Lemming

peckman Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Night shift security guard at digbeth coach > station , birmingham - I was 19 - I was basically > told to lock myself in the office for my 12 hour > shift . One time day shift guy didnt turn up so > did 36 hour shift .. at digbeth coach station Now 'funky' Digbeth, of course. Different cities, same stories.

Yes as DB says, there are all sorts of rules and regs unique to specific situations (depth of foundation, proximity and type of tree, soil type & water content, requirement for compressible clay boards). In any case you can't just do what you like (or what other people have done) because the building regs guy won't sign if off unless he's satisfied it complies with the regs. Furthermore, it would be great if structural engineers and buildings regs people are unanimous in their agreement as to the interpretation of those regs, but IME they are not always so.

bargee99 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- Building control > insisted that the builders match the depth of the > house foundations. The majority of the Victorian houses around here don't have foundations in any modern sense. Our (1 storey) extension was required to have 2.4m foundation trenches dug but the rest of the (3 storey) house sits on fewer than half a dozen stepped-out bricks!

fishbiscuits Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Ha. I was hoping I'd wind up a trendy-DJ-dad! > Preferably one who likes to spin a few "choonz" to > get things started when the dinner guests arrive. You've got me all wrong! I'm like you: I gave up on all new music around the time of 'Screamadelica'.

This is all very disconcerting. One the scale of 'Toploader' at one end and 'owning decks' the other, I'm wondering where an SE22 fortysomething should ideally be positioning themselves. Is it ok to use the Djay app (assuming you're not playing Toploader on it)? Could the style gurus and influencers commenting above offer further clarification?

peckham_ryu Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The thing about all of those well-marketed memory > foam hybrids is that they?re actually cheap > mattresses. They?re the sort that bed shops sell > as spare room mattresses. The difference is the > ubiquitous and slick marketing - there?s no good > manufacturing or quality reason for the cost of > them. > section. Give the overpriced 100 day guarantee > ones a miss: good mattresses don?t need a 100 day > return gimmick to get sold. Agree on the first bit: give them a friendly sounding name, ramp up the marketing and double the mark-up. Had a go with one of these hybrids some time back. Even with the discount of ?200 (post Christmas sale) they seemed cheaply made; no wonder they're on sale 'a lot'. That said, a 100 night money back guarantee is to be commended. There's no 'good' or 'bad' mattress: only the one that suits you - and there's no substitute for being able to try it out properly without fear of being lumbered (lumbar'ed?) with the damn thing forever. They honoured the 100 day no questions asked refund without any problem.

TheArtfulDogger Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Late night saturday(s) coming back from Soho , > uber quotes and charges almost exactly the same as > a black cab (surge pricing) and also proved more > difficult to get as they cancel after accepting. The menace of The Surge! Well, supply and demand in action there: the surge can be double at absolute peak time and place, no doubt. Good excuse to head back into the pub for another drink then try again. In small defence of The Surge - it is I think transparently explained by Uber, seems to be geographically localised quite precisely - and can disappear as quickly as it arrives.

Black cabs are available on 'Gett' - which works in a similar way to Uber. Last cab journey I took with Uber cost ?22 on Saturday night. Comparative black cab price for that journey at the same time would be ?42. Maybe the former is too little (hence 'it's good to tip') but the latter is absolutely too much, unless there happen to be five of you travelling.

Clearly any insurance issues or other malpractice need to be resolved. As to the rest, I can only go on personal and practical experience. Virtually I and all of my friends use Uber, which translates to thousands of journeys since it started. The worst any of us can say about them are occasional cancelled rides (leading to another, say, 3 minute wait) or a surge fare from time to time. Never had any issue with any driver. Cars are 95% decent. If you feel the drivers are underpaid, tip them. I do. The driver keeps 100% of the tips.

