I wasn't, as Mrs BC had the slightly lower paid job at the time and we were committed to being a parent-stay-at-home family. Inspiring and encouraging to hear the stories on here of people who have invested in their kids and enjoyed it. Mrs BC had times that were tough, but had a lot of fun and satisfaction from being a stay at home Mum. Unquestionably she has done an awesome job with 2 kids that I am immensely proud of. My regret about being a working dad is that I feel I didn't invest as much time as I should have in their early years and sometimes wish I had done more with them (spend more time reading with them and just doing stuff).
Fair play to you for considering being a stay at home dad and with the right attitude it should be a hugely rewarding and inspiring thing.

Those that seem to think the Tories will cock up the economy seem a little confused to me. The economy is already well and truly cocked. We are broke. It is difficult to see how we could be in any worse state – unless Labour manage to get in and have another go at finishing it off. The levels of national debt and borrowing are staggering. Mervyn King is probably not far wrong in that whoever gets in will have to make pretty savage cuts somewhere and will not be popular. It ain't gonna be pretty for the next few years – whoever wins.

Given some of the recent threads on here recently it is a pleasant to see some of the more positive side of people coming out in this one. :-) The thing is, going back to the OP, I would imagine most people think lots of things. One part will probably be an observation on the size or otherwise of the person (along with associated thoughts of "Wayhay, what a porker", followed by "glad I'm not that size" followed by "Motivation to make sure I don't get that size" and then "wonder how much grief the frame / brakes / bottom bracket is getting"). One part will be the typical humour side of things and general fattist thoughts. One part will a look at the bike and what it is you are riding (surprised at the lack of general Marin comments on this thread – how things have changed!)And one part will be admiration for committing to getting out and doing something that you clearly enjoy and wishing you all the best in doing it.

Out loud, and to your face, you will get a genuine and friendly, "Hi" or "morning / afternoon". If it gets a friendly response back and we are at a pause then probably quite happily have a chat about where you are riding, how it's going, how's the bike etc.

The thing with our society is that almost whoever and whatever you are there will be someone who will have a negative comment to make about you. So what. Make sure you are happy and comfortable with who you are and it becomes quite easy to ignore them. Having friends also helps. :-)

Anyway, in a non patronising way, good for you and well done for sticking with it. Clearly you have the motivation to continue doing it because it serves a purpose in your goal of losing some weight, but that you also enjoy it. Sooooo much easier to work on fitness and weight loss activities when you actually enjoy them.

The place is riddled with runs and trails although I have yet to find a map that covers them particularly well. (I have an oldish ppt based map that has a load of the trails on but it's not that brilliant). Am taking a group of less experienced riders out on saturday morning for a few hours. For some of the fun you can, to a degree, just follow your nose. Seagull is a nice ride which can lead into Stickler and tank traps. Cycle up the fire track to get to Sandy Cutting (the gully where the kids do a lot of their jumping about) and then cut across to Surrey Hill. That section between the Reservoir and Surry Hill is full of trails and runs and you could probably spend many a happy hour zipping down them and slogging back up the hill for another go.

Surely anything that helps you to fart is a good thing, no? :D

Sadly I do not fall into the category of people who were paying 83% tax and nor do I fall into the category of people who will be paying the new higher tax rate that Labour have introduced. I don't think I have mny knickers in a twist over the issue though. :? And I can appreciate that you would rather have had the choice BM of whatever carrer you wanted as an alternative to being pushed into it. I guess my point was we will never know what choices we would have had if Labour had remained in power. There may well have been different issues that came along under a different government that would have taken your right to choose away or forced you into doing something different.

Enlightened use of the word scum to describe Mrs T. Well done. Fine discoursive style. Not that I am a Cameron devotee but I think the idea that he is only "out for the rich" is not the most balanced view of Tory policies. To be honest I am still entirely sure which way I will vote. Each of the main parties has some policies of note that resonate with me. However, and this will be no big surprise based on some of my previous postings, I will not be voting for Labour. I do not respect Gordon Brown and the way he mangled the nations finances under his reign of "prudence" (I think the perfect gift for him would be a dictionary) and I think he is rather too desperate to hold onto power at the expense of any credibility, amongst other things. However, I see no need to lable him scum, or to eagerly await his demise so I can have a party to celebrate.

