TF Tuned are great

Rohan do a good one – a bit more ‘town’ that ‘country’ though perhaps

As above, you could get a uPVC profile to fit that

Can’t help with the card, but have sent cash. I hope the lad gets better soon

I did my Dad’s probate myself – straightforward. (10+ years ago)

When my mum died in 2017, for personal reasons I used a solicitor – what a nightmare. Procrastination/ fees accumulating/ periods of radio silence.

I’d do it yourself if at all possible.

Current proposals are misguided; the rich West might decarbonise, but the developing world won’t – and why would they? Climate change isn’t even in the top 10 of the most pressing issues they face and cheap energy/ ubiquitous electricity would solve most of 1 to 10 .

The only realistic proposal I’ve seen is solar Geo-Engineering. The earth’s temperature drops 1-2degs after a major volcanic eruption. It would cost around $10b PA to replicate the effect, and inject SO2 & particulates into the upper atmosphere. Scary stuff I appreciate.

Deep-Greens would hate that solution, but for them its not really about climate change is it?

In answer to the OP, rich countries will adapt but poor countries will be less able to do so. Rich countries can expect a lot of refugees unless they help poor countries adapt.

We’ve just got to hope that the rate of adaption necessary is something we can cope with.

I have no confidence that the world’s major polluters will change their ways any time soon.

In my view, the hypocrisy and sensationalism around climate change is going to become counter-productive and turn people off as the costs of adaption and avoiding pollution bite.

Are the prices lower because they aren’t adding local VAT (but then you get charged VAT as the goods come into the UK?)

Exposure make great lights

Bother like this (& worse) is why I don’t go out on the road with my local club any more.

I’ve been knocked off twice: Once was ‘sorry mate, didn’t see you’ and the other was when I was being over-taken on a blind bend and the driver decided to run me down rather than have a head on crash.

Every club ride had at least one episode of hassle/ brake checking/ being squeezed into the gutter etc

Cycling & cars are a bad mix in the UK (Haven’t seen the same level of aggro in France)

None of my mates has been seriously injured mountain biking; we have a quadriplegic and two permanently disabled road riders in the club though.

Stick to mountain biking.

Buff – you can get warm merino one’s too

I really like my Garmin Fenix 5+, one of the best things I own

Another vote for a physio for advice; I was advised to get ankle weights for my problems and do leg raises – solved my issue almost completely

Worth a read: https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/601caa87/files/uploaded/Midlife%20Transition%20Strategies%20Part%201.pdf

Dave Hinde – that sends shivers down my spine!

After waiting yonks for some bike wheels and getting fobbed off I called round to the shop to confront them. The atmosphere turned icy when I explained my issue & I really wondered if there was going to be trouble. Got my cash back after a lot of whining from them and me saying I wouldn’t leave without the refund – just stood there in the shop. Dave Hinde himself came down eventually and grudgingly gave me cash out of the till.

ICE lorries are here for a while I suspect, and unfortunately they are the most polluting (CO2 NO2 & particulates).

EVs are going to take over in built-up areas I suspect, but as said above, the game changer will be self-driving transport pods, hailed (pre-booked) by app with flexible costing (more costly to travel at peak times or alone).

Diesel utility vehicles will persist in rural areas I think.

Hydrogen is not a realistic fuel for ICE – it’s not energy dense enough – though fuel cells/ EV may eventually become widespread.

As said above, biological basics are dealt with in years 6-8.

For boys, ‘The talk’ these days needs to be more about pornography being fiction and that women really won’t look, behave, or want to be treated ‘like that’. It also needs to be earlier than one might wish I’m afraid.

The talk for girls, in my experience is the converse of the above with some ‘pity the poor boys and their unrealistic expectations’ thrown in.

Ubiquitous pornography is a blight on our society I think.

(Personally, I’m close to retirement)

It seems completely wrong that the young are going to prop up & pay for services for the old, especially coming off the back of Covid lock-downs; primarily aimed at protecting the old to the detriment of the young.

I would prefer to see social services like care for the elderly to be funded locally, with a combination of local income tax + asset tax.

Exposure fan here; high initial outlay but last for years.

SRAM Guide & Shimano brakes generally are really poor/ unreliable/ fiddly in my experience.

I’ve got some Tektros on a Surly that have performed well, but I’ve got Hope on both my good MTBs. Dead easy to service, powerful enough, well modulated and reliable.

