In real life, yes.
In STW no.
The way of STW is dogmatic, endless, pointless arguing, no?

My brother lives north of Dublin. He’s managed to keep his job but it really ain’t pretty. He had to take a 20% pay cut.
House prices have dropped 30%, his estate is half derelict when they stopped building when the crash began
The country may still need a bailout from the EU
Emigration is increasing – the young in particular are leaving because they don’t believe there’s anything for them.Emigration on the rise again
It’s not a cheap country to live in at all
Correct ^^ about land access, there are very few rights of way, nothing like the access we take for granted in England and Wales.

IMO don’t believe people who say it’s alright, the facts don’t support it. They’re probably being self-deceptive to try and pretend it’ not screwed…

riding solo on a road bike and club riding are two different skill levels IMO.
On your own you can kind of do what you like
Riding in a group you need a lot more awareness and ability to
control yr bike, cos if you get it wrong you’ll make yourself extremely unpopular. for me the 5 skills are:
1. Observation – for hazards + your clubmates
2. Ability to give out hand signals whilst still keeping control of the bike
3. maintaining a steady pace which may be dictated by the group
4. Judging distance away from the bike ahead and not half-wheeling, riding too close or dropping back
5. Handling skills on fast downhills – much faster than an MTB

On my speed awareness course they advised us to think of tailgaters as lonely – that’s why they drive so close… :-)
And they also advised just get out of their way, safely, when you can – they’re not safe to be around and you’re better off letting them through and live to see another day.

I’ll never forget the time when I was a passenger and a guy had his window down whilst doing 80 on the M6 on the inside, leaning out of the window and offering us out, there and then. Quite how he thought that was likely to happen I don’t know. Clearly needed to go and visit a psychologist.

People wouldn’t be so aggressive if they didn’t have a half-tonne of metal wrapped around them IMO

On my speed awareness course they advised us to think of tailgaters as lonely – that’s why they drive so close… :-)
And they also advised just get out of their way, safely, when you can – they’re not safe to be around and you’re better off letting them through and live to see another day.

I’ll never forget the time when I was a passenger and a guy had his window down whilst doing 80 on the M6 on the inside, leaning out of the window and offering us out, there and then. Quite how he thought that was likely to happen I don’t know. Clearly needed to go and visit a psychologist.

People wouldn’t be so aggressive if they didn’t have a half-tonne of metal wrapped around them IMO

On my speed awareness course they advised us to think of tailgaters as lonely – that’s why they drive so close… :-)
And they also advised just get out of their way, safely, when you can – they’re not safe to be around and you’re better off letting them through and live to see another day.

I’ll never forget the time when I was a passenger and a guy had his window down whilst doing 80 on the M6 on the inside, leaning out of the window and offering us out, there and then. Quite how he thought that was likely to happen I don’t know. Clearly needed to go and visit a psychologist.

People wouldn’t be so aggressive if they didn’t have a half-tonne of metal wrapped around them IMO

I knew it was pointless expecting any kind of sensible answer from STW after 5pm on a Friday :-(

The government doesn’t pay for anything.
The taxpayers do. That’s us.
And in the case of pensions, our kids with their taxes. Who are going to have a hard enough time as it is.
The aging population is a fact of nature. Nothing to do with the government. And we’d vote out any party that made the necessary changes to NI and taxes.
I wouldn’t expect much in the way of benefits when I retire c2035, there won’t be the money to fund it. Only the very poorest will be fully funded.
My plan, Work longer (we live a lot longer than when retirement ages were first decided anyway), and then semi-retire.
And in the meantime a few less shiny bits and a little more saving…

I went there solo in December 2003. Another English couple were there at the same time and we got on like a house on fire. They’re now divorced but Matt is one of my best friends.
And yes, communal eating.
You’ll have a great time, highly recommended…

I gave up on Virgin when they couldn’t sort out reliability and capacity problems. Moved to O2 and barely had a problem…

The 2010 frame has added fun squirted into the tubes :-)

Call Samaritans
Go and present yourself at your local surgery or A&E and tell them what’s in your head
Print out what you’ve written above and take it with you.
And best of luck. IME depression seems to happen to the nicer people in this world.
Posting on here shows you’ve got what it takes to get better, the strength to fight it…

Sounds like the same approach the British take to business as was discussed on another thread this week. Muddle through and make it up as we go along. Works well enough for some things, but not everything

Good lad.

