"  airspeed velocity..." Hmmm.

Tree-frogs no - they are not a British and Northern European species."Ordinary" frogs though (I don't know their species beyond that). My and my neighbour's gardens have small colonies of frogs and we've built ponds for them.I'm rather concerned though as...  moreTree-frogs no - they are not a British and Northern European species."Ordinary" frogs though (I don't know their species beyond that). My and my neighbour's gardens have small colonies of frogs and we've built ponds for them.I'm rather concerned though as there did not seem much spawn in the pond this year, and I have seen or heard hardly any of the creatures so far. There were lots last Spring.   

A kipper factory.

Impressive image of a huge natural event!

I don't think so, and we can all hope and pray it never happens.#Would anyone be left after an all-out thermonuclear World War III?Oh of course there would. I'd think most of the world's population would survive, though in what sort of world is anyone's g...  moreI don't think so, and we can all hope and pray it never happens.#Would anyone be left after an all-out thermonuclear World War III?Oh of course there would. I'd think most of the world's population would survive, though in what sort of world is anyone's guess, or nightmare.The Russian president can't launch any weapons himself, only order their use; but the question is whether his generals would obey such an order or refuse.It is alarming though that the Russian Federation is still developing inter-continental ballistic missiles, that can carry multiple warheads either nuclear or high-explosive. They tested one recently, launched from and landing in Russian territory - they did follow the international agreement to tell NATO in advance.  less

In the living-room carpet.Why that?The question reminded me of my girlfriend and I once taking a walk around the much-vaunted "Poundbury" near Dorchester (S. England). This pseudo-village is a huge housing estate sprinkled with various business premises, ...  moreIn the living-room carpet.Why that?The question reminded me of my girlfriend and I once taking a walk around the much-vaunted "Poundbury" near Dorchester (S. England). This pseudo-village is a huge housing estate sprinkled with various business premises, built in what I call "Nouveau Pastiche" style - which at least is an effort to break away from lots and lots and lots of identical houses.Living about twelve miles away from it, we visited it when its first phase had just been built, out of curiosity; and decided we'd not live there even if we could afford its Nouveau Pastiche prices.  Its small terraced houses have tiny back gardens, no obvious car-parks near them, and front doors that open straight onto narrow pavements.The pavements were dressed in fine gravel... Just right for being carried on your shoes into your home!  less

More accurately "portable" than "mobile", but yes, many times to and from the holiday and residential parks around here. Not as wide as that in the photo though. A lot of portable buildings are divided down the centre, and carried half on one trailer, so ...  moreMore accurately "portable" than "mobile", but yes, many times to and from the holiday and residential parks around here. Not as wide as that in the photo though. A lot of portable buildings are divided down the centre, and carried half on one trailer, so can be moved along the ordinary roads without too much trouble.  

The South-West: relatively warm and humid air nearly straight from the Atlantic Ocean.

The drowning in a silo? An awful death.

Loan shark.Tomato spider - sometimes used within our family when we were young, for the fruit's calix.Ear-wormGolden Lion - a quite common, old pub name, in England. Along with various White Harts, Black Dogs, etc. Nodding donkey - a nick-name for the bea...  moreLoan shark.Tomato spider - sometimes used within our family when we were young, for the fruit's calix.Ear-wormGolden Lion - a quite common, old pub name, in England. Along with various White Harts, Black Dogs, etc. Nodding donkey - a nick-name for the beam-pump often used on oil-wells holding little or no natural gas-pressure. Vaulting-horseClothes-horse (airing frame)Saw-horseCatch a crab - all right, that's three words, sorry! A rowing term. Fire dogs - log supports used long ago, in large, open fireplaces."Soup Dragon" (The) - how well do you know children's TV shows?Lounge lizardSpinning jenny - Early textile-trade machine citing now-archaic synonym for "donkey" or "mule". Also, "tinman's jenny", a workshop tool.Snowman - yes, we 'oomans are animals, biologically!"Iron Man" - it's a sports event."Black dog" - Sir Winston Churchill's nick-name for the effects he suffered, of clinical depression.Dark horse - of a person surprising everyone in some way."Iron horse" - 19C USA colloq. for "railway locomotive". I ...    less

Of multicellular animals, probably the Eyelash Mite. It lives only on sebaceous oil, so does have a rather limited diet,  but excretes nothing. I suppose it must have waste-products but perhaps simply water and carbon-dioxide it can lose as part of i...  moreOf multicellular animals, probably the Eyelash Mite. It lives only on sebaceous oil, so does have a rather limited diet,  but excretes nothing. I suppose it must have waste-products but perhaps simply water and carbon-dioxide it can lose as part of its respiration.  

