I'm going to attempt a hand written letter perhaps with a little parcel of things that mean something to both of us, photos etc

That sounds like a recipe for an ex-boyfriend bin bonfire.

Get your arse up there, and take her away for a night to talk things over with no-one else around. Tell her how you really feel about her, and if she really is "The One", beg, grovel, and make sure she knows you're not just doing it to fool her into taking you back.

If she really feels the same way about you, and is just pissed off about the breach of trust, she'll take you back. Otherwise I'm afraid you'll just have to accept that it's over, and find someone else. There's no point dragging a relationship on when one doesn't trust the other, as both will end up getting hurt.

Most repairers will be happy to sort out anything you might find wrong, as they'll just invoice the insurance co. If not, just get on to your insurer and they'll have to sort it.

Phone them tomorrow, and ask to speak to their complaints officer. Tell him/her that you want to register a complaint. They are obliged to report any complaints to the Law Society, and will not want it to go to them, if they are in any way a reputable firm. You will suddenly find that they are bending over backwards to apologise, and will probably offer you something just to keep you quiet.

This was advice given to me a few years back by a solicitor friend of mine when the solicitor handling my house sale screwed up. It worked a treat; the appropriate wrists were slapped, and everything was sorted out VERY quickly after that.

I hope this helps.

PS, sorry to hear about your Dad's disease. I hope you get this sorted out with the minimum of fuss.

The A1's absolutely fine around here (Newcastle), apart from the usual crawling traffic around the Metro Centre. Even the Carter Bar road is open, (A696) if you want to go the quicker, scenic route.

Since when did you w**k Pimp? I thought they just sat you in a corner with a pack of crayons and a kid's computer? 😆

how can this be seen if it is so far away??????

Because it's more than twelve years old. Unlike you. :p

I'd avoid going over Carter Bar if I were you. Head over to the M6 instead. From what the hysterical news reporters are saying, it's mostly affecting the east side of the country, so go that way to avoid getting stuck behind people who can't drive in anything other than perfect road conditions. 🙄

120g weight difference (according to Hope's listings). If you're not doing any looooong downhills you probably wouldn't notice too much advantage from the M4s.

It's been delivered here by mistake. I'll sell you it back if you like…

Maybe it's too quiet because nobody plays the guitar. You should remedy the situation.

I've recently swapped to a set of 150mm revs from a set of 130mm Talas, and I'm quite impressed. The seem much stiffer, (both in qr), and quite a bit plusher on small stuff than the foxes, but I don't think the damping is quite as sorted.

The stanchion wear on Foxes is bad, but it's not really a problem. My 4 year old pair were never serviced, (except for me changing the seals once), but the performance never changed. It's not possible to lose air pressure or damping oil because of the wear, as both are housed in the upper legs. It basically just introduces a bit more slop into the steering precision, and slightly reduces their plushness. The only times it can be a real problem are if you wear right through the stanchion, (which would take a VERY long time), and if you try to sell them on.

Geoff, Microsoft Security Essentials runs fine on mine. I got rid of Avast ages ago and replaced it with AVG after it ground the pooter to a halt. I then got rid of AVG after that did an even better job of preventing viruses by preventing the PC from running.

MSE seems to be running much more efficiently than anything else I've ever used. It just seems to get on with the job without making a fuss about it. There's no bells and whistles on it, but it's only trying to stop viruses, not save the world.

Ta!
🙂

I'll have one in that case please… dave at septembercycles dot co dot uk.

Thanks.

http://www.bikemagic.com/classifieds/classifieds.asp?v=2

Just change your will so that your bike goes to me, then ignore the pain.

Or go to A&E, explain what happened, and I'm pretty sure you'll be checked out before all the other's in the triage area…

I thought the jeans thing was from prison and was to denote that you're up for a bit of rumpy pumpy with another man.

Go tell them that, we'll stand back and watch.

You'll stand back and watch the rumpy pumpy??? 😯 😯 😯

Guilty? Possibly, but I have my doubts given that the main evidence against her (as far as has been reported) was a kitchen knife that had both their DNA on it, (which isn't entirely surprising in a shared flat!), and the fact she did a cartwheel while waiting to be interviewed by the police.

I wouldn't be surprised if she did do it, and I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't. Fortunately it's not up to me to decide.

On looks, I'd rate her as a 7 or 8 pinter. Ordinary. Definitely nothing special, but not a minger either.

As Jambo said, encourage it, with a screwdriver and hammer. Be careful not to scratch the steerer, or bend/damage the race.

That's the crown race. Part of the headset.

I've gotta be honest, it sounded like it was a reasonable track played badly, or at least put through a bad mix.

34. Self employed bike mechanic and Bikeability instructor.

If you were taking out a contract, that is effectively a credit agreement, so you should have a cooling off period still. If it is a regulated credit agreement it should state in your paperwork somewhere that you have time to change your mind, no matter what Vodafone themselves say.

That may not cover the actual handset though, depending on how the contract is set out. If all else fails though, if they don't have a signed contract, it's useless to them, and un-enforceable. Just dump it back on them.

Peanuts, fat-balls, and sunflower seed kernels. Lots of leftovers can be put out as well; cereal packet dregs, stale cake, stale bread (soaked in fat/gravy).

Try to avoid the packs of "Bird Seed", and whole sunflowers, as they just get spread around and start growing all over your garden.

