Feel OK so far, will report back later

Surely the night is still young?

It’s age, no two ways about it. Hangovers last longer when your metabolism starts to slow down, mid-30s for most men.

I had 9 pints in London on Friday and a 10 pack of Cafe Creme cigars…it takes me 2 days to fully recover now whereas 10 years ago it would have taken 2 hours.
Time, she waits for no man.

This thread could only have started on a sh”te weather bank holiday weekend.

Perhaps it was being trolled, but I’ve noticed a large increase in commentators on the Guardian website posting against mass immigration. Frank Fields has also written an article today in the (dareisayit) Mail on Sunday which paints the scale of the Calais problem in big letters.
We could soon be heading to a position in which the only interest groups who desire a continuation of mass immigration are big business and the radical left.

England are going to struggle. As some have pointed out above, the issue is the risk-averse nature of the England set-up, along with a lack of talent compared to the South Hemisphere sides.
Dropping Cips and picking Burgess is simply an odd decision. You can’t switch codes overnight. Cips offered some creative spark in a side which lacks any creativity whatsoever.
The off-the-pitch antics also indicate a lack of respect from the players to the management. This is a worrying sign.
I agree the tournament is going to be very open. The South Hemisphere sides are still ahead of the rest although I’d take a gamble on Ireland at least reaching the semis, and potentially winning it as they have the best captain and coach.

From observing family and friends, having kids is often the unspoken reason behind divorce. The partners start neglecting their relationship and gradually end up resenting one another (often a case of familiarity breeds contempt, but also because we tend to blame our problems on those closest to us).

You should be worrying about the 2500 people who’ve died since being declared fit to work by the people you voted for, but I expect it’s unlikely you would care.

As it happens I didn’t vote Tory, but I do classify myself as right wing. As for that particular issue, you seem to be suggesting Tory voters have moral culpability for this? Just so you are clear, i.e. they are responsible for these deaths because of who they voted for?

Tory voters? Happy with this turn of events?

As perhaps the only right-winger on this forum, I felt I had to respond as I take this as addressed to me.

Frankly I’m too concerned about the record-breaking scale of immigration to worry about a man who likes ducks sitting in the Lords.

Give up the booze for a month and you will drop half a stone.
For longer term results, more exercise, less food (smaller portions especially for lunch).

I doubled a sum of several thousands over 5 years by sticking it in Fundsmith and forgetting about it.

Another shout out for Fundsmith. Terry Smith is as no-nonsense as they come and he consistently delivers.

British economic policy IS housing. It has been so for the last 25 years. We have a housing bubble, particularly in the South East.
But government policy is now changing because voter demographics are changing, i.e. as a voting bloc the young eternal renters/living with parents folks (this now extends to people in their 30s) are becoming increasingly important.
Government’s are now going to have to appeal to this voting bloc to get elected and a surefire why of doing that is taxing homeowners to the hilt.
So in other words housing is becoming less of a sacred cow; Osbourne’s move against buy-to-let is part of a wider campaign against homeowners which is only going to escalate.

My problem is of a more local nature. I live opposite perhaps one of the most anti-social families in history (letting off fireworks at 4 in the morning, driving Kevmobiles at dangerous speeds on the local roads, etc).
The police are round their place all the time.
But they decided to make themselves untouchable by raising money for Help for Heroes.
I prefer donating to low-profile charities, my favourite being Blind Children UK.

34 years here. I was a carefree student until I was 28 so still consider myself only a few years out of college 🙂

I may be being particularly thick, but why are these people not just using match or similar internet dating, you are obviously prepared to cheat on your current relationship so setting up an account as if you were single surely is within your current level of deceit and lying.

Some women are particularly attracted to married men (attracted to what you can’t have) so I would imagine you get better results posing as a married man on Ashley Madison than from a simple “I’m single and available” entry on a Match.com.

Re the faking it aspect, I live next door to a couple who’ve just had their second baby. It screams the house down and they spend all their time shouting at one another, slamming doors and screeching out the drive way after a barmy.

But when they have friends round, it’s all smiles and a masterful projection of the idyllic family, circa 1950s smalltown America.

As Pilate asked, What is Truth?

The analogy I would use is this: in Hertfordshire, the best buzz you can get is equivalent to a couple of pints with your dad, even on the best runs here, I’ve never got steaming drunk.
Aston for me is very much a summer ride, I’ve ridden it in the winter and found it just plain scary.

The posts on this thread are positively Johnsonian.
“Excuse me”, “I’d be interested to know…”, “Dare I say it”.
My response to this thread will come in time, depend upon it, Sir.

