Ok, all news to me and nothing on my council website specifically relating to pizza boxes. I did find this recycling page which is way worse than the boxes I put out.

@teethgrinder

Cheers but on reflection it might look more than a bit dodgy loading a ?stolen fence from the woods 😉

Was it the cyclist who called it barbaric etc. as it is made to appear, or as said above, just clickbait crap journalism? Still dangerous though and must have taken some effort to position it! Chopwell Woods does seem to attract some ‘interesting’ characters.

That bit of fence would have come in very handy and I only live 1/2 mile away!

I don’t think the price point is going to be an issue, in fact it will probably sell much better if it can be mostly sourced/manufactured locally in a sterile handbuilt hut made out if driftwood and be 5-10 times more expensive than an equivalent spec. from outside the UK 😉

Bugger! The Pepsi is now playing up, the rotor sounds ‘rough’ and to cap it all an old Seiko 5 which has always kept very good time has also decided to stop. I wonder if the Ebay guy will do a bulk discount?

On the plus side, while rummaging about for something/anything that worked,I came across a Zenith Xl-tronic in a bag of ‘cheap’ watches which belonged to my Dad. Hopefully just needs a new battery as the movement looks like new and was a nice surprise when I opened it up.

Thanks Johnners, I think it might be the same guy who services a non-running movement for £79 but it’s probably worth the upgrade to a better movement.

I use it as a bit of a ‘beater’ and prefer my ‘Pepsi’ anyway which also needs a service! Might just sell it and get a lump like This Divex

Following on from Seiko ‘black monster’ I fear my one needs the movement replaced. Its 10 years+ old and was running 5 minutes fast in 24 hours and as soon I touched the regulator (only touched the ‘lower’ arm, honest guv) it stopped. Dab of oil and it’s still dead!

Any suggestions or recommendations for replacement welcome. I’m in the NE if that makes any difference.

Ps. I dont have the patience or skill to even think about doing it myself.

Follow up on ‘rentability’ with dogs.

Just booked a cottage for a week in September in Beadnell. 4 adults, 3 dogs. We were between 2 very similarly priced properties but the ‘dog charge’ was £60 in one or £210 for the other. That’s £150 to spend on beer and a Birthday meal for Mrs W so in the end it was an easy choice 😉

Have a look on http://www.porsche924.co.uk which has a good buyers guide and other info on all models.

I have an ’85 924 which I bought when living in The Highlands. It’s a lovely thing to drive and the handling makes up for any lack of BHP. Easy and relatively cheap to maintain. As a budget classic it’s great but if I had the money I would go for an S2.

I don’t really accept the ‘higher cleaning costs’ argument though; 

There are extra costs, as unless you have a hairless or non-shedding dog there will be hairs which can appear for days later no matter how carefully you vac and dust + it knackers a whole washing load if a hair covered sheet inadvertently gets into the washer. Some owners really don’t care how manky their dogs are after a day out in the hills!

I used to charge £10 per stay per dog which I think is very reasonable. I’ve been charged £20 per night for my 2 mutts which I think is ridiculous, especially if you stay for a few days or more.

Good choice on Golspie,generally better and drier weather, you won’t have the midge issue or the throngs of tourists and still easy distance to ‘rugged’.

Could never understand the attraction of Ullapool, couple of ok pubs but the hotel with chippie next door are classic tourist RIP-offs and are truly awful and should be avoided
even though they get the odd celeb client and despite the fact that I stood next to Tilda Swinton in the chippie!

What’s the best way to deal with being hounded for a ridiculous bill. Short version is my Mother rented a 1 bed flat for 2 months and has a bill for >£900, £850 was for the first 7 weeks! Nothing different in last 2 weeks regarding usage. Meter readings taken by me at all stages and are correct.

Bulb refuse to admit something has gone badly wrong, sympathetic etc etc but are now threatening “debt recovery” via email as they only have old address. This has now been going on for over a year. Mother has now gone into care so very tempted to ignore. Any advice or ‘inside’ knowledge welcome.

