Item no. 4 now kaput. Tony's beloved Paramo winter coat has a broken zip - after only 19 years. At least a replacement is easily available on Ebay for less than £5 for me to mend, with no service charges - except for whatever I can think up by way of a little job for him to do for me in return, of c...

How beautiful. Has OH ever sailed on one?

OK, - my non-PC post, and replies, now deleted. Sorry - I hope nobody took offence. Let's just say my finger slipped?

I watched the aero press video with interest, and it looks good in several ways - I like the way it uses very small paper filters and no electricity. It would be lovely if making just for one person, but it would be good if they produced a bigger version that would do at least two cups at a time. At...

Hands up all those old enough to have had a first car reliant on its starting handle! To be fair though, both the toaster and the water softener had worked daily for 10 years without complaint, and the demise of the toaster was my own stupid fault. It's the unattributable motor failure on the 3-year...

Don't give them cheese, they mustn't have fatty foods, they will put on fat round their ovaries as they age and develop internal problems. Mine don't like salad leaves much either but they do like dark green cabbage leaves.

They like all sorts of little bits of fruit and vegetables cut up small. Eg the spare bits of stems and base of cauliflowers; trimmed-off ends of green beans or courgettes; bits of spare celery; anything red like tomatoes, radishes or the ends and middles of red peppers; apple or pear cores; bits of...

Does anyone else ever have a run of spontaneous breakdowns on household machines which cannot be repaired economically locally compared with the price of a new one, or where spare parts are apparently not sold separately? Last month the cold water supply to our bath reduced itself to a trickle for n...

Apples and greens are good to still give them, if you have any. I hang the greens up on a string from the roof, above the ground, for them to peck at, and cut up the apples into little bits and just stir into the mash.

Yes I guess Diane was just a month too late for hers to manage to come into lay as expected, especially living fairly far North so the winter darkness sets in sooner anyway, compared with us Southerners.