Anybody using Swimovate ? http://www.swimovate.com/%5B/url%5D

The basic one lacks option to download to PC which I’d like but looks like PoolMateLive (with download clip) solves that.

Otherwise GarminSwim looking best to me.

Thanks people, I’ll check those out tonight. Ideally I’d like not to drive once I’m up there, family should be fine with walking a mile or two for food and drink !

Noel Edmonds. No doubt he’d cure the injury with one of those magic machines.

I’m amazed that he hasn’t already been listed.

I’ve done half my collection and saved a load of space. I still wanted to be able to flick through the covers and so I decided to use Slappa pages and box http://slappa.co.uk/dvd-cases/%5B/url%5D.

I’ve still a lot to do so I’ll probably order some more pages but I wasn’t too keen on the finish of the storage box so will look for an alternative plastic box.

I’d like to do similar with CD’s but with around 400 discs Slappa cases work out too expensive, unless someone has a good alternative CD storage (with sleeves) solution ?

ao.com was more expensive for the same machine. Although if their customer service is decent, maybe that extra £100 would have been worth it!

[ao.com] Not great post-sales customer service in my experience. They ripped our flooring doing a washing machine install and despite the installer begrudgingly acknowledging the issue when I pointed it out they still wanted me to jump through lots of hoops, getting multiple repair quotes and paper filling before they would even consider if they might be liable ! I would have been happy if they had just waived the install fee but now I just wouldn’t use them again even if cheapest. I’d be interested to hear if they are better when dealing with machine failures / replacement.

just screw (and washer) in place (I thought my shoes came with a screw and plate to fit but perhaps I already had one around)

I had a bone-graft and single implant placed 2 weeks ago but it’s going to be a good few months before I get an actual ‘tooth’ (with plans to then have a second ‘tooth’ built later once the gum has shaped).

I had quotes in the range of approx £2K to £3.5K. That included bone-grafting which is not always required and the highest included having the tooth ‘crown’ being replaced once the gum had shaped around an initial temporary crown).

I didn’t use them but these were at the cheaper end of the spectrum:-
http://www.dentalcareplus.org.uk/%5B/url%5D
They were going to be about £2K for me.

Cheaper still (I imagine, but I never got a figure) was going to go through the student clinic at the dental hospital but you have to get a referal and work to their appointment schedule which wasn’t flexible.

Before I joined Denplan my dentist first completed, and charged me for, known / required work then gave me a Denplan grading on which my premium was based. I’d give Denplan a call as I’ve found them very helpful and they have worked out well for me. In hindsight I wish I’d ticked the box for implant cover (bike accident = lost front tooth) but they will still pay a large amount towards the implant to the max policy value for a bridge.

mainly for insurance, legal back up etc,

I switched to CTC after receiving a very poor response from BC legal. I know they have helped others and are probably fine for the ‘usual’ cases of being knocked off. I’ve not had to use CTC legal (yet) so they may not be any better. CTC appear to do more lobbying and campaigning for the interests of cyclists which I value.

I was assaulted (facial injuries) and the rear wheel of my bike jumped upon and broken. I had [without real intent] took his wing mirror off as I raised my hand as he drove towards me on ‘my side’ of the road. It doesn’t matter if you are ‘right’.

I cringe now when people joke about taking wing-mirrors off, don’t do it kids! As they say, there is always someone bigger than you.

I popped into The Courtyard Dairy near Settle at the weekend. Great little place brimming with cheeses and they offer tasting slithers. I have absolutely no idea what I bought in the end but it tasted great. It’s worth a visit (although they do mail order too including variety packs). I also noticed a wine shop next door also offering tasting but didn’t partake this time.
The Courtyard Dairy[/url]

1) Numeric keypad on the side – annoying. I’m not a data entry clerk, so I’d rather have my keyboard in the middle.

tht bugs me too..I’ve been considering buying a new laptop but not that many without the numeric pad (think there is a Dell XPS one).

6) Function keys operate the laptop features by default, and to get application F1, F2 etc you have to hold down

On [my] Dell – there is Control-Panel -> Windows Mobility Centre -> ‘Function Key Row’ where the default can be toggled (I think this might be a Dell customisation)

I went expecting it to be poor but my (7 year old) daughter loved it which meant I had a good time too. Food in the park was poor value but was much better in the attached official hotel; You can get your hand stamped allowing you a temporary pass out to have lunch. Bonus of having lunch in the hotel was a couple of Lego characters wandering around, Lego shaped chips, and Lego themed toilets.

