I’m more keen to hear what they sound like for this year.

So basically what your saying now is, that because a member of staff, who in your wife’s opinion, was a bit obnoxious, you now have a green light to steal the sofa after all.

So far you’ve had to ask whether you’re a thief for stealing furniture, whether you can make some extra money out of them for storing the furniture you’ve stolen and somehow feel aggrieved and of the opinion you’re now owed something because you’ve found the staff a bit grumpy.

Hear here.

About a grand give or take.

You’ve got a sofa you wanted for a price you were happy to pay. So pay for it, enjoy it and sleep well, safe in the knowledge that you simply carried out a transaction whereby money is exchanged for goods. Which is basically how it works.

More arm waving?

One coffee soaked keyboard but I can live with it.

Brilliant.

I called them and refused to take it at the price…

Now that’s just stupid.

Just because I’m currently in the process of selling and buying a property; estate agents for me. All but one or two have been utterly useless. Really do little more than unlocking the front door to a property.

I asked a series of very simple questions about a property I viewed at the weekend

“What is the vendors situation?”
“I don’t know unfortunately”
“Well have they found somewhere or going into rented?”
“No idea, sorry”
“Is there gas in the village?”
“Hmmmmm I’m not sure to be honest”
“I presume it’s oil for this property then?”
“It might be. Can you see an oil tank?”
“It will be in the back garden if there is”
“Oh I don’t have a back door key”

….and so on.

My very best wishes to you and your loved ones marsdenman. My mum is going through similar to you and although it is a horrible thing for everyone involved we are overwhelmed and comforted by the sheer volume of good news stories that we now come across everyday. Modern medicine is a wonderful thing.

Thanks folks. It will be a central feature of the bungalow so I don’t intend to opt for cheap and cheerful. Both the clearviews and the burleys look good.

Might be a silly question, but does having a wood burner installed tend to increase home insurance costs at all, given the added fire risk etc? I’d obviously be having everything professionally installed.

Im not so bothered about the morality behind it. I havent lost sleep over it as I dont believe its really that bad

Ahhh yes, definitely a troll.

They were disappointed when I told them, but when I asked what they would have done they couldnt reach an agreed answer. The thing is, when its hypothetical most people take the moral high ground, but when it happens its sometimes a different story. You suddenly think you could save yourself a few hundred quid here, maybe spend it on something else instead!

No, I’m sorry there is no way I could happily steal £600 through any means from anyone, whether they are a large multi national company or otherwise. It’s theft and morally bankrupt.

So around 2-3k and up through the roof then. We’d need a flu and hearth, the living room is currently a featureless square with a storage heater attached to the wall. We have a good free wood source (Inlaws extensive wood piles).

The fact you’re making a concerted effort to now avoid paying for it makes you both a thief and devoid of morality. Shame on you and your wife frankly.

Bizzare that so many are disapproving. Is it because he doesn’t wear or utilise climbing gear? We all know how much the STWers love buying stuff to make up for their lack of ability. Is it because it’s not being done in the real ‘great outdoors’? Because we all know how much the STWers love riding, hunting, foraging, cooking on an open flame in the truly dangerous woodlands of the UK. Is it because he takes real risk with his own life and limb purely for the fun of it? Because we all know that STWers love risk on their rigid, fixed gear steel pootle weapons as they tackle a slightly off camber tow path.

Already mentioned in the OP but Chaplins speech in the Great Dictator still gets me every time. It will forever be poignant and true.

Who here really wouldn’t have been more than annoyed had some driver, who was unquestionably in the wrong, exclaimed loudly ‘but I’m a driver!’ as part of his/her defence? By all accounts that is exactly what riles up fellow STWers, yet here many of you are deriding the cyclist for being angry stating that you would have simply hopped up on the curb and cycled happily away.

How many actual cyclists use this forum?

I didn’t dislike it but I am getting bored of the beebs lack of originality. Since the success of the bloody awful mrs browns boys they now seem to be churning out these live studio audience, broad slapstick sitcoms – Catherine Tate’s Nan being another. No doubt Rik and Ade will be back soon with another series of Bottom.

I’ll echo the theft concerns raised above. I spend most of my days in fear that I will come home to find my mx bikes gone. I’ve gone over board on security but they are very desirable things for those who want to help themselves.

On the bike front I would recommend a 2 stroke. They hold their value and you’ll have no issue selling it on should you decide it’s not for you. Second hand honda 2 smokers are priced higher because they haven’t been in production since 2007 but the later year Honda 125’s were very sluggish… Slow in fact. KTM very much rule the 2 stroke world now but if your looking for an older machine then any of the big four will serve you well.

If your looking for something easier to handle then a four stroke is the way to go, the market is saturated with 2nd hand four strokes. Sadly they are seen as short term investments. Most serious riders buy a new one each season and sell it on come season end. I’ve certainly never kept a four stroke for longer than 9 months. Plenty to choose from but if that’s the route your going to take choose carefully. 250f’s will need a top end rebuild after 20 hours run time, 450’s will go happily for 50-60 hours.

Mxtrax.co.uk is a good place to sign up for more detailed info.

Beans with a dash of Worcester sauce, a sprinkle of chilli powder, eggs scrambled with a bit of butter and cumin. Buttered Wholemeal toast.

