Failure on basic chip understanding.

When eating out, (from the paper) and a sachet of sauce costs a swingeing 10p per inadequate, non Heinz, bitter vinegary portion, then salt first, shake the bag a few times to allow to settle, and then douse liberally in vinegar.

At home, ketchup. MUST be Heinz. And none of the new varieties with Chilli ect). (Brown sauce is allowable based on a strictly applied heritage test.)

Abroad, (Foreign resort) mayonnaise. Abroad (English resort) refer to above rules. In the latter, if Heinz ketchup not available, then salad cream may be substituted for a 5 chip penalty.

Copper nails.

Does it teach you about controlling your guitar with your volume and tone controls? Does it teach you about controlling your tone by where you pick on the string, with different picks or fingers? Does it teach you how to play with other musicians? Does it teach you about making choices?
What does it teach you?

Oh no – muso alert!

It teaches you practice can be fun, and what does endlessly running up and down scales alone in a bedroom teach you? If your a kid in a bedroom, this will be much more appealing than “Learn to play in a day” or frankly any other music book the parents could have bought for xmas. remember you need some ability before you start to play with others really, even if its a few chords and the minor pentatonic.

Now, if the kid enjoys, perservers with it, and forms a band, then the “higher” considerations will open up.

Dont knock what could be a way of communicating to those denied music lessons from mummy and daddy, or mates who can play. This gives you some practice, ipetus to get better, and you canplay what you want,rather than “Franjie and Johnnie” and all the shite from music books written 60 years ago. It will also give more feedback than any worthy lesson on youtube.

See it for what it is, rather than sneering pointlessly.

I’d get the third party to ask a motor engineer to inspect the damage and negotiate a cash in lieu figure for repair.

Then you can do whatever you like – drive with a slightly marked older car and have a cash sum in the bank, or try a cheap but not entirely 100% repair and have some cash in bank, or organise a repair.

Doesnt matter if its a “write off”, as its your car, your a third party, there are no contractual rights of disposal, albeit a Cat A burn out or B of severely damaged body shell mean they may only be disposed of by licenced salvage agents. But this is repairable or cat D. – ie the salvage might be worth enough to make it total lossing a repairable car.

I see none of the residual “small hitters” of stw would dare suggest a cheese themselves for fear of ridicule. Like teenage girls trying to exclude “the new girl” to look big and clever, and failing as most of us are over 15.

To the op – if you enjoy the cheese, had fun choosing them, and have a decent seleciton of wine/port/ales to accompany, with a handful of tasty pickles and chutneys, good luck and merry christmas to to you. come back and tell us what you did and didn’t like. Even a cheap cheese is better than no cheese. I’d rather have a slice of leerdammer or a wedge of St Agur than nothing for my post dessert course.

Like a Halfords Apollo is better than no Orange5/Turner5spot/CoticSoul/Yetisomenumber to any proper cyclist.

As and when she gets “balance”, would welding a BB, sticking some cranks and a freewheel and a front brake be doable?

Did anyone get to try the Warburtons Naan Chips in Madras flavour.

Really good. Although you are talking to the man who slightly pissed, emailed Phineas Fogg owners to demand the black packet red hot torillas make a comeback, and who bitterly resents the demise of Really Ruthless Crisps, especially the chilli and garlic flavour.

JCL – you never heard a pair of Linn Kan’s properly driven with a decent Naim stack from an LP12.

Thats “really good to me”.

MRO Agency rates for a sub 90 day payment are £200+vat, and £225 + vat if invoice is over 90 days. Add £50 + vat if a review of the medical notes is required.

Most insurers will pay to say £300 for a GP report without raising too many eyebrows.

Is she aware of the needs of a report, ie a Statement of Truth appended to the end, ect?

Oh, and as a claimants expert, she will be expected by the solicitor to rubberstamp the lies of the compensation seeker fairly unquestioningly. My view of the average GP report writer is that they are a pretty dishonest bunch, who only exist to agree unchallengingly the claimants oral testimony no matter how unlikely. They tend to take literally a few minutes per claimant, see dozens in a day, with virtual identikit reports and prognosis made using the cut and paste tool.

