FastFreddy2

You are quite right, that it did seem lacklustre. Corbyn has been a bit more on the ball, and Sturgeon has been her usual snarling self. I'm hoping that "typical" Tory supporters will see her performance as 'thoughtful calm' as opposed to Corbyns excitability. For my part ("There now follows a party political broadcast on behalf of the Brexit Party") any political party supporting Brexit has my interest. Any party capable of winning enough seats to form a government and push through Brexit has my vote. That leaves the one party, although I'm not a 'natural' supporter (far from it). I had for many years voted for LibDems as their manifesto's were more in keeping with own social and economic position. However, they are wholly anti-Brexit insisting still, 'voters got it wrong'. Well, if I'm getting it wrong, you don't want my vote then, do you. I will be going to bed Friday morning around 6am, having stayed up all Thursday night watching results come in. I know most folk can't be bothered (as watching results will not change them) but the excitement for me is so great it's like watching a very good film. (Yeah, sad innit.)

At the eve of a General Election that might shape the UK for the next 30 years, and the first 10 minutes of the BBC 10pm news went like a party political broadcast for the Labour Party. To be fair the Beeb gave all the major parties a shout, although of all of the leaders who had challenges put to them, Mr Corbyn was exempted. "A leopard can't change it's spots."

Number = more cracks drilled than planned. Depth = more holes meant less strength left (holding drill above my shoulder) to drill full depth holes. Some of the holes won't need opening up, others will need full depth and an even wider drill. The"pilots" are there initially to find the holes and cracks behind the render. Most are in the right place, but not all of them. I'll add some detail to the DIY thread, as this one has 'wondered off' a good bit from "meetings". (Although there is a recognisable path to getting here.)

Turning up at all is an achievement .... The very first "sub-contracted" job I wanted doing here, was to change/fix/repair/replace the mains stop-cock. Chap I spoke to was happy to oblige. Local to me, and I outlined the job with a £50 cash price agreed. I was (moderately) happy to pay it, though a bit miffed the heating engineer hadn't done it, when he changed the boiler for the previous owner a year earlier. I sent a photo to his email address to show him what I needed doing. (Mistake.) I never heard from him again. The heating engineer had laid new pipework all around the stop-cock and it frightened off the plumber. Luckily for me, unluckily for a pal, a heating engineer visited me for an unrelated item. He kindly offered to fix the problem, but the S/C was so locked solid, he snapped the handle. (Hence I know it hadn't been used for well over a year, maybe many years.) 15 minutes later, I had a new lever-ball-valve fitted, and at no cost despite my insistence some money should be taken. Given how many pipes have leaked here (before I changed them all) I can't express the liability, the absence of a working mains stop cock presented, especially given the pressure and flow rate possible at my dwelling. It might be reported elsewhere, but I had reason to contact the same heating engineer when I struggled to re-wire a new central heating wireless "receiver". The wiring plan on the junction box, didn't tie up with what I had. His response to me was; "I don't bother with that, I just put the wires where I want." Which explained everything .... And allowed me to 'fix' the wiring as I needed to, in about 2 minutes. Why if it's so easy to do it right, did he or anyone, feel the need to do it wrong? The was no extra work involved in following the wiring plan, and it keeps the job really simple for everyone who follows him. Which is why he probably puts wires all over the show, to almost force a visit by him. When I asked about a visit (he literally lives 800 yards away) he wanted £60+VAT to come to my house. Fortunately, the "I put the wires anywhere" comment freed up the need for a visit because I then knew I wasn't misunderstanding the colour codes, they'd just been installed in the wrong places. When the new combi boiler goes in, EVERYTHING that twat installed, will be gone. Pretty much like most of the plumbing here; replaced with good materials, correctly installed. Honestly, pipe runs supported by bent nails? Pipes laid in gaps too small for pipes, so they were left crushed. Pipes not bent correctly, (collapsed) so they crimped the flow. Soldered joints not cleaned, so they corroded. Heated water pipes straight off the replacement boiler fitted a year before we arrived, not insulated. (Burn hazard - plus significant heat loss.) The list could be very very long. In fact I ought to write up the list and pass it to a trade guild .... Bit like leaving your body to 'science', I could pass on my list as a "worst case scenario".

