I had a ‘posh’ gardener once. He was heavily funded by his landed parents and would turn up in his nice 4*4 and do his work.

He was a spoilt brat though. Being funded by mater and pater just meant he didn’t value his customers. He failed to turn up for a month citing reasons such as “It was my birthday so I took a week off”.

When I told him to go pleasure himself he got very uppitty about it all.

My gardener is now a tramp who lives at home with his mother and drives a beat up volvo. He takes far greater care of staying in employment……

Orange 5…..

Runs away and hides

John Lewis do extra deep ones.

Well, it’s fair to say the lure of a ladyboy “bride” is quite tempting………

Speed is just a single metric with which people judge how good a driver you are.

If I drive down the A1, on a clear day, paying good attention at 85mph when there’s little to no traffic and I keep good distance to other vehicles am I worse driver than someone going 29 in a 30 limit whilst tired, paying little attention and thinking about what they’ll cook for tea?

We can’t measure attentiveness with a camera on the side of the road. So we measure speed.

People get caught by a camera that makes no judgement on HOW they’re driving, just how fast.

As I said earlier – I got nabbed doing 46 in a 40 limit. It was a dual carriageway and I was pretty much the only vehicle on the road. It was dry, daylight and out of rush hour. And there are no pathways or houses anywhere near it.

The van was on an overpass and was not clearly visible to me.

I agree totally that the faster you go the nastier an accident will be. But what was I going to hit? Thin air.

This is the problem. It is possible to drive fast and safe. But if you think like a speed camera you won’t ever differentiate between sticking to a limit and being safe whatever your speed.

My ex-wife would NEVER exceed the speed limit. But she was an appalling driver. Almost no-one in her family would get in a car with her, and I hated it when she drove.

Did my course yesterday. Thought the two guys presenting were good, but I didn’t learn anything.

I got nabbed doing 46 on a 40mph dual carriageway – empty road and no residential buildings (or anything!) nearby. I’m super slow in built up areas.

Got me out of points on my licence, but didn’t deliver anything else to me. And perhaps it should have – maybe the courses need a redesign. I was talking to one huy who’d done it three years ago and you actually went out in your car with an instructor for two hours to get a real, practicle assessment and advice.

Recurve.

Hmmmm.

Camo – I think you’re not making sense.

A gent would not eat crisps.

Crisps are eaten by the masses. A gent would have some fine pate on a water biscuit.

The crisp is a humble food of humble folk. It has no pretentions. It has no class. It is a sliced and fried potato flavoured to taste like things only a common person would eat (one does not imagine the Queen licking her lips at the thought of Bovril, or cheese and onion).

I did once have a lady friend who used to open the packet up and lick the insides – even I thought that was vulgar.

But I’ve always been a pourer. I was raised a pourer and I’ll die a pourer. I was just amazed at how strongly this person felt about getting the last few crisps (chips!) out.

Personally – the little bits at the end are the gold dust in any packet anyway – more flavour lurks down there!

Saddle can’t twist?

Well, perhaps you should put the same amount of effort into contacting them (politely) as you’ve put into moaning about it on here. You might get somewhere…..

I’m in the “they look a bit stupid” camp.

Personally, all these videos people post of their womantic wides on the beach just make me wonder if the riders do in fact wish they were 8 years old, called Alice, and the fatty was a chubby Shetland pony called Wupert.

I don’t mind the occasional niche, but these seem to be filling a niche that’s just a bit odd…..

Each to their own though.

Just filled up my rental car in California. $54….. So about £40.

It’d cost me double back home.

26″ wheels

Had a 600 year old thatched cottage which was grade II listed. The local conservation office was actually really helpful. As long as you’re not doing anything ridiculous they will work with you to make sure your needs and theirs are met.

We sold though as it was a total money pit. Nothing to do with the listing – it was just very old and very falling down.

Tbh I’d be thinking more about how much you’ll need to potentially spend keeping it upright.

If I had the choice again – I wouldn’t buy such an old timber framed house. Stone built – possible, but not a timber one.

It’ll ruin the team.

He’ll have a clause in a contract somewhere saying A: no one in the team can be a faster rider than him and B: he gets the fastest bike.

The Howard (it’s a Swissotel) is very nice.

The river view exec rooms have sweeping views along the Thames.

Thought of him this week whilst riding the Alps. Made sure we had a smile and a laugh as we rode.

Dirt really inspired me as a younger rider. I think this website needs a JMC…….

Why would an STWer eat in a curry house?

Surely they’d prepare their own meal based on their extensive travelling time in India using only ethically sourced vegetarian products. And stayed at home to enjoy it whilst bathing in the warmth from their wood burning stove before retiring with their ever faithful partner and dog to groom each others beards and drink a whisky only they’ve ever heard of (but you can buy in Aldi).

In Les Gets now.