Is there some delayed execution confusion going on? If you force the linq statements to enumerate does it help?

I was thinking it might be this. If it is I think a .ToString on the variable would force the execution and let you to view the contents.

the thing I want to know is – are we on track? Do we need to save more? Also on the flip side, are we saving too hard? Should we enjoy more of the cash having fun (would spend it on travel /holidays rather than pissing up wall on cars etc) while we can?

This sounds similar to my agenda with the adviser but the advice came down to ‘save as much as you can afford’ (in the suggested pension funds & associated fees) and that was about as much as ‘advice’ was available before signing on the dotted line agreeing to the fees. I’ve set abut answering the questions myself e.g. how much is enough. This tool is useful for a quick illustration and play with some variables :- http://www.aviva.co.uk/savings-and-retirement/tools-and-calculators/my-retirement-planner/%5B/url%5D

I think you are right to be concerned about advisers. I’ve just bailed out of following the ‘advice’ of an adviser / company. They recommended a transfer of existing funds (of course!). The initial ‘fee’ was a percentage (2% in my case) of existing funds transferred and then an ongoing annual ‘fee’ percentage (0.75%) of total fund value. (I think these fees fall in the ‘reasonable’ as I saw larger fees when I looked around). The ongoing part was described as optional…well optional except the recommended funds were to be on an ‘adviser platform’ which requires an associated adviser. So I’d have to find another adviser to then be associated to the fund (and/or start the cycle again of % total fee and ‘recommended’ fund transfer, and annual fees).

I’m wiser for the experience and I may try another adviser as funds do want transferring / consolidating but this time I want to know the charging structure before I spend time in meetings with them and I’ll be clear that I do not want an ongoing (fee paying) ‘relationship’ (until they’ve proved their worth anyhow). That or DIY !

[recommendations for an adviser near to Rochdale welcomed]

Goodbye Bing Bong [sob sob]

Excellent service from the folk at 2gocycling

These were the only place I noticed who were hiring disc braked equipped road bikes (Willier). I’d be tempted to try one of these after trying to descend Sa Calobra in the rain on rim brakes (I presume the pads were a hard compound as I had little stopping power)

This compensation, however, does not apply when delays or cancellations are due to “extraordinary circumstances” as shown in the case of Hurricane Sandy.

FROM HERE[/url]

Claimed for wife, daughter and myself through Bott & Co when I knew Jet2 were denying most claims. Their fee was about a third of the total payment though. Today I’d submit my claim directly since a few court cases have clarified when they should pay giving the airlines less wriggle room.

searchPhone.Text = bePeople.telephone.Replace(” “, “”).Replace(“-“, “”)

I’m sticking with W7 on my work laptop as I updated my ‘newer’ laptop to W10 and since the microphone refuses to work in Skype (not an uncommon problem on Dell laptops but couple of suggestions have not resolved so far, tried new driver)

L’Enclume in Cartmel In Cartmel it is then

Perhaps but with the website under construction I’ll have to give them a call later to find out pricing and availability. I wasn’t intending spending more than £400 for dinner, bed and breakfast so we will see.

Some great ideas, if only the wife hadn’t changed her priorities and now it just has to be Lake District! We should be able to get around the Windermere area in an hour’ish. Problem I have now is that the decent ones I’ve looked at insist on a 2 night minimum stay including a Saturday.

Thanks for the Dales suggestions I’m keeping a note of them for when I get to choose !

I’ll check these out tonight but looks like some good ideas. I’ve wanted to eat at The Angel for some time but the look of the room photographs on the website haven’t impressed me, so I’d be interested to hear from anyone who has stayed overnight. I prefer to stay in the main hotel rather than an outbuilding which is also against The Angel I think but I’ll not rule it out if the food is that good.

We finished off our week with a trip to El Posito

which was good.

p.s. I didn’t rate Tolos at all, very shoddy service IMO.

search for Sora – think it’s still 9 speed
[as above]

e.g.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shimano-sora-3500-9-speed-rear-mech/rp-prod84819?gs=1&gclid=CI7a5urJ6ccCFUFmGwodGAULQg&gclsrc=aw.ds

Wouldn’t surprise me if theives target sporting events as people might let thier guard down.

