CRC – probably about 7k, no complete bikes though. All my orders up to a couple of years ago show as £0.00 though. About £45 of that 7k would be card fraud (obviously refunded!)

Probably spent about another 12-15k at other shops over 15 years (Merlin, Wiggle, Triton, Winstanleys, Harry Hall (when it was under the Corn Exchange), Leisure Lakes, NWMTB). £3.5k on fleabay, probably sold £1.5k too.

:lol:

NB. Asking in store the other day resulted in probably the most surreal and pointless argument ever with a shelf-stacker there.

Cheers RS. Never know, they might start stocking it again now people (me and thee) are mithering for it…

Pretty random post!

Can’t ride without it!

Leekspin.com FTW.

Pink Panther, especially the Ant and the Aardvark bit.

Thanks for pointing that out… I had noticed, yes. :lol:

It’s just a blip…

Anyone remember a kids program about some kind of elves/sandman type things at the bottom of the graden, would have been early 90’s.

Five children and it?

BV deal in physical assets. You’re right though, most others are paper.

:lol:
It’s all relative. I have safe money in other stuff, ten-year assurance schemes, ISAs etc, I’ve exhausted most of the ‘normal’ low-risk saving methods that would appeal to me. 6.5k has gone on gold split between London and Zurich, 1k on silver. What’s the worst that can happen, I lose the equivalent of the cost of a night out before bailing out? What’s the alternative, lose money anyway as the best common saving rates are nearly 3% below inflation. If I do lose out, the other £2.5 might go on black or red…

NB probably shouldn’t mention that I did work for HSBC for nine years in one of their international branches doing import/export doc credits, mostly involving arguing discrepancies with Nigerian and Indian banks. Irony is that they paid a pittance so I never had reason to ask my peers there for investment advice.

Thankyou chaps and chapesses. BullionVault have a new customer, stashed the majority in there, gold and silver. Scarily easy and quick. May try to do something wholesome with the rest. I’d had a look at gold earlier in the year but I somehow missed BV, seemed like everywhere else was a bit more hassle.

Bought a ti frame, again no problems. Friendly on the phone. Have some good offers every now and then (ti Charge Spoons for £35 a few months ago).

Yours by any chance? :-)

For cash ISAs check out West Brom BS, think it’s 3.07 I’m getting with what I’ve got squirrelled away in there but IIRC that rate is only available through m*neys*perm*rket. Will have a look at RBS ta.

Looking into this for next year myself as a poorly-concealed surprise for the missus, Tromsoe seems to be one of the best bets although it’s quite near the coast (more risk of cloud) and not the easiest to get to, nor the cheapest once you’re there.

From my limited research going when there’s a new moon apparently maximises your chances of a decent viewing. 2012 is supposed to be forecast a good year for seeing them.

If you’re going to Iceland best bet is supposed to be Akureyri in the north, Reykjavik’s weather is usually unpredictable. We’ve been a few times now and never seen the northern lights either in Reykjavik or out in the sticks.

Yossarian, will look into that, at least for part of my stash, good call. This year’s ISA allowance has been done, rates are pants. I’ve done the ‘m0ney saving expert’ bank account shuffle so many times none of them will give me their special ‘introductory’ rates any more although when it comes to buying a house I might be able to build my own out of bricks made from compacted bank junk mail…

Ha, Iceland’s had enough of my money, addicted to the place, been there three years in a row.

Price sounds about right. Few years ago I had an 06 RC39 which had a stanchion come loose in the crown, quoted over £200 for service and repair from Pace so held onto them while I mulled it over. Ended up forgetting about them, found them last year in the wardrobe and put them on fleabay (fully described as knackered) starting at 99p. Sold for £120. Madness.

Already punching above my karma on premium bonds, won nearly as much as my sister who’s got ten times as many!

Dream Warriors FTW

My dad’s 2001 Bravo:
Brake leaks
Speedo was about 50% out
Throttle cable always loosening
Sunroof leak
Rear wiper motor
Central locking would lock/unlock randomly of its own accord any time of day/night
Suspension bushes
Serious corrosion
Lights would blow every few weeks

Apart from that ok.

Electrics from the Titanic.

Autoglass – wouldn’t touch them. When fitting a new windscreen (after a suspiciously half-a***d repair attempt with the resin) for me last year the chump broke all the clips when removing my scuttle panel then tried to glue it down with windscreen sealant as a bodge. He was arrogant too, and ‘scuttled’ off quick without saying he’d made a pig’s ear of it. They seem to think they have a captive market, bin them and use someone else if poss. Definitely watch them work if you can’t use anyone else.

They’re related to stinkbugs apparently, some stink really bad but some are meant to smell nice. Wind it up and let us know.

Am I the only one using yellow tape with tubes? Is this wrong?

(haven’t made my mind up yet which way to go)…

Good to see raw karma in action yesterday.

Terry himself has said he used the word ‘black’ rather than blind in that footage, although in a denial context. His version of events seems a bit dubious.

Looking on google maps on the size of the lake it’s draining, come back tomorrow.

Thar she blows!

