As TooTall says the Advanced part of Advanced Open Water is referring to more advanced training rather than the absolute basics you did for open water. I would recomend it as the basic level of training to start building your experience from and do it straight after OW. You could get the AOW manual from a local dive centre and start working through the course materials and knowledge reviews just to see what it is all about. Maybe enquire if they have a regular pool night so that you can practise your core skills over the winter. Do not be tempted to go open water diving in the UK in the winter in a wet suit. It could put you off diving for life. In the winter you need a dry suit, the relevant training and a frame of reference out side of a few dives in Thailand.
As for my “tact” it comes from years of running live-aboard trips with varied and interesting people ;-)

zokes
It’s not just the money thing though. You have to download zipped files to access the music so there are also virus and id theft issues if the site is not kosher.
PrinceJohn
You may well be right and that bothers me a lot. What also bothers me is the cost of downloaded music seems to be out of proportion with that of a retail store bought CD. Amazon and iTunes charge almost the same to download as you can buy physical media from a local shop. To get the CD to the store involves a supply chain with manufacture, packaging, transport and margin costs along the way.

One of Thatchers better ideas was the Right To Buy scheme. The major flaw in it was that money raised was not ring fenced to build more social housing. If it had been then there would be less of a shortage of housing stock now.
The idea behind RTB was to give the pride of ownership to lower income families and actually improve those “sink” estates. Think of it like this. You rent a bike for 30 quid a day and you don’t give a toss about it. You buy a bike and you can’t stop polishing it. The pride of ownership is a good thing.
Before any one jumps on their high horse, yes there are millions of tenants that do care about their properties. Especially those earning more than a 100k and sub letting their council pad in Pimlico!

The sea temp in Egypt does vary through the year. It starts to cool in November and then heats up again in April. 21 degrees is not unusual in Jan/Feb and the surface winds make that feel colder between dives. Generally the further south you go, the warmer it stays. Do a bit of research on the area you want to visit.
The OP is at the less experienced end and I would recomend doing the Advanced Open Water course as part of the next trip. This course is more about actual diving and expanding your experience than exams.You can pick areas that you find interesting eg Underwater Naturlist or Photography.
Most liveaboards insist on AOW so shore based may be more suitable. Dahab is a really chilled place but as with most of Egypt choc full of crazy Russians. It has some great shore diving and would be a good spot to build up your experience.
Maybe head over to Yorkshire Divers forum for some unbiased reviews?

I know you will be on super high alert and a bit paranoid for a while but it does sound like they were disturbed before they could nick any thing. They have habit of sticking to the same area until caught as I found out a few years back. We were done and then I found that 4 other near by properties were done in the 7 days prior to ours.
You almost had to admire the thieving scum as they broke in through the back and then put the security chain on the inside of the front door. That gave them enough time to do a runner when I opened the front door and was blocked by my own “security device”. By the time I got round the back they were long gone with, amongst a good van load of stuff, a 32″ CRT telly than weighed a ton and took at least two people to man handle. Thinking back, maybe it was a good thing I didn’t catch them and I’m thinking of my safety, not their’s.
No, I don’t have a security chain on my door any more and yes I did install an alarm and generally beef up security.
Keep ’em peeled.

If you enjoy currents and varied marine life, especially Manta Rays, then I would recomend the Malives. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&list=ULvzrNFewpbgs&v=vzrNFewpbgs I should point out that I work out there and may be a little biased ;-)
Egypt is generally a good all year round choice and good VFM. The Phillipines has some good diving but is a huge area so you need to travel around. If you want a trip of a life time go to the Galapagos but make sure you go on a liveaboard that goes to Wolf and Darwin.
If you are in to little stuff then Lembeh is the must do destination see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nyj6kYsL9WY&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Just started raining hard in Sarf Lonnon innit.

I’m 5’7″ with a 30″ inside leg and have a 2011 model 16″ frame. I run a 70mm stem and 695mm bars. The 17″ is the same as the 18″ other than 20mm in Standover and 6mm in the Top Tube.
See http://www.orangebikes.co.uk/bikes/five_s/
for full sizing spec.

Just got back from a 20 mile loop around Surrey Hills. Very boggy in places compared to Wednesdays ride. Then had a “bonus” 5 mile road ride when my cheeky short cut went horribly wrong!
Note to self: Be more careful when copying GPS marks for car parks.

Had Shimano XT hubs, got fed up with cleaning, greasing and adjusting them. Switched to Hope Pro II and only ever had to change the freehub pawl springs at 75p each. The sealing on the Hopes is fantastic and they just roll forever.
When the Hopes need new bearings there are how to videos and you can even give them a telephone call if you have problems.

t_i_m
Cheers for another car park link and height restriction warning! My bike travels inside the car so not an issue but I know someone who did a lot of damage entering a height restricted car park.

Thanks for the advice. You’ll see from earlier in the thread that I was trying to avoid the Peaslake car parks. My route takes in SL, Telegraph Row, Y Pots, BKB etc. I often use the car park near the top of BKB but I wasn’t so sure on the Leith Hill area of my route.

Did the same to my Five but used a 10mm qr from Superstar
http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=32&products_id=287
Same bigger axle but easy to undo.
I’m running non evo ProII so bought the axle and 10mm cap kit from CRC.
UK Bike store have the 10mm kit for Evo hubs
http://www.ukbikestore.co.uk/product/176/hopepro2evokitr/hope-pro-2-evo-conversion-kit-rear.html

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Finally worked out how to post an image so here’s another angle

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I can take some photos but I always have trouble posting them here. I’ll mail them to you and maybe you can post them for me?

