The Retirement Thread

[pawl]

Found a wasps nest in the compost heap Covered as much bare flesh as possible prior to commencing spraying More than likely I will be back re advice treatment for multiple wasp stings.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

On the vitamin D thing those who live north of Birmingham should take a supplement September to March. We don't get sufficient sunlight in this period for our bodies to manufacture vitamin D. Very few foods contain vitamin D.

Anyway. Good morning. Been up and about since 03.45. I've had two cups of tea, slice of toast and half a packet of chocolate digestives. This is not good.

The gasman cometh today even though it isn't Monday - has no one told British Gas?? Boiler service and the little box the thermostat speaks to when the CH needs to turn on isn't passing on the message to the boiler - at least that's my diagnosis of the problem.

Joiner is coming as well and he should be on Tuesdays.

I'm now going to attempt a snooze.

Just read an interesting story about vitamin D and covid...

In a paper published in the PLOS ONE journal, Professor Michael Holick, of Boston University School of Medicine, found patients 40 years and older who were “vitamin D sufficient” were 51.5 per cent less likely to die from a Covid infection than those who were deficient.

https://inews.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-latest-dose-vitamin-d-body-defence-covid-19-662196

A spokesman for the Department Health said: “The latest review from Nice [National Institute for Care and Health Excellence] suggests no robust evidence for vitamin D supplements reducing the severity of Covid-19. However, we keep all strong evidence under review.”

 

[welsh dragon]

Just read an interesting story about vitamin D and covid...


https://inews.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus-latest-dose-vitamin-d-body-defence-covid-19-662196

I have been taking vitamin D for about 2 years now. There have been differing opinions on vitamin D, but it's cheap and If it might be of some help 're Covid19, that's a win win situation

 

[Mo1959]

I have been taking vitamin D for about 2 years now. There have been differing opinions on vitamin D, but it's cheap and If it might be of some help 're Covid19, that's a win win situation

I take it too. It seems to be one of the few supplements that scientists think is of any benefit.....most of the others seem to be of little to no benefit.

 

[Dave7]

Bring the plants in to your conservatory. They will continue to grow and ripen.

I mentioned that to MrsD and got one of her famous looks

 

[Tenkaykev]

@Tenkaykev we briefly discussed set top boxes. Pretty sure I'm going to need a new one. You mentioned Humax, is there a particular model you've had good experience with?

I only need to receive Freeview, watch and pause and record programmes.

I've always understood Humax to be the leader in this.

My current box is a "YouView" box. It has a built in HDD so you can record programs. I got it as my then Broadband supplier ( Plusnet ) had an offer where I could extend my existing contract for 18 Months and receive the said box for an extra 1p per month!
It has been very reliable and further investigation at the time revealed it to actually be a rebadged Human Box.
YouView used to have a phone app that allowed you to look up to 2 weeks ahead, scroll between channels, select a program and press record. It would offer to record the individual program or the whole series if it was part of one. The app was discontinued despite the protests of tens of thousands of users. The box still has the same functions but you have to turn on the TV and navigate using the remote control which is a lot " clunkier"
Previous to that I had a Human Freesat Box with a 500GB HDD for recordings. I sold that when I changed TV as we weren't watching much, if any Freesat, and the new LG TV had twin Satellite inputs ( I wasn't aware of that until I unpacked the new TV )
So, to sum up, any recording Human box should be OK, my rebadged one is a DTR T2120 Plusnet. I think that the BT You View boxes are the same, and there seem to be loads on Ebay if you want to go that way.
Final bit of blether, they use standard laptop HDD so if you wanted to extend storage it's often cheaper to buy a base model and swap out the drive.

HTH

 

[PaulSB]

A bizarre little story for you all and then I must get on. First a little history. We live in an old mill village of orginally 36 cottgaes which were exclusively for the workers to rent. The mill closed in the mid 60s and all the workers were given the option to buy their cottage. The guy I bought my house from paid £1250 for his, I paid him £23,000!!! Any property and land not purchased by residents was bought by a Mr Lawrence this included little parcels of land round the village and, crucially, the allotments.

