Best Of

Think Keith Ryan does roofing now. Lovely guy, you wouldn't want to argue if it wasn't spot on, kind of think it would be though.

Should I ignore the leaflet that dropped through my door from ‘M&A driveway and garden maintenance’?

I’m not a dancer so I must be human but I can more often than not “do” the sums on Countdown in two or three quick steps.

Today, we have had a shock. The roof of our bungalow doesn’t just need a couple of metres of tiles lifted and the felt partially replaced as was thought. It needs a complete new roof. I’ve just worked out that the cost is five times what we paid for a three bedroom semi in Basingstoke in 1970.

Good to see you, @drcongo.

I 'm very disappointed this did not end with @micra saying Magnus and Anders happened to be driving by, claimed to have extensive roofing and damp course expertise and as they presently had time in their hands had offered to do the work at a knock down price.

(The boy Berry doing a bit of cash in hand labouring...)

I did and one was going to simply remove a chimney over a fireplace that has been blocked off for over 40 years - for £1,500 based I think on the fact that evidence of damp started on the chimney breast before spreading to three walls. Another quoted £5,495 to patch up part only (!) of each of two sides of the bungalow roof up to a height of two metres in addition to removing the chimney.

The guy who impressed us most during the competitive tendering process quoted £2,800 plus VAT for the entire length of west and north sides, an amount which has now been subsumed into the cost of replacing the whole roof, the need for which became apparent during the early stages of tile removal this morning. He suggested that my son-in-law should come round to see for himself the extent of the problem. He said he wouldn’t normally invite a customer (or, in effect, his representative) to climb on to the scaffolding to see for himself how bad it was but I was glad that he did because I’m pretty sure I’ve been shown photographs in the past which could have been taken on any old roof!

The work is now well under way and (fingers crossed) should be completed some time next week. The musty, damp smell that family have commented on for many years (and to which we had seemingly become immune) should soon disappear.

When our daughter and son-in-law inherit the bungalow they should have no roofing worries for at least a couple of decades and will have less inheritance tax to pay on the nest egg I’ve been building up for them although I suppose the increased value of the bungalow will offset that saving.

Apologies for the length (and rather oblique relevance) of this post.

Nothing wrong with youth development but London is a bit ominous. Though we'll be begging for a stadium in Uxbridge when the entire team moves to Astana.

Because that's still the biggest mystery about Lommy, how exactly does moving Wycombe up the leagues benefit football in Kazakhstan? All he's said is that he wants us to have a world class academy with a branch in Kazakhstan. It seems that children over there will be able to train as footballers and then come over here to finish the job and get a place in our first team. And that will make them world class.

This must look great in Lommy's head but will it actually happen? It's going to take quite a few years to find out.

Humans are terrible at understanding very large numbers. The best way to mentally visualise this is...

2 million seconds = 23 days, 3 hours, 33 minutes, and 20 seconds

5.6 billion seconds = 177.45 years

The latest academy news from the Kazakhstan Football Federation President, Marat Omarov, last month.

"Currently, the KFF is actively working with financial and industrial groups aimed at additional construction of three full-fledged football academies in Kazakhstan. It is important to emphasise that these projects are implemented at the expense of the investors themselves.

There is already an agreement with Kaspi Group for the construction of a football academy, the location of which has not yet been determined. There is an agreement with Freedom holding corporation to build a football academy in Karaganda. And also an academy will be built in Zhambyl region, as this region has always been a land of football talents."

...

"As part of the methodological support of current football schools, an agreement has been reached with Kaspi Group on training for coaches and possibility for players to visit the football club Wycombe Wanderers, which plays in the English division.''

https://kff.kz/en/news/26452

After the "don't worry about the money" infamous quote from the not so distant past, leading us to being a fine line from oblivion at Torquay, yes we do always have to have half a worry about this.

But if we went up our revenue would increase a lot as well and we'd "probably" be in the most secure position we've been in if we're adhering to financial rules and don't go out on a limb. Time will tell if bringing all these players in in Jan is absolute forwarding thinking genius or not though.

No less than 12 correct scores - all those showing as eight points in the week column below. Most significant perhaps a first correct score for newbie @petef1 and a tournament leading eighth correct score for @bargepole . He now takes a perhaps significant five point lead. Only two points cover second to seventh so still close. @fromRuisliptoWycombe has a four point lead in the battle of the newbies.

On to those lovely people at Peterborough.... Twelve games left.