Try this it – worked for me – discovered windsurfing, coasteering, paragliding (*even mountain biking – went to centre craps – cycled and remembered my teens) you get to try sports/things and meet people, some sports stick as do some people.

http://www.spiceuk.com

*Do some weekends – if you just do sports nights it’s – there, sport, drink, home, with weekends etc you do more socialising.

I use like this
http://www.surplusandoutdoors.com/shop/outdoor-clothing/waterproof-clothing/new-british-army-knee-length-505294.html

but slightly more trendy. The ones I have, have a little slit at top and a vecro pull fit strap, totally waterproof thin enough to wear with normal socks, well over calf length so with long shorts you’re covered.
Hunting/fishing/shooting shop somewhere.

starter for 10, remember all the things that managers did to you and liked, remember all the thing you didn’t like, and then take into account the fact everybody is different.

make yourself approachable and make youself listen

Praise publicly when appropriate, criticise privately when appropriate, be consistent at all times

Keep an accurate weekly diary on everybody you have to appraise, as then you’ll have some facts at the annual review (if they work away/are seconded make sure their site supervisor does the same). (sorry edit, I’d do this 3 monthly so issues get addressed)

I pesonally found it easier not to be ‘out of work’ mates with people I managed – there is/can be a conflict of interests.

Don’t know your industry but – brief weekly team meeting, have a plan, make it public, keep it up to date and achievable (ie get buy in from your team) and honest(and that cuts both ways), what did you do last week, what are you doing next week, are you on time, everything ok , next.

If you ignore problems or issues they’ll get bigger/harder and more expensive

Try to bear this is mind. Simple maths, 1 manager 8 employees. If the manager kills himself they might get their output up by 15%, but that will hurt – a lot, you’ll achive more by getting 8 people up by 2% nobody dies and the up is the same.

I once worked in a very, very sterotyped office with German, Spanish and Brits.

One Brit, who go really cheesed with loud Germans, used to set his mobile ring to a well known hymn and then leave it lying on his desk and then ring himself rather a lot …………………

Non professional idea # 1
Can you find a modern fitting that fits inside the lead (that fits with nowdays std fittings), then use a ‘space filler’ – like old plastic bags etc to force pack around the insert and then cap it off with a watertight seal (araldite, putty, mastic) then just use modern fittings to link.

ie will a piece of white pipe go a couple of inches down inside the lead and seal that then use std bits to link white pipes.

To clarify I’m suggesting you use packing material so that the ‘rigid/hard to get out/messy’ seal material is only a thin layer at the top of the join (ie then you can get it out when it fails/doesn’t work etc). Also if you get rigid sealant down inside the lead I suspect that might cause bigger problems.

We used to use the blue gas bottle ones (about 3ft high on wheels). Not pretty but effective.

Ages ago I had a slimline upright leccy fan heater with a thermostat, could combine something like that with a timer plug

you were lucky

I agreed to sell my house to a purchaser marketed to me as and I quote ‘cash buyer’.
After some delay and then investigation by me it turned out the concept of cash buyer meant that once the twatt who wanted to buy my house had the house his auntie had bequeathed to him structurally repaired and managed to sell it they would have the cash to buy my house. Yes it fell through.

why are there seperate competitions for women ?

if there is a fire or the training room starts sinking I assume I can’t shout women and children first ?

can I wear a skirt to work ?

why doesn’t it apply to religious organisations, surely that in itself is discrimination against non religous people ?

great article,

as “mountain biking” goes I thought this was pretty spot on

“wholly necessarily and exclusively” for work.

I lost at tribunal on a suit (I was in a consultancy, required to do customer facing work, so I tried claiming it a it was a necessity – which IMHO it genuinely was as I never wear a suit anywhere else).

try car supermarkets
fow
tradesales etc
and just keep looking on autotrader etc

get the model no/name and start googling

at least with a manual you might get to know the name

Well, when out with mum (*Raleigh 3 speed shopper, previous post)) and me on a tricycle (*therefore about 1963) whilst not racing and going up hill next to a river (*river was going downhill but as it was on it’s own it couldn’t possible be racing) I’m proud to say that seeing a large salmon in a pool my mum whipped her tights off and stuffed it down one of the legs. I therefore wish to claim that my mum invented fish net tights.

probably not a lot of help
but I seem to remember some bloke converting kite buggies and using a windsurfer mast/boom/sail and uj(welded)
this means you can get all the kit in a car easily.

