This sort of thing wouldn’t happen if you just let your friends in the government surveil you 24/7 by drone! It’s not like you’ve got something to hide right?

Granted they’re pretty crap to ride.

But it beats having to carry a lock, or having the low level “will it, won’t it be there” anxiety that comes with leaving a bike in a public place!

Have you considered the Boris Bike? I guess £2 a day will add up very quickly, but it may be an option to just figure out the route first and not be lumped with the bike while you do.

Goodman for a steak and some whiskey.
iMax for whatever’s on after a stroll across the bridge.
Then go to Vauxhall and have someone wee on you.

EDIT: Forgot to add, cry into the hair of the woman in front of you on the night bus in shame as you head back to your hotel room.

She’s a role model for anyone.

Overcame sexism and racism to be a career woman in a very difficult place. Raised her children in a country with a war going on with no parental support for almost all of it.

She did pack some ropey lunches (sugar and margarine sandwiches anyone?) and sometimes her career did come first before her kids, but I understand why and that helps. She’s made huge sacrifices for her family and children. Not sure if some of them were things I could do.

She’s got a massively naive streak wrt some things, but you can’t doubt her love for her kids and family. Dad’s a bit of a homebody so she does a lot of travelling on her own around the world which is pretty impressive for someone her age. She’s got no fear. Very unmaterialistic as well with money and loves spoiling the people around her.

Wouldn’t have anyone else be my mum.

It’s been a long road and lots of rocky bits with mine, but we’re finally in a good place. Finding out what his relationship with his parents were really helped me understand why he was the way he was when we were growing up. He was one of those who was secretly proud of you but would never let on. He’s given to emotional displays, and I can’t think a grandparent could love their grandchildren more than he does.

It really helped when I realised I had to accept him for who he was if I wanted him in my life. He’s not perfect, but he made a lot of sacrifices for me and overcame his “programming” a lot more successfully than most. For example, he’s very pro women’s rights for someone from his time.

He’s got a whip smart tongue and loves a gossip. I’d happily go out for a drink with him, but he only drinks whiskey and it’s blends at that, so he’s a bit of a savage really. Yeah, the old bugger’s alright. I’m glad we have him.

About £12 an hour in Norway, but apparently you can’t live in that there.

Hot Rod

I used to do Shepherds Bush to Waterloo, but going from Waterloo to Euston isn’t too bad (do it a couple of times a week). Takes about 11 minutes even in morning rush hour on a Boris Bike.

For routes I’d probably try and follow my nose a couple of times and see how it works out. With the road works and diversions you’ll most likely have to make some adjustments and the closest in terms of mileage may not be the best in terms of safety/flow and so on.

What bike are you going to use for the commute?

@BearBack thanks for taking the time to respond. Going to take a more serious look into this this year.

Why can’t you just transfer it into a trust the day before they turn 18?

@jimjam

You don’t have to get it illegally. Buy it on itunes.

I know, thanks. I think it’s on Amazon too. I’m not sure what the point you’re making is. I don’t stream/download it illegally. When I feel like I want to watch it, I’ll find a means to acquire it – legally.

Your rationale for streaming it illegally is along the lines of “it’s not available to me when I want it to be, so I’ll just acquire it illegally because I want it right now. How dare the owners of the content negotiate deals to have different air dates in different countries”. Or maybe you have a different reason. I’d be interested in hearing it.

Anyway, the UK/US air dates have been pretty much synced now for the last few seasons haven’t they? Why is it so important to people to watch it soon as it’s been aired and to also be able to acquire it in the method you want? Sometimes you don’t get what you want. Perhaps we should learn to accept that.

In an ideal world, you’d pay a fixed fee to your ISP which would bundle it several media services. But that will not happen anytime soon, because the ISP business model is to buy the infrastructure and collect rent on it. Internet is so important now, that people will pay for it regardless. They have no pressure to innovate or deliver a better service. Yes, some companies like Virgin are bundling OTT streaming products like NetFlix into their subs, but it will be a very, very, very long time until this ideal is realised.

On the other hand, once you’ve decided you “must have it”, you have a choice; pay yer money and get the product the legitimate way or get it the illegitimate way for free.

Why is this ^^^ so hard to understand?

