Hardy

Domes here too - H&N FTT cos they are the most consistant of those I've tried.

The version of Virtual Earth you can access via some of the estate agents website has a birds eye view for some areas. This is pretty recent low level arial shots rather than satalite. The detail is impressive & you can view from N S E W. The ones of our place are from last summer I think http://www.aboutmyplace.co.uk/showmap?id=4...tion=ls21%203dn

It's worth checking with the doc - the OH had something similar & was eventually diagnosed as Carpel Tunnel Syndrome (she developed it from riding horses). Seems there are 3 levels of treatment: 1 Cortizone injections if you catch it early enough 2 Minor surgery to the wrist if it's more advanced 3 Surgery to the elbow, wrist & hand (base of the fingers) if it's too far progressed. Needless to say she needed level 3 but is recovering well.

5's are fine for Hares too - we have quite a few on our shoot so I stick with 5's for everything on those days. They are fine for pheasant but a little heavy for partidge but hey they stop flying!! For Pigeons I use Eley HB Pigeon which I think are 6.5's Don't worry about the chokes - Keep 1/4 in & you won't go far wrong. When you get your gun it's worth having it fitted properly - most gunshops will do this with you or reccomend someone & then head off to your local clay ground for some practice. This will let you put a lot of rounds through it in a short space of time so you get the feel of the gun & how it shoots as well as freeing up the action - all new guns tend to be a bit stiff.

There's a whole army of vintage tackle dealers out there & they all get the most excited about Hardy items, especially reels & lures. The old flies also sell well either as individual items or as framed collections - 6 fully dressed salmon flies in a frame will cost you anything from £100 upwards - if they are Hardy's the price would be more. Most of the big game fairs will have several dealers - most of the gear I fish with actually classes as vintage Hardy's so I'm generally hunting for things like spare spools from them! If you've got any pictures you can post I'll have a look at them but all my old catalogs & stuff are in storage atm

I've got one & it's very good for Rabbiting although the scope is a bit bigger (3-9 x 40). I've had it about a year & very pleased so far once I found a pellet I liked (H&N FTT). Only drawbacks I've found are the silencer is an odd size - don't know what it is but Kranks in Pudsey didn't have one to fit so I used a bit of gentle bashing to stop it clipping Also for those with fat fingers like me loading can be a tad fiddly. The price seems on the high side from what I remember paying though. You could get a new AA s200 (£270 on guntrader) with a JSR 3-9 x 40 illuminated mil dot (£50 with mounts from JSR) for same sort of price. You can get a 10 shot adapter for the AA too.

I've used Drop Zone before now but not mail order (they are not far from me). They are geared up to sell to serving forces, thier store is about 100 yards of Brize Norton airbase entrance!

Tesco's are doing a viewsonic 22" monitor for £159 atm Here. I've used Veiwsonic CRT monitors in the past & they were good quality, not used the TFT version though. My personal favourite would be an Iiyama, although Samsung/Sony (they use the same displays) are very highly rated.

I've had one for about a year now, got it from Ramsbottoms before the mailorder ban came in as it was good value (gun/scope/pump for about £300). I'm very pleased with it, use it all the time for rabbiting. It's very accurate & a reasonable number of shots between fills & very quiet with the silencer it somes with. Once I found a pellet that I liked with it I've bagged a lot of bunnies (H&N FTT). The only shortcomings I've found are that loading is a bit fiddly with my fat fingers & the silencer thread is an odd size. I couldn't get a replacement when I was getting some clipping but a bit of strategic bashing resolved that

I've got the Hunter in .22 & I love it, although the local bunnies less so - it's dispatched quite a number of them! The synthetic stock means you don't need to worry about getting it caked in mud out in the field. Was very cheap too when I got it from Ramsbottoms before the mail order was stopped. Only thing I would say is that it's single shot only & the threading for the silencer is unusual (my local gunshop didn't have one to fit) that being said it's incredibly quiet with the one that comes fitted.

John Norris have the Simms Freestone waders & boots for £199. Bit more than your budget but they are pretty good. There was a review of lots of pairs of breathable waders in a recent Trout & Salmon - I still can't convince myself that waders with a zip up the front are going to keep me dry no matter how well they are rated!!

Not sure if mine's old enough to be called a classic - it's just a '99 model For a while when it first arrived I still had my 7 & day to day Audi TT - not so much classics by all part of my sports cars phase!! Would love to have a Healey 3000 or E Type ragtop but funds don't allow (

Whilst I agree most of the Toys are awful (worst of all imho is Chineese Crested) there are some good ones in there too! Our little Griffons are more terrier like than anything - and they all want to be gundogs (except the one who cowers under the sofa at any sort of bang!). This is Trinnie - 6yr old with a life time qualification for Crufts I read the stories of the 'ringer' too - unless someone was able to bribe all judges theres no way that could happen. There are so many rounds to get too before supreme champion is judged: Breed classes -> Best of Breed -> Best of group -> Best in Show At each of these levels there would be a seperate judge & depending on the numbers entered there may be more than 1 judge per breed class. There is no hard & fast formula for winning each class, it's ultimatley down to each judges preferences - they all have thier favourite breeds & types within the breed. When we were showing our Griffons regularly there were judges who would choose only roughs & others who would only go for smooths.

I've got alsorts of knives but always end up using the same 2 around the farm & for fishing/shooting: Leatherman Wave multitool - lives in a belt pouch with me all the time. the 2 blades are decent enough for work around the farm (unwrapping haylidge bales etc) but its the other bits (pliers, screwdrivers, file, saw) that gets used the most - only drawback no corkscrew!! Opinel - had them for years, used to buy them in France when I was a kid beofre I ever found a UK outlet. It attends to all my game preparation requirements (although I've not tried it on a deer yet). Cheap & holds an edge well - can be a bit stiff to open at times if the handle is wet but thats another job for the leatherman I have a few sheath knives but I prefer not to carry them these days.

We're doing the Discover Dogs stand on Saturday with our Griffon Bruxellois - decided not to enter any in the actual show this year as they are not in ring condition atm - they are enjoying life too much