I have used ropes and thin cords in lots of things...Securing loads on trailers or in vehicles.As part of lifting-tackle in various situations.Lashing sticks together for garden plant-support frames.Additional guy-lines for tents.Temporary fences in publi...  moreI have used ropes and thin cords in lots of things...Securing loads on trailers or in vehicles.As part of lifting-tackle in various situations.Lashing sticks together for garden plant-support frames.Additional guy-lines for tents.Temporary fences in public events like village fetes.In caving, either as life-lines or for abseiling down and "prusiking" back up the rope to negotiate "pitches" (vertical drops).  

No, I have never been "spelunking". However... I have been "caving" many times, over many years.As far as I can determine the word "spelunking" was coined by two American cavers in the 1930s, to sound clever. The root if I can remember the correct sp...  moreNo, I have never been "spelunking". However... I have been "caving" many times, over many years.As far as I can determine the word "spelunking" was coined by two American cavers in the 1930s, to sound clever. The root if I can remember the correct spelling, is Spaeleos, Greek for "cave", but where they found that strange "unk" syllable is anyone's guess.The word never caught on outside of the USA, and although journalists tended to keep using it to seem clever, American cavers themselves eventually relegated it to denigrating novices (they'd never been beginners themselves, of course) and dilettantes. I have never seen it in any American cavers' literature. "Speleo" appears in the umbrella term for the science of caves and their contents: Speleology (again that should have the "ae" but I forget which side of the first 'l'). So the professional or amateur cave-researcher is a "speleologist" - but the words are not used to describe "just" caving and cavers.  In fact many of them simply use the ordinary w...    less

I think Jane S has the nearest answer: a reference to the sand being "alive".The use of quick to mean alive is archaic for normal use although it does appear liturgically. There is nothing special about the sand itself. The deposit is "quick" thanks to be...  moreI think Jane S has the nearest answer: a reference to the sand being "alive".The use of quick to mean alive is archaic for normal use although it does appear liturgically. There is nothing special about the sand itself. The deposit is "quick" thanks to being saturated with water, creating a fluid. I have read the advice for someone caught in it, is to lie flat, and float on it... but I'd rather not put it to the test.Although grain is dry, there have reportedly been a few awful cases of farm-workers drowning from falling into a silo full of grain.  less

I've no photo of it but our family loved the Tastee-Toaster our parents owned. I saw one once on a car-boot sale stall, where the seller was as baffled as the browser by it: two shallow, circular cast-aluminium dishes held together by a hinge opposite a l...  moreI've no photo of it but our family loved the Tastee-Toaster our parents owned. I saw one once on a car-boot sale stall, where the seller was as baffled as the browser by it: two shallow, circular cast-aluminium dishes held together by a hinge opposite a long handle on each, with a clip to hold them closed.Naturally I came to their aid and explained this toasted-sandwich maker to them - a type used on a gas-ring. Being circular the by-product was a lot of spandrels of bread, but one does not waste food, instead one adds them to soup or uses them in a bread-and-butter pudding.  less

Grey. And more grey. Along with white and stainless-steel.So it appears on too many new and refitted houses around here (my part of Southern England) now, where even attractive 1930s style homes are being larded with ugly faux-timber plastic planks the co...  moreGrey. And more grey. Along with white and stainless-steel.So it appears on too many new and refitted houses around here (my part of Southern England) now, where even attractive 1930s style homes are being larded with ugly faux-timber plastic planks the colour of warships. I have no idea where and why this fad originated, but the overall effect is very industrial.One fad that does seem on the wane is for timber garden decking. One possible reason for the decline of this costly pretention, if that is happening, is that can be dangerously slippery when wet, despite the grooves routed into the surfaces. Another may be the amount of maintenance it needs to prevent the timber from rotting; and unless you have a trade account as a builder, farmer or similar, you cannot buy decent wood-preservative like creosote nowadays.  less

I recently put up an "insect hotel", a Christmas present from relations. So far the invertebrates have not found it, but I expect some will in due course.

No: all my own work, on the few square yards of what I call a "lawn" more politely than in accuracy, and with a manual mower not a noisy electric or petrol one.