And as the reports are “for the court” they are hard to challenge, and it’s these bent GP’s who are as much responsible for maintaining the high level of unlikely whiplash claims as the claims farmers/solicitors who put them forward. If there was ever any chance a GP would “disagree” a claimants injuries, leading to the odd costs award against the solicitors, then the world would be a more honest place and your premiums would all be lower.

I always thought it was so your Sword Hand was free for impaling or decapitating motorists that had p!22ed you off.

Indeed, thats why the aheadset was invented – so much quicker to get your bombers off.

Bilbo called – he wants his bike back………..

Hmm, getting a bit concerned –

I did a “buy it now” for the frame 6/11.

got an apologetic message via Ebay 15/11 advising seller had personal problems but it was all in hand. As of yesterday am, still no frame.

I sent a message 3-4 days ago asking for courier details and tracking number, and no response. Anyone think I’ve left it long enough to raise an Ebay issue. Didn’t seem a scammer or a hacked account.

Audiolab is quality kit thats well build, sounds great, and been around a while.

An 8000a amp with its matching tuner would sort you out, and can be converted to pre/power later on too. I have one, with some Castle Durhams.

The Linn Tuner (Kremlin?) was meant to be good too, and even the Linn 1 bos stuff might be affordable too now.

Just catching up with this thread.

If its car vs cyclist, then forgetting liability for a second, the insurer can or should be made to see sence in that –

If the vehicle has no damage, the defendant has suffered no actual damages loss. (injury, earnings, hire car, repairs ect).

If the offer to you is 50/50, then the defendant has already lost his no claims bonus. There is no excess payable on a third party claim.

Therefore, if you threaten to issue court proceedings, the claimant has no reason financially to attend. He won’t “earn back” any lost bonus, and he has no losses to recover from you. The defendant isnt going to bother wasting a day in Court for no gain.

Explain you understand this to the insurer, that their 50/50 offer is a “straw argument” that if you reject it, you can’t be worse off, only they can.

I am thinking more rasperry or aubergine with gold flake in now lads, so thanks for that.

I think I’ll look for slightly more rugged rims than the 717’s too, so thanks for the input there –

Any good suggestions for cheap forks to get me going? My last purchase of forks were rockshok jucy xc’s in 99! I haven’t kept up with the ranges/brands since then really.

I want your job.

Frame size, it’s not about the height, despite that being the measurement number. And beware of online guides.

I am a slightly odd shape – I have medium to short legs, and short arms for by body shape. If I buy a suit, it will be short in the hjacket but I might need regular legs.

Online suggests at 5’7 I should be riding a 53 cm bike. When I tried a couple of 53’s, they were so long in the top tube, that I was at full stretch to just grip the hoods, it was unrideable.

In the end, I bought a Bianchi, which is apparently measured up at 50cm, and its compactly perfect for me, despite apparently being suitable for people several inches shorter. The issue wasn;t the seat height, that was not much different, but the reach.

As I work for an insurer dealing in PI and liability with an “interest” in cyclist and motorbike claims, what is he/his insurer saying happened?

Does his insurer know about the witness?

Which insurer is it. Ignore any crap advice in the internet from greedy solicitors intent on sticking their snouts in the trough, this is the sort of claim any halfway intelligent claims dept should be dealing with with no issues whatsoever.

If our lot got a call from you, I’d be really disappointed in how it seems to be being handled.

Chinese kid I lived with taught me, – 1 cup to about 1.5 ish water.

Get to boiling, lid and heat right down as far as you can without the gas flame going out, for 12 mins.

It’s generally pretty perfect.

SteamOs.

Wait to see what Valve brings out. It could be the surprise that cracks the 2 horse race wide open.

Firstly, given this STW, home of all things niche, the wider world isn’t as keen on rigid, single speed bikes as those here. It’s a limited market.

Secondly, anyone doing a search on say gumtree, ebay, isn’t going to think Curtis, unless they’re already fans of the brand. For a no gear rigid bike, £1k is a ot of dosh for s/h.