DonSimon’s point is, I believe, that large businesses often have their own language made up of acronyms and words unique to that organisation. What happens is that people use this language without checking that the recipient understands it too.
Which leads to poor communication and all the results of poor communication.
It’s about as effective and sensible as English people shouting loudly in English at foreigners and wondering why they’re not getting a very positive response…

I think alot of people in large corporations have to spend their time justifying their jobs and salaries rather than actually doing anything constructive. This, of course, is a little bit more difficult in a smaller company where there is no-one and nothing to hide behind.

My experience too. Small company also means you can get things done more quickly/try your own ideas out/say what you think. Essentially it’s down to you to get things done. The experience is far more satisfying and fulfilling IME

It’s a good idea to have ambition and make and take opportunities, and having a specific and defined objective can help you raise your game but… having a life plan for yourself is essentially narcissistic. Which tends to make you unpopular with other people.
Each to their own but I prefer to spend time with people who can see beyond their own perspective and needs…

I rode it on a long-travel hardtail in the DAYLIGHT. In the DRY. With my eyes OPEN. On a LONG TRAVEL hardtail and FAT TYRES and DISC BRAKES.

Rad to the gnarr of sick and large with added hoon

I remain optimistic that there are large corps that operate effectively. I’ve just never worked for or with one yet!

So I’m also curious about who BB works for…

And do you have any vacancies?!

If someone’s unhappy about the way they’re being treated or spoken to, it’s probably about time for the others to back off
<assuming they care enough about the other person’s feelings of course. It’s when they carry on that you have a real problem>

We’ve probably been better. But…
It won’t get better by whinging about it or blaming a political party for the state of a nation.
A few figures for you:
1 Prime Minister
305 Conservative MPs in the current parliament
648 MPs
61,838,154 = UK population

Who’s got the power on how we live our lives?

Get over it and do something yourself to make the situation better.
Or go and live in Russia, China, N Korea, Syria or one of several hundred other countries where life is a lot lot worse than it is for us…

… and relax….

The influence of the rich and poweful must be removed as they only care about money and we that is to say all of us need to take an active part in sorting out our future.

House of Commons Research says 65.1% of voters turned out in the 2010 election.

1 in 3 people should therefore be banned from complaining about anything the government does…

Benfeh has a v interesting perspective. The rest of the world have a far higher respect for UK-produced goods than we give ourselves credit for. We’re still one of the richest countries in the world – how do you think that’s happened if other countries aren’t buying our stuff?

Evan Davies: our sectors of strength in manufacturing are in small, hi-tech, high margin.
Not being mass-produced means the general population is less likely to be consumers of these things and therefore aware they exist and are highly valued elsewhere.
The point he made was that the UK industrialised first and then moved into services first. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, if anything we’re the pioneers and ahead of the rest of the world.

We’re one of the most advanced countries in terms of e-commerce, and as has been stated, TV, music, art, theatre, fashion etc, all world class. Don’t forget tourism either. London is a very desirable place to be for the rest of the world.

From Wikipedia;
In 2008, the UK was the sixth-largest manufacturer in the world measured by value of output.

From The Telegraph
Manufacturing still accounts for a surprisingly large amount of the economy – about 12pc, a larger share than financial services’ 9pc. People find this surprising, because they do not come across many UK-manufactured products in their daily lives

we need to play to our strengths to thrive and survive. Most people old enough to have used mass-produced UK goods in the 60’s and 70’s say it was cr@p. Don’t see the rationale for keeping at it if we do it badly

Fingers crossed for a full and speedy recovery.
Throw the book at the driver. Make an example of him. This is happening too often

i worked at M&S whilst at college as a trolley & bag boy. in my spare time – of which i had lots – i’d go around with a red marker pen correcting the spelling and grammar on the staff notices.

i got a warnimg once from my manager because i had corrected her bosses notice and had been caught on camera.

each time her boss saw me after that i’d smirk at her.

