Early Risers.

[Barry O]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Bear hopes that Baz isn't gonna upset the new neighbours now....

One thought - if the neighbours are planning anything that involves the party wall (a rear extension may well fall into this bracket) then a "party wall agreement" needs to be in place - and that means Baz is entitled to have a Surveyor looking after your interests - with the tab picked up by the neighbours

 

As it happens building a wall less than 3 feet from a window isn't promising. But yes they will need to gain access to our land to build their new extension and it is our wall and hedge not theirs.  Obviously there solicitor and architect are playing awkward badgers.. shame I can be a real PITA when needs must(!).

 

Looks like they intend to just have the extension not joined into the party wall.. to avoid the need for  a PWA.. but I am sure the building inspector may not like that. 

 

Measure the plans.. a 1 foot gap from the "back door" to their next door neighbours fence... could be fun getting anything in there.. 6 bedrooms but 2 car parking spaces (doubt they realise that one Covids is over our front street becomes a bus red route.. so no parking on the grass outside.. and definitely no delivery lorries unless they gain agreement with the Highways Dpt of the Councill. Noticed that one of said lorries has already broken the cover over their stop tap in the path outside.. so they have covered the hole in sand (!)   May be why he has worked for 10 days since last November updating peoples bathrooms.. all of the other trades people around here are run off their feet..

 

 

Sometimes, people should think a bit more about upsetting new neighbours who may have  legal friends  who are quite highly regarded in their profession.

 

Off to enjoy the rest of the day..

 

Baz

[Barry O]

@polybear.. the Raclette is like a large indoor hot plate and grill.

 

You cook meat/fish/bigger lumps  (very good for small sausage, calamari rings,  king prawns, steak, chicken strips etc)   on the hot plate and use the little grill pans underneath (heated from the same source as the top plate) to heat and melt cheese ( you can get raclette cheese) covered with a bit of paprika or diced mushroom or onions.

 

Lovely stuff"

 

 

Baz

[J. S. Bach]

Today I go for my second Pfizer shot; I will be glad when it is done. I had absolutely no reaction to the first except for what felt like a small bee sting when the needle went in. After that, lunch (catfish!!!!) with some friends at Gene's then off to the Holy Week Good Friday service. More food shopping then home. A busy midday.

[polybear]

Bear has a visit tomorrow from someone collecting shed items - between 12 and 2pm, which is smack bang on Bear's chippie time

So there was only one thing for it....today was chippie day

All wall tiles are present and correct, which is good news.  I should really be painting kitchen walls - but I'm not.  It can wait until tomorrow....

Bear is currently watching "Escape from Pretoria" with Daniel Ratcliffe via my freebie Amazon Prime Trial - a good film (so far), though the South African accents can make it hard to understand what is said at times.

[Tony_S]

37 minutes ago, polybear said:

South African accents

The vet we used when we first had a pet hamster was South African. Her accent wasn’t normally an issue but in a moment of excitement as Zippy the hamster made a break for freedom I really thought the vet said while  pointing at Zippy  “Grab her tail”. She looked confused when I replied, “ it is really tiny”. The nurse was laughing and explained the vet wanted a towel to throw over the hamster. Zippy needed dental surgery and I thought a lot of people were unkind saying we could have bought half a dozen hamsters for the price charged. 

[Coombe Barton]

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

Sometimes, people should think a bit more about upsetting new neighbours who may have  legal friends  who are quite highly regarded in their profession.

This is taking passive-aggressive to a new level

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl,

Shelves painted not installed.

Between each coat of paint on shelves, I worked on the trailer.

 

You know when you work on something unmentionable, that you can spend weeks working on it and nothing seems to happen. Then you do something tiny and suddenly there seems to be a huge step forward.. 

Today it was that with the trailer, a couple of small cuts and the flatbed was installed, it fitted perfectly. It's been partly attached, the final attachments will happen some time this weekend when the zinc paint has dried. Suddenly the trailer looked like what was in brain, a happy boy I be.