I can carry out basic plumbing and simple electrical work to a point, but anything to do with the gas-fired central-heating / hot-water boiler has to be by a "Gas Safe" accredited fitter.Similarly there are stringent regulations in the UK about electrical...  moreI can carry out basic plumbing and simple electrical work to a point, but anything to do with the gas-fired central-heating / hot-water boiler has to be by a "Gas Safe" accredited fitter.Similarly there are stringent regulations in the UK about electrical installations. These don't ban amateur installers per se, but the work has to be inspected and passed as safe, professionally, before use.  

Certainly not me. I am not brave, tough or foolhardy enough to try! It'd almost certainly have to be creep quietly out and ring 999.

Not now, except for very simple things. I have nowhere to park except in the narrow street, and modern cars are so difficult to work on I have to entrust it to a garage. I cannot even find a published service manual for the thing.The last repair work I di...  moreNot now, except for very simple things. I have nowhere to park except in the narrow street, and modern cars are so difficult to work on I have to entrust it to a garage. I cannot even find a published service manual for the thing.The last repair work I did on my present car was replace the battery - enforcing my making an improvised extension-handle to reach the 'Torx'-head screw holding one of the clamps deep down in a recess. And as for changing what the Owner's Handbook calls a "Cabin Air Filter", I have never managed to find it! (I have the car given a service along with its annual, compulsory "MoT Test" of roadworthiness.)  I have though fitted it with a reversing-camera, a huge help when parking along my street at times.Yet in years past I have carried out all sorts of repairs and maintenance on assorted motorcycles, cars and vans I've owned.  less

 Not so much "like" as appreciate and respect them. It's what they are for that matters more to me, and I like to use the right tool for the task, and use it correctly.Nevertheless I do have some affection for three I own. One is a small lathe made p...  more Not so much "like" as appreciate and respect them. It's what they are for that matters more to me, and I like to use the right tool for the task, and use it correctly.Nevertheless I do have some affection for three I own. One is a small lathe made probably in the 1950s, which was my 18th Birthday present from my parents. (It was not new but was in very good condition. Dad had bought it from someone at work.) The other is a manually-operated shaper now probably more than 100 years old, and still serviceable - I last used it only recently.The third is a carpenter's beam compass I had inherited from our Dad. Initials and a date stamped on it show its origin - the retired cabinet-maker who had been our neighbour back in the early 1960s. Very close examination shows the brass fittings on it to have been hand-filed, and very carefully. The date corresponds to him possibly having made it as an apprentice-piece at the start of a 40-year career in his trade.  It is more than a treasured relic: I have used it a...    less

The simplest and briefest - appointment reminders, meeting confirmations, quick one-off questions, that sort of thing.

I would think so, and indeed they do!I bought a pack of bandsaw blades from a tool-retail chain called 'Machine Mart', and it's thrown any number of advertising e-posts at me since then, without having a clue what else I am likely to buy from it, nor when...  moreI would think so, and indeed they do!I bought a pack of bandsaw blades from a tool-retail chain called 'Machine Mart', and it's thrown any number of advertising e-posts at me since then, without having a clue what else I am likely to buy from it, nor when or how often!  

A decently-sized screen enabling me to examine complicated web-sites easily (though that does not necessarily make them easy to navigate!), and to use software like word-processors, photo-editors, spreadsheets and CAD properly.A real keyboard with finger-...  moreA decently-sized screen enabling me to examine complicated web-sites easily (though that does not necessarily make them easy to navigate!), and to use software like word-processors, photo-editors, spreadsheets and CAD properly.A real keyboard with finger-sized buttons.Convenient scrolling and pointing.  

Some types of pump.Sonar (marine type).

Since posting that above, my sister told me of an amusing incident when she and her husband were doing the standard grandparents' thing: babysitting.Although her husband does have a telephone equivalent of a "smart"-speaker, neither are especially gadget-...  moreSince posting that above, my sister told me of an amusing incident when she and her husband were doing the standard grandparents' thing: babysitting.Although her husband does have a telephone equivalent of a "smart"-speaker, neither are especially gadget-conscious or IT-skilled, unlike son-in-law, who works in commercial IT fields and seems to have fitted even voice-operated lamps in their home.Sister said at one point they heard a strange sound in the room, and could not fathom out what it was, nor its source.Grand-daughter could, aged all of three, and playing with a puzzle on the living-room floor. Without batting an eyelid she glanced up, commanded "Google! Off!" and resumed her puzzle as the sound obediently ceased.  less

Oh, you needn't worry about falling in the water. The crocodile will soon pick you up, using its mouth....

