Any question answered...

I don’t like bagless personally, knackers the filter and recirculates more fine dust in the air as a result.

Ta - I am looking at both (Mrs c00ps has a preference for bagless though - but the Miele bagless offerings seem pretty weighty, esp. for stairs and we have numerous of those!).

Non maintained emergency lights can be battery powered such that when mains is lost the inbuilt battery powers up the light for a period of time.

They are kept charged by the input mains voltage and are usually off when power is live

https://www.lampshoponline.com/led-emergency-maintained-bulkhead.html

Would I need to run a permanent live to the emergency lights?

Yes, otherwise they will interpret "turning off the lights" as "interruption of supply" 🙂

Yes, otherwise they will interpret "turning off the lights" as "interruption of supply" 🙂

Cheers - that’s what I suspected. I guess I’ll just run a separate permanent live 👍

Any idea what this guy is?

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A hornet? Best to ask here;

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/204090/

It's a European hornet: https://www.bbka.org.uk/faqs/identifying-asian-hornet

I've just been quoted north of £200 to get a spare remote key for my 2003 Citroen, and £70 for a spare without remote, by Timpson. The car cost me £300! Does anyone know of a cheaper way to get a spare key?

Ideally I'd get one with a remote as the boot doesn't have an exterior keyhole but I'd settle for just having a spare key full stop without paying £70...

The trouble (as I discovered recently) that even with cars of that age, the "manual" keys will still have a transponder chip in it that the new one will need to match, or else the immobilizer will not let you start the car.

There are a few online key replacement sites, but from my searches, they didn't prove to be an awful lot cheaper.

Figured as much. I guess I'll just try to not lose the key then...

I spent £135 getting a fault diagnosed when mine refused to start periodically. It was the bastard key. Rocked up with the manual spare key and it fired up no bother.

I had this situation with an old polo.. I took the chip out of the existing key and glued it next to the ignition.. this obviously hugely less secure but means spare keys are cheap.

Thanks, sounds fresh and bright.

Bagless is fake. Was only good when dyson first developed it due to the "no loss of suction". Now that bagged vacuums don't drop suction as they fill up bagged is the way to go.

+1 Bagged all day.

I'm still using a £40 'TITAN' Screwfix own-brand wet/dry vac that I bought for hoovering up rubble when renovating my house. Does a big suck, just like any vacuum should.

Haha... because I kill everything with carelessness, the ‘bagless’ DC02 (RIP) just passed the problem to the expensive Dyson filters. I was renovating a house, so I think I was using it beyond reasonable spec. Next time I bought a Henry, which was perfect for that.
I’ve been using a Miele bagged model recently and tip my hat to its carpet-lifting power.

Yes, that's a hornet. Lovely pictures. I can't work out if it's male or female, but it doesn't look like a queen. Probably a late-surviving worker. You can record the spot here if you like:

https://www.bwars.com/content/submit-sighting-vespa-crabro-hornet

I also just found this lovely video of a young queen that can't fly yet:

https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=OO4dnIMpWOo

In the comments, you can see the level of fear of hornets--queens are even less likely to sting you than workers. They have very different concerns at that stage, and one of the last things they're going to do is endanger themselves. They're only keen to get underground.

Looking to put together a fancy bad weather tough but light(ish) fixed bike - thinking titanium frame, chunky tyres (like 38-42mm), full mudguards, disc brakes (front and back) and track dropouts.

Does such a frame, or indeed complete bike, exist?

Rolled oats have lost their bran, which has more protein and fibre - but you can buy oat bran separately and add it back.

It's a bit gritty, but not unpleasant, and definitely less work than putting pinhead/steel-cut oats through the blender.

Lecterns - any recommendations for hire? Need 2 x next Weds - could hire but it's tricky to return unless supplier can collect on the night from Wapping (7:30pm-ish).

I could potentially get someone local to collect the day before/return the day after.

Could potentially buy a pair if they can be folded down to not take up a ton of space in a car?

Hm, thanks.
Word is that these blenders with their 2 horsepower motors can do much of the chewing beforehand. Rolled oats are also steamed as part of the procedure which I’m sure also affects their nutritional value.

Yep, bagged here all day long too. I had a bagless vacuum cleaner once. I kept on thinking it would be nice if the detritus could be kept in an easily-disposable container rather than a plastic tub I had to empty and then clean. And it didn't filter that well - it was almost as though an extra filter was needed. Perhaps in the shape of a bag...

Where to look for that really high-end bed linen? Want to get my folks some for christmas because they would never treat themselves and what better gift to give than luxurious bedding. But, for the full set (sheet, duvet cover and pillow cases) the top of the range at John Lewis/The White Company is ~£500+. I had no fucking idea. Are there decent, gift-worthy, options that aren't quite so spenny or is it a case of you get what you pay for and if you want that 5* deluxe you need to splash out?

Cheers