Interesting how strong the opnions are on here, as someone without kids i dont quite ‘get’ the fuss being made. I suspect having kids changes your mind pretty quick though!

This I agree with. Its clearly not a fantastic plan to be always leaving your small children alone, but ‘serious neglect’… really?

The world is not as bad a place as people seem to believe, the chances of something bad happening to those safely tucked up in bed asleep kids is tiny.
I was left (with my brothers, we are all very close in age) in the house with no adults on occasion at around that age, and we had house keys of our own to let ourselves in after school while still at primary school.
Nothing bad happened, and nothing bad happened to any of my friends who were in similar situations.

Feel free to flame, but for ‘winter bimbling’ if you are already a competent summer walker with good naviagation then you probably don’t need a course.
As has been said, read some books on technique and then get out yourself and work up in terms of difficulty of your days.
Start on days with good weather and on routes you’ve done before without the snow and work up to wandering the Cairngorm plateau in a whiteout on the way to The Zeros.

Locked? They dont lock the carparks afaik… we’ve always driven in and out at whatever times we fancy.

You can also try The Climbing Academy for a bit of bouldering… less faffing about with ropes, cheap for really young children (free at certain times of day I do believe) and they all seem to love the idea of the whole floor being made up of big crash mats.

As to my reference back there to 2009 it was intended to illustrate the time period, from September 2009 until now, that England was fighting alone

Britain and England are not synonyms.

Loeka seems to have a good rep… they’re usually got a range of colours and tend to actually fit properly. Bit pricey though at RRP.

IMO if they’re old enough to ask for it then they’re old enough to get it done.

I think I was 8 or 9 when I first asked for my ears to be pierced.

Please for the love of… just about everything… find something better for your daughter to read.

The relationships between the characters in those books are just not healthy. There are several occasions at least where the main male character physically prevents the girl from going to see another friend that he doesn’t approve of.
He has her spied on by a member of his family.
When they eventually get married and sleep together she ends up covered in bruises because he is so much stronger than her and apparently can’t control himself.
There’s a load of other stuff that I really cant be bothered listing, but it’s all done because he ‘loves her so much’.
It’s fair to say that this style of ‘romance’ isn’t something we should be allowing young girls to think of as something to aspire to.

She’ll most likely get hold of a copy from school friends anyway though, you probably have little chance of stopping her from reading the books even if you want to.

My parents told my brother at the age of 6 that Santa isn’t real and that really it’s Dad bringing the presents… the first thing he did was to ask how Dad manages to get round the whole world in one night.
The second thing he did was to inform the rest of us (ages 3 and 4) that there’s no Santa.

None of us were bothered, and it was fun having the whole family in on the secret and pretending to believe. We still get presents from ‘Santa’ now.

One of these?

I have the 4 person version… they are cosy if you put the number of people they say will fit into them.

Alpkit, who had NEVER had their down jackets in stock.

I have two. 😆

From what I’ve seen of the sport in the UK, the rules are slightly different… no punching for a start, and the penalty for rule breaking is time in the sinbin rather than a pillow fight. Fewer lecherous old men in the audience.
The ladies that play all seem to be really good at baking cakes too!

If the potentially-future-Mr-Lizzz is reading…

Try it and you die.

Tell them there are no good options, then they wont be disappointed upon leaving Uni to discover that everyone has been lying to them about job opportunities for years.

I’d have a look in the rear view, if it were clear, I’d wave them out because it’s the nice thing to do.

This is what I don’t understand. If the road behind is clear, why stop to let them out… you’d be faster to complete your maneuver and just get out of their way? No?

I do let people out of junctions if it’s busy though… not so sure on ones where there is a filter lane for the right turn though.

Outdoorsy job here, and still love the wet and muddy epics as much as anything else.

In my experience, people who work outside tend to become desensitised to the weather to a certain extent… accept it as a part of life and just get on with things, rather than being so bothered by it that they hide indoors when things look a bit damp on a day/evening off.