Mitch – fair enough. I can't even begin to imagine what it must have felt like or what it was like in the community. However, what we don't have is the luxury of experiencing what life might have been like if those changes were not implemented. What if the Unions had been allowed to continue unchecked? What if Labour had remained in power in 79? Could the country have been in an even bigger mess and more polarised? Would we still have a top tax rate of 83%? Who knows? One thing we do know is that whoever wins the next election they will be on a hiding to nothing for a long time as we try to recover from the staggering levels of debt we find ourselves in and the legacy of the financial profligacy of the last 13 years with an empty financial cupboard (according to the current Chancelor).

I'm old enough to remember what life in the 80s was like and it seems to vary from others. I remember this country being in a complete and total state after a supposedly enlightened Labour government. Unions were rampant and showing little regard for anything other than flexing their muscle and holding businesses to ransom. We needed to change and to move on. If Thatch (or is that Fatch?) as I believe she is affectionately known and the Tories hadn't come in I dread to think what state we would be in today as a nation. Do I believe they did everything right? Of course not. Did they make mistakes? Certainly. However, governments don't make people greedy or selfish (hello victim thinking or a refusal to accept that you have a personal responsibility for your life). That's what some people are like. So much hatred and vitriol from people against Thatcher and her govenment of the time seems to me to be rather disturbing as well as being quite pointless. Sure, I was not part of a mining community, and don't know what it was like to live in those communities, but I like to think there is a more balanced and realistic view of the times than we see covered here.

There is a PVR that does freeview HD that has just been released. Check out a company called 3view. Reasonable price and some nice features including taking the HD version of a programme in preference to the SD version. Quite tempted myself…. 500GB hard disk as well, although they do not provide a supported way to copy recorded content off the device.

Unfortunately every job has its stresses and dull bits – it's just that when you find a job you really like at a company where you feel some semblence of value then the stressy / dull bits become easier to deal with. Just like the rest of life really.

You can be happy in a job through the people you are working with and the general atmosphere but you may not necessarily be fulfilled. I would say those are the sorts of jobs where you will eventually feel like you have had anough and want to try something different. Ideally you need to have an idea of what you like doing, what you are good at and what you think you can be comfortable doing. Probably needs to be fairly realistic if you want to get a job though (all fine and well enjoying space and astronomy and deciding you want to be an astro physicist working on pioneering space exploration projects but these jobs are not exactly abundant). Once you know that then you can look at what the opportunities are to get into that field and whether there are any training courses / development opportunities to help you get there.

So what exactly is it that all you die hard anti IE chaps are doing? Failed renderings, issues, problems? Been using IE and have never experienced any of these issues that seem to so cripple all of you. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. :?

But if you are happy using IE then choose it from the menu and continue to use it. You don't have to change browser if you don't want to.

Ask them how 1.2m JWs (approx.) are going to argue the toss over the 144,000 available places in their paradise.

That's why they go door knocking etc. It's part of the "how many good works" can you do during your life that will move you up the pecking order to hopefully make it into the privileged 144,000.

I think you will find there are more than 144,000 places in their heaven, but there is a greater privilege for the top 144,000 hence the enthusiasm to try and make it.

Now for those that do like their religious fairy stories, this is a good one to look at.

Wow – are we hearing this correctly? There's something a Mac can't do? I'm stunned. My world has just fallen apart….. :lol:

I fart in your general direction….

Slumdog Millionaire (not a traditional feelgood film but still a great film)
Oceans 11 (Light, frothy but quite watchable and thoroughly entertaining)
Ghost town (Rather funny)
Robots (Clever ideas and funny)
The Holiday (Was "forced" to watch it recently and surprisingly found it quite amusing and entertaining)
The Bourne Trilogy
Pretty much any Bond film
Shrek
Shawshank Redemption
….. and loads more

What I thought was amusing (and frustratingly sad at the same time) was earnest Alastair trying to score political points off Osborne about where the money was going to come from to fund the "tax cuts" when the financial cupboard is bare and there isn't a penny spare. And no one thought to ask the obvious question to the chancellor about why the cupboard was bare and where all that lovely money has gone?

