I have an MSc Architecture: Advanced Environmental and Energy Studies, and use it to design, install, service, repair, replace etc sewage systems in rural areas. Anything from package plants through to reedbeds really. I suppose since I am often replacing poorly performing systems, or bringing failing systems back to spec that would count as a “green” job?

I keep meaning to get into environmental build consultancy, but the market is borked at the moment, so I am kind of holding fire on that for the time being.

Much as I wanted to vote today… the bastards have failed to process my registration :-( I mean – I only sent it in back in December/January.

Shall make sure that I get on the case as soon as I move again (3 weeks) as I am planning to stay put for quite some time having moved house 3 times in the last 18 months (with furniture and everything)

Have to agree that what often looks a bit dubious from a car in terms of bikes overtaking is down to perception – I don’t overtake on the bike anywhere I feel it would be dodgy, but I can still make passes where I wouldn’t dream of doing it in the car. Just the size, agility and sheer speed of the bike is in an utterly different league (955 Speed Triple).

I know that road down Glen Dochart well TJ – and have been known to upset people in a variety of cars overtaking on “blind” corners as far as they are concearned – but there are loads of places you get great sight lines up or down the road that let you know exactly what is coming. It’s loads of fun going up/down there too… I miss that run through to Glencoe from Stirling now that I have moved south :-(

Ms Humble though – don’t really care what she has to say on the matter, I still would ;-)

That said, people that don’t ride motorbikes just don’t get it though! I suspect that she is picking up on the antics of the cockmerchants on sports bikes who seem to think the world is out to get them since they get pulled over for riding with illegal plates, illegal exhausts, illegal visors and doing a gazillion mph by the rozzers. Persicuted they are, I tells you.

Green Goblin is worth a try if you see it about too, mmmmmm! May have to get some in for the house move in a couple of weeks time!!!!

I think the descent down Iron Keld would be one of my favourites – there isn’t any 1 thing about it that is “better” than anything else in the area, but there is a superb combination of fun, views, speed… and a couple of jars in the Drunken Duck before hand may have added to the memories :-)

That’s a nice one through the Howgills though, not done that since the early 1990’s!

Another I love is coming over from Troutbeck to Ambleside – cannae remember the name, but that is a lovely bit of trail.

It’s only worth it if you can find a decent acupuncturist – most the UK ones are pants as they get a week or two training and that makes them qualified. Try and find someone trained in proper Chinese Medicine (I know these things purely as my brother is coming towards the end of proper training in Los Angeles at the mo… where it takes 5 years!)

Apparently there is quite some difference between someone who properly knows what they are doing… and most UK acupuncturists haven’t really got that much of a clue :-(

I do know there is a good one in Kendal though. Probably no use to you mind!

I have just emmigrated from Scotland – well 6 months ago now – to Englishlandshire. I love the scenery of Scotland and miss the grandure of the Highlands and the windswept beauty of the Northern Isles (which although I haven’t been there much in recent years I miss achingly). But I have to agree – the northern part of England has a lot to offer. The Lakes (where I now find myself) are almost like mini-Highlands. It’s a shame there are way too many people in the Lakes though… and despite the access issues being less liberal I think there is more scope for riding here than in a similar size area of Scotland (Trossachs?)

Equally I am rather enjoying the Dales, Pennines, Northumbria and North Lancashire. I kind of lose interest once you get south of Lancaster though as it gets waaaaay too urban down there! I do need to explore a wee bit further afield still as there are many parts of this country I haven’t been to yet, as well as Wales south of Machynlleth….

Variety – it’s what it’s all about!

It’s going to take me a sodding long time driving to get back to Orkney again though :-(

Toxicsoks – I am with you there, just coming out the other end of a mild malarial bout so not doing much this weekend :-( Did pop into the pub for a quick pint earlier on… had to rehydrate after walking up to some folks house to get a bit of documentation signed!

Would have been a perfect day for one of the forest rides in these here parts… Grizedale or Whinlatter (probably the former to break me back into this riding lark as it is on the doorstep).

I would say it is the ideal weather for a beer garden today ;-)

Since I have not been well the last couple of days neither option is open to me however :-(

The only possible answer

Old stock was probably bought when the £-$ was more favourable… new ones are being bought at the current exchange rate, can’t see why they should sell it to you at a loss?

If they haven’t changed the price on the website since contacting you then I would be pissed off with them, but I can’t be arsed to check myself ;-)

Probably the best of the cheap teles that. Go for it!

Changing lenses??? You need to get out more mogrim, or just get a compact. I switch between 17-40, 24-105, 70-200 on a pretty regular basis, and have yet to think “Oh God, why do I do it – my life is a disaster”. Besides, even a cheapo 70-300 is going to be better than a more expensive superzoom (unless we are talking the Canon 28-300L, but since they both cost a wedge and weigh a ton I am guessing they defeat the purpose for most people!)

