Search results for:

Am I right in thinking that a key step in between 15 minute cities being a harmless academic concept about getting to the shops easily, and it being the subject of tonne of weird conspiracism, is the particular example of traffic control being promoted recently in Oxford?

As I understand it (and I probably don't) Oxford actually is proposing something that, while not quite what the conspiracies are imagining, is sort of in the same ballpark. Well not really, but you can see the link.

They are dividing the city into neighbourhoods and charging £70 to drive between the filters that divide them. They are also branding it as a '15 minute city' concept, which is a silly thing to do because councils should communicate in normal English, not use policy wonk terms when the general public won't understand them.

There are a tonne of caveats that make it less bad than it sounds (you won't be charged for driving between neighbourhoods if you use the ring-road instead of local filtered roads, residents get 100 days free filter-crossing-passes per year, businesses & blue badge & blue light get to pass for free, etc).

But you can see where the conspiracists get the idea from. They see this as the slippery slope to some Orwell/Stalinist/Blade Runner world where Oxford City Council's eye of Sauron laser beam will evaporate you if you step outside of your allocated sector.

They then read up and hear that council transport teams all over the country have been making appreciative noises about 15 minute cities, and that makes it even worse.

Ah ignore me this was answered a page ago - answer is pierce it with a small pokey thing, or even just leave it there and let the brake fluid push it out the way

Noob question please.

I've got some new Deore M6100 brakes. They are bled but not connected up. If I'm not cutting the hoses, what do I need to do to get the juices flowing. They have come capped with some sort of capped-barb-thing (see pic), not with the simple pull-off cap shown in the instructions.

Do I remove the capped-barb-thing and replace it with a normal barb? Or leave it in place and pierce it with the new barb? Or something else?

Some rosemary varieties are only borderline hardy, especially if they don't have good drainage, so could be that. Drainage in the pot much less likely to be an issue of course.

Jekka's is the best for herbs if you want to buy new plants. Or take cuttings from any nearby rosemary bush that's doing well.

Otherwise there are brackets for that:
https://www.kerolhardware.co.uk/glass-brackets/stainless-steel-shelf-support-for-sloping-wall.html

I think you have the right idea already, any good at macrame?

Have these got shelves in? Any photos with the doors open?

I thought you said it happened on the kitchen tap too, so it surely is the boiler?

Obvious question but you're not using the dishwasher/washing machine etc at the same time are you?

Also is your boiler on eco mode? On ours, all that does is prevent the boiler from doing it's normal thing of keeping a little bit of hot water ready to go as soon as you turn on the taps. Doesn't seem to make much difference to energy use and means you have to wait longer before the shower temperature steadies out.

Currently in the process of buying an Octavia estate (mk2 from 2011) and it certainly got a lot of good reviews at the time. The boot is cavernous.

I'm going to, briefly, own two cars for a bit before I get round to selling my old Fabia. Maybe a week or two. Does this mean I can't use my No Claims Discount on the Ovtavia, as everything says you can't use a NCD on two policies at once. Although transferring is possible, I think this only works if you sell the old car in part exchange or in advance of the buying the new car, so you don't own two for any time at all? Annoying if correct.

The niwaki crean mate rust eraser will have that off in no time

Not used that exact brand but used very similar to hang a door and they were invaluable

Sadly way too small for me, looks ace though

What size is it? And what size wheels?

We tried curtains and the heavy ones do look very bordello, thought we would get used to it but didn't. Then tried light linen ones which looked nice but didn't do anything.

Eventually gave up and put a radiator in. Doesn't seem to have upped our energy bills noticably, probably as the rest of the house feels more comfortable at a lower temperature without a howling ice wind coming in from the hallway. Radiator cover makes for a useful hallway shelf too.

If you buy the correct beans in the first place (Branston), the sauce is proper thickness already

I am completely organic in the garden but have no problem using pesticides on houseplants - I'm not going to eat them, they have no contact with the outside world in terms of soil or bees or whatever, and they only need spraying once in a blue moon. Had good results with 'bug clear ultra' to a similar looking pest (can't guarantee it was the same one though).

I'm not sure new, detached houses are equivalent to victorian workers' cottages

That development I posted a picture to (which is completely typical), has 1700 homes and only 10% affordable.

In words instead then... Victorian homes - or at least, a great many of them - were not just built as quickly and cheaply as possible. If they were, they wouldn't have large windows, bays, ornamentation etc. All of which would have cost money back in day just like they do now.

Extremely silly comment. Technology etc aside, Barratt Homes and the like are cheaper and nastier than standard Victorian terraces.

Ordinary Victorian home off the first page of Google. Look at the windows in comparison. Yes I know there are horrible back-to-backs too but this one is perfectly typical.

I had no idea gas tumble dryers existed. Ours is a heat pump which is meant to be efficient, but I think it still isn't cheap to run. Possibly it gets more use in cold weather as we are wearing more layers.

Shower isn't electric and we rarely eat out. No holiday in November or dehumidifier.

Genuinely think it may be that we subconsciously drink a lot more tea when it's cold. Possibly less salads and more lasagnes. But if that's all it is I'm surprised to see it so visible in the stats

I've been looking over my energy usage since I joined Octopus in May, and clearly the gas usage tracks the weather very closely as you would expect.

What I can't work out is why the electricity also appears to. Obviously you use more lighting when it's dark. But there is a clear November dip in electricity, coinciding with the warm spell, what's going on there? Do some electrical appliances (tumble dryer?) use much more electricity when it's cold - even though given we had the heating on, it didn't get particularly cold inside?

Each bar on these graphs is a month, starting in May. January short because it's not a complete month.

What am I missing?

.

Crab apple, if I were you. The crabs on mine are only just beginning to fade and drop now, and blossom comes early in spring, so there is some interest very-nearly all year round.

For a front garden I would personally avoid anything 3m tall and evergreen as it would block too much light in winter when you need all you can get.

Blossom can be pink or white and the crabs can be pink, yellow or red depending on variety.

I would get a multi-stem for added interest. Bonus of jelly.

BMI is an attempt to give ranges that make sense for the population as a whole, and people as hench as you are in this photo are unusual enough that the ranges don't work properly. But you don't become this hench by accident, so clearly you were doing enough exercise to be able to make your own judgements about your health and fitness. But most people of your height and weight probably are carrying a little chub.