Agree with other posters that Cable came across quite well but then I suppose he could also afford to be a bit more honest than the others as he will not actually have to make good on anything he proposes to do. Although I suspect the full Lib Dem financial proposals are not really very good from the couple of snippets that he mentioned.

Too busy doing a Questars race in the New Forest. Well, the word "race" will be questionable in my case but I shall be having fun. :lol:

lol @ BBB

Mr Woppit – that really is sooo wrong. Not only PJs but wellies as well. The end really would be in sight. :D

It's payback for all the plugs about some event or other last year. :lol:

Letter from acedemics in the Guardian

Wow – look at all them professors and Drs and intelligent people and stuff. Must be an important letter. :lol:

Nothing particularly great and nothing particularly bad – as has bene said by others it's just an age, a (society introduced) milestone along the path of life. The majority of the time I don't think aboiut my age or what it means. I am, though, conscious that I am older and that it does take a little more effort to maintain fitness and to lose the odd pound or so when needed. And that I am no longer as fast as I was when I was younger (running that is – get me in a car though and I could teach me at 21 a thing or two!).

The one interesting thing over the past year or two though is I have a more tangible understanding of what drives people to a "mid life crisis".

44 and counting…

I have powerful memories of the savage govt of the 80s that achieved a massive redistribution from poor to rich

Hmmm, l too have many memories of the 80s and I see it a different way. There were definitely some things that were not great but considering the awful state the country was in coming out of the 70s drastic actionw as needed. Funnily enough much of the groundwork laid in the 80s and early 90s yielded the fruit that nulab attempted to claim the credit for and subsequently squandered and frittered away.

and the police kicking 10 types of sh*te out of anyone who protested

And of course that's all different now is it?

All the rumblings and threats of strike action at the moment seems to be a kick back to 70s style union activism and is not a good direction to be heading in.

To be honest though I can't see there being too much difference between any of the parties if they were to win the election. We have become a very middle ground country politically and no party is going to want to move any great distance from the centre. On past performance you can expect the Tories to curb spending more dramatically than Labour and it will be the public servants that will take the biggest fall. However, so much of the public sector is ineffective, inefficient and overstaffed that it will be an easy target. Whoever gets in we are in for a tough few years and it won't be a bundle of laughs. 8O

Microsoft Security EssentialsAnd if you are using a Windows based computer there is no harm in installing the MS Security Essentials. Free and generally pretty unintrusive.

The way things are there is no guarantee that the Tories will win the next election. There is increasing speculation that there will be a hung parliament which may not help anyone. Or it may turn out to be a surprisingly beneficial thing. As long as Brown goes I will feel there is some sense of justice in politics. :-)

I am not sure that the next government have to keep all budget commitments for a minimum period of time before changing them. The glumness may have been that they feel the stamp duty idea was one of their own and has just been nicked.

Why would you continue to offer a perk to staff that have undermined the viability of your business? They were warned and still went on strike. No point bleating about it now. Unite, to me, seem to have lost any semblence of grip on reality over this dispute and have not done themselves any favours at all. Willie Walsh is being strong and firm about what the business needs to continue to run and be profitable thus keeping jobs and paying staff. Unite don't like it, get stampy feet and appear to take it personally and escalate the dispute. Because it is now personal they have lost sight of the damage their action is doing to BA and that while they may ultimately win a battle, the cost may turn out to be BA and they will have succeeded in not protecting anything for their members. Of course, Unite man will still have his job at the end of it, so he's all right jack. Numbnuts!

But is that based on them as a manufacturer rather than the brand? Knowing that both make bikes / frames that get sold with other "brand" names on them it might not necessarily see them at the top of the brand charts. It would be interesting to know and also where to find the figures.

We have a continual vicious hatred of anyone to the left of Attila the Hun

I nominate this as exaggeration of the day. Do I win £5? Mind you, plenty of time left for the STW faithful to rival it. :lol:

I think the STW masses are not that right leaning – lt's just that the left leaning members cannot tolerate / accept a political view that differs from theirs if it is slightly to the right.

Have I missed the thread on the BA dispute yet?

