That’s not the question I was referring to though.

Thank God for that – for a second we were at risk of getting back the point of the thread. And that would never do.

Suffolk/Cambridgeshire way – but I ain’t clicking on that NOBs link until you tell me what it is!

It’s not hunting my love, it’s a bloodsport. Very different thing.

Nope – not as far as I’m concerned – I’m sure some people do it just because they enjoy killing, but that’s not what interests me.

I like eating game, consider it to be entirely ethical, and because I’m not a hypocrite, I’m interested in being involved in the whole lifecycle of eating meat. Much better than to have the de-sensitized relationship with a packet of supermarket-packed mince that characterises most people’s approach to what they put in their mouths.

Thanks for the tips from helpful people – I reckon that beating is the way to go.

see if they have any Woodcock, much nicer.

I have scruples… Woodcock are considered Amber-listed by the RSPB, same with Snipe – so I’m not really keen to go munching my way through them… Pheasant, Pigeon, Rabit, Venison – all fair game* to me…

*(haha)

The lovely people at Shooting Times have a good video on how to skin it if you can’t be bothered to pluck… Making me want pheasant now… Off to the game dealers this weekend methinks…

Shooting Times

Chucking away everything but the breast? Are you people mad?

Pot roast with a bit of chorizo and some butter beans in for the last 20 minutes… Mmmm…

I use on of these[/url] for my shirts when I commute. Shirts come out looking nice and ironed for the most part, although you still get some folded shirt lines. But at least they are nice straight folded shirt lines instead of crumpled-piece-of-rag-I-just-stuffed-into-my-bag lines… Seconded fabric softener – jacket over the top and creases have normally dropped out in about 20 minutes.

radtothepowerofsik – Member

It is a made up word to get around internet swear filters, being a portmanteau of **** and ****.

[pedant mode] It’s not technically a portmanteau, as the meanings of the two words that have been compounded are not merged to create the meaning of the new word. In this case it wouldn’t be possible to do so in any case, as they’re both pejorative terms for the same thing. [/pedant mode]

Comparison website uSwitch said that things were getting so bad that one in 10 people in this country were considering emigrating.

So what did they do, ask “have you considered moving abroad to a nice sunny country?” right after everyone has come back from their holidays… I’m shocked it wasn’t “10 out of 10 people in this country were considering emigrating”

Had ours on 2 nights this week – still too warm for it really, but last night MrsHelios was working at the dinning room table til 10pm and got cold sitting there… Plus I was bored and wanted something to do…

No willy waving here – until today I would honestly never have imagined you could do XC skiing in the garage…

That skierg thing is either a) amazing, or b) the terrifying lovechild of an ergo and climbing frame… or c) both…

if you’re looking for something which utilises muscle groups as a primary part of the work then as I said before it’s XC skiing.

Bit hard to do on a machine in the garage!

This thread has made me want to row again

Every time I’m out in the summer I want to go back to rowing again, everytime I’m coaching in September-April I’m thoroughly pleased I get to stay warm, dry and wrapped up in massive waterproofs while the poor guys in the boat get freezing cold and soaking wet…

I used to coach carrying a thermal mug full of coffee, much to the disgust of my crews… Mwahaha…

Second the Concept II website – it has lots of good stuff on technique…

Just to pick a few it doesn’t do much for, triceps, pecs and abdominals.

