Vanderbilt and the Yeggman. Vipers. Vigor, the Hammersmith wonder.

If you open our fridge and larder doors you will see jars of:

• beetroot relish
• green tomato chutney
• bramble jelly
• plum jam
• clementine marmalade
• ordinary marmalade
• marrow chutney
  

all made by my own not-so-fair hands during the course of this year. My sister V said admiringly "You're quite the little Chutney Mary!" but actually I'm not altogether sure I like that epithet.

Not only that, but I spent yesterday (and most of Wednesday) laying a new bamboo laminate floor in the conservatory. Which now looks rather nice I think.

On a less self-aggrandizing note, Beavers blamed for likely bank failure. Now we know!

This is a pretty good visual aggregator of the various US Presidential opinion polls, showing how each state will likely contribute to the electoral college picture. Clever bit of design, via the excellent info_sthetics as usual.

And St Peter's Brewery have some more discount deals on. Get in there, Boozy, you're late for your autumnal drunkening!

I need to get a new cordless drill, as T's sister and b-i-l seem to have mysteriously turned their borrowing of ours into a permanent arrangement. Not a market I know much about, and superficially similar drills vary wildly in price. Any recommends / disrecommends?

Am I right in thinking that there's a recent law / regulation saying that electrical work in your house now has to be done by a proper electrician?

If so, and it wasn't just a bad dream, does anybody know what it covers? -- presumably you're still allowed to change a plug yourself, but eg. I want to remove two ceiling spotlights and replace them with pendant fittings, could I still do that?

Any of you up on antiquated wiring systems relating to ceiling lighting?

What I have coming out of the ceiling is three black wires, two of which are twisted together, and an earth. But how can I tell which is the live and which is the neutral?