I ordered a tshirt from the nice people at stiff a year back, it didn’t arrive due to postal problems (not their fault just problems at my local postal centre), they then sent me another t-shirt. Finally the first one arrived and I paid for it as I liked the tshirt, and they sent me a mtbing sticker, which is on my laptop and has led to a number of chats with fellow mountain bikers in cafeshops, including a delightful young lady, I’d call that karma.

I’ve avoided Apples for years now, as above, the quality issues have always been there, I prefer Samsung for quality these days.

Pacify the Gods and send it back.

If you want to improve your skills check out here[/url].

Near Hertford so a 20 min drive from Letchworth.

Here in the South East the weather has been fine overall. Compared to what the summers were like five years back, it’s positively tropical.

Most of the problem of losing weight is nothing to do with exercise but how much we shovel down our throats anyway.

Hence why gastric bands work.

I agree, it’s not to do with too much fat, sugars, etc the obesity problem is largely that of portion-size. Plates and bowls are nearly twice the size they were 20 years ago, and food is more affordable.

You can’t out-exercise a bad diet, as they say.

Sounds like reactive depression – that is, you are reacting to a situation that is getting you seriously down. Go see the GP.

OP obviously if you lose that amount of weight you will notice a massive difference, not just on the climbs but all round.
I used to be 6ft and 10.5 stone and could climb like a goat. I’m now 13.5 stone and can climb for short sections but in terms of getting up mountains, it would be twice as difficult.
But I prefer the way I look now – when I see photos of myself then I look skeletal.
So I think the moral is to find a weight that suits you all round. I see plenty of uber-fit roadies and whilst it looks great on a bike, I think they look too skinny in an everyday context, but I guess it is better to be underweight than over for health reasons.
Also I’d add that obsession over what you eat/weigh is becoming a bit of an issue, especially when I look at some of the posts above. Do you people ever actually enjoy your lives?

For many of us being relatively slim and healthy is a byproduct of an activity we love, rather than the reason we cycle.

But I can think of a few narcissistic individuals this kind of theory might apply to, if I’ve understood it correctly.

Completely agree. I think there is a greater proportion of narcissists since cycling has become uber-fashionable.

I’m blessed to have found a sport I love which also keeps me in shape and takes care of my knees.

I’d like to say getting my back wheels in, but I think I’ll be hedgetrimming on saturday and riding the bike on sunday.

I’m on glucosamine for my knees, can’t tell if it makes any difference.
I was wondering why my knees were hurting recently and spent hours online trying to self-diagnose…then I weighed myself and realised that if I’m half a stone overweight they tend to start playing up.

The US could well be on a long-term path to racial civil war.
There are so many guns floating around the country and plenty of agitators ready and willing to stoke the tension.

Far too many rhetorical questions on this thread.

The last conversation didn’t go well with him maintaining his dogs have a right to bark in his garden and that it’s my problem.

He’s dead wrong on that.

I admire the way farmers stick up for themselves, I think us non-farming folk can learn much from them on that.
But I have limited sympathy given that all the farmers round here drive top-of-the-range 4x4s and are multi-millionaires just from the land values alone.

I have a face for radio but not, alas, a voice.

The greatest players have always been prone to carrying a bit of dinner. Bill Nicholson described a young Gazza as “barrel chested” in his scouting report which was a polite way of saying overweight.
Matt Le Tissier has also put on some timber. I can still remember watching two waif-life bambi’s floating around White Hart Lane, Hoddle and Waddle – both prefer the cafe to the training pitch these days.

Five years ago, the advice would have been to sell all your bikes and buy a vintage bike to keep in the garage as an investment and a Sunday ride.
But I fear that ship has sailed…

The fact that women seem fascinated by it & constantly ask to touch it was an unforseen but enjoyable bonus

Is it a REALLY big beard then?

Ha! Think I’d need to ban myself from shows about great bike trips!

You could always watch Henry Cole’s show about buying tractors in old sheds instead, but unfortunately that’s pretty shite.

Now I have no hair, if I grow some stubble, people naturally assume I’m a ginger. A beard would be beyond the pale.

I also own a SS road bike and drink craft beer, have i become a hipster by default?

I live near a hipster barbers and get the impression that for full acceptance in the clan, you have to spend 2 hours a week there, talking about tattoos and bands no-one else has ever heard of.

I sold my two motorbikes and vespa over the last three years.
I occasionally miss it, but after a succession of motorbike accidents involving my nearest and dearest, decided to knock it on the head. I was also losing my bottle somewhat with age.
The first 6 months were hard but can’t say I miss it now, I just ride vicariously through Henry Cole’s TV shows.