Check out the TITSA buses.

Ignore me – missed the bit about young kids and Evening.

They are pretty good for getting you around the island though.

I haven’t got any rack but trying to decide between steady rack and velo hinge.  Think I want a swing able rack otherwise I’d go for the hooks from planetx linked by tallmartin.

Has anyone tried the velo hinge?

Feedback Sports Velo Hinge Bike Hook One Size https://amzn.eu/d/hrhlFuk

Particularly interested in any comparison between the velo hinge and the steady rack.

Would recommend Grohe showers as well.

Whichever Jabra or Plantronics / Poly model fits your budget.

Be careful with buds – my brother is now deaf due to using buds too much.

Really easy today – a oner.  Going to have to change my starting word now though.

Wordle 772 1/6

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Discovered a nice Brexit bonus on our recent ferry journey.  Remember the days when your phone asked you if you wanted to connect to the ships maritime network and told you the extortionate prices you would be charged if you agreed to connect?

Now your phone connects automatically and you find out after the fact that despite not using your phone on the crossing you’ve been charged £20.

I’ve had issues with LSR in the past (boot resole fell off within a month – but not their problem as I’d waxed my boots which means their glue doesn’t work).  No such issues with Feet First Resoles in Chesterfield.

emergency services must be getting swamped with calls

Yes we are.  Driving us potty.  We’ve gone from 101 calls outnumbering 999 calls by 5:1 to now it’s 1:1.

The other great thing is that Android didn’t let emergency services know they were releasing this update so the first we knew was when call volumes went through the roof.

We have a 13 yo boy who sheds dirt as fast as the golden retriever sheds hair.  We have the basic cordless stick Shark which gets used daily on the hard floors downstairs and the corded Miele cylinder is used on the carpets every 1-2 weeks.  The Shark wouldn’t have the battery life to do the whole house and if we do the hard floors with the Miele they won’t need doing again for 2 days instead of 1 day.  The Shark gets used for a quick whizz around because it’s cordless and convenient so may be the way it’s used which means it’s not as “good” at cleaning.

It’s worth considering the train, most Scottish rail station car parks are free and if parking at Eskbank (Dalkeith), Wallyford, Musselburgh, Brunstane or Newcraighall it’s only 10-20 mins on the train to Waverley in the city centre.  Just check what the Sunday service is.

You need to do an r-stroke.  Start with the paddle a little way from the side of the board and in front of you with face of blade facing the board then move paddle towards the board then turn it so the face is towards the rear of board and move it along side of board as close as possible to board and as vertically as possible before removing paddle from water at end of stroke.

I can’t remember why an r stroke is better on a SUP compared to the J-stroke which someone above described.

When did they make this verb a noun?

Wordle 718 X/6

⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
⬜🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟨🟩⬜🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩

My insurance increased by £10 after the roof blew off.

We’ve just moved (across the border from East Lothian to mid Lothian) and found that houses are generally going pretty quickly (less than 2 weeks) if they’ve been priced and valued right. Houses are generally advertised at offers over £5000-£15000 less than home report value and a successful offer will be in the 3-5% over home report range. Our estate agent described the market as balanced between sellers and buyers but the days of 10% over home report value are a thing of the past.

Good luck.

Would recommend Dave Marshall at Neilsons in Edinburgh or Struan Douglas (used to be Purdie &Co now at Coulter’s.

If you find that anyone in your chain is using Monarch Legal then insist they change solicitors.

Phranakhon was gorgeous for Thai a couple of years ago.

McNetts Tenacious tape. My down jacket has multiple patches on it.

Edinburgh trams set the pricing to discourage you from using the tram to the airport. To travel from Ingliston P&R (free parking) to the airport is 3mins and £6.50 per person.

To travel from Edinburgh City Centre to Ingliston is 32mins and £1.80. Price goes up to £6.50 if you continue to the airport.

The bus from the city centre to the airport is just as quick and cheaper £4.50 but doesn’t stop at the P&R.

I’m in Musselburgh (about 1 mile from Dalkeith Country Park). Haven’t been into the country park but plenty paths here and on the coast near Cockenzie still had sheets of ice on them yesterday and there’s been another keen frost overnight so I wouldn’t expect any thaw to have happened yet.

We’ve just been through this with a family friend and a family member. For some items we had to use a valuation from an auction house specialising in those items and others we were able to get valuations from the musical instrument shops which had sold her the instruments.

If you have a guitar shop or vintage guitar shop nearby they should be able to help with the guitars or if you can find out where he bought them from they may be able to help. Similar with the hifi set up.

