Many years ago Mrs and I spent our honeymoon in the summerhouse of Wray Castle and had a good few nights at the Drunken Duck which was within easy walking distance – food and beer were great, fond memories of that pub.

Most folk on the M62 between Manchester and Leeds seem to be doing 80mph plus (roadworks permitting). Should a Police car pull behind them without light or sirens to a few feet I can imagine some unpredictable driving might result, especially as their first rection is likely to be to try to get back below 70.

When I was asking about skills I was more meaning the ability to assess and predict others which I assume is still part of advanced driver training.

But racing drivers do it surrounded by other highly skilled drivers and, when I have watched it, certain crashes are attributed to less experienced racers; typical drivers out for a visit to see Auntie Mary are unlikely to possess advanced driving skills and could easily panic or react in an unsafe manner.

Also – what is unsafe for you to do is probably pretty safe for them to do given their training and car handling ability.

Can driver training really ensure that it is safe to drive 6-10 feet from the car in front in busy traffic at 85mph.

That question sounds quite facetious but it is meant genuinely – if this is possible then I am more than a little impressed.

What the article seems to be saying is that no matter how well taught you are, and no matter how careful you are, there will sometimes be scenarios where you don’t see things because your brain actually edits them out in order to preserve continuity and its own understanding of the scene.

That is very interesting.

I have often wondered why I, as a keen cyclist, but also a driver, occasionally miss seeing a bike even though I make a point of trying to see them.

using that logic, do you want a managers salary for doing a nurses job?

But it wasn’t me who brought up a £25K pension which is what I was referring to in my post. I am reasonably happy with my job, salary and conditions but not with how they are being eroded and was commenting on jambalaya using such a figure. Not really my fault that you selectively read/quoted.

it’s a type of pyramid scheme

So I’d be best out of it then.

What’s the odds on them returning my money with interest. I can spend it enjoying myself and depend on the state in later life like many others are planning to do.

get promoted and earn more. I have a 4k/yr civil service pension and I only did 8 yrs

But I want to be a nurse not a manager. Do I have to have a shit pension then if I dont do a managers job?

I was more commenting on this assumption that all public sector employees get massive pensions, when it’s mainly the civil service who do. :D

Anyway, this is a waste of everyone’s time and the discussion will just go round and round.

It’s pretty much decided by the general public that I am a workshy scrounger so perhaps that’s what i ought to become.

Time to go to work now. Bye.

I would love a £25K pension, where will I pick that up from?

On current projections it looks closer to £10K to me.

I am no expert however and will be happy to be proved wrong.

As I stated above though I do seem to be making contributions inline with others in the private sector who bought into their schemes at the same time as me.

I would guesstimate that an index linked state pension would cost circa 2.5% – so £25,000 pa would require a pension pot of £1,000,000

Even supposing I got a £25k pension and drew it for 10-15 years the Govt would be keeping the pot once I popped my clogs and would have only been paying me from the interest that million pounds generated. Except they have not saved it for me, they have spent it all -yes?

Over 40 years my and my employers contributions should be about £250,000 plus 40 years interest which should be enough to provide my pension and leave the govt a tidy sum when I die.

Again this is subject to them putting my money in a pot rather than spending it.

Or am I barking up the wrong tree.

And surely they should have invested it for me rather than spending it on other people who are now begrudging me having it back.

we don’t need much convincing because it is.

try buying something equivalent on the pension market…

Well, according to the Office for National Statistics Pension Trends (2012 edition)the average employee/employer contribution for a defined benefits scheme for 2010 is 5.1% employee and 16.2% employer so I think I fit within that range and am compareable to equivalent private schemes started in the same time frame as mine.

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/pensions/pension-trends/chapter-8–pension-contributions–2012-edition-/index.html

If you are talking about what can be purchased now then fair enough, but I bought into mine many years ago. I think its a bit unfair to compare what I bought then with what you can buy now.

You wouldn’t expect someone to buy your house from you today based on what they could have bought it for in 1936, would you?

Nor would you expect someone who has paid a private pension for 30 plus years to suddenly have a massive devaluation just because others can’t buy a similar product now, I assuume.

Yet you think that should happen to me????

Never mind, you’ll still be able to ride with us ‘fat knackers’ next week.

8% and 14% for me, although as a nurse none of this actually goes in a fund but goes straight back to the treasury.

I rely on future governments to not decide that paying my pension is unaffordable and convincing other tax payers that I have a gold plated pension that should be hijacked – bit like now really.

Personally I would prefer an actual fund but that is not going to happen.

Yup, I’m another of Luke’s middle aged fat knacker types that subscribes…

We will have to sit on the skinny little fecker next week, lets see how fast he is then.

I drive 2 miles to the gym

In that big **** off planet raper??

Wait til I see your mum and dad.

Chuckled at the description here:

http://www.mtbe.co.uk/cannondale-scalpel-carbon-1-2011-may-take-px-t27980.html

‘it’s a cracking bike’

He got it from the Rush site, they have a few designs. I like the Fly by Night one.

http://www.rushbackstage.com/rushbackstage/mens-apparel/index.html

See I must be really naive.

I would never think that I would need my passport to go somewhere in England, and thus would not think of taking it.