It is actually science and stuff hence the 5 a day for veg rather than the 5 burgers or bacon butties a day diet being promoted for health reasons.

I am aware that there is some science and stuff involved in all of this. But that campaign is not about only having 5 a day but that your daily balanced diet should include 5 portions of fruit and veg. I completely agree that a diet that comprises 5 portions of burgers, chips and pies is not going to be a healthy one.

I was only offering a general observation abot the topics that often come up when discussing the relative merits of being a veggie. And personally, I believe it is hokum to argue that a strictly vegetarian diet is healthier for me. While I cannot find the links (no time to search and I'm not bothered enough about it to do it) there have also been studies that show there are plenty of benefits to including meat in your diet. I would agree with you that we probably eat too much of it but would reject the notion of leaving it out altogether.

And I still haven't had that bacon sarnie!

It's a bit of a nonsense really to talk generally about veggies being healthy and the implication that the meat eaters aren't. End of the day it is about eating a balanced diet. Seen plenty of veggies who were skinny, anaemic and generally lifeless. Hardly a picture of healthy living. Like most things isn't it – people have a choice and are free to exercise that choice. When it comes to eating meat or not, respect my choice to eat it and don't force me to comply with your ideals and preferences especially with hokum such as it being healthier for me.

Now, where's that bacon sarnie gone…. :-)

Reading Julians blog made me think he probably pops up on here from time to time. :lol:

He certainly does come across as a bit of a cock and a failure to appreciate what other people do. Not having spoken to MB I don't know he can even begin to understand exactly what MB was doing and why. And is what MB did such a bad thing? I don't get the stance that because he was sponsored it wasn't in any way at all an adventure. What a cock!

Anyway, I am sure MB would be quite interesting to listen to if he talks of some of what he saw and experienced. I think he did a documentary on it as well which aired a while back. Was interesting to watch although lacked something to really draw you in to the sense of adventure.

In the same way that a Skoda and VW are the roughly the same. As far as I can recall the Darts have smaller upper tubes than the Tora as well as slightly lower quality components. Personally I would go for the Tora every time – worth the few extra quid for the better quality.

I rather like GT – although to be fair it is the only one of the 7Stanes that I have ridden. I like the way they are set up though with the "skills" areas and the mini bike park. Very pleasant riding although I would say the GT red is not especially demanding technically – the hills will make you sweat a bit getting up them though.

I like the url for lapierre bikes under the Trek Fuel EX 9.8 picture. I can imagine that will go down well at Trek. :lol:

Not too old. Vindictive old hag gave nonsense advice – somewhat surprisingly.

I would suggest that as you are right handed you will almost certainly be a right handed guitar player.

I would say B flat at the first fret is one of the hardest chords for a new player although that is quite clearly not an open chord either.

It was so long ago I can't remember! The answer really depends on what you want to do with the guitar. Just a casual, lerning for pleasure type thing or grand plans to be a performer?

In general, my advice would be to learn the basic chords and practice changing between them. If you can find contemporary songs that you like, that are easy to play then this is better as it keeps you interested and gives you a sense of achievement. Something like smoke on the water is going to sound pretty gash without bar chords and bar chords are not really the first thing a beginner should be learning IMHO. Start with the basic open major chords (G, C, D, E, A), open minor chords (Em, Am, Dm etc) and see how quickly you get the hang of them. Don't neglect right hand technique either (oo err) and develop the ability to strum without a plectrum, strum with a plectrum and finger pick. As you progress you will then move up to bar chords and power chords but by then your technique will be at a point where you will be able to execute them better.
Don't under estimate how sore your fingers will be initially as they get used to holding down strings and, as you are just beginning, work hard to make sure you don't fret the strings too heavily as it then becomes a difficult habit to break.

And enjoy it. It's a great instrument! :lol:

I like that last one Lifer. Simple and childish but made me laugh out loud. :lol:

Joshua Tree for me. Early stuff was good and raw but lacked some of the melody that I like in music I listen to. Joshua Tree for me managed to blend the two together into a classic album. On the whole they seem to have disappeared up a rather dark and self indulgant hole since then although parts of "All that you can't.." were hints of a return to form. Not heard the most recent one to have an opinion on it.