Peterfile, ijs – Thank you

Falkirk Mark – Yes I understand if things go wrong there’s not much protection in a contract, but would still like to know its there.

tr – yes I got that from your post… as a landlord I had assumed that the tenant would be happy with a monthly ‘get out’ rather than re signing for consecutive 6 month terms as my agent is implying. Monthly roll over sounds better for both of us.

Peterfile – Thanks, will take you up on that, but as the agent has found the tenant – I haven’t even seen the agreement. The tenant is due to sign at 3.30pm, I’ll call the agent and request that the tenancy be on a monthly renewal after the initial 6 months… See if they will go with that.

Cheers trail rat – that’s how i thought it should work.

Hopefully I can persuade the tenant to go with that. Should have avoided the estate agent too, guess I was being lazy…

Yep – works just like that.

As TJ says it only gets a bit more complicated if you don’t want one of the ‘Wheelies’ bikes. Then you get offered just 80% (ish) of the originally quoted value in cash. If you keep talking to them, and explain why nothing Wheelies have is suitable, then eventually you should get the full 100%. I did, but it took a while.

However sounds like you’re happy with their offer… Cool :-)

Oh… and they sent someone round the same day to fix my garage door too..

An American photographer on vacation was inside a church in Oldham taking photographs when he noticed a golden telephone mounted on the wall with a sign that read ‘£10,000 per call’.
The American, being intrigued, asked a priest who was strolling by what the telephone was used for. The priest replied that it was a direct line to heaven and that for £10,000 you could talk to God. The American thanked the priest and went along his way.

Next stop was in Manchester… There, at a very large cathedral, he saw the same golden telephone with the same sign under it. He wondered if this was the same kind of telephone he saw in Oldham and he asked a nearby nun what its purpose was. She told him that it was a direct line to heaven and that for £10,000 he could talk to God.

‘O.K., thank you,’ said the American.

He then travelled to Blackburn, Burnley, Rochdale Littleborough, and Todmorden… In every church he saw the same golden telephone with the same ‘£10,000 per call’ sign under it. The American, upon leaving Lancashire decided to travel to Yorkshire to see if Yorkshiremen had the same phone.

He arrived in Halifax, and again, in the first church he entered, there was the same golden telephone, but this time the sign under it read ’50 pence per call.’

The American was surprised so he asked the priest about the sign. ‘Father, I’ve travelled all over Lancashire and I’ve seen this same golden telephone in many churches. I’m told that it is a direct line to heaven, but in Lancashire the price was £10,000 per call. Why is it so cheap here?’

The priest smiled and answered, ‘You’re in Yorkshire now, son … it’s a local call.’

:wink:

Went to a wedding at Westonbirt

I used to work at Westonbirt. If you are getting married in the spring (Rhodos in full flower) or autumn (Acers showing beautiful autumn foliage) then the backdrop for your photos would be stunning.

Rickon & higvol + 1

In Dec we got a 20 week old pup (5 month). She had never been inside before, so had no house training at all.

I went the cold turkey route, didn’t want to get into newspaper, just kept an eye on her. Not easy as I work full time, but adjusted feed times to allow her time to go before shutting her in for the morning and managed to get home mid day for a 20 min break .

Going through the night was the hardest, I started by getting up at 3am to give her a loo break, then moved it out by 15mins every couple of days. Exhausting, but worth it. Just 4 weeks later and all is good (& clean & dry!!)

Above Loch Turret last week :-)

Either sugar OR milk… depends on how I feel.

Never sugar and milk – that would be just wrong!

I have an Orbea road bike, good light frame, great value, i love it.

Didn’t know they made MTB’s too…

I snowboarded in Bansko about 3 years ago.

We went because it was cheap… and therefore i guess we weren’t expecting a ‘three valleys’ experience.

I thought that it was fine, food good and cheap. Lifts relatively modern. Avoid the rush hour on the gondola. Pretty much as has already been said.

I went out as an intermediate, happy on red runs, would tackle black. The other two in my party were beginners. To be honest having read the blurb about the resort I assumed that I would get bored in a few days, but in reality it was probably the best thing possible for my boarding. As there were fewer runs I found that I ‘sessioned’ any good bits that I could find, setting tasks like ‘how many/few turns can you make btwn A and B’… and my technique came on leaps and bounds.

When we went out it was relatively cheap (pizza for £4) and not anything like the French resorts, but still good for a week as long as you know what you are going to.

Just been through this with my partners youngest girl (7)

We went for a 20″ rigid Cuda Mayhem (about £150 new) as we figured that cheap childrens suspension forks would be worse that none (her big sister has a 20″ Marin with suspension, but I’m not convinced they do anything other than pogo up and down).

Seems to be a good wee bike. They do a 24″ wheeled version £150 new here http://www.bikes2udirect.com/B4668.html but it has suspension forks :?

