Ha… am wondering about it just now :?

But in a few months time, I’ll be right as rain again, enjoying life and then I guess I’ll give it just one more go… (and I’ve got a few years head start on you).

Maybe you should give up – that when everyone tells me it happens :-)

EDIT – just remember there are some of us birds out there still, who are in the same boat. I don’t have two heads, can ride a bike, hold a conversation and rarely dribble – just haven’t met the right guy yet.

Sorry – DP

Thanks again.

So far it looks like there have been remarkably few horror stories which is good to know.

So I need to think what I feel are the important ‘house rules’ up front, be prepared to be the landlady and have the occasional row and accept that I will buy more cheese than I eat!

I think the cleaner idea is good and would also lessen any potential tension.

But what level of rent? Someone said bills plus £50, but that seems low. Guess with council tax it would be £250 to £300pcm all inclusive… ok I was thinking about £300 so maybe that’s a good guide. I suppose the advantage is splitting the bills, rather than making an additional income, and the company would be good too.

Any other advice on rent level – is the bills + £50 a good guide?

Jo

Great – Thanks for the answers!

Motivation – both money and company. I would be able to afford to live alone, but the lodger income would pay for house repairs / improvements / start savings. The company is also a part, not for a ‘best mate’ but just to have someone else about for the odd cup of tea etc. There are two tables and two sets of sofas / tv in three rooms downstaris, as well as a largeish kitchen – so I would expect the lodger to ‘house share’ rather than live in a room.

The house – has never been just mine, it belonged to my ex and I shared it with him and his two kids (part time) for two years, so I think I can cope with the idea of someone else having rights there (as long as they don’t abuse it).

The idea of Mon – fri sounds very appealing, but not sure how much choice I will have.

Thanks for the tips on web sites and rules – will have to think about those.

Your location however is probably less desirable for the sort of person I would generally “trust” as a lodger, perhaps its just me but someone much over 30, looking to rent a room from a stranger….

This bit is one of the things that worries me. I am 40 and wouldn’t want a teenager, not sure how many 30+ year olds are out there looking for a room, when I’m not even near a city…

Too far really to commute to Ed / Glasgow.

Ok – am going to stick my neck out here :roll:

OP – you are trying to think about the road bike in the same way as an mtb… what shiny bits does it have and which shiny bits are ‘best’.

IMO the most important thing about road bikes is the fit to your body. There is a difference between road kit, but it isn’t so great or important, it doesn’t make the difference between a comfortable bike and an uncomfortable one. At the price you are paying you don’t want to have to fork out on a new stem, seat post or bars to make the bike rideable. Just go and try them and make your decision, if you don’t want to travel try the nearest one first.

End of lecture – sorry :oops:

Of course colour is always important! :wink:

I would buy the Allez, ride it as much as possible. See how you get on with the double, see if there are any aspects of the ‘fit’ that don’t quite work. You know that you can sell it again for £400. Once you have a bike and ride it, it will soon become clear if it is the right one.

Then the next time you are near a decathlon try the Triban. As you will be used to the Allez, any differences that are good / bad will become clear. If the Triban is better, sell the Allez and buy the Triban???

Maybe a bit of hassle, but if you can’t decide between the two, the only way to choose is by fit and comfort.

Go Brenda…

Oh… that reminds me of Sid and Jolene :-)

Not really complaining, i’m all for the Archers, just used to keeping it hidden as my guilty pleasure!

‘how is Lillian going to find out?’

Axbridge extra, Matt nearly let it slip. He admitted knowing and hoping it would stop when… Lillian picked up on it, but let it go.

Loving this thread – never thought STW would hit these depths :wink:

Excellent :-) We did our a couple of months ago – feels fantastic when you look back at what you have made!!

Just for anyone else thinking about this – we finished ours with Osmo polx oil, hardwearing, but easier to repair than varnish (but we have two dogs and I know that repairs will be needed)

We had this on Friday night. All good when they went to bed… then at 10pm one of them sick – the other fine (not twins, but spent all day together, ate the same stuff etc). After a nights sleep she was fine.

We put it down to just one of those things – maybe slightly too much sun, maybe not quite enough to drink, maybe a bug, maybe just over tired, maybe too hot.

Agree with Drac.

The sized brackets that Sharbait talks about belong to a morso. I would have recommended them, but we had to drill out bracket from one, and the other, an old enamelled squirrel is falling apart too :cry:

Both have been great til now, no idea how old they are, but will keep an eye on this thread for replacement options…

Not strictly true – personally i’m looking at whether any blokes have any bike pics in their profile. On a nice bike. And that they look like a better rider than me

Yep – I was definitely judging the bike over the face (as long as they topped my 5’6″ rule :wink: ) But then I guess that the sort of girls that ‘virtually’ hang out on bike forums are in the minority…

Was on ‘Match’ for a couple of years, you soon learn to filter the rubbish. Had a fair few interesting coffee dates, two reasonable length relationships (6 month-ish). It was ok… Nothing bad or scary happened and it was mostly fun…

I just found it a bit weird dating people I didn’t really know – in the past I had only gone out with guys that I knew as friends first. Met my present OH in real life and we were friends first, just works better that way for me!

