Just had a post delivery here in Guildford, including a cheque 😀

I'm waiting on some road shoes from Evans but apparently they're using couriers.

I think the strike is sorting office staff today and then delivery/collection staff tomorrow, so probably no post tomorrow and back to 'normal' on saturday.

We had the same thing in Guildford. The Freespirit store was in a great position and the Blacks down a back street. The Freespirit store closed and was replace by Blacks and it is rubbish.

Interestingly we have a Cotswold Outdoor store supposedly opening in the town soon.

If it was me I'd be on the third very strongly worded email by now.

I always try to dispatch within 2-3 days of receiving payment and then email the buyer.

Did the seller have anything in the auction about dispatch times?

Even given the crap postal service in some areas at the moment 2 weeks is too long and needs actioning.

Perhaps you can do it on Saturday while you're twiddling your thumbs. 😉

My first thought was the same as saladdodger's but the signing of the Working Time Directive probably stops you from doing that.

IIRC you should be able to retract your opt-out of the 48hr week rule by giving notice, but as uplink says you need to look at your contract. If you can't find it ask your HR department for a copy of their copy.

Take a trip over to the forum on http://www.road.cc

It's full of people with useful info on the darkside or have a look at Sheldon Brown, his site covers just about everything you wanted to know about cycling.

Good for you. Don't think I would have had the courage with three of them there but it's amazing what you'll do when the adrenaline starts pumping.

Good response by the Police, a van and two cars, probably a slow night though.

Perhaps you'll buy it a more expensive lock now. 😉

Cheers scruzer, top man!

jedi – Are you receiving redundancy pay-off/JSA and do you have a mortgage with payment protection?

Unless you have an established base of customers getting it off the ground will take time.

I'm trying to build a business as a freelance trainer, been at it for 7 months now, and there are legitimate ways of earning and claiming at the same time.

I won't go into specifics but if you want a bit more detail my email is in my profile.

John

Right, try avoid places like that even when I'm with the better half.

I'll let her know.

Cheers all for the recommendations.

Mrsjova works in Woking so a trip to Sweatshop seems a good idea next week.

I knew Debenhams had a new 'sports section' but I thought it would probably be all pikey stuff. I'll get her to have a look in there as well.

Hadn't thought about La Senza but if they do Sloggi kit then could also be worth a visit.

I wish she'd stuck to riding bikes and things I know about. As a man my knowledge of bras is very limited.

😀

Cheers hopster.

In the bin then. I've got a modern wireless one to fit in its place anyway.

That was my thought but there was nothing on the forks.

Why can't I get the picture to show in the text??

Why do you need a solicitor? (if you don't mind me asking)

I enquired with a local solicitor two years ago for some legal advice and they wanted £500 up front.

Do you have house insurance with legal cover?

Interesting idea sfb. She's already got a digital tv so I'll have a look at it while I'm seeing her next week to see if it has a slot.

Forgot about the gadget show fozzybear. I'll go and have a look.

Yes and lock it, as one of our cats enjoys jumping out the bathroom window and has learnt how to open the door by jumping onto the handle from the bannister.

1998 Saab 9-5 2.3 turbo saloon

Big, comfortable, big boot (even bigger with the seats down), and still bloody fast and I can't afford a new one.

Just pop down your local primary school. There'll be a dozen or more experts in years 5 or 6 who'll have it open in a couple of ticks for you. 😀

If you're anywhere near Guildford I could recommend some to you as they keep breaking into the council garages next to my house. 😉

takes no consideration of her experience either of other whisleblowing attempts she may be aware of or of her trust and faith in the mechanisms

Having read this extensively as an object lesson for discussion in training courses, I found that she made no attempt at all to follow the internal procedures for reporting her concerns.

She claimed that she had discussed it on only one occasion with her line manager but took the matter no further when he/she failed to do anything.

I also read the Trust's Internal Reporting and Whistle Blowing policies which she should have followed and didn't which would had given her the chance to 'Whistle Blow' in a very short time frame. She also never claimed that she had tried to raise concerns previously so this appears to be the first instance and she failed by any measure.

