I’ve just finished David Millers autobiography

Doesn’t that make it a biography?

Getting coat …

You’re middle class when you start looking down your nose at people with less money than you

Environmental reasons.

These are going to be the Greenest games in the history of the universe don’t you know.

And this is impossible during school holidays?

For many people yes it is, due to the increased cost.

I’ve done some rocket science about this, and incredibly the solution was “Find a cheaper holiday”.

It’s an incredibly complicated problem that usually only people like Stephen Hawking can fathom, so I can quite understand why most people don’t realise this as an option.

… you look at the names of the “celebrities” in the photo, sitting in the front row at London Fashion Week, and you haven’t the vaguest idea who they are…

This has absolutely nothing to do with age.

It’s entirely because todays “celebrities” aren’t actually proper celebrities at all. They’re mostly just insignificant ‘people off the telly’ or some such.

They’ve probably got some poncy job title that makes it sound like rocket science or brain surgery, but fundamentally it’s scaffolding

What IS the correct way to dispose of a Koran. Or Bible. Or A.N.Other religious/faith text?

I don’t want to risk putting my foot in it one day by not giving one the appropriate send-off.

Preserve it in formaldehyde and mount it on a plinth?

^^ Yes, I think after 6 pages it’s safe to say this thread no longer has a serviceable purpose other than repetition followed by bickering and personal insults … standard STW procedure

I thought that sort of technology had been around in ships for years

Perhaps the motor industry, being obsessed with trying to make viable all-electric cars, missed the blindingly obvious solution of having an on-board petrol/diesel generator…

I think Flange is looking for the “Have we had a ‘Who’s going to moan on and on and on about the Olympics?'” thread

😉

‘Master’ a language?

I honestly don’t think I’m even a master of English despite it being my ‘mother-tongue’ … I can use it perfectly well for day-to-day conversation and discussing technical stuff at work etc etc, but when you hear properly clever people like Steven Fry and the likes talking they clearly have a much broader vocab and understanding of the language than I do.

Even my wife understands more about English grammar and structure than most Brit’s – she’s learnt English as a 2nd language so has had to approach it technically correctly rather than just ‘picking it up’ like kids do.

She’s always explaining to me how English is different/similar to Brazilian Portuguese, and some of the stuff she refers to I don’t understand myself …

Bloke opens the back door of the car and says ‘where are you going mate’

If he genuinely thought you were a taxi, he’s totally misunderstood the principle – usually a customer tells you where they want to go, not ask where you’re going 🙂

I expect farmers cut all types of hedges.

It’s unlikely they specifically single out thorn hedges just to be annoying 🙂

I’ve also seen thorn hedges being cut by non-farmers, sometimes even home-owners.

I’m starting to think that there’s actually no specific hedge cutting accountability.

3D shouldn’t make or break a film.

If you enjoyed the film for what it is then I expect it’ll be just as enjoyable with a bit of 3D thrown in.

If you already think Star Wars is overrated, or just didn’t like the film, then I expect you’ll still think this despite the 3D bells and whistles.

How much of the increase in ‘popularity’ of 29ers is due to customer choice, and how much is down to bike manufacturers adding more 29ers to their range at the expense of the traditional 26er? (i.e. is the customer starting to be pushed into trying/buying a 29er)

I expect the most difficult people to convince of the 29er are those, like me, who’ve grown up riding 26ers … people new to, or rediscovering, MTBing will probably be more open minded … I should probably test ride a 29er one day, just to see

Didn’t get any ticketage, but looking forward to the TV coverage throughout the summer, plus the Tour of French.

You got to be kidding me, biggest waste of money EVER

Oh, for goodness’ sake. Shut Up.

I’m appalled by the whole thing and will be out of the country for the duration. How they feel they can charge for any of it is beyond me.

The whole thing stinks, they can poke it….

And you. 🙄

I don’t understand how anyone can think it’s a good idea to charge people to stand outside in public to watch an event.

