*Bob*

Bliss.. Why didn't I do this before?

I'm afraid I'm going to put your posts on hide, now UDT. (bibble bibble.. Shhh...) So.. This is it.. Farewell.. enjoy your weird life, on planet tit.

Yes, it would seem, yawn, etc, that, BORING.. Go away.

Ability to interpret posts, zero.. Nice work, Rain Man.

Yes, I just can't handle it! Help! Help! I'm joking, UDT, you big tit.

Jesus Wept.. will someone please release me from this pointless and endless circular discussion, where all possible points have been covered at least seven times! "Pleeeeeeease releeeease me, let me goooooooo.."

You, a ladder, a pot of paint. Maintenance cost = not much! Think our total sash spend in 15 years has been about ?1500.. and two thirds of that was getting a few working that had never opened since the house was built. Surely this bizarre thread can't go on. Nobody in their right mind would agree that PVC looks as nice as wood. Nobody in their right mind would disagree that PVC is easier and cheaper. Stir into the mix how much you care, how much you can afford, how much you can or want to do yourself.. it's your house.. do what you like!

Yeah, well said, Tony. These bloody Clapham incomers with their damned wooden windows. Sheesh! Back to Russia.

I'm more of a steeplechase man myself. There are usually a few hurdles to get over.. and a bit of splashing.

I doubt if Bolt would be able to curl one down that quickly. Which begs the question: who is really the fastest man on earth? Bolt or Pibe?

Testing positive for Sunny D? The shame, the shame..

The lad won Gold and refilling wine glasses last night.

I've seen so many people from all over the world win their events and often felt all lip-trembly and even a bit blubby (shh.. don't tell anyone). It's an exciting event, but after the 100m I felt nothing. Worse than that, it was an unwelcome reminder that Sport + Fortune + Fame more often than not = act like a bit of a cock (See 'football').

I was very cynical about the whole 'legacy' thing ("Think of the kids!") but in all honesty the effect on our six year-old has been a real eye-opener. He's glued to every sport - absolutely obsessed - and wants to start doing this and that as soon as it's over (might have to persuade him against sailing.. sounds expensive) He still has no interest in football though, luckily.

The sight of the preening, primping, posing sprinters - mugging for the cameras - has been my least favourite so far. At least it's all over quickly and they're off the screen asap.

Fair enough.. Thank you.. And sorry for being arsey too. I totally get the cost factor, and can entirely appreciate why it would be mad money for many. But there are surely occasions and places where fitting anything other than wood could be equally mad. I really don't know what the profit is on manufacturing wooden sash windows.. I can only think that if it were 'so great', someone out there would be cleaning-up by doing them for less and still making a healthy profit.

I am taking the piss somewhat, Fazer.. As your bullish style of agressive know-all posting, where your way is THE ONLY WAY and what other people are prepared to value somehow makes them an idiot - asks for it. You've already spent twice as much on a bathroom for a flat than many people (not me.. But many others) would consider sane.. Yes.. Several thousand pounds down the toilet in order to have something 'nicer' which you value, when many other lesser alternatives and finishes would do the job and still look good and work just as well. Sound familiar? You fabricate a bizarre black and white world where, apparently, owners of Victorian properties are required to replace masses of windows in one fell swoop and decide plastic or wood, smart or idiot, there and then, when the reality is more often one of ongoing maintenance and 'what fits' with the rest of the house as it stands - or the houses on your stretch of street. Turn your self-appreciation dial down a notch or two.

You're the one who keeps banging on about how much your bathroom cost - at every opportunity.

No worries, we've got one one those - as well as the nice windows.

Oh god.. 'the bathroom'. Again.

As I said, some people can't tell the difference, some people don't care.. Good for you if you've got what you want. But don't confuse 'you' with 'everybody else'! Personally I think you should forget the Victorian Dream and find yourself a nice new-build. Before you suffer an apoplectic fit, halfway through building works.

I have seen the new uPVC ones. They're an improvement on the old ones, but - in situ - they look like plastic windows. There's no getting away from it. They look especially plastic from the inside, especially if they're in an environment with other period features, where they stick-out like a sore thumb. I know you've got them, so you have to pretend they don't, but they do. They'rew ultra-smooth, no nicks, no build-of of paint, no imperfections in frame or glass, fugly locks, dentist white.. In other words.. Bosh.. Sore thumb. When you look round a lot of Victorian houses with a view to buy, you notice that the ones with more period features, wooden windows included, go for considerably more, because people are prepared to pay the extra: not everyone, granted, but a significant enough number to make said features worth having an maintaining. And with prices upwards of 600k even for the smaller properties seemingly eye-watering maintenance costs can repay you when you sell. Or - as Red Devil said, kick you up the ass if you've cut costs.

There's a certain irony at play here. Not long ago you complained (in another thread) of the evils done to Victorian properties, poor build quality, poor material choices - and yet here you are gleefully fitting something that some other schmuck, somewhere down the line - another you - will have to remove and replace, cursing under their breath the person that fitted it, either because it's broken or it looks rubbish. The fact that you can cycle down a road and pick out all the houses with uPVC at speed tells you all you need to know. As for hassle and cost, aesthetics versus practicality, what else does this apply to? Why would you want the hassle and cost of, say, owning a garden, having wooden flooring or certain types of upholstery fabric, when an option exists to have alternatives which are more hardwearing and take less looking after? Why? Because they look nice! And most things which are nicer take more looking after!

I agree, if I had brilliant white plastic windows all over the inside of my house, I'd make an effort never to look at them. But that's a red herring.. I'd never have bought that house in the first place. As it goes, we have nice wooden ones with their many charming imperfections, painted in shades of white sympathetic to the rest of the woodwork.. which are worth looking at - when I'm not beating off over a can of paint, of course.

White? Which shade of white?