Thanks. Plenty of drivers at work have had the same experiences sadly, but they were by far the best people to talk to about it. We are offered help through official channels and when returning to work have to be accompanied the first time we drive past the location involved. My other half is a qualified counsellor (and animal behaviourist!) so she could keep an eye on me, although I was pretty ok after the first couple of days – knowing you did all you could at the time helps a lot. We went for a bit of sun to Fuerte while I was off too. The other guys affected who turn up to the scene and those who have to clean the mess up don’t tend to get anywhere near as much support as drivers do which is poor. The trains involved are taken out of service ASAP, sent to depots for tests/data-recorder downloads/cleaning/repair if necessary and ours go onto the underframe cleaning pit which washes any rogue bits out (usually fingers etc) which are then put in a biohazard bag and left for collection. Not so dignified.

Worst things post-incident were going to the GP and telling her in a matter-of-fact way I’d killed someone at work less than 36 hours ago and that I need a sicknote; the police coming round weeks later for a statement and then obviously the inquest months later, but the inquest gives you some closure. The family had passed a message through the police in my case early on saying they were sorry and concerned for my welfare which helped a huge amount. It’s rare but some families can struggle to understand things at the inquest and they’re given the opportunity to ask the driver questions on the record, that can be difficult (ie ‘why didn’t you stop’?). The coroners are usually well versed in these inquests though and don’t make you answer daft questions.

The press are usually at the inquests and can be a right PITA – they’ll often latch on to you if they get the chance and try to get you to say something, you have to keep your wits about you. The one I had this year ended up with my name in most of the national papers as it was deemed quite ‘newsworthy’ in some ways.

Cheers. It wasn’t an easy day and will unlikely be the last incident like that for me (about another 35 years left yet before I retire). The average driver probably has one every 5 years or so, unsurprisingly they’re more common these days.

Back on topic though, most tube drivers are RMT (most main line drivers Aslef) – the RMT’s B0b Crow can’t resist the temptation of bringing chaos to London using so few pawns.

Correct, there are people who have the unfortunate job of picking up bits, and obviously the trains need cleaning (underneath etc & driver’s seat)…

Yup, they were probably heading back into Manchester for their London connections…

Mild graphic content.

I wonder how an automated system would have dealt with the train I was driving one night earlier this year, which was crush loaded with a few hundred boisterous drunk M*n Un***d fans, people slightly inebriated going to Manchester for a night out and families who’d been to the seaside for the day going home.

About two thirds into the journey a bloke jumped in front of us committing suicide. There was about two seconds between him jumping out from behind a bridge and the impact noise, during which time I applied the emergency brakes and hit the emergency button on the cab radio. A train was coming towards us from a station about a mile away where it had just departed. I had to stop that train using emergency handsignals (no time to put detonators on the line).

In between stopping that train and arranging the emergency services giving directions to the nearest access point, the location of the incident, what they could expect to find, the location of my train etc, there were drunk idiots banging on the cab door moaning and being general d*cos. I had to tell them what had happened, that we wouldn’t be moving for a while and try to reason with them not to leave the train whilst I went back to see if I could offer any first aid. Unfortunately the bloke was scattered over the entire 600 yards or so it had taken us to stop.

By the time the paramedic arrived the football lot had forced the train doors open and about two dozen were roaming on the track. Good job it wasn’t an electrified area perhaps. If it had been, I’d have been the one who would have had to arrange for the traction current to be switched off in that area. The football lot had no idea where they were (only me and the guard would have known), where they were going or what risks there might be, nor that technically they were trespassing in what was at that point still technically a major crime scene.

Shortly after, about 50 coppers turned up. They helped with evacuating the passengers under my direction until railway incident officials and other on-call staff turned up. There were quite a lot of formalities to do as obviously I was the only person to have seen this bloke’s last moments. A few months later I had to meet the guy’s family at the inquest where I had to explain their son/brother/dad’s last actions.

This is the sort of thing we are trained for and expected to deal with, don’t even get me started on the shifts, the abuse we get, the bricks chucked at us at 100mph+. My basic pay isn’t even 40k, the only reason tube drivers will potentially be earning more than some main line drivers in a few years time is because of the ridiculous prices in That London, that and the Tories don’t want the boat rocking during the limpics.

Maybe some perspective.

+1 for KFC. If it’s good enough for Usain Bolt…

Anyway wasn’t there a thread on here recently from someone who ‘bonked’ just after eating a Mc-murder burger, wrong type of carbs etc?

+1 for 28 Days Later. I’ve had 28 Weeks Later since it came out on DVD and daren’t watch it.

Dog Soldiers

Tremors (when I was 12).

Worked 35-hour 4-day week since 2005, can’t knock it, wonderful.

Honda Jazz (mk1) – half a day first attempt (in from underneath through wheelarch liner, no visibility).

+1 for Merlin. There’s a new railway station just opened 100yds from their front door this week too.

Never really had any problems with Wiggle orders, but had a bit of a ‘computer says no’ moment when asking if they can get some small spares parts recently.

Sounds like exactly the sort of thing that rip-off merchant in Buxton does.

Does the battery lead plug fit standard Hope Vision batteries (ie Hope Vision 2 / 4)?

Thermite?

What’s the price of milk got to do with any of this?