Hora, thats fine, but many folk don’t have the combination of luck, opportunity and circumstances to make a really good life.
If you are lucky to have a talent and a good job and make a good living then its fair that you should pay a fair level of tax. Both my brothers earn very modest wages and I would be happy to see policies put in place to ensure that a living wage is paid to all. If you want more than a living wage then work harder or study more…alternatively…chill out and ride more bikes.

br, I agree and wasn’t trolling Aracer. An “OK” policy is £500 a year and you will get taxed on that at 40% as BIK. It’s good for surgery that’s moderately urgent and non-elective and it also gives follow up care that would be unaffordable on the NHS.
As posted above, I am a big believer in NHS at a “good” level for all, but there will always be people who want to pay more of the money they have earned to get an “even better” service. I don’t begrudge them.
Same with education…you pay for private? Great! That means you pay for state education AND don’t take a place in it. Both my kids go to a local state school and are getting good grades. Good education should be available to all, but the key is EVEN better state schools, not hammering private schools.

Aftershave has no place in this world.
A decent EDT or EDP is what you should buy.
I use RL Safari or Platinum Egoist (my wifes fave), also wearing on occaision some Santal Royal that I picked up in Dubai airport…wonderfully woody, but a little sweet initially.

Cerutti and Hugo Boss do some nice fresh fragrances too.
I had never heard of Tom Ford…but now am going off to Google.

aracer…they do don’t they? Its called medical insurance.

Paying more money into a pension is a good way of bringing back under £50k if you can. Otherwise with two kids you would have an effective tax rate of 58% (40% income tax, plus 18p for every pound earned lost in child benefit) on any earnings between 50 and 60k.
Its an ill conceived policy, bringing up kids costs money and the child benefit is a good way of giving a help to ALL parents.
I would happily see introduced (and pay) and higher rate of income tax and dedicate that “extra” to schools and the NHS.
There are clearly some bitter folk on here who think that those earning lots are selfish money grabbing eejits. Those on £30-60k make up a huge part of the income tax collection and I think that’s fair, but if I was on 50-60k with two kids then I would feel I was paying too much into the system and getting too little back. Happily I am not affected by this policy.

Met my wife at a Leeds Uni Xmas ball. We were both very drunk and met on the dance floor. We danced not stop for 2-3 hours together, probably sobering up a little in the process.
Its our 19th wedding anniversary this week.
She is still hot whether I am sober or inebriated.

Before the morn ye’ll work mischief.

neighbour (or their builder) should pick up total cost of rectifying damage done to ceiling. The argument of “betterment” isn’t valid unless you would have chosen to do this anyway. If they won’t suck up the cost for THEIR damage then personally I would not seek to endear myself to them.

Pagid are pretty good, ATE are even better, especially for pads. Eicher are Eurocarparts own brand made to sound proper and “Germanic” I have read that they are not great quality, but have never tried them personally. I tried Mintex once and was not impressed.

Adagio for Strings – Samuel Barber
Lots of Elgar and Debussy.

Thats just reminded me…Christopher Walken. Also Donald Sutherland.

Jonny Depp in pretty much everything he is in.
Javier Bardem.
John Malcovic

I have an 18″ 29er inbred with very light use that I would be happy to sell. Built with decent kit and with a carbon rigid fork.

For urchins Tesco are pretty good. They do capped tarifs so they can’t go over the allowance. You can also check online and increase data if needed.

I live in Leeds and run winter wheels from late october to end March. I can confirm that they were perfectly safe in the abnormally warm haloween we had. They grip much better in the wet and now that we have snow today they are really showing their benefits. I bought a spare set of rims for my A2 to have a summer set and a winter set.

Thanks for advice all.
Alpineharry: point noted on driving lessons, they will of course be given by an instructor. Getting him insured on my car is so that he can get more hours in and practice in pre test.
Buying a small car IS an option, but we have a spare Audi A2 (restored by me!) and I would need to sell the A2 to fit another car on the drive. Don’t really want to do that.

There’s no way I am paying for him to have his own car. He can borrow a family one and build up his no claims when he is older. Thanks for pointing out that insurance is higher once passed…will bare that in mind!
A colleague at work said that he mum used to have a policy that allowed him to drive for so many days a year. Anyone heard of that?