If you want the birds to come back regularly, make sure there's always something there for them, and try to be consistent with what time you put it out.

It was only the thought of the people I was leaving behind that stopped me going through with it a few years back. I wish I'd talked to someone sooner, but your mind doesn't work logically when you're as low as you can get.
Since then I've had a lot of support from family and friends, as well as professional counselling, and I think it's done me a world of good. I still have my dark moments, but now I know the signs, and can talk about it before it gets too bad.

The HR guy was really up his ass, condascending, smug ****

I think it's a job requirement. 😀

It's good that you're being positive about it. I think (from the sounds of it), that it's pretty much inevitable now, but that's no reason to give up. Fight for as much as you can get, and as mentioned above, don't get suckered into accepting any sort of "voluntary" terms. Make sure you keep a record of everything that is said in the meetings etc, and even any personal conversations with your colleagues/management. Keep a diary of what happens when. It may also be worth taking a voice recorder into the meetings so you can take accurate notes later, although you ought to inform them that you are recording it. I can't see any reason for them to object, if everything they are doing is above board 😉

Finally, if you have any personal data on things like laptops/phones etc. copy it out now, as you may suddenly find yourself having to hand back stuff like that, and being put on gardening leave at your next meeting.

I would seriously think about getting a solicitor to come along to the meeting with you.

They are saying they are making the role supporting my customer redundant – although one of my colleauges will take over the job of looking after them.

Is there any reason why you could not take over your colleague's customers, and make him redundant? If clients are transferable between sales managers on the same level, there's no reason for them to single you out.

As I said, get some legal advice. It may even be worth bringing a solicitor along to your next meeting, as you are entitled to do, just so that they can make sure you're not getting shafted for the wrong reason.

Out of my team of 5 sales managers, I'm the only one being made redundant – work that one out!

At this point you should be questioning why your post is the one that has been chosen. Are all five of you doing the same job? They can't actually make a person redundant (technically). They can only make a job redundant, so if all 5 of you are doing the same job, it would be wrong of them to single you out. I might be talking out of my @rse here, but even with a good redundancy package etc. that could well be bordering on constructive dismissal.

Talk to someone who knows the ins and outs of employment law, then make sure they do everything properly, down to the letter.

Good luck, and don't start burning bridges until it's all over…

Stats like that are made up to make everyone think it's grim up north. I'm happy to keep it that way too, as less people coming up from the south means we get to keep our fantastic trails and incredible beaches to ourselves. 🙂

Ours costs about £6 a month for insurance, £50 a year for vets fees/injections/worming etc. and probably about £2.50 a week for food. She pretty much looks after herself, and spends most of her time either curled up on my knee, curled up on a bed, or running around the garden at full pelt like a complete loon.

By getting a iphone you will instantly become a bit of a tw*t.

You will no longer refer to it as a phone, and you will spend more and more time buying and playing with pointless applications, until your actual human interactions will dwindle to such an extent that you no longer talk to people on your phone, thus rendering it obsolete.

You will then find that you no longer need it for apps, as your computer already does everything the phone can do. You won't need it to be mobile because you no longer have any friends to go out with, and your employer will have sacked you for spending your whole working day playing with your toy.

The fashionistas will think you look cool in an uber-geek-chic kinda way though.

Or maybe I'm just cynical. 🙄

There's no easy answer really, and it comes down to what your priorities are. The five is a superb all-round bike, but is probably a bit compromised when it comes to jumps/freeride/DH, strengthwise (perfectly capable from a geometry point of view). The alpine is a just as much of an all-rounder, but leans more towards the downhill side of things.

The question is, where are you more prepared to compromise on performance? Uphill or downhill? If you're jumping etc, personally I'd say go for the alpine.

I wouldn't bother. She was the best bit of a very disappointing show.

Just call in sick on the way to the airport… 😉

Mine are pretty good. Buttery smooth, light and stiff, although they do seem to dive under braking more than the Talas they replaced. I'm pretty sure a bit of pressure fettling would sort that out, but I really can't be arsed.

Just cut it down, then treat the stump. B&Q do a good powdered stump killer that seems to do the trick.

I was told that my friend's uncle had lost the end of his finger by sticking it too far up his nose, and getting it stuck.

It just made me try harder… 🙄 😀

Can't see any similarity to anything Tarantino has done, other than the fact that NCFOM was kinda hyped. Everything Tarantino has done since Pulp fiction has been feeding off the buzz around pulp, and Reservoir Dogs, and if they'd been made exactly the same by anyone else they would have been ignored as the sh!te that they are.

NCOFM was a good film, but not great. To me, the only thing that made it stand out, (other than the performance from the wierd looking guy) was the suspense around the coin toss, and the fact that you just don't know which way it's going to go.

Stereophonics @ Newcastle Arena, about 2002 I think. Totally lifeless, dull performance in a half filled echoey hall. Dire.

Smashing pumpkins @ MEN arena around '96/'97, pretty much the same comments as above.

Green Day @ Manchester Apollo '96. Last night of their tour. Great music, crap venue, no atmosphere and they only played for 30 minutes.

Simply Red, Gateshead Stadium, '92. Utter utter shite. Nuff said.

I wonder how much the mother was paid to leak the story to the papers? And I wonder if they paid her extra to have a go at him about troop's equipment when he phoned to apologise for his spelling mistake.

The very worst thing that should have happened here is that someone should have circled it in red pen and written "Could do better" in a teacher stylee.