Scotland, fair enough, but not in my own country.

WTF do you do if you don’t have a passport?

footflaps – that’s my mate so I’ll ask him if he got the shirt in UK.

:D

I like to use ‘prolly’ as I was barracked once on here for using it.

I found it especially pleasing that the individual who moaned about poor spelling/grammer had managed a misspelling in the title of his previous post.

dunno, prolly recent

You can kip in my shed if you like.

:D

tart

Was up that way at the weekend but only saw a bit of it above Torver – that was all still flat and intact.

I can remember Zach crying when Si Hill took that little Scott away from Mayhem to take back to yours.

It must have had 5 different kids on it now.

All part of the race to the bottom that rail privatisation has brought us. Fantastic isn’t it?

Don’t be silly, privatisation is wonderful. You get all the efficiencies that only profit driven enterprise can give with extremely motivated staff continually exceeding targets and expectations.

It’s so good we will soon see all these improvements in health, social care, policing, schools etc.

Suspect he means when viewed later on the PC.

It is having issues at the moment, seems to do it when the weather is good and, I assume, lots more people are out doing stuff.

Sometimes it catches up later, sometimes it never corrects itself.

Unfortunately I will be up some hills in the Lake District so am going to have to give the closing ceremony a miss.

*takes a bow*

Seriously though, I like Teej, just wish he wouldn’t rise to the bait so much.

It’s rabbit hunting.

Once the rabbit is spotted the woman jiggles about in her bikini thus confusing the rabbit and giving the same effect as car headlights at night.

Whilst Mr Bunny is distracted the bird of prey (usually this will be a rare Fluffybunny Hawk – not to be confused with the more common Shyte Hawk) swoops down and deliver the deathblow with a quick headbut.

HTH

As he is no longer able to defend himself here, I think we should also have a lifetime ban for anyone who was taking the piss out of him or otherwise trying to stir things or get a cheap laugh by mentioning him in threads he had not even replied to.

Tory boys see this type of behaviour as normal.

Andydick0 ypu full of sheet..
Noisey clutch material
One day you will understand what the means

Only when you come back and translate it into English.

since pictures of the real Wallace vary quite a lot

I blame all the photoshopping.

Think he may be looking at people significantly poorer than folk in America, such as Africa where the majority of people have problems buying food let alone drugs.

It is claimed that big pharma companies actively resist sales in such locations as it would drive prices down in more affluent nations; also overzealous protection of patents to the detriment of families existing on the borderline between life and death (specifically I am thinking of AIDS drugs).

I am not looking to argue the rights and wrongs, just clarifying what, I think, JY meant.

Off to work now.

Have a nice day.

My last load of NHS provided drugs didn’t cost me anything. Mind you, I’m reasonably well off, would I have had to pay if I was poor?

You must be brighter than that…..

……but just in case: ‘some people are uncomfortable with letting poor people who don’t live in the UK to die’.

Only the ones at the crossroads next to my house that have a sensor to detect waiting vehicles. The sensor obviously doesn’t think a bike is a vehicle, as it never changes unless there is a car in front of me.

We have a few of these where all lanes are red until a car comes along during night time hours.

If I am out at these times I can either wait for a car to come along and activate the lights to green or go through on the red.

I did wait once to see how long it would take for a car to arrive but gave up after 20 minutes and went through.

You rode your bike on the A69?

Congratulations on still being here.

Was ok from Greenhead until around Corbridge area – when I got there it was about 08.15hrs and much of the traffic seemed in a rush to get to Newcastle.

As I said only had a close one with one car in all the time up there. Get more close calls round here on a short run into town, reckon you’re pretty lucky with your drivers further up North.

Was in Edinburgh a few years back and was shocked with what cyclists got away with.

Mind you, I’m on the Yorkshire side of the Pennines so it’s not all bad. When I venture to Manchester people intentionally cut you up, especially if they see you coming up the inside in a cycle lane. Nine times out of ten at least one car will pull over to block you.

I have ridden many of these roads and tracks in the past week whilst staying with my mother in law in Throckley; this being the first time I’ve ever bothered taking a bike along.

I must say that it was a pleasure to ride all the roads up there and I got 200 miles in over the days we were visiting. I found the standard of driving and consideration from the drivers refreshing compared to the Huddersfield/Manchester area roads (except for the **** in a Lamborghini with something like TY4 LNT number plate who nearly took me out).

The military road over to Greenhead was my favoutite and I never felt unsafe. However the A69 back to Newcastle at rush hour was more like riding on a motorway and not an experience I would like to repeat too often.

I do like the Sustrans ethos though and have direct debited them a tenner as month for years – would be as good contribution to cycling for anyone, I reckon.

I always want riders to go to single file as well but now appreciaite better the longer group to overtake arguement.

However, overtaking a group riding 2 and 3 up means I end up being only 24-36 inches from the outside rider of 3 as he will invariably be on, or near, the white line (just like overtaking a car or being on a dual carriageway). If single file I would be able to give a much wider berth which feels much safer when I am in the car.

Perhaps this feeling is why so many drivers want bikes to single file.

*waves at Dave*

More to the point – why does he look like Steve Peat’s taller, skinnier brother in the pic?.