So far, 160 holes, only 1 inch deep. And typo (second one - as advised) now corrected.

In a perfect world, us husbands/partners would not need "DIY" skills. We'd contact reputable tradesmen who would do a quality job at reasonable cost, and everyone would be happy. That's not how it works. My first experience with "Trades" while a tenant started thus: In the early 80's after waiting 7 years on a council list, I got offered a flat. I accepted, since I was approaching my thirties and my girlfriend was keen for us to live together (though I didn't know that at the time). The place wasn't very nice, but it had potential. By the time I left, the place had been completely refurbished to a high decorative standard, not all done by me. I had a decorator mate who sorted out the ceiling (with paper) after I had dislodged the last of the polystyrene tiles from EVERY ceiling in the house. During the course of the initial repairs, I'd asked the council for money toward the cost of all the gap filling in the plasterwork. I felt it unreasonable to have to do all these repairs (due to warm air central heating) as much of the plasterwork had blown. They offer to send around a "plasterer" instead, which I accepted. A week before he arrived, I had bought a brand new cooker. At the time, it was a tad more than a weeks wages. Basic gas oven with four hobs and waist level grill. The plasterer filled holes with bonding to the surface. As Puffer will know, this stuff is a filler, used to produce the right position for a top coat of fine powder "finish" that can be polished to produce the nice smooth wall people paint. It was a bodge. Worse, the useless twat with a trowel, dropped something on my new cooker, and knocked a penny sized chip out of the enamel on my new cooker. When I found it, I reported it to the council seeking restitution. The twat denied involvement claiming it was there already. I didn't get a penny. When I sold the cooker some years later, it didn't look much like it had been used. The buyers couldn't believe the condition, given it's age. (Not much has changed. Our new cooker of 6½ years, still sits in the house unwrapped.) That was my very first encounter with 'trades', and experience has taught me, not much changes. I regularly see stuff, fully trained (apprenticed) trades have bodged, or left unfinished. While this doesn't mean everyone, I would say 90% of trades do only what they are paid for, as easily to them and as quickly to them as possible. No more, and if possible, they do less. ie. Someone local to me had a leaking gutter. Young fella "guaranteed" work, "fixed" the gutter leak using some roof repair mastic. A bit like black sand filled rubber. Except it didn't stick or at least didn't stay stuck. £90. It was never more than a £20 job, and even at £30, the expensive stuff that should have been used - if properly applied - should have ensured there were no further leaks. Some plumber who visited the same house since, has fitted some taps. One leaks. I think the homeowner is waiting for him to return to fix it. Less recently I painted a garage conversion. Two trades failed to correctly fill a plasterboard join, meaning I was left a crack in a newly plastered wall to correct. Both of these trades paid significantly more than me. The joiner did not fill the board gap, the plasterer plastered over the gap. Gaps allow movement, movement creates cracks. I had to dig out out plaster, fill gap, tape over joint (again) and create a smooth surface for me to paint. While my work remains intact, I hear other cracks have appeared since. And this is for a "regular" customer of the tradesmen who gets them work with other people. Two years ago I spotted a bricklayer doing some work across the road from me. Looked like a good job. (It turns out it was for his brother.) I got him to do some work for me. He turned up in the dark ..... Broke bricks I offered to cut (neatly) for him ..... Next day in daylight, I could see what a mess he had left. Last brick sits proud, and his broken bricks barely had enough material left to hold the brick above. I supplied the bricks, cost me £50 for a bad job. Did he get any more work from me? Take a guess. I spent nearly 3 hours filling the gaps he had left in the mortar. Bodger. We used to call then "chancers". The building game is full of them. I suppose, what people don't know, won't hurt them. But when you know the difference between a good job and a bad one, it hurts to see the work of people who do know better. But to womenfolk in particular, they just want stuff fixed, and quickly. My walking friend got a bedroom redecorated recently. She got fed up waiting for me to do two other small rooms (that had years of bodging to resolve before I could start putting paint on walls) so she got "a friend" in. He did the job quickly, in some ways. 4½ days at £100 per day - cash. The (supplied) blind he fitted, never worked and he should have known that when he fitted it. (Same fault with the replacement - which resulted in a refund for the blind.) The skirting board he painted has so much muck in it, feels like sandpaper. The papered edges around the window have come a little unglued. These were not cut off or re-glued, just painted. The uPVC sill (cill) that overlays the old tiles, not cut wide enough and excessive filler used to make up the gap. When it came to refitting the replacement blind (that was subsequently found to be faulty as was the first) he wanted half a days money for fettling work necessary on the replacement. Fettling that would not be necessary if he had removed the lump of plaster making the window rebate gap 3mm too short on width. On balance, she now knows she 'caught a cold' on hiring this fella. Of course women all know a "wonderful bloke" who did great work at a friends. I pointed one at a job once ... I still get earache about it, 4 years later. I don't do "DIY" in the normal sense of it, nor does Puffer. We are amateur builders, or property developers. Some of my tools are the best on the market. Some of them get a lot of use. Today I will be drilling over 100 4 inch deep holes repairing cracked walls built 40+ years ago. Usually these would be skimmed over by a plasterer, and in need of repair again in 2 years. I doubt my repairs will need re-doing while I still live. I fill the gaps in bickwork and mortar joins to ensure they can't move again. Takes time, makes a mess, but means it gets done once.