Sue Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think you are confusing two murals .... > > The one on the side of The Lordship has been there > for some years. You're absolutely right! I blame red wine - and hereby withdraw my comment about cocks and balls.

alice Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Could anyone clarify why mural by lordship is > horrible. I had thought I liked it. Let me explain - as clearly you lack the required 'eye' to appraise this catastrophic occurrence. Previously we had a large, featureless wall - composed with unpleasant beige bricks which were fired sixty years too late to be in keeping with 90% of the houses in the area - exuding all the charm of a soviet era social housing block. This wall was clearly a much-loved asset to the community. That someone could have the SHEER CHEEK to apply paint OF ANY SORT to this icon of mid-century design is BEYOND BELIEF. I haven't seen it yet, but personally I hope it's a giant cock and balls - which would definitely be in keeping with at least some portions of the locality.

edcam Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I would imagine after what happened they'll now > the be the safest planes to fly in. Why would > they take any chances? If another Max goes down after this - it could be the ruin of Boeing. As a consequence I expect the re-tested Max to be one of the safest flying. As for choosing the type or aircraft or airline being some sort of luxury decision, that's just nonsense. If you going to fly to, say, Russia, what's it going to be? Aeroflot or Finnair? I know which one I'm going to be on..

Went there once a while back; felt a bit sorry for the owner guy in there who chatted to us. The writing was on the wall (read: going to fail) even back then. Think they'd had fairly 'meh' reviews from a couple of publications after opening which obviously didn't get them off to a good start, but underlying this, the interior/ambience was all a bit wrong and the pizza, while fine, was unremarkable. They needed at least one (or preferably) both of these to be better have succeeded. Voodoo Rays looks more inviting in terms of ambience. That said, we've never been in there because the pizzas - sorry, pizza pies - on show look ghastly.

Agreed, Philips are a solid brand. They also print all the information relevant to the product on the bulb itself, which is handy when you're trying bulbs out and you've mixed up all the boxes. Do seek out LED filaments bulbs with DTW tech though. Regular dimmable filaments without this feature don't quite look right when dimmed. And check the lumen output (how much light it puts out) alongside the wattage of the bulb as well. Improved tech means they can get more lumens out of the same wattage. In Philips' (Philips's?!) case you can buy two 8w DTW filament bulbs, one puts out 400 lumens and the other 800. And finally, if you're particularly anal about it (which clearly I am) - when you've decided on the bulb, write the date you installed it on the bulb itself. A 5 year warranty is no good if it fails but you can't remember when you started using it. The manufacturers DO honour their warranties to those who can be bothered: I've returned some failed bulbs after 3 or 4 years and received replacements, no questions asked.

You can replace the dimming modules but keep the same faceplates and switches/knobs to cut down on cost. Buy a decent quality module. Varilight V-Pro modules are good (and quiet) with LEDs (haven?t found any incompatibilities yet). Probably about ?10 each or so online. Civilight GU10?s are the best light-quality-vs-price I?ve found, not much to criticise about them. Nice light at full blast and they have a dim-to-warm feature that is also pleasing. ?13 each for the 7w ones. 9w also available if you need mad-bright. https://well-lit.co.uk/store/led-spotlights-gu10/ We also have some Soraa LED GU10?s which do things that old halogens can?t, but they?re only really for specific technical applications (and will be too pointlessly expensive for most unless you need the features). For the rest of them, you?re going to have to experiment a little to find what you like. Unless you?re desperate to save a few quid on a bulb, stick to the handful of very well-known brands and forget the rest for these. LED filament bulbs will be the closest attempt at incandescents. The newest varieties (this is the problem with a lot of LED bulbs - the backlog of older tech clogging up the internet) will also offer a dim-to-warm feature - to replicate dimming of an incandescent yet further. You can usually recognise DTWs because they show a colour temperature range (eg 2200k-2700k) instead of a fixed temperature (eg just 2700k) in the technical blurb or say ?dim to warm? (or just ?DT? in the case of Philips) in the product description. Filaments used to be lower power, 'for decorative purposes only' as they say - but their power has increased and it?s possible to get LED filament 100w equivalents also with DTW these days. The places I would avoid filaments are where the bulb is also shaded by a warm coloured shade anyway, or where the light is illuminating a warm coloured wall. In these cases, the combination of filament yellow plus the extra colour of the shade or wall may end-up making the whole effect too sepia-warm (even for you!). in these cases a decent non-filament (but still warm 2700k temperature) LED bulb might work better. The better of the specialist bulb retailers will let you buy a load of bulbs and try them out with a no-quibble return policy. Buy a boxful of different types, wattages, brands - and experiment a little to see what you like without actually being stuck with anything. The future has definitely arrived, but it does involve some legwork.