@jimjam yes, I’m not a “fan”. I’ve read the books several times, I’ve read the fan theories, and the reason I started watching GoT was because someone I know directed Jack Gleeson in a movie and invited me to the premiere and I wanted to see what his character was like on the series. But no, I’m not a fan because I’m not rushing out to illegally get it on the internet.

Sometimes, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

@bob_summers which Vario are you looking at?

@mrblobby the Forte looks pretty awesome, but I’d save £300 and look at the newer Vario model instead. I’m not that bothered about coffee!

Which model do you have? I can’t find anything with a gram setting from Krups 🙁

@BearBack, you’re really selling Squamish to me. It does sound pretty sweet. Is there much to do in the winter if you’re not into winter sports and what if you’ve got young kids?

just admit your doing it bnecause you don’t want to pay

mikewsmith with the real answers here.

Why not just accept you can’t get everything you want? When my Sky sub finished I didn’t go out and pirate GoT. I just watched something else.

At the end of the day, media is just entertainment. Just watch something else FFS.

If they have barcodes you could automate some of the inventory work.

@Drac Sorry, I forgot my maths in the heat of the moment!

Like rone says, most people I know pirating content aren’t struggling for cash if we’re taking anecdotes into account. Mostly they do it because they’re lazy or maybe get some vicarious thrill out of doing something “proper nawty”, or maybe

don’t place any value on the work or the art.

So many false arguments. “oh I’d not have watched it if not for a pirate stream/download”. How many times did you send a cheque to the creator because you watched it and went “I’d have paid to watch that”? Don’t everyone rush to answer all at once!

I’m laughing at all the tossers going “yeah, look at me sticking it to Murdoch yeah? Geek pie bruv”.

Do you think Rupert sits in a **** OB truck on a freezing Wednesday night at Stoke? Do you think he mans every **** camera at the match? Do you think he’s the one writing the software for NowTV or SkyGo? Do you think he’s sat in an edit suite full of stale farts every week? There are real people with mortgages to pay and families to feed who work really damned hard to bring this content to you. You should be able to respect that even if you don’t respect the person whose name is on the building.

The revenue from big name movies/TV series you watch are then used to subsidise riskier projects. If you want an example think of something like Sideways which is a great movie that nearly didn’t get funded. This money doesn’t just go to actors swanning around set, it goes to people paid a pittance because they love what they do. When you’re a 19 year old freelance runner on set even a £50 bonus means a lot. The money subscribers and moviegoers pay funds things like that too. Not just the Murdoch clan’s superyachts.

All you’re doing by pirating (especially the big name releases) is showing you’re completely devoid of any initiative or morals. For under £10 a month you could subscribe to a legitimate streaming service that has more media content than you could consume in several lifetimes. Hell, Amazon even give you next day delivery on top of it. But you don’t want to do that, you want to watch what everyone else does, but you don’t want to pay for it, or acknowledge that there’s more to it than challenging your perception that you’re entitled to it.

I find it hard not to laugh when people in their 40s driving BMWs and living in half a million pound houses they bought for a button and a piece of string in the 80s moralise about how artists and content creators shouldn’t get paid for what they create because Rupert Murdoch or some other public figure. Lazy argument.

Hypocrites.

Why not lease a car then? He could even chop it in after a couple of years if he doesn’t prang it.

Work would be close to the part where Coal Harbour is on West Hastings Street.

I think downtown would be the option, or live North and closer to the mountains and commute!

I think BC may work out better cash wise in the mid to long term. I don’t know much about schooling or sport apart from cycling to be honest. Their winters seem pretty brutal too. I can feel myself being talked out of it now for a long term thing, but short term, 1-5 years it might be alright I reckon!

@Trailseeker they need to remove the hob to remove the worktop. They can’t refit the hob themselves because it needs to be done by someone who is gas safe.

@deepreddave I think you and I are on the same track. It’s just that nearly 2 years to replace a worktop is a long **** time to wait 🙁 The best outcome for me would be they pay me to put new worktops in using a local fitter instead of relying on their untrustworthy sub contractor.

If he’s expecting to live another 30 years then maybe stick 15k per year for the next 3 years in a stocks and shares ISA and cash out in 10. Put another 15k into cash each year and that’s 100k accounted for.

The remaining 50k he can leech for 16 years. In the interim he can cash out some of the other investments and rinse and repeat as necessary I guess.

I am not a financial adviser, it’s just what I’d do at 70 if I expected to live that long.

