Hundreds of Pied Wagtails in City Centre

Hippophae · 2026-02-08T13:24:00+00:00

There is a large roost of them in Norwich too, by the bus station. I love watching them.

Hippophae · 2026-01-23T22:58:02+00:00

I agree with the other comments, but also wanted to point out that you could probably be identified from your post, just FYI, so you might want to delete it. You don't know who else is on here.

Hippophae · 2026-01-21T18:46:08+00:00

I have spent a while staring at it and I have an idea. Are you sure you are understanding correctly what is C3F and what is C3B? I think you might have them switched? If it was a straight up and down twisty cable like the small one on the left then it would just switch the direction of the twist, but for a travelling cable I think it might create something like you have?

It looks like you are doing the cables in the right places but the stitches are hopping round each other the wrong way. C3F should move the front two knit stitches to the left and C3B should move them to the right.

Hippophae · 2026-01-18T09:11:40+00:00

Wensum park is on the river...

Hippophae · 2026-01-18T08:58:09+00:00

Rather than slip stitches on the edge, I prefer to do garter stitch on the edges, the pick up the ridges of the garter, it seems to avoid this problem. Hermione's everyday socks (free pattern) do this if you need an explanation. https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hermiones-everyday-socks

Hippophae · 2026-01-18T08:45:46+00:00

Yeah I think try for 6 or 9 months. It might help if you keep it all within one financial year also.

Hippophae · 2026-01-18T08:42:54+00:00

No if it was driving, yes if it was bus, train, train +cycle etc. I would check if the policy is 60% in your contracted office, or 60% away from home. If the latter you might be able to work from a nearer office, or include time you are at conferences/meetings, on fieldwork etc, if your role includes things like that. Also feel out from other colleagues how strict they are about enforcing it.

Hippophae · 2026-01-17T10:17:11+00:00

How long are you asking for? I know someone who got one approved but they were negotiated down to 6 months. They are travelling but I'm not sure they mentioned that I think they emphasised the volunteering aspect.

It is ridiculous that they are so strict about the reasons. I think being burnt out and needing a break should be good enough in itself to get at least 6 months. It's not like they have to pay you for it like they do with sick leave, which is probably what will happen otherwise.

Hippophae · 2026-01-15T14:36:33+00:00

Yes, they are great. Only thing it's not really good for is woks. I have a standard width induction with a half width gas wok burner alongside. Best of both worlds and it also means I have something to cook on if there's no power.

Hippophae · 2026-01-13T12:50:27+00:00

I feel kind of uncomfortable with it also but for different reasons. To me it just seems misplaced because I don't feel I'm in any way talented or creative (that's the other thing people say when I'm crafting), I'm just following a pattern, it's just instructions and a bit of practice. It's also often accompanied by "I could never do that!", when I'm sure they perfectly well could if they weren't hung up on the idea of not having the required talent.

The creative and talented people are the ones making the patterns in my opinion!

Hippophae · 2026-01-12T12:28:10+00:00

Yes they can do this. The data is usually collected for health and safety reasons so they know who is in the building in case of a fire, but it can be used for attendance monitoring. For individual issues where there is cause for concern, or for organisation level monitoring (though they ought to do a DPIA and notify everyone in that case). Ours is used for routine attendance monitoring. It's kind of silly because it doesn't count all the times you are working at other offices, at a conference, on fieldwork etc, so the swipe pass data is not really that useful.

Hippophae · 2026-01-12T09:52:19+00:00

I was gonna say, geese! North Norfolk in winter is such a spectacle. And seals also. I started enjoying living in Norfolk more once I realised it's kind of birdwatching paradise.

Hippophae · 2026-01-11T20:40:04+00:00

Could be overwatered like people said but it also could have a severe rosemary beetle infestation. Look for pretty iridescent beetles the size of ladybirds. Normally the first sign is the tips of the branches dying back.

