At some point through the first page I thought of the bees pollination question that was later raised. Haven’t a clue bout transportation of bees in this country but pretty sure it’s big business in the USA. Where would this fit in to a lifestyle that avoids the exploitation of animals, how would you go about sourcing food totally separate from this style of pollination. Or is this simply not an issue. Hadn’t ever occurred to me before.

That oban one’s brilliant, like something from father ted

Just back from Hopetoun House near South Queensferry. Stood in a food queue for an age then watched what seemed a short display. Complete disappointment compared with last year’s fantastic effort – thoroughly underwhelmed and distinctly unimpressed. Ah well.

Lochindorb, that’s it, thanks muchly Millcar. Never seen it before and been up there loads, and must have cycled by it. Reckon we’ll pay it a visit next time we’re up there

Wasn’t loch an eilein, looked to be a walled fort, and the surroundings were more open with low hills and less trees

Saw one of them lolloping along the fire track above the freeride trails at Glentress a few years back towards the group I was with. Proper keeched myself, for a split second my brain registered ‘bear’ before common sense kicked in. Didn’t cover that in the risk assessment. Look bloomin gorgeous dogs; would hate to be the one to have to scoop up after them though

Or a leisurely ride to the cramond inn for a pint and tall tales and banter

Chicken supernoodles with a couple of slices of toast, my goto food when not well.

And Craigie Farm has a nice cafe and ice cream! and sells Stewart beer in minikegs. Some messing in the quarry, then a cuppa. All speculative of course.

Always thought the Quarry near Craigie Farm would be good for stuff too. No idea who owns it though, or what would be permitted, if anything.

Hailes Quarry Park is behind the bus depot at longstone. The pump track is up the top near the play park at the canal.

Hailes Quarry Park

Pump track doesn’t yet appear on that view, but it goes in and out of the trees near the play park.

Seen evidence of unofficial trail/feature development across a few sites around Edinburgh – Corstorphine Hill, Ravelston, Hermitage, the woods up behind Craigie Farm, along the cycle path to Roseburn and usually it ends up in big holes dug to build mounds, that are invariably reinforced with branches/sticks pulled off trees which I’d say isn’t ideal and just builds the case against mtbers. Where done without permission I’d be of the viewpoint it’s not on. Would it not be more prudent to find out what permissions and developments can happen first? Or seek permission before doing any modifications?

What about Hailes Quarry Park? There’s a pump track there, might there not be scope for further development at that location for more advanced features? Just a thought.

All normal, and fortunately there’s always someone else with worse kids than your own. ‘What to Expect: The Toddler Years’ gives a good clue to what to expect, funnily enough, as they age and explains a bit about why they do what they do and how it relates to their developmental milestones.

Ask to see their road ride RA. If they don’t have one, challenge them on it. If they do have one, check the date on it to see the last time it was updated and challenge them on it if this date isn’t recent.

As soon as you start risk assessing club rides, you’ll have to start deciding who is responsible for keeping them updated and who is responsible for the ride, do they have to be qualified, etc. If the designated ride leader isn’t there, who is then responsible, and do they then carry out their own risk assessment of the ride. Does everyone on the ride (being there of their own free will, being a club) then need to see the risk assessment to appreciate the reasonable risks identified and actions, etc. Idea of generic one is great, however, even it needs updated to take account of newly identified risks/actions – no point having one, if the next time it is checked is way down the line. And who is responsible for updating, storing, checking it? Do the roadies do this for their rides setting precedent?

It’s not a business or local authority, it’s a club. Club members should be aware of the risks of the activity they take part in and responsible for performing their own dynamic risk assessment of a ride/features against their ability.

I could be wrong though

Things could be helped greatly if employers actually followed stated dismissal procedures (if they have them stated at all). Many cases I’ve seen have come about because the employer simply do what they want or what they think is right (which turns out to be wrong) and leave themselves open to action. Wasn’t there someone posting on here a couple months back as the employer in this situation, where they got rid of someone but didn’t do it right and were having to pay compensation or something? Doesn’t help when HR departments don’t actually seem to understand it all and fail to advise employees and employers correctly.

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Sharing fleas

Echo the sentiment that this is softening everyone up … leak the exaggerated or worst case demands by the lobbyists paying into the Tory coffers, then Dave can turn round and say “look what we saved you all from, we’ll only do a little bit of it”. Still end up shafted for the demands of business at the expense of their employees, who become less enabled to challenge anything.

Only 60 days to go, yeah! List seems a bit unremarkable. I want another wooden tankard from provenance coopering. the doggie doo game looks fun but can’t see it keeping interest, and the doo itself llooks to be playdoh stuff which I reckon would go hard and get dusty and hairy pretty quick, like the real thing eh. Best get them a puppy and play for real.

Freeride_frankie, is that a bear cub? Will it end up huge?

Would the M&S policy (and domestic insurance in general) not be on the basis that the insurance is for a home, not a business? As soon as a business starts being run from home, I’d imagine insurance requirements would be different (could be wrong though) especially for public liability. As suggested NCMA should be able to provide advice, or ask other local childminders who they get cover from?

Now there’s a nice lapdog.