My experience of Tefal Ingenio is total opposite to above. Now on second set but the first pair lasted nearly 2 years (still useable but not as non-stick) after being hammered daily in a commercial kitchen.

The metal is soft and sides dent easily if dropped but the detachable handle, which I thought would be a weak point, still works.

Bruneep

I can fully empathise with your Wife and I had the added “bonus” of not currently working (former Rapid Response Paramedic) and have moved from Scotland to England recently, so no proof of current address.

I was contacted weeks ago by NHSP who had already done all the checks and approved me last June for T&T and I had also completed all the basic statutory training. Guess what, that doesn’t count as they won’t use the previous info and are also taking up references AGAIN! The vax specific training modules are a nightmare as I’m using my phone while waiting for broadband!

I am at the point of telling them to stuff it, particularly when you read of people already giving jabs with absolutely no previous experience.

Quite impressed that myself and Wife got one at local pharmacy having recently moved back to England (neither of us apparently entitled in Scotland which was ridiculous as my Wife has qualified for many years due to asthma)! Quick call, appointment and done within 24 hours.

Good to see a few on here have played to a decent standard and like me just lost interest/circumstances changed. Haven’t been on a course for 3 years now and content myself with the odd bucket of balls at Paul Lawrie’s place in Aberdeen. I’ve been asked to play a few times by old mates since being back, but a combination of potentially embarrassing myself (they all are low single figures and one still a pro) and 5-6 hours for an outing has made me think twice.

My old club has changed a lot and what you park appears to be more important than golfing ability! Maybe that’s a reflection of Aberdeen in general though and I’m not sorry to be moving down south again at the end of the month.

As above, the need to be squeaky clean and a solicitor is essential IMO. How well do you know this person? What is expected of you now and in the future?

I have POA over my Mother and even with no siblings or outside factors to consider I have to be very careful that everything done is in her best interests. It’s not something to be taken lightly and may involve a fair amount of work in the future.

Good advice above and although I’m not up there anymore, some of our most welcome guests were bikers on tour.

IME there was a fair % of locals who made the wannabe NC500 racers look positively tame!

Still no resignation…….what is she waiting for? Is there some financial reward for being ‘sacked’ as opposed to resigning? Can’t think of any other viable reason (other than being a complete ****) why she hasn’t.

Off A68 between Satley and Consett.

So think I’ll go for a Pathfinder.

There is one local to me I’ve had a look at and they tick a lot of boxes….except for the road tax on most of them!

Can’t find anything on that problem. Seems to be a tough old beast with not much to watch out for other than the usual stuff with an old car.

Must say don’t think you’re doing bangernomics right targeting complex cars that are expensive to maintain in old age

You’re probably right but the BMW has cost me about £900 over the past 2 years which really isn’t bad considering the level of performance. More recently, I had a Saab 95 and Disco TD5 for 3 and 4 years respectively and both had less spent less than that. Main issue is that my Wife doesn’t trust the car any more after an incident where we lost all power on a busy road, Dingwall to Ullapool, while fully loaded + 2 dogs in the boot and all the doors locked! Turned out some muppet (not me!) hadn’t secured the earth on the battery and it had somehow worked its way off. The damage was done!

I like something just a little bit different otherwise I’d be looking for a Mondeo Estate, so any suggestions on those lines would be welcome. Shogun or similar would be fine too as quite enjoy chugging along sometimes, I need my license and don’t do huge miles.

Ad is Here on Gumtree so don’t know if it’s possible to tell difference between old or newer from that?

4WD is needed as going back to Co. Durham and living in countryside at top of hill on a small road which definitely won’t be cleared in winter + hopefuly might get the odd day skiing at Weardale and 4WD makes things so much easier ;)

Update

Damn, it’s auto box, towed a caravan and doesn’t know if factory fitted towbar, so I guess that’s that.

The search continues for something large, 4WD and without too many obvious potential gremlins!

Cheers for the really useful advice and pointers, a couple of those may be issues in last MOT ‘advisories’.

