tanya

I have found some bee orchids near a busy road on the Sheffield/Rotherham border. The area looks earmarked for development - are bee orchids protected? The orchids are beautiful - 8 to 10 flowers on each stem, vivid colours.

Technically that's fraud, so be careful about what's going on around you. The Inland Revenue would be on your trail rather swiftly.

Can anyone tell me which buses to get from town to the Wool Baa... and foolproof directions. The bus would ideally be a Stagecoach/Yorkshire Terrier one please.

Keep me in the loop too - we've just moved and now only rely on mains lecky, but want to go totally sustainable...

p.s. the quote should really have included the land registry fee, as it is determined on how much the property is sold for (and they presumably know that when they give you the quote). The landlord fee probably wouldn't have been apparent until the contracts came through from the other side, and therefore would not have been in the first quote.

the landlord's notice fee is probably a condition of your lease. If you have a copy of your lease, look for where it says that notice must be served on the landlord. Sometimes there have to be two notices sent - one to say you're taking over the lease (notice of transfer) and one to say you have a mortgage over the place (notice of mortgage). Some sheffield landlords do indeed charge those kind of sums..... but if you have a good solicitor they should check with the ground landlord if it is an admin fee charged by the landlord, or whether that is the actual notice fee stated. e.g. some places can only legally charge £1.06 for two notices, but then slap an admin fee on top... which isn't enforceable. You need to serve these notices under the lease, usually because if you don't you're breaking the terms of the lease, and your mortgage company has a fit. The other prices are entirely reasonable.

Curry-in favour.

You can get most things from the lady in Castle Market (also works for the hardware store). I don't know her name, but she got me some 1mm/20cm sock needles when I was having gauge problems! She'll order pretty much anything in for you - and my needles were £1.75 for five.

Do you do 2mm sock needles (dpns)?

Should be able to make it. Please keep me away from sock wool. I can bring my own mug and teapot if necessary.

It's this Tuesday, the 30th January, from 5pm onwards (we usually call it a day around 9pm). Title change fine

Hopefully this is enough notice for some of you to join us!

I can't comment on First bus drivers, since I'm actively boycotting them by taking stagecoach only... but it's very hit and miss with the drivers. Nearly all are polite to me and courteous. This is probably because I treat them nicely, say hallo, pay my fare, ride on the bus, and when I get off I say thankyou. I have seen drivers get very cross with passengers who aren't polite, or passengers who aren't very co-operative (examples to follow), and I've seen bus drivers get frustrated with the traffic - but what normal person wouldn't? They deserve to be treated how you'd want to be treated - but day after day they put up with mardy people and bad traffic. It would take the patience of a saint not to let off steam every once in a while. Examples: Girl tries to get on bus with a travel pass with no photo card. Driver explains that she needs the card, or the pass isn't valid. Girl shouts at driver. Driver patiently explains again, it's quite simple, no photocard no travel. Girl unleashes torrent of abuse at driver. Starts shouting and waving her hands. Driver sits there and has to take all of this... girl eventually gets off, swearing like a navvy. Bus is late (I'd been waiting 40 mins for a supposedly every 10 minutes bus). Things happen, I'm going to be late home but no harm done. Traffic happens. Everyone else who gets on makes a mardy comment at the driver, and in one case swears and shouts, and isn't allowed on the bus because of his attitude. The driver explains to me that the controller took two buses out of circulation ahead of him, hence the delay, and he is in fact on time, but because of the missing buses he gets all of the abuse. He was also supposed to take his break an hour before, but couldn't because of the shortage of drivers to do the route. I could go on, but those two stick in my mind. It's a crappy job, but someone has to do it, and all we do is moan at them. It's not their fault most of the time. However, some drivers could really do with some more training on the buses - I've been on ones that run red lights, clip kerbs and brake horribly. Well, that's my piece said.

Well, our chimney pot came down, bouncing down and through the roof. Whoop. Thankfully the insurance will cover it, but can you get a roofer today? Ha ha ha. Hopefully the ones who promised to come up tomorrow will turn up.

I have my fingers crossed for no precipitation whatsoever, until the hole in my roof from yesterday's storm is fixed.... (chimney pot came down)