Ok, my go at this:

Water = H2O

Air = N2 and O2 plus other bits

Water is therefore lighter than air and would, without a force operating on it be a gas.  As others have said the hydrogen forms weak bonds that generally hold everything together.  However not all bonds are equal and a small increase in energy going in to the liquid (sunlight ambient, temperature, ground being warmer below the surface) can give so me molecules enough energy to break that bond and evaporate.  In the open air this molecule is lighter than the air around it and it rises.  As it goes up the temperature drops and if the molecule touches other molecules and they start to form a vapour.  That is a loose collection of molecules that we see as clouds or mist.

This is the sort of “lies to children” concept that Terry Pritchett used that means that we simplify complex things in to stories that aren’t quite right, but you get the idea.  The more complex explainations (which this may be depending on your audience) mean you loose people and they don’t get the concept, let alone the mechanisms.

A bit of perspective is needed here.  There are a lot of idiots on public roads who drive and ride in the most selfish possible way and kill themselves and a lot of innocent bystanders as well.  The TT is a closed road circuit that those with proven skill and expertise can challenge themselves whilst those that barely comprehend look on.

We don’t have the same qualms about mountaineering, or climbing, yet there isn’t the same degree of collective hand wringing about either of those sports. One mountain, Everest, has an annual death toll of 5-10 people a year and that is also a commercial, licensed money making activity.

The people that do the TT love it.  They know the risks and so do we, yet still they go and we watch.  Nobody is making them do it and just because you wouldn’t and would prefer them not to is not a reason to stop it.  If we collectively stop going, or the racers all decide not to go then it will stop.  Until then it is one of those events that is unique and have to be experienced in person to really understand the mentality.  I for one am glad it still exists, in a  world that often seeks to limit such activities.

update when I can get an image to load………

If you read the article on an non individual scale then it makes sense.  It is not saying you have a pet therefore you are a bad person, but there is more going on here that deserves looking at.  My take on it is that it has gone away from being domesticated by dogs, or the other way around we aren’t quite sure, to the benefit of both to most of the benefit being for the human.  There are plenty of exceptions, but there any many times that people get a pet to help with something missing in their lives that potentially used to be filled with people.

As a highly social species when we stop living in social groups and become isolated then pets have often filled the gap.  If the level of pet ownership has increased so much then it is good to ask the question about how we are functioning and why people get pets.

As usual people have taken the article personally rather than looking at the population level question being raised and critically analysing their own situation in light of the different perspective.

For full disclosure I keep chickens, that mostly feed themselves and I provide some shelter (when they deign to use it). The local fox takes a few occasionally and I get a few eggs.  I also used to have rabbits when my oldest had mental health issues, but as they got better we both felt they were not getting the life and attention we wanted for them, so they now have a large garden to roam in and two more children looking out for them.

Good on link to resources for test comparison and more information:

Autism resources

If you want to do me on here I can probably put you on to a few things, especially how you can help your employer and co workers.

For others I will just give an example of how telling somebody about your Autism changed a relationship for the better: a good friend of ours started dating a guy, who just didn’t seem to trust us and was always looking sideways in social interactions. She happened to mention that he was autistic and everything just clicked. When I got the chance to talk one on one over a bit of diy he was doing I mentioned that his gf had mentioned his autism and shared what the situation was in our family. You could see his shoulders relax and he breathed a deep sigh. He said he was so relieved that he didn’t have to explain why he was like he was. In fact we ended up getting on really well and the fact that we knew to give him space and not always to expect social interaction led to a bit more of a friendship than just a nodding acquaintance.

It is actually more about trust and understanding that you may not act in a “normal” way. If you trust someone not to take offence because you can’t look at them or don’t always want to stop and chat (or even chat at all). It is often said that people should be able to change what they do to fit in, but it isn’t really that. What this means to someone who is neurodiverse is that they have to lie about how they feel, or who they are. That isn’t healthy, and the converse is that you have to just not take offence if someone doesn’t act just like you.

The key to this is that if you are working, or live, with people who understand neurodiversity then the fact that you know, or suspect, your diagnosis can bring them a lightbulb moment. It can then explain a lot of the ways that you and they interact. The very fact that now understand what is going on means that the prism through which the world is viewed switched to an ASD one (or other neurodiversity) means that a whole lot of pressures get lifted.

I am crap at explaining this, but my wife and I came to the same conclusion about her ASD after years of us helping our kids out going through various diagnoses for them. It was quite literally eye opening. It just explained pressure points in our relationship and lots of little things clicked in to place.