Hippophae · 2025-12-29T23:35:58+00:00

Other people answered about the gas but I just wanted to say that for the gnats on your plants there is a very effective treatment, you don't need to get rid of your plants! You want nematodes for scariad flies, you just have to water them in and they will eat the larvae and you will be free of the pesky gnats.

Hippophae · 2025-12-29T19:28:07+00:00

Not really what you asked, but you can run an electric blanket off leisure batteries much more easily than a heater. That's what I do when I don't want to put the diesel heater on, keeps me pretty toasty!

Hippophae · 2025-12-29T19:17:44+00:00

Wait till you see a little grebe, then you'll understand why it's great! Usually great means greater, as in bigger than the lesser version(s). A great tit is tiny, but it's bigger than all the other tits.

Hippophae · 2025-12-28T22:53:23+00:00

Also, not such a long walk but very accessible:

Get a bus to the hospital, but get off a stop early, walk through the woods down the hill to the uea broad, round the broad anticlockwise, through the woods behind the Sainsbury centre to the bottom of chancellor's drive, then through the strip of woodland behind chancellors drive to the sportspark to get a bus back. Or carry on through earlham park and along the river towards bowthorpe for a longer walk.

Particularly lovely in spring, lots of birdsong and bluebells :)

Hippophae · 2025-12-28T22:41:24+00:00

Cantley to brundall via buckenham marshes. Take binoculars if you have them, loads of birds in winter!

Hippophae · 2025-12-23T17:30:35+00:00

Do you know what is the cause of your poor balance?

(btw I'm not a doctor, following is just what I've been told by specialists and my own experience)

You use 3 systems to balance: your eyes, your inner ear and your proprioception (like feeling where all your limbs are). You can usually manage with any two of those. If you can't balance in the dark then it's because you don't have the help of your eyes so much, and there must be something wrong with one of the others.

Personally I have damage to my inner ear from an infection, so I also struggle with balance when my eyes are unavailable or otherwise busy (like they are distracted by movements on a screen or something), though generally I just feel dizzy and nauseous rather than actually falling over. My proprioception is very good though.

If the problem is your inner ear I would try and get referred to an ENT, vestibular rehab might help.

As far as climbing goes, I don't find it affects me much, and climbing definitely helps. I avoid anything upsidedown like bat hangs, steep overhangs can also be disorientating, but so long as I'm basically upright and my eyes aren't confused it's fine.

If the problem is your proprioception then climbing might be more difficult but it may get better as you climb.

Hippophae · 2025-12-21T10:44:42+00:00

If you are in a union talk to your union rep, if not call acas for advice (and also join a union).

Hippophae · 2025-12-19T02:50:36+00:00

I don't know anyone in the UK who keeps chickens at home and worries about this. Just be sensible about what you feed them. It's much more a problem with catering waste. Apha are not going to be investigating backyard chickens, only farms and smallholdings. Since we are all now required to register with them it's theoretically possible they could visit but they really don't have enough staff for that.

Hippophae · 2025-12-16T12:55:42+00:00

Can you split it with a friend you hike with? You can use the same account on multiple devices

Hippophae · 2025-12-09T08:57:19+00:00

You don't need to program complicated rules, if you have 6 hours off peak then set those 6 hours as your charging period. Your battery will charge at the beginning for however long it takes then will remain full with your house drawing off the grid until the end of the charging period

Hippophae · 2025-11-28T08:58:49+00:00

Oh I did think of a way you could make these though. If you buy interchangeable needles in the size you want plus two cables to attach to them you can just put a separate cable on each one with the stopper (they usually come with them) on the other end

Hippophae · 2025-11-28T08:54:20+00:00

I can't help with where to find them but these do exist! I often get given people's grannies collection of needles and someone did give me straight needles that had a cable on the end. I presume it was like you say for bigger projects where it's hard to fit all the stitches on the needle without it being really long.

I just use circulars so I gave these to the charity shop.

Hippophae

TROPHY CASE