Until 2001 mine went with me on the plane all round the world. The only time it was ever questioned was on 2 flights to Edinburgh when they took it off me and put it in the hold. A colleague lost his recently but security at Heathrow kindly found it for him lurking in his bag. He'd been on at least 4 flights previously after believing it lost. They gave him an envelope and he went back out and posted it to himself. I've been carrying one for 15 years and never had any problems.

Mark your grandma was only 35.

slojo: apt user name for sure. :-)

The really amazing and mind blowing thing about space is not how big it is but how small it was some 13 billion years ago. So small there was no space at all. And in that non space existed everything necessary to make a bicycle given enough time.

SaxonRider I bought What's Bred in the Bone many years ago purely on the fact that I liked the cover. One of the best decisions I've ever made as far as buying books go. I'd never heard of Robertson Davies before and I didn't really think after reading the blurb that it would interest me but i bought it anyway and then went out and bought everything else I could find by him.

"Can you tell me the time of the last complete show?"
"You have the wrong number"
"Eh? Isn't that the Odeon?"
I decide to give a Burtonian answer.
"No this is the Great Theatre of Life. Admission is free but the taxation is mortal.You come when you can, and leave when you must. The show is continuous. good-night."

The last words of his last book. I read it just before he died and when I heard the news I thought about them again and realised that he must have known just how close the end was as he wrote them.

And to answer the question I'm currently reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and re reading Dava Sobel's The Planets.

Landed at 5 this morning from Hong Kong and not feeling too bad. I find it worse going the other way. Left there last night at midnight having been awake since 3 in the morning. I probably managed about 4 hours sleep on the plane another hour in the taxi home and then another hour once the kids had gone to school.

Sorry user-removed but could you be a little more succinct in your summary. It appears to be full of words some of which are so long that if I start one of them by the time I get to the end of it I won't remember how it started.

KINGTUT I bet if you did read it your lips would move.

Why I think I'd call jognrun first. :-)

Rubbish fitting floors .
2 weeks work in every 4 weeks

Well get back in the garage and make a dynamo light then! :-)

1 x 14 here but reckon 14 X 1 would be even better.

Well you could meet in the middle. Just smile and remind them they've still got the hardest bit to do and you'll be in the pub in Winchester while they're crawling up to Eastbourne.

Most people do west to east to benefit from the prevailing wind but if it's a still day or the wind is from the east then I'd start in Eastbourne. it's worth looking at a weekly forecast because an easterly can last for a few days. It gets the hardest climbing done early and avoids the climb out of Alfriston to above Jevington which seems to go on forever.

And avoid the weekend if you can as it does get very busy anywhere where it crosses a road.

Variable as usual. In the last month I've been working in London Munich Berlin and now I'm in Hong Kong. Hopefully a quiet week coming up and not sure after that but it's either all or nothing. Overall work is probably back to normal but with less notice.

I've just got my mensa self test through the door which I requested after the mensa thread we had a while ago. If the questions in that are anything like the ones they use in the real life test then I've clearly got an IQ of 180 so I should be on it for the intelligence questions (as opposed to the knowledge ones). Do they ask intelligence questions?

So the free test shows you're genius and now you can pay to do the real test. Is that about right. Still sure your a genius. :-)

Lusso thermal bib tights which are around 20 years old.

3 plus 1 frame in 24 years, I really haven't got the hang of this have I.

IIRC scientists have recently developed carbon nano tubes which are many times more black than anything previously known. This will lead to more efficient solar panels as more energy will be absorbed rather than reflected. So we have black but not absolute black.

The moon is slowly moving away IIRC so get to see one while you can. Another few million years and it might all be too late.

I think the Wave is the best balance of tools and weight. It's what I'll be buying to replace the supertool I lost after 13 years.

Cannondale Rush. That frame design gives plenty of standover clearance. I'm about the same height but I happily used to ride a 17" Marin with a similar frame design.

Mad bad and dangerous to know.

Crash landed alien spacecraft.

Still got a pair from 1998. I always found them pretty good on the East Peak. Pretty narrow but I moved from rigid to full sus and most tyres were pretty narrow at the time so I didn't notice any lack of cushioning. I would rate them higher than the Fire XC's I use in the summer as an all round tyre.

Never picked up the bill so never been a problem I've experienced.

the mans a genius

No he's only brilliant, he'll be a genius when he makes a dynamo version. :-)

Mr H why change it when it stretches. My last chain lasted for 3 years 2 on road 1 off and was still working just fine when I changed it. Current one is coming up to a year old on an off road commuter used all year round. Have a look on the Thorn forums a lot of road users on there get 10,000 miles from a chain so 750 miles off road looks like your changing it a little early to say the least. Throw away the gauge.

I'm currently using a KMC 3/32 with a Rohloff but it doesn't seem much different from the cheap 9 speed SRAM chain that was on before. I only adjust the EBB every few months when the chain starts to fall off.

Unforgettable fire but without pride. It just doesn't fit with the rest of the album.

Were going at Easter so I'll start force feeding the kids tomorrow. Might have to tell them that it's only snails and frogs legs once we're there that should help. All the exhibition stand builders I work with are experts at making a pack lunch at breakfast. I usually go with the eat enough to last all day method myself and then do the same at lunch if it's available and same again in the evening.

If my ribs could take it I'd be happy with a rigid bike. I don't know if other people suffer from it but on rough ground after riding for a while I get stabbing pains around my lower rib cage when riding a rigid bike.

This would make a nice bang.

A trip to Zurich has lost all it's appeal. Can't you organise a referendum and get her back.

Dig. Build a real cave under the garden. Also useful in case of zombie attack etc. Moving is likely to cost 10 – 20K by the time you've paid all the fees let alone the extra 35K for the house.

Should I cash in my shares now?

That's what I commute through! It's taking an hour at the moment compared to 35-40 minutes in the summer.

roughly 4:1 so I've a perfect excuse for being slow.

Tell them and your obligations are fulfilled. , they have 3 months IIRC to organise getting it back after which it becomes yours. It isn't down to you to post it back and then wait for a refund it's down to them to organise any shipping or postage.

It's the sort of thing people who start conversations with "so what are you driving these days" actually like wearing.

Someone once gave me a Sisters of Mercy tape so I suppose I had a near Goth experience.

Very British though to win the tea tray race.