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£212 for the four tyres that I've just ordered - fitted. That's for a Picasso. When it comes to next April I'll have to pay to get them swapped back over. For the extra grip though, I think the fitting charge is a small price for my safety as well as the safety of other road users. I actually fitted winter tyres on my push bike last year - absolutely amazing. Dead funny when cars were stuck and I just whizzed past.

Last night I saw the gritters going past my office about every three hours. Unfortunately it rained quite heavily which washed the grit off. So, when the snow came at around 3 am it settled quite quickly. It did then rain again after the snow. Again I saw the gritters after this time - but I think that they were concentrating on main routes. I agree with what someone else said about taking responsibility for yourself. I don't have winter tyres on my car (I've got them on my pushbike mind) and I regretted it last night. Got stuck on our road at seven thirty this morning in half an inch of frozen snow. Other cars seemed to manage with no problem though. One thing though, on our street we have a grit bin. It was full. I did a sprinkling of grit over the ice and it had absolutely no effect. I know that it needs working in for best effect but usually when you put grit down you can hear it crackling as it works.

Many thanks for the answers and all the PM's. There is no way that I would even consider tackling it myself. One small slip and my mistake will be prominently displayed for many years. A bit (lot) more Googling may have found me someone. I'll give him a bell and see if it's the type of work that he does.

Hi all We have a limestone fireplace. It's one with a 'keystone' effect on it. We're looking at putting a wood burning inset fire into the fireplace. Whilst we have found stoves that will fit, the stove that we really want is 2mm too high because of this 'keystone'. Is there such a thing as a stonemason that would come out and carve/machine a centimetre off the bottom of the limestone so that the fire that we really want would fit? The fireplace cannot be removed from its position as it is cemented/glued together as well as cemented/glued to the wall. Many thanks in advance.

First thing that you need to do is to go around the outside of your house and check for holes. Take a pencil and if you can stick the pencil through a hole, a mouse can get in. You'll need to seal the hole(s). Main points of access are around pipes. Also check air vents - if you can stick a pen or pencil through, you may need to cover them with a mesh. Regarding humane traps - you need to take the mice a long way away to stop them coming back. Unfortunately, as someone else has mentioned, this will mean that they are in a strange land and will be more likely to either be eaten by predators or starve. My preference would be a back break trap. These are easy to use: http://www.screwfix.com/p/procter-sure-set-plastic-mousetraps-pack-of-2/70203 You'll need a few. Place them against walls. Bait them with peanut butter and with chocolate spread. Check them regularly. If you do go down the humane mouse trap route, again, it's best to have more than one. Best to get it sorted sooner rather than later. Once autumn arrives, if mice have found a way into your house, you'll get many more as the cold weather arrives.

^^ Mine does - Citroen Picasso. Works for about twenty minutes until economy mode kicks in.

It may put some off. I need a stable broadband connection for my job. I used a certain company for my BB who were OK to start with but then, after dropping my connection multiple times over multiple working from home days - I went elsewhere for my BB. If I had a choice between a house using that company and one where I could make my own choice - I'd go with the latter.

Rather than going along the A57 west out of Sheffield, head up Rails Road and then turn left at the top onto Reynard Lane (I think that that had a few potholes), and then left onto Riggs High Road. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3864106,-1.5647945,15z Cycle to the end and it brings you out at Hollow Meadows. More pleasurable ride than the A57. I'm working this weekend but next weekend I may see if I can keep going along the A57, turn left over Ladybower past the Yorkshire Bridge Inn and then up New Road which will get me to Ringinglow Road. I've measured this as about 23 miles (which will be a challange for me now). I used to be able to easily do over 100 miles a day as a youth but that was on a proper road bike (rather than a commuting bike) plus I was younger and about six stone lighter.

For the first time, today I had to shout at a pedestrian whilst I was riding my bike. I wasn't going particularly fast, maybe 10 miles an hour, but it was going uphill so I wanted to keep my momentum. I was riding the secondary line and I could see a person with a young child waiting to cross the road. I maintained eye contact with him yet he insisted on pushing the child into the road. As I got closer and he was still urging the child to cross and it looked like the child would step out in front of me, I shouted a quick 'Oy'. He looked at me as though I was a nutter. Regarding cycling contraflows, until there are more bikes on the road - cyclists are always going to have to take care on them. I ride down Portabello Street most days and this has a contraflow on it. Pedestrians and car drivers simply are not aware (or ignore/forget) that cyclists are allowed to cycle down that street.

Our house suffered some damage following a burst water pipe in the loft. The work is being rectified under the insurance. The damage is as follows: Loft boards and insulation needs replacing. Ceiling needs pulling down and re-plastering. Decorating work - painting and papering. Also need a new laminate floor in one room - but we're taking that as a cash settlement. In the room that needs the new ceiling, we also require the walls re-plastering. These were going to be redecorated as part of the insurance but we want to re-plaster instead. Realise that we'll have to pay for this. The insurers did send around their contractors originally but we just didn't like their attitude so we are going down finding our own contractor route. So, basically we need a contractor that will take over but allow us to have our say. They need to know how to work with insurance companies.

