The Canadians seem to like long extendable mechanical arms. Is there any particular reason for this?

I'm fitting one of the ones with a basin on top next week. Customer has a tiny downstairs loo that currently has nowhere to wash hands. Loo is so tiny it's even smaller than ours - which the kids call the sidraT 'cos it's much smaller inside than you expect.

I used to fly models at Nothwick Park in Harrow. There was a crow that really didn't like my glider going past her tree. She was never bothered by power planes, but gliders really got her goat. Usually she just escorted them off the premises, but occasionally she'd savage one.

Either a couple of flashes of the hazards, or alternate left/right a couple of times is common in the UK...or a cheery wave. I rather like to do a "courtly" baroque wave out of the window, if I can.
The one that really annoys me (apart from not saying thanks at all) is flashing headlights...at night. Great - thank me by dazzling me. Clever. Instead, I blink my lights off for a moment...just as effective, but no dazzling.

We have three black cats, Meep, and a pair of twin sisters, Fluorine and Chlorine. I can't always tell them apart if they're not near each other...and we didn't actually mean/ to end ujp withj three near-identical moggies, but that's what happened. Two are on the table with me now (actually, I'm not on the table, just at it) and the other - Florrie - is off terrorising something somewhere.

IR is fun, too. If you have a spare webcam, take it apart and find the infra-red filter - usually a small square of glass on the back of the lens or on top of the sensor. Prise it off, and your camera can now see near-IR. Add a filter that cuts visible light - I make a sandwich of red and blue gel for stage lighting, and all it will see (near enough) is IR.
Cola is transparent. Some black fabric stays black, while other appears white. Some printed pictures, such as those on ID badges vanish, while the text remains. Fun.

Ours goes up on pulleys in the stairwell. It's out of sight, uses a space that would otherwise be wasted, and dries a full load of washing in overnight, or in about three hours if you turn the fan on - a small desk-fan screwed to the ceiling to circulate the air a bit. We have a tumble-drier - but being part-Scottish, I can't bring myself to actually turn it on.

Yebbut - it's still impressive. People can, in the right situations, do the right thing properly.

While I'm quite happy to celebrate the end of the Great War, I feel uneasy about celebrating its start. I get the feeling the whole thing is driven by media and political imperatives rather than public sentiment, this time round. I don't think my either of my grandfathers (who both survived the Somme and other battles) would be celebrating the beginning - only the end.

My worry would be whether the walls can take the outward pressure of the water. In general, masonry is rubbish at resisting lateral loads.

Mmm, wooden Scrabble tiles. We have a set from an old game which we use with a more modern board. They're so much nicer to play with.

Something similar happens to Horatio Hornblower in (I think) the first book. He is in command of a captured French freighter carrying rice, but unknown to him, it's been holed below the waterline.
The dangers of carrying some dry goods has been known for centuries!

They're all ever so cute and all that - but I can't help feeling a bit squeamish. There have been so many kids killed or badly mauled by dogs that appeared fine until suddenly they weren't that I'm uneasy. Not that I would perhaps have stopped our kids doing that...but you know...just a bit uneasy.