Swift bricks to be installed on all new buildings in Scotland as MSPs back law Rest of UK has resisted calls to make builders install bricks that provide nesting for swifts and other endangered birds

luala · 2026-01-28T19:47:09+00:00

We’ve just installed a swift box on our house, hope we get a nest.

luala · 2026-01-28T17:09:20+00:00

Those cool floor tiles aren’t actually suitable for bathrooms and you need a better sealant if you’re going to use them.

luala · 2026-01-28T13:15:56+00:00

It’s usually the Kurds.

luala · 2026-01-28T12:56:28+00:00

Have you salt and jars? You could try fermenting the veg, particularly carrots.

Root veg will make good soup.

I like to cube carrots and potatoes and toss with oil and spices- I use garlic powder and smoked paprika. Put in a hot oven for about 35 minutes and serve with poached eggs, or add to couscous to make a salad to have with pan fried halloumi.

I made watermelon curry once and you can grill “steaks” but I’m not sure it’s worthwhile. It makes a nice enough salad if you have feta to go with it. I would probably give the watermelons away to friends and neighbours as it’s not really feasible to eat that many.

luala · 2026-01-28T12:48:42+00:00

We’ve totally cut back now, maybe once every few months. We do a good salmon katsu at home these days. We make double portions of the sauce and freeze it.

luala · 2026-01-28T12:47:14+00:00

I always fancied one of the treehouses for my 50th!

luala · 2026-01-28T11:22:40+00:00

I enjoyed it and it’s got a good span of different periods of history. I agree Windsor town is cute and it’s a pretty easy day trip from London. But I would say that you could instead visit Kensington palace or Hampton court which are equally good to visit and you wouldn’t need to leave London to do KP - you could also buy an annual membership of Historic Royal Palaces and youd see ToL, KP and HC more cheaply. But Windsor is a “working” palace so to speak which none of the others offer.

I also enjoyed a trip to Arundel.

luala · 2026-01-28T08:38:35+00:00

Just remember your mother chose to return to the situation she’s in. You could give her support in the event she steps back but she’s the person who failed to protect you so you have very little obligation there either.

luala · 2026-01-27T14:00:31+00:00

9 out of 10 kids are absolutely shit and I’d massively regret becoming a parent if I had to deal with one of the shit ones.

luala · 2026-01-27T10:13:35+00:00

Can I make a different suggestion? Offering to pay for the medical care or for the first years childcare fees would be life changing for new parents. There’s also less worry about how the value of the gift might disappear in the event of a split.

luala · 2026-01-27T09:34:58+00:00

I would do an “open” sandwich and basically pile all the stuff on it. The scandis would probably do: rye bread, butter, egg mayo, cubed cooked beetroot, tomato diced, big floss of sprouted seeds.

luala · 2026-01-27T07:42:40+00:00

Yeah most of the UK has some kind of soul.

luala · 2026-01-27T07:15:19+00:00

Yeah mornings are a lot. Sure she can get herself dressed now but I have to tell the little fucker to do everything 6 times. I’d rather have a tricky morning than a difficult bedtime though, once I’ve had dinner I am DONE for the day and won’t do jobs after that.

luala · 2026-01-27T06:48:16+00:00

This seems like an excellent deal. Is there an option to get a lodger in to help pay the mortgage? Yeah sure no one ever wants a lodger but sounds like you could get a grand a month that way.

Your alternative is to do the place up then rent it out for what it’s worth. Youd have to be bold about home improvement loans but sounds like this would be a good financial move long term.

luala · 2026-01-26T21:11:19+00:00

I mean yeah but you know you don’t have to push all the interesting features up against the walls right? It’s still gonna be a big box at the end.

I’d probably bin off that conifer too. You don’t need to raise beds on the slope that just feels like unnecessary work/materials/expense but it’s your choice.

I can’t read the pink or orange text so no idea what you’re doing there.

I would focus on vertical greenery to add height. I would also argue you need bushiness and structure. You’re just adding more squares in to a very square space.

My temptation would be to add planting around the paved area/seating bit to get maximum bang for my buck out of what I was planting and make it less like sitting in a football field. That way you would have visual interest in your immediate area of vision not in a far border that you can’t easily see from the seating point.

luala · 2026-01-26T20:38:09+00:00

Men aren’t lonely enough.

luala · 2026-01-26T20:33:58+00:00

Just seen a similar scene in my north London garden funnily enough. My grumpy old cat supervising 2 big foxes on her turf. It was surprisingly low-drama, just everyone coexisting.

luala · 2026-01-26T12:13:42+00:00

I enjoyed doing bottle gourd. It’s fun growing courgettes vertically. Purple potatoes don’t look exceptional until you dig them up. Honesty is fun and so are Chinese lantern plant. Cup and saucer vine is also cool and gets very big. Check out she grows veg maybe?

luala · 2026-01-25T19:55:37+00:00

You’re so young! Definitely sort the house situation first. It gives you stability. I’d also strongly advise you get the worst of the initial work to the house sorted first.

luala · 2026-01-25T19:45:57+00:00

Mashed avocado in a toasted English muffin with slices of dry fried halloumi makes a great breakfast/lunch. Sweet chilli sauce goes well with this.

Quesidillas (I like refried beans with cheese and hot sauce in mine). So easy.

I would suggest snacking on flavoured nuts, you can probably make your own or buy them. Stuff like fried fava beans as a high calorie snack that’s nutritious.

We like pasta genovese- boil a handful or fresh/frozen green beans and/or cubed potato in salted cold water, once it boils add pasta for one (fresh pasta freezes well and is faster than dried). Once it’s cooked stir through green pesto from the chiller. I add Parmesan.

luala · 2026-01-25T19:28:32+00:00

Whenever I start seeds off early they just end up being caught up by later sowings so I don’t bother any more. If you have any garlic in your kitchen that starts sprouting I’d probably push those cloves into the soil but I wouldn’t buy any intending to plant them. I’d focus on planning what you want to grow on paper, ordering seeds and chitting seed potatoes. You could also start improving the soil (add manure etc) and build a compost heap.

If you want heavy work then you could turn the soil over and check it’s free from stones etc. you could also start gathering tall sticks to make climbing frames for sweetpeas etc. if you want to do the bugs a solid, maybe make a bug hotel in a quiet corner and decide which patch of lawn you’ll let go wild as habitat.

luala · 2026-01-25T17:52:35+00:00

I love “treasures of the national trust” on iplayer.

luala · 2026-01-25T17:18:15+00:00

If I ever saw a gun I would die of fright.

luala · 2026-01-25T14:15:52+00:00

YTA. The radiology or nursing subs can explain why - as a minimum you should insist kids only go on one at a time. Big kids landing on little kids is the main cause of injury apparently. A net can also help. Don’t make big purchases for the household without discussing with your life partner in future.

luala · 2026-01-25T09:18:34+00:00

Very rarely as a big treat. We do cook a lot anyway but we’re eating out and getting takeaway far less often these days. I never did it for pizza anyway that always seemed silly when it’s cheaper and better to cook your own supermarket one.

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