 

I also attached the final suspension unit, put a hub on which is now lightly greased. I need to send a search party for the grease gun , buried somewhere in the garage. Then I can fill the grease chamber via the nipple..

Back then complained as I loosely placed wheel in place, so cease work was called.

 

Ben the demanding Collie wanted his long walk, very chilly strong breeze out there. How come I see less vehicles under the somewhat elastic stay local , than when under stay at home full lockdown?.

 

Ben is now asleep by my side, I think that's a good idea, time to switch off eyeballs...

 

[simontaylor484]

@The Stationmaster glad the terraclean worked. 

[The White Rabbit]

Well, that will do for another day/week/term/Lent. There's plenty left to do but in classic Civil Service speak, "Round objects [to it]"... 

 

It's reasonably sunny here, though distinctly chilly. It's one way of seeing who the hard-core BBQ enthusiasts are. We won't be joining them, we have a perfectly functional cooker in the kitchen... Pizza for tea tonight. With a little rocket and vino. 

 

Paperwork duly shuffled. It's time to sell a house, so the usual form-filling done and panic over not being able to find certain crucial documents. I was told the garage had to be described as a single, not a double. It's long and thin (c29' x 9'6") rather than the usual type of double and was described as a double when purchased in the 1980s. It has had a couple of (admittedly small) cars in it without issue. Allowing for the size of modern cars, I could understand how some wouldn't fit, but the estate agent's response saying they couldn't class as a double because of the [lack of] width sounded fishy to me. Any thoughts? 

 

As far as @Barry O and extensions close to boundaries are concerned, the Party Wall Act can apply to work close to boundaries as well as structures on it. You might not be able to deny access to a neighbour's builders indefinitely but it can be made expensive in many ways, particularly when they upset their neighbours and cause a collective PITA delaying action. Knowing the law and being able to provide evidence of every trangression can slow things down and cause many get rich quick shysters to give up and go elsewhere. The HMRC option is more medium-longer term but given the current public finance situation, I would suggest government is going to be very keen to recover as much money as possible from non-compliance and so enquiries into evasion and avoidance are likely to be expanded. 

 

Hopefully more interesting matters to report next time. It feels like I'm still in work mode. Restart required...

[Andrew P]

3 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Morning all - up has been caught.

 

Sunny-ish out there but the yellow thing keeps hding behind clouds; wind definitely in the chilly quarter and likely to remain that way for a couple of days.  

Apropos of various recent items

1. somebody mentioned pork pie - fortunately (or not - see below) we  visited the butcher in Pangbourne yesterday and herself's purchases included one of these.  And in consequence of somebody mentioning the subject on here it now looks something like this (although the cut slice is elsewhere by now)-

 

 

2. Vaccum cleaners - we have a Miele which is my trusted device for 'downstairs' and it works well.  Out in the garage I have a down-graded Vax which still works fairly well.  The only vacuum cleaners I have ever selected for purchsase myself were at work and were the industrial version of 'Henry' - excellent and robust machines which you could kick out of a (railway) coach door to land on solid concrete at rail level and still do what they were designed to do - but they weren't cheap.

 

3. iron-on shelf edging - super stuff.  We did some on our new bookshelves just after we moved into our first house in 1978 and we took them out before we moved and some of them are now doing duty in the garage here with no sign at all of the edging lifting or coming off - after over 40 years.

 

The car - well a visit to teh terraclean man (thanks Robert) resulted in it being put on the diagnostics and the sensor fault being cleared but other expensive items noted as looming. Oddly I was told the turbo might need replacing - very strange when I was told at time of purchase that it was not a turbo diesel.  But some online checking reveals it does indeed have. a turbo - no wonder it goes like sh*t off a shovel - but I have never noticed any turbo lag, foot down andaway it goes, instantly.  Then we come to the trip to the butcher yesterday and while driving down the narrow road through Whitchurch (the one in Oxon should that not be immediately obvious) a newly emptied dustbin fell off the edge of the pavement and comprehensively trashed the nearside driving mirror - I had no room to get further over because there was someone coming the other way and he was keeping well away from the wall on his side.