Similarly to Element's!My accident was a nasty fall at home, ooh, back last March now. I was still in pain in my thigh next day so rang the NHS triage number. Upshot was an ambulance ride to hospital ten miles away for an X-ray, which confirmed I'd broken...  moreSimilarly to Element's!My accident was a nasty fall at home, ooh, back last March now. I was still in pain in my thigh next day so rang the NHS triage number. Upshot was an ambulance ride to hospital ten miles away for an X-ray, which confirmed I'd broken no bones so must have torn a muscle or tendon.Hardly able to walk far, no easy way to return home, so the hospital paid a taxi for me. (If a walking patient, I could have gone home very easily, by two buses, from the hospital entrance to a stop a hundred yards from home.) It took me about two or three months to mend myself.   less

Last time, the mechanic plugged an electronic gubbins into a socket I'd not known is there, somewhere below the dashboard, and found the fault that way. It was a fault in the throttle control unit - oh for the days of a Bowden cable; or on three vans I ow...  moreLast time, the mechanic plugged an electronic gubbins into a socket I'd not known is there, somewhere below the dashboard, and found the fault that way. It was a fault in the throttle control unit - oh for the days of a Bowden cable; or on three vans I owned years back, mechanical rods and levers from pedal to carburettor. On one van, their joints were badly worn, causing severe lost-motion, so I made and fitted simple brass bushes, and this restored the mechanism to nearly as good as new.   

Judge that gentle approach right and with luck you don't need come to a stop, as the lights change just as you reach them!One of my local traffic-light sets is hidden just over the brow of a hill, and unless I have to stop behind someone on the way up any...  moreJudge that gentle approach right and with luck you don't need come to a stop, as the lights change just as you reach them!One of my local traffic-light sets is hidden just over the brow of a hill, and unless I have to stop behind someone on the way up anyway, I use the gradient to help slow my car.  

Various, from a pedestrian ferry by rowing boat across the local harbour (about 100 yards, at most), upwards. All the "upwards" carried vehicles as well as pedestrian.Including the chain-ferry across Poole Harbour entrance (Southern England). Poole Harbou...  moreVarious, from a pedestrian ferry by rowing boat across the local harbour (about 100 yards, at most), upwards. All the "upwards" carried vehicles as well as pedestrian.Including the chain-ferry across Poole Harbour entrance (Southern England). Poole Harbour is the worlds' second largest natural harbour, although only part of it is useable by anything bigger than a shallow-draught rowing-boat, and much of its fringes are remote mud-flats and marshes. So the road alternative to the 100 yards or so of ferry-crossing can involve well over 20 miles of driving - as many car-driving or bus-using, local, regular ferry passengers found when a breakdown put it out of action for some months last year.Across the English Channel to France several times (various routes, once by hovercraft but those stopped back in the 1980s or 1990s). Over to Ireland twice.Isle of Skye to the Scottish mainland - the Kyle of Lochalsh bridge takes most of the traffic but the ferry offers a considerable short-cut if you are driving back Southward...    less

I'm going to have to change my portable 'phone at some time in the next year, here in the UK, but when is another matter.The 'phone companies and government have agreed to switch off the 3G system before 2033, but not exactly when, so it will probably som...  moreI'm going to have to change my portable 'phone at some time in the next year, here in the UK, but when is another matter.The 'phone companies and government have agreed to switch off the 3G system before 2033, but not exactly when, so it will probably something of a patchy transition.I only hope I am not going to forced to buy an expensive "smart"-'phone and costly contract!It's not only telephones though. It will affect instruments like the Kindle, and more seriously in the UK, so-called "smart" utility meters, for gas and electricity. These measure consumption and use integral radio-telephones to transmit the readings to the utility company's customer-accounts department. The justification was one you might expect from politicians who probably don't know an ampere from a volt: it will help you economise on your electricity and gas use by showing your consumption of them. You could determine that anyway from the conventional meter. At the moment you can have these set to read every month or more (I think mine i...    less

Oh,it's all very much a matter of taste, but I once recall the art-critic Brian Sewell - he of the plummy accent so refeened it was almost self-parody -  dismiss some painting or other as, "Yes, it's a nice picture, but of course, it's not art!"The m...  moreOh,it's all very much a matter of taste, but I once recall the art-critic Brian Sewell - he of the plummy accent so refeened it was almost self-parody -  dismiss some painting or other as, "Yes, it's a nice picture, but of course, it's not art!"The most rarefied of the high-price art world seem to be quite upset when someone outside their circles says "My four-year-old could do better" and suchlike, but they miss the point that we ordinary mortals might or might not like the subject, but can see and appreciate evident technical skill as well as obvious imagination.  less

