fitz

The mrs picked up a chiminea from Lidl recently, £24 I think. its great. We were looking all around for other types, but you can pay in excess of £90 in places like John Lewis. I had a fire pit in a different property with an ex. I didn't think it was as good, plus she hit the roof when she caught me "getting rid of" a tree root I had dug out in the fire pit. To be fair it was hanging over the edges a bit.

Nice one. I'm in the same boat, ours is happy to paddle and wade in but freaks out when her feet don't touch the bottom. We're doing similar to you, finding suitable shallow entry water to get her used to it. Fingers crossed.

As per rimfire above. Social media is the best way to get problems resolved. There was some rubbish statistic last year in the paper about it being x percent quicker at getting issues resolved than calling and complaining. Twitter and Facebook, good luck

If you generally don't take much time off sick, then as mentioned above, the business might be looking to ways they can make it easier for you to return to work. If you take lots of time off sick, they may well be looking at attendance. If you have had zero issues with HR in the past and nothing on your record then I'd be very surprised if it wasn't just a case of the company looking out for both of your interests. Just to add attendance and capability are not the same thing. Hope your back is on the mend, good luck.

Interesting topic as we were at my cousins wedding this weekend. My dad has quite a big family, 3 sisters, 2 brothers (1 deceased) all well into their 70's all had families of their own so there were loads of cousins to speak with. There was obviously something wrong with the dynamic as there was a divide between them all. As with all family they fall in and out of relationships, but nothing came to a head. I'm getting married this year, the only people coming will be my dad and his wife, and the in-laws. None of my siblings or Liz's siblings are coming and neither are any of the kids. We want something personal and intimate, so we're semi-eloping. I'll tell the rest of the family after we are married. They will get over it. After working with them for 17 years, I'm quite looking forward to having zero stress and agro.

Our spin was the runt of the litter, she was adopted by a lab to feed. I don't take the dogs shooting, I'm a fair weather clay shooter so I cannot comment from a working point of view. Essentially Freddie was and still is food obsessed, this may have been inflamed by the fact she couldn't get to her mum to feed. As a young pup she would eat far to fast and bloat out. We cured this with a special feeding bowl that was super frustrating for her, but slowed her right down. 14 months on she is perfect around food (would still do cartwheels for a biscuit), not aggressive in any shape or form and is a perfect family pet.

Here's Freddie as a pup; Her at Christmas time with her sister Hollie.

Great place for a walk. The mutts love it around there. I believe on the side with the coffee shop and cafe that all dogs must be kept on a lead due to a dog eating duck situation not so long back.

Our spin has just had her first season at 14 months, glad its over...

There's always the Church's factory shop in Northampton, but its a bit like roulette if you can find the shoes you like in your size. Well worth a trip and it'll save a fair few ££. They're sold as seconds but their QC policy is extremely tight. During a tour some years back I failed to spot why a pair was being put to seconds and I've been in the trade for a while - quite embarrassing but shows how stringent they are.

I'd be very surprised if water caused the hole. As saddler pointed out, chances are it was substandard material to begin with. Leather is a natural material, even with decent tanning processes and quality control, each finished item is the product of its original raw material. If the wet blue was duff to being with, no amount of processing would give you the right end result. As mentioned above, speak with the cobbler but after 12 months I'd be surprised if they did the repair for free. If you're interested in taking things further you can speak with the BLC in Northampton and they can run tests on the material to see why its failed. The problem here is the testing will cost more than the shoes will do to repair. Are they goodyear welted soles?

looks like something has happened at a metro station now. 13 reported dead, terrible news.

Cheers, I'll take a trip over once I'm back in possession of my SG.

Hi all, Posted hello a couple of years back when I got my SGC. Since then the guns been looked after by my brother as I was relocating for work. Will be getting the gun back shortly and hope to hunt out a few clay pigeon venues nearby. If anyone can recommend venues near south Leicester that would be great! Cheers Fitz

As mentioned above, I'd suggest the small claims route to try and get money back against the damages. Make sure you tell your friend to keep all receipts of taxis, phone calls relating to this issue, and letters she has sent, as you can claim all this back. The upside is it doesnt cost much, £50 I think to file a claim and you can get to make your case in County Court. The downside is, if the guy who caused the damage claims he is broke, the judge will allow him pay back in installments. Keep receipts of the payments and the dates they are made, you need to get your friend used to keeping a paper trail on this. I had to enforce judgement on one of these, the guy failed to pay me quickly enough so the bailiffs went around. Funnily enough he then started paying again.

Dave and Shaun, I'm based in Herts. Thanks Fitz

No offence taken. This was pretty much the entire point of the thread. Formerly decent golfer so I'm used to paying £3.50 per golf ball for the right sort for a single figure handicapper, however that same golf ball would be useless to a beginner and only cost them money when they could use a 50p reclaimed ball as it wont impede them one iota. Thanks for the comments

Hi guys, I'm reasonably new to the clay shooting scene, and in the not to distant future will need to purchase cartridges, however I'm at a bit of a loss to which ones to buy / use. I realise being a beginner the chances of me telling the difference between the best and the cheapest is going to be negligable, however I dont want to waste money on cartridges that are absolute rubbish, or ones that I wont reap the benefit of against the cost. I apologise in advance as I'm sure this has been done to death here before, but for want of trolling through loads of threads I thought I'd ask anyway. If you'd suggest a particular brand and variant, could you give me an idea as to cost per 1000 as well? Doesnt have to be exact, would just like a rough idea. Thanks in advance Fitz

Cheers guys, thanks again for the warm wecome. Off to Stoke this weekend so no shooting for me, but chances are I'll be dodging a few drive bys! Cheers Fitz

I'll be up there next early next month, on the fourth I believe. Thanks for the nice welcome guys.

Morning all, Just thought I'd pop in and say hello. Been lurking the forums for a few weeks picking up the odd bit of information here and there - I must say you all seem a friendly bunch (so far!). Over the course of the last 6 months I've got my sgc, been shooting clays a few times at the A1 venue, and started having lessons with John Farley. Just waiting for a few more bits to arrive from order and the Lanber to be altered a touch by the gunsmith and I'll be out and about in Hertfordshire more. If there are any other locals that can recommend some nice clay grounds to try I'd be much abliged. I'm local to East Herts, Hertford area. Cheers Fitz