Exactly. They are reported to be nearly 600m euros in debt and apparently only 10-15% of that is due to the pandemic. No wonder they aren’t letting go of the ESL idea.

Oh its way more than that, a few reports say its in the billions. Their wage bill to get out the red needs to come inline with basically a mid-table prem team. They have just hammered money at stuff and the pandemic has made matters worse.

Is that right? Well, there’s the answer for all the “he should just play for free” teeth-gnashers.

I don’t know how true this is but la liga has basically said no thats not possible the quote I heard was “he plays you pay”. They tried everything 50% pay cut and spread payments across the next five years, new TV deal. Im amazed they couldnt find someone to fund the deal.

Its all such a huge mess I don’t get how a company can be run so badly. I think I saw on the Athletic that Messi’s new deal plus the incoming players is will cost them 110% of their revenue! Absolute madness. They also estimate he accounts for like a 3rd of their revenue in deals, shit sales and all that. I don’t actually get how Barca move forwards.

Its all well and good people saying oh he should pay for free or take a bigger pay cut. He knows his market value so why should he (or any of us) earn less than we feel we deserve.

Messi isn’t the idiot the idiots are the Barca board.

Agree with all the other people south. BBC weather said like 20% chance of light rain today… so went for a little road spin. It rained… and wasn’t light at all. GIven up staying dry on bike rides now.

Totally agree. I have given up on the prospect of staying dry on any ride in the coming weeks. Today I think they said 20% chance of light rain in London… it rained and it was anything but light.

@joepud next time you start lecturing folk on here I hope you take a second to consider that statement and what it says about you as an individual.

erm.. ok, what exactly does it say about me as an individual? Personally I wouldn’t want to ride a frame with a dent in it I just wouldn’t feel safe. Same way I wouldn’t ride a wheel with a broken spoke or thats dented. I don’t get how that was a lecture. Your reaction to my comment was pretty peak.

im enjoying this post levels of trolling are pretty funny.

1. Ride feel
2. Looks
3. Price
4. Weight
5. Durability
6. Repairability

This is basically dead on for me. I own a few and its basically down to I like how steel bikes ride and the fact Cotics looks amazing is an absolute plus. if I dent my frame im not going to fix it im just going to get another one.

For the OP why not just get a macbook pro? I have had imacs and mbps in the past and not really found any difference performance wise. Im a ux/ui designer by trade so not doing super heavy work like trying to render huge 3d files, but the upside to a laptop is huge simply due to the portability about them and they have so much power these days.

If i was just after a daily driver i would get an air or 13″ mbp.

“Acceptable deaths.
Just like flu.”

This year’s “Eat out to help out.”

I totally get the flippant comment and obvs its not nice for the family when someone dies, but we do sorta have to get to a point where we live with this. We can’t have a state of rolling lockdowns its here to stay just gotta find a way to live with it minimising the risks.

The app was doing the job it was designed to do. Those pushing the ‘pingdemic’ message must be very pleased with themselves. It’s put the burden of responsibility on the individual and shifted it away from employers. If people delete the app there’s no question. Whereas if I get pinged by the app, tell my boss, and he suggests i continue working the responsibility is on him if one or more of my workmates goes down with it as a result.

Granted the whole “pingdemic” was something some jurno came up with but as with all machine learning over time it needs to be tweaked to become optimal. I think I read it was saying 2k additional people a day were being told to isolate despite not needing to. My wife is currently isolating despite taking 4 lateral flows and a pcr all of which are negative, so clearly she doesn’t have covid but it still required to isolate. As we all know the rules are stupid. Further more shes NHS so can theoretically go to work (psychologist so can do work via zoom) but so can be out all day seeing loads of people but then isnt allowed to go to dinner with friends or me. its mental.

it was initially on my list but ended up jjust getting a gopro. Every review I read/watched said stabilisation wasn’t that good and the mounts were pretty poor. the magnet thing really appealed to me but apparently everything more than walking and it doesn’t stay put. Sorry to be a downer.

It’s 10 days since you were in contact with the person who tested positive, so the contact was four days ago, six days left.

oh wow thats so bad. Granted there are extremely high numbers of people getting pinged but for the previous 4 days shes been going to work and socialising as normal. Cheers for the info. We got a walk in test centre down the road so will both be making a visit today

Anyone know how the ping / isolation system works. My wife got a notification yesterday but only for 6 days i assumed it was a flat 10? Shes NHS so has been double jabbed for ages so hoping she will be fine. Wasn’t the pub she was at with all our friends the day before only assuming its the train or something like that. Obvs doing a lateral flow / pcr and all that jazz.

