charliebrown

Chill! All I meant that just because they are eastern european and fishing dosent mean they are taking fish home. I fish with a Polish lad every now and again and I can assure you that he dosent take fish. Also you have to remember that its not actually illegal to take fish from a 'free' stretch of river, until the new law comes in anyway, and in season. Privatly owned is of course another matter though. Look, I know fish get taken, but I dont think that its on anything like the scale some seem to think. I fish as often as I can fit it round work, and Ive yet to see it. Met plenty of people with different accents, but none with bags of fish. Think we might have to agree to disagree on this one. Tight lines

I would definatly do the British Museum. The collections in that place are simply stunning.

Sorry, not quite sure what thats about? So there was a bloke fishing and another one further down the bank on the phone? Its not exactly Oceans Eleven is it.

lol, I know what you mean. I now spend most of the winter chasing pike, then most of the summer after other predators, but the odd Tench or water pig session dosent do any harm. Think were going to have to agree to disagree on the poachers front. If I saw it with my own eyes then I might agree, but I havent. Still, not long now till you can get back on the river bank.

Right this might not make me popular but I am of the opinion that this poaching that seems to be all you ever read about in the angling rags is, to a large extent at least, not true. I fish fairly often and I have yet to spot a set line, eastern european with binliner full of fish or hairy ***** Albanian with a speargun. What I do see is ****** up chavs skull dragging 5lb carp in on size 2/0's to 50lb nylon. I see the dumped sweetcorn and princes luncheon meat tins rotting on the bank. The Cormorants scoffing fish. Anglers boasting about 'guesting' private waters. Every tale I hear told begins with 'A bloke I know.....' or 'A mate of mine....'. Normally second hand storys, and afterall us fishermen would never embellish a good story would we Theres a hell of a lot more than Eastern Europeans that should be anglings priority. Im in herts as well by the way, which is your club?

If It falls through drop me a pm, would take the lot.

Are we talking box of chocolates and whispering sweet nothings or more like three WKDs and an Aftershock?

How long have they been down? Concretes a different ball game from natural stone. Are the dusty bits sort of whitish in colour? If so its probably effloresence (sic) which is basically salts coming through the concrete. You see it on new brick walls quite often as well. Some concrete paving seems to suffer worse than others. If its salts rising you shouldnt seal it before its stopped happening as you will just seal them in. Have a look at http://www.pavingexpert.com/eff01.htm Loads of info here!

Honestly its not worth it. The decent sealers and impregnators are expensive and unless your constantly going to be getting oil on them leave them alone. It looks like a Raj Blend stone, which is already pretty good for not showing the dirt. Just clean it once a year in about March and enjoy it. Lithofin, Hg and Fila all make good products. Ive been playing around with a new impregnator from Easipoint called 235 Lankoprotec (catchy name isnt it!) which on first impressions seems pretty good, but again in my opinion not worth it. If you want a little bit to try out on a slab drop me a PM with you address and I can post a bit in a couple of types so you can see what it comes out like.

Unless your planning to fix your car on top of it or have an oiled up foxy wrestling competion on it I wouldnt bother. Just give it a good clean about march time and it will look good for years. The only time sealing an outside patio is any good for anything is if theres a danger of oil leaking on to it or you want to enhance the colour, similar to when the stones wet. Otherweise its just a waste of money.

Looks good Alex. If I was being really picky I would say that youve got a few slabs with four corners meeting in a + shape which breaks up the random look, but im not so I wont. You going to bother with sealing them?

Good stuff, you've just got to lay them now then, easy

Whats the thickness like Alex? I thought they had gone to the thin stuff recently?

Its great as a patio Alex but its not ideal for a driveway. Needs to be very well laid to avoid cracking, which although possible is difficult to get right on the large 900x600 slabs. Also prices are going up with the Indian and Chinese stone, partly due to shipping costs steadily rising, but mostly because the pound is so poo at the moment. The trick is to find a company that has lots of stock that was ordered before the new year to get the best rate, unfortunatly now is the busy time so stock shifts pretty quick. Indian sandstone at the moment should be around the £18M2 +VAT mark for decent slabs from a stockist, although you can buy online for cheaper, but be aware that there can be huge variations in colour and quality. If for a driveway and budget will stretch there is nothing to beat natural stone block paving, but it works out around the £40m2 mark. Alex, Which firm did you go for in the end?

http://www.worldseafishing.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=72 Have a look through some of that, loads of info on the canaries.

Thats about cost price mate, buy him a beer!

Yup Mantra was the one. Everyone raved about the place, and it shut before I had chance to visit. Its that Grill place now. Apparently the owner opend a much larger place in Oxford. Ill give that one you mention a go and report back Thanks again

Speaking of Sushi, are there any decent sushi/Japanese resturants in StAlbans area? Sukiyaki dosent do sushi, and the place I was recommended has now shut and moved to oxford. Any ideas herts boys?

Yup found it, 5°24'55.18"S 53°21'29.79"E. Thats a hell of a way from Somali, best part of 800 miles. TBH I would think I was safe there, Id expect trouble within maybe 150 miles of the coast, but you wouldnt think piracy a danger that far out. I suppose the danger of starting to shoot the pirates is that they become prepared to use force first. Theyve not killed many hostages yet, so the danger is that they srtart getting used to killing them

Wasnt having a pop, Im on google earth and cant find it that was the only reason for asking. Cant see st joseph island on that map either. 12°19'24.10"N 53°27'32.78"E are the only group of islands other than the seychelles or the ones just north or Madagascar that I can find

Interesting, where abouts is St Joseph Island? The only one I can find is in Canada

I thought it was a cider makers gathering or somthing, was waiting to see which new varieties of granny smith have been introduced

Sweet Potato and Chilli Soup, by far and away the best lunch in the snow, love it! Full of energy and a nice bit of heat, whats not too like?

Cheers

Any chance you can add my guess of 76482 to the list, was post number 84 . Cheers, Im feeling Lucky