An app would be handy, but I’m not able to use a phone/ipad/anything outside where I am.

Apparently Venus is the third brightest thing in the sky. So probably that. Just glad other people can see it and I’m not imagining a UFO up there!

I’m offshore just now; not in fear of my job but it is worrying, a fair few friends I have at Baker where I used to work were already scared of being canned when they were bought out last year and are worried even more now.

Think the cost of producing a barrel of oil for many rigs is still under the value of a barrel enough to make production viable, but some of the older rigs or furthest from shore rig with higher costs will be close to losing money now (some probably already are).

Almost feel it’s a good thing, cost of living in Aberdeen has been massively over-inflated for years now and it’d be good to see house prices drop into reasonable territory. Saw a thing on my fb recently showing 2 identical Barret houses, one in the central belt and another near Aberdeen – Aberdeen one cost 300k more :/ I would have left Aberdeen but my partner’s career is based here (not in oil) and she’s keen to say due to family.

Think a low oil price for a couple of years would really shake the town up, more cuts the longer the oil value low. Don’t know if it would be as bad as the oil crash in the late 80s/early 90s, but my partner told me in the past that led to lots of her friends moving house after their parents were made redundant and couldn’t afford big houses anymore.

I’m doing nights until the 14th, haven’t seen daylight since the 31st! Apart from the lack of light, how’s it worse than nightshift any other time of year?

I really fancied the granite chief or uncle jimbo this year, but the frame sizes (too short for me on reach/length) weren’t right.

Canyon Strive (AL) due to arrive in February. Usually snows up here around Feb/Mar time so might not get to use it for a while. Assuming stuff I’ve heard about Canyon bikes taking longer than expected to arrive doesn’t happen this year.

Drove away from the car park at one of the local forests, heard a scrape clunk noise halfway down the lane and thought nothing of it (assumed it was the bike in the back of the car) until I got to the turn off onto the A road and realised I had left my phone on the roof of the car before driving off.

Parked back up and had a quick look around before thinking there was no chance of seeing it until I looked at the puddle at my feet, stuck my hand in and came out with a miraculously undamaged (fallen off a car at 10 or 15 mph into a 2 inch deep puddle) Samsung Galaxy S3 phone. It even started working again after being dried off!

I’ve had the AS15 for about 18 months now, really good footage from it – good deail 1080p and steady rather than shaky/blurry even in rough terrain. Slowmo on it is cool, as is the wifi link up (only ever used the wifi remote phone app to spy on the dog so we could see what would happen if he were left alone in a room with a nice slice of ham).

Lack of mount options is a pain, bodged a side mount for the full face and bought a handlebar mount after xmas with amazon vouchers.

Golden Seagull? I can probably see you from here – work on the Buzzard platform!

It was the only time I’ve ever had facetime work out here, so was chuffed when it worked after a few goes!

Working night shift in the middle of the north sea, not much of a NYE but I’ve not really cared for it in years anyway.
Did get facetime working (wifi in accomodation area is generally iffy) for a 20 minute chat with the other half over the bells, so that was pretty good :)

My 2012 nexus 7 was the same for a couple of months; laggy, freezing, crashing etc to the point where I wanted to frisbee the thing into the sea. Other half got me an iPad as a birthday/Xmas present earlier in the month. So much better.
Best just to give up on it, tried everything there was to try on the nexus, but it never stayed good for more than a short while.

Masters of the Universe by Binary Star. ’tis awesome.

Princes St gardens is an obvious one, but still nice. If you’re not particularly claustrophobic, the Scott monument has a nice view (the stairs are a tight climb!).
Another walk which I suppose is also obvious is Arthur’s Seat, assuming it’s not too windy. The Sheep Heid Inn pub nearby makes for a nice starting/finishing point and does decent pub grub.
National galleries of modern art was always my favourite, mostly for the giant robot sculpture thing (google tells me it is called Paolozzi’s Vulcan).
The Kenilworth pub is nice and chilled and does good pub grub for a reasonable price, a restaurant nearby called Element does really good food (or did, haven’t been back down for about a year with work and stuff :( ).
La Favourita does super nice pizza, Urban Angel was really nice for late breakfast/lunchy stuff but there’s a much nicer place that I can’t remember the name of right now. Due to night shifts killing my brain. Hope that helps :)

Last year I ordered a Sony action cam, just over a week before going on holiday. Was shipped with Hermes or Yodel (leaning towards Hermes), obviously was nowhere in sight when I left for the holiday.

Got back from holiday and there was a slip in the door saying “left in blue box at front of house”. The blue box is my recycling box, which amongst other things is used for recycling cardboard boxes. I never ever saw that action cam. The company did send out another one through royal mail which I picked up from the depot with little hassle.

Another package which was to be signed for I found a slip in my door (was Yodel this time) had been signed for by a “Mr Brown Bin”. Apparently my wheelie bin for garden waste had briefly become sentient, signed for my stuff then kept it warm with some grass and hedge cuttings.

I’m in pretty much the same boat; been trying to choose between these ones:
Canyon Spectral (looks good but not sure about the shapeshift thing)
Bird Aeris
Rose Uncle Jimbo
Whyte G150 (not quite as good value as the above)

The YT bikes are all smaller in their biggest size then my BFe, which is probably a bit small for me as it is, so can’t really consider them.
Waiting for the Rose one to have a final spec/price list released before choosing.

I have a cockapoo, one part of considering it was wanting a dog who didn’t shed and was hypoallergenic (mild asthma and some minor allergies), partly because they were super cute puppies and partly reading how the breed was supposedly intelligent, loyal, easy to train, good natured.

Ours is definitely like that, really good natured friendly dog who is annoyingly clever (he learned how to switch off my old xbox 360 with his nose and would turn it off for me when he wanted out!) and really affectionate (will walk along the top of the sofa for example, lie down behind my head then rest his head over my shoulder and snooze).

A friend of mine has a Jack Russell, who they found pretty difficult until he was about 3 and settled down a bit.

HOWEVER – do not overtighten the bolt. It is made of cheese and will snap if it’s tightened 0.000000001Nm over the prescribed torque
this is true

I suspect Hope sell replacement bolts under the sales title of ‘idiot tax’[/quote]

I did this, and phoned up hope to say, “I am an idiot and overtightened the bolt and killed it, where can I buy a new one?” and the guy on the phone took my address and posted out on for free, which arrived first class post the next day.

Was pretty surprised to say the least. Also played a part in helping me decide on a new wheelset earlier in the year, ended up choosing a Hope pro 2 evo build.

The head doctor is pretty good, has never slipped or loosened. Used a torque wrench with the new bolt, first one was killed when I decided to go back and “tighten it up, just a little bit more” :/

My copy of GTA arrived early, on Monday afternoon.

I work offshore, went offshore for two weeks on Monday morning :(