My mates just built this one up

Best advice I can give regardless of route is get on the M60, and preferably off it by 7.15-7.30 at the latest.

I frequently commute into the North West from Leeds and 2+hours to get into central Manchester is not unknown and it’s getting noticeably worse.

If its a long term thing just suck it up and enjoy the early starts, better at the office an hour early having a cuppa and browsing the web than sat in the M60 carpark.

I think £100 is cheap; you’d struggle to find a nice student house in Leeds for that plus you’re giving them all the extra conveniences.

I appreciate the argument that they need to be able to save for their own place but how do they think we afforded them holidays/play stations etc as teenagers, by sacrificing things, best they learn that’s how things come about sooner rather than later.

Assuming food /electric/likely washing and iron are included then 1/3 of his take home pay, it’s what my folks charged me 20 years ago.

Sheck, drop Ian at Wildcat a line, its pretty much his backgarden so he’d be the man to ask.

Similar approach to Ton from me.

It passes around 200 yards from our house so head up with the kids, fight to get a big green foam finger and a coca cola key ring, then back home for telly and beer/bbq.

DD, I think we’ve all known that lad, best we can do us make sure our kids know better and do step in where needed.

Sub 10 years old, I was told I couldn’t have a hamster until my goldfish died so I poured some bleach in its tank.

The hamster turned out to be vicious, frequently drew blood and was no fun at all.

Currently getting 51mpg from a Focus 1.6 TDi Eco, around 90% motorway miles.

I had it up to 57mpg at one point but that was driving very carefully, I could possibly improve it but I constantly forget to use the stop/start thing.

Has it been covered for the last 3 days and the dressing not removed?

It just looks like it’s starting to macerate to me (prolonged exposure to moisture/dressing not breathable enough).

With infection it would be red, swollen, angry; a deep wound is going to throb but there’s a good chance the smell is due to the sweaty wet skin.

Keep it exposed to air for a good few hours or very lightly dress it and see if the skin reperfuses a bit.

Edit- the swelling around the joint, how tight has the dressing been?

Nice :D

Rorschach, what tires then? I’m going Ardents front and rear , I’ve got some Specialized Renegades that are super fast but a bit fragile for out in the wilds.

Current confirmed entries are here

http://www.wildcatgear.co.uk/wildcat-grr-avel-100-two-ton-entry-update/

My friend lost his wife very suddenly this year, 3 weeks after the birth of their second child, we’re still in shock to honest and talking to him yesterday was heartbreaking :cry:

Entered and posted details on the Here Come the Belgians Facebook page and my Leeds road club, you fill it no problem nixxl :D

Most of the stuff I found on th’web seemed to suggest 42:18 was the standard but that seems pretty high to me.

I’ve run 39:17 and 42:21 at times, no science to those choice more what had lying around, issue I’ve found is the balance between not spinning out on the flat versus deep mud and hills.

I’m looking at a pair of these

http://www.wheelsmith.co.uk/race24

Poor bloke, the pictures don’t make good viewing and as for the people taking pictures of 2 men burning alive and then selling them to the media I’m pretty much lost for words.

I wouldn’t condone that but I struggle to understand how we’ve reached a point where mothers offer up their own kids for abuse

I know Mike, emotions run high with things like this.

She hasn’t really thought about the consequences regarding the kids has she, however, it irks me to some degree that these women are shielded because of this, they deserve the same shame and lifelong fear that he is going to have.

Edit- the issue with Twitter is it lets us see the brainfarts of people that really shouldn’t be accessing something with such a wide reaching audience. Also who the #uck would follow Peaches Geldof?

I’ve had it in the past and really liked it, it’s pricey though for perfume.

