That stupid bint on the bad drivers programme?

My piss is so hot right now.

Have we had a Jamie GIF of Contador departing yet? Perhaps on the back of a bull please? 🙂

Great series. Think my favourite episode is the one where Jen has a new boyfirend who takes her to the Theatre to watch Gay, the musical.

England won the World Cup?!

Useful info there cheers all. I’ll check out the P&R from Portway too, maybe we could lift share & the missus drops me off there & could carry on to Pill.

Flat sounds great andyl but as we’re getting married in Nov buying a flat is a whole other world away at the moment. What’s the area though out of interest?

I’ll be honest I don’t particularly agree with the strike this time.

With my employer they are taking 1 hour a week off everyone which will save about £1.6 million. For me this means approx a £720 reduction in my earnings. The unions kicked up a fuss but there was no industrial action.

This time the employer wants to give a 1% pay increase, which is pretty negligible tbh but after taking 1 hour off us, I can’t see them giving us anymore than this so I think this particular strike is a bit pointless really. I’d have preferred to strike againt loosing 1 hr if anything.

Anyway, back to the stage…

If the crosswind tip above is correct could there be a repeat of stage 13 last year when OPQS took advantage of the crosswind and blew the field apart. Obviously they’ve lost Cav but could be tempted to go for a stage win?

Yep, Pill in Bristol.

Seeing as we’d both be travelling over I thought we could drive and she could drop me off at Shirehampton or Avonmouth Station and continue to Pill, and I could get the train (or bike on train to Clifton Down).

Agree with the above, no free parking and no way would I want to commute into Clifton. I’ve seen there is a park & ride operating fron Portway on the A4 and also one at Long Ashton. Not sure if the Portway one goes anywhere near the uni though as the route map on their site is pretty poor.

Would £100 on petrol costs between the two 5 x days a week be a fair assumption?

I currently live in Canton/Riverside so either through town down Newport Rd and join the A48/M4 or go via Western Avenue to join the A48.

I’ll be working in central Bristol(ish) around the main university precint so not too far from Clifton. Don’t need my car for the job either. The GF will be working in Pill so quite a bit outside Bristol and no where near where I’m working.

I can walk to Cardiff Central in about 15 mins so had though about bike on the train, but its the Swansea to London Train so a big commuter so I image v busy in the morning with a bike.

Bridge is also a fixed cost so I calculate that per month, but petrol is a bit more tricky to calculate. Our car is a 1.6 petrol though so not hugely economical.

We’ll definitely be moving to Bristol at some point. Just trying to weigh up whether to commute for a few months before moving into our friends house which would be cheap rent but ££ in commuting I imagine, or to make the move immediately and try to find somewhere within cycling distance of Clifton and easy transport to Pill.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/kool-stop/brake-pads

Any good?

Not just tennis related; i don’t think you understand a sport until you’ve seen it played live, and ideally close up.

+1 Used the think the same about the long jump many years ago. I mean its just running really fast & jumping into a sand pit isn’t it. That was until I measured the distance they jump and compared it to my own efforts 😳

I’ve just switched to Koolstop salmon ones (Supra 2 IIRC) and they’re a million times better* than the bog standard ones that came with the bike

*in the dry at least, not tired em in the wet

Had a glance at Bounce by Matthew Syed at the weekend, he relates an interesting story about meeting Michael Stich – at the time, Syed was one of the best table-tennis players in the country, so he got Stich to serve at him full power, just to see if his uber-zippy table-tennis reactions would enable him to get anything on it. Stich served four times…

… And Syed didn’t even see it whistle past him.

I’ve always thought serves look slower than they actually are on telly. My friend is pretty handy at tennis & had his serve measured around 120mph (ish) so I asked him to fire some serves at me once. Needless to say I was about 10ft behind the baseline & couldn’t get near any of them.

I am crap at tennis though so it was to be expected.

If you tell your insurers, even if you don’t claim, your premiums will almost certainly go up (even if it’s a no fault accident for you). However, I’d consider taking the cash

Does it though?

I had the exact same accident as the OP where I was rear ended but the other person admitted liability. My car was written off and their insurance paid out & I got a replacement vehicle, which incidentally was a lower insurance group some my premium actually went down.

However, I did ask my insurance co whether my premium would go up in spite of and they seemed to suggest it wouldn’t.

Or is this only applicable if the other party claims full liability?

Sounds like the Northern Quarter is definitely the place for you

No ping pong bars I’m afraid, but some good bars and boozers. I agree that you may struggle in a few places in the NQ as a stag do. And a stag do would be as welcome in Canal Street as a fart in a lift.

You’ll probably end up somewhere absolutely hideous like the Printworks, or a cattle market in Piccadilly. Manchester’s not really a Stag Do kind of place

Amusing article 🙂

To be fair to us I don’t imagine we’ll be marauding across the city like a bunch of loons. We’re leaving our Welsh friends behind after all 😉

I’m from Devon anyway so Manchester is pretty up t’north to me. I always imagined they were a friendly bunch up there 😀

Just picking up on replies, thanks to all that responded 🙂

Lower Turks Head looks like a nice place. I also forgot to mention the stag quite likes gin. I went to a neat gin bar in Bath once so will see if there is anything similar. Will also check out the Northern Quarter too.

