“It’s lucky to buy something from a gypsy”

This is just marketing spiel perpetuated by the Gypsies to promote their heather farming business ventures.

Bit of a niche market, but there are enough superstitious people around for it to be worthwhile.

When I was at Primary school (late 70’s) I brought a book home called “Fattypuffs & Thinifers”.

Can’t remember the storyline. Something to do with fat people and thin people.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered it’s still available to buy.

With a title like that, in this day and age I had expected it to be out of print or had the title molested by the PC brigade …

Was Tin Tin’s dog called Snowy just because it’s white?

Better to learn from the attitudes of the past rather than pretend they didn’t exist

+1

is ‘black’ offensive

Not if used where necessary as an adjective to describe/identify an individual (e.g. as per the earlier post referring to pointing out the only black person in a room). In certain situations it’s relevant, and the motivation for using it is not to abuse or offend.

But it is offensive when used in a personal remark directed at an individual, especially when it’s used specifically in an offensive remark.

Our latest (2nd) was born at the end of May.

HRH insisted on an epidural this time round, after which it seemed pretty easy from where I was standing. And at least she got to lie down through the whole thing. I had to stand.

( 😉 Only joking)

It’s not just the mother who suffers during labour.

Apparently, if we were to experience now the same stress and trauma that a baby experiences during a natural birth it would kill most of us.

So carrying on when you’ve been asked to stop is plain bad manners

+1

There are some things that are considered the norm or take for granted in real life that would do well to be applied in the world of interwebs fori too …

Re. tools such as carbon337: “not responding makes the accuser look pathetic”

I.e. rather than taking issue with their ignorant posts and starting an arguement, they’d probably give up pretty quickly if we all just ignored them and continued the thread as if they didn’t exist.

Giving them any kind of attention just encourages them.

Like the annoying kid at school: ignore them and they’ll eventually get bored and leave of their own accord.

The point is that you don’t know – some of the specific people being slagged off in this thread as lazy may well have good reasons why they need to use a lift.

Sorry, what I meant by my poorly worded comment above was:

surely we’re all aware enough to realise that some people are legitimately unable to use stairs, and therefore don’t need this spelling out to us?

i.e. when I read the OP’s opening comment I automatically interpreted it as referring only to those who have a choice, which I believe is the spirit in which it was written.

Being judgemental isn’t generally seen as an admirable quality

This is slightly amusing considering some of the banter on this (& other) forums 🙂

Specialised Nimbus Armadillo or Continental Travel Contact

Have used both for several years and never had a single puncture.
I would say the Specialised’s are, overall, tougher than the Conti’s, but both are excellent in my experience.

The Specialised’s are 1.5″ I think, the Conti’s are 1.75″

Other than the fact that I can’t believe forumites have to spell out that people who can’t use stairs for whatever reason aren’t included in the ‘lazy gits’ category (I’d have thought that was pretty obvious to most intelligent people) …

Several of my colleagues spend an hour in the gym at lunchtime, but can’t even be bothered to walk up a few flights of stairs in the office (there’s only 3 floors too) … I assume these must be the same type of weirdo as those who drive round and round the car park to find a space 3 metres nearer the Gym entrance …

They’re high in cholesterol I believe and that’s the only thing that’s likely to kill you

Yes they are high in cholesterol, but hardly any saturated fat, which is the real culprit that sends cholesterol levels soaring.

As long as you eat eggs as part of a healthy, well-balanced diet and lifestyle, there is no limit to the number of eggs you can eat in a week.

If we weren’t talking about driving / riding motor vehicles I would’ve sworn weeksy & flow were both 9

Doctors go on about it, too. They can’t all be lobbied by the dairy farmers… can they???

NHS doctors are employed by the Govt & are therefore obliged to spout whatever the latest ‘Govt Guidelines’ say, regardless of whether they think it’s correct * … gotta toe the party line and all that.

(*this may or may not be true)

This thread was more interesting with Solo bashing round the head with the rules of mammalian milk consumption

jon1973 – I’m with Vodafone …

HTC Desire S here too. All ok with mine after the upgrade.

Take the battery out & restart?

I don’t believe its too extreme an example of what’s going on in the mind of many motorists:
“I pay all this money, I was promised freedom, my motorcar coddles me like a baby so I can act like a spoiled child, where’s my freedom. . . . “

Anyone who believes that in this day and age is truely deluded.

I’m not so sure.

What’s probably the most common complaint/retort from a motorist, about cyclists?: “they don’t pay road tax”. Which when translated means “I’ve payed all this money, they haven’t, so surely that entitles me to something”.

And the ‘freedom’ bit is definitely true – nobody likes sitting in queues of traffic, we want to be crusing along, unimpeded.

all the idiots who seem to think they can do what they like when they like “because its not doing any harm” in their own selfish perception … who said we could be selective about which rules should be applied to us?