Yes. I had a bit of a look around the internet to see if she was indeed 'height challenged' and if that had affected her footwear choice, but most of the images I found had her standing alone. I haven't seen anything of her walking around in heels. Is it bad (unpatriotic) I didn't watch any of the concert? I have a genetic disorder that brings me out in nausea, when listening to anything created by "pop" groups or bands, especially those that have a member with surname of Gallagher. I'm a bit reluctant to listen to the 'airtime filling' waffle of celebrity DJ's during the performance breaks too. All in all, watching the programme live would have been something of a challenge. If it's available on iPlayer, maybe I should have a dip-in to see what all the fuss is about.

Looks 10 years old or younger? Perhaps some are confusing the way she keeps in touch with her young audience, with something else. Seems to me, she helps herself to keep her audience by being made up to look young when on stage, but like other performers with fans in their early teen years, often dresses more provocatively than the parents of those children might like. So a role model (getting back to the OP's remarks) but not always a good one. Though I wouldn't envy any parent in 2017 with teenage girls. (While out food shopping this week during the schools half-term break, I have noticed several small groups of -I hope- 15 and 16 year old girls dressed in outfits suitable for 20 something women going to nighclubs. To be frank, I doubt their parents could have seen them leave the house dressed as they were.) Another act at the same gig: Little Mix Who took some flak for dressing like this at a charity concert:

No one here has suggested any sort of defence... But since you are aware there is no such UK law that refers to paedophilia, if there was and the girl/boy concerned was 15 years old, you would get off. Even charged with a Hebephilia, you might get off. Not until you'd been charged with Ephebophilia, would the prosecution stand a chance of a conviction. That's why the medical terms (even when correctly used) are not used. Using the wrong terms would be typical of journalist 'hacks'. It's why I made the point of using "under age sex" that is under the age of consent which includes anyone not 16 (in the UK) . Ariana does look a bit younger than her years, but not young/small or childlike enough to be of interest to a paedophile. To a ephebophile perhaps, but what sort of remark is that? "She looks younger than her years, I bet the ephebophiles love her." .... Sick.

Get a better Law Manual. Paedophilia becomes something else after puberty. Under-age sex, is under-age sex. After paedophilia it becomes hepo something or other, which are medical/psychiatric terms. Bingo: Hebephilia. Someone who looks younger than their years is just that, someone who looks younger than their years. I have seen no end of 50-60 year old women of Afro-Caribbean decent you would swear were thirty-somethings. Just because a girl has a diminutive chest, typical of sportswomen, slim women and other other female given to sports or keep-fit, (those who don't binge on KFC, MacDonalds, or sugary drinks without exercising off the excess) are not "paedo's wet dreams". Is there a notion here that anyone who isn't fat and looks older than they should, is a "paedo's wet dream"? If so it's a bit of a sick attitude .....