Right – info please. In the 60s my mum used to go out on a Raleigh hub 3 spd, with sarnies, flask, fags, rods and up the riverside and all over Forestry Commission and farm land on a regular basis. Is it the fact that she rode a shopper or that she’s never been on the internet that means she wasn’t a mountain biker………………

I also can’t help feeling that modern mountain bikes owe more to motorcycle design and development than any form of rigid bike and the derailleur is older than anybody on here……..

*Riding offroad is what people did when they worked in the countryside before cars were commonly available.

“We DEFINITELY invented downhill racing. “, so until you invented it what was two people trying to beat each other down hill called ?

Ps I think you should all be jumping up and down for joy, during ‘our’ (well some of us) lifetimes we’ve had a gifted ‘leisure existence’
– dirt motorcycling – from heavy with poxy drum brakes and twin shock, to mega power, lightweight, mega travel and discs.
– windsurfing – lumps with baggy sails and rope tie on booms to carbon, lightweight, battens and clamps.
– mountain biking – already covered
– kites – my first one was bamboo and canvas
– jetskis
– …………

yeah I’d do the Attack 3/4 ones
Reading/Basingstoke or Oxfordish if that helps logistics

yes
Strathclyde 77-80. Computer Science (* a very lucky chance hapening, after the dreadful Accounts and Applied Physics sessions I was attending I lucked upon some blokes in jeans and Ts …)
I was a twatt and wasted the experience but luckily I was a natural at computing and got a degree.

Nowdays I’m a bit mixed on the value of a degree, esp if you can get your foot on the ladder without it, partly due to the cost and partly due to the horrible reality that if something is really common it’s not that valuable (sorry). I’d maybe consider doing a course that led to the sort of career that relies on my physical presence, and/or aligns with likely future growth areas, or if a dgree was essential for my chosen career.
Make use of all the sports facilities, clubs and social opportunities. You have all your life to get pissed and stoned – I didn’t start field hockey till I was a veteran (> 35)
My first job was conditional on having a degree certificate, I’ve never needed it since.

see trustnet.com
use hargreaves and lansdown or someone similar as dealer
investment trusts – read the initial and mgmt charges
isa – isa baby – do this 1st
don’t buy things on interest of above 0%
if you have a mortgage look at what you can save by paying it early
if you get 1.5% interest on savings and pay 5% on a mortage then savings = a cost
understand the concept of pensions, pension tax relief, money purchase, annuity, drawdown, 55 years old, 75 years old.
consider the concept of comission very carefully, you can sell quality and get 1% or shite and get 20% – what would you do ……, sorry what would your adviser do ?

http://www.garvaulthotel.co.uk/
*one way bike ride just opposite
*suggest phone check also some for sales on google, bit chintsy but brekkie with deer in the garden – food was ok, home cooking

http://www.ruareidh.co.uk/
*out of way, niche, not upmarket, great views, nice pub but a fair/wee long bit away, good brekkie, didn’t try evening meal

I wouldn’t stay at the Kinlochbervie hotel again.

as above – down to what’s agreed, but having lodged one of the main reasons for a room as opposed to hotel is the ability to leave stuff over, as it’s a pita having to move everything every Mon + Fri.

You need to see it from both views, and I’d suggest that you need to accept that it’s their home from Mon-Fri, and they will probably like to use it thus.

sorry – register
get phone no, email – google them
copy passport, take deposit
contact insurance co/mortgage, – may not be covered for lodger theft etc etc

spareroom.co.uk
beware pay to gefister wbsites …………….

you should try cross breeding these with ‘standard farm animals’ – certainly could help making ear tags bigger to read

as above or look in kitchen drawer for a big knife etc.

Can you take it out, clean it, grease/copaslip it so it does up easily, and then reassemble using finger pressure till it bites

Can you angle a centre punch into it

I’d get a new seals (he typed whilst looking at a yellow ceiling patch where I reused the old doughnut).