This is the ‘spoiled child’ part. So many people unable to obey/follow a few simple guidelines/rules. They need to grow up. My 4 year old knows you’re supposed to stop at a red light. Then there’s grown men (not mentally, obviously) who seem to think they’re above all this.

Car drivers – what is your problem?

This (not my words, stolen from the t’interwebs):

There is a mythology that has been carefully constructed around motoring. Look at the adverts: the open road, the perfect wife and contented children secure in the back.

Then there is the reality. The never-ending and spiralling expense. Sat in traffic jams while your hard earned bleeds out of the exhaust making you feel guilty about the environment while the kids are climbing the walls with boredom.

It’s hardly surprising that many drivers are half psychotic (or behave as if they are). And when they see a cyclist whipping past them all they can see is someone getting something for free.

So on one hand we have millions of delusional solipsists in control of a ton of machinery and on the other the cyclists blessed with instant karma where any bad decision will cost. Not at the end of the month. Not in insurance premiums, fines or garage bills. But instantly.

So I’m not hugely surprised when motorists complain about being delayed for a few seconds by having to safely overtake a cyclist.

I don’t believe its too extreme an example of what’s going on in the mind of many motorists:
“I pay all this money, I was promised freedom, my motorcar coddles me like a baby so I can act like a spoiled child, where’s my freedom. . . . ”

For ages my wife wanted some Reebok Easytone trainers (similar kind of thing to the Skechers I think).

Then she read the conclusions of several ‘independent reports’ – turns out that in the real world the shoes did nothing along the lines of what they claimed.

Science can be full of loads of kids

Shouldn’t be too bad this week, other than school trips.

My wife took our son last week (half term) – it was carnage apparently, kids, toddlers, pushchairs all over the place.

I use unsweetened almond milk on my breakfast cereal, to avoid the absolute certainty of being killed to death by cow’s milk every time I eat breakfast …

Bravissimo … sounds more like a coffee machine than underwear

So don’t eat ham and citrus fruit?

Damn damn damn damn damn

No more Hawaiian pizza’s! (is Pineapple a citrus fruit?)

I thought the case with the young boy with the migraines was more than that. They cut ham and citrus fruits from his diet. Things that most people would put in the healthy bracket.

They are healthy purely from a nutrition perspective, but there are foods that can cause or exaggerate migraine’s.

When I was a kid I suffered migraines. GP suggested I avoid cheese & chocolate. I never ate much of either in the first place, but I guess that was just the medical opinion at the time.

I did find that drinking ice-cold Coca Cola helped my migraines though.
No idea why. And it didn’t work with Pepsi, or any other cola type drink.

neither. just downright lazy.

one of my work colleagues drafted me for several miles once.
him on his road bike.
me on my mtb.
I’m sure he could’ve gone quicker without drafting me.
Unless I’m just awesomely fit

You can tell whether your body is really liking milk, how exactly ?

😕

Well, in these modern times we have access to all sorts of medical knowledge. Some doesn’t even involve the use of leeches any more.

Some symptoms of lactose intolerance:

flatulence
diarrhoea three or more times a day
bloated stomach
stomach pains
stomach rumbling
nausea
stomach cramps

I’m starting to suspect somebody’s being deliberately obtuse…

It’s a little known fact that all motor vehicles are fitted with IQ supression technology.

Which is why when you put a man in a car you suddenly have something resembling the ape-like missing like.

How can you tell ?……

Maybe (and this may astound some people) it’s because eating cheese & milk has none of the effects associated with being lactose intolerant?

🙄

It’s not rocket surgery is it.

I have drank cows milk recently, and it wasn’t nice, furthermore, my body didn’t appear to be too happy about it.

If not lactose intolerant, maybe you’re milk protein intolerant.

Go and see the big brown pylon thing.

Some insurance policies have a minimum age limit for driving other cars (e.g. 25), I guess to stop young drivers getting access to Daddy’s big powerful sports car.

Further restrictions may apply to certain occupations (e.g. motor mechanics), drivers of high value/power vehicles, and drivers with poor claims or convictions record.

One more thing to beware of is that the ‘driving other cars’ extension gives you just the basic insurance cover allowed by law. This is called Road Traffic Act cover, which is even less than third-party only insurance. The nub of this is, if you have an expensive accident whilst driving someone else’s car, you may end up being liable for part of the other party’s claim!

Also, when you park a car driven on this extension and walk away, it is no longer insured at all, which means you cannot claim for damage, fire or theft. At least, not until a named driver on the policy takes control of the vehicle again. Therefore you should use this extension as a last resort.