Agree that you would be better getting a better / lighter second hand bike for the same money, but if that fails the Cudas don’t seem any worse (or heavier) that the big brand kids bikes, and are alot less money.

And +1 for going with 24″ wheels if you can. We have 7 and 9 year olds, they are both still on 20″ wheels and can really throw the bikes around. We will move the 9yr old upto 24″ wheels next year. I agree bikes that are too big (for them to grow into) cause problems…

@ sofaking

A kelpie, same as your fella :-) (nice photos by the way)

We lost our 16yr old black / tan kelpie cross just before Christmas and were chuffed to find a farm litter (5 months old) not far away. Needless to say we were straight over and the christmas puppy was collected…

Lovely dogs (but I’m a wee bit biased :D )

@Ox

Would guess ‘after’ for the behaviour of the dog… it will come in at the lower end of the ladder. If you have the dog first then you need to put some work in to make sure the dog realises that has to drop below below mini ox in the pecking order. Can be difficult with some.

Also on the time front… you have to give time to mini, so wait and see if you have enough left over for a hound, especially in the first few months.

The christmas puppy at the beach…

Up a hill…

And staring out the cat…

Also all in Scotland.

I’ve not been out with them for quite a while, but they were always very friendly when I was. Generally sociable rides, a small group, plenty of chat and banter (but depends who is out).

Best bet would be to register with the forum and post up, pretty sure you’ll get a reply fairly quickly. Only issue is that the trails have been pretty soggy recently and if the weather is very wet the rides have been missed to save trashing the trails even more. If this hard frost keeps going then it should be a cracker!

Usually 7.15 (used to be 7pm) from Kings Park… but keep an eye on the thread here

Details of meeting point here

My dad (a roadie in his youth) rediscovered bikes and took up mountain biking at the tender young age of 68. He is now (at 74) trying to teach me how to bunny hop up a kerb.

Hope I grow up as quickly as he has :wink:

On a serious note – even if there are underlying issues, I wouldn’t give up your biking. We all need a bit of space and if you don’t get yours on the bike then how else? The underlying issues won’t go away so any other pass time will likely be frowned upon too…

Our local Coop has Santa Suits.

They were boxed up, near the magazines, on the top shelf :? …
…maybe they weren’t the kind you were looking for :oops: (surely not at the Coop?!)

Johanna… quite like it now, its just a bit different, but as a kid I was for ever saying ‘with an ‘h’ in the middle’…

Have been Jo to my friends for as long as I can remember (and hence often Josephine when I’m in trouble – but I can live with that :-) )

We have inherited two stoves in our house, it also has solid walls with lathe and plaster (1850’s)

The smaller Morso Badger (4.5kw) heats a room 7m x 5m although we keep the doors shut if not using the other stove as it needs all the heat to keep that room warm.

The larger Morso Squirrel (5kw) heats a small 4m x 3m sitting room – but it gets way too hot so we leave the doors open to heat the hall and kitchen.

We light the squirrel most evenings, but only for a couple of hours, and the larger stove mainly at weekends. We easily go through £250 wood in the winter @ £55 per tonne (but don’t use coal), and have the heating (expensive gas) running at a base level too.

Not sure if lighting the stoves saves us money, but I love the whole ‘lighting the fire’ ritual and feel in a room. Loads cleaner and more efficient than an open fire.

Looking at the spesh sizing charts, they do look to be the correct size for what they are… listed as mens & actually womens – the sizing conversions are different for each, according to spesh.

??

Not sure which chart you have seen? The chart HERE shows that even with Spesh womens sizing a EU40 is only a UK6.5 :?

Are women’s sizes really different from men’s?

They might be narrower etc… but a womens EU size 40 is still NOT a womens UK size 8.

I am a size UK6 which is approx an EU39. As far as I am aware an EU size 40 is about a size 7 – mens or womens – its just the fit (width) that is different. I would say that the label is wrong to equate an EU40 with a UK8 and that would make me wary of the shoes…

Absolutely love my 2007 Meta 5.5

Am making the most of it while waiting for the cracks… so far it has survived a trip to Morocco, three Alps trips and as much abuse as trail riding in Scotland can throw at it. It seems to eat up the miles, climbs well and is a joy when you point it downwards.

I have had it from new, thrown abuse at it, come off it and dropped it down various rock faces and it is still in one piece – guess its just the luck of the draw.

8O

Had the same issue with M&S / Wheelies… twice.

1st time I had a custom Cove handjob stolen (small childish snigger when the attending PC had to radio that one out), Wheelies couldn’t offer the exact replacement so M&S were fairly happy to offer me the cost of all the parts – and added an amount for it being built :D

2nd time my Commencal Supernormal was taken and Wheelies couldn’t offer any hardtail with that kind of relaxed geometry. This time it took alot of negotiating as the Supernormnal was no longer made, they felt I should choose from the Wheelies range. Each time I spoke to Wheelies / M&S they said that the other insisted on the replacement… eventually got the name of a guy at Wheelies who agreed it wasn’t ‘like for like’ and finally M&S agreed to send 100% cash.

