Awesomely useful. As Alex ^^^ says, it states a short shelf life on the packs – but I used some just yesterday which was supposedly use by January 2014 and it’s fine. Just about to use a bit more now!

It was The Man With The Child In His Eyes which got me into her (so to speak) a distressingly long time ago, but I grew into liking all her other stuff pretty rapidly.

The gigs (as she acknowledges, it’s not really a ‘tour’, is it?) happen to coincide around my birthday so methinks a self-indulgent treat is called for :-)

Very handy for Europe trips I’ve done. The app is useful too for remote loading up / checking balance etc.

Best visualisation that I’ve seen of the differences between perceptions of current wealth distribution, what people think would be a ‘fair’ distribution, and what it actually is (in the States) is here.

My Dahon Flo, nicked from my car in mid October 2013. You’d’ve thought that the Ritchey breakaway frame, Mary bars and pink cabling would make it stand out a bit on a resale or if some local toerag has got it. So far, zippo :-(

Ta. Thinking that a longer fork might be No Bad Thing if it lifts the BB a tad too, as it’s got a BB drop that’s about 10mm deeper than I had on my Flo.

Also found a few build specs after trawling around on t’interweb a bit more, seems people mix it up between 80 – 100mm with no climbing no worries on the Groove.

Ta muchly, folks. Choices, choices….

Oh yeah, definitely that one ^^^ from mikey74.

So many good books out there but a few here

For The Win by Cory Doctorow
Any of the Takeshi Kovacs books by Richard Morgan
In a fantasy vein, any of Guy Gavriel Kay’s books – Tigana always has me blubbing.

Another vote for Wool and I’ve just started the second in the trilogy Shift. The third is only out in hardback – c’mon!!

Well, glad I was away last night before reading dobbiejesmo’s post ;-)

As it was, I had a very quiet night of it in Chedworth Woods near the Roman villa ruin. Nice flat and sheltered area which I’d think has been used before but no litter etc. The only racket going on was the owls at night and the pheasants in the morning, noisy perishers ;-)

Spotted quite a few other promising looking options on the return ride this morning so, along with all your suggestions, that’ll keep me busy for a while :D

Hi all, thanks for all your suggestions – plenty to keep me interested (and soggy!) over the coming weeks! :-)

Thanks, folks. @IHN – yes, the land:gun ownership correlation is on my mind! @flatfish – I’d been thinking that the woods near Withington look promising so thanks for the confirmation. Choices…

Thanks, folks – here’s hoping…!

Should’ve mentioned – pink cables! And EggBeater pedals.

Down the pub with friends, suspect I’ll be the lone Welsh shirt in deepest Zummerzet!

Anything worth doing’s worth overdoing.

“The website is quite vague” :D

Surly Long Haul Trucker? Or Cross Check if you’re ok with V brakes?

Camino de Santiago (the Camino Frances version) from 27th of this month, dry run of Coast’n’Castles mid May ahead of helping a group do it in September.

Hoping the weather in Spain decides what it’s doing, it’s been sub zero and snowing ’til recently! 8O

Thanks for the suggestions, folks :-)

The Ritcheys are squishier than the KCNC ones, so they do absorb water a bit – but they also absorb the shock better! I’ve had some that never shift whereas others have needed a few re-squirts of hairspray to get them to stick properly.

The Ritchey foam grips are also very good.

Good call DD. I shall be on a couple of Gems myself. A rubbish week needs washing away :?

Canyon Grand Canyon AL 29er has X12 142mm rear. Seems to be Canyon policy to run bolt through F and R to stiffen up the big wheels. Not steel though, Crazy good value!

Another vote for the peanut butter sarnie. Felafels in a pitta pocket also lovely. Cold pizza is fab!

One of ours disappeared about 6 weeks after we’d moved house, late autumn so we weren’t too optimistic. 8 months later, my wife got a call from the vet saying that Brillo had been handed in and the chip had our details. She was tubbier than when she’d left home! So we reckon some little old lady had looked after her over winter who wasn’t aware of chips and the like, and then Brillo decided to wander off again.

Hope you get a similarly happy outcome.

W B Yeats’ “He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven” – because I’m a hopeless romantic… It scans so beautifully.

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

Similar issues with the above re trying to cancel with 3. They’re truly awful. Took us nearly 9 months to leave them…

A friend of mine analyses telecomms performance and apparently the complaint rate for 3 is twice that of the nearest next bad service provider. Cheap not the same as cheerful!

What Rusty Spanner said (on both counts!) ^^^

My wife had a job at the Science Museum – “Casual Explainer”. I so wanted that job… :D

What Carlos said re the PX SL Pro. I’ve had mine for nearly 4 years and it’s all I’m ever likely to need from a road bike. Much more compliant than my old Giant OCR2, and crazy light / VFM for the £1k (full Ultegra!). I use 25c tyres and it copes with crappy Somerset lanes and took JOGLE in 9 days in its stride no problem.

Mighty impressive stuff!

Brake in a straight line.

Heels down.

Nerina Pallot.

I got confirmation the day after the Servergeddon on the ticketing site, but also just got one updating the details. Guess they’re tidying up loose ends – congrats on getting in, have fun!

Charlotte Rampling for the discerning :-)

That’s a mighty fine looking machine you have there.

“We’ll head them off at the pass!”

@jon1973 – yes, Wyndham’s “The Chrysalids” would be excellent – would love to see how they handle the post-apocalyptic landscapes and mutations.

Also good IMO would be his “The Kraken Wakes” – could put some climate change spin on it too with rising sea levels.