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We had an apprentice who was promising initially but went off the rails fairly quickly. In the end, we had to give him an ultimatum and he left. On several occasions following this, potential employers came looking for references for him. We decided that it was better to simply not give...

Up until retirement my workshop was always a mess. There was never the time, inclination and discipline to keep it tidy. When I decided to make that bench I decided that it was vital that I cleaned up as I went. Even with decent dust extraction, as I built it from rough sawn douglas fir and...

The benefit of being retired, time to keep it clean. Mind you, with a move on the cards, the workshop is piled high with boxes at the moment.

She gave it to me. At dinner time the peas kept dropping through the MFT holes.

It would need soddingly heavy duty castors !

I have one which is 40 years old. I have a second one which is about 5 years old. By comparison, the 5 year old one is poor quality junk. Very little portable (ie. not heavy) will be sturdy - certainly for large stuff. Even a Festool MFT, costing a fortune, is rickety - albeit, not designed for...

I'm not sure that many men are too ashamed to admit it - perhaps they are too gentlemanly to do so. Generally it's the men, like your cousin, who become the victims of coercive or violent behaviour because they don't stand up to those who administer it. While some may think this to be weak, I'd...

Two definitions of the word "Politics" - taken from a well known dictionary : 1) the activities associated with the governance of a country or area, especially the debate between parties having power. 2) activities aimed at improving someone's status or increasing power within an organization...

A lot of companies have clear rules about watching porn on anything that is either provided by them or which the cost of use is funded by them. I don't know, but I expect the House of Commons is probably no different. Even if it is different, it's a really poor judgement call to have been voted...

That's a very valid point. A lot, I guess, depends upon where the best antenna position ends up being and how easy it will be to place a router close and tidily route cat 5 cables up and over in the roof space.

I appreciate that. I'd run Cat5 in preference to Powerline any day - I don't, however, want to drill through thick walls and route it. The make up of the place would mean that I'd have to go through a huge effort to hide the cable runs as well, hence considering Powerline.

Interesting thread - I've learned a bit from it, thanks. We're in the process of moving and the new place seems to be able to manage about 18Mb/s with an ADSL2+ connection (according to the BT broadband availability checker) (I actually measured 17 on a wi-fi connected PC after twisting the...

I remember looking on Friends Reunited when it first came out to see what some of my school colleagues had got up to in the past 30 years or so. I'd lost touch with all of them pretty much. I was astonished to read that one individual, who wasn't clever, played up quite a bit and was...

Makes perfect sense - some qualified people come with an attitude or an expectation that cannot be crafted to align with a company culture. Others come with a humbleness and a willingness to learn and grow with an organisation. The trick, as an employer, is working out which ones to pick and...

When I was young, perhaps 5% of the population went to university and got a degree. Of the remainder, many went off and got vocational qualifications through apprenticeship schemes and became valuable contributors to the economy. Of the rest, many took jobs requiring no formal qualifications but...

Thank you everyone for your updates. I've been silenced for a few days as I was the victim of a road traffic accident. The police tell me that the other part turned directly in front of me and I went over the bonnet and destroyed their windscreen. I have no recollection. Luckily, nothing life...

Thank you - yes, I'm convinced about the loader. Before this I had in my mind that I could pull a hand cart along or buy a trailer - daft idea!

A few miles west of Crediton.

Yes, I had thought that a tow behind trailer could be good but a loader seems infinitely more usable, especially helping to move lumber around and uprooting stuff that isn't wanted.

Thank you all for your replies and encouragement. I guess we've been lucky in that we've lived in the South East for the past 35 years and been able to put some money away and retire early. Our house now has a third of an acre but we've made it too nice and too high maintenance and the busy...