Nom nom nom….

I do. I’ve been racing MX since I was 6 years old. I race a little less now than I used to but I do run training classes for youngsters at a couple of tracks in the Midlands. The evo scene is huge now and as such evo bikes are becoming expensive and the truth is that even an immaculate example will be a troublesome investment. We’ve forgotten just how much tinkering mx bikes in the 80’s took to just work well. Now you can buy a 450f out the showroom and short of oil and filter changes they will keep ticking over for 50 hours without seeing a spanner or screwdriver. It’s not a coincidence that all you see at evo meetings are blokes trying to put their pristine 89 cr250s back together.

Super evo is starting to creep in now (90s machines) which will become increasingly popular. 90s 2 strokes can be picked up cheap, parts are readily available and frankly 2 strokes during the mid to late 90’s were absolutely fantastic machines with handling that is competitive today. You’ll see plenty of late 90s, early 2000’s machines in modern MX fields which are very competitive with modern 4 strokes and importantly; great fun.

All I will say is that if your toying with the idea of either trials or MX be aware that MX, even at an amateur level, is a pretty violent sport, unlike trials which is more akin to a gentle pootle with your buddies in a field (which is still great). Amateur Motocross will beat you up, cover you in bruises and leave you in pain every Monday. I love it but it’s not for everyone.

Anything that involves sliding on various contraptions…….so everything then basically.

You enjoy what you enjoy whatever your age. I know your post was light hearted c_g but because I am generally an outdoorsy type who like to get the endorphins flowing regularly I find I mix with those sorts of people. The sneering I come across from them towards those who prefer less adrenaline charged past times and hobbies is quite sad really. I guess that mindset works both ways. My mum is always pointing out that I should think about finally becoming an adult and putting the bikes and toys away. When I ask what sort of things I should be doing instead she just stares at me blankly.

Alan Partridge (auto)biography is excellent as it’s read by Mr Partridge (Coogan) himself with all the Partridge nuances you’d expect.

I read the actual book first then downloaded the audio version. Listening to it being read by him is much better.

Winter is a few months of nothingness for me. I do very little other than a bit of weight training and running so that come spring I’m fit enough to make the most of it. I do feel guilty about it though.

I saw him in New York in 2008. He was great, completely drunk but by all accounts performing drunk is his thing. I’m sure I read that unless he’s had a few his confidence on stage dwindles.

His anger, certainly back then, was very real and a fair few folk walked out as a result of the vitriolic ear bashing he gave them.

Yes, forgot to mention my height. 6’2. Does anyone rate the boardman CX comp. 599 for what looks half decent. Not a bad spec for the money.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_992074_langId_-1_categoryId_165710#tab3

2000ad for me plus I loved Gamesmaster magazine, it used to have swearing in it so I thought it was the absolute pinnacle of cutting edge computer game mags.

I buy the mag every month and have done for about 3 years. I always enjoy it but I have to say this months left me feeling a bit uninspired. I like CX but wasn’t expecting to see that much CX content in a MTB mag.

It’s still one of the better mags though.

Very rare to come across a completely selfless act, particularly one that could lead to your own demise. Incredible courage.

Many English speakers are of the impression that the whole world speaks english why should they bother learning a foreign language. That’s quite sad really.

I’m not really sure that’s true. I just can’t see any reason why an English speaker would choose to learn Welsh.

I’m drawn to one of the two comments that calls for welsh Morrisons staff to be bilingual.

32 years cycle commuting come may this year mate.
come rain wind and high water.

I hold a driving licence but rarely use it.

Yeah, I’m the same. Have a driving licence but I avoid driving as much as possible. I’ve actually reached the point that I just tell people I don’t drive. The looks of horror usually followed with ” but you’re a man…. How can you not drive?!”

So, don’t you drive then ton?

People say the Tube is unpleasant but you don’t see anything like the same levels of aggression, bullying, lives being put in danger…

You don’t use the tube enough.

Love BMX. I considered doing a course at NCC but I arrogantly thought I’d take to it no problem so bought a race BMX and took myself to a local track. Huge culture shock and steep learning curve but I just stuck with it and after spending quiet weekends at the track for a couple of months I can confidently clear doubles and am currently working on doing the triple at my track. 😯

Still fancy doing a course though to learn a proper technique.

do posters on this site think it is getting worse?

Personally I just think people’s tempers seem to be much shorter in general, driving or otherwise.

Edit: beat me to it ^^

I’ll echo what has already been said. I foolishly bought a 20″ as my first trial bike as I thought it would be easier to man handle. It was horrible and I could never get to grips with it. I was simply convinced that I had hopeless balance and general riding skills so sold it with the intention of never letting a trials bike darken my doorstep ever again.

A year later a friend of mine got into trials and let me have a blast on his 26″ bike. Within 20 minutes I was bouncing on the back wheel (albeit for just a few seconds) and bunny hopping onto a bench. I felt so much more comfortable on a 26″ bike as that is all I’d ever previously ridden. Stick with 26 is my advice.

and I liked Prometheus

Yeah, me too. I think the critics panned it because the expectation was that it was going to be another Ridley Scott alien masterpiece. It wasn’t that but it was still a very good film I thought.