I remember and loved The Water Margin and Monkey :-)

I think exposure to the ‘real world’ is important.

He has plenty of time for that. In fact Uni can be the first stage of being independent on the journey to the real world.

Who do you know in Val ? , I did a season there in 2008-2009

I fly to Val on Friday :-)

Where are you staying ?

Just spoke to a couple of mates who live there and they said the snow is epic.

If your thinking of somewhere like Val D’Isere These are good

http://www.simplyvaldisere.com/

I really love mine. I have a Touch downstairs and a Duet upstairs.

Use the spotify an iPlayer apps and it works really well. Would like a boom for the kitchen too.

I have tried to get one but they seem to be like plumbers and have more work than they need.

I have phoned 3 and they were meant to get back to me and have failed to do it.

It won’t work because the 3A is the max current the power supply can provide, not what it is providing all the time. When its not doing anything the current will fall as will the voltage drop across your resistor leading to more than 5V being delivered to your squeezebox.

How about a 12V battery pack and using a car to usb charger. This should have a regulated 5V output. Should be able to pick one up for a couple of quid.

FD the rebound from the ski is how I feel when I ski on piste. The ski almost tells me its loaded up and its time to turn. I love that feeling of being popped into the next turn with the energy in the ski.

I find it harder to get that feeling off piste, it does come sometimes.

Are you teaching anywhere this year ?

Edited to ask what sort of width stance would you suggest when off piste ?

On piste I tend to be hip width, rather than old school ankles welded together. I have been trying to narrow my stance off piste is this correct ?

You used to ski very badly then, as it has always been possible to carve skis and you can only do that keeping them on the ground. You are also using the wrong technique off piste today, unless your talking about skiing slopes 50 degrees or so plus…

You do have a way with words FD :-)

But you are right basically these days if you put a modern ski on its edge and stand on it, it will turn. You don’t really need to drive the ski so hard into reverse camber to make the ski form an arc, the sidecut provides the arc.

Edited to add

But this is a good thing as more people can have fun :-)

I have a BCA tracker and its dead easy to use. Though its not that great with multiple burials.

But for finding a single target its simple to use and very quick..

haha I had a powder blue Nevica jacket when I was about 14 :-)

I loved it, it was well cool at the time :-)

See my comment about about technique… or lack of it If you ski right in powder it requires a lot less effort than skiing on piste whether on a pair of old style skis or supper fat modern skis.

Interestingly I can ski virgin really nice light powder effortless on my piste skis. Its later in the season when it wetter and heavier I struggle more. I also find it harder when its cut up.

I ski with a fairly wide stance normally too which I know is not ideal for bumps and powder, but it does work well on ice and hard pack :-)

I do love it though :-)

See my comment about about technique… or lack of it If you ski right in powder it requires a lot less effort than skiing on piste whether on a pair of old style skis or supper fat modern skis.

All I know is I have more fun on the Lines and to me that what matters. I know I am never going to be a great skier, so it does not bother me any more.

I did a season a couple of years back and did over 100days on the mountain. So I know that I am not going to get that much better or I already would have, so will take all the help I can get :-)

My big fat powder skis are a lot more fun than skinny skis off piste IMHO. They also make it a lot physically easier as they have so much more float. They are not too shabby on hard pack either. Much better than say Pocket Rockets of old. They are slower edge to edge but they are not like a limp lettuce and have some pop unlike older powder skis.

Edited to add

I only actually got about 4 days on them last season. Hoping to get more when I head out on Friday. Me and some mates have a guide for a few days too so with all this snow should be a lot of fun.

Do you ski a lot off piste ?

Most “all mountain” will be about 10mm-12mm wider under foot than those.

That said my Powder skis are 115mm under foot and are a lot of fun off piste (Lne sir Francis Bacons). But if I am bombing around on piste I prefer my K2 Apache Recons which are 78mm under foot (and getting on a bit now)

I have used an OptiMate for years and never had any issues.

Donner Kebabs

I feel dirty after eating one :-)

“a procedure for this”
I love that mentality.