[Pedant]To clarify the terminology in use, which is very emotive, following Internal Reporting Procedures is not 'Whistle Blowing' it is doing what should be done. The act becomes 'Whistle Blowing' when someone divulges information under the protection of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, where, if their concerns are found to be legitimate, they will be protected from action taken against them by the people they report.

Like many other things the term 'Whistle Blower' has been hijacked and is applied to anyone who exposes what they believe to be wrong doing whether they follow the correct procedures or not.[/Pendant]

Sorry Stoner disagree.

If you read the back story you will discover that she made no attempt to follow the correct Whistle blowing procedure. If she had done so and met with the sort of evasion that you talk about, and which I know occurs, then she might get a bit more sympathy from me but she didn't.

In an organisation of that size it takes no more than three steps to reach a point where whistleblowing becomes possible and supportable, she appears even not to have got to step one.

Agreed that it highlighted the issues within the Trust and that in itself is a good thing but she failed in her duty to bring the failings to the attention of the proper authorities and colluded with the Panorama programme makers. For that she received the punishment she deserves.

Its not so much her actions that I applaud, but the BMA have made themselves look like a closed shop with a self interest in concealing short comings in the service.

Just to put the record straight, she was struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) not the BMA (British Medical Association) which is for doctors.

As a Safeguarding of Vulnerable Persons trainer I agree with her sentiments but there were other routes and devices she could have used to get her voice heard, including going to the NMC, the Police, Social Services, her MP etc. By secretly filming patients in her care she breached the duty of trust she had towards those patients and was not the way to get the situation changed. I will therefore not be voting for her.

For me this is tidy

but Mrsjova keeps wanting to tidy it. 👿

I would have thought 100mm of insulation with solid board on top with the 'junk' on top of that would be as effective as 150 or 200mm of insulation.

Dont forget to leave the spaces under any water tanks free of insulation though.

They'll be banning the meat and two veg next! 🙂

Great news tyger. That's one hell of a long wait.

Suppose you'll be selling your bikes now you want be able to ride them so much. 😉

And to mrsflash too!

The rules in England/Wales say that a shelter must not be 'substantially enclosed' which has been interpreted in most cases as no more than two walls and a roof.

There is also no minimum distance from a building but an urban myth of 5 metres developed because of the pattern of smoke flow in heavily trafficked areas, especially outside entrance doors, where the smoke gets carried back into the building and therefore breaks the law.

On the original point about smoking and eating together outside, if it is a designated smoking area then people who eat there do so at their own risk.

As for vans, if they are company property, or privately owned and the owner is paid an allowance to use for business, then they are classified as a workplace and smoking is against the law. If he's smoking in the van BillyWhiz then tell him to stop and point out why and if he refuses report him. If he gets picked up by the relevant authority, whoever polices this one, then the company faces ahefty fine.

Oil spills on the paving slabs and cobwebs on the porch coping, tut tut 😉

Nice looking bike and a great colour.

Can I ask what the saddle is? I'm looking for a white one for my road bike rebuild.

Also look at using the Second Chance option for other bidders. 7 days is a long time to be left with no communication or money.

Have a look and see if the winning bidders has bought anything else in the meantime and try and contact those sellers to see what is happening.

Did you stipulate payment terms in your listing?

Hi Hairychested, hope you get this. Tried to post this under 'Paging' but it got pulled as I broke the rules.

I have contacted the umbrella companies I have worked with and ended up with the same result as you. You have to be employed by someone to get the check done. Bloody useless for the self-employed and definitely a major flaw in the system.

I spoke to a nice lady in CRB land and she suggested you might try getting a Subject Access Request from your local Police, apparently it replaced the old Police check. Not sure whether it would cover things like POVA and POCA list and List99 which you need when dealing with kids or the vulnerable.

Did you have any joy with British Cycling to see if they are or use an umbrella organisation?

Good luck in your search.

John

@ saladdodger

Do you have a local freecycle site?

Our one in Guildford also has a Cafe group where people can offer their services for paid work.

So far I've seen plumbers, electricians, junk removal/dial-a-van, cleaners etc and all seem to be getting bits of work or referrals.

I contacted a qualified electrician off ours and he came in with a very reasonable quote and some good references.

I've been 'job seeking' since the beginning of the year. The interviews have dried up and the only ads I see are the same ones in 5 or 6 different places each day.