I stopped playing when the draws went to two days a week.

I wouldn't go down the TPO route as, if it is deemed that the trees are causing an issue and are causing subsidence in dry conditions, it is one more item to have to deal with should the trees have to come out. With regards to insurance, have a play around with an insurance comparison website. We have trees close to our house. When shopping for building's insurance, one of the questions was, "Are there any trees over 10 metres tall closer than 5 metres from your property?" I couldn't be bothered measuring how far from the house and how tall the tree was so I got quotes based on a 'No' to the above question and quotes based on 'Yes'. When we ticked 'yes' and said that the tree hadn't been pruned recently, our quotes went from a cheapest quote of just over £100 to only one insurer willing to insure us at extortionate cost. That reminds me, still need to get one of the trees hard pruned. Need to find a decent arborist as it's a really nice copper beech and we really don't want it killing by somebody that doesn't know what they're doing.

Where in S6? I usually have a pile at home from shredding that we do as general garden tidying. I add them to the compost bin every now and then - helps keep the compost cycle going. However, I seem to have run out and have nothing available to shred just now. The compost has gone a bit anaerobic and I'm hoping that adding a few handfuls of chippings and giving the bin a woosh around (technical gardening term) - may recover it. Is the stuff of Hagg Hill 'free' to passers by or are we talking other piles of chippings?

What phone and network? I got mine unlocked for 99p off eBay within two minutes of paying my fee.

Is it part of the district heating system - powered by the incinerator on Bernard Road?

The reason I do cycle is because I am an out of shape tub of lard! To the OP, hope your husband isn't too shaken and it hasn't put him off cycling. I have lights on my bike and wear a luminous green jacket and still people pull out on me - defensive riding is the norm for me. I went on the Bikeability training course (about an hour) level two last year. I would highly recommend it to anyone who cycles in traffic. http://bikeability.dft.gov.uk/ Will look at level three this year

Erm, that is already in place in Broomhill. Erm, I know.

To the OP - complain to the council and ask them to implement a scheme so that when you get your ticket out of the machine, you also get a voucher to spend in the shops equal to the cost of your parking. Simple scheme, everyone happy - you can park, the shops get your custom. The parking charges, imo, are a good thing. When I am too lazy to walk to Broomhill and drive, I can now always find a parking space whereas before I couldn't. Even get 15 minutes free if I just want to pop to the bank or the library.

So what would be a legal basis for appealing? The driver of my car got ticketed by UKCPS after parking in an unmarked bay at Centertainment as there was something on at The Arena and no spaces were available. I've received the NTK paperwork and intend to appeal. The driver parked early in the evening when it was dark - is it sufficient to simply say that the signs were unlit - or does one mention the lack of parking?

Where about are you located - I'm after a roofer for a small job (S10 area). If you got his details, can you PM them to me please. Many thanks

I wouldn't claim for such a small job - I'd simply get someone in to sort it. We had our ridge tiles re-pointed (hipped roof) and some tiles reseated last year and it cost about £200 - so for a single tile I would say that you'd definitely get change out of £100. Some friends of ours made two small claims on their insurance over the last two or three years and their insurance has trebled in price - some companies refused to quote.

Ha ha ha - you're having a larf. That's just far too sensible - the council would never implement such a scheme - one that makes sense! I often wondered why they didn't implement something similar to that (one side of road permit parking) near the hospitals on the Broomhill side of town. Try to get parked near the hospital (within ten minute walk) and you see empty streets during the day that you aren't allowed to park on. That said, when a residents' scheme was introduced in Broomhall (near old YMCA), they did something along those lines - something like unrestricted parking on one side of road and four hour or residents' zone on other side of road. To the OP - would you be in favour of a permit scheme? How many cars are parked on the street when only residents are there? Could you ask neighbours if they would be willing to have a permit scheme - some will be reluctant because of cost. If many are in favour - maybe write off to your councillor.

Does anyone know why the scouts stopped the scout post?

I've used something similar to this before http://www.wickes.co.uk/fungicidal-wash-4l/invt/600297/ worked very well. Which reminds me - need to do ours.

Our last all inclusive holiday had its advantages. We don't drink much alcohol but found it handy whilst at the pool to just walk to the bar and get soft drinks or even the occasional cocktail. The drink was just local stuff but it didn't bother us. It was good for the kids to ask us if they could have an ice-cream and for them to pop to the bar and get one. Food wise, it was OK. There was plenty of choice but it all depends on your taste. Some people in our hotel complained of lack of choice - but then seemed to just fill their dinner plates with chips as they didn't like food that was slightly different from that at home. The year before we went half board and that cost us far more overall than all inclusive.