Just been having a browse around a few weather stations to see what's been going on. The one nearest my place in Wales suggests it was windy, but not excessively so, with the strongest gust being around 16 m/s or about 35 m.p.h yesterday afternoon. Rain was pretty heavy though with over 70mm in...

Yes, Wales got a good deal out of EU money over the last 30 years. It seems like every road widening scheme, community centre, business park and coastal defence project relied in no small part on EU money. Not to mention the support for farming. The last few thousand jobs are disappearing from...

Well, they've been doing so over the last three or four years. During the Covid years they delighted in having different rules to England. I passed police roadblocks but never got pulled myself. In that part of the world as a middle aged man in a Land Rover with a roll of fencing wire in the...

Yes, I've often thought about this myself. I haven't bought a 3 phase bit of equipment yet, but I will do one day. Originally I thought I'd take the three phase motor out and put a single phase one in, as they're not that dear...

My mother had something very similar - a great deal of pain in her leg originating from her bad back. It seemed to involve a combination of pain, numbness and paralysis. Interestingly enough, she too had a rather jerky driving style, treating the accelerator a bit like the button on top of an...

Xylia's out of hospital. Swelling and inflammation much reduced but with loads of tablets to take. We've had a Mexican takeaway for tea to celebrate. The people at the hospital continued to be very thorough right through to the end, with a checklist of questions about whether she'd got keys to...

We hired a hydraulic compactor once. It was jolly good fun. It was one of those things with a separate motor and hydraulic unit, and hoses leading to the tool itself. We had a flat 'punner' on it and compacted trench bottoms for footings. You could put chisels in it as well and use it as a...

The compact? Or do you mean the compactor?

That's something which has improved over the years. People just took it for granted that a new car would be full of holes after five or six years. At least they don't rust away quite so quickly now.

Yup, sounds like you've found somewhere nice. @Bobsticle 's characterisations of Manchester ring true as well. There was a time when city life was exciting and interesting. As a teenager I couldn't wait to go and live in a big city. Now I'm looking forward to getting away from them. The real...

It's probably worth noting that in 1974 there was a lot for people to do in Leicester. There was still a thriving textile and footwear industry and a great many people either worked in it or serviced the machinery - there were a great many sewing machine mechanics and loom mechanics for example...

Isn't it interesting that in the 1950s and 60s manufacturers would try and pretend that their manual cars were automatic by providing a column gear change. It made things look more luxurious. Then as time wore on they started trying to make the automatics look like manuals by puting the shifter...

Yes, those 'residence tutor' type of things have been going on throughout most of my own working life. You're on duty in case the students need anything and in return get a free or at least subsidized room. Sadly some of the staff who did this tried to use it as their own personal dating agency...

I think even the rather dilatory Leicestershire constabulary would take an interest in me if I started taking pot shots at my neighbours. I think I'll leave them to their packets of mysterious white powder and synthetic cannabinoids, washed down with convenience store lager, and nature will...

I remember it being said that painting is a process which protects a surface from the weather but exposes it to the critics. People love being negative, and you're getting the equivalent of 'look, you've missed a bit'. If hydrogen build-up was that much of a problem, most of us with Land Rovers...

Come to think of it, we've just had a letter from the council about the amount of rubbish being dumped in our road. It says they are investigating it and this could lead to unlimited fines and costs of removal, because it's an offence under section 33 of the environmental protection act 1990...

Well, first of all, if you like litter, Leicester is one of the best places to be. It's everywhere. Decorating roadsides, in front gardens, drifting along streets like a sort of papery tsunami in windy weather. We excel at this rich, vernacular street art tradition. I pick up a lot of rubbish...

Also I noticed as I came home that some of the disposable nappies that have been disposed of in our street had been run over by passing cars and the faeces had been expelled. It's a good job I wasn't standing in the way when that happened. Those of you who can live in rural areas full time are...

Xylia's just emailed me to say that the facial recognition software on her Apple devices is recognising her face again, so it shows the swelling must be going down. She seemed much better when I went to see her today and there is even some talk of her being sent home early in the next week, so...

Ah, so it's a factory original rather than a later adaptation. Put me off buying it, because when you buy someone else's project you buy all their bodges too.