Velosolo might do them I think

Like that quote.

This clip always makes me want to get out, and long for the high heat of summer beating down as I ascend a high mountain pass – obviously not our typical summer weather though eh? From dramatisation of Gino Bartali story, music by Ennio Morricone and Bartali is played by one of the baddies from Prince Caspian.

When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.

Conan Doyle

I always like this one

What region of England would be the first that wanted to join? I’d definitely want Northumberland in.

They’d have to accept the Land Reform Act though.

SNP say an independent Scotland would maintain membership of EU
SNP say independent Scotland would keep the pound

The No folk disagree as it’s probably just opposing the SNP view. If the Scottish Tories or Labour were saying that if the Yes vote won they’d seek to keep the pound and maintain membership of the EU, would London say no you wouldn’t? Of course not, it would be a different dynamic to working it out, but none of them can say that as it would mean those parties looking like promoting independence vote, which the national parties are against. Bonkers, there’s very little rational discussion on it and what it all means, it’s either SNP ideas or not.

Do any parties have coherent policies these days? Or is it more “here’s an idea we’ve come up with, vote for us and we’ll come up with a completely different idea you knew nothing about and may not have voted for”

A vote for independence isn’t necessarily a vote for SNP. If there’s a Yes vote in 2014, SNP would have just over 1.5 years to implement independence before the next Scottish election (May 2016 I think to avoid a clash with May 2015 general election), would that give enough time to sort it all out? London could easily slow things until the next 2016 election.

The next Scottish parliament may then have a completely different composition with no majority SNP party. All the other parties, sticking with their union ties don’t give any indication of what they would do in the result of a Yes vote; would they not seek to work/negotiate in a different way with the UK government than the SNP?

If the No vote wins, what does the SNP do then? Back to the drawing board? Would they lose credibility as a party? Have any of the other parties got any credibility anyway?

At the moment, it’s pretty much all mis-information from all sides as there’s no certainty as to what would happen and there doesn’t seem much unbiased info available. There seems much frothing at the mouths of those who are Yes or No, with a whole lot in between who probably aren’t that fussed either way, and just want to have a job, pay the mortgage/rent and put food on the table.

Why can’t the country look at things afresh and determine what is the best democratic setup for the UK? How about a similar setup in Wales, England and Northern Ireland as Scotland has now, with a UK parliament looking after defence, foreign policy, big economic stuff, that affects the whole UK. No chance of any change though as everyone protects their own – it’s politics that holds things back.

Element Replacement[/url]

I’ve used this place before, search for the model, find the element, was really easy to replace myself

It’s got 3 berths and room for the dog, it’s like the tardis

We finally got fed up with camping last year, all the faff, cold, damp, dog that hated it so we thought stuff that we’re getting a caravan and picked it up the other week.

After an epic journey down to Stafford, leaving Edinburgh at 0800, to pick it up including a 2 hour time on way back parked on the M6 due to an accident we arrived at Hoddam Castle at around 2200 for a few nights. No faffage, parked it up, hooked it up and that was that. It was dark and freezing outside, we had light and heat and were toasty and happy. Stuff camping, even the dog loved it cos he could sit and see what was happening out the window. No looking back for us, caravanning all the way now, can’t wait for the next adventure, likely Aviemore.

It’s not a big one, but it’s perfect for us.

Sprocket says “Stuff camping dad, this is ace, woof”

You need to get a gnome, that’ll get rid of the mole. Then you’ll need to figure out how to get rid of the gnome

Ours will look like this

I’m not sure the wine comes with it though. They’ve got even smaller ones too. Fibreglass body, lightweight (unladen weight 650kg).

We decided we were fed up with the tent malarkey too and now have a Freedom 3 berth prima sunseeker on order, hopefully getting a collection date soon, and can’t bloomin wait. It’s not a big one, but it’s towable by just about most cars, and we’re getting an awning.

I got a kit from Halfords and did it myself, worked a treat.

Looks good fun … did you have a flask with you? It’s rides like that when it’s good to stop and sit with a cuppa and a choccy biscuit. Twas a bit grim coming up the cyclepath to work this morning, feet still soaked. Friday looking interesting for Edinburgh.

Ride the opposite way round and count how many times you hear “you’re going the wrong way” or take a different turn to see how many follow?

Employee: there’s a weather warning, I won’t travel in
Employer: do you want paid? If so, get yourself in

That probably contributes quite a bit to the chaos on roads

We got a wooden ikea loft bed off gumtree for our no.2 (Ikea Stora, the older one with desk/drawers but you could put any desk underneath)

It was too tall so we took a foot off the ladder and legs, so fits brilliant. It’s got drawers/shelves underneath though the big desk would probably be too low now to fit. She wanted something along the lines of like Teddy’s bed from Good Luck Charlie but saw this kind and wanted it. We put mdf across the bed slats and put a single mattress and a rug so there’s space up top for toys/play/junk, etc.

She’s only 5 but it’s well solid and will last until she moves out. I’m 11st and it’s sturdy enough for me, I’d like one too.

