I have just bought my cleaner some expensive hand cream. I thought this was personal enough to show that I had bothered to put a little bit of thought and effort into it, but also neutral in comparison to some real “smellies” type present.

ootflaps – Member
As an interviewer I’d say the institute is more important. Their value has been eroded by every other Poly offering them to any old half wit with a few grand spare, so be careful not to waste your money. INSEAD yes would look great on your CV, an MBA from Loughborough Poly just says you had more money than sense.

What is wrong with Loughborough? May not be LBS or Lancaster but I believe it has a pretty reputable business school. I am little biased mind as I did my PhD at their business school 😳

I seem to find that the higher the price then the less I seem to enjoy the food and the experience. Been to a number of Michelin starred restaurants in London and they were all unmemorable and one or two (French ones) were really poor.

I didn’t fair much better in New York, when I lived there, always found the standard top places too snooty and the food didn’t seem particularly special.

I had a favorite neighborhood restaurant in the west village called Indigo, where I always used to have the confit of duck, followed by the hanger steak and chocolate torte. Well priced, good service and they didn’t call me Sir.

The Quay in Vancouver is another favorite of mine. There was a spell when I used to travel there a lot on business and if I was traveling alone I would eat there every single night.

Back home. I have fond memories of Ma Goa in Putney (Goan food), and I ate at Quantas in Chiswick a few weeks ago and that was the best food I had eaten at home for a long time.

The mad Thai woman at Simply Thai in Teddington does simple wonderful Thai food. Those from the Twickenham, Teddington. Kingston area will know exactly what I mean.

What makes you think it must be a woman 😆

Middle Aged – Tick
Work in IT – Tick
Drive an Audi – Tick (and I fooking love it)
Wear Lycra – Tick
Pootle around in the Surrey Hills- Tick
Don’t put any real effort in – No Tick – I may not be going very fast but believe you me I am putting the effort in 😆
Have too many expensive bikes that I can’t really ride – Tick
Have a **** off expensive Naim Hi-Fi, and probably in all truth can’t tell the difference – Tick
Middle class – Tick (but most certainly from a working class family, but my free comprehensive education enabled my social mobility!)

I have no shame, where do I sign for my life membership?

PJM1974 – Member
£15k to tackle a bout of depression is actually extremely good value for money.

You got off very likely indeed!

I had one of those years in 2007, although mine may have been dealing with a manic phase. Unfortunately it didn’t do a lot for either my health or my bank account.

Glad to hear it proved cathartic for you.

I just had to have one replaced at a cost of £178, it had only done 15k. I don’t know why this one wore so quickly when the other 3 are at still at 5mm.

And best mates with Dr Fox

I suffered with it about 6 or so years ago. Mine seemed to come on over a few months from mild symptoms at first. I pretty much excluded everything from my diet – I think I pretty much survived on grilled salmon, chicken and brown rice for 18 months and would not eat anything that I did not prepare myself.

Overtime I started introducing other foods, pasta potatoes etc, pre-prepared sandwiches etc. At first it seemed that I would be OK for a day but not if I ate them 2 days on the trot etc. No pun intended.

It has only flared up once again since and thankfully seemed to resolve itself relatively quickly without all the drastic measures.

Still not convinced it was down to any specific food intolerance as pretty much anything kicked it off.

Gross over £2.2k. A 2011 Scott Scale 35 for £1200, a Trek FX7.5 for £450, New Brakes £150, New Light £180, New Garmin 200 £100, Some winter road wheels £100, plus all the other bits and bobs.

I have sold perhaps £1600 worth of bike kit so net spend isn’t too bad. 2010 was very cheap indeed.

I would like a new road bike in 2012, but we will have to see.

Siemens provide a 5 year guarantee and their prices are reasonable, compared to Miele.

I couldn’t even get as far as entering the discount code, but that may be down to my impatience or incompetence and most probably both

1/ Riding my bike
2/ Excellent food shared with friends
3/ The first signs of Spring
3/ The feel of freshly laundered bedding on that first night – I always think it makes me sleep better
4/ Waking up in the middle of the night with a rock hard erection (always puts a little smile on my face) 😆

Looks sweet. Job well done I reckon.

Listening to Natalie Merchant (Retrospective), cup of hot tea by my side. Curry night followed by Liam Nielson and Taken later on I reckon. Hopefully up early for a good ride.

45-50 hours a week in the office, plus the odd hour here and there in the evenings and at weekends. Contracted for 37.5 IIRC.

But thankfully in the main it is not too stressful. It is pretty much back to back meetings no matter how hard I try to keep my diary free to do some real work, so the evenings are useful to do some actual thinking.

I have probably not had a lunch break for 10 years, i am not complaining and TBH I just thought this was par for the course for everyone in a professional office based job these days.

That said it would have been nice if I had been able to grab 5 mins to go for a poo at some point today

Don’t HSBC do regular saver accounts that pay a reasonable amount or are the rates only attractive for their premier plus customers or whatever they are called?

Remaining Mortgage of say £75k against a property value of £300k. No other debt. High salary. Shed loads in the bank. Very little job security but I would receive a very generous pay off owing to the length of my notice period and length of service. No dependents.

