My great uncle joined one of the pal’s battalions very early in 1914. He spent nearly two years in training, and was killed in July 1916. As there weren’t too many people with his exact name I was able to identify who he was and what happened to him to at least some extent.

In 2019 we made a trip over. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval memorial. Thanks to the very helpful Commonwealth War Graves folks there, we were able to get a copy of the war diaries from the day he went missing. And then to visit Trones Wood which he died trying to capture.

Trones Wood was described at the time as unmanaged woodland, with fallen trees and thick undergrowth through which progress was almost impossible. Very shortly after, and possibly while he lay there, it was absolutely flattened. Today it is again unmanaged woodland with fallen trees and thick undergrowth but without machine gins, shell fire and snipers.

I think we were the first and so far only people to visit in his memory. I don’t think his family of the time would ever have had the means.

While we were there we also visited British, German and French graveyards. Today they are incredibly peaceful but the scale of the waste of life was shocking. The whole thing was very moving.

Maybe try some freeze spray? It might shrink the balls enough that they are easier to pick out. No idea if it would work, but got to be worth a try

Yes, my sister who lives in France, sent me a link to an English language article this morning that says they are thinking about dropping the 48 hour negative test for entry.

… he writes from Berkshire rather than Les Menuires as Mrs Forum failed hers. Probably a false positive as two subsequent LFTs and PCR have all come back negative.

My daughter has MS and is more than living with it. She ran the London marathon which is a fair bit of progress from ‘needs assistance of 2’ to get to the loo. She has some videos on Youtube under #IzzyMS .

Don’t ‘over-google’ as there’s a loads of tripe but more importantly the outlook for someone diagnosed now is not the same as it was when a lot of people were diagnosed.

You need a good neuro consultant. There are (now) some really effective drugs which they’ll hopefully put you on.

As there won’t be any water in them I don’t see the point of a cap. I would cut off level with the concrete, bend/flatten the pipe in a bit, and fill over the top.

If you are not happy with that, then pushfit endstops are plenty good enough but will require a clean copper end to fit leak-tight. So would a soldered copper cap though.

I am not a plumber, builder, or expert in concrete/pipe corrosion though.

This thread of greatest hits of Abba references . Its gold.

While it is normal for the vent pipe to be open (and so let rain in) it isn’t normal to have flex pipe as part of it. What is the pipe made of where it goes through the roof?

It is possible to get caps for the vent pipe – we have one on an ex vent pipe that is now a fan exhaust. But really you want to replace the flex pipe with rigid, and slope it downwards as you suggest.

Plumber if you can’t do it yourself, but it should be a simple DIY job.

I would (I did) remove a whole link and add a half link then.

Alright, putting it another way…

If you limit yourself to adding or removing whole chain links then you need half an inch of adjustment to always be able to get the perfect chain length
If you are prepared to use/remove a half link as well then you need a quarter of an inch of adjustment
If you are prepared to use/remove a half link and change the sprocket by one tooth you need an eighth of an inch of adjustment

Maybe you have all you need but the gorilla stomping on the pedals is moving the axle. Also bear in mind that the chain will stretch so it won’t stay perfectly adjusted for long

My stubborn refusal to do the sensible thing and get a proper tensioner has taught me this:
A half-link is a useful option but there is still enough slack to be an issue at some chainstay lengths/levels of wear
A chain ring or sprocket one tooth bigger or smaller is effectively a quarter-link, but that’s still not a fine enough adjustment
A ghost ring is enough to take up any remaining slack that a half-link and one-tooth difference can’t manage
As the chain wears the magic combination of half-link (or not)/extra tooth/ghost ring will change. A tensioner would likely deal with that

In my last house I sanded the bathroom floorboards and varnished. To no great surprise the varnish didn’t last too well. I tried sanding it off but it was very slow going. Instead I removed it with nitromors.

Also not all varnishes are created equal. In that house we sanded and varnished downstairs and didn’t have to touch it again in the 19 years we lived there. I also revarnished the bathroom with something that actually lasted just fine.

I don’t remember what varnish I used downstairs, or for the bathroom originally or for the bathroom finally. So not much help to you!

While it won’t help with the current one, you can ask not to have to complete self assessment if your affairs are simple. As they are if you are just payed PAYE.

https://community.hmrc.gov.uk/knowledgebase/article/KA-01125/en-us

Look! A Squirrel

Rather than start a new thread I thought I’d revive this one. I’ll spare you the video…

Is a washing machine drum supposed to be solidly attached to the drive pulley? I’m pretty sure the answer is “yes”. But mine isn’t any more.

Mid spin it started making a lot of noise. Once it had stopped it won’t now turn the drum. I’ve got the back off and I can turn the drum by hand without the drive pulley moving. And I can move the drum up and down without the outer drum moving. I don’t think that’s normal, or repairable other than a complete new drum but if anyone can confirm?

Interesting topic. We have a massive lime. It has a TPO and a ganoderma infection. We had an arb report which recommended felling it, so we said we would but the TPO folks said no. It is a lovely tree, so long as it stays upright. Tree sap hasn’t been a problem for us but we park 10m away, which is normally upwind. We bought knowing about the tree and the TPO but not about the ganoderma. I’d still buy though. The upside is we have a much bigger garden thanks to the TPO on the lime, an oak, and two sequoias.

I bought one, and I can’t fault it. Whether it will last 4 years or not I couldn’t say.

My last phone’s life ended when the battery wouldn’t hold charge, but I was fast charging that twice a day. The Pocophone I’m only slow charging overnight – as the batteru lasts much longer under the same use.