As an example, I could buy a new xt transmission from Merlin, new wheels from say Hinde, and a decent finishing kit, and have £500 left over for say a ti on one 456, new, for only £200 notes more. Its apples and oranges, but mainstream doesn’t want ss, rigid.

The person who like s Curtis frames and appreciates ss and rigid at a high price will like the bike, but you may have to wait, or split. Most ss users have it as a second bike, and £1k for a second bike in a recession is still a lot.

Lovely pics chaps.

Can’t see for the life of me why alu ever took off. or 29. Don’t skinny tubes and smaller wheels just look “right” for a blast through the woods.

I am seriously thinking the soul might be the one to at least try. Thinking of transfering the finishing kit from my p7 to start with, a groupset from Merlin, and some cheap s/h wheels and shocks, build to a budget.

I’m thinking for my uses, 120mm max really. I’m a poof over the rough stuff. Some good suggestions here, but it does look like it’s hard to buy a bad frame really. –

Interested to hear a bit more from Chorlton on the p7 v soul, as coming from the former to the latter is of interest – The soul was the first bike I thought of, but so many s/h ones look rough.

To be honest, as a taxi driver (they are in insurance terms, scum of the earth) he will probably

Develop whiplash. He will almost certainly have claimed before from some dodgy solicitors, who will invoice for physio that didnt take place and provide a medical report which i can tell you confidently will support the claim.

If the damage isn’t enough to make it undrivablem his bodyshop will reverse it into a wall, and then call their preferred “independent engineer” who will deem it unroadworthy, as “fume ingress” from the boot/hatch could occur, despite it looking pristine.

He will then hire a car, from £130 a day, on a “credit basis” from some dodgy hire company you never heard of, thus avoiding daily wear and tear and earning his professional friends a nice payday, while thay appoint the said engineer, who faff about, send it to your insurers, who waste time and money investigating an unprovable fraud.

Eventually this will settle for about £5k hire, £2k storage and recovery (from another firm you never heard of) as it was clearly undrivable when the engineer inspected it, £2k repairs, £3k injury £1k solicitors costs, £300 medical report fee, £500 physio, and whatever else they cam imagine – like diminution of the vehicle value. about £16k is my guess, if the driver doesnt invent a phantom passenger or indeed several passengers.

Thanks Dannh, the thing is, I can probably afford new, but I’ve now had so many bikes stolen (and only one recovered) that I cant be bothered with new, its too heartbreaking. But for an On One, I could probably push the boat out to new.

To be honest, as someone in the market to replace an old p7, I’m just gutted there isn’t a sensible steel hardtail. I think they sort of lost their way, sadly.

The days of a clockwork with a low rent alivio to get you started in the family…… Clockwork was the best bike I ever owned, (in contempraneous terms anyway) and led on to 2 p7’s and an unmissed G2.

Bmx restorers would choose oxalic acid – as its chemistry is as per its name to do with oxygen, it attracts the iron oxide (rust). I acid bath all my bmx frames when I buy them.

Alternatively, citric acid is weaker and kinder to the environment.

Odd how reluctant they are to return something allegedly “broken”.

I’d stick to your guns over returning it, just to see if they go away, ie it isn’t really broken…..

I suspect without being up on digital (I still use my lp12 sondek!) that they have made some sortof mistake – a proper audiophile, if one output is better than the other, isn’t going to want to compromise by listening to the flawed output, and it might be £220 only, but for the man in the street, Rega is still “High end”.

I suspect something amiss, it doesnt add up.

Rise of Flight for WWI.

IL2 Cliffs of Dover was pretty bugged when it came out, but its been modified by the ATAG group, and is now a very good Battle of Britain specific combat flight sim, and it is a flight sim with combat in that order.

IL 1946 is a bit older, but more “complete” in temrs of maps, planes.

DCS world is free,gives you a Su-25 to play with but is massively complicated. And as mentioned you can get add ons for different planes.

Its a nice bike – its easy to ride, being a v twin, so you get more power from low down, rather than having to get the revs up and tap dance the gears. So you’r never really bogged down, always something on the throttle.

Its light, low, fairly economical, handles quite well, but the suspension is a touch basic.

