It’s not getting used, as I do all my playing through amp sims these days. I’d rather a keen kid ended up with a nicer guitar and put it to use!

Nice one. E-mail is matt at brutalevents dot co dot uk. Get in touch and we’ll sort something out. Heading up to the Lakes this afternoon and won’t be back until Tuesday but after thatl I’ll be free to meet up.

So chuck your budget at a nicer guitar for the kid.

If Manchester is anywhere near for you I’ve got a Marshall MG50 amp that I never use sat in storage. Give me a shout and it’s yours.

Currently have bottles of Mount Gay Eclipse and Black Barrel, Pirate’s Grog, Appleton’s, Kraken and Sailor Jerry sat on shelf. Need some more…

Full Throttle Remastered is out now

Only reason I’ve still got my Marshall MG in storage is because I’d get nowt for it if I got rid. Currently use various free VST amp sims through Reaper. If I get round to gigging again I’ll be picking up a Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister 40 Deluxe, which I’ll then be able to without a cab anyway for recording.

Just find a pair that’s comfy. Not all running shops will try to flog you the priciest pair, Start Fitness for example have always ended up selling me fairly cheap trainers when I’ve sought their advice.

Had my Quecha Air Seconds 4.2 XL up for a weekend in Llanberis last year in very windy conditions whilst helping out at the Brutal Triathlon, and it coped with the wind very well. The beams give it a bit of flex without worrying about poles snapping.

I had a failed attempt at Country to Capital this year, going back next year. Got quite a few friends who do this sort of thing, and the advice I got from them was time on your feet rather than distance covered. If you go out for a run and you’re just not feeling it, stay out but walk instead. Back to back runs so you’re legs are used to running tired, days where you’re doing two runs and so on.

Yes the mind plays a big part, but it won’t make up for poor physical prep which is where I fell apart after having a tough few months. Was enjoying myself on the day but the legs just didn’t have it in them on that day.

The same Brew Dog who took offence at being told they couldn’t use the name Elvis Juice? Surely not.

Yeah the Forgeworld stuff is fantastic, and has been for a while, but it’s a) a different resin to the Finecast stuff, and b) cast by a team that have had far more experience working in it. It’s also loads more expensive 😉

Back when I worked at GW a stupid amount of my wages went in Forgeworld’s direction. Stupid national manager meetings, stupid Forgeworld sales stand at said meeting, and stupid wage deduction order forms.

They’ll sell, but generally unpainted models fetch more.

They won’t be lead, the sculpts are too modern for it to be from that period. Much better than the resin “Finecast” material they replaced the metals with though.

Eldar Warriors, jet bikes and a few of the different types of Aspect Warriors (special Eldar troops). No Harlequins though.

(GW store manager up until about 4 years ago)

Stanley, County Durham. Used to be my patch at work. One area of it was used quite a bit for filming, things like Inspector George Gently, and some WW1-based gritty drama. The streets they used actually looked better once they’d been dressed for filming.

I agree with esselgruntfuttock, Northumberland is an absolute dive and should be avoided at all costs. It’s horrible. Save yourself the 300 mile drive each way.

My average from the tri club session last night was about 16 per 25m length according to my 920xt. Covered 1900m in about 40 minutes actual swimming time, including a few hundred metres of drills.

Anyone got tips for avoiding pool flu? Been useless with severe hayfever-like symptoms today, and always the same the day after a swim.

I’m heading over to have a look. Free tickets if you use the code MEN2017 to register as well.

DC Rainmaker did a video on the pacing on the Watch 2, and wasn’t impressed with it at all. Worse than any other GPS watch of the past 10 years or so.

Considering the reliability of the barometric altimeters on Garmin products, I wouldn’t base my purchasing decision on whether it had one or not 😉

Wasn’t impressed with my TomTom Multisport 2, the metrics for running were terrible (especially pace, was more or less useless whilst out running). My Garmin 910xt was always good and reliable, and the 920xt that I’ve been using for the past year has been great.

Everlong by the Foo Fighters. Used to do a cover of it in a band, we had it nailed and there’s a section where the drummer just lifted it to another level. Then one day he killed himself, and every time I hear that song it all comes back. Never choose to listen to it any more, but if it comes on I’ll stop what I’m doing and take the full hit to the feels.

+1 for the Osprey Farpoint 40. I bought one last year after seeing it recommended in another thread on here and it’s been great. Rugged, holds a lot of stuff securely and the backpack straps are comfortable and don’t seem like they were added as an afterthought. Just got back from a long weekend in Malaga and I spent all of Friday afternoon walking around Malaga with it and it wasn’t annoying at all. And it comfortably carried my cycling shoes and clothing, normal clothes, and a load of supplies for the friend I was visiting over there.

Not overly likely to happen in the UK….

Mallorca this year wetsuits were banned the day before. Then they must have gone out in a boat searching for a patch of water that was cold enough to allow wetsuits the morning of the race, resulting in lots of people running back to their hotels in a panic to get their wetsuits.