Have you tried komoot? you can set it to mountain biking and it will cut out the majority of main roads and stick to parks and that. Could try just using city mapper and just select quiet route?

We’ve managed to work reasonably effectively for the last year remotely and are now part of a group of companies on 3 continents so most communication would be remote anyway.

Only thing I can think is that some opportunist slackers need a bit of whipping.

or… maybe just maybe people actually want to be in the office. As someone that has spent the last 18 or so month either working from a sofa or kitchen table i cant wait to get back in the office. My house is my home not where i wish to work.

Lived in London for over 10 years now and as said it all comes down to how much you want to ride mountain bikes if you really want to you will make it work. At one point I had five bikes in a one bed flat and other times just kept them in my room when flat sharing.

Andrewreay makes it sound a lot worse than it is out of all the times I used the train to surrey / swinley less than a handful of times was a train too busy for me to get on.

And for the other point, me and Mrs are double-jabbers, our daughter has covid now and has sneezed etc. at us, however, so far , neither of us have had a positive test or symptoms.

I have two similar experiences. My Mother in law (double jabbed) spent a day in an office with someone who returned a positive covid result the next day she isolated for 10 days and neither her, my father or sister in-law returned a single positive lateral flow in 10 days of isolation. Also mates boss brought his kid into the office who also got covid my best mate and his girlfriend also returned negative lateral flow and PCRs for the next 10 days.

Overal I think the jab is doing a job in limiting transmission.

also joining double jab gang on Friday can’t bloody wait. First jab limited impact just a dead arm hoping for the same next time.

I have a 2nd meeting tomorrow about a potential and significant new job opportunity, and despite it being a 1-2-1 at an outside venue I am shitting myself about it.

Its scary times dude thats for sure but you just gotta live your life as best you can. This isn’t going away so somehow we all need to find a way to live with this thing. Covid will be a thing for the next few years at least.

My partner and I put our life on hold for over a year (wedding/family plans) but you can’t do it gotta keep on keeping on. I feel 100% better to be back playing basketball, riding my bike with more people and being able to travel. Look after yourself your mental health is super important in a time like this.

in a similar position to the OP. My brother has a huge chip on his shoulder and is refusing the jab because he’s feeling social pressure to do it and apparently no one tells him what to do. All I have come up with as a solution is make him take a lateral flow test before coming in my house.

Breaking news, Javid has tested positive from a rapid test, awaiting a PCR test… All because he doesn’t have enough common sense. Oh dear.

When did he last meet Boris The Butcher in person? This could get interesting. 😆

My NHS working wife got covid does she not have “enough common sense” either? That seems to be what your saying. Its not like he went licking covid patients in a hospital he got it the same way most people get it by coming into contact with someone who has it.

48k cases today. Absolutely smashing it out of the park. 100k in a weeks time?

thats a massive number! Surly at some point this will start to amount to full hospitals again aka “pressure on the nhs.” I totally get we can’t be in this state of rolling lockdowns and we have to get to a stage when we live with this but, something has to be done to make sure this doesn’t get any worse. lots for words

I know it’s not ideal, but is there any compelling reason my son can’t be me for the day?

If you mean just turning up and trying to race it all depends on how old your son is. If hes 20 and you’re 65 he might not pass. However I know a few people who have raced on other peoples entry before.

I get through a fair number. I only register the ones that I’m legally required to take. I suspect many other people do the same.

Basically this. I tried to log one on the nhs app it didnt work so now I just do the test if it was positive I would feel more urgency. But its always negative so why i can’t be bothered. I guess the issue is those who are positive can they bet bothered either.

That is absolutely mental

I have a GoPro for similar reasons and the battery life is pretty poor on constant usage. I got a little more battery life out of mine by turning off the front / rear facing camera and dropping the quality down. Apart from that I think the only option is to carry extra batteries. They are so expensive I wouldn’t really want go to sticking on third party batteries.

It’s a complete myth that youngsters don’t want to do their bit – the vaccination is potentially their passport to having the summer that they want and deserve.

Basically this. The younger generation know exactly how important is it we don’t need to “get through to these teenagers.” They are far more socially aware that any generation before them. We also need to live with the fact some people wont get the jab and everyone need to respect that choice.

