Thankyou all for the kind comments, glad someone finds my rambling interesting.
Loving this... I see you've deviated from the One True Glue Stick, purple elmers glue, do you find it makes a difference?
I used to use a glass sheet/ mirror but bought a new aluminium backed heat bed. I find the blue tape just works better. But i've spent along time leveling the bed and setting the extruder height to get the first layer right.