Lots of help over at sv650.org

Lacoste, the original in the square green bottles with the white panel on the front. A nice strong manly scent, but not “old”, but kind of sporty.

These days I understand the smell of choice is Boss bottled, but I find most of the present day scents far blander than older scents used to be.

I’m doing it.

Been doing it about 2 months. Working really well for me. I’ve lost a notch on my belt, am getting into shirts I couldn’t for the last 5 years, and feel greater mobility through all my joints when say riding my motorbike. And despite not getting out on the mountainbike as much as previous years, I’ve powered up hills I huffed and puffed up, passing cyclists, rather than them passing me.

I have specifically not weighed myself at the start, it’s not the point, I’m not just “trying to make myself slimmer” or “lose pounds”, so I dont want weeks where the hardship leads to zero loss.

I just feel better for it, and inside 6w people were saying they cansee a difference, people guessing I might have lost up to a stone, and guess what! I’m still smashing the pizza at the weekends!

A faster than light neutrino walks into a bar.

Cool, so as long as I am happy paying for a new BB, then the lbs can fit something modern/contemporary?

Or would a “retro bling” effort be more in keeping. It is a bike for riding, but I don’t do heavy off road, and am pretty light on my bikes.

Well I got it back!

:-D

I did pay a small finders fee, but only because once I got the full story, it seemed reasonable enough. Apparently the flats I lived in asked the maintanance guys to remove stuff from communal areas, but it happened when I was on “sort of” holiday, and so never saw the notice attached to the bike. It’s been stored ever since.

As such, given the seller clearly wasn’t a “bike thief” as such, but just doing his job as ordered by the management co, I handed enough over for a decent round in a pub. Guy was really reasonable about it really…..

I must admit, I was in the same position last year, and ended up spending £1k on a machine that future proofed me. I went for an i5 processor (theres not much difference between an old 15 2500k, a i5 3570k and the new i5’s.

So you could have an Intel chip a couple of generations old and its still going to be fine. Dont bother with i7’s for gaming, the additonal hyperthreading does nothing for just about any game written today.

I bought a machine bundle that also had an Nvidia gtx670 graphics card fitted, and apart from the fact its been surpassed by a cheaper, but practicably no faster 700 series card, it still races through anything I play at full speed on a 1920c1080 monitor. Its over a year old and still realistically as good as you need for gaming.

Not that much help as your budget is a couple of hundred lower, but you should be able to get a machine to those sort of specs now.

Try Chillblast, Yoyotech, Overclockers as system builders, rather than lumbering into PC world, you’ll get a far better machine for the money.

Well, the good news is that I’ve won the auction. Now what to do?

Do I pay for it using paypal and then open a dispute after collection?

Or just contact the seller, indicate I am going to pay cash and just tell him when I arrive I’ve come to reclaim whats mine?

I am amazed that a 12-13 year old Orange p7 would still get £150+ on Ebay. (Of course, I know the chainrings were knackered and being StX-rc are impossible to find new due to the odd way the rings were joined), the left shifter didn’t always shift, the chain was split and the rear tyre is worn to the point it needs replacement, none of which were mentioned on the Ad, so I’ve saved someone a crap ebay buy if nothing else.

I always get best results with the freshest milk, so much so that its the dregs of a bottle that go on the breakfast, the “new” bottle goes in the milk jug.

I also find that cold milk from the fridge produces the best foam. Best with a cheap gaggia is to let the water heat a bit more before opening the steam up.

Also, from some experimentation, some would make you believe you need to tamp down the coffee like your Geoff Capes or something. I find I get better/consistent results with a light tamp, just one good press down, ensuring its even across the filter.

The open Beta of Verdun.

Rising Storm.

World of Tanks and War thunder.

Oh, and whilst I was processing your insurance renewal for the car this afternoon, my pc crashed. So I’ve added £1k to your premium, for a ewn one, thats only fair isn’t it?

If you really feel you must contribute to a tradesmans tax deductibles, please retain the damaged item and work out how far through it’s life the item was. A £200 item, 80% of the way through its life, is still only £40, not £200.

Your tradesman is taking the piss.