Peasgood

Wasn’t particularly old either. RIP

Pretty feckin nice tbh. I think it peaked at 32C today. Rainbow at Rainbow Beach Qld. At Harvey Bay now.

Walnut

Looks six of one and half a dozen of the other to me. A green wheelie bin in the road is not traffic management and the cyclists were completely unaware of their surroundings. No doubt the tow truck copped for all of it though. What gets me is that he wasn't the one lying under a broken bike in the road crying, everybody has to take some responsibility for their own self preservation don't they? (as well as being responsible for the safety of others of course)

https://packaged-media.redd.it/67yu4rd1z8bb1/pb/m2-res_720p.mp4?m=DASHPlaylist.mpd&v=1&e=1738692000&s=a372094d990229c71d15fa744af25c88b7422034

15 years is possibly the oldest thread revival I have seen. Always surprises me anyone even finds a thread that old.

I wish I had run on red all those years too because I have never been dipped.

In the last 30+ years I can only think of 3 times where I needed recovering. Once in a supermarket carpark when the fuel solenoid failed on my diesel Orion. RAC disconnected it so it would start but you had to stall it to turn the engine off. Ran it like that for weeks before actually fixing it. I was in a 12 ton wagon when some of the pistons became disconnected from the crankshaft. Uncle dragged me off the M56 with a Merc van, handballed the load onto our other wagon and never saw the broken one again. Another time was a puncture on a Vauxhall Movano in Manchester and I couldn't undo the wheel nuts, I bent the wheel brace in half trying. Point being I would have been much better off over the years just pay as you go rather than RAC, AA etc. Having said that, if I was doing a lot of travelling and motorway miles far from home I think I would go with the cheapest of RAC, AA or Green Flag for peace of mind. ps. I have been lucky I guess as I certainly haven't been running around in fancy vehicles, most of them if they broke down they'd be best left where they were, same as the wagon.

Any of the comparison sites would get me truck insurance for a third of what the NFU renewal was. I couldn't justify staying with them, if it was just a bit more I probably would but 3 times more expensive? No.

That's sad. RIP I know she did loads of stuff but Sister Morphine is one of my favourite songs.

Have to say that is the other issue, signs left out long after they should be. How many times have you seen Road Closed signs out when the road isn't closed? I'd say at least 80% of the time the road isn't closed at all. There are currently such signs outside my house, road has been open since 3pm yesterday. Temporary traffic lights when the only obstruction is the fat feck asleep in the transit that brought the lights in the first place, you can't say you never saw that.

The nanny state has resulted in the complete erosion of self preservation. Cyclists getting into arguments with cars and joggers running towards oncoming traffic in dark clothing, at night, in the rain seem to be a national pastime. I 100% do not understand it.

Your wilted leaves look like fireblight to me but could be due to canker. Either way they are nothing to do with the aphids, woolly or otherwise. Best thing for woolly aphids is to paint them with methylated spirits, it breaks down the wool (which is actually wax) and dessicates the aphid. Earwigs are what eat them rather than ladybirds and I have yet to see a woolly aphid population controlled by natural predators. Ants in your trees are not good but not as bad as ants in your pants. As said, they farm and protect aphids but the non woolly sort.

Can't think why it would be complicated to sweep an unlined chimney, they were all unlined until relatively recently. Get a recommended sweep in if you don't want to do it yourself, otherwise just undo the stove pipe, lift it up and drag the stove out of the way. There's likely to be soot on top of the baffle plate inside the stove and possibly fallen bricks on the register plate. None of that is hard to deal with either diy or paying a sweep.

I measured the tree lying down behind my tractor with a tape, it was 82'.