I’d say yes. If you’re looking at Start Fitness/Cycles, the More Mile ones they stock are great value. Mine never gets used anymore as I’ve got a nice subtle yellow and black set of top and shorts that identifies me as a crap triathlete who prefers beer, but it did the job admirably.

Pretty much all guitar/music stuff for me…

Riffs, Beards & Gear – Gear reviews, recording tips and so on. Think Fluff is my favourite guitar guy on YouTube.
Rob Scallon – Very talented, entertaining guy. Good mix of quality music and humour.
That Pedal Show – Makes me want to spend so much money on expensive guitar gear.
Ola Englund – Another entertaining guy. Does a lot of gear review videos and other funny stuff.

Nothing much to add to the above, but went through the same thing a couple of years ago. Really quite bad pain resulted in me trying to get an appointment at the doctors and getting nowhere with receptionists who weren’t interested in why I wanted to see the doctor, but no they couldn’t fit me in. Rang NHS Direct who told me to ring back and insist on speaking to a duty doctor who got straight in. Then had to wait about 4 weeks for the ultrasound scan during which I did nothing but worry. The woman who did the scan told me straight away that it was a cyst and nothing to worry about. She did tell me more but by that point I wasn’t listening, was just enjoying the feeling of all the fear draining away.

So, fingers crossed it’s nothing to worry about.

I also like the look of these…

This has just reminded me I’ve got one each of the Crunchy Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Macadamia in my running bag that I didn’t get round to eating last time I used it. Snackage!

From a versatility viewpoint I’ve got my eye on a Hughes and Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40. Went guitar shopping on Wednesday and they had one set up so I used it to try out the guitar through. All valve, but can save every parameter apart from master volume to a preset which can then be recalled via midi. 40w but can be dropped to 20w, 5w or 1w so good for home use as well. Got some great sounds out of it, especially in the Ultra mode…

Too many hobbies going on for me, but meh, I sometimes struggle to stay focused on any one thing so it’s good to have other stuff to move on to. As far as sport goes, main thing for me is triathlon, which is all about being bad at 3 things anyway. Other than that it’s photography, guitars, scuba and wargaming stuff.

Off out now for a spot of bimblocross over to the National Cycling Centre to grab a bell from Evans Cycles. Essential bimble accessory for trips along the canal in search of pubs worth visiting.

I’ve been doing all my playing recently using free plugins (LePou’s amp sims, mainly the Marshall and Engl models, along with the TSE808 Tube Screamer sim, cabinet impulses and various reverts, delays etc) and been loving it. However I’m hoping to go and have a try on a Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister 40 Deluxe over the next week or two. Full tube amp head, with built in digital effects and everything apart from master volume is midi controllable.

Best is a Lego pirate ship. That’ll keep me nicely occupied tomorrow after the little nephews have gone back home

Nope, just the first

I looked into it recently. £6.50 per hour is what they were offering, plus a small extra payment per delivery. Deposit required for all the kit, and you were self employed, so no holiday or sick pay or anything like that.

Decided to give it a miss, as it wasn’t quite tempting enough to spend all that time hanging around in the winter rain in Manchester.

Enjoy it when I’m in the habit, miss a run or two though and the dread kicks in again. Managed 140 (very slow) miles last month, but so far December hasn’t been great. Got an ultra in January. Seemed like a great idea at the time. Urgh.

My sister was diagnosed with breast cancer around 4 years ago. Luckily she’s out the other side now with a 2 year old and a 2 month old that we never thought we’d have in the family. It was a tough time and wouldn’t like to go through it again. Then about 2 years ago I found a lump somewhere I didn’t really want to find one, which scared the shit out of me whilst waiting from the initial trip to the doctors the month or so I had to wait for an ultrasound to give me the all clear. That had me scared to the point of keeping my mouth shut about it. The only person I told initially was my boss purely so I could get the time off work to get to the doctors and then to the hospital.

I can completely understand how you feel, been in the same place myself for the past couple of months. Recently moved back to Manchester from Durham after my marriage broke down, and although I’m now back around family and so on (one of the reasons for moving back) and enjoying that, I realised I’m still lonely. School friends have all moved on and have their own lives, and whilst there is the odd get together with some it’s an infrequent thing. I was doing parkrun, but all I would do is rock up 5 minutes before the start, do my run, and then leave, without really talking to anyone. So the past few weeks I’ve been volunteering there instead, as it means I’m there for longer, and end up talking to people whilst I am there, which is helping. Slowly getting to know a few people. Going to drag myself along to the local tri club swim sessions too in a bid to meet some more people. Just accepting the fact it’s going to take a while to get to know folk, but hopefully I’ll find a few like minded souls to spend time with.

That was my understanding of the Heathrow crash. Flaps were configured for landing, lost both engines and the captain worked out he’d get closer to the runway by changing the flaps.