Copper nails hammered into the roots

A sunday morning walk down the Leith from Dean village to Stockbridge is nice – great sunday market in Stockbridge/ loads of places to eat etc

9V battery terminals must be licked

It’s a tactic to put pressure on your insurers to settle (I did it myself when someone crashed through our garden wall (hit the accelerator instead of brake). After two years of bollocks I splashed out £200 on a small claims action myself. Their insurers settled – quite indignantly by the way – more or less straight away.

https://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/site-elements/documents/pdf/environment/flooding/strategy/guidance-notes-surface-water.pdf

As above, the same happened to me but I was the beneficiary.

At a busy station I’ve also moved off to allow a following car to take my spot. The cashier asked me for £20 so I said I was the fill before that.

Honest mistake I expect – they happen.

I moved within the company to a totally different role in a different subsidiary (I was Ops director but didn’t put my hat in the ring when the MD position came up – too much like hard work – and later got ‘eased out/ put out to grass’by the new MD). Really glad I did it, new zest and enthusiasm which I’ve not had for many many years.

Go for it!

I did a wildness 1st aid 2 day course with High Peak first aid training nr Hope last week (highly recommended). The only thing I’d add is a conforming bandage (semi-sticks to itself, good for sprains or holding dressings or splints in place).

Hadn’t thought of using an inner tube as tourniquets – obvious really.

During the training they kept on going on about the injuries mountain bikers get – salutary!

The Genadier is supposed to be a working vehicle (the whole interior can be hosed out for example with drain plugs in the footwells etc). I think the base model is targeted at £35k.

The ‘cheery toot’ button is bollocks though – the designers are not cyclists apparently and have not realised how easy it is to hear as car coming up behind.

Yes twice – I was drafting a learner driver who was apparently being taught how to do emergency stops – I ended up on the rear windscreen peering inside like Garfield – made a successful claim to replace my roadbike (& now don’t draft anybody!).

2nd time also on M&S insurance when several bikes were stolen in a burglary – all dealt with very well by Wheelies – no hassle.

These work for me (painful hands – Dupuytren’s contracture)

https://www.endurasport.com/hummvee-plus-mitt-ii-black/12929105.html

Try dad sneezing with a rupture – it’s a real bastard

I am an optimist. I like the thinking of the Copenhagen consensus – I.e. the best thing we can do to mitigate future climate change is to keep doing what we’re doing in the west – continue to reduce/ mitigate, and to eradicate poverty in the third world as quickly as possible – so the third world leap-frogs the heavily polluting phase of its development straight to reducing population levels/ less intensive pollution & emissions.

(I acknowledge that the Copenhagen Consensus is portrayed as a ‘Big Oil’ instigated false flag by Michael Mann et al).

Could you get this through work in any way? It can be expensive for reasonable cover otherwise.

It generally allows you to ‘jump’ queues, and use staff and facilities out of hours, as well as private hospitals like Nuffield. Ours at work has health checks for employee and family built into it. I’ve used my health cover a fair bit over the years (bike crashes).

I had reason to look into equivalent cover for a widow and family; it was around £9k PA, but only would ‘cost’ an employee £1500 on a P11D – hence my question/ suggestion can you get this through work?

Another option is snuff, you get a good ‘hit’ and don’t end up with congestion on the lungs (as I personally found from vaping). Ozona is good.

I think the public has lost some of it’s fear: 1) The rules are perceived to be slightly arbitrary, and do not always make sense (you can sit next to them in the classroom, but not on a park bench) 2) They change a lot, and are different in different areas – again this complexity is not helpful 3) Allowing school kids and students to continue to be educated changes the atmosphere, and makes lock-down seem a little half-hearted.

Last time round it was simple and clear (‘stay at home’), and people had been scared to death by the pictures from Italian intensive care wards. We know and understand more now, including that the UK governments and their advisers are not omnipotent.

Bloody mindedness is reasserting itself in British society

Barbours are great. Waterproof enough, look better as they get older/ more shagged, natural materials, loads of styles and sizes/ shapes.

You’ve behaved like a knob moving the rock. Seeing the ruts it looks like plenty of people have parked there before the Bentley driver. What if it’s an old dear who can’t move the rock?

Sanctimonious jealous pillock.

No one has mentioned Lois McMaster Bujold, an excellent author; all her novels are good but the Vorkosigan series is excellent. Start with ‘Shards of Honour’. Hard SciFi but with great human stories.

If you’ve not tried one and are passing judgement on here – shame on you.

You really should try one, in my limited experience they are are really revolting, just as bad as you’d fear. The quality control was good – the second one I had was just as minging as the first.