If after all overheads, rent, rates, electricity, equipment costs, legal costs, training costs, cleaning costs (You do know you have to take the temprature of your fridges every few hours and record for h&s inspections)and staff costs if you ever want a day off, you still earn £25k net, from a small village selling coffee at a price to make people come in, and can get that from village footfall on a tuesday at 11:00 am, then thats actually good going.

You need to make at imho at least £50k a year to manage that. – £1k a week. So thats £1k essentially of core coffee sales. – at a profit of say £2 a cup (and trust me, that is optomistic) thats 500 cups a week. Divide by 6 (to give you at least a day or 2 closed periods to do the books and stock/deliveries. So about 85 coffees a day min. Open from say 7am to 5 pm for your passing trade and thats 8.5 coffees per hour.

Or roughly one every 7-8 mins. Will you be so busy at peak to make up for the long periods through the day where your selling nothing? Will you have the staff to cope at core time?

What can you offer to make people come in? I am far too cynical to ever spend £2-3 on a simple coffee at say a railway station, in fact I actively resent the presence of vastly over priced coffee at “convenience locations”. Is there a niche thats unfulfilled? Are you close to great trails and can offer secure bike parking?

McDonalds sell coffee for a known quantity for about the cost of your profit per cup, if your lucky. Why am I going to you? I think sandwiches and cakes are “so overpriced” typically, that I begrudge the cash.

I’ve been playing wow for 5 years. Its about the only game I ever play these days…..

Don’t do it..

But if you do, either go out and buy the battlechest set from game or whereever, really cheaply, and don’t worry about the cataclysm expansion til you get to or about l80, in a few months time.

From Biryani – level 83 Warlock – Tarren Mill Sever.

Iknow as a student on a day trip from Hull, that the indoor market was where I discovered as an innocent middle class person of southern upbringing, that there was a market for second hand pornographic magazines.

Could you possibly buy second hand porn, without wondering who in town had their hairy hands on it first, and where else those hands had been???

Doesn’t matter how toned your stomach muscles are.

If they lie under a thick layer of body fat, you will never have a 6 pack.

Its more about a lack of fat than muscle building.

You do realise, coming from a rescue home, you gave him the best 13 days he’s ever had. Thats a gift that cannot be taken back.

It was a natural death, probably not that stressful for the animal. TBH you can’t ask for more if you were born a dog than to die having a great time in the arms of one that loves you.

Its fine to be sad, but not “regretful”. Hope that makes sense.

When I first met her, there was this instant spark between us…

And as I held her in my arms, and got my hand into her blouse, I thought…

“wow, these Tazer guns are great!”

Reminds me of those old Klein paint jobs somehow.

Can’t beat a rant that spins of a good old fashioned proper complaint…

Possibly a little more sarcasm next time, but 7/10.

Organise a “Putsch”?

Try this, it’s what they taught my pa in hospital after his quad hear bypass, to get fluid off the lungs caused by inactivity and after effects of surgery.

Breath in, really really deeply. Close mouth, and hold it in for a couple of seconds. Then, rather than breath out, try and breath in a tiny bit more, just throught he nose, and then hold it for a moment before breathing out. – Try it a few times, and then repeat every hour or so. If you do it right, it probably will make you cough, and its getting air as deeply into lungs and out, getting things moving as well as anyting else you can do in a room/office.

Your right oldgrump, but you know, it *might* just be an opportunity.

For too long our High Streets have been harbouring too many charity shops, estate agents and pound stores. Perhaps if we all appreciated that rrp means people in employment, in shops, meaning lower taxes through benefits, and more of our money “moving around”, then the would might just become a better place.

What better for xmas than browsing round a store and finding that “perfect gift” you’d never have thought of, rather than just logging onto a website and ordering something throughly unoriginal.

And I will be doing so this xmas. I shan’t even be using my visa or mastercard, I will be going in to my bank and demanding cash, and if they ask why, pointing out why.

See, theres a whole world of opportunity to be a grumpy old man here… moan to fellow shoppers, bank staff, shop assistants, whilst pointing out what you are doing for them! seize the day!

Yeah, it’s regrettably fine for me, the backstabbing little invertebrates.

