To be fair, last time Legoland was discussed on STW, loads of people said they loved it, so if you asked the same question on a different day, you’d get a totally different slant. :-)

Still think it was horrible though!

Been to Billund and Windsor (Billund before kids, I was working out there), Windsor last year. The lego hotel was very expensive in Billund, and very little in the town after 9:00pm (or at anytime really). Legoland was nice though.

Windsor was just horrible, it’s not a fun park…it’s a queue with wasps. The queue to hire the gadget to jump the queue would have taken a half day to get. You spend a hour queing for a ride which is lacklusture and over in 3 minutes….then join the next queue. An overpriced hellhole…the only saving grace was that it was so horrible the kids didn’t want to go back.

It’s the best warranty for TV’s….within 90 days you just take it back, no questions asked. Full refund given. I did this a few years ago, it’s great, esp if your worried about back light bleed on LCD TV’s, which can vary from sample to sample. Take a lot of stress off, knowing that you can just return it.

They don’t mess about, and if you use them a lot, they really look after you (friend had a laptop that broke out of warranty, he took it back, they looked at his returns history to check he’s not an abuser of the system and gave him a full refund.)

Workshop stuff can be good, and it’s an interesting place to look round, as their stock is different to most UK retailers. I don’t think it’s that cheap though, but I still like it.

in this case, 90% = 0%

Would it be appropriate for my lad (7 year old)?

It looks great.

…I think your trolling!

I really do despise Huhne. Whilst most peoples view is that the speeding fine wasn’t significant, I think Coyote sums it up pretty well in his post above. All the drivers I know who have 9 points have got them because they repeatedly drive like ****. It’s not they they are unlucky, it’s that time and time they drive dangerously with no consideration to others.

If you get to 9 points and you carry on driving like a bellend, that shows a clear arrogance that you think it’s OK for you to to drive like that. Doesn’t do his environmental credentials much good either.

Engineering rates in the contracting market have increased very significantly in the last two years. Staff engineers are generally poorly paid and treated as an ‘overhead’. Companies are pretty short sighted, so for staff, there is generally not much training on offer, and a lot of shit for not much money.

Companies are now desparate to get projects implemented, so pay highly for contractors with experience…they don’t want to increase staff rates, as they have to do it across the company.

As I see it, there is a big shortage of decent engineers due to companies shortsightedness, so you have to position yourself to take advantage.

As John says, if your playing upstairs, it’s the kick drum pedal which generates the most noise. The kit looks good for the money, but based on my experience with Roland kits, unless your into 80’s power ballards, I would be looking to use it with a computer running a sample library, like BFD or Superior Drummer to generate the sound. The inbuilt Roland sounds were horrible.

I dunno how much Roland’s kit’s are s/h these days, but there is an advantage that they have a really big installed base, so if you get problems or your looking to expand, there are plenty of people who can help.

Are United bad? I flew with them and they were OK (although the planes were old) , but lot’s of people have suggested they aren’t great. Is it best to avoid them?

OK CHF, next time i’m gonna storm the top deck with an ass full ‘o gas ;-)

Coach Class fights back!

I looked at CIC cover a few years ago, and compared the list of the conditions of two policies covered side by side. The some of the omissions when comparing the two were alarming. I read of some horror stories of companies weasling out of payments and decided against it.

I hope they pay out, it sould be quite easy to work out from reading your policy if your covered? They are fairly specific about the conditions which are.

I’m surprised you can smell anything up there.

It’s a nice thought, but alas…they really did stink.

Guitar Mart is free and OK. Music Radar registration has been broken for months now :-(

You need to start reading the Mail…I’m sure they will be predicting the worst storms in 50 years.

Thanks for the suggestions….hill walking and biking sounds like a good plan…It would be nice to feel some sunshine ;-)

Nick Macabe is really underrated IMHO, very tastful and always a little bit different. The drummer is really good too. Shame Fourth was soooo bad.

As I logged on the forum the order of topic’s read

Different names for poo…?

Chris Huhne

I really can’t fault the wisdom of STW ;-)

My understanding is anybody who had a CTF can’t use Junior ISA’s :roll: The pension idea is a good one, although it’s a long way off till you get at the money. Personally, if you can’t get Junior ISA’s I’d put it in a share ISA in your name.

I’d recommend riding to the house on a bike, rather than driving…you pick up a lot more vibe from of the area. I met our neighbours to by by riding round and introducing myself. They seemed plesant….just goes to show first impressions arent always right ;-)

I’ve not been to Nicks in ages, but last time I went, you had to book a week or so in advance.

+2 for Nicks

My dad got a Vax one from Amazon (c.£30), not very powerful, but nice and light. We bought a Dyson (c. £150), it weighs a ton, the battery life is cack (6mins), and the battery has only lasted 2 and a bit years (£50 to replace).

I’m seriously thinking that a brush and dust pan is the future.

Nickjb – It might be worth looking at putting the money in Share ISA’s. The banks are cutting ISA interest rates going forward, so putting money in cash ISA’s is slowly wasting away. If you invest with a tiny bit of sense, you should easily outperform the banks interest rates. Banks are taking the piss at the moment.