She's 23, and not every woman in the world has had a boob-job. Back in my younger days when I had a 28" waist, my girlfriends obviously (to me at least) had smaller waists. In fact if Puffer can remember, he has seen several photographs of my first live-in girlfriend, who had very much the same figure as Ariana. When I last saw her, she was even slimmer. (A vegan diet can do that.) You are assuming every girl in the world likes to eat KFC, MacDonalds, and only consumes sugar filled drinks. Not so. While many Western children have grown to a size 12 or 14 by the time they start taking exams, it's not healthy, nor did it used to be normal before "fast food" filled with fructose became part of the Western world's diet. Ariana has the same shape as most Chinese, Japanese and other Asian countries where fast-food isn't typically available. In my book, "slim shaming" is as bad as "fat-shaming". This girls's a grafter. Why should she be fat or overweight? And just for the record "paedophilia" is interest in prepubescent children, which these days max's out around 11 or 12 years old, so paedophilia is an interest in children that are younger than that. There is no way Ariana could be mistaken for a 10 year old or younger as you suggest. Another example of "paedo's wet dream" .... Abbey Clancy, 31 year old mother of two. She is stunningly gorgeous. A 32 year old, stunningly pretty girl: Keira Knightley

Nothing that rash is likely under the recent auspices, though two of the three is already lined up under a mutually agreed plan to give me some working capital. I will need the third to convert a smaller project into something producing a profit.

I was going to write that she was South American, so likely short etc.... Thought I'd better check before making an assumption based on the sound of her name and her olive skin colour. Good job I did. Seems she has mixed parentage, with some Italian? Moving from New York, her mother gave birth to her in Florida. A child star, with 10 years in the business already, she has a four octave voice quality to match the internationally famous diva; Mariah Carey. My guess is that as a child-star, (and maybe someone with slightly diminutive stature) wearing a heel has been something she's had to do for some years already. Although currently 23, here is a picture taken in 2014. Picture of innocence? She has it all. Looks, figure, age, and talent.

Thank you. There seems very little clarity at the moment though. There is only one real issue, and my interest in heels doesn't help of course, though you wouldn't know it. I'm always having my hand or arm held in public, despite my footwear. Mrs Freddy is extremely tolerant of this, and most of the other less attractive aspects of my personality. (Mostly associated with physical appearance as I get older.) The "problem" is I'm told, is largely of my own making, due to her good self living in what passes for a building site. Thing is, we are so far down this impasse, I don't see a reasonable/practical solution - in any form. Even if the building site was to close....

Bit harsh. ..... Even if true. I think this is very true, though looking at British politics (and the French election result) you might be mistaken for thinking otherwise. Corbyn, "good man, sincere man" though he undoubtedly is, does not really understand the wants of his core voters. The British working man doesn't want to compete with 500M others in the EU for their jobs, school places, homes or hospital bed. He sees it otherwise. Duh! As do the other 3 parties with any seats worth counting. (LibDum's, SNP, Greens.) The French election produced a President from the left field, meaning neither of the two major parties, but his policies could have come from either of the two other parties. Again, different, but the same. While it would necessitate a coalition government, I'm a great believer in P.R. not least because there'd be more inclination for people to vote. There'd be no such thing as a wasted vote. Maybe one day ....

