perseverence, patience, being methodical (in particular keeping EVERYTHING filed away so that it can be retrieved 3 years later when you are writing up, is legible, AND still makes sense).

Try this site
http://www.protocol-online.org/
The only way to see if it will work is to try it-maybe borrow some temed from a friend in another lab that they know works.

I use Tris buffer for the upper and lower buffer-is this just a standard gel for running proteins, or something more specialised?
Also when I demonstrate for undergrads the lecturer does a speech about acrylamide is dangerous and the ready made solutions (30 or 40% e.g. BioRad) are safer. He then goes on to debate whether that is true, but says the undergrads definately shouldn't use the powder in their 3rd year projects. Our lab always uses the read-made solutions. It is the APS and temed that causes the gel to set, it is liquid until I add these, then gets hot to the touch. Do you mix in a tube before pouring-i.e. is it not mixed thoroughly maybe? (Is the acrylamide % high enough?)When I make a gel I have a 16% resolving gel and upper stacking gel. I mix the reagents, pour between the plates and put a solvent on top, which I remove before pouring the top gel which sets around the comb so it is not open to air at the top.

Can a supervisor or someone else read work at intervals to help meet your deadlines? Sounds like you might need the real deadline to motivate yourself to finish.
When it has gone on a long time it can seem a bit aimless, and like it will never end.

I've not got anything to publish

If you don't want an acdemic career, it depends whether a PhD would help you or not, e.g. in industry it could, or in something you have the skills for, if you go for something that needs any degree then you would lose salary by taking time out to do a PhD. You're supposed to be earning more on average after about 5 years though.

I know someone who did MPhil, but he left after a year so we're no longer in touch!
I've struggled out a PhD feeling miserable and it is not easy. It's dragged into a full 4 years.

check alpha/beta/omega/psi etc. are the same font throughout

I've collected some things to proofread....
check for extra spaces between words
consistancy in fonts/style especially in titles
consistency in leaving spaces after titles
capitals consistent in titles
consistency of writing 5mg or 5 mg for anything with a unit
correct subscript/superscript e.g. in MgF3-
correct italics e.g. E. coli
both e.g. kcat
write times not X and laboratory not lab
in words such as sidechain, wildtype and stepwise check if it is one word, hyphenated or two words, and stick to one

It might help just having a date to stick to. It depends how focussed/motivated/quick you are. I've spent about a year writing up and was aiming for July but my supervisor took 2 months to read some chapters and I now hope to submit this Friday (my 4 year deadline is the end of this month). A prof I know claims he wrote up in 6 weeks as got a cash incentive.
Someone else I know has taken about 6 years (including work after 3-4 years) for various reasons and is happily now a Dr.

Are you just working really hard or late, or not getting much sleep (anxiety or late night)?

My OH has a business nearby and I can't move. I will probably have to commute a fair way for jobs. It would be tricky (in theory as I don't want one) relying on getting a postdoc in one geographical area, although there are a few unis within 1-1.5 hours.

Poor thing. I hope to print next week. I've spent extra months making my thesis stronger and easier to defend, and done all my supervisor's suggestions, and now my supervisor is saying I will get corrections and I could sound more authoritive if I had a few weeks to work on it . Not encouraging.
Think how near it will be, then it will all be written.

I sympathise. Everything I've had to do is harder than expected. I was planning to submit June/July and it's September in my 4th year and I haven't.

I like the quiet at home and being with my pets, but can go a little crazy if I don't leave the house for a few days. At uni it can be quite structured but sometimes noisy or distracting, and it costs me £3+ a day just on transport and having lunch with people, not good if you have no money. You get out of touch with people if you work at home a lot, and you go in and everyone asks about your thesis (AGGHHH)!

Does anyone have any lists or useful websites of things they checked in their thesis. I'm thinking of typing errors or checking for consistancy.
I've got my own things I'll check for, but thought I'd check here for more ideas.
I'm getting near the end :-) Only waiting on my supervisor's final corrections (typical) ;-)