 

Damage inspected while herself was waiting to get into the butcher's establishment (a very long queue) so I returned over the river to look for any bits - the ABS (I think) cover off the leading edge was in 7 pieces so that was that.  On from Pangbourne to the bodyshop in Reading which had replaced the other mirror about 10 years ago after a passing BMW had knocked it to bits.  Mirror not repairable so renewal needed - a mere  £400 (yes, four hundred quid!!) for a new mirror plus  £100 for painting and fitting - oink but no real alternative t having it done, grr.  Can i sue the council contractor who left the wheeliebin in a dangerous position?   With age related costs starting to pile up it begins to look as if car shopping might be coming on the agenda - there was a very nice McLaren in Tesco car park the other day and it made a very nice exhaust noise but i don't think Mrs stationmaster's arthritic knees (or mine) would suit getting in and out of it, and it would no doubt be a bit on the pricey side.

 

Have a good dat y folks and stay safe even if many of those around seem not to be able to think that way.  By the way in that connection following the Christmas rash of stupidity three of the staff from the butcher's shop in Pangbourne finished up in the RBH with Covid so the shop is now very strictly enforcing the various safety requirement on its customers..  

 

 

 

 

I spy with my little eye, 4 Deep filled Mince Pies.

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Just  quick pop in to say hello between doing more eBay and going to see what Easter crap the TV has to offer - doing eBay with Foxes and Fossils on repeat on YouTube does make the tedium of listing things properly a bit more bearable - but hey the money will come in handy.

 

As usual, generic greetings are on offer to all fellow ERs.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[simontaylor484]

@The White Rabbit the Estate agents will be no doubt working to the Property Misdiscription Act 1992 which outlawed dodgy practices such as taking photos of houses from certain angles to cut out the nuclear power station over the back fence. Someone could try to put 2 cars in a double garage and them not fit and try to sue the agents.

[Barry O]

@The White Rabbit thanks for that.. I  will have a quick golooksee at said act..

 

Baz

[Winslow Boy]

Speaking of university owned land I recall a farm being owned by one the college's of Oxford university. This was around the turn of the century so I would suspect that there is still a fair amount of land owned by universities.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Popped down to Tesco's this lunchtime only to discover a queue winding along the front of the store and out of site to around the corner. I decided to come back later but before doing so I asked the security lady what time they closed (it turned out to be normal closing time, midnight). But then she told me that I could walk straight in without queueing. I must look really old and decrepit to be allowed that favour. I was hoping to do a bit of the G word this afternoon but the hay fever says otherwise. Heads up for any Carry on fans, ITV3 are showing Carry on films back to back this afternoon culminating with Carry on Screaming at 8 PM.

1 hour ago, The White Rabbit said:

Paperwork duly shuffled. It's time to sell a house, so the usual form-filling done and panic over not being able to find certain crucial documents. I was told the garage had to be described as a single, not a double. It's long and thin (c29' x 9'6") rather than the usual type of double and was described as a double when purchased in the 1980s. It has had a couple of (admittedly small) cars in it without issue. Allowing for the size of modern cars, I could understand how some wouldn't fit, but the estate agent's response saying they couldn't class as a double because of the [lack of] width sounded fishy to me. Any thoughts? 

 

Any thoughts, the back half would be great for a model railway room. 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, The White Rabbit said:

Allowing for the size of modern cars, I could understand how some wouldn't fit, but the estate agent's response saying they couldn't class as a double because of the [lack of] width sounded fishy to me. Any thoughts? 

