NFG

Hi all, I have implemented a simple way to save some water, using rain water to flush a toilet, today we estimated it would save about 120 Euros a year which dosnt sound a lot but its a 'free' 550 in about 5.5 years time - doh! So I thought Id share how I did it & try answer any questions if anyone is thinking of a similar thing. We collect water from the roof into a large 1000 litre butt in which there is fitted a pump - ours runs from 12 V DC but any submersible pump with sufficient lift say 5 or 6m should do, however flow will decrease with height to pump. I only had to lift a couple of metres to go through loft space as toilet on ground floor. My pump had a 1" BSP fitting into 22 mm pipe for a short run connect to a flexible to allow movement then reduced to 16mm. Pipe - I used 16mm (be 15mm in UK) as I had some spare. Larger bore say 22 may not provide better flow as flow would be restricted by inlet fittings on toilet. The pipework was modified with a T junction & an isolation valve & a non return valve on the mains supply to stop cross contamination. Mains water can still be used in summer. Control, this is the tricky bit, I considered several ways & bought a 12V delay off timer (not arrived yet) but the idea is on flushing it will make a momentary contact which runs the pump for a set time - 90 seconds to fill cistern. N

Hi Looks great to me, well done N

Hi From the last two images, Id say Horse Chestnut but the bark looks a bit too fine. Sure someone will ID it soon N

+1 Strange how the national news now focusses on London now the Thames is flooding, clearly this is causing a lot of grief for people but Somerset has been going on since Christmas N

Hi all, Old Speckled Hen - quite available here Wadsworths old timer & 6x Doombar Fullers Gales HSB to name a few N

Hello, We dont like the winter, short days, cold & wet. Its been pretty terrible here the last 2 weeks so youre not alone. I find fixing/making/doing something helps, anyway be March in two weeks time & the clocks will change soon after. N

Hi Some nice ones there & great to see that elderly Stihl at work. N

OK, Heres my 2 - 365 & a 250 but I must admit I have come out in a cold sweat at the pics that WYK has posted, I love that 460 (?) with Sugi bar and full wrap handle but 'Finance' would not approve. That said the 365 does me fine for larger stuff. N

Hi Eggs Italy - says it all really, the French have a two hour lunch break but the Italians dont really do afternoons:biggrin:! N

Hi Sorry to hear your dilemma, but I think you've answered your question in placing the order yourself. You're not alone if finding delivery to France frustrating, when ever we order anything we say, will it be: 1. Dumped in the front garden 2. A note in the mailbox stating delivery attempted then they only return to our area on Tuesdays so you have to wait a week 3. Not able to find any trace of delivery when you enquire about the package & promise to call back but never do That said, most stuff arrives without too much grief, tend to wait for a return trip to UK for important purchases & order stuff that fits in the mailbox from Amazon! hope you get it fixed anyway, good to see you have a nice lot of work in hand N

Hi, Thats really nice looking, hope she liked it Went for a meal at Gastronomie de L'asie, fantastic food and saw quite a few friends. N

Hi You got me there, I followed the link & waited patiently for the stump to be mystically carved into a chair by an invisible saw. That said, I intend to offer it in a range of heights and widths, with or without bark... Wonder how many sales they get? N

+1 from me, I left in '98 & civvy st does take a bit of getting used to. nice saw, that SIP stuff is good kit, I also have a pair of SIP arm gauntlets which the Mrs borrows when shes hedging. N

Sorry my bad, its supported on iPad & iPhone so it may have Mac support soon. N

Hi The company I last worked for sent about 30-100 consignments daily, of the couriers they used: Lynx - avoid TNT - not bad UPS - the dearest but excellent Ive personally used Parcel Force who are OK & TNT again OK & heard Yodel are dire. N

Agreed, good post I dont work in the industry but a good command of the French language is essential to gain any type of employment. There are a lot of on-line resources but nothing compares to speaking it every day. The French are fickle, not easily parted from their money & will happily cut down their own trees or wait till they fall down. You could, perhaps identify businesses such as holiday companies who often have extensive camp sites in woodland & thus require management and contact them in advance as they probably have an English speaking receptionist. That said, employment is not good here at the moment what ever the figures state. Or it may be an idea to try woofing - thats: working on organic farms where you work in exchange for food an accommodation, to see if you like it, no point discovering France is not for you, some aspects can be a tad frustrating; paperwork for example - the French love it. We had been visiting the Vendee area for around 30 years on holiday, bought a house a few years ago with a plan to retire to after five years, but shortly afterwards we diddnt want to go back & have no regrets. Bon chance et bon courage N

Hi Sorry to hear that, however she is in the best place right now & our thoughts are with you both. Wishing her a speedy recovery & think positive. Noel

OK, I think Quickbooks runs native on a Mac anyway. N

Hi Yes, no limits AFAIK, 30 day free trial, its at V6.0 now which I suspect supports up to Windows 8.1, Over last 5yrs, Ive used V2.0 - V4.1 which is very good for WinXP so Ive not changed it. Providing you have 4Gb or more should run well, I allocate 2Gb to XP as its not too greedy! post back how you get on N

Hi A virtual machine is simply a software generated environment for your desired operating system (Windows XP) It is a very desirable way to operate Windows (in my opinion of 30 + years in IT ) on a Mac, I have managed to completely break Windows BSOD once & recovered in under a minute, a re-install of Windows ect can take hours. VMWare fusion is extremely stable on a Mac, if you migrated your existing PC using the converter, once the VM is installed your old PC is not needed, operating system & data reside on your Mac in a designated area. you can also isolate Windows from the Internet & use Mac based programs for Internet use, far more secure from malware etc. VMWare Fusion may well be the simplest & best option https://www.vmware.com/support/windows_to_mac/ for more N

Hi, I use VM Ware Fusion on the three Macs we have, I prefer it to Parallels, because Windows is running in a virtual machine as opposed to on 'bare metal'. In this way Windows just runs like another program, so you can multi task it with ease. A very big advantage of this is the ability to restore if/when it goes wrong, whats rather good is that you can keep your data outside the VM so allow Time Machine to back up any changes Converting an existing PC to a VM is straight forward, so your old PC wil continue to exist on your Mac as a VM. However, Im sure once you start using your Mac, you will enjoy the simplicity & find programs that will replace your MS ones (apart from Access) Bon chance N

Hi, That is a lovely old saw you have there, look after it. I was watching this video in a cold sweat a few days ago (yes I know, I have sought professional help) apart from the missing top cover your saw looks very similar. I hope you intend to get her up & running, Incidentally, I friend of mine found an 08S but its an 08 (no switch) in a skip last weekend Fresh fuel and it ran third pull! N

Hi Why spoil it? I prefer both unpolluted, N

Got a feeling it would be very different over here, even the Gendarmes carry four mags for their pistols. As for intruders, you have every right to protect & defend your property, what happens to them is their problem. N

Hi, I can beat that fairly well but in a different profession. When hosting a domain for a client for about £25, I got asked "wheres our website then?" N