By all means sell tickets for stadiums, arenas, or whatever other specialist facilities/venues.

Is the UK olympic committee the first to attempt to do this or is this the norm for olympic cycling events? (I expect I know the answer to this already…)

Do events like the TdF have chargeable spectating areas? (at stage finish areas for example)

I am seperated from my two daughters mother and they live with her so every moment I can spend with them is very precious to me …

… I have a genuine need. Blanket legislation like this will mean my girls and I will lose precious quality time together.

Scenarios like this are what the existing discrectionary system is supposed to accommodate. Actual neccessities rather than just so people can afford a nicer holiday 🙄

Mr Gove’s proposal is reported in the Daily Telegraph article as being a blanket ban.

Hopefully when the full facts are available it will be seen to allow for absence due to extenuating circumstances – i.e. head teachers will not be expected to hide behind zero-tolerance legislation

Of course, this would not prevent some parents inventing stories to get what they want 😕 … (cynical? moi?)

It’s six months old and it fell apart whilst just riding along? Unless there’s something explicit saying that it should have been serviced in this time, or that you should have checked it, I’d suggest that it wasn’t fit for purpose and the retailer (not the distributor) needs to sort it out under your statutory rights.

Ditto this.

Unless there are explicitly stated service guidelines/intervals that have been ignored, then it’s perfectly reasonable to expect an expensive seatpost to last more than 6 months without bits falling off.

I’d go back to square one – contact Wiggle, as they should be your first port of call seeing as you bought it from them.

‘discretionary’ obedience to traffic regulation measures

Society is generally too stupid for anything discretionary to work properly.

Most people can’t even manage to do things they’re asked/expected to do, so expecting them to make appropriate decisions using their own head is laughable.

“Discretion” = “Do what I like”, in most peoples narrow, selfish little world.

The problem is the prevailing “don’t tell me what I can or can’t do, i’ll do what the f*** I like, it isn’t hurting anyone” attitude in society … when I was at school people had more respect for the education system & teachers, people in positions of authority in general actually … society has become increasingly self-centred in pretty much all areas …

Middle class = you just have to take your darling little children out of school during term time to give them that special educational skiing holiday that you want they’ll appreciate for the rest of eternity. oh, and it’s the only way we can afford a holiday that competes with our neighbours, who actually have money whilst we’re just pretending we’re well-off.

This should stop the ‘term time holiday’ arguements

Turned out to be quite an ironic thread title 😀

It might go some small way to stopping this

Or it’ll increase it, due to loads of inexperienced/inconfident people too scared to change lanes so they just sit tight in the middle

not sure its my age or motivation, but i just dont get the urge any more to get out and ride, 2 years back I was out at the drop of a hat, out of intrest what is your age, and is 43 over hill,

It’s not mandatory to eat/sleep/breath mountain biking. or anything.
And you can’t force it.

There’s loads more to life. If you’ve really had enough of riding, find something else to enjoy.

You might rediscover cycling one day. Or you might not.

For what it’s worth, I’m 38.

Still love MTBing but don’t get much time for it any more due to family commitments.

I don’t get as enthused about riding as I used to, but that’s probably because I tend to lose interest in things a bit if I can’t give it as much time/attention as I’d like.

how much of an issue inset days and ad hoc school closures can be for working parents

Inset days have been part of the school system for decades, and are published as part of the school calendar, so they’re not unexpected & there’s loads of time to make arrangements.

Ad hoc days, fair enough.

Unless it’s due to snow. or dangerously high winds. or broken plumbing/heating. and the council closes the school.

Sometimes, that’s just life.

Could this ‘take your holidays when you like’ approach not be extended to teachers?

It would be an interesting experiment.

I’d like to parents reaction if their kids’ teacher was allowed 10 days off each year just to get a bargain holiday.

Would all those parents arguing that it’s ok for them to take their kids out of school be ok with the teacher clearing off for a week or two?

