I bought a Project Essential II from Richer Sounds last weekend – £210. I can hear stuff I’ve been listening to on CD for nearly 20 years that I’ve never heard before. The separation and presence of the different instruments is very noticeable. All the reviews I’ve read say it’s the best you can get for the ££. It’s on a budget system (Denon 250 amp) with floorstanding speakers.

No I don’t. People can get very funny if you earn more than them. I would have thought they’re better off working harder or getting more skills or finding a new job if it bothers them, but being funny about it seems to be the preference 🙂

More seriously, I’m a contractor and people often misunderstand that what appears to be a high day rate doesn’t necessarily translate into a massively higher standard of living e.g. it’s harder to get a mortgage, you don’t get paid holiday etc

On the issue of how ignorant most in the UK are about the reality of life in other countries, this is a shocker.

I was 21, old enough to be aware but I had no idea this kind of horror was going on..

Rwanda

FEW pages of history are as hard to read as those describing Rwanda between April and July in 1994. Working by hand rather than with the industrial methods that the Nazis used to kill Jews, and at more than three times the speed of the Holocaust, militias known as Interahamwe from the ethnic Hutu majority, and others, slaughtered at least 800,000 Tutsis (and Hutu moderates) to remove them from shared land. They raped, tortured and dismembered in hospitals, schools and churches. “The Interahamwe made a habit of killing young Tutsi children, in front of their parents, by first cutting off one arm, then the other,” a UN official in the country recounted afterwards. “They would then gash the neck with a machete to bleed the child slowly to death but, while they were still alive, they would cut off the private parts and throw them at the faces of the terrified parents who would then be murdered with slightly greater dispatch.”

I can’t remember the source but there was something last year about the rise in 24h/constantly available news being linked to increased levels of stress/poor mental health…
Since then I’ve avoided bbc.co.uk and stopped watching the news every night. I’ve stopped reading all the papers (incl broadsheets) and use just R4 and The Economist as my sources. definitely get a more measured and constructive view on the world as a result.

Best tip I was ever given was to read the paper that you agree with and then also read the paper that sits on the opposite side of your own politics. Then you’ll get a more balanced view and more importantly, you’ll see how much bias and manipulation you’re getting from the paper you agree with!

Just pick your sources very carefully and avoid the negative/political ones

Yes property prices have gone nuts again.

tbh I’m quite glad I’m renting for now… I can’t see where the money’s going to come from for prices higher than they are now and all the serious commentators are calling a bubble so at the very least things will calm down over the next 6 months and stop rising, even if they don’t drop.

Right now I’m on the cusp of not being able to afford in Bromley either…

The land registry prices are meaningless, a house is worth whatever someone’s prepared to pay for it

That’s my point – Land Registry IS what someone paid for it… it’s not an indicative price, it’s hard data. If all houses of the type you’re after in a given area were sold within a certain range then that’s a pretty good indicator or what people have paid, no?

Looking at RightMove and comparing Land Registry suggests asking prices are currently well out of line with what people are paying, surely?

tbh the best hope right now seems to be enough people saying we’re in a bubble and heading for a crash (which all serious commentators are).

Expectations of lower prices in the future tends to put a halt on purchases…

Dantsw13 – thanks. Sundridge Park strikes me as nice when I ride through it on my commute. Just need estate agents to stop being silly children so I can actually afford something!

Which ares of Bromley are you looking at? I lived there for 5 years, until moving to Sussex 4 years ago, and my wife grew up there – might be able to give some pointers.

I’m renting in Bickley right now – right by the old gasworks which isn’t the best part of town IMO – there seem to be much nicer streets around.

Anywhere within 15 min walk of Bromley South or North stations would be ok. Shortlands would be handy for getting back to Crystal Palace for early Sunday morning starts with my road club.

Anywhere I should specifically avoid?

I suspect they’re one of the reasons there’s so many people riding in London – it’s a cheap way of trying out cycling for yourself

The scenario: you fancy trying out cycling but you’re scared of getting hurt and it £400+ for a decent bike, so you just carry on driving/tubing/sitting at home getting fat.
A Boris bike allows you to try out riding for yourself and you realise that it’s a quick and pleasant way to get around, and not as dangerous as you thought… maybe I’ll buy myself a bike and do this all the time… job done

inattentive yoofs…

Who said it’s only yoofs?

when I was kid you had a racer, a BMX or a chopper, there was nothing else

Um, my Dad made me ride a Dawes Kingpin (classic laydeez shopper). I’m surprised I still ride bikes after that trauma. Funnily enough it was effectively my first mountain bike 😀

… which reminds me of, many years later, a mate asking me what the hell a “dord” was anyway.

From the Stone Roses song, “I wanna be a dord…”

I always thought Ian Brown wanted to be a door. It’s a pretty obvious conclusion to come to. An open and shut case.

Advise her to do her research beforehand so she knows when they’re making it up just to sell her what they have!

Someone on here posted once about someone called Mister Demeanour

So that’s why skydiving’s dangerous!

We’re getting to be quite a fat country aren’t we.