If you have the cash to splash, Bos Deville’s …

(I didn’t have the cash to splash so got some 2nd hand 2011 Fox 36 VAN’s for £450 off of the ‘E’ bay)

Kindly refrain from running, pushing, acrobatics or gymastics, shouting, ducking, petting, bombing and smoking

Fun.
Memories.
I’ve been places I’d never have seen.
The feeling that it’s all done under your own power.
The simplicity that means I can maintain (most of) my bike myself.

(And, even on my MTB, I can get to work in (almost) less time than it takes to drive).

Que?

I’ve always found the powerlinks a doddle to undo.

Squeeze the chain gently whilst pushing the links either side of the powerlink toward each other. Sometimes bending the links back and forth sideways a little bit helps.

They can get tricky if muck has ingressed between the plates, but giving the links a wiggle whilst pushing them together should sort this.

If your chain’s a bit greasy/oily, use a thin cloth to aid grip.

Members of the Monarchy aren’t “employed” as staff into the Royal Family… they’re born into it,

…and thereby hangs the tale doesn’t it. So why do you reckon the passing of job from father to son stopped a good while back?

It hasn’t. There’s loads of family businesses that are perpetuated by siblings.

But the Monarchy is not a business, & being part of the Monarchy isn’t a job. The stuff they do is just part of what’s expected of you as a member of the family.

I’m neither pro- or anti- Royal. I remain indifferent. Couldn’t give a monkeys really. Although there is some good history and what-not that we’d not have if the monarchy had never existed.

I get the impression that the main reason people grumble about the Royal’s comes down to money. As if they’d all turn down that much money for (apparently) “not doing anything” 🙄

I fail to understand why these threads create such aggro. Surely all users – foot, bike, MX, 4×4, horses – all need to be sensitive to the damage they create when conditions are worsening. As this is a mtb fourm, then there is no harm at putting the responsibility on ourselves.

I think the majority are sensitive/aware/responsible, but the ignorant/selfish minority have been sufficient in number to create a perception (amongst walkers in particular) that wheels = bad.

The problem is, if a group of walkers has just one negative experience of an MTBer then some will adopt the opinion that all MTBers are just as bad.

It’s the same problem that road cyclists & commuters have – a minority RLJ & use the pavement, and suddenly that’s the only thing motorists & pedestrians think of when they see someone on a bike.

Human nature seems to readily remember the one negative event rather than the other 99 positive ones.

Perception is everything, and once formed is difficult to change.

This also links back to the “riding on footpaths” arguement – if it’s called a FOOTpath then people on foot do not expect it to be used by MTBers or horsists, even if they are permitted by some legal/civil technicality (that most people aren’t aware of, so may as well not exist).

If you’re on a footpath & not on foot then, again, you’re feeding the negative perception of MTBers regardless of how polite and reasonable you are, and regardless of how unjustified the perception may be.

It may have been formed unfairly, but perception is everything.

If we care enough to want these perceptions to change then sometimes we’re going to have to bite our tongues. Or stop using contentious routes & ‘cheeky’ trails Or change our riding habits to minimise damage to the trails when they’re soaked & muddy. And so on.

Recently bought a Kenwood Chef Major Titanium (model KM020) for my better half. She does immense amounts of cooking/baking using it.

Not cheap at £390, but for the amount of use it’ll get it’s worth it.

She’s used numerous machines over the years and this is apparently the best so far.

Kenwood seem to have a very good rep for quality food mixers.

If you’re unable to afford the lump sum for a new bike, can’t get a bike on 0% finance, or don’t have a 0% credit card, then Cycle to Work is worth it purely to spread the cost and help you afford a more expensive or better bike than you’d perhaps normally consider.

Otherwise, you can find just as good a price on a sale or 2nd hand bike. And you won’t need to make the ‘fair market value’ payment to keep it at the end of 12 months.

In my opinion.

If any of you recruit staff do you limit your recruitment process to one person, perhaps the son of the person leaving for example?

???

Members of the Monarchy aren’t “employed” as staff into the Royal Family… they’re born into it, same as my kids are born into all the wealth and privileges that comes with being a member of my family 😕

There are two main reasons for objections to the Monarchy.

Firstly, the Great British national obsession with finding something to moan on and on about with regards to absolutely everything (especially if cost/tax-payers money can be brought into it).

Secondly, we’re deeply suspicious/cynical about anything we don’t properly understand and therefore resort to our default ‘complain’ setting. Unfortunately this often means spouting opinions without knowing any real facts about the subject.

It is for the same reason that the Daily Fail has survived for so long.

Accuracy = Zero (probably).
For all anyone really knows, it happened days ago.

But it’s a nice whole number for a headline I suppose.

And it satisfies the human love/obsession with measuring and counting every little flipping thing.