Depends how you define “doesn’t do much” – it certainly works them all – but I agree there are other things to do that will have more of an effect if you want to work on those groups…

Having coached rowing for 10 years I’d agree with what’s been said about technique above – gym warriors are probably doing a bit of bit of CV work and tiring themselves out – but they’re not having any other effect when they batter back and forth rating 30+. I’d suggest you take a look at online resources for technique and focus on keeping your split low rather than your rate high…

bazookajoe: You’ve just made me throw up a little bit…

Defender was better in Africa because if* it broke you could fix it… If** your Land Cruiser broke – you couldn’t fix it…

*sorry for “if” read “when”
** for “if” read “in the unlikely event that”

Please tell me they’re still going to make ones with grown-up wheels on too? Those little girly spinning toys they’ve put on there won’t work for 99.9% of why I’ve had defenders in the past… Land Cruiser will finally win-out as the ultimate car in Africa…

Cambridge station, if not the most used by cyclists in Britain then at least in the top 10… No-one at any other barriers. Group of five standing right in front of the (single, solitary) cycle barrier… When I tried to go past they got *very* stroppy…

MTG – seriously – take a look at the Czech smoking study – it is beautiful – I particularly enjoy figure 1 which compares the costs and benefits of smoking, the top 3 benefits are:
1. Savings on housing for elderly
2. Pension and social expenses savings due to early mortality
3. Health care costs savings due to early mortality

Smoking really is good for a country… Proof right there – in numbers and everything…

isn’t allowing people to kill themselves with obesity, alcohol or tobacco before they are old enough to claim a pension the greatest good for the greatest number ?

A management consultancy did a study in the Czech republic that showed exactly that – people should be encouraged to smoke as it reduced the overall financial burden…

Based on up-to-date reliable data and consideration of all relevant contributing factors, the effect of smoking on the public finance balance in the Czech Republic in 1999 was positive, estimated at +5,815 mil. CZK.

The fact that it was paid for by Philip Morris should not be seen as in anyway biasing the report…

i’m not sure why ‘we’ should do anything

Well – the sooner they stop being a drain on the NHS the better – otherwise the doctor people won’t be able to afford to treat me for all the alcohol-related problems I intend to have in later life…

These people are selfish and must be dealt with.

Ban TV remotes.

Nah – they’ll just change it to the food channel and leave it there…

I’ve got a lightwave T2xt which is really good – they’ve just bought out a slightly newer model the T20. A bit ‘spensive @ £350 but ample room, hits your criteria and in awful weather you can actually fit a bike inside the porch if you whip off the wheels and seatpost.

Weighs <kg and packs up pretty small. I love it.

clicky…

I’ve got a really good financial advisor – doesn’t charge for many things (like mortgages where he gets commission) but does charge for some others. He is completely up front about all of it.

He helped us get our mortgage, despite it being with HSBC who wouldn’t deal with him and wouldn’t pay him commission. Even afetr it was obvious that he wasn’t going to be able to make money from helping us, he still did. As a result I’ll always use him from now on, and will be happy to pay when necessary.

There are good ones who aren’t going to rip you off or sell you old rope – but you need to find them…

All the time, I often write out post, then just hit “back” on the grounds that no one cares. Probably would for this one as well, but since its a special occasion…

Me too… I usually make a point of not posting on threads* where certain other users have posted. I don’t want to get dragged into their nasty little world of attention-seeking vitriol.

*This is an exception – but I’m also recognising the special occasion.

Well – anecdotally at least it appears that while I should probably cut out the booze when the time comes* I don’t need to go teetotal just yet. We’ve been thinking of trying towards the end of the year – and I had a sudden worry that if it takes aaaaaages for the beer to stop having an effect on quality then maybe I need to stop drinking altogether right now… I’ll go for moderation instead…

Some of the stories up there are pretty good by the way… I like “golden shots” – quality expression…

*so to speak

the spermologist told me…

That sounds like the start of a joke! I can’t decide if I think having “spermologist” on your business card would be a good thing or a bad thing…

I don’t smoke, but the main cause of my concern is that I do drink quite a lot… And I’ve no idea how long the effect of booze can last…

(I’m also not really ready to go to the docs to chat about this kind of thing – so given the number of baby threads on here figured you’re all a pretty good source of advice…)

“Get away from her you BITCH”

I believe the 2012 stuff – just not the rumours that were/are running round that it was going to be launched this October…

I’ve got the iPad2 – really good. I hated sitting on the sofa with my laptop balanced on my knee – and I can take it easily when I travel to watch films, read and use facetime to call home… Very useful at work too now that the novelty has worn off and it has beomce a tool not a toy…

iPad 3 should be announced in the next month or so which may drive down prices.

