Off Topic Thread 5.0

Stheno wrote: »

My OH would like decking. Not going to happen.

He has this mad idea that you just throw it on top of the grass and hey presto :rolleyes:

That said the physical labour would be good for him. As a result of eating himself through this pandemic he's put on a stone in weight and is now going on a diet and walking every day

Oh he has to do it on his own? F*ck that!

I'm intending to redo my paths out the back with the same stone as my patio. Part of me relishing the bit of work and that it will be grand when it's done. But there's a fair bit of work involved which I know I'll get a pain in my hole with.

If there's already grass in place, he's going to need to dig that all out and make sure it's level before even looking at bringing in hardcore/sand. I hope he has easy access to the patio area to get all material/spoil in and out. That's the single biggest task if it needs to be moved from out front (and even worse if through the house).

I know enough about building/handyman work to know what I can and can't do. Building decks, walls, steps or fences are all jobs I definitely can't do. I can be the helper/labourer on those jobs but someone else needs to be in charge. Laying down paving for paths and patios, or building fire pits, no problem. Just don't put me in charge of mixing the cement.

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I don't think anyone could realistically take what she said as an intentional criticism of Ireland's approach.

The problem is she should appreciate there are a lot of unrealistic people around, in her country as well I'm sure. And any comment like this is just giving them fuel to carry on like idiots. Plenty of people talking about New Zealand's infection rate as if they aren't an island thousands of kilometers away from any real sources of cases (unlike Ireland, where we only just discovered 90% of school children seem to ski in Italy every March) It'd be just as bad if Varadkar criticised New Zealand or Australia's initial approach and gave ammunition to the whatever New Zealand's equivalent of Gemma O'Doherty is (the main lad from Hunt for the Wilderpeople probably).

I would never apologise for Ardern saying something stupid but I definitely think this is a case of finding a country that has a similar population size, one that your average kiwi can relate to and that has worse numbers than NZ and use that to show how great her government is doing. Ignore all other contributing factors.

Theyve done a great job containingthe virus but I'd be more interested in hearing what her government is going to do to help the thousands of small businesses get back on their feet and how the economy is going to recover from the billions in lost tourism revenue.

As for the NZ version of Gemma O'Doherty, the would be the Bishop Brian Tamaki (self ordained). He may have declared himself the Supreme Leader and Saviour at this point. Him and his wife are NZ's highest profile whackjobs.

pickarooney wrote: »

I can't get my head around the fact that New Zealand to Australia is further than Ireland to Egypt.

That's not entirely true. If you take from the centre of each country it is but Auckland to Sydney is a bit over half the distance of Dublin to Cairo. However it is further than Dublin to Algiers so I'll use that in future.

Back to gardening for a sec...

I'm in the process of "cleaning" my back garden.
New build, moved in last summer.
"garden" is just over 80 square metres, and had never received any attention before now other than the builders jcb.

Made the decision to go at it with a pick, shovel and rake.
As something to focus on during quarantine, and a great way to exercise.

I'm about 60% of the way there. Very happy with the clean, level result so far, and the soil quality is v good as a consequence of me raking and re-raking to filter out the ****e.
I've estimated that it will be 36 hours of labour in total. (doing it in 3 hour stints to try to minimise the chance of back injuries!)

So here's my question...
I'm doing all of this so that I can get roll out grass to lay on top. (I'll roll it out myself)

I know that you need to water the bejaysus out of it once it's laid for a few days, but what about beforehand?
Is a roller essential before or after or both? Should the soil be scuffed up before laying or flattened?

Anyone done similar? I've only got one quote so far which was about €6 per square metre...that about right?

Stheno wrote: »

It was interesting last night that they said the majority of the new cases are amongst younger people

I wonder do they think it wont hit them? Or is there a socio economic element to it? E.g. those who cant work from home?

Was out walking the dog last night. On my way back I was coming round a corner and 3 lads about my age came towards me walking 3 abreast, made no effort to make any space for me and the dog on the path. Just before that I had met a group of about 5 little girls under 10 riding their bikes on the road. There's a definite air of complacency in the general public. People don't like being inconvenienced for a prolonged period of time.

[Deleted User] wrote: »

If it was me I'd get a few bags of topsoil and I'd seed the lawn for a few weeks instead of putting down the rolls of grass. You need to re-seed and water regularly but in my experience you get a better lawn.

I thought about that first, but when I priced it up, the roll out option was less than half the cost, and a quicker route to the finish line to boot.