Simple, if you can’t afford a holiday in holiday time, go somewhere cheaper.

I think the whole “if you can’t afford it, go cheaper/don’t buy it” mentality went out of the window decades ago …

Fast-forward 15 years and this generation of kids’ll have utterly pathetic CV’s but really impressive photo album’s on FaceBook of all their precious little childhood holidays

😉

Seriously though,

Drac the difference I see is having “good cause” so a one off special, the unavailability of holidays outwith term time, that sort of thing. Not for convenience or cost

I tend to agree with TJ on this subject.

I don’t treat the current 10 days as extra holiday entitlement.
Unlike quite a few parents I know.

Just ask my wife – we had quite a tiff when I wouldn’t let our son miss 3 days of school just for convenience sake. 🙂

It’s a mentality I’ve learned from my own upbringing I guess – school was always treated as properly important by my parents, only ever missed due to sickness as far as I can remember.

My wife on the other hand grew up in Brazil. From what I gather, the prevailing attitude to schooling is pretty lax. Kids regularly miss school at the drop of a hat, and the authorities don’t bat an eyelid. Apparently.

“Pressure on water resources looks set to increase over the next few months”

Whereas water pressure looks set to decrease … 🙂

“…people should take shorter showers”

Have they met my wife? Even I’m not brave enough to tell her not to spend so darn long in the shower …

I broke 3 bones in my ankle. A&E missed this … my GP said a year later ‘bloody hell, that was a right mess. How was that missed’

Three cheers for our glorious NHS!

😈

Currently not recruiting[/url]. Apparently.

Those prices have got to be a ‘mis-print’, surely?

“i bought this product for a gift for my child on his 15th birthday and he had it 2 weeks and somthing wennt rong with the chains, i advise not to get one”

It’s got more than one chain? 😆

I’d naturally always want parents to decide what they want for their kids

Because every parent always do what’s the absolute best for their kids don’t they 🙄

Unfortunately there are many parents who don’t take proper responsibility for their kids upbringing, and seem to think it’s school’s job to teach basics like toilet training, counting, holding a pencil, getting dressed etc.

10 miles is massively optimistic.

B*witched

Now we’re in to the realms of bands that should never have formed, never mind re-form …

I hope the UN doesn’t ‘order’ us to fight it out in a football game..

A football match would absolutely be the best way to decide ownership of Falklandia.

Everyone likes a game of football.

We could replay the match every 4 years to see who wins ownership of the place for the next term.

This is also the way that general elections should be decided.

The Levellers have never split up, which invalidates their entry on the ‘Bands that Should Never Reform’ list …

But still, I wish they’d stop making records, they’re awful* 🙂

(*standard interwebs caveat: “IMO”)

why? seriously why? their choice, no one’s forcing them to do it, let them

Erm. Because it’s unhealthy for them & wider society.

My 5yo son would happily spend the entire day drinking coke & playing on the playstation. That would be his choice. But my wife and I (the ‘Government’ in our house 🙂 ) advise him why this is not a good idea and put rules in place so that he learns moderation and the healthy way to enjoy these things etc (plus obedience to his parents …)

If you expect to be treated like a responsible adult then behave like one, otherwise the Govt will be forced to treat you like a child and impose rules, restrictions and punishments …

they don’t care

Sums up some peoples attitude very well.

They don’t care about what effect their actions are having on others.

Not something to be proud of really is it?

People don’t go out on their bikes with the express intent of injuring themselves, these are called accidents; people do go out on a night out with the express intent of getting so wasted they can no longer stand/getting into a fight.

This is the crucial difference. I don’t mind ‘taxpayers money’ convering treatment of people accidentally injured doing something constructive (sport, hobby, trade etc).

Getting wasted on alcohol does not fall into this category.

I despair that deliberately getting massively drunk is the best thing some people aspire to do with their time and money.