[Richard]

My parents house had stood there for the over 50 years they had the place and had never been flooded, the road outside fell at about 1in 50 and the house stood >6 feet above the road. We had a water main burst a few years back after a dustcart drove over the new installation. The water spout was impressive, as high as the houses but the fall on the road was more than enough to deal with the issue. Flood risk assessments do not normally require you to take account of bizarre incidents, there are risk maps produced said to be assessing the risk to areas. Their accuracy varies between crap and excellent.  However my point was that the seller has a legal responsibility to disclose salient factors, especially when asked a direct question. Ed has a good point about government subsidies. All in all I would not be too concerned about the installation though I would have a check on the quality of the components and the installation – there were some cowboys. Again it is worth asking the seller about their satisfaction and why they are selling up. With a running water water table some tens (hundreds?) of feet below my place a ground source heat pump might be a sound economic venture though could be costly and challenging to install and the payback period would be too long for my benefit. The water company has an abstraction plant some 20 fett lower than us on the bank of the river valley and 500 yards away, best not to upset the water quality then!

[Richard]

If it has been in use for the past couple of years I am not sure where or why there should be an issue. I assume that he house possibly had restrictions on other options or that the builder/previous owner thought it a preferable option. Sellers are legally bound to be honest, (yes really) so if there are doubts, pass any issue via a solicitor to get valid answers. I had to answer some right off the wall questions when selling my parents old house as an executor. It was about 120 feet and three houses from a 30 foot drop to a main road;

– Is the house prone to flooding?

It would have needed a very deep flood to get its feet wet, in excess of 40 feet above that road and about 300 feet above sea level. (The river estuary was perhaps a couple of miles away and pretty much at sea level). I said not within my knowledge.

[Richard]

If anyone likes shopping I would like to know, (but not try) the drugs they take.

My last pair of shoes came via Amazon, clothes come via past presents and since youngest daughter also dislikes shops with their lights, noise and people, the problem is largely avoided. The internet is the answer to our shopping prayers for almost everything. I did get some shorts from Screwfix a while ago, they were really great, less half the price of most other shops and 4 times the quality with a life measured in years not minutes, they were worth the trip to get them – I checked the stock first!

[Richard]

I assume that it is used to heat water for use in the house, rather than extracting heat from a water based heat source such as a pond or stream?

If so it is pretty much like any air source heat pump, I have a reversible heat pump that heats in winter and cools in summer. It is about 2 years old and so far there is no real nose other than like a refrigerator. However, they should be serviced from time to time, kept clear of muck and junk and generally looked after. Mine replaced a gas convector which was always something of a liability as it kept turning itself off and of course could only heat – useless in summer, the heat pump just cools or heats and keeps the temperature that it is set for, no fuss, no bother. It is situated in a small space between a wall and a fence. It is a bit draughty if there is any wind, but as far as I know the fence and a ‘sort of hedge’ attenuates any sounds.

[Richard]

Bob, I think we may put this one to bed for the moment, you sum it up very well; ‘What a farrago of nonsense and political chicanery, this whole immigration policy has become.’  That was my point very exactly, whenever rules are put in place there is always some clown who never follows the caveat about the instruction of fools and the guidance of wise folk. Recently the Home Office folk  have been of the cloth eared and sawdust head variety, forget ED’s attempt at modern argot.

[Richard]

I also made the point that weak or not at all efforts were made on, such issues as money laundering, immigration status and records keeping. All are now bring the jobsworths out in droves. The Windrush affair is highlighting only one angle from a narrow point of view, the Danish lady suggests that far from being targetted the sloppy way that works has been done may well have not been an accident. She had an evidence trail a mile wide but they chose not to see it until their noses were rubbed in the mess. Others may not have the same clout – and that is the issue with the Windrush cohort, though it should be said that many were not actually on the Windrush, anyone before 1979 is easily exposed and many no doubt arrived from different locations after that date.

If football were to become, ‘just the game once more‘ I would be fine with that, it is the associated stench of shady money that adds to the taint. Your points and issues are well meant and yes the good aspects could/should still exist without the fraud masters so well represented by the likes of FIFA.

[Richard]

Bob, I think you may have missed the point I was making, which may well parallel the thoughts of others. I suspect that  Abramovich had no more than a very passing interest in the football itself, only an interest in its industry. He really could have been ‘investing’ in cat flaps for all the difference it would have made to him. His activity might well have been purely cynical trading on the very point you put forward, ‘However, it remains the most popular spectator and participant sport in the UK’, perhaps he hoped to buy brownie points? Though I do venture to suggest that from comments I have heard, the industry is fighting hard to price itself out of the reach of most of those who were interested but that is outside the scope of my position. I also questioned if his cooling interest in the club is matched by an interest in other pastures. This may well explain his failure to follow up on his licenses to remain. The fact that Putin is flexing more hostile activities could also be a factor. Perhaps Abramovich feels more confident in Mosad and might hope that any soiled cash might get washed passing through the Mediterranean?

[Richard]

There does appear to be something capricious about the way that the unfolding use of the laws is being interpreted, am I the only one to smell a rat? The Windrush people have garnered headlines yet other cases are highlighting the way mindless, (or malevolent?) jobsworths are operating, are they bloody minded or trying to make political headlines?