Penderyn is gopping stuff, don’t do it! Nearly bought some when I was studying in Wales, but a dram was plenty!

Anything from Islay, obviously anything from Orkney (Highland Park is good, the 12 yo is a very good and older ones better to some extent… I am prefering Scapa these days though)… or Talisker… or anything Highland (Clynlish is worth a try for example, as is Old Pultney)

Crafter – pretty decent for the cash. Got an electro accoustic one to start playing again, and it sounds remarkably good. That was £180 I think, but loose the electrics and something similar would probably come in about on budget.

Mine is crap up hill… think it’s an engine problem though.

Goes well under gravity assistance though ;-)

30% for me, and that’s even with my large collection of leather trousers….

Phone em and find out ;-)

I suspect they are bullshitting – we had similar aaages ago, someone wanted to buy our house for £250k, had a name and everything. They never even came to see the place when it went on the market though, funny enough (ended up selling for £200k… which hurt a lot)

Caol Ila is utterly superb.

These folk will sort you out with all sorts of wonderfulness:

http://www.lfw.co.uk/

It’s my most favouritest whisky shop ever… make a point of dropping in every time I am “passing” (by which I mean every time I am within about an hourish diversion to the place).

From Stirling it is quicker going up the A9 and through Laggan rather than through Glencoe, so it should be from Penrith too! You don’t get caught behind quite so many caravans (well, dual carriageway sections on the A9 allow you to get past them, none of the buggers have any intention of letting you past on the A84)

But I agree that the A84 is a magnificent road on a motorbike – cut my teath on it when I had my TDM 850 before moving to the Lakes!

I also agree that the A9 is a pants route if you are determined to stop at the Clach! I would probably err towards the Loch Lomond route from down this way, but it is going to be slow.

Just seen what time you are setting off… Glasgow should be okay ;-) Thought you were setting off first thing in the morning, which would be painful!

WCA – it’s more lifting than anything else. I think I need to get some cardio in there too, but yep – the diet whilst not bad could be better! Once I get settled the plan is to try and start getting out on the bike a lot more :-)

Pah – mine is slow :-( Bastards the lot of ya!

I eat the same as a normal size person, though I do seem to benefit from exercise a LOT more than most people… currently weigh somewhere north of 19 stone, want to get down to 17.5 if I can, though back when I lost a lot of weight I managed 17 stone 10 at best (6’3″ and built like an outhouse). Given that my work is now more manual and involves lifting heavy stuff all day I am guessing that the reality may be reaching 18 stone or so….

The way I look at it – if I can get down to a 36″ waist (measured as opposed to jeans size) I will be happy enough. Really want to gain fitness (and that buffness factor!) rather than lose weight per se. Just an easy way to measure change ;-)

Still, got a bit more stress to see through yet (moving house and some other stuff) then hopefully I can get down to doing something productive on these things.

If you are eating 2 “main meals” a day you have no chance!

I don’t see your mileage as a problem – few years back now I lost bucket loads by riding about 10 – 12 miles a day (although mine was mostly in one solid lump either on the way in or out of work… but that should make no difference). On top of that I went for a low fat/high fibre type dietry regime. The fibre just bulks everything up and stops you getting hungry so quick.

Make your own sarnies to take in with you – shop bought ones are terrible (both in taste and in content!). If you get the munchies mid afternoon perhaps try an apple or something. Drink loads of water too – get hungry, drink a pint of the stuff. Fills you up a bit and can mitigate the hunger.

Need to get myself back into this type of thing myself! Want to shift a couple of stone and 4+ inches off the waist line… again….

I do it all the time ;-) Figure that so long as you check the chicken is cooked through it will be fine. Just cut through the thick part with a knife and check that it isn’t pink still!

To be fair though, it isn’t the most sensible of approaches, and salmanella food poisioning is not fun at all from experience, though if you want to shift a few pounds it has stunning results ;-)

Yep – that last section is ace, the rest… kind of dull I thought. Was studying at CAT for a while so it was my “local” trail when away from home! Good for a quite blast between drinking study sessions ;-)

Excellent!

I am getting the urge to add an old classic bike to my stable now ;-)

I was tempted by one of the new Enfield Bullets a while back, just love the looks of them… not a bike for hooning around on!

Go for it – either new or old – and enjoy! I get stopped by old giffers to talk about my bike anyway… and it’s always quite nice as if I am on the bike I aint in a hurry to get anywhere (and we are talking a modern Triumph here, but they see the name and remember their old Bonnies!)