SIPP from Hargreaves Lansdown. Easy to set up, great to deal with over the phone, you don’t neeed and IFA, costs appear to be low with lot’s of control over what you invest in. Simple internet login to make trades.

I’ve had a pension for the last 6 years with a typical pension provider, and TBH, it’s been hopeless. The returns have been so poor, that it’s detered me from investing in it. At least with the HL pension, I bear the responsibility if it goes bad. So far (based on investments picked in a lunch hour) it’s done a million times better than the previous pension.

Did I mention you don’t have to involve an IFA?

If you can find a decent drummer to jam with (or failing that, jamming with some type of machine / samples), bass is fantastic. As a solo instrument, i’m not that keen. The thing that makes bass cool is providing the foundations, and if there’s nothing on top, it’s a bit pointless.

Taxi Driver

La Haine

For a kids film, I can’t get bored with Despicable Me.

Rich Hall / Bernard Manning. Do I need to say which is which?

About what?

..the fact that the audio performance is not very good for the money? It’s a lifestyle product sold to impressionable men.

There is no difference between studio and home in terms of what is being asked. Quality is quality.

The last phone call I ever made to a hifi dealer (probably the best respected Naim dealer in the East Midlands). I swear on the life of my kids this is how it went….

Me: Do you stock Lavry DAC’s?
Them: No, we used to, but we didn’t make enough margin on them to justify the hassle of importing them
Me: OK, Thanks. Were they any good?
Them: Yes, a couple of they guys who work here replaced their Naim CD5(??) with them. They thought they were great.
Me: Isn’t the Naim CD(???) expensive.
Them: Yes, they are 10 grand.
Me: OK thanks. Goodbye

Why the dealer chose to be so candid, I’ll never know. I’d spent a lot of money there, and he’s admitted that something that costs 10k can be replaced with something sounds better and costs a grand. (Even more, as you don’t need a preamp + PSU + PSU, so that’s more gear that got sold).
I went ahead and bought the DAC, and you know what, it wiped the floor with my high end British CD player. About that time, I bought a pair of decent Active monitors. Job done. Never thought about upgrading since.
I know a lot of people who rate Naim gear, but I don’t know anyone who rates it who has listened with an open mind at the alternatives. The almost total lack of penetration into studios by hifi manufacturers speaks volumes.

Even with nearfield monitoring, the room has a massive impact, and that’s another reason for my distain at the UK hifi industry. The dealers have very little (or no) knowledge of acoustic room treatment. They are happy to sell a stand or interconnects for £2k which make next to no difference, but they have no idea how to treat a room.

I wanted to upgrade my speakers after investing in NAIM CD/PREAMP/POWERAMP/PSU’s

Hook, line and sinker ;-)

is a reason for this and it’s not just marketing…

No, it’s profitering, from gullible middle aged men.

I couldn’t agree less with anything you’ve posted. Decent monitors are not harsh, quite the opposite. I’ve done the full bullshit hifi thing and heard some Linn/Naim systems which are so bright they are unlistenable.

The worst part of it is that the hifi companies will sell an upgraded CD player / amp / PSU to help cure the harshness, in what basically something designed badly :-(

I was with them….the worst company I ever delt with. 18months to get a smart meter fitted, then still no accurate billing for nearly a year after that….dispite them being able to see my usage online :-( They sent maybe 30 bills during the period, one week i’d owe them £500, then they’d owe me £700, then I’d get 5 bills for £30… then another for £800.

A total nighmare.

I left, as it was the only way to get them sort out a bill. The meter they fitted wont work with any other provider. I’d avoid like the plague.

I’d second a lot of the opinons expressed above. I have a pair of Adam A7’s I use in the studio, they are really nice if you don’t need loads of level / low end. There are tons of nice active speakers about, some of which look a fair bit more domestically acceptable than the Adam’s. Klien and Hummel, PMC, ATC, Focal, AVI, Acoustic Energy (AE22 Active’s)…there are loads of nice speakers which offer far better value for money than ‘hifi’ speakers.

Sound on Sound classifieds, pink fish media or ebay are good places to find s/h gear. If you buy s/h, it’s well within your budget to get something which will sound really good, and will retain a lot (if not all) of it’s value after many years of making music.

That’s heading south though?

Sorry, I don’t really know town that well, If it’s the towpath which goes past the Forest ground, it should be fine…just don’t veer off right as you go out of town ;-)

…st. anns, Radford, Basford

Out towards Beeston or West Bridgford? Avoid Clifton, Meadows, Snenton, Hyson Green, Bestwood, Broxtowe…

“But it just FEELS so nice”.. wtf, it’s a camera not a blowjob.

Dunno, people can choose what they like, they don’t have to justify it to anybody. It’s a creative hobby, it would be pretty sad if eveyone used the same tools.

If someone want’s to use a camera becase they like the feel, or even the colour of the backlghting on the buttons, it’s up to them. At least they didn’t choose it because they read their opinion on an internet forum.