The Good News Thread

[Quint]

I got a multi fuel/wood burner from these people http://www.woodburningstoveslimited.com/  two years ago, it was fitted just before the cold snap that lasted all winter, it is the first time we have been warm through a winter, keeps in 24 hrs a day.
                                                           

Sadly my woodburning stove is still on the to-do list.  But I don't think I'd want to get kettled with it anyway, as I'm sure it counts as an offensive weapon.

[Wowbagger]

I'm intending to go for a ride tomorrow. The plan is to complete my second 10k ride of the year.

And the plan has changed. I'm now going to take my grand daughter round Waitrose. There's a lot of separation anxiety going on round here and I'm not certain which generation is the most anxious. 

[Si_Co]

I've finally caught my mouse who has successfully been re-introduced to the wild

[itsbruce]

My boiler has been fixed.  Flat is toasty and I had a proper shower this morning.

The cold forced me to keep active; that and the extra time I spent at home, waiting for engineers and inspectors, enabled me finally to restore the flat to a level of tidiness it hasn't seen since my ex departed these shores.  She was a packrat to the extent that the narrow hallway had three large recyclable shopping bags just full of other shopping bags; the walls became noticeably closer together and all free space disappeared under her tide of useless clutter.  My workload has meant I've only been able to reclaim the flat slowly, one area at a time.  Finally (and with the aid of a steam cleaner), I can happily leave any door in the flat open when other people are visiting.  This removes a depressing influence from my environment in a way that would be a mystery to my ex, for whom the clutter was obviously a defense mechanism.

[Chris S]

I got a multi fuel/wood burner from these people http://www.woodburningstoveslimited.com/  two years ago, it was fitted just before the cold snap that lasted all winter, it is the first time we have been warm through a winter, keeps in 24 hrs a day.
                                                           

Sadly my woodburning stove is still on the to-do list.  But I don't think I'd want to get kettled with it anyway, as I'm sure it counts as an offensive weapon.

We love our wood burner even more since we discovered HeatLogs. £136 a tonne when ordering 3 tonnes from these people:

Durham Heat Logs

A tonne lasts us about two months, using the wood burner 12 hours a day (it has a 3Kw back boiler to contribute to a Heat Bank) which is spectacular value compared to traditional wood. The only drawback is needing somewhere quite large, and very dry, to store 3x1 tonne pallets of Heat Logs .

[Karla]

I've persuaded the club to persuade the shop to start selling jerseys with longer zips.  This means I can ride PBP in a club jersey without scraping my nose and emptying my pockets every time I go to the toilet 

This presumes, of course, that the shop put in a new kit order before August.  I suppose I'd better become a cycling evangelist to make sure they sell out before then!

[Bledlow]

We love our wood burner even more since we discovered HeatLogs. £136 a tonne when ordering 3 tonnes from these people:
Durham Heat Logs

A tonne lasts us about two months, using the wood burner 12 hours a day (it has a 3Kw back boiler to contribute to a Heat Bank) which is spectacular value compared to traditional wood. The only drawback is needing somewhere quite large, and very dry, to store 3x1 tonne pallets of Heat Logs .

My grandfather was buying something similar to that in the late 1960s.

There seem to be quite a few suppliers. Treenergy in Monmouth says 1 ton of its compressed sawdust briquettes is equivalent to just over 4 tons of air-dried logs. Should specify what wood, since they're not all equal, but still, it's a pretty good energy content.

[Woofage]

I've just received a letter from $bank informing me that there was an error on my account and that I am due a refund of £0.02 .

How should I celebrate?

[Mr Larrington]

I've just received a letter from $bank informing me that there was an error on my account and that I am due a refund of £0.02 .

How should I celebrate?

n+0.0001?

[Quint]

Just go really wild, I mean really wild   

I've just received a letter from $bank informing me that there was an error on my account and that I am due a refund of £0.02 .

How should I celebrate?

[hellymedic]

Just go really wild, I mean really wild   

I've just received a letter from $bank informing me that there was an error on my account and that I am due a refund of £0.02 .

How should I celebrate?