Open face helmet is deriguer on an old bike IMO, but something modern at least ;-)

Nope – plenty of mortgages are coming on stream now with 10% deposits, which is traditionally where it was at. There are even a few at 5% deposit. You do need 25% plus for the better interest rates though, but again – that was always the case as far as I can remember.

Houses have a bit to go yet I think, probably 10% tops but I am thinking a bit less than that is likely. This is purely on the fact that there is renewed optimism in property (I am getting enquiries for new installations of the stuff I install again), and there seems to be some movement in the market again – though only on places that are priced to sell. It may be that sellers are starting to get the picture and are either marketing at more realistic levels, or taking those cheeky offers that they were laughing at a few months back.

That said – nothing has sold, or hadn’t last time I checked a couple of weeks back, in my old village since we sold up last November (Doune near Stirling)… and there seems to be a lot of the places we viewed still sitting on the market in Ulverston. I know some of them are certainly down to a reluctance to accept the new pricing levels of property though cos we had offers rejected (even one that was more than I wanted to pay, and more than Zoopla was suggesting as fair market value).

Still, the one we did get came in for the same money as the one we didn’t get asked for – and is one hell of a lot more house (in better condition not just size and location)… so I am pretty happy that other house turned us down ;-)

I met Dave off of The Hairy Bikers in Booths car park today, does that count?

Try zoopla.co.uk

NE66 – prices are back to 4 years ago with a 14.3% fall in the last 12 months.

We lost a wedge when we sold in Scotland, but have bought in the South Lakes and probably saved at least what we lost up there, so all is good.

Given the stuff I power wash of the sides of pumping stations… nope, couldn’t eat that stuff today!

However, on a Saturday night after a skinful it would probably be divine nectar!

My wife says it is very, very scary and will never go back again… she is scared of hights though! Me, I did it donkeys years ago and don’t recall it being anything overly worrying ;-)

I was actually considering going Green myself… pretty sure they give a damn about the country. Indeed – they give a damn about the whole planet, which has to be even better ;-) I may go Lib Dem even – used to vote SNP but moved south of the border!

I will drive nails through my eyeballs long before I vote BNP or UKIP thanks.

I had been toying with the very skinny floorstanders for purely aesthetic reasons (Audio Pro I think) as most stands look a bit (lot) pants!

It’s complicated getting down to a shortlist ;-)

Speaker cable I have – erm… cannae remember what it is mind ;-) Fairly reasonable stuff though… Just found some, QED Silver Anniversary Biwire on the fronts, QED Contour Ultraflat for the rears. If I remember right I stripped a bit of the Silver Anniversary down (about 2 foot) to single strands to feed from the amp to the centre speaker.

So that leaves stands if I go bookshelf then! And possibly a decent iPod dock, or perhaps a DAC transport or something to plug it through?

Just toying with cutting the budget and going with something like the Warfdale Diamond 9 jobs as they are rumoured to be exceptional for a very modest spend (leaving me a good chunk for said carbon exhaust!)

Normally I would… but there is a serious lack of HiFi retailers in these here parts! Just kind of looking for a starting point really – then if I can find somewhere with all/most in stock that is not too far away I can arrange some auditions before setting off!

On the AV forums too, well – one of them. Seems very quiet on there though, so thought I would cast the net further for advise ;-) I have had some interesting general comments though, so starting to build a picture of what kind of set up I need to be looking at, which starts to narrow the field… which is a start!

I like Shark… got an S500 for my first lid as it was the best fit I could find in my price range. It became my “spare” after 6 months as I came into some cash and decided to splash out on full new leathers and lid (Scott leathers, Shoei XR-1000 lid as it is about the best fit for me on the market).

But yep – go and try them all on within your budget – and if you have never bought such a thing before go somewhere with decent staff who will help you out ;-)

Think spoiling your paper is an utter waste of time – if everyone protests like that then the winning party will do so with only a very small percentage of the total votes… which is just going to perpetuate this bollox. Vote for a party which isn’t one of the big 2, and preferably not that bunch of racist cocks.

That was a good price – would have been tempted myself! My espresso machine is dying slowly, not sure if it will survive another move (in a few weeks) as these things seem to kill them :-(

Stove top pots don’t make espresso btw, they are called mocha pots and make mocha ;-) I love both espresso/ristretto as well as the milkshake varieties – all for different occasions or times of day.

Did mine on a 5 day course (first day CBT, then 3 days lessons with the test on day 5). It was fine – the bigger bike is easier to ride than the wee 125 if you are not a midget ;-) That was from 0 riding experience (well other than pissing about on field bikes many, many years ago!) so you will be fine. It’s loads of fun too, though the full days are very, very tiring!

Some people are suggesting that the new test is easier! The manouvers are all done on nice level, traffic free, special areas which has got to make them easier!

Given the fact it involves Dita Von Tease… that is entirely possible ;-)