Once you do it in one situation you then see it all over the place. A neourotypical world is set up to push back against those that think differently and it can lead to all sorts of issues. The more I learn the more I am able to help both my kids and people at work, as well as figuring out why I do the things I do. You have to have a bit of luck in the workplace, as I have (scientific based with a lot of people that once you start talking about it have a whole range of diversity which helps in their job, not not necessarily in the wider world).

Here are some questions to ask:
1) will telling key people in your life about what you suspect help you both? It can be about learning, or changing how you interact, to achieve a better outcome. Alternatively you find that they don’t change and want you to alter who you are so allows you to assess the situation in light of the new understanding of how you operate.
2) has gaslighting of you occurred that you can now see is now not your fault, but due to the fact that you’d didn’t realise the ASD made you act in a certain way? It can cause a multitude of things that keep going “wrong” and you can start to look at that.
3) could talking to someone with the right skills to help you figure out what you need in your life to keep things in check and help things work better.

Sorry, a bit of a ramble, but living in an ASD dominated home has given me a few things that have worked for my family.

Heating still off. I have a log burner on the go most of the time and a pretty consistent 17 degrees through the day. I cut and sort all of my own wood, but as we are an end terrace 1900 build I reckon we are as low as you can go. The gas is sitting at about £80 pm so not doing too badly.

George Michael’s cover of New Order’s True Faith. He’s sucked the life out of that tune by turning it in to an auto tuned dirge

True faith<

I love doing this one. I did it last year and it was brilliant as we finished in the velodrome ahead of the women’s race and sat on the TV2 stand to watch. We then did a recovery ride the next day and took in a couple of pave sections of the mens race, including watch Dylan vB ride away to win.

Excellent organisation, not expensive to enter and you get to watch my favourite race of the year.

As others have said the 170km route is one way so there is a fair bit of logistics to sort and a very early start, but worth it to do all of the pave secteurs. Otherwise the longer circular route starts you off on Arenberg which I loved. We did a few training rides on it with the FDJ and Quickstep riders and it was great to just try and keep up. After that the other bits are definitely less brutal, but make sure to do some shakedown rides to test your bike out. I did it over here by riding farm tracks and bidleways with tractor tyre prints in them to shake anything loose before I went over. The sweet spot for tyre is over 30mm if the frame can take it, but don’t go full gravel as there is a lot of tarmac to get over as well as the cobbles.

Anyway, do it. Definitely worth a trip and I think it is better than Flanders as you don’t get stuck on the route.

Anything above 700 isn’t practical for some of the tracks I ride. My riding buddy can’t get through some of the gaps on our routes without clipping various bits of scenery ( both growing and track furniture). I don’t find wider bars work for me either, but that is just me. There isn’t a right or wrong here as I have an old hard tail with 580s on which feels a bit weird, but you get used to it.

Dont worry about the rain. The chalk will suck it up and the only difference will be the amount of dust you kick up. I had a run out on the Winchester end this morning and it soo warmed up so. We came back down and cooled off in the river 😎

The PSA was ok, but if you use a folding saw then it is also a PSA to say what lasts, is repairable and will work for a long time. We need to get past making cheap disposable crap in society as it is not sustainable. Btw silky saws are not all massively expensive the one on the link is £32.
Silky

First thing is to get your son some help. He can’t be the one left holding this. You can only do so much, but pointing him in some of the directions above will be the first step. That will allow him to see what is actually going on, and where/how much he can help.

You can also help by doing some of this with him, not for him. It is important to be a parent and an ally, but neither of you can “fix” this. You can both offer help, but the gf is the one with the ability to help herself, or ask for help, even if she is not in a place to see that.

Been in a similar situation and looking after myself first was the only way I then offer help.

Another vote for Borrow Box from the local library. It’s free and there is an astounding range on there, kind of just like the library. You already pay for this service, so why pay somebody again for the same thing?

Slight highjack, but you don’t fancy some Sony wf-sp800n for £50 do you? I bought them and just preferred my AirPods so they are pretty much new. Otherwise they will be in the classifieds.

TT now have live coverage. It is a one off payment (£15) and has been worth every penny.

TT live

I know the arguments about safety and how fast they are going, but this is riders wanting to do this. They know the risks and yet still want to do it. There is a whole circuit of RR races it is just that the TT is the biggest and we focus our ire on that. For a cycling context look at going downhill on the road in the mountains: zero run off, perilous drops little or no protection. Forget about pro races, and look at the amount of amateurs doing it. I still do it and overtake cars and motorbikes on the way down because I love it. I stopped riding the motorbike, but still doing stupid things on a road bike. The only difference for me was that on the motorbike the interface with other road users was the biggest danger, but it was less so on the road bike. See, it makes no sense.