+1 for camera obscura.

Surroundedbyhills will be able to confirm the halal restaurant…

Trailaddiction are also in Les Arc – we had a great week with them a couple of years ago. The group was made up of both ‘Laggan black and red’ standards – but we were on a backcountry week (van and pedal power assisted before the lifts opened) and more xc oriented trails.

You would both enjoy that I’m sure, but you will have missed it for this year.

They also do uplift guiding, and I believe run different ability groups, but I have no experience of this. You would need to speak to them.

Good luck :-) will also be keeping an eye on the blog.

Went to see a talk by Mark Beaumont last night. Very inspiring, but one point he made (as ^^) was to train in all aspects of fitness, gym work, other sports, core strength, everything. By cycling, even every day, you just develop the cycling muscles. The point at which you get injury / strain in endurance events is when the big fat cycling muscles that you have worked on eventually get fatigued (which they will after a number of days in the saddle) and then your shoulders hunch, your knees go out of line etc. At that point it is all the other ‘non cycling’ muscles that hold you together and keep you going.

No need to lie about that, picking the phone, in the same way that picking up a mars bar or a can of pop, isn’t an illegal offence unless i’m mistaken.

I seem to remember someone being fined for eating a kitkat while driving (or maybe I just read the Daily Mail one day by mistake :? ) I don’t think that eating or drinking in itself is an offence, but the police can judge that it results in careless driving or driving without due care and attention.

Not sure what criteria they use to make this judgement??

Have to admit, I drive about 40k a year and regularly drink / snack on the road so really not having a dig at anyone… just saying…

As above really – depends on the person.

My present tennant is on benefits and has mobility issues. I didn’t enquire what benefits, as I didn’t feel it was my business. She gave references from her last place and has been great. Has made improvements, always asks first, pays by standing order always on time.

My previous tennant was working and an absolute nightmare. Had to chase money (she would then just pull out the cash), house left dirty, bathroom never aired and full of mould, garden abandoned.

It seems like a bit of a lottery. Good luck.

Ok, any summer vegetation then :-)

Lovely photos Count Zero, thanks for posting.

@ GaVgAs what a crazy year it is, the Rhodos by us are still in full bloom. Great shot.

Doh :oops:

EDIT – that’s nothing – you should see how bad our communication is at home :roll: :lol:

OK – that sounds like a plan to try.

Have spoken to Morso (well Surroundedbyhills did) they state that the brackets are actually not required as the weight of the baffle from above will hold the bricks in place :roll: . Apparently this is a common problem.

So looks like we can just cut the heads off, remove the brackets and leave them out.

Why on earth did they fit them if the weren’t required :evil:

Many thanks for all the replies.

@ Yorkshire89 & Wombat

Is that Kilburn? Stayed at the Forresters Arms last week, enviously watched a group setting out. Yorkshire Mountain Biking van?

Will bring my bike next time!

Have just found (through google) thread cutting screws – can we just use these to re attach the bracket after drilling the originals out?

Here

Thanks for the replies – makes me feel like it might be a goer…

You’ll probably end up drilling the old thread out and tapping with the next screw size up.

This is fine, no idea what size the originals are anyway, so I just need to buy a cutting dye thingy and use one that fits? (remember this from CDT at school – half turn in, quarter out…)

Can you get a drill into the stove?

Yes. We have taken it out and removed the door and top so access is easy.

What make is it?

Morso ‘Badger’ (older version)

I’m surprised that a stove manufacturer holds firebricks in with brackets that need removing.

Yes – so am I. It seems silly. All the other screws (for the top and door) came out easily. The stove was inherited with the house and has been a bit bodged in the past (wrong sized baffle plate fitted) so I can only assume he used the wrong screw (in relation to the metal) when replacing the bricks previously.
We have the stove in pieces, and although we can get the existing bricks out by breaking them there is no way to remove (or install) them whole without removing the brackets :?

Have you tried an impact screwdriver?

Haven”t tried this, we have now mangled the screw head a fair bit in trying to get them out by hand, so I think drilling is the way forward.

Thanks.

We bought the Gobi 4 from Go Outdoors. Think we paid £199 with the carpet/rug and additional footprint groundsheet.

Haven’t tried it yet so can’t comment, but bought it after having a good look around. Like you we just wanted a bit more space than our 2 man tent offered, being able to stand up is a bonus. The ‘dome’ shape appears much more stable than the tunnel tents and at that price i don’t think you can go far wrong…

The bag is bloody heavy though!