It’s the only men’s perfume I’ve known smell completely different someone else though, my brother in law popped some on and it did smell like Bigfoots dick on him

So far the Ronde Van Calderdale and Ten under Ben, likely some Super Randonneur Audaxes as well

El_boufador, is the kitchen in yet at your place? We’ve got a bit slack on night rides recently

Fazenda gets great reviews, never been myself but lots of friends rate it including folk who work in the trade; nice meat, cooked at the table including unusual cuts like chicken hearts (very tasty apparently). It’s on my wifes list of places I’m going spend money apparently.

FunkyDunc, what happened at the Box Tree that you didn’t like? I’m not a regular by any means (wife’s birthday/anniversary) but it’s always been wonderful when we’ve been, only place I’ve experienced that was better was Bibendium in London.

DJ, the thing about fine dining in Leeds is we all head out to the Box Tree for that, it would save you taxi money as well

Lots of people rate Gaucho on Park Row, are you after a fine dining/dining room affair or a ‘nice’ restaurant?

Got two boys just same, 5am isn’t as common as it was but 06.10am on the dot, 7 days a week.

They’ve got a clock and don’t come out before then but you can here them talking earlier; even at grandparents without a clock it’s still ten past six.

As has been said, you need to adapt as body clocks are body clocks, I’m writing this in bed on my ipad, lights out at 10pm.

I won’t say the majority as some will be along soon enough to say they get it 7 times a night

The OP could be living on the moon as far as I’m concerned. I’ve been married 19 years and our intimate life is as good (and as frequent) as ever.

It didn’t take long

DrJ, think you’ll find a large number of married men (I won’t say the majority as some will be along soon enough to say they get it 7 times a night) will have a similar story.

Things change in life, kids bring a tiredness that you just get used to, working long hours, lack of time with just each other all combine to create a scenario that soon becomes the norm.

My wife gives me the low down on all her girly nights out and apparently at twice a month I’m top of the class, several men in FreddyGs situation.

Why do you think we all hang out here and bicker and moan all day :-)

Junkyard, we simply must travel together, we’d have a ball :D

I’m signing off on this one as its obvious some of us just have a very different take on life.

Molgrips and Njee, given I say I can only find humour and go on to assure them it’s not a wind up I would think it was clear that all the preceding words had an element of jest to them.

I obviously underestimated peoples sensitivities.

Molgrips, I genuinely think there’s nothing wrong with the email, I basically highlight that dirty toilets, poor service and scruffy uninterested staff don’t cut the mustard and I did it in a relatively light hearted fashion, senses of humours aside, I don’t see the issue with it.

If I don’t get a reply I don’t really care, it passed the time on the journey, I’d like to think that whoever read at CrossCountry saw the humour in it and isn’t as dour as the folk on here and you never know, someone might actually read and think “hey, it’s not cool, we’re selling a premium product and it’s not living up to what we say it will be, let’s up our game”.

Depends on the ‘hostess’ iolo

Darkside, I used the term hostess in quotation marks because it’s the term CrossCountry use on their website, which I visited before emailing them, when they describe their First Class carriage.

I used it loosely because, in my eyes, it’s a word that conjures up images of service and efficiency, both of which were absent.

While I’m sure some of you are trolling me there are a number that seem to think this is perfectly fine and I should stop making a fuss; regardless of if I or my company paid for the ticket, if you got free holiday and the restaurant never had food and the pool was cold and filthy would you just walk away at the end and say “well, it was free”? I think not.

Am I not making myself clear? the picture IS NOT the first class toilet that was out of order, it is the one that was open for public use, as I clearly stated before you commented.

You mention brain cells Iolo, use them to read and digest things before you post.

Bigjim, the photo is of the functioning toilet, not the out of order one.

Twoniner, the situation with the guard is an inherent part of the situation.

If someone who is paid to do a public facing job, in what is meant to be a premium service, and they look like a tramp, fail to inform us as to why there is an absence of things we paid to receive, then spends his time sat on a floor forcing passengers to visit him to get answers and doesn’t once come out to say “sorry but…”, then it’s an issue.

If you think that’s acceptable than you set your bar pretty low.

Just an automatic reply so far, if it goes anywhere I’ll let you know.