You’re arriving on a canal boat and looking for something out of the ordinary? Easy. Canal Street.
😉 That the same Canal Street as featured in the Channel 4 drama series Queer as Folk

Yes, might be useful…

Prob 12-15, all early 30’s. Personally I like proper beer and ales but I’m not the stag. He’s pretty laid back and we all enjoy a good night out (even if we are getting on a bit), maybe nighclub venues & everyone is generally into sports.

I can probably rule out seeing a band or live music & personally it would be nice to rule out chain bars/pubs if we can. I can’t stand Walkabout/Oceania etc etc. We’ll be devoid of fancy dress too so dressed normally.

It would if it was a stale one.

I see what you did there 🙂 Wasn’t that part of McVitties main argument why a Jaffa is indeed a cake?

Anyway, I’ve also had similar. Walking back from the shops I pass a group of youths sat on wall. As I wander past minding my own business I get torrents of “oi, foureyes”, which doesn’t bother me. However, they then start pelting stone in my direction which isn’t cool.

Got my blood boiling right up so I thought best to ignore rather than get my head kicked in. Hopefully someone with more of a temper than me has taught them a lesson or two by now.

I’m lost what does the laptop not do, that a desktop PC will do?

Nothing really, its just she has her own growing business, blog, website etc on the side so its just a case of us often needing to use a pc at the same time. So rather than buy another laptop I thought a PC would be better (and cheaper?) for the type of work she is doing.

That tier1online sounds promising thanks takisawa, I shall investigate

Similar to davidxbrown.

I used to get on with Specialized but the latest S3 sits really high off my head for the size I need.

I did have a Giro Hex (the Feature was also a nice fit) which was comfy and seemed a good fit but I bumped it in a crash so I had to replace it. I’m now on a Catlike Leaf which really seems to suit my bonce.

Very sad news 🙁

I grew up watching countless episodes of Bottom. I don’t know why but the one that always sticks in my memory is the Xmas episode. Where Eddie makes Vodka margerine and they find the baby Jesus and offer Terrys All Gold, a Frankinstein mask and the aftershave, Grrrr.

Just having a cup of tea before I start tinkering.

One thing I have noticed is the allen bolt on the LH crank arm tightens in the same direction as back peddling, so it does make it tricky to tighten fully.

Alternatively, if you fancy posh Indian cuisine and the weather is nice you could always head to Moksh down in Cardiff Bay?

Great food and a couple of bars if the clients fancy a drink afterwards.

Quack Watch:

http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/reflex.html

I think the mere use of the word ‘quack’ in that web address tells you something about his standing and that he’s not likely to give a balanced opinion.

If you’re meeting them at 2am after 10 pints of beer then I would suggest Charleston’s Steak House. Otherwise Le Monde is a good shout. You pick your own meat/fish etc.

The Potted Pig on St Marys St is very well regarded, but sometimes a long waiting list.

Does it need to be a city centre location?

I use neat Fenwicks FS1 in one of those clip on chain cleaners up there^^ except mine was from Lidl and quite cheap

If you’re planning on winning the TdF the preparation and training for that starts at least a year out. You really can’t decide you’re going to win it and start your preparations four weeks out from the start.

+1 I thought the teams spent months upon months building upto the tour and tailoring their whole years training around the goal of peaking for the TdF? Dont the riders have some magic number they aim for, something to do with power output and weight?

I was always under the impression this years tour played more to Froomes strentghs rather than Wiggins, what with its lack of TT’s. Having said that, Froome is no slouch in the TT either.

Ahh I see. The comma made me think it was two separate occurences of hi-jinx.

I’m disppointed now as I had images of getting back to his car to find a bloody great eagle sat in it 🙂

Surprise one. Knew nothing about it until I was heisted out of my house early in the morning.

I’ve heard stories of the stag literally being abducted from work or walking home. Not sure if they’re urban myth or not but they sound amusing!.

LoCo
Eagle being put in my car

Just to check, when you say eagle do you mean a real life size bird of prey? How the hell did they manage that!?

No Valverde wanted one more go at yellow. I reckon Quintana will be lead GC for Movistar next season.

Thought as much though seems a shame given his performance last year. I would’ve thought he would be a real asset this year should anything happen to Valverde.

He’s extremely unlikely to see this so I can say what we’re arranging for our stag.

It had to be UK based and we’d done the usual paintball, karting etc to death so we’ve gone for canal boating. A nice two day weekend break ending in Manchester and taking in some picturesque villages and country pubs along the way. Really looking forward to it.

?

Yay! 😀

I went to Uni a month after I turned 18 and haven’t really lived at home since.

However, if I ever needed to live back with parents for whatever reason I would certainly offer to pay towards the upkeep of the house. I’m now 31 though so not exactly ‘young’!

I’m the recipient of a ‘hello love’ from a rather chipper contractor at work. This wouldn’t be too bad were it not for the fact he’s also a bloke.

Check the recycle bin?

Can you get those grips in purple?

Slightly OT the original question but Giro related, I presume Quintana won’t be riding the TdF this year then?

Personally I like the woman that recreates famous art works, but featuring a huge ginger cat

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27507950

Genuine question, but what use would a finger up the bum be in diagnosing this problem?