Disappointingly, not. One of our party was resistant enough to going (later denied) that I left town alone, and did some paid work elsewhere. I hope to go later in the week though. I'm pretty annoyed I didn't go today, and it takes quite a lot for me to get like that about anything. I would be the last to deny Mrs Freddy has quite a challenge on her hands with me, but my life isn't a bed of roses either. During the past week I've had some events occur that have had me looking at my life, and wondering if I need to make some changes. I'm aware I'm not getting any younger, and many people around me are finding infirmity -in one guise or another- is limiting what they can do. At the moment I enjoy a fair level of physical fitness, and it's being wasted. Wearing high heels aside (or any other facets of my life that make me -ahemm- unique) my conclusion is; I think I could have a better life, even if it meant losing a (very) good friend. Maybe there's a compromise situation I haven't yet thought of.... This isn't the first time I've found myself at these crossroads, and an impending sense of loss stopped me previously. I don't know I've got enough years left, to do anything other than begin a search for someone with more energy, and more enthusiasm for life in general. Heels, would of course be a bonus, but not currently a deal breaker. Whole situation is making me quite sad.

And the real shame of that is, it will disenfranchise/alienate voters who thought giving an outsider the chance to 'be in charge' was a good idea. I very much doubt another (outsider) will get the same chance in our life-times.

Was supposed to be going to London today. I'm still keen, but Mrs Freddy is less so. If I'm on here again before 8pm (which if I'm honest is quite likely), it means I stayed home.

Well, he might have a point, but he gives them so much ammunition. Things could and should have, been so much different. He was a great opportunity for Americans (as was Obama). Trump is someone from outside the "establishment" who might have taken a fresh view on making things 'right' for more people. I'm not sure that's what he is actually doing. Seems to me, he is running one of the world's most expensive PR campaign's. Time will tell, but the odds on him getting a second term (some say - him even completing his first term) are getting worse by the week.

Latest news ..... US Mayors will DEFY Trump and carry on meeting the terms of the Paris Accord as Michael Bloomberg pledges to give the UN $15million to cover the cost of the president's withdrawal More than 1,400 mayors of US cities have formed a coalition to meet the agreements of the Paris Climate Accord On Thursday, President Trump announced US withdrawal from the 2015 pact Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Friday in Paris that his foundation would help coordinate a US effort called America's Pledge Bloomberg also pledged to provide the $15million he says the UN Climate Change Secretariat will lose from President Trump's withdrawal from the pact Full details of the report (worth reading) >> here << Trump not losing touch with reality, but reality (continuing to) lose touch with Trump. When this many elected leaders ignore your decision, you've got to ask yourself; "Was I wrong?" Trump being a (clinical example of a) megalomaniac, the thought would not occur to him.

As I said to start with, money makes money, ESPECIALLY in property. (In 6 years I have almost doubled my property wealth - on paper.) I don't think he's done anything another half-wit would have done better or worse. I don't recognise any entrepreneurial flair. Put another way, if he was born dirt-poor, he might have made a reasonably successful car salesman, but little else. Yes he is (according to him) richer than he was, but given his starting point, who isn't richer? Richard Branson may well have filed for bankruptcy, but I am unaware of it if he has. I do know he started his entrepreneurial career aged 9, "growing" rabbits for sale. That boy was always going to make good. And he's put his money and skills to good use, doing something the world might see the benefit of, pushing the boundaries of human skill and ingenuity. Trump on the other hand, used his money to trade-up for a younger wife. I was half-way pleased when Trump won the Presidency, because Clinton was poison. Bernie Sanders would have done better as it turns out, but the Democrats thought Clinton on the ticket was a sure-fire winner. Mistake. Trump got in because he was seen as the lesser of two evils. Trump has been a golden chance, one not normally available to a non-politico. (Money talks.) But he's treating America like one of his businesses, and the rest of the world as 'competition'. He's turning out to be too reactionary, too insular, too self-centred to do well. He represents 300M people and looks like a fool, which of course makes the world suspect ALL Americans think and act like he does. To put it succinctly, he comes across as an oaf. True, a seemingly rich oaf, but an oaf just the same. Oops, a rich oaf with a pretty wife. (Who wears high heels.)