I had the exact same problem with a full sus frame, a reverb and a rear crud catcher. I cut the crud catcher mounting bracket in half, from top to bottom, midway between the seat post clamp and the section which allows you to adjust the angle of the mudguard. I then cut a 5 inch long ally plate to match the sliced bracket and used some self tappers to screw the pre drilled bracket to the seat clamp side of the crud catcher mount. Then I used self tappers to fit the rest of the mudguard 5 inches higher, via the top of my ally plate, than the seat clamp part.
This mod/bodge works perfectly and the 5 inch long plate gives extra mud protection the the exposed inner post whilst allowing full suspension and post movement.

Interesting comments regarding Peaslake. This is why I asked the question in the first place. I parked at the one behind the pub on Wednesday morning at 9:30. By the time I got back from a BKB, Y pots, Summer Lightning etc loop it was full was full of cars with bike racks.
Peaslake around the Tea shop was full of green welly types in Defenders, blocking the small lanes, who didn’t seem to appreciate sweaty mtber’s chilling out mid/post ride. I could be wrong but I just felt that it may be better to park else where.

Ta very much.

As you are new here
From Wiki
“In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum …..”

t_i_m
Thanks for the tip. I’m a newbie to the Leith Hill area so could you please tell me what road these car parks are on and the nearest land mark.

These http://www.allterraincycles.co.uk/product/119508.html
40 quid for a pair of Bontager Mud X 1.8

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Olympus-TG-610-Digital-Camera-Optical/dp/B004GUTNGM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1324910362&sr=8-2
These are very tough cameras.
“Waterproof to 5 m, shockproof to 1.5 m and freezeproof for worry-free use anytime anywhere
Metal lens barrier for extra-tough lens protection”

The Shimano rings need a little filing to fit the truvative cranks so you shouldn’t have a problem. You will have a small gap though.

I use it as part of my regular cleaning and maintenance regime and it works for me.

Fitted one to the rear of my creaky Orange 5 and no more noise so it must do something. It feels more solid and I certainly noticed going from front 9mm qr to 20mm Maxle.

HoratioHufnagel
I fail to appreciate your logic when you imply that speeding more dangerous than jumping a red light. Also the taxi was doing between 41 and 50 mph, the exact speed is not known.
You will find that you are more likely to have or cause an accident when you RLJ than you are when you are speeding. If you go to your insurer with an SP30 speeding on your licence you will get zero loading. Try that with a TS10 light jumping and see how much they load you.
If you jump a light and get wiped out it’s your fault and you shouldn’t be able to get the case to court. With that in mind if a cyclist still decides it is safer to RLJ a particular light, then that is their call.

Hibike use DHL and are usually pretty quick. Had a bit of a delay on a recent order and still recieved it on SUNDAY from DHL which was within 4 days.

rupertpostlethwaite is a bit of wind up merchant. Check out some of his other posts.

FYI The 1.8 from All terrain are a softer dual compound than the 2.0 from J E James but the 2.0 have the reinforced side walls. You pay your money and take your choice.

Business In Trying To Make Money Shocker.
Maybe they worked out that they were not getting a return on their investment.

Five years seems a bit harsh. Maybe community service washing muddy MTB’s with bucket and sponge would be better for the rehabilation of the OP :-)

If YOU think they are charging too much then don’t use THEIR bike wash. Trying to justify what is obtaining a service by deception is not going to win you many fans.

I find it hard to believe that the RLJ’ing cyclist would even get the case to court. The fact of the matter is that if he hadn’t jumped the light the taxi could have gone through at 100mph and not hit him. I am not saying the taxi driver was right to be speeding but the cyclist was 100% in the wrong once he jumped the light.
If I came out the pub after several beers and tripped over the kerb I wouldn’t dream of suing the council. However, I’m sure some ambulance chaser would soon try and convince me other wise. These ridiculous cases are costing us all in the end and blocking up the courts.
Rantette over.

http://www.bike-components.de/
Very cheap eg 2011 Reverb for 171 quid delivered but they do charge 10 euro delivery and 5 euro CC fee on all orders.

+1 for Giant stuff but they only do 30.9 mtb seat posts.

Go into Device Manager click on Display Adapters then put the name of the graphics card into your search engine. This old lump that I use for web browsing only has 64mb of graphics RAM and although it served me well for years of SD video production it has no chance when it comes to HD.
My current editing laptop has 1024mb of graphics power, 8GB of RAM and am i7 Quad core processor and I would still like a bit more umph when editing AVCHD files.
A good way to check your machines video capabilities is to try and watch some HD content like http://vimeo.com/14604034
On my basic machine this is stutters all the way through but on my edit machine it is super smooth. These are still compressed images.

You should also make sure that you have the latest drivers for your graphics card.
If you are editing your footage for web display you are better off compressing it to a different format before editing.

+1 for Merlin. CRC and Wiggle both taken far longer than usual ie next day and now on day 4 and no sign of actual despatch. I know it is very busy at this time of year but I ordered a fishing rod from Amazon yesterday and it was here this morning.

If you are a woman then it is a big no!
If you are a bloke that likes a drink then, again, a big no. Unless you are working at the US Embassy.
The money needs to be substantially more than you could earn in the UK to make it worth your while. Unless of course your employer provides all living expenses and accomodation.
I work in a fairly moderate Islamic country and have met several people that work in Saudi. The only reason they are there is for the money so it needs to be very good.

You usually need to copy the file from the camera to the HD of the PC to view it in full res. Depends on which program you are using but I presume you are only getting preview quality.
Then it is all down to codecs. There seems to be a different codec for every make and model of camera so make sure that you have installed all the software that came with the camera.
Your graphics card will have a certain amount of dedicated RAM and to edit HD video you need at least 256mb in my experience. Forget what they claim in the required specs unless you have days for rendering and editing a 5 minute clip.
HD Video editing is probably the most resource hungry thing you can do on a PC.