I was also a necrophiliac until some rotten **** split on me.

I can barely believe the sizing chart

It’s down to attitudes towards people unknown to you. There are so many alienated, aggressive types out there with their loud exhaust pipes and music and f-you ways of driving it drives me nuts. However I did once pull a guy out of a car who was driving in that fashion on my tail in Australia and used my sharp right hand and his windscreen on his head and have never regretted it to this day. That gave him something to think about when he got up.

Is it a pile driver perchance?

I had some dealings with Jeremy Corbyn when I lived in Islington and I discovered he used to channel a significant portion of his salary into the local party. As far as they go, I thought he was pretty straight (joke). No, what I mean is he was a good bloke.

Problem with getting gypsies to murder a tree or murder a person is that then they could blackmail you into paying them a rent for a very long time. I hear they’ve developed a key that will get past most 5 bar locks. It’s called a pi-key. Boom boom!

Brilliant! I’m off to the lbs to check out size and fit.

Blimey, thank you so much. I shall start packing!

I love teaching and have done it since 1979. Taught in some rough schools in London and Australia but they help sharpen your skills. Overall pay package is mid 40s and hours of work are incredibly variable (I left work at 10 past 9 last night) so it’s not a good job if you’re a clock watcher. Sadly I’ve seen few success stories of people coming into teaching after a career in industry, it’s a job you either want to do from the outset or else it’s best avoided like the plague.

My kids used to sing along with Fatboy Slim ‘Carol Smiley is naughty, naughty, naughty’

At school we used to sing hymns in praise of the ‘Prince of Piss’ and in fact I think I’ve met him a few times since then.

http://www.thecastleinn.co.uk/

They do b and b, bunkhouse and camping, bike friendly. Really nice friendly couple, good well-priced food and ace beer. Owner has done some stand-up comedy so there’s a fair supply of droll wit coming from the bar. I couldn’t recommend it more highly, have stayed there and am back there in a couple of weeks.

35yrs here. Guardian and the FT produce the best journalism, I imagine Mail readers just don’t get it.

Consider checking out the ‘rockrun’ website as they often do serious reductions on ‘proper’ rock climbing footwear.

With any recession the police flex their muscles, employ more brutal methods and seek to generally intimidate the population to limit the chance of any significant challenges to the system. They also seem to get excellent pay rises during such periods. I wonder if Brown will reward them in the way that Thatcher did.

I’ve introduced a friend to mtb in the last year or so and she is over the moon with the interesting and 4D characters, male and female, she has met and cycled with. If women are put off by certain male attitudes, it’s because they’re pr*cks not because they’re mtbers.
I think a problem with mtb is, like surfing (another male dominated sport), there’s a fairly high entry point of basic competence and fitness. After that, the endorphin rush and shared pleasures are such that you’re likely to like everyone! I feel completely privileged by having cycled with a certain bunch of women in Derbyshire a fortnight ago, long may it continue and more like that please!

Good result but it makes me worry about the safety of future victims of piracy.

Teaching is a career.

Thanks for the advice. We’re elderly rottweilers so we might enjoy the challenge. Thanks for the link, we’ll do one of those as well.

Monet doesn’t buy happiness but Giacometti is as near as damin it.

Word is Mr Glitter’s been living in a village not a million miles from me.

On losing my Whyte Preston in a garage robbery I was advised on here to get up to Sideways and buy one of his Maverick bikes. I’m happy as Larry ever since.

It is very different and Australians are very different. I did a year there and missed decent media but that’s less of an issue now with the internet. At parties, the men and women always seemed to be in different places. You’ll need to work hard to keep off the consequences of all that beer and barbecued meat. Australians are the earliest to bed I think in the world but I’ve been on beaches at 6am and they’re alive with activity. Don’t sell your house here.

2Hottie I could almost take you seriously had you mastered the elementary rules of spelling, punctuation and grammar, not to say imagination and independent thought.

‘It’s not the country….’
I’ve witnessed police brutality on every demonstration I’ve been on since Grosvenor Square in 1969. It’s always been like that, it’s what they’re trained to do.

Brixworth pate
Spratton pork pies
Church’s shoes…..yummee!

Never been impressed by his writing but as a public speaker he is spellbinding, a very bright guy. I suspect that his writing is screwed by his confused politics.

I was lucky enough this weekend to be riding with half a dozen sassy, stylish and very fit women. I wish these journos would do a bit of serious research and present some real-life role models and that might encourage more people to get on their bikes.

£350 on a pair of brogues

Surfing in Croyde or rock climbing on Baggy Point (also Croyde), same sort of thing can be had at Sennen Cove.

I’ve got a few pieces by this guy:http://www.tapfumagutsa.com/sculpture%20gallery.htm
plus an original Quentin Bell
All money well spent and bring a great deal more joy than ‘practical’ items.

Port Douglas is much nicer than Cairns. If you’re in the Brisbane area, Noosa is always worth a trip, the surf is very good and you always see goannas at the picnic area.

‘in certain circles’, ho ho

Eurocamp at Vieux Boucau in SW France. It’s a big site but surprisingly quiet, ask to be placed in the red zone (nearest the sea). This site is very well set up for little kids. Most sites are inland and so involve a drive to the coast plus all the hassle of parking, this site is right on the beach. The surfing’s ok, there are cycling paths to other beaches, villages. There are supermarkets nearby. Despite the distance from the port, it’s actually an easy drive (I would usually take 2 bikes and 2 surfboards on the roof) and you’ve always got a better chance of ace weather down there. I drove my kids down there maybe 15 times and they were always keen to go again.

Well, thank you very much indeed. There’s a good bit there to chase up and explore. The ST massive can always be relied on for excellent inside information from the imbibing flaneurs.

I went to court over noisy neighbours, next door was divided into flats so a living room was next to my bedroom, and won. The owners(the council) had to soundproof the whole side of the house.

danlees and beer

Also in Chorlton you’ve the amazing Barbacan Polish bakery, the prize winning vegetariam supermarket over the road and then the mindblowingly wonderful place The Bar on Wilbraham Road. Why would you want to go anywhere else?

Evidence shows that on average state school teaching is better than that on offer in private schools. The differences in achievement arises from the kids’ backgrounds, you tend to get ‘poor schools’ in poor areas. However there are some really good state schools that take kids from all backgrounds and give them the opportunity to fulfil their potential. I went to a school like that and it produced some real successes in different ways, Stephen Harris (of Iron Maiden) was in my class, Jonathan Ross was a few years behind, another guy there went on to become a history professor, plus it produced a few villains and villeins. In my experience what the top private schools give their alumni is supreme self-confidence, often among people who are too thick to know their own limitations, but it can certainly help people get on.

Can I take this opportunity to flag up Christopher Hitchens’ book ‘God is Not Great’….it gives some very useful and wittily scurrilous arguments for atheism.