I am fully prepared to be dead wrong about this (because lets face it, no-one actually knows) but I really can’t believe that they’ll launch a new one so soon… 12 months yes, 6 months? No way…

[excuse mode]

I saw bits of it because MrsH had it on last night to see who was going in (she doesn’t actually watch it thank god – just likes to chuckle at the “celebrities”)

[/excuse mode]

Was Tara Reid completely off her face? Or is she always like that?

dd: not patronising at all – i assumed i was being stupid when i couldn’t find them… but I’m positive there are no airbricks – I’ve looked all over…

The groundfloor is actually level with the street/garden and the floor *appears* to be solid parquet laid on I-don’t-know-what. The previous owners had installed a chemical damp proof course in the walls – but I doubt it went under the floor.

Upstairs we have boards on joists – but there aren’t any air bricks there either. These are the ones I’m thinking about filling the gaps in… I’ve heard the thing about timbers rotting if you block air bricks – but given that we haven’t got any – I was wondering if filling the gaps would have the same effect…

Ta for advice khani – I’m hoping that I won’t need to stick too many down with epoxy because the floor is already there (I’ve not inspected it all under the carpet mind you – so there may be a few loose/missing ones). I used a drum sander for our boards upstairs and that worked well in the end – but like you say – patience is definitely a virtue…

dd: what will happen if I fill gaps in floor boards if there aren’t any air bricks? My victorian house is rather draughty.

Surely filling gaps in boards is no different to if I had underlay and carpet on top?

[hijack]

khani, how did you sand the floor? We’ve got one hiding under our carpet downstairs and I fancy setting it free – but have heard they’re tricky to do because of the block directions…

[/hijack]

It was our first year growing – we definitely learnt a few lessons. Our crops suffered with the dry weather but our season has gone like this:
Rocket: bolted (we got to eat loads still)
Spinach: massively bolted and took over the plot – bees loved it
Pak choi: bolted – only got to eat a few
Lettuce: we planted waaaay too much and wasted lots – need ot get better at succession sowing!
Tomatoes: Did well and are still producing
Onions: slightly disappointing.
Potatoes: utter disaster.
Mange tout: Excellent – we got totally pea’d out – they’re all over
Spring onions: Very tasty but didn’t plant anywhere near enough
Carrots: Forked – learnt not to plant in those little compost pots ever again!
Courgettes: still going amazingly well
Chillies: Producing really well now – I’ll need to pickle loads of them
Peppers – only just started to flower despite being planted in the greenhouse in April – I think they may not work!

I have just put in some purple sprouting, some leeks, some winter lettuce and a load more spring onions as well as spinach and rocket in the hope that I’ll get a nice autumn crop…

How old is your laptop? – mine just couldn’t cope with lots of things any more, and when I tried to sync my iPhone it got in a tizzy. New computer and no problems – syncs 2 iPhone, 2 iPods and my iPad no issues at all*

*This is a lie – sometimes it claims I haven’t downloaded all the purchases even when I have – but it works after runing it one more time

kimbers – Member

been scorchio down here in that london

Presumably all those burning buildings are doing their bit to keep things toasty for you…

One has even added after their MBA “(Oxf)”… but declined to add Brookes

that’s particularly cockish.

It’s even more cockish because the real way to do it would be “Oxon.”

I never use any of mine – but MrsHelios’ work all have to put theirs on e-mails as company policy – it makes me chuckle the extent to which some people go to try and look clever – I won’t even be suprised on the day I finally see a signature with cub scout badges…

Ummm… Slightly daft question – but do you pay your balance in full each month?

As an interim measure you could always shave the dog…