No one I know makes the sort of losses he has, and is seen as "successful" regardless to what rumours say. No-one else I'm aware of has managed to get so much unsupported credit outside of being a bank. He's a bad businessman. He's becoming a bad President. It may be he is the lesser of two evils (I'm no Clinton supporter either) but the Republicans have ensured a slam-dunk for the next Democrat candidate come 2020. For me his shame started when he hustled his way between other national leaders a week or so ago to get centre stage. Now leaving the Paris Accord thinking he could railroad his own reentry terms .... He isn't a politician. He isn't worldly. He has zero emotional intelligence. He isn't a good businessman (his family money, made money regardless). With America being the second worst polluter and China the worst, he could have used that position under the Paris Accord to gain some leverage with China over NK. Nope, he sends aircraft carriers which NK and China see as provocative. I'm not alone in thinking this man could single-handedly start WWIII. Anyone who could get a new business $3,000,000,000 into so quickly isn't to be trusted with a balloon, much less the codes to nuclear weapons. And in case any readers should think otherwise, my political views are slightly right of centre. Were I American, I might well be a supporter of the Republican party, when they didn't field half-wits (Trump, Bush) with wealthy parents for presidential candidates.

He's filed for bankruptcy 4 times,and at least twice because he borrowed significantly more than he could pay back. He refers to them not as bankruptcy but "chapter" applications. Puffer would understand it better than the both of us, but it seems Trump uses these Chapter filings for easing his way out of debt he can't afford. Some of those figures look like $3B of debt, another was $550m of debt which I think could put a crimp in any banks funding regime. Certainly it was the case the US government was't officially the banker who allowed him to stay out of jail, but "rumour" has it, that he was allowed to carry on spending money he didn't have, carry on making losses few others would be capable of, which couldn't happen unless he had access to "gold-plated" finance. "Rumour" has it, he has friends in high places, making sure his enterprises don't fail completely. I haven't read up much to complete this response, but every time I open an article about his financial abilities, I find the Executive Summary suggests he hasn't got any. Sure he's rich, but how much richer might he be, if he hadn't made so many bad investment decisions?

As I understand Trumps "success", he was bailed out of bankruptcy (effectively by the US government) because the business he was running would have cost so many jobs it would have created some panic in the economy. To a degree, money makes money. I don't just mean as 'interest', but by investing in growth businesses. (Backing businesses that are short of cash, not short of a good product and sales orders.) So I don't believe Trump is the great businessman he eludes to be. I think he's a man with a lot of money who moves that money around. As time moves on, I'm becoming more and more convinced, he's not the man to be a President of the US of A either.

While talking about politics is always a potential "hot bed" of controversy, I read today Donald Trump has decided his team should leave a worldwide agreement and join Syria (at war) and Nicaragua (one of the poorest countries in the region), and it's something I'm struggling to ignore. He is citing that money spent on trying to safe-guard the world is money that should be spent on jobs for Americans. Or rather, being involved in energy saving initiatives, might cost American jobs? I understand the notion that spending money is rarely an attractive thing to do when you don't get given something in return. From the political point of view, being one of the three countries that isn't making a charitable donation toward something that hopefully everyone will benefit from, makes you look a bit mean - a bit selfish even. Given the qualifiers of the other two countries absence (at war and dirt-poor), President Trump is making something of a name for himself throughout the world. Even China, the worst offender, has signed up to the initiative.... I read in a fairly right-wing online "news" outlet, that some Americans wholly support him. Meaning, his followers think he is doing the right thing. The same people who think America rules the world, and every other country in the world sponges off the American economy. This I feel is an "isolationist" view, of unworldly people looking out from inside a walled room. America is of course free to do what it wants. If it doesn't want to be part of the first "world-wide" club, then don't be. But I can't help feeling that amongst all his other controversial initiatives, this is the one that will make him unpopular with everyone on the planet except his dedicated supporters. And the trouble with being unpopular, is that when you want or need 'friends', they are less likely to oblige. Their take will be: "If you have a reputation of only looking after yourself, why would I want to help you?" And already some of his important/influential supporters are leaving his support group. A public letter addressed to him by a group of blue-chip companies have sought to change his mind. The very people he claims to represent, are asking him to stay inside the agreement.