The only thing is you don’t have to watch or support it, but it does bring a lot to those that want to do it and are good at it. At least they are not on the same machines on the road with you and the kids?

Carried a leatherman in to the Home Office and had all kit scanned. The thing they got really exited about was the watercolour paint box that looked like a segmented case of explosives (possibly). Not one jot cared about the multi tool as I had it in with all the other bike bits. Interestingly the Brompton was not allowed as it could not be scanned.

Definitely not a slang word. It’s original meaning is Middle English it is just the modern idiom that you may be objecting to?

If you access a river like the Avon you could paddle, but you will quickly find that you will have to get out and get round obstructions. In doing that you will not be on public land and will be trespassing. If you can please go and find somewhere with public access and egress, otherwise be prepared for some robust conversations with landowners.

I’m nearly at 30 years for the same employer and I get a pat on the back and a couple of hundred quid. Not jealous. Not jealous at all!

It depends on the size of battery that you want to charge. It also depends on your battery usage. I take it that it means you want to keep it topped up ready for occasional use, but let me know what the usage is. The bottom line is that assuming you are using a 110Ah leisure battery and want to keep it topped up then even a sub optimal 150W panel will keep it topped up.

Just for example I am charging 220 Ah batteries 240W array under trees with no direct sunlight on a flat roof. That is not ideal, but on another site I kept 3 x 55Ah batteries charged on 150W panel with continuous use (admittedly low 10s Watts use but 24/7). The site was ideal, but I would have problems in late Dec to Jan if the weather was overcast and raining during that time and no recharge occurred. I had to double to panels and split the power use to get it through that time for our use.

Ok, as said previously wait until you have got reasonable light levels, disconnect the panel and check the open circuit voltage. If it is still at 10-11v then I would suspect there is a fault on the panel. From recent experience the panels rarely fail, but the circuit connections from the panel to the wiring can be very dodgy. If you get water ingress in to the connection on the panel you will have corrosion and potential shorting/leakage and a decrease in voltage. Depending how old the panel is it may be under warranty, but if not you can still repair it.
I have spent a lot of this winter repairing and replacing panels on our sites for this reason. A couple of photos would be useful especially of the panels.

Sorry I missed that. I have literally just got Zwift and a new wahoo, so enjoying (sort of) getting back to proper training not just sloshing sideways through the mud. Next week same time?

Exactly the same here so got on the turbo and what little motivation I had went south. I was talking to my wife about this and she asked how old the turbo was. When I worked it out it was 40 years old so I started looking at new ones. She basically told me to get a new smart trainer rather than mope around and what a difference! Actually feels like riding, is so quiet I can be in the same room as somebody else and no cleaning of the bike required at the end. Somehow it now gets me back out in the mud on the bike when I can, but I can keep the fitness and motivation when I don’t feel like it.

Can’t find any 2.6 by Maxxis shop has 2.5 if that is any use?

Mountain

It sounds like the nutsert was not installed correctly. They rely on being tight against the material to work so usually need reinstalling to fix it. Without seeing it I am guessing slightly. The replacements are quite cheap, but the tool is a bit more expensive and you will probably have to drill out the old one. Pics will help though.

Ok technical update from me. Although we have had a wet May so far (110% of the average rain already for the month) the soil moisture deficit is still at 50mm. What that means is that the ground is still able to tKe up the rain and while you will see local patches of gloop the tracks will dry up between bands of rain.

I live on the Winchester end and most of my rides go via Cheesfoot head and the tracks are in relatively good shape. I can’t speak for anything past Beacon Hill so I will let others report on that.

As for the forecast it looks quite cool (12 deg) with the odd shower clearing in the afternoon. Wind will mostly be westerly the whole day at 10mph with gusts of 20mph so just about ideal for Winch to Eastbourne.

All in all it would be a go for me. If you are starting about 7 I may see you on the first bit.

What is lacking here is cultural intelligence. If you trust each other then you can ask “Did I say something wrong there?” rather than imposing your own cultural view on to a situation. If you react in a way that is characterised by “That’s not what we do here” then you are going to get in to conflict.

When you work with different cultures then you both have to learn what is considered normal on both sides and then apply that to the situation. A challenge can still be made, but as long as there is trust and understanding then checking somebody who had been inappropriate is a lot easier than taking offence at something where there was no attempt to do so.

A lot of times when we are dealing with situations in our own language when the other person is using their second language this situation is amplified. This can be worse for native English speakers who make assumptions all the time about nuanced phrases that can be taken so many ways. You never lose out just checking your own actions first as the other party sees you are trying to understand, but if you call somebody out for “being Dutch” almost all the time you are starting from the weaker position and have probably not understood something right. The further you get away from your own culture the worse this misunderstanding can get.

