the throng of bodyguards in tracksuits with their fingers in their comm-link ear pieces. I think I can just about make out someone holding a torch in there…somewhere

That’s because this country is full of massive to$$ers whose only thought would be to sabotage the events

I was told that unless I was prepared to put tennis before everything else in life, I’d never be good enough to make a decent living at it. I wasn’t, so I didn’t.

I suspect that a lot of Brits just aren’t motivated or passionate enough about it to put in the graft. Just like me.[/quote]

The commitment principle applies to any sport, and I suspect the motivation/passion in kids is stifled by dull well-meaning adults concerned about them getting qualifications for a real job … which is fair enough for obvious reasons

The commitment, motivation & passion needs backing up by parents who are prepared to be equally committed … with absolutely zero guarantee that their little prodigy will make it to the top level or even make a living from it

Are there that many people with enough ambition to give it a go?

– When someone makes a point yell “Goooooal!”

– Pull out a 2 foot long sub sandwich and start eating it, offer it to others.

– When umpire asks for silence, yell “Don’t tell me what to do!”

– When serve is about to be made and all is quiet, yell “Moooo!”

– Bring your own racket, ask when it’s your turn to play.

– Laugh loudly and yell “Someone colored the ball yellow!”

– Grunt loudly every time a player grunts.

– Tell everyone around you that you’re just here for the food.

– Fall asleep halfway through the game. Awake and yell “How did I get here?” , “Who are you?” , “Where am I?!?”

– Regularly talk to yourself. Argue with yourself about whether a ball was in or out.

– Introduce yourself to the person sitting next to you, tell them you are an excessive tennis fan and have been to many games. Introduce yourself again 2 minutes later and say this is your first tennis match.

– Bring a plastic sword, swing it violently in the air.

etc

IF the intent is to communicate then it is art

My wife phoned earlier to communicate with me.

Is she an art?

😀

The other thing with CRC – headline price for an item is always for XXXL and the size you want is always more.

To be fair, they do put “From £xx.xx” …

Although this is just another way of saying “ha! there’s no way you’re getting it this cheap unless you’re 8′ tall. or a dwarf. but now we’ve tempted you in to our site you’ll probably spend money you weren’t planing to. ha! again.”

John Lewis own brand – same factory as Zanussi, less choice of colours (who cares), more programmes, cheaper and 5 year warranty.

Ditto this.

Everyone likes a scapegoat.

We live in an age of zero accountability where all our problems are always someone elses fault …

Massive debt? – Banks’ fault for wrong lending
No money? – Banks’ fault for not lending
Too fat? – Mcdonalds’ fault for, er, being open for business

etc

If it’s that easy have a go yourself, go on.

Will do. How hard can it be.

Put a reminder in your diary for around 36 years time when I’ve found the ‘perfect’ whatever-it-is to use …

If he’d made the rock himself first I would be impressed, but all he’s done is found something lying around and got someone else to move it for him. Then claimed all the credit for it. 😀

there is no definitive test for what is/isn’t Art

My personal criteria for qualifying art is : is there any actual skill or talent involved in producng it.

I.e. painting a picture, sculpting, designing an interesting building, designing an aesthetically pleasing yet functional doo-dah … these things all require skill/talent/ability

Paying someone to load a rock onto a truck, then paying someone else to drive it somewhere, then paying someone else to build two wall things, then paying someone else to lift the rock off the truck & balance it between the wall things requires no more ability than using the yellow pages and a telephone …

Oh sorry, I forgot – the ‘special’ talent was finding the ‘perfect’ rock 🙄 … which he’s clearly rubbish at because it took him almost as long as I’ve been alive

😀

So, joao3v16, no shag last night?

Mind your own 😉

I would have liked it, but because some pretentious berk has dressed it all up as ‘art’ and tried to give it meaning and significance, I don’t care for it one bit …

Artist Michael Heizer unveiled Levitated Mass to more than 1,000 people on Sunday.

So, 1001 then? … Why not just say exactly how many … Although “more than 1000” is massively unspectacular cosidering there are over 4 billion people on the planet – in the scheme of things, 1000 out of 4 billion = nobody really cares

Positioned above a walkway, the outdoor sculpture is designed to look as if it is floating in mid air.

Design objective failed then as you can clearly see it’s resting on two massive plinth things. Does he think people are that stupid they won’t notice? For goodness’ sake.

The boulder is intended to stay there permanently after being hauled 105 miles (169 km) from a rock quarry.

Bet it’s not there in 100 years time …

Heizer first had the idea for Levitated Mass in 1969. But he did not locate the perfect rock until around seven years ago

36 years to find a massive rock? Where the heck was he looking? Obviously not a ROCK QUARRY. Idiot.