Not that in intend ordering anything from the mouthpiece of censorship USA stylee ever again.

The third point says “named below”. If they are not named on the policy, they are not covered on your policy.

So my reading is you do need to ring Tesco to add drivers as and when you do, to get them naed on the policy.

Be aware that Tesco a few months ago, changed over from being underwritten by RBS to Liverpool Victoria, and so its just their own new wording on the doc’s thats phased you a bit.

Thought my 15 yo Krupps was dead til I did a proper descale. Now gushes steam like an A4 Gresley Class locomotive.

Use a proper descaler mind.

The EU are banning bent bananas too you know!

So what are we going to throw at the coons then? It’s political correctness gone mad I tell you!

(it’s a joke… )

My fathers with them. Loses the service for weeks at a time – customer service is terrible. Indeed, he can’t wait to go back to BT, who whilst more expensive, actually provided a service that worked, and if someting went wrong, got fixed in hours rather than months.

Shocking shower of shyte. Indeed at this time, he recokons they actually owe him money for providing the service, due to them having to offer him compensation for when they get stuff wrong.

I’d avoid. Somethings like net/phone are too essential to be left to clowns.

My dad’s with them. Had been with BT for years with no issues, jsut a tiny bit pricy.

Went to Talktalk. – Loses connection for weeks on end, take forever to fix faults. Half his bill is refunds for no service.

Avoid like the plague. He is going straight back to BT, as for the extra couple of quid, which is frankly a pint or two, he heds faults sorted out asap, by the same man who talktalk take 6w to send.

I don’t buy online unless, and only unless, the part I want is otherwise unavailable.

I have had great customer service out of the shops I use. For example, C&N cycles, I needed a chainring/spyder taken off a bmx 1pc crank. I;d been hammering and swearing at the bloody thing for hours, destroying the chainring in the process. (no loss it was junk anyway) anyway the chap does it for me in less than 10 secs – he has the tools and the technique – and then didn’t even charge me. As a result, I ended up with a couple of inner tubes for a rainy day, as I firmly believe you need to reward and use your local shops. Certainly no online retailer would do that for me. Nor would any online retailer engage me in chat about the old school bmx frame I brought in for a headset, and all other things that make cycle related shoping a pleasure (and not like a shirt for work).

Alrernatively, for my roadie clothing, Geoffry Butlers over the road from where I work – chaps who allow me to try on clothing (and with italian manufacturers, meduim is usually xl or xxl in their sizes). If I had simpply ordered online, stuff would arrive thats too small, and thats a pain I can live without. The markup on a shop price includes stock to try, and their specialist knowledge. Again with shoes – wentto “Head for the Hills”in Dorking – and it was worth the cost to go to a shop who had a selection of products, in all the right sizes for me – had I bought online, I would have ended up with a size too small.

Indeed, with Butlers, they even spent ages with me one day talking about road bikes, when I had made it clear I could not buy from them as I had a c2w voucher that had to go to halfords, but they had what I wanted in stock and were happy to talk to me simply as enthuiasts, ensuringI got the sizing for the c2w bike right. Thats just brilliant – again, a couple of inner tubes sold resulted – but the outcome was that I ended up with my perfect bike, through the skill and knowledge of my lbs.

The stock and skill of a retailer, is where the price differential is – and frankly, Given the cost of online and shop for clothing might onlybe a couple of pints, then on my average wage, I am happy to spend the extra.

One day, when theres no local cycle shops, no one to talk to, no stock to try for size, how will we know what to buy – you never see anything to browse through properly on an on line catalogue, and to keep sending stuff back when its not right is just a joyless pain.

And to elfinsafety, I cant believe you actually try stuff on, and then go and shop on line. That’s just an incredible attitude to take. If dog eat dog is so important to you, for a couple of quid, lets hope you don’t meet the proverbial bigger dog one day in your business dealings.

I rarely find private plates funny, but did see one on a Newish Porsche that read MR 5 1NCH.

Like the guy with a photo of a hand – I pull my string out to a point short of the horn of my SG, and wind from there. It’s not perfect, but they’ll be comming off again shortly.

The new Orange payg San francisco seems excellent at £99, with android 2.1 and a 800×480 screen.

