Excellent, really enjoyed it.

I’m sure that was a film we had in our geography club at school in the mid sixties. As secretary of the geography club and school projectionist I use to order films like that, on 16mm, for free to show every other week. Strange thing was the geography club was the most popular club in school!

I found the XC loop at Aston Hills very disappointing and not worth the day pass you have to buy. It was about 12 months ago when I did it last so there may have been improvements but it was overgrown and poorly maintained and certainly wouldn’t keep you entertained for a few hours. The DH trails are technical especially in wet weather. Far better XC routes can be found on the other side of Wendover, starting on the bridal paths leading up to Coombe Hill.

My son turned up with a roof box, for the Porstmouth crossing, having not included it in the booking, they charged him the extra before letting him on.

Bonus Print for me. Used for a long time. Always very pleased with the quality. Needed to contact their customer service once and they were excellent.

I moved from BT to Talktalk many years ago and have been more than happy with them. Have been using their fast fibre for just over a year and get 37/38 mbps, never had a problem. Have found it to be very stable, upload speeds of nearly 10mbps.

Now that I’ve said this the all system will probably go down today!

I’ve sailed with Norwegian a few times. They have USA sockets and I think there are about three in the cabin. We take a couple of converters which allows us to charge a couple of gadgets at the same time. I seem to think they also have one socket in the cabin which will accept a UK plug. If you have lots of gadgets then taking a multi socket, as suggested above, is a good idea, though we have never felt the need for one. Have a good trip.

Never had to show a printed copy of an ESTA at any point flying to the States but have always had to inform the airline of my passport number and the expiry date in advance. Most recently flew with BA and before that Virgin both required passport information. Have flown with most of the USA airlines and all wanted passport information in advance.

Same thing happened to me a couple of years ago. No email address, no telephone number, just an address to send the fine in a certain number of days.. They were part of some larger group and I managed to find out the telephone number of their head office. Spoke to a person there who could not find a number for the company even though she confirmed it was one of their companies. She said she would get back to me with some information. To my surprise she did and told me she had sorted it out. I had a letter confirming this with an apology. I sent them a bill via email for the cost of telephone calls and and my time giving them seven days to make payment. Received nothing!

Well  as somebody who litter picks the Dog and Monkey on Cannock Chase I can only say a brilliant idea, I might become a millionaire!

Did the Monkey yesterday and collected a bag full of rubbish only one week after the last litter pick. Mainly fizzy drink bottles and cans. It would be great if it included gel sachets and their tabs as well.

I used T2 and T3 Long Stay Car Park a month ago. Booked it well in advance, so got a good price, felt safe leaving the car there and the bus service to the terminals is regular and quick.

During a recent visit to Nicaragua tried some Flor de Cana 18 year old rum, it was very, very good. Expensive though at £55 a bottle.

First I’ve seen, I enjoyed it, even had me laughing out loud in places. Must try and see Peter Pan.

Fried tarantula in Cambodia. Burnt to a crisp and very, very greasy.

Not sure about being amazed I was certainly shocked when Google sent me a monthly timeline with everywhere I’d been the previous month, the route I’d taken, mode of transport, times and dates and then linked in photographs I had taken.

I have had a similar issue trying to get Netflix 5.1 to work through my home cinema system. Everything worked if in stereo but try to use 5.1 and all I got was a mumbling noise. There are hundreds of posts on forums of people having similar problems and a few people who post ways they solved the problem. However there does not seem to be one solution. I actually solved my problem a couple of nights ago by changing a setting in my Sony television’s advanced sound settings. I think the way to solve your problem will be patience and just trying different settings on both the television and laptop. Good luck!

I listen to Radio 4Extra a lot, though may depend on your age as there are lots of classic radio shows from days gone by on it.
It also has some excellent drama, for example last Saturday afternoon the story Leni Riefenstahl and her filming of the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It may not sound very exciting but was really well done.

I went during the summer holidays, as I was in the area, I thought it was going to be £10 but it’s £12 during school holidays as well as weekends. It’s a nice trail if in the area but expensive if you are only going to do one circuit. There really should be a two hour parking option for half the price.

I like listening to Mary Anne and Cerys on a Sunday morning. Calm, quietly spoken, knowledgeable, and a wide range of music.

Listening to Carry Fire at the moment – I like it!

Listening to Carry Fire at the moment – I like it!

Beatles wrote some good pop songs.

I have to put this on because the summer of 69 was a great summer for me and it’s also great song.

Thanks for this link already proved useful to me.

My first ever meal in an Indian restaurant (1971) was chicken liver curry. Never seen it on a menu since. Love lamb and pig liver.

Ford Zodiac Mk3, the only car I have ever driven where you had to start turning steering wheel five minutes before you got to the corner.

The Silent Deep: The Royal Navy Submarine Service Since 1945

James Jinks and Peter Hennessy

A very detailed and well written history providing a fascinating insight into how the Royal Navy moved from low tech diesel/electric submarines to nuclear submarines.

Another perspective.

How others see the British

He’s a British journalist!

Most drive pretty close together already and if it stops some of them taking three or four miles to overtake, then I’m all for it.

As above, AKGs from Richer Sounds. Very good value, really do work and comfortable. Used them on a recent 14 hour trip to Argentina and hardly took them off during the flight.

I watched Lawrence of Arabia last night and it was Epic!

But then again my Dad starred in the film, so it’s got to be good

Lawrence of Arabia gets my vote, definitely one of the greatest films ever. Now wondering who your dad is?

Susan Maughan and Frank Ifield at the London Palladium in 1963.

I’ve had a Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 for just over a year now and very pleased with it. Always was a fan of the Canon bridge cameras but got a bit fed up of them going for more powerful zooms at every update instead of improving the sensor. FZ1000, with its one inch sensor is superb.

My daughter’s partner reversed into Edmund Hilary at the start of his driving test while working in New Zealand. Edmund Hilary was quite nice about it but my daughter’s partner failed his test.

In Search of the Lost Chord Moody Blues

Weber charcoal at home and Weber gas for camping. Prefer charcoal but gas is quicker and the the Weber gas has an optional griddle which is great for a fry up breakfast.

Slalom canoeing through the late 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, scrambling and fell walking 80’s and 90’s and mountain biking since about 2000. I did ride my touring bike on the fire roads of Cannock Chase back in the 80’s.

Thanks for sharing link. Excellent short film.

Thanks for that, I’m hoping to try a demo before making a final decision. From what I have read the Stache 7 seems to be very close to what I’m looking for.

For the last six years I have been riding Trek Superfly 8s. I now want something a bit easier on my back, would a Stache 7 be suitable?
What would be the main differences I would notice between the Stache and the Superfly?
I mainly ride Cannock Chase, Llandegla, Coed Brenin, Marin and and Penmachno.

Usually buy boxes of white wine from English vineyards such as Biddenden or Chilford Hall and red wine from a supermarket close to the centre of Calais on a once a year trip. Usually go for the the medallion winning wines that are on special offer. Wines in this country that would be £10-£15 work out about £3-£5.