Sue Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I only posted that in response to the people on > here who think that as soon as you contact your > insurance company re any kind of cracks they > immediately mark it down as subsidence on your > file or whatever. They might, they might not. However, if the option exists to take this initial decision out of the hands of a for-profit business - by way of a relatively modest outlay to a completely impartial (and possibly better-qualified - at least in terms of the first person the building insurance people send over) expert.. there's a good chance you might be glad you did. Experiences may vary and it's nice to see some kind words for the industry on here, but equally I doubt there are any shortages of people who feel their insurer has been an absolute bastard as soon as the opportunity arose.

Sue Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The cracks were not due to subsidence. I didn't > have to pay anything for the surveyor, I was not > covered for the repairs by my insurance company, a > builder did the required work (can't remember what > it's called but it's very common, the back of the > house was falling away - less awful than it > sounds! - and had to be fixed back again, a > relatively quick and easy job). > > There was no "subsidence" marker applied anywhere, > to the best of my knowledge, and my premium wasn't > affected. Consider yourself lucky. (Well.. the first time anyway.)

I would be wary of rushing to my insurer as a first port of call and mentioning 'subsidence'. If you're concerned, employ a structural engineer to assess. He or she can tell you if it's subsidence or not. If it is, or could be, proceed to insurer. If it isn't, remedy privately (it's only going to be cosmetic repairs in this case anyway).

Personally my hearts sinks on the few occasions I?m forced to ?do Bromley?. No doubt a perfectly decent place to those who like that sort of thing but - to me - it represents the exact same banal pedestrianised surburbia I?ve intentionally and successfully avoided since leave home. If you can?t find a load of stuff you like within a few miles radius of our bit of London, you?re living in the wrong place. And paying a pointless premium for it.

As no-go areas go, it certainly seems strangely busy. I doubt one less unfortunate halfwit on its streets will do the popularity of the place much damage.

intexasatthe moment Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > it seems a little... um .... counter intuitive ? I'm not so sure. If you have the money to be able to afford a house for ?1.2m+, chances are that you also have the money to indulge your desires - and afford something pretty snazzy on the extension front. An already-extended home completed with a relatively modest budget (which is a lot of them) is unlikely to satisfy demand for said snazziness - nor offer the architectural blank slate to add it to taste. To some people it will feel like they're paying extra for something they don't think is up to scratch - and might even cost more to alter compared to it not being there in the first place and they did it themselves. I've seen a few recently completed extensions done by people relatively new to the area. They're a league away from a Quicklofts on top and PlusSpace on the bottom.

Definitely go and see them. Also be aware that if you're fitting a 'low e' glazing product, most (if not all?) low e coatings can exhibit a slight misty/milky look when full sun hits it - not something mentioned by most suppliers upfront (strange, that) - which might or might not irritate you. There are benefits to low-e to balance this downside. Consider a solar coating if you get a lot a sun through the window - especially if it doesn't open. Solar is a relatively inexpensive addition. Again, check you're happy with the coating: they do change the colour of the glass slightly (a blue or yellow tint - I think the yellow is nicer. Some companies promise invisibility but I have my doubts!) We have some 'much more expensive' glazing, supplied and fitted by Maxlight and some 'much less expensive' glazing supplied by Velfac (fitted by the builders, who hated fitting them. With hindsight one of the recommended sub-contractors Velfac recommends might have been easier and probably cost less). Maxlight were good with supply and fit. Not cheap by any means (but not the most expensive either, there were some eye-watering quotes some way above theirs!). The Velfac products are obviously less premium - but IMO represent pretty good value, have a nice modern look to them, - with some nice options available (such as being able to have aluminium on one side but not the other - and specify colours of both sides). I know they've expanded their product range in the last few years as well. Good luck!

A big fixed glass window will be the most cost effective - but there'll be no access or ventilation of course. Nicest would be a glass pivot door: they're really nice to use, look good open and closed - but are expensive. A casement glass door or oversized turn and tilt window (fitted floor to ceiling, depending on the size of the aperture - there are limitations) would also be worth considering and give you the look of a large piece of glass with some vent/access. They all might look a bit odd in a trad victorian rear lounge setting though imo

This is great news - for those with nostalgic memories of "drinker's pubs" - who in reality only go to pubs once a fortnight for a pint and a half. Those who harbour a strange deep-seated resentment of a local business that operated successfully for 15 years will also be delighted. (Suspect there may be some overlap within the above.)

Loutwo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > A problem I have raised numerous times on the > forum and been accused of trolling. You failed to 'insert winky smiley'. Follow this simple step and you shouldn't have any trouble in future.