Dogs, kids and house.

Lovely old cottage in an idyllic position… Reality eats fuel, needs new windows, repainting, internally decorating, new bathroom and then new kitchen…

We often talk about moving to a modern house and actually having the time / money to ride bikes :?

Am i? :D :oops:

(no I’m not CZJ…)

EDIT – Oh hang on – its the cause not cure :( Damn you SBH!

I have always had a dog / dogs, my OH has kids (now 8 & 10)

I just moved in with my OH, about 2 years ago when my elderly kelpie had to be put down, so I was thrown into a position of wondering if it was wise to get another dog, when I already had the additional tie of children. My OH was also slightly nervous of the idea for the same reason (would children (part time) and dogs be too much). However I think I lasted about 2 weeks before we ended up coming home with a 6 month old Kelpie pup.

Kelpies are another high energy dog which need a lot of attention and exercise. For us the pros and cons were…

Cons… (remebering we took a 6 month old unhousetrained, untrained pup)
– Pup chewing the girls belongings – caused a few tears, they had to learn to clear up after themselves and couldn’t leave favourite toys downstairs (this passed after a few months)
– Time in mornings when we have the girls. You need to work together to get dogs walked/kids ready and adults out to work on time.
– The mess in the house from kids and dogs… seems to more than double.
– Cost of kennels (only used them once).
– Day long visits to friends / relatives are sometimes cut short as we return early to walk the dogs. But we are lucky as a lot of our friends / family are dog friendly.

Pros…
– Walking / riding with the dogs is a great family activity, and what our weekends revolve around.
– Walking the dogs with us both (so they get our full attention) is seen as a real treat by the girls. We live in a lovely area, so dog walks include playing in the river, skimming stones, climbing mountains, trips to the beach etc.
– The company of the dogs when we don’t have the girls – and as they grow up.
– Everything else started above :-)

Have to say we ended up getting a second a year after the first (dog, not kid) and seeing how the two dogs interact makes me think that a single dog is somehow missing out! Don’t get a dog – get two :wink:

Where are you based? I have a bob that I would loan out, but am central Scotland…

EDIT – Opps just looked at your profile – couldn’t be much further away if I tried! :roll:

Not sure about price comparison, but a mate had the Edinburgh Bike co version of the BOB and it worked fine. It also packed down for when you needed to transport it in the car which was a distinct advantage over the BOB. Just remember to pack a spare 14″ tube if you go far from home :oops:

Have no experience of using it with a child seat, or of towing a bob vs child though. Sorry.

HTH

I did something very similar last October – bought my partners ex out of her share of my partners house.

We used Bell + Craig in Stirling (but they also have a Falkirk office). They were really good, kept in close touch, stuck to the quote even though they had to do some extra chasing up. I can’t remember exactly what we paid. It was Amy Reid who I dealt with.

Ahh… You obviously don’t have a ‘blue’ and ‘pink’ jobs chart… updated, cross referenced and signed off in triplicate :wink:

Now this is a point that I’m unclear on. What exactly is the difference between a civil partnership and a civil wedding? I’m not trying to offend anyone, I am just curious.

From my point of view, the main opposition from the religious groups seems to be that the actual word ‘marriage’ is some how connected to religion… I don’t understand this so not really sure I can answer your question. The present civil partnership does not have the legal recognition of a civil marriage.

However if ‘marriage’ does have any religious connotations then I would rather just have a ‘partnership’.

EDIT: Am liking Stumpyjons post ^^

I’m straight, have absolutely no religious views… and given the choice would rather have a civil partnership (if it was legally recognised in the same way) over a wedding :?

Cougar – Moderator
On a point of pedantry, it’s same-sex marriage, not gay marriage. There’s plenty of bisexual and transsexual people also affected by this issue, many of whom aren’t “gay” as such.

I thought that it was just “marriage”…

Love my SPA CYCLES Ti audax bike. They fit it to you (if you can get to the shop) with stem, bar with, control position, crank length etc, all for just £1500.

I picked it up one week and rode lejog on it the next week :-)

Lived on my own for most of the last twenty years. Loved it :-)

+1 for having a dog. A walk after work, then another just before bed. Worked well for me.

Started living with surrounedbyhills 18 months ago… if anyone can tell me how to cope with this I’d love to know :wink:

Don’t really like them myself… so can see her point of view (how about a nice native tree instead :wink: )

But if you do go get one just a couple of things to think about…
They get BIG, so make sure you’ve got plenty of room.
They are easily killed by cold wet winters while they are young – so might need some protection.
They are relatively expensive to get one big enough, if you get one under 3 ft then it will do better in a pot for the first couple of years.
Good luck!