but I’ll leave it.

struggling to resist the urge to ask you about wheel size

have you got the bead down in the well of the rim?
bit of washing up liquid?

twa plain pees ana hingin in an aa’

It’s all back to front though isn’t it – some are licensed to use the road (license in the sense of ‘have permission’). Others don’t require a license (permission) so must be the ones who are there by right.

Is the link on a hidden sheet?
Any protection on the workbook?
what about the linked file – does the context of the data there give any clues?

If I remember rightly, breaking the link will leave you with the last values that were linked (so changes to the formerly linked file no longer have any effect). If it’s your mileage claim this is obviously less of a problem than if the data includes the launch codes…

I’d be inclined to agree – personal view is that cranks are typically longer than they should be. Some (slight) advantage in a shorter crank is that there’s less risk of pedal strike when you move to the fixed cog. Some argue shorter cranks are easier to spin, which would suit a more fluid style of pedalling on fixed.

Where are you riding it? kilo on the track or commuting, or something in between?

another smidge vote.
have they changed the skin so soft recipe – or are they getting used to it?

I was in a similar situation to the OP and ended up with the Sorata Pro (which I think is the same as the RSP Plummet). Mine came from ebay, but looking back the price has gone up considerably since. It was about £75 when I got it.
It has three positions: up, down and in the middle. Some others have the middle position further towards the top of the post – just down a little bit – which might be better for the pedally bits.
So far I’m happy – it isn’t flashy, but really does seem to make a difference.