On the other hand, nasty bit of snobbery from The Telegraph…

I found a new quiet (and hill-free) route for my commute

Oh, and I’m alive – which is always something to be grateful for 🙂

Hang on brooess, ninja edit? My comment no longer makes sense…

Sorry. Feel free to re-comment. The point remains the same 🙂

I might try this angle next time someone calls me a spastic for riding primary through a pinch point “don’t take your own fears out on me”… 😀

I’m going to guess that a lot of the animosity towards cyclists outside London has increased due to the popularity and coverage on TV/internet of GoPro commuters careering through gaps that aren’t there putting themselves in harms way just to make a point, screaming at the top of their voices and pontificating at anyone who they think will listen/can hear over the sound of the car radio.

So how do you explain the harrassment of those cyclists riding legally, legitimally and according to Bikeability principles?

Print off and sign pdf copy send them a copy of this back, problem solved

That’s clever 🙂

Does mean I have to spend time proof-reading to check it’s the same wording… just because the lettings agent are under-par in the IQ dept…

Standards of driving seem to be falling dramatically at the moment. I nearly t-boned a Beetle which drove straight out of a side street on Saturday… how the ‘lady’ driver failed to see a Ford Focus from about 50 yards away is beyond me…

And have you tried driving at 30 in a 30 limit for any length of time without silly overtakes or tailgating?

As a cyclist 2 things:
1. Get your Bikeability training – however long you’ve been riding it will teach you useful stuff. The basic premise of the training is that driving standards are lousy so you need to ride accordingly…
2. Angry people are angry, you’re just their target at that moment – they’re essentially having a tantrum just like your average toddler… so ignoring their abuse/hand signals etc rather than getting infected by their anger is one way of dealing with it… or a friendly wave can be quite fun… you never get a friendly wave back, but it definitely helps you deal with the situation 🙂

Smiths vs Charlie Brown[/url]

Fill your boots 🙂

Smiths vs Charlie Brown[/url]

fill your boots 🙂

Boo

Riding my bike. Especially in beautiful surroundings/sunshine with good company

Isn’t the whole point of mountain biking to enjoy the feeling of being in the outdoors? If you don’t stop at some point and take in the view and just chill then you might as well just sit at home and watch TV really…

Chipps wrote an editorial about this years ago – where people were so determined to take photos of the great views, they were forgetting to simply sit and look at those great views and appreciate them in real life

Is this a serious thread or lavender laugh?

I expect Rowan Sorrel will be along in a minute

Stories like this encourage me to stay single 😯

Porridge is like sex. You can’t just turn up and expect it to be amazing. It’s all the extra little tricks you play which make it come alive 😀

I’d rather be working hard at a really engaging and satisfying job. But those that pay me don’t seem to be interested in using my skills and effort for anything so I come on here to pass the hours until I ride home.

Oh and I learn lots about how many different viewpoints there can be on any given topic – even if some can be a tad misguided 😉

Thanks.

It doesn’t say how much notice I’d be given if the landlord wants to terminate the tenancy within the fixed term (which is 12 months).

Does this mean he can basically throw me out without notice if he decides to move in?

Mark Carney has warned that we’re back to excessive borrowing which puts us at risk of another crash. Clearly the London housing market is a bubble…

So limiting the amount people can borrow is surely a sensible thing for long term wealth and stability?

Quite shocking how after only five years from the biggest economic crisis in recent decades and we’re back to the same behaviour of greed amongst sellers and panic amongst buyers – human beings really are that short-termist and over-optimistic it seems.

It’s not safe.

In a club ride, you know you have following riders so you point/shout out all the hazards. If there’s someone unannounced you won’t do that as you don’t know they’re there – so they could well end up in the road without teeth or a nose…

Equally if you have to stop (red light, pedestrian, traffic etc) you’ll ease up – and if you don’t know they’re there you won’t make any allowance. If they’re not paying attention to what’s in front of you, there’s a risk they’ll pile into the back of you and take you out.

tbh it’s just rude. Drafting is a co-operative effort with give and take on all sides, not a free ride.

Time spent on STW is time well-spent

Today was certainly the usual combination of pleasant drivers who stopped and waited where appropriate (sometimes with a cheery wave, sometimes not); close passes (including the front guy getting clipped) and moronic overtakes. I think the nice people outnumbered the morons today though.
There’s certainly some people who need their licence taken off them till they’ve grown up…

On the other hand, stunning weather, loads of riders out – showing just how popular cycling’s become, and the tan’s on the way already 😀

A ‘mate’ like that is not the kind of mate who adds value to your life…

My running club is encouraging hi-vis now. They didn’t ten years ago.
I guess it’s partly fashion but probably also driven by a general perception that driving skills are on a pretty steep downward trend so you need to do something to give yourself a chance of survival!

So, my personal laptop is XP and I’m quite happy with it – I just need it for web access, iTunes and general admin, sometimes a bit of ppt for work.

Question is – what are my options? Am I effectively being forced into buying a new laptop even though the one I have is working perfectly well? Seems like a total waste and unnecessary (and not inconsiderable) expense to me…

CEO email addresses here[/url]

Just type chief exec email addresses into google – it’s all in the public domain.

Good luck. I went to the chief exec when BT were being utterly useless in delivering any kind of service and I still had to negotiate to get them to let me out of a contract they’d 100% failed to deliver on and were basically in breach of!

Can you skip in a coffin?