lord_seagrave

I got a pack of Aldi sloe gin ones for my birthday (22nd October). Father in law and I demolished them. Absolutely delicious! LS

Seagrave Jnr started learning the guitar this year, and to try and make practising more bearable for all involved, I’ve started learning along with him. I had my wife’s 3/4 size to begin with until I took it to get it restrung, to discover that it was completely knackered! So I now have a Gumtree spesh £20 3/4 guitar (Jose ferrero?) - the idea being that Seagrave Jnr can graduate up to it in due course. Others have said about make/model etc, but the key is (as with anything) PRACTICE. A book of tunes with chords is ideal: gets your fingers moving around for both single notes and for the chord patterns. Loads of YouTube tutorials for your favourite riffs and solos. I was amazed at what I could play with just a handful of beginners’ chords! LS PS: is @Axe still on here?

Just another thumbs up for Aspen fuel. My little side hustle very seldom strays into serious tree work, so my saw can go for months without being used. starts and runs like a charm each time. LS

This is exactly the kind of native intelligence I require, my jaundiced ursine pal. LS

Chaps, I will find myself, by some cruel turn of events, in Stoke on Trent tomorrow morning. If I want a decent breakfast within a stone’s throw of Stoke Minster, what’re my options? Crucially, by lunchtime a shall need a cleansing ale - where do I go? Is the Holy Inadequate worth the trek? Do I push north to the Bursley Ale House? Is there a hostelry off the beaten track that anyone can recommend? LS

Full sentencing remarks at https://www.judiciary.uk/judgments/r-v-long-bowers-and-cole/ LS

Are the sentencing remarks online yet? LS

There’s a lot of foliage there. Perhaps try pruning it first. Do it now (summer) and paint the wounds with Arbrex. Get the size and shape of the tree more manageable, and that might make it easier to get on top of any rot next year. LS

Hi chaps, does anyone deal with wasps’ nests in Milton Keynes, or know of someone that does? One of my gardening clients in Downhead Park has got a nest in the roof of their porch. LS

Plenty here in Bedford. I try my hardest to appreciate them (for the sake of Lady Seagrave and Little Lord Seagrave), but all spiders give me the creeps >shudder< Live and let live though. LS

I still, very occasionally get smoking dreams. The air is crisp and clean, the tobacco is fresh and leafy, and the smell of the smoke in the air is almost as good as the taste and the tingle. Like some sort of Alpine idyll from a BAT marketing exec’s wet dream. Funnily enough I have never dreamt about desperately sucking on a camel outside Bank station in the rush hour fumes and squalor! Grim old business, glad I smoked my last one years ago. LS

Would a stump grinder work? I’ve had to face one yet, but it’s only a matter of time. LS

My sympathies, Samboy. John’s advice is spot on. Triggers vary, but grain alcohol and offal are common. All effects and susceptibility are mitigated by plenty of water. Good luck. LS

Shocked to hear. Best wishes to all. LS

As above, does anyone have a petrol scarifier in fair nick? I’m also in the market for a backpack leafblower. LS

As above, does anyone have a quality petrol backpack leafblower in fair nick? I’m also in the market for a petrol scarifier. I’m in Bedford, LS

Enter

Lady S and I had an unintentional vegetarian dinner the other night - homemade dhal (just red lentils simmered for 30 mins in water with turmeric and salt, with a load of fried onions, chillies and spices chucked in at the end), salads (including a really simple thing of grated fresh beetroot, cucumber, lime and coriander), and breads. We did enough for four (on paper...) but ended up scoffing the lot! Delicious, and it wasn’t until later we realised that if we hadn’t buttered the bread, it would have been completely vegan. Setting out to “replace meat” isn’t, in my view, the way to do it. Cultivating/celebrating a love of vegetables is a much more positive path. Hugh Fearnley-Whittington’s book on Veg Every Day is a great book to have on hand (if you can ignore the stoopid doodles on the pictures - who on earth thought that was a good idea?!). LS

If anyone needs an excuse to donate to the RNLI, a chap I work with is “celebrating” 15 years as a Thames lifeboatman by doing the London Marathon in full kit! https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/stephen-wheatley4rnli Definitely a worthwhile cause, and top marks to Stephen for this marathon effort LS

I had a bad attack last year. Big toe fit to burst. Ghastly, excruciating pain. As others have said, there are some clearly-defined triggers (for me, these were dehydration, offal and grain alcohol). Plenty of water, and everything in moderation. I’ve read that it’s far less common in women than men, but it can happen. Good luck, Ditchy. LS

Slap a smile on (if you have to), and do something for other people. The central message of Christmas is humility and service. Visit long-lost relatives. The wife’s relatives. Your neighbours. Strangers. Christmas gives everyone a free pass to make conversation with people they wouldn’t usually touch with a bargepole at any other time of year. Use the opportunity to do something nice, or say something nice, to somebody else. That homeless bloke, that nutter, those awful neighbours, that old dear, even that chav scumbag with the horrible dog. Seriously, buy a couple of bags of Malteasers for 50p or whatever, and be nice for 5 minutes. It’s a piece of **** to be a better person at Christmas, and if you don’t really mean it, you can go back to keeping yourself to yourself for the rest of the year. LS

Heard him talking about how, when he died, he’d like to be buried under an oak tree, so that he could become part of the countryside he loved. I hope he is. A true naturalist, and a fair player. LS

Some terrific advice here, chaps. Will upgrade my drill bit and crack on! LS

Got it. Nice one. This was my instinct, but all the other external fittings on this house are in the mortar, and I was doubting myself! LS

Chaps, I’m going to drill a hole trough the wall to install an outside tap. I’ve got a nice long 16mm SDS masonry bit (for the 15mm pope), but: Do I drill through a brick or through a mortar joint? LS