adzyvilla

My labs can go as long as 4 weeks. There aren't visible signs for the whole season, but you will learn to pick up on the irregular behaviour that signals its arrival. Helps that my two are regular as clockwork...

I've had it all where I work. I was amongst the first 5 back in after 3 days off (the boss paid us for those days as it was an enforced shutdown). Since then, we have all had to sign new contracts, that's both the workers and the furloughed. The returned have been divided into split shifts (6-2:30 and 4:30-12), there's no overtime, no weekend work, social distancing makes everything more awkward, and management have started introducing ever more stringent 'company procedures' and working practices. There will be no bonus and no cost of living rise this year. But the worst thing is our customers have all started to ramp up demand for products, while we are now operating with 50% of the workforce. Deadlines haven't changed, despite all the effects of the virus and as things stand, there will be no significant return of the furloughed staff until at least the end of August, due to the stringent demands of the HSE. Management insist we 'become more efficient' (like we are all currently swinging the lead...) and we are now entering the busiest time of the year for us, yet we are still expected to meet all targets. I'm a charge hand, and my team are a good bunch. Morale has been pretty good since we have returned, but it's rapidly going downhill as the reality dawns that we face an impossible task to please all our customers. Management have their heads in the sand, obsessing about staff virus briefings and the new company policy on tea breaks. One of the better ones has privately admitted to me and the other team leaders that redundancies are inevitable, and the longer they dither, the worse it could be. I feel your pain.

Try mixing in a few spoonfuls of wet food, or soaking the kibble in water. Our older lab is very fussy but we have had some success getting her to eat this way. Dogs will eat when they are hungry, it could be your dog has a slow metabolism and doesn't need to eat as much as the average hound.

I have a copy of in the bag by Margaret Allen. Has been used to good effect on my two. Better for early stages training.

My brother in law (also Norfolk) has had American cars for 20 odd years. He had a '70 Camero when I first met him, then an '83 Camero and then an early 90s corvette. He has randomly shifted to German muscle and has a Mercedes 500SEC now. Totally impractical on UK roads but what a blast! Went to a few car shows with him, the cars always got a lot of attention. I would love a yank tank of my own one day.

I suppose its not just our sport that suffers this problem, most special interest publications will have been taken over by large publishing houses, with sales targets to meet, reduced budgets and more advertising features to fit it to the reduced page count. This has resulted in fairly poor copy being produced, often you will see articles being rehashed and printed in several different places, and the sort of advertorials that I have previously mentioned. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer my articles to be written by knowledgeable enthusiasts who know how to tell a story, can inform and encourage debate, but not in a hectoring way. I resent the poorly disguised activism we often see, the commercialism, the articles with subtle conditioning, leading us to think in a specific way about specific things. Just give me the facts, and let me make up my own mind. Maybe it's time I left the printed word behind.

Thanks Scully. You are absolutely right, the piper calls the tune now more than ever, and readers subscriptions don't even pay for the rent on the office these days. I just wish they would be more up front if they are writing a piece on behalf of an advertiser so we can make our own minds up. I actually think the latest article in sporting gun re: simulated days being better than the real thing is merely a long winded advert for the shoot host.

I must state, that I did not intend this to become yet another pro/anti lead argument thread. I merely used it as an example of the shooting press tail wagging the shooting community dog. I feel that my other examples about the increasing (perceived) subliminal attacks on game shooting are more worrying, as in the end, the change from lead whilst another cut on the way to the death of 1000, is not going to stop us enjoying shooting, but move against game shooting will signal the end of live quarry shooting in short order. Thanks for all your comments so far.

As a matter of fact, yes. On a couple of occasions I have written to ST and received no reply. Even saw the current editor Patrick galbraith at the game fair last year who was very concerned (not), too busy chatting to the totty at the subscription stand. But this is by the by, do you have an opinion regarding my post?

Thanks tightchoke. Its not just sporting gun, shooting times is at it as well. Full on conspiracy nut mode now, I'm fairly sure the current editor of ST is a plant. Straight out of uni and into editor of the top selling shooting magazine. I would dream of such an opportunity. It has changed for the worse over the last few years under his stewardship and is plumbing new depths on a weekly basis.

I've been moved to write this after casting my eye over the latest issue of sporting gun magazine. I would be interested to know others thoughts on the following. I have been an occasional reader of shooting magazines since I was old enough to understand them, firstly second hand copies of shooting times when father had finished with them, then on to airgunner, and more recently all sorts of titles. Generally, if people can't think of what to buy me for birthdays, they will get me a shooting or motoring magazine subscription. Some are better than others, but regardless of the title, I begun to notice a trend a fair few years ago which seems to be accelerating as time goes on. So what is this all about? Get to the damn point. It began when pro steel shot articles first appeared, often as advertorials or obvious puff pieces. Nothing wrong in that, manufacturers need to raise awareness of new products and as shooters we are normally eager to give innovations a go. But over time, gushing pro steel morphed into anti lead, the writer going to pains to empathise the damaging effects of lead and all the benefits of its (now evidently) chosen successor. I can't remember similar articles extolling the virtues of bismuth or tin (please correct me if I'm wrong). On another subject, articles bashing driven game shooting appear to have become deur rigeur in recent years. It was first noticeable to me when articles on raptor persecution were featured rather heavily, almost condemning accused gamekeepers without fair trial. Then questions were raised about bag sizes, tarring all the big commercial shoots with the same brush and inferring slaughter on an industrial scale. Then it was how high is too high?, then the ethics of releasing game, and now to the latest line of attack, about how simulated game is better than the 'real thing'. Taken in isolation, it is absolutely right that all of these aspects are explored and debated, and I think as a sport there are uncomfortable facts we need to confront. But this should be done in the open, and fairly. Not like some cold War era psyop designed to alter our thinking subliminally in a drip... drip... fashion, as it seems to me is the way our august publications seem to be going about it. Are we being subtly (or maybe not so much) guided into a way of thinking and acting, being prepared for a future that has already been chosen for us? (see the lead shot phasing out for further details). Years of pro steel/anti lead propaganda in media, then all of a sudden our representative bodies decide to abandon lead shot. Now that the future of lead has apparently now been decided, is it the turn of game shooting to follow the same fate? Are we being conditioned to accept a time when gameshooting is openly derided by shooters, like lead shot is now? Maybe I've got too much time on my hands as a result of covid-19 curtailing my freedoms, and the conspiracy nut in me is coming to the fore. As I have said above, what does everyone else think? As an aside, but in a related fashion, did anyone else read the article in last months sporting gun by Mark Avery? Why bother giving an avowed enemy of country sports a two page spread in a shooting magazine? He will hardly persuade anyone over to his way of thinking like that as his views and that of wild justice are already well known. It seemed a very odd feature to me and I waited to see if any letters to the editor mentioned it, but there was nothing printed. Might as well put a centre page of a great big juicy T bone steak in the next copy of vegan monthly. Many thanks for reading.