I was about to come here and be like yeh who cares hes an idiot but nothing will change, but dam hes gone! Bojos scapegoat has gone so whos next inline because it sure as hell wont be him

dumb question but why not just get a gopro? I have one and its so small you can just throw it in your pocket and forget about it. when its not attached to my bike I just use it as a normal camera. works pretty well as just a point and shoot due to the massive field of view and you can get an even bigger one if you wish. My biggest worry with cameras is how fragile they are so you cant just chuck it in your bag unlike a gopro.

Not surprised at all at those comments, ever tried getting a skatepark built!?! Done it once or twice and have friends how have done/tried it too and its always met with “oh it will bring drugs to the area”, “it will cause anti social behaviour”, “it will bring down the area”. People hate change and are scared of stuff they don’t understand. Person that made those comments is an absolute moron.

Speeding is not dangerous.

Bad driving is dangerous and driving too fast for the situation is bad driving.

I wish people would accept that instead of this speeding kills mantra, which is bollocks.

(not that I’m stating you are saying that )

haha, ok. what a gem.

Some people take it REALLY badly god knows why they will bin you off soon enough to save their business. I once left a job where my then boss told me it was the worst career decision I could make, (I was doubling my salary) and that leaving within a year I was required to pay the recruitment fee. I told him my contract didn’t say that and he said “I will come at you with everything I can to get my money back” didn’t want me to work a notice and told me to leave there and then. I didn’t hear from him or his company ever again.

I can totally see the two sides of the argument for the compulsory vaccination, for and against, though I’m inclined towards compulsion for the greater good, I think.

I don’t see why someone in the health sector wouldn’t want to be vaccinated, to protect themselves and those they care for. The known risks are relatively tiny compared to the known risks of Covid – and the effects of long Covid are still being assessed.

Personally this is such a bad idea no one should be told what injections they do or don’t get – with this precedent set where does it end. (a little dramatic I know). I agree I don’t see why someone wouldn’t get it, but if you don’t want it no one should make you. However if you don’t want it people need to be testing themselves on the regs.

Im so glad this story has made the news and I hope the driver gets fined or something. I reported a driver recently who was forced to either gets points or attend a driver awareness course.

More generally… perhaps INCREASING mask use as we remove other restrictions, rather than doing away with masks… that’s something I’d like to see considered.

I think mask use a really interesting one. I personally can’t see me getting on the tube or going into tesco without one any time soon. I feel like it should just be a given that people have to continue to wear a mask. This idea of “freedom day” and suddenly the covid risk ends is really dumb… but that seems to the the wider thinking in this country. What is it Drakeford said a little while ago just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

I see your point but there comes a point when we need to test and learn our way to living with this virus. The current 3 odd week wait to gather a significant amount of data seems sensible, take the next step then maybe roll back, its just a very large scale AB test. Remove all measure in one go seems a little daft as I don’t get how you pinpoint the reason it has or hasnt worked. But the next step of say upping capacity in restaurants for example seems a logical step.

People scared that they have CV19 and particularly a new variant?

Or the people getting it now are no longer that vulnerable / in danger of dying so coping at home?

There needs to be better rule enforcement and compliance by those who are not double jabbed +2 weeks.

This sounds a bit big brother / 2 tier society. Jabbed or not everyone needs to be treated the same.

So looking likely we are gonna get this bloody 2 week delay.. maybe more like 4. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/covid-uk-lockdown-delay-fortnight-b1861459.html. Can’t help but feel if more people got the jab we might not be in this position. Job lot sale on wedding wine coming soon.

Is anyone taking up the Govt offer for twice a week lateral flow tests.

Once a week for me (before basketball) or if seeing people knowing we can’t socially distance like visiting my partners parents this weekend.

and apologies to joepud and all the others who would be affected – 4 weeks may be wiser. If the impact on deaths/NHS is tolerable, we may still be able to open up, even partially, with more and more getting vaccinated.

Cheers dude, im getting hopeful I have a feeling we will have an opening lite, basically masks but gatherings allowed. Seems mental I can’t have 70 people at a wedding but they are going to half fill football stadiums for the euros.

Read this too. But also they are saying they will allow a 50% capacity at the football. As long as he says unlimited number at weddings he can do what the hell he likes.

Pretty sure its a bank holiday weekend anomaly. Just as the experts were saying how we needed to take care and reconsider opening up on 21st, suddenly a zero death day takes the headlines?

As someone thats planning on getting married in abut 5-6 weeks and planning on having more than 30 people at the wedding if they want to reconsider this opening up on the 21st the announcement needs to come like yesterday. A last minute change of plan would be an absolute disaster for me personally and im sure many others. I have had to move my wedding 4 times I don’t fancy a 5th. In all honestly though I would be extremely shocked if it didn’t happen.