Duncan Clench

The builder is my brother-in-law, so should be ok on that! The heating bills were mental. That old room, which was 10m x 4m had zero insulation and one radiator in it. Plus, that was old-school double glazing and not argon-filled. Hoping to have enough money to put underfloor heating in.

Going away on Friday for 10 days so it'll be interesting to see how much it changes in that time. There isn't going to be much wall to speak of. Got a 6m bifold going out to the garden and a 2.3m one at the side you can't see. It's also being rendered, so just blockwork going up and a pitched roof going on. Laid that concrete yesterday. There were 6 of us barrowing the stuff round and it ended up being 9 cubic metres. Amazing what goes on that you'll never see again.

Bought a house with a big extension on the back which we discovered, during our planning application for renovation, was never signed off. Building control then insisted that we bring it up to regs which involved underpinning, adding posts to support the roof, digging out the floor to add insulation & screed plus redoing the roof. We also discovered there was asbestos in the artex. Lovely. Long story short, we decided to knock it down and start again and after a week-and-a-half of knocking down, it's finally starting to go up! Before: Yesterday: It's a big project. We're taking a chimney out which is load bearing. Need 2 RSJ's for that. One of 4m and one at 5m. The old lounge is going to be our kitchen, and it'll be open plan downstairs apart from a utility room and snug (which is another pointless and very old extension).

I did it with nail clippers. Used ice to numb it, and cleaned the clippers with white spirit. Worked a treat and was totally painless. Bled a bit, but not for long.

If someone wants in, they'll get in. Just go with WEP if it means Netflix works.

Still can't believe this is who it is. Had many a thought about this character.

I did make sure I had insurance. I just didn't check whether they'd taken the money or not. It's only by luck that I haven't had an accident, had the car stolen/broken into or been pulled over this last 5 months, and there's still a very good chance I'm going to have to go to court to make sure I don't get 6 points and up to a £5000 fine for it. Can't remember the last time an insurance company did me a favour, in fact they usually try to rip everybody off.

They just called back and have accepted full responsibility, which is good. Will be hearing from Customer Relations later on. They've already said they'l pay the fine, I going to see if they'll pay my insurance for this year too. Turns out it was a system error. The guys I spoke to put everything through as he should have, but something went awry.

Fortunately (I think), I only realised the balls-up because I received a fine from AskMid which I assume came because the car is taxed and MOT'd but there is no record of insurance. I wasn't stopped by the police and as far as I'm aware I haven't been given any points. I wonder if they might come through after I accept the fine. I didn't receive a certificate, but it's all online and you go and pick them up if you need them so the penny just didn't drop with me that I hadn't received an email to say I can get them. I appreciate that I should have been more vigilant, but when you're told "thanks a lot for renewing, payment will be taken using the existing details" you (me) assume that's sorted and the job is ticked off the list.

I paid in full, using the card details from the previous year. Or, at least that's what I thought had happened. Was supposed to come out of the joint account and I rarely look in there. They didn't take the money - which is probably going to be their defence, but they didn't send a cancellation letter or email either.

Last January I had a dilemma. Did a car insurance comparison and Kwik-Fit came out as the best value option. Not the very cheapest, but the cheapest from someone I'd heard of. I went with them. This January, 2014, my renewal came through and it was a bit much. They'd charged me for breakdown cover which was free in the 1st year - but without it the quote was competitive. I called them up, cancelled the breakdown and renewed the policy. Last week I got a fine for having no insurance. Thinking this was a simple administrative error I called Kwik-Fit to make sure I did have cover only to be told I'd cancelled it in Jan. I was sure I hadn't so asked them to listen to the call and confirm either way what had happened. Spoke to them today and they told me that I DID renew the policy. So unbeknownst to me, I've been driving for 5 months without insurance because some little fucktard in the call centre didn't action the renewal after my call. And now I've got a fine. Well I'll obviously be getting the money for the fine back... but I was wondering, good people of the GF, what else can I claim here??? I've been fucking fortunate to not have an accident in those 5 months, and to also not have been pulled over by the police who would have fucking mullered me. So I figure there must be something in it for me!

We had an unexpected little thing a few years ago now. Little girl, and I can honestly say that she is the biggest pain in the arse and the best thing in the world at the same time. It's nuts. Difficult to explain it, but you're about to find out. Advice? Well everyone's going to have some and all of the above is true. The first 4 months are boring but awesome, and it's a great time to watch the box sets. We got a pilates ball and the kid would fall asleep in my arms while I was bouncing on that and watching every DVD I've ever owned. Good times. Never, EVER failed that ball. So there's my pearl of wisdom. Enjoy.

What's Valance like as a holiday destination? Driven through it loads of times and always fancied staying.

I'm going to Vermont to see friends for a week and then down to Boston for a few days, to see a sporting event at Fenway Park that is not baseball. It'll be 10 days in total, and then I'm coming home and not going to work so I get 2 weeks off. Tell you what - I'm really looking forward to it.

I would add that the TV's from Samsung/LG and all of the cheaper models from the others tend to have the colour and brightness set too high by default. I would spend a bit of time playing with the settings in-store to get the right picture. Sony has always seemed to me to have the 'truest' colour. Also, my father-in-law has a top-end Samsung (and I've seen others), and there is a definite blur/judder during fast-paced sports games which I have not seen on other brands.

Well, you did ask...

Take your pick:

My wife's been away for work all week and I've been looking after my little girl (yes, I've got a kid - can I have a fridge magnet Dave?) and the puppy. It's been a difficult week. Tonight, my mother-in-law is having the kid to stay over, and I'm going to the pub to watch the first contest in a worldwide sporting event that begins today. I will be getting smashed, and I think I may well have a kebab. I also just bought a case of Brooklyn lager. Today is a good day. Not small pleasures... fucking huge ones!

Very high jumper in that last picture.

I've done the same - and I ordered SSX Tricky from Play for about £5. They sent SSX3 by mistake and said I could keep it. Fucking ace game. Oh, and Tony Hawk 4. Weird how the controls just seem to come back to you.

I'm Moss from the IT Crowd. Ace. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Excellent stuff. I've been pretty lucky with this sort of stuff to be honest. I did once text my mate's bird implying it was meant for him, letting him know that I thought she was a no good cunt and he'd be much better off without her. She replied saying "I think you meant to send that to someone else you absolute wanker" and I said "It looks that way, but I'm glad you got it". He left her. He's now deliriously happy, punching well above his weight with a normal human being.

For me, being a phone is what mine struggles with! Great at everything except having a conversation with people. I'll be getting the next one. My work has me on this lease thing with O2 that means I get the new phones when they come out and don't have to wait for the 24month contract. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's very good, thanks!

Thought it was brilliant. Very brilliant. When his (future) wife turns up at that party there are 2 bit of dialogue that almost made me cry laughing. "I would fuck her if she was my sister!" and "I would let her give me AIDS" It's quality. Watch it.