One of those "smart"-speaker gadgets. Smart in appearance perhaps but not in the colloquial sense. It's only a box of electronics.Not really "in my face" though.This was in the first lock-down, in 2020. The girls next door but one must have been suffering...  moreOne of those "smart"-speaker gadgets. Smart in appearance perhaps but not in the colloquial sense. It's only a box of electronics.Not really "in my face" though.This was in the first lock-down, in 2020. The girls next door but one must have been suffering from lock-down cabin-fever, for I could hear them in their back garden, nagging poor Alexa to "play xxxxxx!" Where xxxxxxx was invariably another track by what must have been the dreariest pop singer / group going! It wouldn't have been so bad if they'd have let Alexa play the whole song, but they didn't seem to.It gave me two earnest desires.1) I did refrain from doing so: shouting across the intervening garden, "Alexa! Play Gotterdammerung! All of it!"2) Vow never to buy any such gadget, even to listen to The Ring Cycle.  Or come to that, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin.  less

If it's liquid soap I add a little water to eke out some of it, then either refill the pump-action bottle from a non-pump bottle, or pour the residue from the original to new dispenser. I waste as little as possible!

I've used it for holding the paper on a drawing-board, but can't think of any unusual uses I've put it to.

Yes.A modern one with number buttons, but as I use a PC for a lot more than just chatting or looking at bus time-tables it makes sense for me to have a broadband Internet + telephone service.I have a portable telephone too but it's a basic, voice primary,...  moreYes.A modern one with number buttons, but as I use a PC for a lot more than just chatting or looking at bus time-tables it makes sense for me to have a broadband Internet + telephone service.I have a portable telephone too but it's a basic, voice primary, text secondary instrument on PAYG, and not connected to the Internet.Apparently BT (my provider) is planning to install optical-fibre cables right to everyone's home in the next few years. That might please the gadget-conscious demanding every last Gb/s data speed for their Alexas or whatever. They don't consider though the question I'd like to ask: will that mean having to replace my landline 'phone with one powered from the house mains and left permanently switched on so I don't miss calls? In practice I probably would switch it off at night or when I am out. However, apart from the low but continual electricity consumption it enforces, that would also remove the measure of protection from power-cuts given by the present system, in which the line is powered f...    less

Oh, a good one, naturally!A few weeks ago BBC Radio Four ran a 5-episode drama about an English tennis star suffering from an inoperable brain tumour, electing to be preserved cryogenically in a laboratory in Seattle. The drama led via her collapsing on c...  moreOh, a good one, naturally!A few weeks ago BBC Radio Four ran a 5-episode drama about an English tennis star suffering from an inoperable brain tumour, electing to be preserved cryogenically in a laboratory in Seattle. The drama led via her collapsing on court in an international match played in the USA, to her being what, quite...? in Episode One. Then it jumped ahead to shortly after her having been revived from that "what, quite" condition, in what soon revealed itself as a somewhat dysfunctional, dystopian, not very "united" United States not very many years from now.I think the BBC had bought it from America.For the story spanned too short a time for the character in fully-revived and apparently-cured form to have picked up an American accent. Yet the lead actress did sound English in the first episode or two, but it gradually became clear she was an American unable to sustain an assumed Southern English accent for long!  less

I expect as time goes on you'll be keeping the SAE tools only for the vintage vehicle restoring!Years ago I worked for an electronics company that did a lot of sub-contract work for the UK's MoD, principally Royal Navy equipment. As a result of NATO many ...  moreI expect as time goes on you'll be keeping the SAE tools only for the vintage vehicle restoring!Years ago I worked for an electronics company that did a lot of sub-contract work for the UK's MoD, principally Royal Navy equipment. As a result of NATO many of these items had a right mixture of fasteners: UNC/UNF, BA and sometimes ISO-Metric! At the same time, probably due to UK companies being bought up right, left and centre by the USA, British-built cars started to use UNC & UNF fasteners. At least the SAE and the equivalent British Standards systems are consistent within themselves. (BA is an oddity in being a metric system based on an old Swiss thread series, and sized by geometrical progression; but specified in inch dimensions in the reference books.) One significant difference apart of course from the thread details is that the SAE and ISO-M spanners are all stamped with the hexagon size, whilst the BSW/BSF and BA ones bear the size of the fastener itself.The standard ISO-metric fastenings dimensions don't ...    less