Bubbles a year and a half, she’s previously wanted to dig him up to see the skeleton then put him right back again.

Puss only been under a couple of months, don’t think that’d be pretty.

I’ve always found stuffed animals way way creepy, especially pets set in poses (not against anyone else doing it though)

and a sneaky edit from roper there, got us on the refresh! no.2 isn’t so keen on them

Rather poignant one from slugwash up there at the top! Just explained to No.2 who’s now through her room bubbling and wanting to dig up bubbles and puss.

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Sprocket, border-jack russell cross, not the brightest but he’s a happy chappy, especially when he gets to go to the beach

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Evangeline

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Evangeline pondering the existence of Rhino, who would happily take her on

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Sally, only 5 months old, and refusing to give up the cuttlefish bone

During pedal for scotland a few years back. No food/snacks left at the first food stop (Drumpellier park) and me, wife and no.1 daughter (10 at time) were starving so seemed a logical decision. Happy meals all round, yay! Must have been in Coatbridge I think, and had to cycle through the drive thru as inside was being refurbed or something.

03 Zafira here; taken us on some good adventures over the last 4 years, but won’t buy vauxhall again. Same things gone awry with the zafira as went wrong with the astra it replaced – engine management light regularly popping on, heating/air woeful especially to the back, buttons on key knackered so having to resort to old style unlock with key in door. Rear wiper arm needed replaced which was a nightmare, old bit seized on. A big list of niggly things like that. Dread MOT and service time. Tax on it is 134 for 6 months and 240 or something for the year. Fair guzzles the fuel, 400 miles or so to the tank on motorway journeys down to around 250 to 280 round town, and that’s around 60 quid to fill up.

Also bear in mind some MBLA tutors may not have courses scheduled but if you contacted them may have places going on a closed course, or may have others wanting to do a course and just waiting to reach a certain number or may arrange something additional to what dates they may have advertised

For MBLA it’s twenty logged rides before training course then an additional 10 logged rides over a minimum 30 days in the consolidation period between training and assessment. Gives a flavour of what kind of riding and experience a candidate has and not just signing up for a course having done very little off road riding before.

MBLA (and CTC I believe too) give access to GoMTB awards and in scotland at least, leaders with a TCL can do a conversion course to deliver bikeability which is the same national standards across the country.

Ooh el_boufadour, that’s good! It’s like Lost for the kiddies and not half as frustrating.

I should maybe stop watching so much kids telly! It raises too many questions.

Saw this one today about a fox who travels the world with his special friend meeting people from other lands, now that was truly bizarre.

and there’s the question of the size difference between the ninky nonk and the characters who can go inside it, despite it seemingly being too small for them – apparently this doesn’t matter as a child’s mind won’t question it!

Never mind the kids, it’s the haahoos I find strangely sinister – slowly bouncing through the trees with big maniacal grins, that’s not natural I tells ya

… and does it all really just happen in Iggle Piggle’s head as a dream, and so the garden isn’t real at all. A rather poignant and sad thought I think – he sails about all day on his little boat and retreats into his dreams at night, truly adrift and alone.

EDIT: Upsy daisy sleeps on a magic mobile bed surely? We may have the toy somewhere.

“Gone up to the stars now” which doesn’t need to have religious connotations, after all, we all came from stars. Have you both read any of the Mog books? Get “Goodbye Mog”, it’s good, show’s Mog as a spirit that hangs about while the family gets a new kitten, and when Mog’s happy the kitten has learned to be with the family it goes up to the stars. It’s bloomin traumatic though. We had just read it to our 4 year old not long before the cat had to be put to sleep – she took it better than us really and has a pretty good understanding of things.

Positive poo reinforcement, don’t use negative words. Praise the poo and pee, take photos if needs be, and make a big deal out of it when successful – that’s a daddy poo! If they’re old enough let them carry the potty through to tip in the toilet and make a big deal of saying goodbye to the poo or pee then everyone wash hands. Great fun!

Some homebrew imperial stout. Halfway through and safe to say i’m guttered, it’s bout 8.5 or 9%. Got some sloe gin in the bottle earlier. Oh crikey, hang on, the room just went a spin, i’ll maybe not have a second bottle

We did a marathon a few years back as a goal for my wife to train towards after having No.2 daughter. I have to say it wasn’t fun at all training for it, possibly because of the amount required. However, getting to the point where being able to run for an hour non-stop was a breakthrough for me. It still wasn’t hugely enjoyable though. Listening to music made a big difference, and having a variety of routes planned out to try. A friend swears by listening to podcasts or ebooks to make it bearable.

I did think about starting running again, though when walking the dog I happened to pass a 10k run – not a single smile among them, and several men making “hhhhaaaaarrrrrgggghhh ….. hhhhaaaaarrrrrgggghhh ….. hhhhaaaaarrrrrgggghhh …… hhhhaaaaarrrrrgggghhh …..” noises. I decided there and then against it.

You could have still taken them with you for the half hour to sort out the booking and given them both some chocolate beforehand – I’m sure they’d have been happy to let them play for free after 5 minutes in the office/reception area.

I opt for an old inner tube and cable ties though might be slightly bulkier than tape.