Orange however, have been totally crap at setting up the billing, and theircustomer services are total toilet. I got the phone unlocked within a few days, went back to my previous provider, and no issues.

cynic-al, what about Mattocks Vs Mann where inconvenience was given a quntifiable value, (£100 if I recall correctly) for dealing with time and correspondance following an RTA.

I have a set of Tuff II’s on a Diamond Back pacer500.

I am also using Acs Z rims as a spare pare of wheels, but my Diamond Back Senior Pro and Diamond Back Silverstreak are both wearing Araya 7x.

I might put the Z’ds on a DB Formula 1 Frame and Fork.

Do I have too many bikes?

I must admit, the thing about buying a more expensive “branded” electric, is firstly, you will if like le, keep glancing in the mirror trying to convince yourself you are Robbie Krieger (Yes, I bought an SG, all those years ago) and secondly, unlikely to feel the ned to “upgrade”, as unlike say bikes, a decent Gibson will just play better and better in 20-30 years, they don’ really date or go out of “fashion”.

Say my SG – you can see over the years little things like the edge binding turning slightly yellow, it does very very slowly grow a patina of ageing.

Also, whilst some of the cheaper guitars are fantastic to look at – imho, nothing beats a huge solid chunk of mahogany, glued to another solid chunk of mahogany, and I can see through the genuine celulose finish this. Imho, whilst say less important than an acoustic, I’d wager my SG would still outperform and or feel less “dead” unplugged, than a modern £200 instrument from Thailand, made with glued ply and painted over or given a fab veneer.

At the time I bought my SG, certainly, lower actions evt were achievable with a higher end brand than the budget imports.

But a lot of it is in your head. If you had to save hard, and were only ever going to buy 1 “really good” guitar, then the pleasure of just owning the real mccoy is something that cannot be replicated.

Although a mate who is a guitar teacher still swears by his Squire Strat he bought over 20 years abo!

Rather than a wildfire, they just released theirown branded Orange San Francisco, seems a much better phone, and £99 payg.

However, Orange themselves are a cunch of useless bunts. I bought a phone yesterday, they acknowledged my £10 top up, and even after an hour complaining last ngiht, and two today, on premium rate numbers, the phone still donsn’t have any credit on it. I’ve been randomly disconnected twice, had several promises to be called back that never materialise, been told all sorts of rubbish, and am now trying to get the phone unlocked as they have been so utterly useless in every way.

And get this, a phone company actually said I had to write in to complain……..

Just bought an Orange phone, and already more issues in 2 hours with Orange than 8 on Virgin! Reminds me why I binned Orange to start with.

Bought a phone yesterday with a £10 top up. Regisered my swipe card onl line, rang to confirm my tarrif selection (dolphin, for the miserly free internet).

Even got a text fromthem thanking me for “topping up”. But can’t connect to anything as, er, I have no top up credit. You can’t even call customer service to complain as that s 25p, and, er with no credit, you cant complain about the credit you should have….

so I rang them, where some indian guy tried to tell me I must have subscribed to a text message service or somthing (I tried to say I’d not evenrung anyone, or texted anything with the new number, and certainly not gone through £10 of credit in, er an hour, not ringing anyone.

So he says he’ll look into it and call me back in 10 mins. That was about 7:00 yesterday, and still waiting for the call…

Thieving incompetent liars. Orange San francisco phone is fantastic, shame I can’t call anyone or connect to anything.

Yep, it’s rice thats the killer.

Essentially, curry is a well boiled stock, with well cooked meats, in a sauce which has a number of herbs and spices to both mask any taint, and also may work as anti oxidants.

but you know, I’ve eaten a lot of food which sould be “safe” or tastes fine, but I never “enjoy” it, despite the theory its ok.

Owning a £800 mountain bike puts me economically to the point where if I had a curry I didn’t fancy because of “worry” about it’s health, then all the debate and positive posts on a forum wouldn’t allow me to “enjoy” it, so as I could afford to “bin” it, I would.

This thing about “No insurance company will deal directly” is actually, total and utter bollocks.

Indeed, please advise who the third parties insurers are, as I am certain they will – you can send me an email and I’ll get some specific guidance for you in the AM. It should be in profile.