One Danish woman who had been here for a very long time with the right of abode yada, yada, yada and had ‘hidden’ herself to the extent of having been the local mayor was told she did not have the one bit of paper that the jobsworth needed to prove her residency – nothing else would do.

Frankly my interest in football is close to zero and I suspect that is the case for many who have seen it only as a money vehicle, (Abramovich?) so I will not comment on the football industry side of the issues. However, the wrangling over this one person who did not realise some rules existed is one for spectators only. I agree with tadka’s points. This could become interesting, popcorn please, the world has now changed.

When lived in ‘foreign’ countries, work permits and residents permits were considered vital and had to be renewed according to the local rules. Note I never did have a right to live there as such, only a license to do so while the permits allowed.

[Richard]

I always try to update any machine of unknown provenance before trying to use it for anything else, it is only if it will not cooperate that I start to dig deeper. Many times it might take a few hours to a few days to complete the updates if it has been off line for a while.

I find it often gives a far better baseline from which to work once all updates are done.

[Richard]

Steve, interesting since a GP tablets review visit went in a direction I was not expecting. It is probably nothing but one never really knows the shape of tomorrow.

[Richard]

BL the obvious problem at the moment is the way anti-social networking can be used to amplify and distort events. The Stephen Yaxley-Lennon case shows that up brilliantly. They were up in arms complaining that the poor fellow was whiter than the driven snow, however his prejudicial reporting of cases, including the exposure of witness and  other case participants has been illegal for a long time, it is called contempt.

This is not to downplay the crimes in anyway, though it should be said that there is a great deal of odious behaviour in too many communities that still goes unreported and unpunished. The sex gang crimes need to be followed through to a legal and legally water tight conclusion. The courts were clearly concerned that intimidation could affect the legal outcome. Some witnesses are at best fragile and should Stephen Yaxley-Lennon’s illegal contempt tip them over the edge into non cooperation whose interests, legal or social would be served?

Allegations of paedophile rape gangs and paedophile activities are currently very common, many do not stand scrutiny, but receive vast publicity only to be found a pile of lies and deceit. Sadly both the police and news outlets share blame with other vested interest groups. Valid court cases are the correct way forward, though I hesitate to say totally open court cases. Some cases, e.g. gangs and drugs cases require extensive witness and victim shielding, while others can be part of a connected sequence of cases. Damage the chain and the whole lot can fail as the CPS and police are all too frequently demonstrating through their sloppy processes.

[Richard]

I made a list a while back and must reprint it again to show the changes. Wife’s daughter’s and my passwords all get recorded. They should go in the safe, but times are a bit hectic at the moment.

[Richard]

Apparently, it was rather more going elsewhere and he is now in gaol for him. He was only given 13 months. The news was held back until the press challenged the ban. I suggest it is possible (desirable?) that his earlier suspended sentence might now be triggered.

[Richard]

Not being familiar with the device I assume that it has to be paired with a sound source device with BT output?

Or, does it do something different? My wife has her kitchen Hi Fi and TV, the latter with the sound often turned off for some reason…

[Richard]

Yes Steve, ease of use is always the killer application and to hell with the consequences. I always used the accounts department staff for testing, they knew nothing, understood less and would always find the issues no one else would ever find. The result back then was a better product, I guess the same applies to security, if it is too hard to use, you need to find out why and how to stop the abusers, gracefully.

[Richard]

The Duke wrote:

That’s the weak link Richard. But that is the fall back option of dual factor. If you use a proper authenticator (app based or physical) the numbers are generated clientside, so no need for the sms. Both sms and email, are only ment as the fall back option.

OK, that makes more sense.

[Richard]

Ed P wrote:

Cats are incredibly fussy eaters if given half a chance.

I could introduce you to a husky, that will turn over every morsel, inspect every biscuit from both sides, even including the lick test before deciding the time is not right, selecting the one to eat or some other issue gets in her way; like today is not a food day.

[Richard]

Having had another Amazon delivery today when the normal supplier said ‘out of stock’ so I should also accept being a happy Amazon customer.

The supermarket delivery service is now held in the background as we find;

a) an increasing need for flexibility

b) the need to ensure we have something on hand and not be in wait mode

c) it is one reason to get out of the house even briefly.

d) managing appointments can be a challenge

However when the rock and a hard issue place wedges things in, the supermarket delivery option can be a life saver.

[Richard]

Steve, I said it’s a polarising issue. I see the passkey generator is  of value, all other things being equal as I used a stand-alone one twenty years ago to access a corporate network. I do my financial work at home where the records live and so do I for most of the time.

If the number generators work, why are authorisation codes sent out via insecure SMS links? The point is that TSBs performance decreases, not increases confidence in the banking.

I hold multiple cards and bank accounts in case one goes AWOL why change? Also all banks need to update their systems so I look forward to more problems.

Bob, in a case like your shoulder surfer I wish I had the nerve to photograph them at their work.

 

[Richard]

Bob, above all you are getting about and enjoying life, that is what matter. Sorry about the trouser order,I guess something was returned, not checked properly and sent out to the next in line. I far prefer higher wasted trousers though this is purely a comfort issue. I envy your weight, not the way you got there! It is somewhere near to my target, though I still need binoculars find the distant objective, two more stones to go.

I will look up those trouser people one day, I have some, ‘slimmer fit’ ones from the days of yore in my cupboard.

 

[Author]

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