According to the venue, the work combines ancient traditions of creating artworks from megalithic stone with modern forms of abstract geometries and cutting-edge feats of engineering.

Yes, balancing a bog rock on two plinthy things is cutting edge 🙄

To think people used to just dump their massive rocks on the ground.

Marvel at how far mankind has come!

The Archbishop Canterbury said …

And I agree.

😯

Somebody on STW agreeing with the Church?

What is the world coming to *shakes head*

Everybody on here seems to think the Church should not be involved in politics or decisions that affect the nation …

😉

I can not understand when a company as large as Wiggle as the main sponsor this year hade such a small choice of spares

This year was an “Austerity Mayhem”

A spokesman suggested that customers of other banks, who may have incurred extra costs because payments from RBS did not come through, would eventually be reimbursed by RBS as well: “We are working together with their banks, between us we will sort this issue out.”

However there is no policy yet on whether or not anyone will be offered extra payments as compensation for inconvenience rather than quantifiable financial loss.

I’d only have to stop it again 5 minutes later at the next hill. They really haven’t thought this through at all. It would be fine if we all lived in Holland, but it’s flipping hilly round where I live.

😉

Think I’ll just donate £667,000 directly to charity instead

From reading the App reviews it appears that anything over 25mph will get a ride disqualified

I won’t bother then. I live on a hill. Every ride features speeds >25mph.

Can it differentiate between cycling/running/walking and driving around in a car?

Have been trying for months to find a dentist near me accepting new NHS patients. Have given up and paid for a private checkup last week.

My wife has been able to register with two NHS dentists in the past 6 months (switched to one nearer home).

She’s not even British. Only lived here for less than 2 years.

Damn foreigners. Coming to our country. Filling up our NHS dentist registers.

Are some of our dentists in the UK unethical, unscrupulous money grabbing shysters who need bringing into line?

Many people are unethical, unscrupulous money grabbing shysters

Some of them are dentists

Your assuming that everyone reading that will be paying more for some reason

Yes, they may not be paying more than they are now but their bills are not being reduced just because they’ve got more money …

Just seems unfair.

Would we be happy to go into Tesco’s and see two prices on each item – one for the rich and one for the poor?

Blu-ray may make your life ‘better’ for about three and a half minutes, after which time it becomes ‘normal’ and you then need to find the next thing to make your life ‘better’ … the whole materialistic consumer culture operates on people never being satisfied with what they’ve got … although I realise if everyone held that opinion we’d all still be living in caves eating leaves and berries

It’s all fine though as they’ve apologised for the “unacceptable inconvenience”.

As opposed to other inconveniences that they consider acceptable I suppose.

It’s dead serious though – just read what happened to one customer:

“I tried to buy a ticket from Brighton to London as I’m going to a conference, but my card was declined. I had to use my credit card.”

Ooof! Desperate times. Lucky to be alive by the sounds of it. 🙄

NatWest have stated:

“if a bank error has led to a customer being out of pocket, the bank should ensure that consumer is put back in the financial position they were in before the error was made.”

So, um, considering the bank(s) are responsible for kicking off the whole global recession malarky, when are we going to be “put back in the financial position” we were in pre-2008? 😀

And the Met Office tell me “The first half of July will probably see the changeable weather continuing to affect much of the United Kingdom”

Ah, the met office, well known for their unquestionably accurate medium/long term forecasting …

It’s a good job we only get a bit of wind and rain in this country, rather than any actual extreme weather

So who can I blame ?

It’s probably your own fault … it’s the global climate warming greenhouse change effect

All those years driving a car, flying to exotic holiday destinations, not reusing your carrier bags, fitting inefficient incandescent light bulbs, eating meat, leaving your appliances on standby, not washing & recycling your empty marmite jars

That’s probably why there’s been a water shortage in the SE – we’re all told to wash our rubbish before recycling it …

Make sure you get a receipt for any deposits (stub from a paying-in slip, or ATM receipt) … whenever I’ve made cash/chq deposits, either via an ATM or in-branch via a human being, I’ve been given a receipt stating exactly what was paid in

Arguing/debating with cycle-haters … probably about as worthwhile as trying to convert the Pope to Islam

Same rant followed up with the same conclusion

My ‘rant’ was a sarcastic remark based on what usually happens on here.

Only a massive idiot with no understanding of how the world works would genuinely complain about the price of goods in a ‘real’ shop.

I’m not a Costco member, although keep meaning to join up. Can’t remember what the annual membership is for personal use, but it wasn’t a lot last time I bothered to look (and then never followed up by joining. again).