Aye watch out. I know at least 2 bikes were taken at Manchester Sky Ride, a kid wandered in the crowd and just jumped on one he fancied and pedalled furiously away (past the staffed police cabin too).

something along the lines of a Fiat Multiplat with 3 seat on the front

Whilst 3 up front in our Honda FRV is great when the middle is my 7 year old daughter I’m not sure it would be so great with a large adult in between.

Always had a soft spot for Cliffe Castle in Keighley, too. Obviously no budget, but they always tried hard – some top taxidermy, exhibitions and indoor beehive too. And free, so good for kids. Might be shut now, I know it was for a while.

It’s open again, quite an ecletic collection but plenty to interest for a couple of hours. The bird cages and greenhouses (attached to a cafe) used to be good fun too but we didn’t have time for them when I went back last.

I didn’t came looking for ‘validation’ of anything, ‘I asked a question – “Is this actually against ‘the rules'”.

I’ve found the answer. The term I was looking for was ‘motor paced’ (thanks to ‘aracer’ for using that term). The ‘guide lines’ are:-

Uploading data from a car, motorcycle, e-bike, motor-assisted bike, motor-paced ride or any bicycle that includes any non-human propulsion or pedal-assisted force, and categorizing the activity as a “Ride” displaces data uploaded from a human-powered bike, thus conflicting with the fairness and integrity of the Segment Leaderboards.

I always enjoy the way people feel compelled to open threads about Strava solely in order to mention they don’t give a shit about it.

Whilst agreeing with the sentiment I don’t enjoy it and think it is quite unpleasant. It’s not a very inviting place for people to ask genuine questions. Putting it in the Chat Forum and asking ‘what do you think’ didn’t help my cause though.

Sorry, I forgot all the ‘kids’ are too cool for Strava here. ‘night

Next you’ll be telling me that they don’t drug test the riders at the top of Strava leaderboards !

I’m tempted to add a comment to his activity mentioning how much the car must have helped….or I could just go to sleep and forget about it

I had my Lazer road helmet replaced. I think it cost around 50% of new RRP (I was tempted to buy another discounted helmet but in the end stuck with the replacement). Madison distribute Lazer so I guess the experience would be similar for other brands Madison distribute in the UK. It took a copy of the sales receipt, a few weeks and a phone call to chase them but it came through in the end.

z3 compact?

+1

Too late for this time but I’d recommend trying Percol instant coffee (Colombian is my usual). I used to flit from one intstant to another just buying whatever was on offer but now I have Percol on repeat ‘subscribe & save’ order with Amazon so I don’t have to go hunting for it.

I’m going against the grain of the ‘good customer service’ thread and nominating
Appliances Online http://ao.com/%5B/url%5D for poor customer service. Most people recommending them on the basis of being cheap and delivering on time…that’s not what I call customer service, the true test is when things go wrong.

I made the mistake of paying for ‘installation’ from AO.COM . The delivery guys were very rushed and didn’t take much care in the installation. They put a small rip in the kitchen lino floor and didn’t admit it until I pointed it out. Also they didn’t bother removing the protective film off the machine so once installed under the counter with parts of the film already peeling I had to peel as much as I could with finger tips / pincers to make it visually acceptable.

Despite the delivery guy taking photo’s of the rip (once pointed out before he legged it) , not any apology. ‘Customer Service’ once I chased them sent a standard form demanding conditions such as 3 quotes for repairs, limited number of days etc and still no apology, and clearly just want you to go away. They won as I gave in as getting 3 quotes for a small tear seemed over the top and I really would have been happy with a token refund of installation. Still living with a tear in the lino though which. I doubt I’ll shop with them again but definitely would not pay for ‘install’

Specialized saddles tend to work for me but on my cx / commuter bike I’ve had no reason to remove the standard Charge Spoon saddle which has been a pleasant surprise.

The loss of Street View makes it harder to work out accurately where segments start and finish for those who care….but it’s okay because all you have to do is but one of the the new GPS units with live segments from Strava’s ‘partner’ Garmin. Mmm, nice earner to push sales of new Garmin units and Strava premium subscription !?

I’ve just bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 which is good quality, high specs but certainly not the ‘best value’ (£349 minus a £50 cash back offer which may be still on). I’m happy with mine and expect it to last a good few years knowing the specs are higher-end. The Samsung tablets around £200 also looked pretty decent when I had a quick test and would have done the job for now.

Be prepared to buy at least another one (possibly 2) after 1000kms.

Mine (conti 4 seasons) have done more than 4000km and looking fine and I had a similar experience on a previous bike / set. I think there would be a few more people shouting about it if 1000km was the norm.