So in theory on paper I am financially secure, but do I feel financially secure then no I do not.

+1 for Turin Brakes – The Optimist
Natalie Merchant – Tiger Lily
The Lemonheads – Its a Shame About Ray
Kate Walsh – Tim’s House
Robert Plant – The Fate of Nations
Rush – 2112

These are ones that are currently being played.

justatheory – Member
I really wish I could say that I would’ve reacted as you did, but I reckon I would’ve gone feral on him.

I would put myself in this camp. Obstruction, verbal abuse etc all well and good, but if someone gets physical and assaults me then it would be a different game.

I am not saying two wrongs make a right etc but if you push someone off their bike then you should not be too surprised to find that some people will not take very kindly to it.

I guess I am in the some people camp. It does not make me a bad person, just human.

Website now only shows Richmond – hope the Richmond store is not about to close.

I buy new and keep them for 5-6 years. However, my current Audi Quattro (5 years from new) is a keeper. First car I have ever had that I haven’t get bored with, plus to pay £30k+ for a new one ain’t going to happen any time soon, if ever again unless I win the Lotto. I am not mechanically minded and as soon as things start to go wrong I get shot.

Removing foreign objects from orifices where foreign objects should not be with a special dispensation for children under 10

EDIT Oh beaten to it

Chronic stress at work seemed to be the trigger for my Bi-polar disorder, which has pretty much **** up my life for the last 6 years.

Although I have been pretty good for the last 12 months looking back I have lost 5 years of my life, and I will no doubt need to remain on medication for the rest of my life, or the very least the next 5 years, and the risks of a serious relapse make me think I will choose to stay with the drugs.

I have no doubt I am an outlier and my body/brain reacted very badly to it, but stress is something to take very seriously

Mikeypies – Member
I come from Liverpool and I can’t remember a single thing of “beauty” about it
seeing it in the rear view mirror?

No that award goes to Loughborough, whose only redeeming feature was being within 1 mile of the M1.

Give me utter shite and “beauty” side by side any day over provincial blandness. But I really don’t get it, it could be any UK city as far as I can tell.

I come from Liverpool and I can’t remember a single thing of “beauty” about it

I have been using Air Titanium for over 10 years and have had them regularly reglazed to my current prescription. I no longer bother with the fancy inlay edging, just fairly normal anti-reflective, scratch high index plastic.

Costs me about £150 from my local optician.

I don’t know but I have a couple of old, but good standard ones, that you can have for peanuts. As I have no idea what these things cost I am only talking P&P and a little bit to make it worth my while walking to the PO.

I think one is blue and one is orange, but would need to dig them out to be sure. Email in addy if you have any interest

I have always gone for Jones or Churches depending on how flush I am. Jones have have never let me down.

Had one pair of Loakes which pretty much fell apart within a year, been put off them since. I wouldn’t touch Grenson, don’t think their quality is what it should be for the price

I reckon about £900 per year -pretty frightening really £2.50 x 350 = £875. Thank god I do not smoke or drink

Open a 12 month regular savings account, where a fixed amount is paid in each month. Then you can’t touch it. Plenty around and you do not need to pay in a great deal £25-50 a month it soon adds up.

I also have a Marantz CD 63 SE that has not had a hard life. But, as Elf says they are worth peanuts.

I thought it was only the CD63 SE KI signature ones that went for 100 notes. I thought you would be lucky to get £40-50 for the standard SE and that might be pushing it?

You are being inconsistent.

The average should be 126.02/171 = 0.74 (The sum of column B divided by the sum of column A)

The average of Column C is the average of averages, but the miles travelled on each of the 5 trips were different, but in averaging them you are giving each trip equal weight. I doubt this is what figure you are after.

Total cost / Total miles will give you charge (cost) per mile

I recently bought a Lumix DMC-FS18. I think it was £109 but I am sure it could be had for less.

My main criteria was that is was small/slim, which it is. But my other compact is a Lumix and IMO they are as well made as any and have good lenses

There are probably more mentally ill people who will be logged into STW tonight than you will meet on the streets either this week or next or the one after that. What’s your problem?

I never order from CRC anymore other than for a £5-10 spare that no one else stocks and it will take the LBS a couple of weeks to supply.

I never even used them much in their hey day as i never found them to be very reliable in relation to Wiggle and Merlin. Nothing I have read in the last year or so makes me think things have changed for the better

10 or or years ago I had symptoms and living in the US at the time they did an awful lot of tests – but the final outcome at the time was it was a thyroid problem.

Although given I was living the high life and abusing my body no end – pretty much none of my readings were normal – liver, kidneys, cholesterol, blood pressure etc. But I have very good since then and pretty much live the life of a monk.

Never had any problems – lasts as long as 9 speed IMO

TheBrick – Member
If you like lemon heads you’ll love a lemon party. It’s night where everyone just plays lemon head style music and parties. Google will show you how much fun people have at lemon parties.

Hmmn….. Not quite my cup of Lemon Tea. Also, they look a bit old to like the Lemonheads or am I just being ageist

Excellent – dabbling and an itchy finger is good. No wife at this end so my dabbling is unconstrained 😆

The Apollo has a very good reputation, although i never had the opportunity to listen to one myself.