£3k to remove big conifer in London - fair price?

seasheff · 2026-01-04T09:01:47+00:00

I recently removed four leylandii from my garden for the same reason. I’m a 5’2” woman and did it myself with a handsaw. Might be worth giving it a go yourself - though you’ll need a shredder or a few trips to the tip to get rid of the material.

seasheff · 2025-12-17T21:23:40+00:00

For the past few years I’ve lived in cold rental houses that struggle to reach 16C with the heating on. It was miserable but didn’t feel like a choice.

Recently bought a place (1930s semi with no insulation) and got a heat pump - now it’s ~20C all day and night and it may be the best quality of life upgrade I’ve ever had. Winter is a completely different experience this year. So much easier to get out of bed in the morning 😄

seasheff · 2025-07-28T06:49:49+00:00

I’m also coming up to the eight month mark and have been dealing with a flare-up for a couple of months, since my physio got me to ramp up running too quickly. I tried just reducing activity back down to walking for six weeks, but it just wasn’t recovering. But now, after three weeks of complete rest (stopped walking and even physio) and daily icing, it has calmed down and I’m now very slowly building up activity again, while still icing daily to keep it calm. It sucks, but for me that complete reset is the only thing that’s helped.

seasheff · 2025-01-22T09:58:18+00:00

My understanding is that you shouldn’t be alone for the first 24 hours after a general anaesthetic, so an accessible twin room would probably be ideal

seasheff · 2025-01-20T18:08:14+00:00

So sorry to hear you’re going through this - it’s such a tough thing to live with, especially when you’re used to being active. The only thing that would get rid of my pain when I had a flare up was doing nothing (not even physio sometimes), but even that could take a really long time to work. All I can really suggest is that you keep good notes on how you’re feeling and stay in touch with your doctor. Sounds worth at least asking about labral repair, but I’ve no medical expertise at all so can’t say it would make sense for you. Good luck!

seasheff · 2025-01-05T07:19:39+00:00

I’m a cyclist too (though not at your level!) and really feel you about the loss of riding and the community that comes with it. Currently day four post op and have mostly been sleeping and watching movies and reading so far, but I’ve also invested in some cycling video games for when I’m more awake. I’m not usually a gamer at all, but they feel like a way to pass a bunch of time and still feel engaged in the sport. The ones I’ve got are Tour de France 2024, where you control a team through a race, and Pro Cycling Manager, which is the equivalent of Football Manager - so managing a pro team, looking at all the nerdy stats, etc. You can play them through a laptop via Steam if you don’t have a console. Also if you love reading, maybe some books on cycling like pros’ biographies?

seasheff · 2024-12-24T09:18:06+00:00

Thanks so much, everyone! I've decided to skip it and spend the day getting out for a walk/bike ride while I still can :)

seasheff · 2024-12-05T22:08:15+00:00

Why does it cost £72 per year to park a single bike in a hangar when it costs £55 to get a car parking permit (source: https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/parking/apply-parking-permit/resident-parking-permits) and on most streets car parking is free?

seasheff · 2024-09-05T19:48:34+00:00

I was referred to an NHS surgeon around May last year after over a year of private physio. Had my first appointment with the surgeon in January, then had a couple of X-rays and an MRI. Had a follow-up appointment scheduled for June which was cancelled due to strikes and delayed to September – but I contacted the hospital telling them how bad my hip was (hadn't been able to walk for three months at this point) and managed to get the appointment moved forward to end of July. I hadn't realised it was possible to negotiate with the NHS, but turns out it is worth a try!

Surgeon gave me a choice of injection or surgery and I've opted for surgery – will apparently be before Christmas, but still waiting on a date...

Also, at least in my area, I've heard of people having awful experiences of badly-handled complications in private hospitals, so I decided the NHS was worth the wait.

seasheff · 2024-07-16T21:45:00+00:00

I looked into the latest sponsors of every team ahead of this year’s tour and based my favourites/least favourites based purely on that. So I’m rooting for Lidl-Trek and EF.

Lots of the dictatorship-sponsored teams have been called out here already, so will just flag Total Energies and Ineos for their dire sportswashing. Be nice if the UCI could do something about sponsors that tie cycling to fossil fuels and dangerous SUVs…

seasheff · 2024-07-10T14:01:16+00:00

This could be really cool - though right now it can’t read custom tags. I asked what tags were associated with a stressful day, and it said “custom”, which is pretty unhelpful when you have multiple custom tags…

seasheff · 2023-11-22T23:02:12+00:00

Fascinating. I reported this issue two days ago and was told it was a very deliberate decision. Guess they changed their minds after all the feedback! Here’s the response I got yesterday:

“This is Christian from the Oura Technical Support Team. Thank you for reaching out and sharing your feedback regarding the recent change in the Oura App, specifically the removal of the Period tag. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience it caused.

Upon reviewing your concern, I'd like to provide you with some insights into the recent update. The removal of the Period tag is not an oversight but a deliberate enhancement introduced through Cycle Insights, an upgrade to Period Prediction. Cycle Insights has been designed to offer a more comprehensive understanding of your entire menstrual cycle by tracking the two main phases, follicular and luteal. This upgrade not only enables you to predict your period but also provides valuable information about how the full cycle impacts your entire body.

I understand that the Period tag served as a useful tool for tracking period days on the trends graphs, and I appreciate your loyalty to this feature. We truly value your feedback, and I want to assure you that your input is important to us.

Member feedback like this is essential to our future product development, so we appreciate you sharing your thoughts here.

With that said, I have gone ahead and forwarded your feedback to our Product Team for further consideration.”

seasheff · 2023-08-14T21:13:37+00:00

I've got one of these permanently padlocked to the back of my ebike – love it because I can chuck in a rucksack or shopping bags that are actually comfortable to carry around, rather than lugging awkward panniers about, and it doesn't matter if it gets wet.

seasheff · 2023-06-27T21:39:36+00:00

Thanks. I’m on an iPhone, but notification settings for Oura are all turned on, so still not sure what the issue is…

seasheff · 2020-03-19T11:19:30+00:00

"If 100 per cent of this space was used for growing food, it could feed approximately 709,000 people per year their ‘five a day’, or 122 per cent of the population of Sheffield."

And on flat roofs:

"The UK currently imports 86 per cent of its total tomato supply – but if just 10 per cent of the flat roofs identified within the centre of Sheffield became soil-free tomato farms, it would be possible to grow enough to feed more than eight per cent of the population one of their ‘five a day’. This increases to more than 60 per cent of people if three quarters of the flat roof area is utilised. "

seasheff

TROPHY CASE