Apparently if you smear the seals with vaselien it’s better ………….

start with 2 liners, learn, then 4 liners
get lessons, check out your local kite shop, mine did regular fly outs

understand how much space (free of trees, pylons, dickheads, dog shit, council restrictions…) is required to have fun with a kite, then multiply that by about 10 as that is what it takes for a buggy

I just keep about 4 flexfoil 2 liners in the car and play at the beach in winter now

re prawns, long paint roller, fish paste goo, behind the radiators

my dad did mine at last house, if you do concrete it you can stripe it when you lay it (lines across) to give winter grip. Note point about things underneath it.

Check local planning regs – I believe there are certain areas where non permeable surfaces are not allowed.

Don’t rate tarmac atall, not actually that damage proof.

may help

http://www.cyclistno1.co.uk/features/maintenance/fox-forks-wiper-seal-service.htm

http://www.mojo.co.uk/Website2010/html/setup8.html

why not join the Tory party, your machete might come in handy, if you do about 10 that’ll leave 489,990 …..

thanks guys, lots of interesting places
Cheers

bumped – coz I need to know if they’d make a suitable chrissie pres and it seems much easier to get pinned ones

ta

you can’t stop wicking down (without tourniquet level tightness), so
a – shorts, motorbike inner tube, cut to length on legs, likely to be subject to feedback whilst out in daylight and criminal investigation at night
b – tight fitting (with cuff)neoprene socks, will keep most water out and the water inside will stay warm, and can be topped up on the move using a well known surfing technique
c – being style unconcious I wear thish – http://www.springfields.co.uk/bush-craft-field-kit/footwear-accessories/?id=2215, mine are a very long goretex sock that fit via velcro just below the knee, yes I get feedback but I’m a warm, dry ……

and if that’s too thin can you find a bit of hosepipe, use a strip of inner tube, or a bar grip etc.

only if electoral promises are treated as such and legal accountability applies for false representation ditto incompetence or self interest in whilst in office

or in shorter terms – no

If you’re an unskilled you’ll want a bike you can foot (ie depending on your height check seat height/width so you can get a foot down to push/support etc and the more a bike is over the more it weighs) so this restricts choice – I’m very short, I loved dt175,Xr200/Beta Alp/serows aka xt225- low, underpowered, very high functionality, I loved my kdx200 then kdx220 was brilliant, much,much quicker, but I could only get one tiptoe down by sitting on edge of seat.

4st may be more beginner friendly (flatter power curve), a hot 4st can be an arse to start, (esp when knackered and I can assure you that dirt bike riding is harder then mountain biking)-ie leccy start

It is worth checking maps/ROW as it’s now closed down to such an extent that I’d suggest it unviable in many areas.

Honda Xr, Yam WR, Suz DR350/DRZ. crm250 2t (also papmera 2t – trails)

Have fun – and you will on a dirt (motor) bike

most stupid cycling incident
years ago, as a lad, a bike computer was something you bolted to the end of the axle, it hung down on a metal fitting strip had had a sort of jockeywheel on the inside and this was turned by a ‘metal tag’ that you clamped on one spoke, which every wheel rotation hit a ‘peak’ on the jockey wheel thing and drove it round. Anyway, boy, new toy, spannering, offski, belting along, mileometer not working, the tab wasn’t hitting the clicker, so in my frustration I tried bending the fitting strip in a bit by kicking it – sadly the mileometer went into the spokes ………….

a close cycling second, in my day fireworks were basic, bangers, catherine wheels, roman candles, vesuvius flares and small weeeoosh rockets. So, all out on bikes, a mate (with a rich dad – a GEARED racing bike – wow) and some hefty fireworks, anyway in the interests of science we strapped the large rockets to Grahams frame and off to the top of the hill, speed record attempt on. Off he went, sadly Grahams dad was the first person on the island to have bought the now rather common exploding rockets, hospital job.

as m74, on dirt motorbikes you would leave off the valve thread bolt and watch for creep (valve starts to lean – then deflate, realign, repump before it leans too far – as it then tears off)

is they tyre really old and been on/off lots as it may have loosened up

some of my dirt bikes wheel had tyre clamps (extra valve hole, and a 3″ shoe with a bolt/nut – this was used to squueze tyre to rim via rim)

John Lewis free 5 yr gt
richer sounds 5yr gt = +10%

think it’s partly true

new
run in loosened up – slightly more
downhill all the way with wear/tear