 

Bear would be happy for them to describe it as Cheese on Toast - it'll still cost them the same price as a double garage though

 

1 hour ago, The White Rabbit said:

As far as @Barry O and extensions close to boundaries are concerned, the Party Wall Act can apply to work close to boundaries as well as structures on it. You might not be able to deny access to a neighbour's builders indefinitely but it can be made expensive in many ways, particularly when they upset their neighbours and cause a collective PITA delaying action. Knowing the law and being able to provide evidence of every trangression can slow things down and cause many get rich quick shysters to give up and go elsewhere. The HMRC option is more medium-longer term but given the current public finance situation, I would suggest government is going to be very keen to recover as much money as possible from non-compliance and so enquiries into evasion and avoidance are likely to be expanded. 

 

Hopefully more interesting matters to report next time. It feels like I'm still in work mode. Restart required...

 

Bear found this:

http://www.problemneighbours.co.uk/rights-under-access-to-neighbouring-land-act.html

 

It seems that whilst they would have good grounds for carrying out essential maintenance work etc., claiming access in order for them to have an easy life whilst building extensions is a whole new can of beans.  They'll have to crane it all over the roof, or carry it thru' the house.  Parking a crane on a red route could be fun....

If access is granted then Bear would insist on a very large cash deposit (thousands) UP FRONT to cover the costs of any damage to lawns, flowerbeds etc. during works.  They get the money back (if there's any left) once the garden is back to as-was condition.

 

1 hour ago, Andrew P said:

I spy with my little eye, 4 Deep filled Mince Pies.

 

  Bear LOVES Mince Pies.  Haven't seen or even sniffed one for months....

[pH]

2 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

I was told the garage had to be described as a single, not a double. It's long and thin (c29' x 9'6") rather than the usual type of double and was described as a double when purchased in the 1980s. It has had a couple of (admittedly small) cars in it without issue. Allowing for the size of modern cars, I could understand how some wouldn't fit, but the estate agent's response saying they couldn't class as a double because of the [lack of] width sounded fishy to me. Any thoughts? 

Here, that would be described as a ‘tandem garage’.

[Compound2632]

10 minutes ago, pH said:

Here, that would be described as a ‘tandem garage’.

 

The term we're looking for here is "railway room".

[Sir TophamHatt]

I for one am glad April Fools Day is over.

I don't find any of the so called pranks associated with it funny.

Other pranks, yes, some highly fun but it seems with April Fools day people revert to some sort of boring half hearted lie.

Seems to get worse every year.

[Compound2632]

27 minutes ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

Seems to get worse every year.

 

No, it's always been that bad. It's just that as you gain another year's experience, so your tolerance of other people's nonsense decreases.

Edited April 2, 2021 by Compound2632

[Ozexpatriate]

20 minutes ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

I for one am glad April Fools Day is over.

I don't find any of the so called pranks associated with it funny.

Can't say I noticed any this year - other than the botched Volkswagen / "Voltswagen" press release which backfired badly.

[polybear]

26 minutes ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

I for one am glad April Fools Day is over.

I don't find any of the so called pranks associated with it funny.

Other pranks, yes, some highly fun but it seems with April Fools day people revert to some sort of boring half hearted lie.

Seems to get worse every year.

 

Deliveroo seem to have upset a few in France:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56617049

[Ozexpatriate]

Interestingly I just witnessed the "echo". I was posting my reply to @SirTophamHatt and the site stalled. Opening a second page the site had timed out, but coming back to reload this page, my post and the @Compound2632 echo appeared.

[Compound2632]

2 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Interestingly I just witnessed the "echo". I was posting my reply to @SirTophamHatt and the site stalled. Opening a second page the site had timed out, but coming back to reload this page, my post and the @Compound2632 echo appeared.

 

I have hidden my duplicate post.

[simontaylor484]

@Barry O also check out Access to Neighbouring Land Act can't remember the exact year but it was enacted early 90s .

 

It would also.be worth trying to speak to your Leeds City Council.Planning Department 're your concerns