Worth it if you don’t mind making alot of calls – paid off to be calm, polite but fairly stubborn!!

Love it :-)

+1 for not just looking at women specific bikes.

For some reason they always seem to be slightly lower spec’d for the price (maybe just ecconomics as they sell fewer). I’ve always been happy with a std bike (and had more choice), just looked for those with a relatively short top tube. Wms bikes were just too short and cramped for me too (5’6″)

Over the past couple of years I have had Whyte, Santa Cruz and Commencal, all good with a wms saddle added.

+1 for the Marin Lombard for size. It has a very short TT and the disc brakes are great (as I use it alot on estate tracks etc when going off road would do too much damage to the waterlogged trails).

But it is also quite heavy… and a Marin :oops:

BTW – Am also Scotland based if you did want to try it (I realise that pigs are more likely to fly – but its an offer :lol: ) – I have a 52cm frame.

I buy flowers (..and plants ..and trees ..and seeds ..and bulbs ..and christmas trees)

I like buying Christmas trees the best 8)

Do you have a shed or an outhouse that you could put a cat sized hole in (or cat flap if you would rather)? If you make it a cosy bed and somewhere to hide then I would say that it would be ok. This is how my cat lived for many years when I was in rented accommadation and couldn’t put a cat flap into the house.

If possible ask a neighbour to top up the food every couple of days. You could leave enough dry food out for the week, but would worry about rats/mice if you are using the shed (or maybe that would just enhance its diet :-) )

If you are travelling alone in Santiago (rather than on a tour) just be a little bit wary. My brother moved over there about 15 years ago, so my parents visit regularly. I admit that they stand out as gringo tourists, but my mum has had her bag snatched on at least 3 occasions (you think she’d learn :roll: ) and lost her passport once.

It’s an amazing and beautiful country, but there are a lot of people less fortunate than us out there so be aware of it and don’t take any silly risks.(Not quite sure how to phrase it, but in some areas of the city the crime rate against tourists is quite high, in my brothers opinion this is partly due to tourists not fully realising the extent of the poverty, and the ‘easy pickings’ that they offer. Although a country that is very much making its way in the ‘first world’ it still has a very divided society, the rich are rich and well educated, but the poor are very, very poor by our standards)

That said, I have been out a few times and never had any trouble, I happily stayed on my own in various ‘refuges’ (like catered hostels) and travelled as a lone female. The overnight buses are an easy and cheap way to travel and if you don’t plan to camp, try the mountain refuges in the wine growing valleys to the south of the city.

… a bear with no ears?

B

+1 for Nikwax down wash and tumble dry with tennis balls. Actually restored some of the fluffiness it had lost through use (Rab jacket) :-)

downshep – we’re lucky that we are starting from a clean slate, rather than having to adapt existing sheds, which is why i’d like to get it right. Getting one built will cost more, but am hoping not too much – otherwise linking two of the shelf sheds could be plan B

Earbyphil – :lol: Not such a bad idea, but trying to keep the view out of the back…

br – We started by going for one big shed, but the impact in the garden would be huge, and the driveway is shared access :? But useful website – thanks. Looks like there are a huge range that can be bought ‘prefab’.

Thanks for the ideas guys :-)

In the past security has consisted of a 3m cable looped through frames and wheels and locked to an anchor. However I realise that this isn’t great as a set of cutters would make short work of the cable and then all the bikes are free.

Need to think about that one. As I say the garden is reasonably secluded, but guess that is also sheltered for the thief if we aren’t about.

mudsux – Nope, not really :? but we live in rural Scotland, on the edge of a village and the only access to the walled back garden is through a pedestrian gate at the side of the house. We can’t afford a brick shed and I have heard that condensation is an issue with metal ones. I’m open to ideas though if you have an alternative.

Druidh – Yep – that looks good. Not sure why I didn’t think of it myself :oops: Was nervous about the idea of hanging the bikes from their wheels, but good to hear it hasn’t caused any issues for you.

Maybe it could be a plan…

Thanks Marky – that’s the kinda thing I was worried about. Wasn’t sure what it would do to rear shocks either…

Not sure what you mean by ‘roof mounting’. I did think of running a pole along at about 4′ high to hitch the saddles over (trail centre stylee), but then the bars / pedals are at the same height and it gets messy and needs alot of room.

DezB – Member
I reckon the bank know more than they are letting on.

We have received your First Payment ??

How do they know it’s the first? of a number? Payment? For what?

Close the account. They can’t pay any more into it then.

Fair point – if it was a straight deposit account wouldn’t you expect them to talk about a deposit rather than payment?