Chevannes trails are all bone dry and dusty so there’s not much grip. It needs a good rain overnight…..

Morzine and Chatel are on the cards for tomorrow.

The braking bumps aren’t that bad – which is odd…..

Cheers Derek. I’ll pop over there tomorrow 🙂

Don’t see the point of a ladies only show. The rest of the series hasn’t been men only.

Seemed a bit of forced PC to me.

Bikes. People ride em. Doesn’t matter what sex, size or age.

Shimano XT unless you want experience Hopes excellent customer service.

Bi-curiosity.

PMSL at that board.

What better epitaph for a band long dead…….

With Nationwide, as with most lenders, there is a limit on overpayment WHILE you are within a deal – so a two year fixed rate deal for instance.

Once you’re out of deal you can overpay by any amount.

It does come straight off your capital. Which if you’re early in your mortgage is very beneficial. You will need to tell your lender whether overpayments are intended to lower future payments or reduce the term.

As said above, this is financially quite sensible at the moment given savings interest rates.

Forgot earlier.

I stood behind Freddie Starr in Game in Maidenhead. He was buying Crazy Taxi (? it was a long time ago).

He was very small, and I mean almost midget sized, and he farted a lot.

Anthony Worral Thompson queuing for his bags at Luton airport.

Watched football with Liam Gallagher in the T4 lounge in Heathrow.

Already done that. She was too young to remember Carry On so just thought I was being mental (adds fuel to the fire of sectioning me).

If only there was a bar. Amazed no-one has thought of it. They’d make a killing!

CFH – excellent idea. Me or another patient?

Are you a real Stoner?

I’d love a Hattie Jacques style matron and would definitely have a crack. Sadly they’re all either male (I am bored I guess….) or frightening.

Bed bath is winning so far.

As is wearing my hospital gown back to front and running up and down the corridor asking for directions to Cardiff (getting sectioned is on my bucket list)

Wrong forum. Sowwy.

Blame the morphine.

I’ve got a 2010 2.0 diesel. It’s a good solid car, nice to drive, cheap to run and the boot is cavernous.

I’d happily have another one.

Evil, Evil, EVIL creatures!

I had a bad wasp problem a few years ago when a nest in an old bird box migrated into the cavity wall of my house and grew! A lot!

They swarmed one night. It was, to be fair, a fabulous site as there was enough biomass to set off the garden security lights. And they pretty much covered the entire patio doors.

Powdered death paid them a visit the following day.

I was amazed as to how quickly they bred! So now I kill on sight.

If Hope dug their heels in and managed replacements the same way a lot of companies do then their reputation would be even shitter than it is….

They make things out of cheese. And to prevent this killing their business they replace everything.

I hate using anything they make. Brakes are a strict no as are seat clamps and headsets. I’m even going off hubs after a few recent failures.

Personal experience tells me if you buy Hope you’ll soon be using this excellent customer care – and that’s not a business model I’m comfortable with.

Bid, got outbid.

But I’m chuffed its going for good money.

I’m in the buy it, ride it a few times and stick it in a museum camp.

Dirt was a big influence on my early riding and it’s amazing that this bike is still in existence!

Hmmm, Godspeed by the Dixie Chicks here.

I was learning to play it when my partner was pregnant – it’s a lullaby. But we lost the baby and it still makes me reflective to hear it today. Not in such a bad way anymore and I quite enjoy listening to it. Doubt I’ll ever try to play it again though.

Hmmmm,

Food for thought. I’ve only taken Bingo into work once and it was met with fits of laughter. Sitting there amongst the Mercs and Audis he did look a tad out of place…..

But I’m paying to insure, tax, MOT and service two vehicles at the moment – which is annoying. The Mondeo is a good bike car but I got fed up with folding seats down, taking wheels off, and general muck getting into the car everywhere. I really like being able to chuck the bikes into the back of the van complete and still have a sensible place to sit up front.

The problem with the Berlingo is it’s only two seats and it lacks a certain amount of creature comforts (AC for instance).

So this is why I’d been toying with selling both and getting a three-seated van. I don’t need more than three seats – I live on my own and it just needs to be able to handle the occassional passenger or two.

May wait for the new Transit Connect to come out. Smaller and will apparently be a three seater and as nice in the cabin as the new Transit.

Yeah it’s the brand newTransit. They are really nice to drive and has more toys than my Mondeo.

Torn….

I love driving my old Berlingo and see the benefit of owning a van. But quite a few people have said I’d be nuts to ditch the car.

Wow! Agreed it does look a bit sad and forlorn…..

I guess I’ll be driving over to Chatel most days then as the queues for either the bus (2 busses with a 30 bike capacity are going to be rammed!) or the Super Morzine will no doubt be grim.

I like the comment allthegear – it was always fun popping out of those horrible, stuffy bubbles and feeling the cool air at the top.