Some five years ago, I got BT Broadband, which included a Home Hub for which I had to pay.
I pad by Direct Debit but due to the way VAT was calculated, I apparently owed BT £0.01.

I received a paper bill in the post for this penny, which was paid by DD...

[Bledlow]

The telephone company I used to work for had a filter in its billing system which enabled it to ignore all bills below a certain total value. I can't remember what this was set to, but I would not expect any bills of a few pence to be sent out, just as bills over £n000 had to be manually checked. Cost more to process them than bill - and you can roll over a few pence into the next bill without upsetting anyone, if (as we had to) meet regulatory standards on accuracy of billing. That was allowed, IIRC.

That sort of facility was standard practice when I went into IT almost 30 years ago. The fact that BT either hadn't implemented it or had dropped it by 5 years ago says a lot about BT.

[Quint]

My new ICE recumbent (26" rear wheel) should come tomorrow, cheers agan Kevin @ D-tek for excellent service and good humour when replying to my (sometimes) constant phone and e-mail enquiries

[peliroja]

I just taught myself some fancy formula skilz in less than a minute and I'm feeling clever. 

[mike]

New surround sound system is fantastic. Only took 3 bloody hours to set up too.

[longers]

The freezer which died yesterday has kept things cold enough today just through the insulation to be able to take some of the food to store in the secret freezer at work I found out about today by accident.

Am very pleased with that and all I'll have to do is remember to take my tea home from work for a couple of weeks. Especially as I don't have to cart it in by bike tomorrow as I brought a van home tonight.

[Wowbagger]

I'd really appreciate it if you could do me a favour and take my brain with you. I don't need it tomorrow, so I'll overnight it to you and pick it up in the evening. Is that ok?

Was your brain OK after its impromptu trip to Maidstone?

[Cudzoziemiec]

I don't know, it hasn't got back yet. I think it's held up at Didcot - smoke on the rails, apparently.

[hellymedic]

The telephone company I used to work for had a filter in its billing system which enabled it to ignore all bills below a certain total value. I can't remember what this was set to, but I would not expect any bills of a few pence to be sent out, just as bills over £n000 had to be manually checked. Cost more to process them than bill - and you can roll over a few pence into the next bill without upsetting anyone, if (as we had to) meet regulatory standards on accuracy of billing. That was allowed, IIRC.

That sort of facility was standard practice when I went into IT almost 30 years ago. The fact that BT either hadn't implemented it or had dropped it by 5 years ago says a lot about BT.

I was sad enough to decide to check my online bank statements to verify I did not fabricate this tale...
17 Oct 2005   D/D   BT DIRECT DEBITS    -    0.01   
was the entry.

[Quint]

That is awesome in its pettiness 

[Karla]

A Lidl has opened in York.  This means I can now get Lidl cycling kit without having to ride to Wetherby.

[Mr Larrington]

The telephone company I used to work for had a filter in its billing system which enabled it to ignore all bills below a certain total value. I can't remember what this was set to, but I would not expect any bills of a few pence to be sent out, just as bills over £n000 had to be manually checked. Cost more to process them than bill - and you can roll over a few pence into the next bill without upsetting anyone, if (as we had to) meet regulatory standards on accuracy of billing. That was allowed, IIRC.

That sort of facility was standard practice when I went into IT almost 30 years ago. The fact that BT either hadn't implemented it or had dropped it by 5 years ago says a lot about BT.

In October 2008 I paid my post-holibobs credit card bill in full.  In November 2008 I was charged interest on my balance of £0.00, viz. £0.02.  I could not be arsed to argue the toss with Lloyds TosSB so paid it via the medium of SCIENCE.

[JohnP]

A Lidl has opened in York.  This means I can now get Lidl cycling kit without having to ride to Wetherby.

I think jerseys are scheduled for September 2012.

[Kim]

I'm starting to feel human again.  And at no point have I required the services of Boris^[1] The Barf Bin.   



_{[1] Barakta named him.  I think 'Blair' would be more appropriate.}

[Arch]

A Lidl has opened in York.  This means I can now get Lidl cycling kit without having to ride to Wetherby.

oooh! where?