The benefit of that one and other loft beds is there’s plenty space underneath for play/seats/tv/big bean bag so frees up loads of space, especially in a small room. Drape material round it and it encloses the space underneath making it all den-like and private.

No.1 has a metal frame one like in your links, hers was from Bensons for Beds for about £300, it just doesn’t seem as robust as the wooden ikea one. It creaks and needs screws tightened up a lot more. I’d say check gumtree for the wooden ikea ones that have storage underneath, unless you’re desperate for brand new. Our wooden one was £50, saw others for around £100 – £150.

Reading The Lost Cyclist at the moment, a bit on the epic side. The cyclist it’s about reluctantly switched to the increasingly fashionable safety cycle from his penny farthing for a round the world jaunt (he didn’t make it round the world, hence the ‘lost’ bit).

Just put in one of these Triton T80Z which was decent price and does the trick. It’s 8.5kw but think there may also be a 7.5kw or another one that is very similar at 7.5kw. Easy to fit. Replaced an old Triton Opal II that packed in after many years.

Other traffic moved out its way and I just stayed behind the ambulance.

I didn’t really see an issue with this – they were moving out the way to let the ambulance passed anyway. If the ambulance hadn’t been in front of me I would have just overtaken the slower traffic anyway.

Dunno if it’s against the law, but certainly not being courteous to those who have also moved out the way to let an emergency vehicle by, would there be owt wrong with letting them back in?

I washed my hands with Cillit Bang once after getting them all grimy from working on bikes … lesson learned, I’ve no idea what possessed me to do it.

Can’t say I’d want the stuff anywhere near the bike or garden.

They’ve got the big 80 or 100 or something mile route now – that’d be character building for a youngster!

No. 1 must have been that age (edit – just checked back registration email and she was 10) when she did it and there were younger kids taking part both years we did it too, some on their own bikes, some on tagalongs and some in trailers.

Just had the dog out for his last wee, tis indeed the Eye of Mordor, always impressive if a bit sinister

Think the road rides are still 1000 from The Peak at Forthbank on Saturdays, the animals may leave a bit earlier but it’ll all be on the website and no doubt someone else’ll be along shortly, I’ve not really rode with them for a while. mmmm … corrieri’s

Loads of routes!

Best bet is looking on Stirling Bike Club, Saturday rides with a cafe at the end! Doesn’t get better

Not seen it for a while as No.2 is older but the thing I always found pretty poignant was did it all just happen in Iggle Piggle’s head? If so, the poor sod must be floating around the ocean on his own, taking solace in his dreams. Might be overthinking it a bit though.

Did want the caravan as it was in good condition for it’s age, though realise if they didn’t want to sell it for what I won it for there’s probably not much I can do. Just a bit miffed

We’ve got a Virgin Netgear wifi thingy, and our No.1 used to like to extend allowed internet usage time. Looked into software and all that but in the end gave up and come 2200hrs on a school night we used the switch on the back of the wireless thingy. She soon learned that ‘I’m in the middle of something’ doesn’t work and now we don’t need to do that as she now switches off around 2200ish which is fine by us.

Now I can get that bike I’ve always needed for ‘easy or extreme trekking’ and a sport bike ‘designed for everyday sports people’. Hmmm

Brilliant

Dallas won’t be the same without him, he was ace. He had the best scene in Superman “I wouldn’t have my men do something I wasn’t prepared to do myself… About face!” or something like it

They had an exhibition in Edinburgh a couple of years back, it was fantastic, highly recommend going

So with the wrong MP identified and the resulting furore with the BBC, it does seem to be diverting attention away from correctly identifying the MP who may have been involved. Anyone actually investigating that? Or is BBC bashing more important to current MPs and news/media groups?

Our No.2 (5 years) is rubbish at sleeping and echo the physical activity mentioned above. If she doesn’t get outside to play she’s mental, it’s like a caged animal and she starts making her obstacle courses round the house and jumping about. Found routine after bathtime works for us too – pj’s on, supper, teeth brushed, into bed, story, sleep, skin-to-skin contact can help too, stroke their arm or back and also talking softly at the same time about anything, holidays, animals, ice cream. Same every night, no getting swayed by anything.

Only other thing is thinking about what they’re eating and drinking past a certain time – for us it’s making sure no diluting juice with her tea or afterwards, just water or milk. Any affects of sugar/sweeteners might cause problems in settling, and there might be sensitivity to something in a certain food/drink.

We had to resort to using a watermelon last year

Scunnered I missed it. Edinburgh, got the email amber alert and looked out but the wee bit broken cloud in the sky was getting lit up by the bloomin’ Eye of Mordor that is the flare at Mossmorran in Fife so figured I wouldn’t see owt. Then saw the red alert this morning in my email, wish I’d persevered in case I’d seen anything. Some nice pics about of last night’s display.

Failsafe? With Larry Hagman?

EDIT: Or maybe not

Not been to Pitmedden recently, but Devilla last weekend was very wet and muddy, lots of trees and branches down too, so would imagine Pitmedden wouldn’t be any better. Could be wrong though