And yes, I work for an insurer in a claims dept. I suspect you might have been given a brokers number or something. I’ve sorted out loads of cyclists recently – they make the best claimants tbh. Most are just happy with the inflated offers I give for crappy old single speed converted racers to worry about injury…..

I work in insurance, and given the pathetically low levels of blame motorists routinely will accept, and having to dish out hard truths to them every day, I am disappointed to see you reflect a frankly growing problem.

These days, people will argue anything, and claim for anything.

How was the skip at fault in your view? What did it do so wrong whilst you operated your 3/4 ton of motor vehicle, which can so easilly kill and maim, carelessly, and without any regards for your surroundings. Is a skip, on the side of roads, so unusual that it was not forseeable?

No sympathy from me, but I have had a very bad day at work, including a call from a motorist who has run over a child on a bike, asking why we’re not going to chase the badly injured childs parents for his excess. And I get this crap most days, whereas at least a decade ago, people were less self-centric.

To the Op – do the cbt and see how you get on.

I was exactly like you, 30 32 years old, with an alfa 75 3l I loved, but couldn't handle the bills, nor the 23 to the gallon. So I bought a 125 for commuting. I hated bikes as a kid, noisy, dangerous dirty things.

90 to the gallon really appealed, and so did the comedy insurance and road tax. So I did the cbt. Frankly, it was the best £100 I ever spent – I didn't enjoy it, but hell, it made me a much better driver, instantlym seeing the road from a bikers point of view.

So I got a little gs125. After literally a few weeks, I got fed up with traffic bunching behind me, and being blown all around the road in shitty weather. So for that reason alone, decided I'd give myself a year max, but look to get a full A Licence. Next spring, did a DAS course and aquired a full license.

I am not the usual hairy biker, I am not big or rugged in any way, nor care much about power, how it works or whatever. I am the apollo at Halfords mtb buyer of motorcycles. However, its great. I use it most days, commuting is a big lol, its 1/2 the time to work. Its half the insurance, half the tax, half the petrol, twice the fun, and parking is free, not £6 pd in central croydon. A Day down to the coast, means free parking, right on Brighton sea front. On a good day, even riding along normally is like going down a decent hill on a mtb, that freedom from pedalling/sheer fun thing…..

To the poster who dismissed an sv650, er, well, its all about opinion, but really, you didn't own one, and the opinion expressed is one many would disagree with, or suggest that the view is "controversial".

The bike is light at 169kg, low with a sub 800mm saddle height, easy to ride, a twin so learners are less caught out with gears as it rides along on a decent wave of torque, you dont need to hunt for a powerband at the top end. It's cheap to buy, cheap to fix, and the basis of a decent racing series, and quite fun to ride. Ok the suspension is a bit budget, but it's easilly modded in due course with a gsxr front end.

On the roads, its one of the most common bikes you might see on the roads, Suzuki sold thousands of them, and has a fairly loyal following at places like sv650.org.

Engineers tend to charge insurers £50-70 if instructed by insurers.

Solicitors instructing the same engineers sent in invoices for £100+, and up to £150 for the really dodgy solicitors deeply in bed with accident managment companies. Whilst the courts will uphold those charges, most northern circuitjudges being deeply dishonest too, acharge to you from a decent engineer should be less than £70.

Tell me where in the country you are, and I'll give you an idea who to use, And who to avoid…. I can only suggest people who were good to use from an insurance point of view, ie helpful, quick, cheap, good coverage and my memories are a bit "vintage", but in london, would suggest Collins or Wheelers, East Anglia/Essex use H G Doggetts, West Mids, ICE (Independent Consulting Engineers), East Yorks H Rook were ok, and South Yorks Assessors for Yorks. In Lancs, used to use a firm called Autocheck, and this area of the country is a particular minefield for honest engineers…

Hope this helps slightly. But honestly, the phone book might just bee the best first point of call.

I think the trade association they belong to means anyone us use should be MIMI.

Coca cola and tin (aluminium) foil.

Ali is softer than chrome so it doesn't scratch. Ali also attract the ions from the iron oxide due to differences in charge, apparently,and the sugar and citric acid in the coke work as a fine, soft abrasive and acid.