I have a pair of 8x42 Barr and stroud. I think they were around £80. Good clear image and rugged enough. I would highly recommend them.

Mum emigrated to Canada (Scarborough, ontario), in 1967 with her then husband. They both worked for David brown tractors then, he a draftsman, she a typist. In those days, Canada was crying out for skilled workers and had very few requirements for residence. They loved it, big house in the suburbs, lots of brits already out there, great social life. My sisters were born there in 69. Mum fondly remembers everyone having a swimming pool that was frozen solid for 5 months of the year, and the midges when it was warmer. Then her husband got cancer and died in 1971. Mum was left with 2 toddlers. Her sister came out to help for a year, but they agreed it wouldn't work so she had to return to England. Mum then met my dad in 74, so I guess lucky for me things worked out how they did. But without the family support network if things go wrong, it's a very difficult thing to do. My sister found that out the hard way. Both my sisters are dual passport holders due to being born there, and one of them has emigrated twice, first in 97 to Toronto (lasted a year), lost her job and couldn't find another, and second time to vancouver (18 months), got homesick and had a breakdown. More recently, a colleague, very experienced in his industry went out to North Island, nz to a similar job role (but not quite the same). Sold his house here, all his family ready to move. He went first, family set to follow a few months later after the house sale completed his wife changed her mind and didn't want to go. The job over there wasn't quite what he thought either. He went through hell, lost a lot of money and had to return to the UK and beg for his old job back. Luckily the boss is a good egg and he is back with us, but he discovered that these things aren't as straight forward as it seems.

Dad had one in the 70s. Was hit head on by a drunk driver in a rover p6 at about 40mph. Dad walked away with only minor injuries, and the car was still drivable (although he decided against it). The rover was totalled and the driver seriously injured. Built like little tanks, and he always said had he been in an escort or similar, he probably wouldn't be here now.

Yep, it's got the fleur de lys.

Great work and thanks for posting. A very thorough examination, and I look forward to your findings should you choose to test any different makes/loads. I have found the pl32s to be quite a clean killing cartridge on pigeons (certainly no worse than the eley pigeon hb they replaced), but mine were bought bulk a few years ago now, so maybe there has been an adverse change in the manufacturing process? I'm coming to the end of my stock so will need to buy again in a few months, so I may think twice about buying the fiocchis again based on your research.

Labour. Once a party for the working man, now a party for Marxists, fringe loonies and too lazy to practice lawyers. A disgusting bunch, their destruction is a long time coming.

We use a lot of cordless at work and generally buy in whatever our suppliers stock/what is on special. We currently have Hitachi, bosch and dewalt. The Hitachi (18v) are old and are totally knackered. But they have been used hard, and were popular. The dewalt (18v) are the newer brushless ones, originally came with 1.5amph batteries, which didn't last long. With replacement 4.5amph batteries, they go all day and stand up to some punishment. The chucks all still work as they should and they are very sturdily put together. The bosch blue (14.4v) are the oldest ones and still have the nicad batteries, but are absolutly brilliant if you want to do light work. I personally use dewalt for DIY home use. I bought a 18v xr combi brushless pack with 2 5amph batteries, and I recently upgraded to a 54v 9amph battery pack. It's epic. No need for a corded drill any more.

"Well, opinions are like *** holes. Everybody has one."

I like the look of that.

Internet shopping has done for department stores, the ones that are left like John Lewis and Debenhams can't last much longer. It's an old fashioned business model that hasn't moved with the times. Coupled with extortionate business rates and rents, green taxes, and staffing costs, its an impossible task for them to thrive. My home town had a small department store that changed hands several times over the last few years limping along until it finally closed and is now a gym. Very sad indeed, but that is the price of progress. Soon the only shops in small towns will be charity, barbers and vape.

Subcontractor manufacturer, various teams (more than 1 at present)*. I'm a composites laminator, and the sector is absolutely booming at the moment. Most companies are turning away contracts simply because there aren't enough experienced staff to do the work, although my company is constantly taking on new starters and training them up, it takes 3-5 years to be considered competent. We have had the added problem of some substandard design meaning quite a few projects have been put on hiatus while problems are sorted out and work is piling up and then all coming back on stream at the same time. It's a case of just because it's theoretically possible, it doesn't mean it's practical. *I'd rather not name names, as it's a smallish community and anyone in the know might be able to work out the name of my employer, and mine as well

I'm very glad they have to be honest. I work in F1 and the extra time to get parts made is a boon.

Subaru xv/forester

Good result.