Care to elaborate ?

EDIT – we’ve been over this ad nauseum already so unless its a revolutionary idea not posted above already, then i dont think there is anything else he could have done.

I told you what I thought he should have done. It really did not matter that much if BTP were at the next stop, he would have been on CCTV and he should have been pursued this way.

I have to assume that ScotRail have a procedure for this and I am guessing it does not involve help from a member of the public.

I think he worried too much about him “getting away with it” so much so he forgot about the safety and service to the paying customers on the train.

The bottom line is that he did what he felt was right at the time. We’ll see whether he was right or wrong to do that in the eyes of the law.

i don’t think there is much doubt though that no pay was in the wrong on several counts too, and i find his (constantly changing)version of events particularly distasteful.

Morally FD got what he deserved but and this is a big but this is all with hindsight.

What if the FD had some form of mental illness ?

There is no way the conductor should have said yes to big man intervening. He should have told him that he was dealing with it and not to get involved.

Conductor could not do his job and was out of his depth. Its sad but its the truth of the matter.

try to familiarise yourself with the sources before posting.

I was quite aware of what had been said about this in the past.

It does not matter if the BTP could be there or not, it probably would have been enough to get all but the most idiotic people off the train.

The fare dodger was an low life and the Conductor was crap at his job. This lead to a putting members of the public in an awkward position and it did not need to happen.

Who cares if the little git got away with it, next time he won’t when its possible to call the BTP. Sometimes you have to look at the greater good.

If I was on the train and faced with a 1/2 delay or just getting on with it I would not give a damn if he was done or not I would just want to get home. Which I guess is the position of 90% of the people on the train.

Fare dodger was in the wrong and his behaviour was not acceptable but neither was the Conductor. Standing there shouting “OFF OFF OFF” is not a professionally way to deal with it.

He should have given him the three choices pay, get off or be met by BTP at the next stop.

He will have been on CCTV etc

No one would have been inconvenienced and life would have been good for most of the people on the train.

Now through his actions some member of the public could be facing an assault charge.

Just because some people behave badly does not mean we have to sink to their level.

Just done the same search on kindle for the next 4 books I have to read.

The Road, Cormac Mccarthy, yey yes available £4.32
Scar Tissue, Anthony Kiedis, not available.
The Sportswriter, Richard Ford, not available.
The Real ‘Dad’s Army’: The War Diaries of Col. Rodney Foster by Rodney Foster, not available.

So either my reading habits are weird or a lot of things are not available on Kindle.

I don’t know about you guys but I would not want what I read dictated too by availability.

Catch 22 – 86p on Kindle
Catcher in the Rye – 86p on Kindle
Farenheit 451 – £2.56 on Kindle
Rebecca – 86p on Kindle

Have a closer look at those Molegrips !!! They are reading guides for the books. Either that or I am crap at searching on amazon.

edited to add

If I am wrong can you post the links as I would be interested as I did this exercise before deciding not to buy one.

I like the idea but it has a few flaws for me.

I often share my books with other people once I have finished reading them.

I read in the bath a lot.

eBooks are not that much cheaper than physical ones.

Also availability

Take the last 5 books I have read.

One Hundred Years of Solitude, available but £20.70 I paid under a tenner.

Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier, not available.

Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury, not available.

Catcher in the Rye, J D Salinger, not available

Catch 22, Joseph Heller, Yey available and cheaper

So for me I don’t think it would work that well, if I do take a long break away at some point though I could be tempted at that point as I am not against the technology, though some of the ownership rights issues trouble me.

Anyone used the Seagate Momentus Hybrid drives ?

Best of both worlds ?

http://www.ebuyer.com/222310-seagate-500gb-momentus-xt-2-5-hybrid-ssd-hdd-sata-ii-7200rpm-32mb-cache-st95005620as

Anyone running a custom ROM on their desire HD if so which one and why ?

Juliet

Bear in mind there’s a reason that most day-to-day cars are FWD

Cheaper to manufacture and packaging means you get more cabin space.

