Some beauties are starting to appear… But not for eating.

We stayed at A Trastevere da M.E. and really liked it (we loved the district).  All the main sites aren’t too far away either. Not much too look at from the outside but nice areas to wander in the evenings.  The non descript church opposite has some really interesting and not widely advertised early Christian catacombs too.

I watched both the women’s and men’s races.  The commentary was still awful but the actual racing was great even if the course was a little dull (largely single line and flat out).  Proper edge of seat stuff for the last few runs of both even if my fantasy DH team went down in flames.  I really fancy a trip to Andorra now as the scenery looked epic :)

Sweet Surrey singletrack this evening and not a soul about.

Willow trees or water are good for attracting insect prey,  linear features (tall hedges, tree line, alleyway) are good for giving them an initial safe route out of the roost. Locate box as high as you can and not on the shady side of the house or due south if possible.  I don’t know where you are but you’ll most likely get or at least aim to get one of the Pip species with a ladder/slat type box.  There are some really good pdf manuals online.  Good luck!

Yes. They have a real life shop in my local town (replaced the previous 100 year plus independent https://www.balfesbikes.co.uk/blog/finch-cycles-a-history/).

That sounds promising. Thank you!

We are holding out with Win 10 until that is dropped (Oct 25?) as so much of his accumulated stuff is pretty old.
All of his office stuff is offline… Logging his solar energy, writing letters and other docs to print etc.
I don’t think he does change very well now (as I don’t either) and so Google docs / sheets are probably out too.

Yes, but I’m much more seasonal now… mud and singlespeeding doesn’t work for me.  I’ve had “proper” singlespeeds but I now just use my singulator converted old Soul.  It’s not a looker but I love it for a quick Downland de-stress.

Thank you for all of the ideas.. I now have some narrower areas to research which will help!  I think I will look at Eryri and off grid camping too as this would be a gentler introduction (although I think he is excited about Scotland).

Hmm. But which colour? I think I’m leaning towards the grey…

Surrey!!

I heard a couple of cuckoos (or maybe one cuckoo in two places) at Swinley today.  Not part of the brief but I also saw my first live woodcock up close which was cool.  I need to do more evening rides at Holmbury now the weather has improved to try and hear this year’s nightjars…such an amazing sound.

I just buy whatever Mountain Warehouse have reduced at the time.  The short and long sleeve versions of the Endurance Isocool t-shirts are pretty good and available in muted colours.

So although yesterday was a mess with lack of information I actually enjoyed watching today (Discovery+).  I think Myriam, Aaron and Tahnee made the commentary so much more interesting.  Someone on PB said that there wouldn’t be semis at future rounds…is that right?

What is the point of the semis now if they are not being televised? Why bother after the qualifiers?  Doesn’t this now mean that only the top 30 men and top 10 women get airtime?

I may have got a little bit carried away with the saturation 😁 but the woods are just amazing at the moment. 

Thanks, it’s looking pretty expensive with everyone and so I may try a specialist broker?  They only want to go to Jersey for a week!  Getting old sucks.

This page and any other after I refresh or open them on an Android phone.

This was supposed to be a fantastic sunset of yellows, pinks and reds after a short blast around my favourite Surrey Hill but my bike still appears to be the most garish thing in the photo.

Who underwrites M&S now?

Thanks all. Some really useful info on what is quite a minefield. I think more research is definitely needed.

Cheesecake.  The name offers so much and delivers so little.  It is neither cheese or cake just overly sweet gunk on a bed of wasted biscuits.

Really sad.  I’ve had many bikes over the years but I always seemed to come back to an Orange Five.

@JonnyC  – try your local places first.  Our place is currently only looking for permanent homes but I do know that Holbrook Animal Rescue in Horsham is currently looking for people to foster (perhaps a bit far). Good luck!

We fostered dogs for about 3 years.  Don’t be precious about your carpets and get used to saying goodbye.  Don’t be fooled by the first few weeks as they are often in shut down mode and their true character only emerges later on.  Great thing to do if you can.  If you are South East I can send you some contacts.

There does seem to be a lot of blame shifting.. Government, Local Authorities, Environment Agency etc and the situation is only going to get worse.  I think that the problem is now too big and too costly to solve.  Have your in-laws been offered Build Back Better by their insurers?  This is not a solution to the problem but it could at least help reduce the impacts? 

Perhaps a bit too mainstream but I still  really rate Guinness 0.0.  I’ll follow this revived thread with interest.

And because this is more interesting than work I think I could be convinced that it is just the monogram of Pope Gregory III?

Thanks again everyone.  Back in the UK now 😞 and so only my work being interrupted.  I’ll see if my kids took any better photos.   The reason we found that symbol interesting is because we thought we recognised it but couldn’t place from where.  I’m starting to think it might just be the logo of a local big wig?  Having had time to do a little reading.. The church is prob. 4th century, the sarcophagus 2nd C,  the altar 6th C but the paintings 8th C and so not as old as I first thought.  There is also a fair bit of info about it on the web… It’s getting less and less Dan Brown.    For those still interested it is under La Basilica Sotterranea Di San Crisogono in Trastevere.

Thanks all (but electrics were seriously lacking down there). For context, this was opposite. 

I hadn’t seen these before.  Google says Candlesnuff fungus?

2 Peregrines.  I can watch them from my study window while I “work”.   My list kind of stops there 😁

Thanks.  Hope xc tech rims and so I can’t really go much wider.

Don’t know about paracetamol.  I took Ibuprofen (as anti inflammatory pain relief) and diazepam (as a relaxant).  I has spasms though.  Take it easy, rest and heal up.  It takes a long time to feel better.

Looked at engine in day light.  Issue obvious now!   Injector 3 and 4 clamp not attached, no bolt!  They have risen up and sprayed out.  No wonder the car died and the engine smoked.. That could have been really bad.

An injector and the fuel return hose.

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Horrible knocking/flapping sound, then loss of power, then smoky engine, then engine died and wouldn’t restart.  The engine was rough before that…garage said probably engine mounting which was weird as was ok before the work.  No AA person was sent, straight to recovery and so no independent technical opinion but recovery guy thought loss of pressure and possible cyclinder blown/other injectors failed if not properly balanced?  A battle for the morning, just glad to have got home!</p>