The bottom line is not to take offence, use it as a starting point for a conversation where both parties learn how each other communicates.

Tiernan-Lock got done for the blood passport before he joined and then had his contract annulled due to being done for doping.

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Rats use latrine areas. Mice are incontinent so are more of a risk with that form of disease spreading. Cats on the other hand are just selfish b*****ds.

I still have all my 26 bikes as they have not worn out yet. I love my Whyte e-120 and have no reason to get rid of it. It weighs naff all and still has enough bounce for me. In fact I have an original Turner Burner that I take to the Alps each year and have so much fun on it, especially with an uppy downy post on, that I cannot find a reason to buy a new bike.

GP5000 tubeless here as well. Rode them on last year’s Paris Roubaix and they were superb. The tubeless works so well (dedicated Shimano wheels so no ghetto) and is noticeably faster and smoother than the Hutchinson 25s that they replaced. I had never thought that they would roll better and faster , but they were a revelation.

One inconvenient truth now being spoken about is that we will have to abandon areas of development (infrastructure, housing and industry) where it is no longer financially sustainable to keep defending it. It will mean innovative solutions to infrastructure that are not being used in this country yet.

We also have to face the fact just because the sort of maintenance has always been done we cannot afford to keep doing it. That is both a financial and ecological cost. Before humans thought that they could control everything a balance was maintained in these dynamic systems and habitats, rivers, wetlands, etc. moved around the landscape. Humans now want to stay still, not move and guess what? Nature does not work like that. On a small island with cramped infrastructure we have relied on a relatively stable climate to keep this status quo (even this is not the case as we keep building stuff and changing agricultural practices). Now that we have a more dynamic climate (to put it mildly) we are reaping what we have sown.

I really do think that you can’t blame any one organisation/sector/government, but we can at least stop making decisions solely on business grounds and start to use sustainable practices and try and take some better long term decisions.

I ended up on hope for a gxp xx chain set. The cheap bbs lasted weeks (in one case one ride!)and I ended up with the hope one that it is now 4 years old. I was so impressed that I now have them on all my bikes and not only do they last, they are user serviceable and not just a disposable item.

A mate used to be the importer for Fat Chance so rode them all. I could never afford them though, but I still love them.

Definitely need a like button

Gnusmas,

I have started writing this several times and I know you have gone through hell and sometimes it feels like it never ends. I am currently in the middle of something similar that involves teenage mental health and while I can’t offer any solutions I have a few suggestions:
1 CAMHS are great, but overwhelmed. Get him on the waiting list, but don’t pin your hopes on it. You can do this with a docs appointment and referral. The suicidal thoughts are key here, but a note of caution in how you express it can be a trigger for him, so make sure you figure out how to talk to the doctor about that (possibly him not there). You tend only to get fast tracked on to CAMHS if suicide attempt actually occurs, or other life threatening health issues such as self harm/eating disorders. I hope it never comes to that.
2 A lot of what you are saying about his behaviour can be complex as you have the teenager bits mixed up with some obvious mental health possibilities. My daughter just withdrew more and more and stopped socialising, which we now see was linked to a lack of self worth, anxiety, depression and lots of other things. You are also being pushed away mentally and physically, which is a deliberate isolation strategy, which we had and we have had to try different strategies to communicate. Now we can text if things are really rough, even if we are in the same room and cannot communicate any other way. Text to voice was also a way of talking/not talking, but it has been ruined as it is too reminiscent of Lost Voice Guy. We have even had emails to us (some of the he key breakthroughs have been through that, but it does tend to be one way). You just have to find a small way of getting through and then keep trying.
3 This may be a breakdown of trust where your son feels everybody is untrustworthy and you have to find some way of building that back up. If there is anything that you do together, especially if you don’t have to talk, you just do then that can be the start. We also ended up getting a low maintenance pet, a rabbit in our case, as my daughter was housebound and the rabbit was outside. It provided a trigger to be able to experiment with getting out of the door. It also gave a focus and a cuddle that was not human that calmed the mood down, or changed the focus.

Above all it all takes time and energy. I know I just have to keep being thankful for each day and being able to start afresh each morning. That gives me just about enough to get through, but you need your support network as well. If it isn’t there then keep using this place if ever you need. I am constantly amazed how this disparate but of bike enthusiasts can pull together when we really need them to. If you ever want to chat off line then DM me.

Andy

A double double link. How appropriate 😀