Its a long job though. Alternatively, soak rusty things in oxalic acid is what all the old school bmx restorers recommend.

Autosol is great for some polishing, but some think it's too harsh on chrome, better for aluminium. People tend for polishing to recommend soemthingcalled "peek", available on the interweb.

Last real Alfa was the 75, built on the Gtv/2000 platform. RWD, gearbox over back axle, inboard discs.

I had a 3l 200 bhp top of the range version in black. It was a true thunderwagon, and with its aftermarket ansa exhaust, it sounded fantastic.

Individual, unsusal drivers car. Broke my heart to see one like it trashed by Clarkson. Also had a Sud Sprint 1.5, a 33 Cloverleaf, and a Gtv2000, all of which were in their own way, ace.

Hopefully they've not engineered the soul out of the modern ones.

Ins't there a way of if not seeing the identity of the other bidder, then seeing what % of their bids are witht he particular seller.

If it's a very large %, then yes, you were sort of scammed.

Can I suggest as someone who works in motor insurance, and foreign claims particularly, that you drive to Dover, get a ferry, and then hire a car thats left hand drive, and let the hire companies insurance deal with any subsequent issues.

There are so many issues that english drivers find, (not so much on your route, the Germans are pretty good) but if you have an accident in France, you will find the police fairly unhelpful. A RHD car + english motorist = fault. You have an incident which even on a bad day is like a 50/50 here, and the french police will porbably not bother to interview you, to ensure you version of events doesnt make its way to the report, but the other driver will, and when he hold you 100% fault, then thats what the report says.
Ditto with agreed statement of facts, which are the "International claim forms" in a green card pack. Every foreign driver should have one of these forms, and after an accident, most French/Spanish/Italian drivers, especially if they pick up on a lack of spoken French, will "helpfully" complete a form, as most UK drivers do not understand the importance of them. THey will complete it, holding you fully at fault, and it is a legally binding document. Even if it's totally incorrect, they win.

Countries like Spain, you won't even get a claim paid if the other driver drives off without either police attending, a good witness, or the driver completing an ASOF, as "theres no proof their driver was involved!".

Frankly, most continental motor insurers are like UK ones in about 1973, and I'd never take my car abroad!

Of course, I see the worse side of it, but the levels of honesty from those there to help, are pretty low abroad.

spend £50 or so on obtaining an independent engineers report on your vehicle,whils't its still at the garage, and write to them to inform them of your actions. Also inform them that the engineers report will form the basis of any evidence for a small claims court action against them, and you will seek to recover this reasonable disbursment.

They win't give a toss over trading standards, who in most areas of the country are grossly overworked, but a small claim, unpaid, leading to judgements and baliffs entering and confiscating tools is more of an issue.

Or invite them to reconsider.

Whats the problem?

You've not paid anything, and they know you don't want cover with them.

Is there actually an issue here? Or are you just moaning about a system that provides for you not tobe inadventently uninsured and therefore up shizer creek if you have an accident?

They cannot or will not withhold no claims bonus from you if you ask for it. Have you actually asked?

It seems other than failing to read by clairvoyance, your mind, they have not yet done anything wrong, you have, and without discussing it with them, are moaning on a cycling forum about it.

All this can they/will they you are roleplaying with us, before even discussing it with them (apparently) strikes me as simply wasting everyones time.

Don't want to sound harsh, but you seem to have manned the lifeboats before you hit the iceberg. I think theres something missing from your appraisal of the situation, somehting they've clearly said to you, thats not made its way to your post, which means we cannot give you best advice.

Have they said they are trying to hold you to the policy? Are they demanding full payment. On what clause are they relying upon to enforce this, and what have they said to you to post this thread.

I think you need to know how far the lol is from the BBQ, and see if it reports to the BBC properly. Don't forget to calculate the square root of WTF for complete accuracy. This is of course IMHO standard 5 on the ANC vs IRA scale.

To be honest, I'd have a quiet word with her.

I'd point out the bookings you turned down, and that in light of your consideration to her is not reciprocated, the letter from the council and her complaint about you has made you reconsider, and you might now be very much busier, unless she gives up her campaign against you.

And do the police realise she's running a brothel?

Of course it was southerners.

He's still got his bike hasn't he?