Not that far out no, but certainly some peculiar detours.Once, not far from my destination in an industrial-estate in an area of the country I had never previously visited, the virtual (virtuous?) lady in the box told me to turn right. So I turned right, ...  moreNot that far out no, but certainly some peculiar detours.Once, not far from my destination in an industrial-estate in an area of the country I had never previously visited, the virtual (virtuous?) lady in the box told me to turn right. So I turned right, slightly surprised but not too worried to now be in a housing-estate."Take the next turn left"... I obeyed."Turn left". (Errr, eh?) Meekly, I did as I was told."Turn right"..... That's right, "she" had led me in a large rectangle and now wanted me to turn back onto the busy main road I had been on, 100 yards from where I'd been told to leave it, and barely fifty yards from a blind bend........My GPS, or "Sat-nav" as it is called here (from 'Satellite Navigation') - 'Sat-nag', a friend calls it - sometimes finds it hard to keep up. A few years ago I tried to use it to reach the race-course at the Northern English city of Doncaster. Now, you'd expect a race-course to be out on the fringes of the suburbs. Not this one. It's as good as in the city centre.The last si...    less

It is a bit of an oddity that small-arms tend to be of mm bores, but artillery in inch-sizes; but it probably reflects where they are made.Anyway, the USA is probably a lot more metrificated than you might think!Scientists and many professional engineers ...  moreIt is a bit of an oddity that small-arms tend to be of mm bores, but artillery in inch-sizes; but it probably reflects where they are made.Anyway, the USA is probably a lot more metrificated than you might think!Scientists and many professional engineers in the USA already do use the metric system, especially if working on collaborative projects. In fact science and most engineering now uses the SI development of the Metric System.Almost any manufactured item you import into the USA will have been made to metric dimensions even if specified in inch units to special order. Buy anything mechanical, such as vehicle, made elsewhere in the world and you will need metric, not UNC/UNF, fractional-inch, spanners to service it. I read something recently that surprised me - that the Jan 1st 1919 edition of the Model Engineer magazine reported the US Government had received over 58,000 petitions regarding adopting the Metric System - and only 426 were against it! (The UK started going metric officially, in the 1970s.)  less

The United Kingdom does not have a single Constitution paper, leading to a  common misconception even among Members of Parliament that "we do not have a written constitution".We do -  but it is spread over very many documents written over some h...  moreThe United Kingdom does not have a single Constitution paper, leading to a  common misconception even among Members of Parliament that "we do not have a written constitution".We do -  but it is spread over very many documents written over some hundreds of years, starting with Magna Carta!  

Listen for the pattering of rain on window! My home is double-glazed so I don't usually hear that directly, but do hear larger drops hitting the uPVC frames.Sun shine though? Feel the black-out screen to find if it's warm?

Spring wound by a turbine revolved by water from a garden hose..... Not for me - my water-supply is on a meter!

I recall a long time ago, that "land-yachts" were fashionable. They looked like 3 or 4-wheeled dinghy-launching trolleys fitted with a seat and a dinghy's mast and rigging, and were generally sailed along expansive, flat sand beaches or on flat meadows of...  moreI recall a long time ago, that "land-yachts" were fashionable. They looked like 3 or 4-wheeled dinghy-launching trolleys fitted with a seat and a dinghy's mast and rigging, and were generally sailed along expansive, flat sand beaches or on flat meadows of short grass.They are still around - 5 seconds of Google revealed illustrated ads for them, and for land-yachting "experiences".'Him in that tatty old pick-up would make more progress by harnessing the dog to tow it!  

Almost anything should be repairable until it wears out fairly and completely!

No, unless it's something I know I will need again.Two for a small reduction yes - usually foods.

I live on a hillside but it's too gentle for downhill tobogganing.Besides, sufficient snow falling and lying for long enough is rather rare here!

Thatched roofs have wide eaves (the overhang) but very rarely if ever have the rainwater goods I think you mean. They don't seem to have problems with water in the foundations though, probably because the rain is shed evenly along the length of the slope....  moreThatched roofs have wide eaves (the overhang) but very rarely if ever have the rainwater goods I think you mean. They don't seem to have problems with water in the foundations though, probably because the rain is shed evenly along the length of the slope.  Those in the photo are also on a gentle slope which will help lead some of the water away.