I used to shout at the news channel. Mostly for not having any actual news. I had to stop watching when they kept insisting on interviewing random people on the street for opinions instead of going to experts.
They had (still have?) reporters with no real understanding of whatever was going on interviewing members of the general public who have to real understanding either!! HOW IS THAT USEFUL TO ANYONE?!

Cheese and jam. Tasty!

No, because Pendleton is female… Wiggins is still the most hated man! :p

Try http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/2012/live-video/p00w2zws if Iplayer isn’t working.

I’m most like someone from Senegal apparently, and if everyone in the world had the same body fat as me, it would remove 25,522,372 tonnes from the total weight of the world’s population.

The really scary thing is that I wouldn’t say I’m particularly slim… there’s a definite belly and I’ve still got less body fat than 79% of the others in my age range in this country!

Well if it’s any further help… I’m 5’2 with 29″ legs, but really to get the sizing right she’s probably just going to have to go and sit on a few! Mens, womens… just try anything in the correct colour. 😀

Unless she’s really short… and I’m 5’2 and still would have managed on a small mens bike… you shouldn’t have a problem getting a ‘mens’ bike to fit, but I bought the female version because it was better looking which may be a consideration!

Never had a problem with my Specialized but I’m thinking about selling it because I just don’t ride it enough though.
If you’re interested in a 51cm Specialized Dolce Sport (2011… the pretty red one!) in v.good condition give me a shout.

St Andrews too far?

There’s a beech, castle, swimming pool, aquarium, and an awesome ice-cream shop all accessible without a car once you’re there, and other stuff locally you can drive to… theres a country park with an adventure playground and a wee railway. Spent many happy summers in that area as a kid. 🙂

Regardless of who should be giving way, I think it’s irresponsible to be either riding off the path, or forcing others over the edges of the path. If there’s not comfortably space for both (and there isn’t on this particular path in places), the bike shouldn’t be there.

A sunny bank holiday is not the time to be riding the pony track on Ben Nevis tbh, although I can see why you would if you didn’t know just how busy it gets.
Actually, no I can’t… there are much better places to go in that area!

edit- Too slow, discussion seems to have moved on. Ermm. YAY for football and odd youtube videos.

Good stuff, a couple of mine are falling apart… time to replace those rather than tape them back together again! 🙂

Loeka if you’re wanting baggy shorts and not padded liner type ones.

Liz (my name… obviously) is just a little bit boring, so I went with a few extra z’s to make me so much more interesting.

If it’s torn or hurting then you’re doing it wrong. You can use vit-e oil as a lubricant to help put the next size up of jewellery in, but that’s all it’s really good for.

Can’t do the fri/sat but happy to help out if you could use people just for the sunday?

Full face helmet wouldn’t be out of place IMO … there was still snow on the top section a few days ago so if nothing else it’ll keep your ears warm.

It’s a hamster. Definitely a hamster. Feed it broccoli, they like that.

It’s because people will pay. Stuff wouldn’t be on sale for silly prices if there wasn’t people willing to buy it despite the cost.

When in a similar situation but on a slightly lower wage, I was paying £200 a month… and doing my share of the cooking/cleaning, my own laundry etc.

I always thought £200 was low considering how much more it costs to rent a flat but parents wouldn’t take more.

Are you sure it’s punctured? 😆

Finally, the clock in my car that I didn’t ever quite get around to moving back an hour will be correct again!

Make or break is pretty good, and spits you out right at the top of caddon bank. 🙂

Kitchen sink. It’s a fair size of bag!

£48.16 plus the 12 euro cents and US quarter.

Write out a set of relevant questions and answers, turn over the answers so you can’t see them. Now try answer the questions without peeking at the answers.
Then go away for a cup of tea, and come back and try again to see if you can do it having had a break away from the subject.

I believe thay “all” do now but a little old lady in her 1993 polo is my target demographic

Hey, now that’s unfair! 😆