djbobbins

I never got called to blocks of flats on that type of job but remember cracking a smile when, whilst we were standing around a recently cleared manhole, a posh lady at a house in Cheshire seemed very shocked when someone in her house flushed the loo and a big "Richard the Third" floated past. Apparently they don't have bodily functions in Cheshire!

On the Bill Clinton theme... slightly dated now but: Bill Clinton flies back to Washington DC from his home state of Arkansas in Air Force One. As they bring the steps to the 'plane, Bill comes walking out with two piglets. The security guard says "Nice pigs, Mr President!" to which Bill replies "Son, these are not pigs. These are genuine, pedigree, grade A Ankansas Razorback Swine. I got one for Hillary and one for Chelsea." The guard waits for a moment then responds in a definitive tone "Good swap, Mr President, good swap."

I don't know if Ms Piper is good or not, but if someone could arrange for a test drive, I might be willing to volunteer - just for scientific curiosity, you understand! ;-)

What was the reason for doing that? Damp / ventilation issues?

I've done a few menial jobs (pot washing in a pub, helped on a gang clearing blocked drains) but the worst job I've had was made that way by the boss, not the work itself. Many things are tolerable when everyone is in it together; in my case I had a boss who gave no support or steer but wanted everything done yesterday. I lasted nine months. When I left uni, I went to a temping agency in Manchester and got offered a place starting the next day on the Salford City Council council tax helpline. I was desperate but not that desperate...

I'm fearing the day they make each person get onto the scales at the check in desk; I bet Ryanair must have thought of doing it already...

So as a thought, to reduce your risk of under-costing it - why not go back and tell them you'll calculate the materials required, let them place the order and you do the labour element on a fixed price? If they are building houses they should also have the plant and contacts to get the ground level ready for the topsoil and turfing too - one less thing for you to get caught out on?

Also sounds like a credit risk to me - under pressure to get the job done, does you getting paid depend on the house being sold? Likelihood of the developer - and all the money you've spent on materials - going 717s up if the sale is delayed?

We live in Germany for a bit and the bigs shops over there aren't allowed to open apart from on five or so Sundays per year. (By big I mean anything bigger than a newsagents, although petrol stations and bakers were open). It felt strange at first but once you got used to doing the grocery shopping on a Saturday, it meant Sundays were much more special - for days out as a family etc. This was helped by the fact that you're not allowed to mow lawns on a Sunday (so I was told) meaning that it really is leisure time. Oddly enough, many of the Germans around where we lived spent their Sunday nipping over the border to Maastricht, Roermond or Venlo (the three nearest big towns over the Dutch border) all of which did a roaring Sunday trade...

Surely the 99p must be including VAT or anyone would be mad to go anywhere near it!?!

We have got BP fuel cards through work. Typically 2-3 p cheaper than my local Tesco.

Good post. I've been trained in a previous life in incident investigation and also done some of the IOSH courses. One of the tools we use in my current company is bow tie risk assessment. I've bluntly, but with good effect, explained it in a different way to colleagues as the "sh1t hitting the fan": Think of a fan in the middle of a piece of ducting, sucking air in at one one end and blowing it out at the other. The fan is the event that has the potential to do harm. On the inlet side of the fan, it should then be possible to stop the event ever happening, for example avoiding working at height if possible. I like to think of these as baffles in the ducting. Providing there are enough baffles and they don't have common failure points (like human error) it should be possible to remove the risk of the event taking place. On the outlet side of the fan are the the things that prevent that event, if it ever happens, from doing harm. This is another set of baffles (in my simple brain!) which stop the sh1t from the fan blowing into my face. This can be fall arrest equipment, PPE etc. Sadly many people think PPE is safety but it's the last line of defence. If this can be of use to anyone in terms of doing risk assessments or coaching people on workplace safety, please feel free to do so. No-one goes to work with the intention of not going home safe.

A small amount of petrol is useful for the first oomph, but burns too quickly to get anything green dried out. Trying to solve this by using more petrol = asking for trouble. Heavier grades of oil, with slower combustion, are the way to go if someone wants to use liquid fuel. Or veg oil, for that matter - less of a concern about it getting into the soil.

And this: Bluntly, using more than about an egg cup of petrol to start a fire is a recipe for a Darwin Award!

This:

No tyres! A handful of straw and if you are desperate, a tiny amount of petrol for the initial ignition. But trying to use petrol to get green material burning is dangerous and futile - it burns too quickly to dry the wood out. I'm not averse to a bit of used engine oil for getting a fire going but try and keep it out of the ground...

ELG, I've been to the U.S. and watched the TV. My TV licence here in the UK is about the same cost as a paper cup of coffee from Costa / Starbucks. This also pays for the BBC radio production costs. I'd gladly pay that to be able to listen to BBC radio 4, radio 5 and radio 2 rather than anything with adverts in it. So the TV is free!

Not quite the same, but when I was working in an office, we were talking to our manager's PA about something to do with the electronic calendar system and what types of meetings different people had visibility of. Whilst standing there in the middle of the office, she came out with the cracker of "Oh yes, I can see Keith's privates!"

I can't help but think it's a slightly skewed statistic. I don't particularly doubt the numbers, and can easily understand that one of the reasons for the large number still in the road is the straightforward design and ease of replacing parts. However, that makes me think the statistic is a bit like saying Trigger is still using his first broom. It's the same Landy but with a new chassis, engine axles and body panels etc etc...? Having driven both and owned one, give me £1500 to spend or a journey of more than five minutes and I'll pick the Isuzu Trooper that I had - but maybe owing to being 6'2" and Series Landies being designed for someone about 5'7". It is still a sad end to a British icon though, I hope the replacement is good.

Seems to be a few people posting to say that they've got arisings going free, but not local to me unfortunately. I'm based just west of Warwick and looking to stock up on timber for next winter. Hardwood preferred obviously but in reality I'll have a go at burning pretty much anything other than elder. Happy to collect with a trailer from anywhere within a sensible distance (say 15 miles) or will gladly put a beer tokens in someone's direction if you could drop a tonne or two of arisings at my place (5 minutes or so off the Warwick junction of the A46). Thanks all!

I did the horseshoe route about 10 years ago, in summer with no prep other than a few pints in the pub the night before and a night "sleeping" on a sofa about two foot too short for me. Me and a mate made it up and down, which I am proud of, but with better knowledge I'd have chosen a more sensible route. Seeing a Sea King chopper from above, then being on a plateau about 30 foot underneath the same helicopter as they winched someone off was an experience... Enjoy!

My boss sent someone an email today describing me as his number two. Was he being shitty or am I just being facetious?

URL: http://www.eddisons.com/online-auctions#!/auction-catalogues/eddisons/catalogue-id-eddiso10019?page=1&pageSize=60#7dabff9a-d569-4abc-8d0c-a5920115b4f9

Not good to see anyone cease trading but if there's folk out there in the business of installing or supplying stoves, or just anyone in the market for a stove, you might want to take a look at this: Eddisons | Chartered Surveyors | Integrated Solutions Jot up and Clearview stoves with starting bids of £300, whole racks of vitreous flue etc with a starting bid of £5...

Changed the fronts on my Yeti earlier this year when it had 42k in the clock, although the I'd used some winter tyres in between I think the Continental low rolling resistance original tyres must have done at least 33k. Now at 57k and the rears still have about 4.5mm tread left.