DaveR

Weezy, Dija, Getir etc. None of the above currently operating in ED as far as I know - are there any that are, and any experience of using them?

Fernando is great - polite, hard-working, reliable and knowledgeable. And great value.

Any offers/recommendations for this?

Being a bit pedantic, and slightly tangential but this: "You might find it's a problem in the wet as 'slick' tyres have less grip than the fatter, knobbly ones, especially as the back wheel is more prone to slip as it carries more weight.." is a common mistake. On a bike slick tyres grip better in the wet than knobbly ones, and carrying more weight also means more grip, not less. In both cases, more rubber in contact with the road = more grip. The only reason to have a tread if you're on a hard surface is to disperse water and avoid aquaplaning, but you'll struggle to go fast enough on a bike for that to be an issue. Knobbly tyres are only useful on soft/loose surfaces.

https://theconversation.com/uk

When there's an accident based on whether someone saw/should have seen it depends on all the facts - lighting, weather, road layout etc. The fact that a cyclist doesn't have any lights or reflective gear is obviously relevant, but not determinative. I cycle to and from work most days and similarly I can't understand why anyone would cycle on the road after dark without lights.

It's not difficult to find a women's hybrid or road bike weighing less than 12kg (though it depends on frame size, and the final weight depends on what else you might add to it - a rack, for example). It's more difficult to recommend anything without knowing what you want to use the bike for and roughly how much you want to spend. FWIW, I reckon Pinnacle bikes (the Evans house brand) are very good value, especially if you buy last year's model, and both Ridgeback and Trek (which Balfe's stock) are good bikes and have a good range of models at different prices. I hope that helps.

Do you actually agree with this: "School children are required to attend school. But with the worsening Climate Destruction this goal of going to school begins to be pointless." If you do, you really need to go to school.

Should road bicycle users/cyclists be taxed and insured? The very short answer is 'no' The short, rude answer is 'no - why don't you f%ck off' The short polite answer is 'no, and there is no good reason for it. The fact that some people don't like cyclists is not a good reason'. And the long answer is 'There's no such thing as road tax, just excise duty on cars. Like there is on fags and booze but not on cakes or gloves or hammers or cat food. No reason to put it on bikes rather than hammers. Compulsory insurance is a political decision but essentially is required where there is a clear public need for it i.e. the risk of an indemnity being required but not met is widespread and/or serious. You need insurance to keep a tiger but not a dog. You need insurance to set off a firework display for the public but not to wave sparklers about in your garden. You need special insurance to drive a bus full of passengers, regular insurance to drive a car, and no insurance to ride a bike. These all make sense.

Plusnet

"I recommend reading books by Catherine O?Driscoll regarding vaccinations." Is this the C O'Driscoll: "She learnt Emotional Freedom Technique in 1998 and is qualified as a practitioner and teacher under the Association for the Advancement of Meridian Energy Techniques (AAMET). Catherine is also an ACT (Animal Communication Training) examiner, and a qualified Reiki." Why would anyone recommend her advice for animal health over that of a qualified vet?

"....Do you feel these companies words can be trusted, or do you also feel there advice should be taken with a sackful of salt." I guess this is a fair point, if you assume that essentially the entire medical profession are in the pockets of Big Pharma. Statins have been around for a while and have been (unsurprisingly) very intensively trialed and tested, and were the subject of a comprehensive review in 2016: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(16)31357-5/fulltext There may be many reasons why someone would prefer not to take statins, but shouting 'Big pharma, can't be trusted' isn't a good one (and is a common refrain for this poster)

"staff have to be off sick for 6 days before being moved into a formal sickness management process" This is pretty normal. Is there any evidence of Veolia actually being trigger happy in dismissing people for sickness?

Potter Perrin in Streatham. We got everything for two bathrooms from them and were very happy with range, price and service.