The Red DH run at Cwmcarn is also 100% rollable. Lot of fun but still quite knackering if you try to ride it fast.

I have never driven an Atom either but love the looks and the madness of it al.

I have a friend who is a suspension expert and he reckons there are some issues the design of the Atom. That said though there is with Westfields and Caterham’s

If I was going to go for a track biased Westfield again I would go for a fairly bog standard Megablade Chassis with an R1 engine fitted. Not as expensive as my old car ended up and with 95% of the fun for 505 of the cost.

When Jnr FD is older and I have a decent garage, I think a nice weekend Caterham/Westfield/Atom may have to be purchased…

Have you had one before ?

For pure driving pleasure I don’t think you can better a Seven of some description.

I tried a Radical SR3 and it was just too good, where the 7 is your friend and encourages you the SR3 just laughs and says is that all that you have :-) I decided it would demand so much of me as a driver to get a thrill out of it, I kept the Westifield.

Well why didn’t you just set it up more for the road?

Because I was doing about 15 trackdays a year and that’s what I built it for and didn’t want to compromise it. Totally mental on track so much fun :-)

Bazzer – All cars tuck in if you lift off its just physics, always have done always will do. I was refer to RWD chassis that don’t understeer on the limit.

Very few do this though these days and its common practice to set RWD race cars up to do this as it makes it easier to drive them on the limit. This does not mean you can’t provoke a bit of oversteer with your right foot :-)

What I was trying to say was gone are the days that lifting totally off the gas mid bend will give you big lift off oversteer, like early Elise’s, 911’s and older BMW’s etc. Obviously there will be exceptions at the extremes but 99% of cars are pretty idiot proof these days.

What do you drive FunkyDunc ?

I must admit I am a fan of RWD cars but I would not rule out some of the really modern FWD stuff.

The Clio Cup car momo mentions as well as the Megane look to be awesome cars.

Question momo have they not just bolted on suspension suited for a race track and thus make them not so much fun on the road. Running all the negative camber does that not make it a bit nervous on the road ?

I had a Westfield with a turbo busa engine in it and I loved it on track and it made so much sense on track. But it was truly terrible on the road and didnt really enjoy driving it as it followed all the cambers etc and was really nervous due to the amount of -ve camber I was running. Great at turning in on track though :-)

Never said they were not easy to drive, they are just dull…. the only way you have fun in them is left foot braking or lift oversteer.

Neither did I and you can’t left foot brake in VAG cars as they cut the power so making them even more dull :-)

Nope not decent RWD chassis

Like what ? Even the latest Elsie will tend to tighten its line if you lift off. I agree an old Mk2 MR2 or such like won’t like you lifting off mid bend but you will get away with it on anything modern. All modern BMW’s are set up like this.

I am currently looking for a Z4M Couple but I want one in Blue with black leather and as there are only about 500 in the country its proving hard :-)

Edit to add

Just saw your post stilltortoise and to be honest the Elise wast the only car I could think of that was remotely still like this, but the later cars with narrower front tyres are a lot more forgiving, they also softened the rear suspension to make them easier to drive.

Which Elise did you have and what did you do ?

I do worry about some of the things I read on hear about driving.

Modern FWD hatches are pretty darn easy to drive. Its not like the good old days of 305’s with big lift off oversteer.

Pretty much any car built in the last 10 years will understeer at the limit and tuck in if you lift off a bit. This includes rear wheel drive cars. They design them so if you panic you don’t crash. You have to make a gross error to loose control of a modern car, they practically drive themselves.

Anything modern will be dead easy to drive to be honest.

MR2 Mk2. Non-turbo if you feel you need to maintain at least the impression of trying to be sensible, turbo if you want to drive a balls-out fast car.

Cheap as chips, not too expensive to run, easy as pie to fix if anything goes wrong (which isn’t very often), and will scare you on a regular enough basis to make you think twice before doing something really silly in it. The boot’s big enough for a fair amount of luggage/shopping, and you can get a bike in the passenger side and/or two on a rack on the back.

And have never been known to exit a wet roundabout backwards :-)