My house came with an allotment and garage which were not on the Deeds and was told a Mr Wilson, a land agent from Preston, would be round to collect the £5 per annum rent. Mr Wilson never appeared. There is an English law called Adverse Poessesion which allows the user to claim ownership of a piece of land if he/she has used the land uninterrupted for 13 years without paying rent. After 13 years we did this for the land our garage and allotment stand on and I have this legally registered at the Land Registry. We now have Title Deeds for the land. A very few other residents did the same but where this hasn't happened the land is still owned by Mr and Mrs Lawrence, who are deceased, and therefore whoever inherited his estate.

Last night I get a knock at the door. "Hello I'm XXXX and I'm buying No.13. Do you own an allotment?" So I cautiously replied "yes" but didn't say which one. He explained he has been sold No.13 WITH an allotment which is now rented by the school - this is correct the school use it and pay a rent somewhere. "Ah" says I "You mean Henry and Nancy's allotment." H&N are deceased and I knew they had rented the allotment to the school. I explained the history to XXX and suggested whoever is selling him the house and the allotment must be the owner.

His face fell and he explained he is due to take poessesion next week but the allotment is not on the Title Deeds and his solicitor has told him the allotment is owned by the person who owns my house!!!!! He said this now throws a big spanner in the works. I guess he's right.

I explained Mr and Mrs Lawrence are both deceased but had lived in Norfolk! His face fell further. I know the last time anyone from the village had contact with the Lawrences was 1999. Seems to me either the legal searches have thrown me up as the owner of said allotment or his solicitor has made a huge cockup. I'm not expecting to suddenly become a wealthy landowner but I may be owed a lot of rent by the school

 

[PaulSB]

Thanks @Tenkaykev your situation is remarkably similar to mine except my Youview box is slightly earlier. I even have an LG TV. I think I'll buy a new Humax. I sell stuff on eBay but only very rarely buy.

 

[oldwheels]

Thanks more knowledge to add to the pot.

Innse Gall is the long island which is the whole string of islands. Eilean Siar is the Western Isles Council.

 

[numbnuts]

 

[oldwheels]

Morning. Chilly walk done and just sat down with my porridge. Hope it heats me up. I still have storage heating so don't want to put it on yet. I daresay if I had gas it would be on for an hour or two. Hopefully the sun will warm the house up a bit.

That is one big disadvantage of storage heaters which I also have. No short term heating. I have a solid fuel stove which is a bit of a faff but produces adequate heat in the evenings just now and also a calor gas heater for a quick blast if required.
When the sun is out as it is now it warms up the two front room nicely but only in the morning.

 

[GM]

Morning all.. Certainly was a chilly night, I had to get up and put the throw over on the bed.

I've got a YouView box, it's all part of the BT package we have with them. Pleased with it, does for me all the things a non-techno person needs.

Doing my Saturday morning ritual at the moment, sitting here on the having my breakfast with my feet in the foot spa, luxury!

 

[gavroche]

Good morning. here again today and no need for heating yet, I am still in my T shirt all day even when it gets a bit cool outside. In any case, I am waiting for the power flush to be done before I put the central heating on . The chap is coming on 14 October. He is also £250 cheaper than British Gas for a full job ( all day) including installing a magnetic filter.
On a different subject, has anyone downloaded the NHS Covid 19 app? I have and it says our postcode is classed as Medium risk.

 

[welsh dragon]

Good morning. here again today and no need for heating yet, I am still in my T shirt all day even when it gets a bit cool outside. In any case, I am waiting for the power flush to be done before I put the central heating on . The chap is coming on 14 October. He is also £250 cheaper than British Gas for a full job ( all day) including installing a magnetic filter.
On a different subject, has anyone downloaded the NHS Covid 19 app? I have and it says our postcode is classed as Medium risk.

I have as well and it says we are in a low risk area.

 

[screenman]

Heating is on here, the underfloor takes 24 hours to warm up so I normally click it on about now to test it out, I do not feel we need it at the moment but I do not want to find it not working when we do, so on it goes and off it will go for a few more weeks with luck.