@Cougar I think I’ve reached that point today mate!

@deepreddave how’d you get on to the papers? I know the Observer has some sort of consumer investigation reporting, but is there an ombudsman or something like that? Not been able to find anything.

May have an opportunity to work there long term. Let’s see how it pans out.

Took a look at some of the houses there. I think we could afford something in North Van if I mortgaged myself to the hilt. But Squamish looks way too far away for work.

@tuskaloosa where are you looking at for houses and stuff?

Thanks all for the responses.

@Cougar not sure I fancy hanging around the TW office on the off chance they’ll see me to be honest.

I tried their customer service yesterday. I was told they’d take a look if I e-mailed them, but I’ve got no acknowledgement of it close to 24 hours later. I’ll give them a follow up call, and forward it onto their director. Tim Betts I think his name is.

The fitters who came yesterday have replaced one section of the worktop. When the plumber came to refit the hob it came to light that they’ not secured the cooker, or cut the cabinets to fit so it could be secured. They also promised to send a guy round to mastic/seal the worktop to where it meets the wall/tiling which hasn’t happened. Enough is enough really.

@BlindMelon Bracknell! mailtocuriousyellow at gmail dot com if you want to talk off the forum. Really appreciate it.

@Cougar losing it at them hasn’t helped my cause. Ultimately, they’re just trying to do a job and I just want them to do it 🙁

@scud ah, so it’s to have a documented trail of them doing sweet Fanny Adams about it?

It’s not been a great day to be honest. The builders have finished up, but it’s only brought to light that when the kitchen was originally done they didn’t fix the integrated cooker to the cabinets. Is this standard practice?

@scud I’ve already tried whoever the MD was, but I’ll try again. I think others on the estate have had similar issues with customer services flat out ignoring them.

I just had a chat with CS and they’ve asked to take another look. It’s worth a shot I guess.

I’m just wondering at which point you go enough is enough and just pay someone to do it. These guys have visited my house 4 times and not fixed it. Why would number 5 be the charm if they’re using the same subby?

@lowey I called the NHBC today. They want to get one of their inspectors in to look at it again and speak to TW to fix it. I’m not sure what that will yield to be honest.

@dmorts it was the MD for our regional office. I’m trying again, but JJL blame TW and TW just ignore my e-mails. I’ve got multiple promises from them to call, or mail which never materialised leaving me to chase them for nearly 2 years.

The subby has been pretty shit to deal with, so I don’t really want them to be the people doing the work. I don’t think the guys they’re using are kitchen fitters. Just odd job guys.

@hebdencyclist I’ve already tried that as I originally reported it to Tailor Wimpey, answer came there none. I’ll try again, thanks for taking the time to read this.

Where would you look if you wanted to buy a house there?

I think the “swap for an air gun or paintball gear m8?” is Pinkbike?

@antennae I thought I knew what I was doing putting £10 on Nadal to win the Aussie Open. A loss of £10 and 5 nail biting sets later, I regret nothing!

That £1 on Australia to beat NZ in the cricket hurt though 🙁

Where can you bet on this?

So, highlights were the Banana Leaf, Medina and the steak. Food was excellent everywhere.

Service, man, you cannot beat North America for service. Wait staff always knew what the beers they were serving would taste like, never had to wait for a refill, or to be asked what more I wanted.

MEC was a bit of a disappointment, but there were loads of shops around to make up for it. Even spent some time in Dunbar Cycles ogling the merch.

I cannot believe people live in a country where you can work for a tech startup, and then be in Whistler under 45 minutes after finishing work. I’ll definitely be going back one day!

If you really loved yourself:

They’re supposed to protect your nads from radiation! At 42 Euro per pair you’d better love yourself a lot 😉

I feel your pain brother.

I addressed it by adopting a little and often maintenance scheme. Been for a ride? Clean the drivetrain immediately. Muddy kit and shoes? Brush the shoes off soon as you get back, rinse the clothes before you sit down for a cuppa. Eat the little annoyances as soon as you can.

With accumulating kit, I’ve just stopped buying stuff. Pretty much everything I have is eminently serviceable. I don’t need to have the latest and greatest for everything.

Having said that, the hardtail could use a good clean and there’s a ton of kit I should get rid of to make some space!

It’s cool. I’ll get round to the other things when I’m a man of leisure!