These kind of calls are not the same as consumer scams, nor are they necessarily a sign of actual or intended fraud (though there's obviously a risk of that). They are a consequence of the boom in PI claimant firms and the ban on referral fees. Before mid 2013 if you wanted to find out the details of people who had had an accident (potential clients) you could buy them - from insurance companies, car hire companies, anyone who knew - and consequently there was an active market for them. After the practice was banned claims companies had to choose either or both of finding a different way to get details of people who had had an accident, or cold call people on the off chance that you find someone who has, or is willing to say that they have, and is not obviously lying. There are relatively few outfits (I believe) who are primarily in the business of manufacturing wholly fraudulent claims, although I have heard recently about some Spanish based Brits who are openly touting for post holiday food poisoning claims that are largely dishonest. There is a regulator for claims management companies (link below), they do take complaints, and they do take action. https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/claims-management-regulator#guidance-for-consumers

Has anyone been collecting these and has a bunch of swaps? The kids are obviously keen to fill the book if possible and I'm hoping not to have to buy loads more. It seems like very few kids at the school have been collecting (and given the cost so far I can understand that). Though I remember being at school during the 78 and 82 world cups and the whole school playground was full of kids going through stacks of swaps - "Got, got, got, need, got...."

After my first child was born, I got back from the hospital to the house at about midnight, and realised I was locked out. I decided the best thing to do was to climb in through the upstairs bathroom window, but I needed a ladder. I knew the neighbours a bit so thought in the circumstances it would be OK to knock. The lady next door emerged in her pyjamas, retrieved a ladder from the shed, helped me set it up, then took one look at me and the size of the window and started climbing up herself. She disappeared head first through the window and thirty seconds later appeared at the front door and let me in to the house. I went and looked at the size of the window - if I'd tried it I'd still be stuck there now. I was so grateful, but she just said "No problem, I'm going back to bed now". She came back the next morning with a bunch of flowers for my wife. Best neighbour ever.

To anyone living in central London, or even SE or SW low numbers south of the river, this is surely suburbs - zone 2/3 borders, reachable only by bus and overground, most of it built since 1900. Inner suburbs these days perhaps, but you couldn't call it inner city or urban. (Pedantry alert) The number part of London postcodes does not indicate how central you are - it's alphabetical by postal area - so the rererence to 'low numbers' doesn't make sense. And most of ED was built before 1900, in the 1880s and 1890s. That aside, I agree that inner suburbs is the best description - it fits the history, architecture and the general feel. Re 'offensive all night party' - obviously not literally all night, but I'd be pretty hacked off about this: "the last guests left about 2:15 when we switched off the music" if it was my neighbour, whether they'd warned me or not.

"I don't think it was 100% clear the spaces were being replaced, and the cycnic in me (most of me) went straight to the negative." ....because it's a fee paying school?

Botany Bay for the beach then Broadstairs for ice cream, fairground stuff, bandstand etc. The beach at Botany Bay is bigger, less busy, has rockpools when the tide it out, and a stack at one end: https://www.thebeachguide.co.uk/south-east-england/kent/botany-bay.htm It's about 10 minutes drive from one to the other.

Employers have to register with HMRC to put benefits through payroll - if not they have to issue a P11D If registered your tax code is amended to take account of the benefits and tax paid. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/payrolling-tax-employees-benefits-and-expenses-through-your-payroll

More excellent work from Fernando on our sadly neglected (by us) garden. A lovely, hard-working guy and extraordinarily good value.

"Buy some bangers, a flick knife and one of those pens with a stripper on it." This was obviously de rigeur for every school trip to France in the 80s (mine included). Plus we all bought lots of different flavours of chewing gum as well - Hollywood, was it?

To add - I would always get separate washer and drier if at all possible. Driers are much simpler compared to washers and I've never been persuaded that its worth spending more money for lots of smart features.

Although there are lots of brands, there are comparatively few manufacturers. For example, Electrolux, AEG and Zanussi are the same group, as are Indesit, Hotpoint and Whirlpool, and Bosch and Siemens. That doesn't mean they're all the same, but differences blurred a bit. My experience is better to get a cheap model of a solid manufacturer than top end model of a budget range (goes for most engineering based products). Miele generally bombproof, AEG very good, Zanussi the best of the cheaper ones.