AHPP

My mum used to make excellent flapjacks. Ginger syrup is the secret weapon.

Often. Have several ideas for books. The most likely one is principally an excuse for a motorcycle tour but it’s a good idea nevertheless.

Wok Oil/lard/whatever Onion Salt Whatever meat - couple of cut up sausages in this one Prep your veg while it fries Greens (very roughly chopped the mange tout or it’s messy to eat) Garlic and chilli Quick turn but don’t let the garlic fry too much. Just sweat it to wake it up. Whatever carbohydrate, pre cooked Spices - I usually go with cumin, coriander and turmeric but held back on the turmeric this time because all my crockery is yellow Shake of nutmeg makes everything better Two mugs of water Turn the lot and let the water move all the spices about. Add more water if you want it soupier or serve when the water’s pretty much gone if you want it drier. Five minutes bubbling will do that. Chopsticks for the majority but take a deep spoon for the straggling bits and the soup dregs.

I’m not bad at cooking. I don’t do anything very complicated but I can make something out of nothing pretty reliably. I’ve noticed a few other forum members over the years seem to have some good ideas too. Post them here. I’ll start us off. From the plate up: Warmed plate Fried bread (toast for the infirm and elderly) Avocado, chilli, garlic, balsamic vinegar and olive oil mashed up Black pudding Fried eggs Salt while the eggs are frying and black pepper once you’ve split the yolks Bon appétit.

Size looks good but are Freelanders as bad as most Land Rovers? He's not a mechanic.

Yeah. That sort of thing. What's the road tax?

He'd class both of those as large. Any ideas in medium?

I'd have thought that it's more likely because that's a commonly googled question. But your phone is listening to you. I've had loads of instances where I've discussed something I don't usually discuss and then I get adverts for it.

My dad's after a medium size 4x4 for a bit of hobby work in his maturing years; some fencing, cut up the odd tree etc. He wants to tow a light trailer from time to time and very occasionally a horsebox. He's not that bothered about being legal towing the horsebox (which I imagine are plated quite high?) as long as it doesn't look ridiculous and the engine and drivetrain handle it better than his current small Volvo estate. On road tax, he's used to £46 a year so anything's going to be a shock. Am I right in saying that when you get into the bigger vehicles, they can go up into the £400 and more range but if the vehicle is deemed (presumably on the V5C?) to be a commercial vehicle, blanked off windows etc, it's a blanket £260 ish that all vans are? I was thinking something along the lines of a Nissan X-Trail, maybe an Izuzu Trooper or that Mitsubishi that looks about the same size. Toyota Rav4 might be a bit small. Budget £2000-2500 ish. What do people reckon?

Oil first and swill the cup or one-shot with petrol to make sure the full measure of oil goes in and the mix isn't weak. And like Stubby, shake before filling a machine.

Do clockwise and anti-clockwise passes round your head with both hands. Four passes total. That’ll get it all most of the time.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you’re a supremely useful fellow to have on here.

I did a job yesterday. Loads of straight up, straight down little birches and a couple of willow so almost all just on a pair of strops. I did use a single climbing line (mystery rope that someone gave me fifteen years ago btw) to transfer into a weak one and took it up the biggest willow to rig a branch off my harness bridge. Did a good bit of one handing a domestic battery backhandle. Only started a 250 at about 16:30. Took seven hours with breaks and finishing the groundwork that my groundsman didn't get to while he was smoking joints. Safe and productive day. Happy clients. They should be. The next cheapest quote was £3000. I did it for the wood. No point really. Just thought it might annoy Edward.

Does anyone on here have experience of BOTH the mechanically injected and the electronically injected (common rail) engines in 2000s Ivecos? With Ford Transits for example, there's a massive difference. Mechanically injected ones broadly speaking work. But with common rail ones, all you ever hear about is smoke, warning lights and VERY expensive electronic injectors. Is the difference with Iveco engines as stark? I'm looking at a 2008 common rail 2.3 but the common rail is putting me off.

It's not insurers generally. It's specifically ones who profit from legally mandatory insurance. They stand by while the state sticks a gun in my face and tells me I have to have it and then they charge like Jews because they can.

Adrian Flux got me a policy from Equity Redstar for a Discovery that I stuffed into a parked Micra. All reported immediately, straight down the line, totally my fault, no injuries (Micra was empty), should have been £500 for a new Micra and £10 for a bunch of flowers to say sorry to the girl whose car I wrote off. Sounds easy doesn't it. They still didn't shield me from a form N1 ("we're suing you" paperwork) arriving a few weeks later and they were then a nightmare to pass the problem to. More recently, I was with Brentacre for a sort of campervan. They do other weird stuff, specialist, luxury etc. They were OK for a few years. I forget why I fell out with them. Probably ever-increasing premiums. They're all cunts. These days I go as cheap as I can possibly get and would always try to sort a prang privately before involving insurers.

Nobody in their right mind will admit to being part of it. It’s an abhorrently big pork barrel project. The only public infrastructure project worth doing is digging a hole the size of Shropshire and burying the government in it.

Value IS subjective. Huts and fairy lights make these people happy. The absence of those things makes you happy. Subjective. Different subjects like different things. You say destroy etc. Bear in mind humans are part of the ecosystem too. If squirrels could, they'd slash and burn the trees, lay concrete and farm nuts in polytunnels. A few wigwams are neither here nor there. Man plans, god laughs. It'll all be trees again one day. I stand slightly corrected on your employment but you do come across like a government worker.

Since we're already off topic... It is subjective (all value is subjective). Ponds and brambles are great for naturewatchers but bad for housing developers. Clearings and wigwams are great for forest schools but poor for industrial coppicing. etc etc I understand from your posts on here that you work for the government so may struggle to understand the notion that people's property is theirs to do what they want with. You don't have to understand or like people's choices but you do have to respect them (or they might stop respecting your property rights).

The (albeit subjective) harm to woodlands aside, it's a great business model. I especially like the bit where generally ghastly people get ripped off. I can't wait for the bubble to burst and they all sell up because they've had enough of arguing with neighbours about leaves blowing into their plot etc. I'm going to make utterly insulting offers, firmly looking them in the eye to make sure they know that I know that they know their predicament.

Have you come across (or done yourself) any numbers on the costs of a diesel engine running on red and a petrol engine running on propane? Which does more work for the same money?

Certainly have, got a digger on hire making a track so it is can be driven to, then need to sort out alot of renewables, and wiring in house, insulate all the walls, renew windows, few wooden floors down, convert an attic into a bedroom, sky lights in, re fit bathroom, carpets upstairs, jobs a gooden! Sounds excellent. Updates please.

That's the ballpark. I know of one probably similar to Stihl's that was £13k.

I'd also happily drown a VAT inspector in a horse trough if that helps.