*Bob*

No doubt a Tree Dude can give a comprehensive answer, but... nature generally 'just wants to grow' and with established trees - unless there are other underlying problems or you do something mental - you have to try quite hard to do any real damage. If you knock them back later - rather than earlier - after the growing season has started then of course it has to start again, but you're only losing a bit of seasonal growing time. Think positive.. it might even be enough of a delay to get an extra year out of them before they need doing again. Personally I think the bare pollarded plane trees look well cool, innit

They only started filming halfway through..

There are several giant Sycamores from where I'm sitting. None of 'em have been pollarded and they're only just starting to come into leaf as it is - so I wouldn't worry about it. Pollarded ones always take a bit longer to sprout back, as Marmora Man says.

It's a Northern thing, Pibe - which initally takes root in not wanting to queue and pay for the cloakroom in a nightclub - and then creeps into everyday life.

Do not use Dreamweaver No interest in Dreamweaver *Bobby*

.. and Rye Lane would certainly benefit from a dozen or so mediocre curry houses and the same number of estate agents. Perhaps we can organise a trade?

Rye Lane has what Lordship Lane needs: fourteen places to get your phone unlocked and a tonne of fish ice dumped on the street every night.

ruffers Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > When does a hotel become boutique? When they're hoping to charge more for the rooms.

It's your body, of course. Feel free to stuff it, starve it, pierce it, sell it, euthanise it - I'm all for personal choice; whatever makes your happy, if you say it works for you then crack on and good luck. I can understand the point of some crashy-style weight loss regime in order to make a big impact - and then after which you still have to do the hard work to maintain your new superbody in perpetuity. Makes sense (though rarely happens). But a crashy-style weight-loss regime simply to tread water? To make-up for your 'bad' days?! I can't help feeling you're just pissing in the wind. And sooner or later your bladder will be empty. And it'll still be windy. It's not about living a uniform life or being 'bad' or 'good' - it's the simple maths of calories in and calories out - from today - to the day that you pop your clogs. Sustainability is everything. If anyone currently doing the 5:2 is still doing it in five years I'll eat my lo-calorie hat. They'll be on to the next fad regime. And if they're anything like my own diet-lovin' friends, they'll all be exactly the same size as they otherwise would have been, give or take a few pounds - only with a few less spaces on the bookshelf.

What would happen if one simply adjusted their 5/2 regime to spread the '5' potentially piggy days out over, say '7'? Actually, keep this to yourselves. I intend the release a book soon - I'm calling it 'Happy Sevens'. I shall be feted by This Morning and Closer magazine, become a multi-millionaire and end my days dead on a slab at exclusive clinic following a botched liposuction procedure.

Me? I've been on the Slim-Fast plan since 1984. Still weigh a tonne though.

It's essentially a series of miniature-crash diets instead of one big one. The bravura aspect of this latest novelty diet is certainly making it appealing to men though - more so than other diets. 'Fasting' sounds so much cooler than 'dieting', of course.

'Here comes the science..' When it comes to weight loss, never underestimate the willingness of otherwise perfectly sane people to reject the obvious and embrace the fad.

I'm cranking-up the Louisa air-raid warning on this one.

Two years tops, it'll be in the bin along with Rosemary Conley's hip and thigh - and all the rest.

StraferJack Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Bossman may be the single thing that shifts me > away from lifelong lager drinking Bossman has quietly turned into one of the best local shops we have. They'll give you a discount if you buy over a certain amount too. So get down there, buy one of everything that looks interesting - and make your own mind up!

Have you been to Boss Man? - there must be at least 100 varieties to try there.

Please everyone - if you must eat eels then make sure they are pole and line caught.

What about the following week?

Has anyone tried the 'one week molluscs only, one week balancing on one leg humming Dambusters' diet?

'bout now Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > No Louisa, a fiver for the whole shebang with > whatever you like on top. > Sorry. Let's just call it ?6-?12 - for the sake of argument.

Cherries, CRAP (shakes fist at sky)

Shannons is pretty decent. Usually get fruit and veg plants online - from Defland Nurseries. Last year sucked big time on the 'edibles' front though. Apples, crap. Tomatoes, crap. Beans, crap. Bloody nature, eh?

I think I can hear a violin playing..

Keep digging though, Louisa. No hole too deep etc