Although the tax burden is higher in Scotland there are several things we receive in return which England and Wales don’t get as listed above by Robola. Also several public sector employees (teachers, NHS and police are the ones I know about) are paid significantly more than they would be for doing the same job in England.

You’re going to need to let them to inspect the sofa. No retailer is going to give you a refund on a custom order just because you’ve told them it’s faulty. Whether the person inspecting your sofa on behalf of the store is employed by the store, by the manufacturer or an independent furniture assessor contracted by the store is irrelevant.

By refusing to allow them to inspect you’ve just been added to the “difficult customer pile” so can now expect very little proactive help from the store. If I were you I’d get straight back on the phone to the store and arrange for your sofa to be inspected.

If you get the ME Ibex you may need a different belt as the grippy buckle thing isn’t very grippy so slackens off as soon as you breathe / move thus defeating the purpose of having a belt.

I’m still using some Sprayway rainpants from years ago which work really well for my winter hillwalking.

Phranakhon for Thai food tapas style.

you phone the police they will arrive fully tooled up as they don’t know whether the firing mechanism is still in it or not

Not that likely -it depends what is said on the phone call. If they say “We’ve found a gun in a cupboard, we think it’s decommissioned and haven’t found any ammo” then local plod (firearms officers if you’re lucky) will turn up to take the gun away or you’ll be asked to take it to your local station if you’re happy to. If you phone up and say “there’s a mad woman waving a gun around, we’re not sure if it’s decommissioned or not and haven’t seen any ammo” then you can expect a very different response.

Don’t forget it’s not £6 you get – it’s tax relief on £6 so either £1.20 or £2.40 depending on your tax rate.

The thing is, in law, you generally have to be 100% right, or you end up looking a bit of a tit

If this is how you think the law works then you’re very mistaken. I’d suggest another conversation with your wife.

Don’t be surprised if it sits in Australian customs for months. Although that was probably 15 years ago. It’s really annoying when you can see all your lifes belongings have tracked into customs and are just sat there waiting clearance for 4 months before they can be delivered to you.

Have used autoaid for years (also covers my partner in any car, home start and misfuelling cover as standard). They use their contractor for the area. Used them several times and the only issue I had was that the initial call handler didn’t describe the fault correctly to the contactor so they turned up with a transit van when it was obvious it was going to be recovery so I then ended up in a courtesy car and they took my car to my local mechanic the day after.

No guarantee human error like that doesn’t happen in the big firms either.

Appropriate trolling by Pointless on BBC1 just now – “British prime ministers who served more than 2 years”

Used to drive to the Alps in winter a fair bit when I lived further south. Bridgestone All weather control tyres meant I never used the chains I had used in previous years before all season tyres became a thing. If you look at tyres on cars in the French Alps you’ll notice a lot of Michelin CC or similar on the locals cars. If all seasons are good enough for the locals then I wouldn’t bother with full winters unless you absolutely have to make journeys at specific times and cannot ever delay your journey. Not driven there for quite a few years since moving to Scotland as it’s too far but do like the Michelin CC for Scotland.

FA cup final is June 3rd. Was the original favourite date for the Coronation but they’ve then chosen May 6th.

Have just bought our son a Yamaha Pacifica from guitarguitar. Great service – he spent quite a bit of time trying different guitars and despite trying a “better” guitar which was nearly new for cheaper or similar price it was the Pacifica he liked most and wanted.

It can be a good idea to get them the guitar they want /like most (within reason) as they have to want to play it.

Was clearing out the garage a month ago and threw away the box of emergency candles which I inherited from my grandparents 20 years ago and have dutifully kept “in case of emergency” through 6 house moves. Will have to rely on headtorches and gas camping lanterns.

5% has been offered to civilian police staff in Scotland up from the derisory initial offer. Police officers accepted 5% but we’re being balloted on this offer at the moment. Will see what happens.

can’t see how funding affects decision making.

If I remember rightly you’re a teacher – if the number of pupils in your school increased by 20%, ASN demand increased by 10% and the number of teacher / staff reduced by 10% are you really saying this would not have an impact on the decision making over which support to give to which children, which incidents of bullying you deal with and which you don’t. Pull the other one.

If you’re scared of heights aren’t you able to send someone up the mast instead who knows what they’re doing / has the kit already?

That’s bad that you haven’t had a response from the investigating officer at Police Scotland yet. Can possibly be explained by the way shift patterns, annual leave and queen’s funeral have lined up but I would have hoped somebody would have been in touch.

You could always complete the complaints form on the Police Scotland website. At the very least some people will get some feedback.

Just get rid of the milk, use whole eggs and butter.