I’ll have a chat with the guy to see what has been covered maintenance wise 👍

Anything re promised (Aberdeen in particular) update today? I cant find anything other than latest figures and assumed there would be a news conference at some point.

The easiest option is to buy a blow up doll and put in in the drivers seat with the engine running when you go to the supermarket. This will stop any opportunist car thieves, allow you to park on a proper slope overnight and keep you company if you get lonely in your tent.

As above it’s worth trying to get it started with jump leads and drive for at least an hour. I have a pretty knackered battery in my old BMW 3.0 diesel which I link up to a cheap solar trickle charger (about £25 IIRC from Halfords) if I’m not going to be driving for a couple of days and it seems to work fine. It will probably have to be replaced come winter though.

Not in my local Tesco mini. None of the shelf stockers, or the manager, have been wearing masks up to and including yesterday and there is no room in the aisles to even consider social distancing. There is a token one way system which everyone ignores.

My other local is in Cults (posh area near Aberdeen) and masks, distancing and generally behaving in a considerate manner are very prevalent. It’s an interesting social insight!

Assuming your building isnt run by cowboys they should have a register of known asbestos in the building

That gave me a proper lol given where (IIRC) FunkyDunc works. Wouldn’t trust them as far as I could throw them ;)

This quote from The National, admittedly not the most unbiased of publications, did give me a laugh.

Asked about a video circulating on social media, in which a man in a fake hazmat suit and tartan facemask can be heard to say “Stay the **** out of Scotland” to the camera, Johnstone said: “I know that one video and that is obviously the thing that’s going to go viral rather than the peaceful stuff.
“To be honest the word ****, it’s just how people talk, and just because he has used that word it doesn’t mean he was being nasty.

Otherwise the group appeared to be at pains to point out there was no racist element. Link to article here

From the owners of the cottage, they cancelled on us.

Even more surprising given that they will have had virtually no income this year. The suspicious side of me wonders if demand is so high they have cancelled and ‘re-let’ at a higher rate.

I really don’t get this anti-English stuff as tourism from south of the border makes up a large % of income and employment + many hotels and B+B’s are owned and run by English anyway. In a couple of years up there my Wife only came across it once, in Oban, which came as a bit of a shock being a Monkey Hanger and generally accepted as an honorary Jock!

Apparently there’s a lot of hostility towards tourists, up to and including vandalism of holiday cottages.

That surprises me having moved from nearby to Ullapool a few months ago. Where did you get that info?
If true it seems a bit of cutting off your nose to spite your face, as I would think they would be desperate for tourists. Mind you there are dickheads everywhere.

…..tips usually only end up with the front man/woman.

Not true IME although it varies from business to business and there are some greedy bastards who don’t share tips with staff.

I like being able to tip when I feel I have received good service and my personal opinion is that people who make a big deal out of never tipping use it as an excuse to justify their own meanness!

not paying the tax you owe is not comparable

If only that were true. It just goes by a different name and the wealthier you are the better your accountants and more ‘efficient’ your tax liability becomes!

At the more cynical end I’d guess it’s more to do with management not passing it on to the exchequer, continuing furlough for people actually working etc. But that’s me being cynical.

Not cynical, as it’s the same shops around here who are taking cash only who also seem to frequently have card machine ‘issues’ at other times!

You are in a corner if you have paid the full amount

Depends how you paid it and it’s often not so easy nowadays to ‘pay on completion’. You have the advantage of the seller and fitter being the same company so at least they can’t blame anyone else.
As has been said, be reasonable and if the owner is decent then he/she should rectify it to your satisfaction. It could have been a new fitter and the owner will be very keen to keep up a good reputation, especially if as they are in that type of market as parquet flooring isn’t cheap!

How? Hindsight is a wonderful thing @seosamh

I have a lot more respect for her since Covid as she has presented herself very well. How genuine it is I have no idea (I would like to think it is) and even Alastair Campbell appeared to have mellowed in his piece yesterday.

It obviously helps her significantly when compared to the moronic clueless shambles over the border.