I'm still signing on as, although I don't get JSA, they keep paying my basic NI and I need the sign-on for my mortgage protection which just about covers that. I've been doing some freelance training and provided I don't do more than 15:59 hrs a week I'm still officially classified as unemployed/jobseeking and not self employed.

I think the 15:59 per week is designed to encourage/force people to get a full time job no matter what it pays but I'm fortunate that the rate I get paid per hour is very good. It's a slog to keep sending out flyers and ringing potential customers and chasing payment of invoices but hopefully I'll be able to build a customer base while the mortgage protection is in place and take it full time self employed next year. The problem at the moment is keeping the hours within the limit and keeping the diary up to date.

To all who are still out of work or expecting to be in our position in the next few months, good luck in your endeavours and now may be the time to find a new career.

I had just turned 54 when I got the push and thought that was it but the wife bullied me into touting my training skills and it certainly has potential.

One final thought on CV, although they show your work history you should emphasise what you can do or bring to a new position, not what you've done in the past. Sorry if that's patronising but it's about using the skills you have.

John

Just looked at the picture again.

Is that blue plastic pipe at the bottom? If so probably water pipe and not gas, shame, and safe to remove. 😉

The valve is solid, but pipe makes a hollow sound when tapped

Gas pipe then!

Make sure you get some piccies of your house burning down. 😀

Dont know about down there but you may need one for each group/organisation. Hence I have 2 atm. Fortunately I have a general schools volunteer for the swimming/cycling stuff I am doing. As a volunteer btw.

This used to be true trekster but with the new ISA, Independent Safeguarding Authority, who are supposed to be producing new registers of proscribed individuals; should have been up and running by August 2008 will not be in place until Oct 2009 earliest, the intention is that a CRB check report will be transferrable and thus you will need only one.

At present CRB reports have no run out date; to show how stupid the system was, my youngest daughter who qualified as a teacher last summer has 5 current CRB check reports
1 For starting her degree in 2004
2 Working for SurreyCC while at Uni 2005
3 Camp America in 2007
4 Working as a supply teacher in her final year 2007
5 First full time job starting last summer 2008

I work in the care industry in Surrey and south London. I'll have a word with some of the companies I do work for on Monday to see who they use as most of them go through umbrella companies.

The CRB system, which I believe is a good but flawed idea, was set up for companies not individuals and was aimed at preventing undesirables working in the care professions but the whole scheme has been expanded to make more money for the government without considering the consequences on individuals who work on a freelance basis.

Short answer is no, you cannot do it as an individual and the number of umbrella companies was reduced last year based upon volume of CRB.

Where in the country are you?

Have a look here:
http://www.crb.gov.uk/using_the_website/applicant.aspx

and Google 'Umbrella Body CRB'

Nice looking frame simon.

I'm in a similar situation. I've got an old Peugeot road frame that my brother gave to me.

It's a hand-brazed steel frame probably 531 as well.

I'm taking it to a resprayers in Aldershot tomorrow to get them to strip and repaint it.

Looking to restore it in a different colour to a 12 speed road bike using as many original parts as possible.

Anyone else remember the Aztec bar from late 60's early 70's?

Two of those were enough for me at one go, like a sweet gooey Mars bar and some really dodgy advertising.

And i'd argue that Winston Churchill's wartime quotes can't be attributed to his conservatism as he was part of a wartime government of all the parties.

At least Churchill wrote all his own speeches and knew how to work a crowd. I'll admit he was a populist and a plagiarist, but could you see Chamberlain or Bevan or Morrison producing the inspiration that he did?

My favourite of his is the one to the Canadian parliament referring to the early days of the war when the French generals had made some comment about England being a chicken whose neck was about to get wrung.

"Some chicken …….. some neck!"

Cheers tinsy.

Those sound like excellent prices. I'll see how I get on in Aldershot as it's nice and local.

Cheers jonv.

I've just spoken to the guys at Cycleworks and they've recommended a place over in Aldershot called Aroura who have done work for other customers/friends. Phoned the man and I'm taking the frame over later in the week to see what they can do.

Don't want anything too flashy but it's a nice light hand brazed frame which my brother gave me in p/e for fettling his road bike.

Was that Windridge in Broadstairs heihei?

What were the costs like including delivery/return?