The internet, helping stupid people advertise their stupidity to the entire world since 1994 (or thereabouts)

To give you a warning for correcting a senior person’s incorrect grammar is just immature and a sign of poor management and culture. Shame they didn’t thank you for improving the quality of their communications. On the other hand, was the warning for your own poor grammar? ;-)

Sorry to hear your loss, and the manner of it.

South Downs Way is an excellent intro to long distance riding in the South. Not least because it’s tougher than you’d expect. The hills are damn hard work

But to build up endurance mileage I’d really recommend a road bike and find a local club to go riding with. They’ll be very supportive and you’ll get much more serious distances in than you would on yr own…

Pragmatically if you didn’t have parties (and party whips) creating voting blocks you’d struggle to get any laws passed.
You;d never get 600+ people to agree
have you ever tried getting 12 friends to agree on a restaurant bill?

I read some research a few years ago which said the big change from the early to late 20th century in politics was in the early years, no-one trusted politicians but they did defer to them (and authority generally). In the later years (post-Punk?) they still didn’t trust them, but no longer deferred.
so kind of same old same old tbh

Unfortunately Camo16 what you describe are all the weaknesses/limitations of humans in groups, when power becomes available, and are essentially the human condition. Corporates are the same IME, as are the organised religions. The same mistakes have been made time and time again throughout history…

You’ll find that all the solutions you think of to these problems are all the things your parents, grandparents, ‘nice’ people, the best of your school teachers, ancient proverbs etc have been telling you for years.

I’ve come to the conclusion that all I can do is live the best life I can within the framework of the society I find myself in. And if I can help other people do the same, then that’s enough really.

Oh and when you meet the manipulators, psychos, insecure and selfish types, run very fast in the opposite direction. but when you find nice, generous, nice people, stick to them like glue…

camo16 has it. When we start thinking for ourselves and stop viewing everything in life through whichever of the 2 party lenses suits our own upbringing/values/prejudices/blindspots/biases/ambitions then maybe we’ll all be a bit more empowered,thoughtful and a bit happier.

I’ve seen several old friend entirely miss all the opportunities they had to live a fulfilled life because of their political views, it blinded them to all the good stuff and the ability to accept other people as they are.

Oh and maybe look at our own actions instead of blaming politicians for everything. Do you really think the people you meet who are happy and fulfilled change when the party they don’t agree with comes into power?

top tip: read the newspaper that suits your politics and then read one which opposes them. And see the difference in the ‘facts’ you’re being fed… you’ll feel better for it…

If you’re an anxious person generally then I would get some help with that underlying condition. Either GP or therapist, or maybe something like Yoga – which I find more relaxing than any other exercise. Also has the side benefit of helping make you a stronger rider as it improves strength and flexibility…
Being out of breath is normal from hard exercise so to a degree you’ll have to get used to it anyway…
HTH

Surely you’re not taking a single quarter’s figures as evidence of a trend?

<Although i’m looking forward to the rational and well-researched ‘discussion’ that is no doubt about to ensue…>

Surrey Hills. All you need to know
South Downs Way is an ace long distance ride if relatively untechnical
IMO South is less ‘out there’ and technical
But dustier and the Surrey Hills singletrack has nothing comparable that I could find in the North West.
It’s all riding :-)

Who says our youth are a lost generation?
The sheer vision, creativity, skill, hard work etc kicks most people of my age into touch (38). Especially their lack of ego despite being amongst the best in the world at what they do… I wish people I work with were like that…
Someone get this film in the headlines to offset all the other cr@p

Who says our youth are a lost generation?
The sheer vision, creativity, skill, hard work etc kicks most people of my age into touch (38). Especially their lack of ego despite being amongst the best in the world at what they do… I wish the people I work with were like that…
Someone get this film in the headlines to offset all the other cr@p

The Mall is always closed to traffic on Sundays…

Tifosi CK7 in classifieds

Buy my complete bike?

What A Waster – Libertines

Grill yourself a nice big juicy steak and as you sit down to eat it, put this on the stereo. And try enjoying it

Meat Is Murder

Agree with fixing the root cause – strength of your back. Personal trainer or physio should be your first post of call IMO. Will pay dividends with power on the bike too.
But obviously riding lots will help with weight loss, have you considered a road bike for more aerobic training?

Lemmy is God.
Everyone should see Motorhead live at least once before they die.