I have had a few Montane bits of kit and the cut is not right for me. Prefer Rab or Embers for kit.

Buy a proper carbon steel wok from the chinese supermarket, season with oil, scrub clean while hot with salt and kitchen paper towel if needed. No need for teflon woks as they wont take the high temps you need for REALLY good stir frys. Other than that a mix of heat and oil on your existing wok MAY work.

Fenix is my first choice for LED torches.

Just watched it. Perfect blend of humour, commentary and thought provoking. Still he stole the Huq from Dara so can’t be forgiven.

You already have an 18V makita battery and charger…so the answer is easy. Buy the bottom of the range Makita LXT SDS drill as a naked drill (no case, no charger, no battery). I am gradually going fully Makita at home, no SDS yet.

This one?

http://www.ffx.co.uk/tools/product/Makita%20Dhr202Z%200088381093262%2018V%20Sds%20Plus%20Lxt%20Hammer%20Drill%20Bare%20Unit

I have an Ultimate and its brill.
This looks to be the same and though its expensive they hold their value:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Feedback-Repair-Stand-Sports-Elite/dp/B001CSPTSC

Good tyres, have used them on a few cars.

That Big Wooden House looks amazing! Sadly its booked for the first two weeks of August.
Should also say budget is £1500-£3000 for the week.

Only been on hols to Scotland once and that was near Lake Awe just off the trail to Glasgow, in a forest cabin thing. I don’t really have a set view of where abouts to go, so am open for folk to “sell me” on their favourite bit. We are travelling from Leeds.
If we were going to Lakes then anywhere would be OK, but I have a particular soft spot for Keswick.

No contest in our house, I give you Grace the British Blue.
Not cheap to buy, but then she got ill. I still reckon it would have been cheaper to get a new cat and a macbook pro with the change:

[just kidding].

This being STW….heres one thats REALLY nice, but clearly above your budget.

http://www.christopherward.co.uk/sale/temp/nearlynew-watches/nnc1000-kkkn.html

Please buy it to stop me being tempted!!!!

I made the same mistake…the head just flops at the torque limit. There is no click.

7am here.

I have the LOTR trilogy directors cut and enjoy them a fair bit. With the Hobbit I await the reverse directors cut…you know where three mediocre films are cut into one half decent one.
The final straw for me was “the desolation of Smaug” where the film halts just before the bit that the title indicates as the main event.
Blatant stretching out to multiple films has no place.
Will watch on Netflix next year.

As Yorkshire is the epicentre of roasts and savoury things with “pudding” in the title:
Good gravy starts in the roasting tin.
Couple of onions roughly chopped and 2-3 carrots.
The roast sits on this (chicken, beef, turkey, lamb etc.
After the meat is cooked you have the basis of the gravy awaiting in all its glory underneath.
The next bit is a little freestyle, but I add gravy granules and possbily alcoholic beverages (red wine) and enough water to make it into a gravy.
Whizz it with a hand blender and heat enough for the gravy granules to thicken…and voila great gravy.

Nivea intensive care in the blue pot. Buy it in bulk when on offer in JS for half price. Its made in Germany by proper scientists and is the best I have discovered in 25 years of shaving.

ah…might have to go check if its a case of RTFM.

Just tried mine. Even at 2Nm it seams to want to tighten bolts WAY more than I ever would. I know from years of Allen key use how tight to go into Alu before damage is done and this seems to want to tighten far too much before clicking. How has everyone else found theirs?

Bought on a whim too!!!! Thanks for posting.

32gb does approx 2 hours at 1080p on my Gopro3.
You can pick up a 64 GB for £25 now, so I would not worry about buying the smallest possible.
Go for a fast card (40+mbps) and maybe get one that has a USB3 reader with it unless you already have that.

Daffy, I have two A2’s and am fairly active on the A2 A2OC forum. They are great cars and bodywork wise are bearing up well to their age. You might already know that they are fully aluminium in construction and that Audi lost money on everyone sold due to the elaborate construction methods involved. The factory that made them now makes the R8.
If you are still in Leeds and need any help tyre kicking one then just ask.

An unused USE alien aero seatpost. Lovely thing. bought it in a sale for peanuts, but its way too long for anything other than an early 90’s Kona frame (or similar crazy long seatpost design).

Similar practice to what Tesco and Asda do. Not a great way to do business.