The fuse is there to protect the flex/cable. As no cable that I can think of would struggle with 3A, and that is more than enough to run the lights 3A will be fine/best.

I’m not a sparky.

Every time I’ve done one of those sessions in which you try on several pairs and run in them, whether outside or inside, New Balance have been the winners. So I bought them. Unfortunately on both pairs – different styles bought on different occasions – there is something about the toe box that means it eventually catches under my big toe nail. Which is very painful.

Brooks come out second every time for me, so I’ve switched to Brooks Ghost. And they are great.

Caveat: your feet aren’t my feet.

BeagleBoy, we spent quite a bit of time exactly where you are proposing last year and it will be just what you want. Also consider the greens and blues above Val D’Isere itself – you can get a free bus up to Val and take the lifts from there. Or even take the funicular up and the cable car down to Val.

The green (and all the other colours) runs down to La Daille can be crowded/icy/slushy/closed. If so, just take the funicular down and don’t sweat it.

GSP would probably be fine but as I listed for UK only I don’t seem to have that option…

I did something somewhat like nbt’s, just in the shower area. Removed all the tiles and the plasterboard they were on. Made sure the remaining studwork was very square/vertical etc. and replaced the old plasterboard with nomoreply (thinner, flatter and more waterproof than plasterboard). There is minimal pipework behind the boards so no real concerns about access afterwards. I did pre-drill the panels before fitting them. The actual panels are pretty light – however staggering about the bathroom with a 8′ by 4′ floppy board covered in glue, and needing to align it to within a mm or two, was entertaining.

The panels are certainly more expensive than tiles but that might even out when factoring in labour. Those I used were on a 6 week delivery so it would have been a double disaster if I’d damaged them while fitting.

Overall IMO they look great and need no looking after. I’d post pictures but don’t have any to hand – the overall look is similar to nbt’s

Shirley the STW answer (according to the walking up Cannock DH track thread) is that you should only be driving at a speed that you know you can stop if a deer jumped out at you without hitting it.

Probably, but not entirely practical as the deer I hit jumped out while I was driving below 30mph. I didn’t even see it until it was flying over the top of the car.

So, let’s say 15mph past even the smallest clump of trees and the deer should be safe enough.

Off to Val D’Isere in the morning, wonder if I’ll spot Jedi?

Clearly, in homage to STW, you should call your baby Robin…

Thread needs moar guns

http://www.lg.com/UK/skyq

Free for 6/12 months depending on how posh a telly you bought. Although you have to pay for installation. There’s probably a catch, but I haven’t worked out what it is yet

I’ve also bought a new LG 4K tellybox, which arrives tomorrow. I researched 4k Blu-ray and it seems to me 4k players are pretty new and therefore expensive b) there are hardly any 4k discs yet c) the telly will upscale anything lesser just fine. So, I’m sticking with my cheap as chips standard Blu-ray player.

Did you get the sky Q offer with your TV?

I would pay money to see them have to walk barefoot and blindfolded across a floor covered in Lego and upturned plugs.

Brilliant: Lego being a European imposition and upturned plugs the proud/stubborn British holdout…

Leave the light on and the extractor fan will stay on. There is an extractor fan, right? If not you’ll just have to leave the door open and a window or two elsewhere.

Any old axe should get through that lot, apart from the big bit near the water butt.

I’ve heard nothing but good about the X27, but a bog-standard splitting or felling axe would do. And it is a good excuse to get a nice axe.

I don’t have an implant, but I have a space for one…

Like the OP I had a molar that was beyond saving. I was offered a choice of a) a plate (bit of a faff) b) a bridge (not great as it involves sacrificing the molars either side) c) an implant (possible cons as per nickc above, who I suspect is an actual dentist) d) leaving it, for now.

I went for d) having checked that I could have an implant later if required. This did require additional dental surgery to check for and remove a tiny bit of ex-molar that my standard dentist couldn’t deal with.

I will probably go for an implant at some point, but the gap I have now isn’t an issue so my current plan is to wait until I need more than one implant and have them done together. I might do one of the dental tourist trips to Hungary when that time comes. I have no idea if my plan is a good one!

Brant: I wonder if that would look better if it was completely empty. At the moment it looks abandoned, and it doesn’t look like a loved/loveable home. Also agree with re-taking the exterior photos on a sunny day, moving the car first! And preferably tidying up the garden.

Any of 1, 2 or 3 are better than 0 – be less chummy than before in case they see you taking sides. Except that was your wife’s idea, and she is always right. Therefore, move house.

Only ride once a week

If you must ride more often, buy more pairs and alternate

Can’t help with the arch support, but I like to think I’ve solved the slow-drying issue for you…

That Formula 1 is secretly controlled by octogenarian Nazi midgets

I did it when I bought a bit of garden from my neighbour. Not much more than a bit of form filling, plus watching out for the other party’s solicitor ‘adding value’. In my case they added in a clause forbidding anything over 6 feet high because they thought they should. When I asked what I was supposed to do with the shed/fence/tree already on the land they removed the clause straight away.

I’ve been using and abusing a Marantz AV AMP on its side for several years. The poor thing doesn’t seem to be suffering in any way. I have propped it on a couple of bits of wood so that it gets some airflow through its side/bottom.

I use a ghost ring for those periods when the chain is too slack, but still too tight to lose a half link

The definitive answer

A solicitor will turn “don’t know” into alternative phrases such as “the vendor has no knowledge, or “the deeds are silent”

Sometimes the deeds don’t say, in which case it is quite acceptable to answer the question with “don’t know”