Have been a few times with a mate who shops there a lot. Always seems to be a lot of good deals on electrical items. There always seemed to be a whole load of random stuff they’d got hold of too, and sold on a “when it’s gone it’s gone basis”, so if you drop in regularly you may come across stuff you need at a good price buy may never see on sale again.

For most other things, you’re saving money by buying in bulk.

Work colleague also found them cheapest for getting new tyres fitted to his car. I didn’t realise they did tyres, but apparently whichever branch he uses does.

Jeremy Kyle … (etc) … I certainly wouldn’t pay good money to watch it

I would happily contribute to a fund for getting that awful programme permanently removed from our screens.

JK should be ashamed of the utter dross that he hosts …

It is nothing more than trash, existing purely to titillate bored members of the public with nothing better to do.

It’s primary purpose is to parade a morbid and depressing display of dysfunctional people whose lives are in turmoil.

claim back days from your employer if you are sick when on leave

Can someone in-the-know explain the rationale behind why my employer should take a hit for me being ill in my own time?

On a serious note, the OP’s problem could be sinus related

seriously? can I ask what makes you say this?

It’s a diagnosis that one or two people I’ve known have been given.

I’ve also read that an allergy can cause head pains similar to what you’re experiencing.

I’m not a doctor or anything. Both the above are just possibilities that may be worth following up. Your problem may be caused by something totally different.

On a serious note, the OP’s problem could be sinus related.

I wonder how many more decades it will take for us to recover from her mismanagement of the country.

I wonder how many more decades it will take for people to stop whanging on and on about how Thatcher broke everything.

Although considering footballists are still droning on about 1966, over 40 years after the event, then we’ve still got at least a couple of decades of Thatcher-resentment to tolerate.

🙂

Never

Ever

Say…

“LAST RUN!”

Or, “I’ve not had a puncture for ages”

Guaranteed double-flat on your next ride.

Ditto xcweather.co.uk & yr.no

Also, try accuweather.com

Personally I don’t trust any forecast more than 48 hours in advance, maybe 72 hours if I’m feeling particularly optimistic (hopeful?).

I would wait until Friday morning before making any decisions based on Sundays forecast.

I’m not superstitious but I do have specific habits/routines, especially pre-ride checks type stuff, that if aren’t “right” bug me until I stop and do it ‘properly’ …

riding all mostly peak district stuff is the only major worry, as it currently soaks up the rocks and fast chutes etc, have a feeling with h/t im going to get battered about a fair bit, ill probably gain a bit on the climbs though

I sold my Orange 5 and bought an mmmBop when they were on sale at CRC. Just fancied a change to be honest, no other reason.

I also ride a lot in the Peaks. You will be slower in some circumstances, faster in others, overall there’s probably not much in it.

You soon re-learn what changes to make to your riding style/technique.

But yes, you will get ‘battered about a fair bit’ … that’s just unavoidable without suspension to iron things out 🙂 … you can’t ride out of the saddle all the time

This thread is beginning to remind me of …

Political correction is the oppression of our intellectual movement so no one says anything anymore just in case anyone else get’s offended.

“What happens if you say that and someone gets offended?”

Well they can be offended, can’t they? What’s wrong with being offended? When did stick and stones may break my bones stop being relevant? Isn’t that what you teach children? “He called me an idiot!” Don’t worry about it, he’s a dick.

Now you have adults going “I was offended, I was offended and I have rights!” Well so what, be offended, nothing happened. You’re an adult, grow up, and deal with it. I was offended! Well, I don’t care! Nothing happens when you’re offended. “I went to the comedy show and the comedian said something about the lord, and I was offended, and when I woke up in the morning, I had leprosy.”

Nothing Happens. “I want to live in a democracy but I never want to be offended again.” Well you’re an idiot.

How do you make a law about offending people? How do you make it an offense to offend people? Being offended is subjective. It has everything to do with you as an individual or a collective, or a group or a society or a community. Your moral conditioning, your religious beliefs.

What offends me may not offend you. And you want to make laws about this? I’m offended when I see boy bands for god sake.

It’s a valid offense, I’m offended. They’re cooperate shills, posing as musicians to further a modeling career and frankly I’m disgusted.

Will their ‘Advance’ tickets be 80% cheaper if you book at least 1 month ahead for a Sunday evening departure?

The three I use & have found most reliable/accurate:

yr.no
accuweather.com
xcweather.co.uk

Some people believe not having some Twitter or being in a Face Book means you are so far out of touch with modern culture that you’re effectively a social outcast. you may just as well have leprosy.

It’s a bit like being a male man, and admitting you don’t follow footballism.

Or that you don’t drink alcohol.

Peoples heads explode trying to comprehend these things.