heh, I love body armour. I use knee/shin and elbow and a met parachute on pretty much any ride that isn't on the road.

I have pedal-rash scars and marks from tiny crashes that are still incredibly obvious after 2 years. I accept that I'm going to get bruised and scraped but I'd rather lower the risk of scars all over my body as much as possible..

Also, seeing as the pads and helmet are very well vented I can't understand the over-heating comments. But I regularly wear the armour because I'm cold!

I was a social outcast and library geek. I liked being known as a 'dark horse' by some and I didn't want to be associated with the 'school personality'. Wore my hair back in a pony tail and had no desire to attract the attention of boys (or anyone else).
Having said that, I love learning things. Always got straight A's though the only real talents I had were drawing and remembering facts.

Thankfully I went to art school and met a boy who introduced me to bikes and music – and after a stuttering few years, I am finally starting to find my own personality 🙂

no
no

Hmmm, this food diet sounds interesting… I love all the naughty foods like milky cereal, ice-cream, cheese and chocolate 🙂
I assume people who are a normal weight already won't lose any, but will have sugar cravings markedly reduced?

what are good alternative sources of calcium though? Quick glance says sardines and soya products, neither of which I am particularly fond of..

Paul Smith is a guy who sells somewhat expensive multi-coloured stripy and floral shirts, and shoes, amongst other pretty things. I only know this because I went out with a boy who was very much into Paul Smith gear.. and I somehow didn't clock on til later that he was gay!

my bike looks great from almost any angle. and in that respect we are incredibly similar 😉 (it also never gets washed)

charm bracelet sounds fine I guess (though spending money adding on stupid tiny fiddly bits that somehow signify an important milestone in your life is not my thing) – as long as you're sure she normally wears bracelets. I would go for necklace myself or very classy simple earings, but that's because I don't wear anything on my wrists.

really?? I mean, I ain't disputing she's relatively attractive, but Jamie's pic is bordering on grotesque..

my suggestions: Ameena, Imogen, Erin – my faves from the ones already are Flora and Freya

it reminds me of a swimsuit

plenty of people I know have tattoos (art school, innit) and I'd say most of them aren't chavy at all. might agree on the slight 'emo-ness' though..

Girl I know has three star cut-outs on the inside of her wrist and it's actually quite pretty – as I personally like simple, single-colour patterns

So it's a not impossible, though highly unlikely event – which is probably why it's in the news. I don't understand why we have to second-guess the family's version of events.. But then again, I am very much a 'benefit of the doubt' person

I've been walking home at night back to my house and come across foxes that didn't seem all that worried about my presence – if anything, I got a little concerned by theirs.

I can see if children were left out in a garden whilst the parent went in the house to answer the phone etc. that a fox might attack them – after all, they can attack cats and other animals, so why not small humans?

I think a lot depends on the age of your children. My mum and us kids moved back from HK to Scotland about 8 years ago. My dad stayed there. We were 14, 12 and 10. Ever since then we have seen our dad about three or four times a year, usually for one/two weeks at a time.

I think it's been a lot harder on my mum than us – we know our dad loves us, and we at least had the whole 'teaching us to swim, ride a bike etc.' stuff already done. I know it has affected our relationship with him but I don't think in any particular negative way (in fact, he could wind me up something chronic, so maybe it's best we have a few thousand miles apart). We appreciate that he's made the choice to earn more money in the short term, provide us with funds to go to good schools, uni etc. and then hopefully enjoy retirement with my mum.

I know it's not how a lot of people on here would choose to live life, but my parents have made their choice and have had the opportunity to change it back if it didn't suit them.

My brother's name is Jonathan, though as a young child, I had a scottish accent and couldn't pronounce the 'th' sound, so I called him 'Jonideen' 🙂 He has been called Jonny since he was about 10- first by friends; now we all do. It feels odd to think of him as 'Jonathan' now.

travis – Aye, and other people say durian tastes more like "completely rotten, mushy onions" – it's absolutely gruesome!

ooh, tough call.. chinese deserts are awful – especially the one of jelly with bits of sweetcorn. Was also once presented with a bowl of noodles that looked, smelled and tasted almost exactly like rubber bands. Couldn't physically eat them, needless to say..

But the most foul tasting food has to be DURIAN. It tastes like a combination of custard, onion and plastic bags.

couscous, rice and soup are all quite 'substantial' feeling. bean based dishes are also awesome. I'm afraid I can't help you with snacks though – I eat mainly yoghurt, twiglets, and lots of chocolate..

snap – my mum's favourite too. I of course am way above spraying smelly things on my wrists..

someone has good taste – that's one of the few perfumes that doesn't make me gag

My name is Kathryn – but I was called Katy when I was a child. My mum really liked the name Katy but felt that whilst it was a lovely little girl's name, it might not be so suitable for an older woman.

I'm glad she did this because I feel much more like a 'Kathryn' than a 'Katy'. It was a bit odd though that she didn't tell me my 'real name' until I was 11 or so… and I had to go around telling everybody that my name had changed overnight!

PS. Rowan is a nice name, for both girls and boys. though I think Stanford Fackrell would be an awesome name – if he could get away with it.. 8)

My name is Kathryn and I am a mincer. I love Glentress. it's where I ride most often and I don't think it's too easy at all (that's why there are grades).
I am however rather spoilt by it and feel we should have fast bits and rooty bits to keep it interesting 🙂

they've filled in some of the lower red trails and taken away a number of rooty corners. I think it's a shame, because on some of them I was just managing to clear them and some I struggled on, so it was the right level of challenge for me.

I understand needing to cater for different levels, but why can't we have alternate routes round the 'harder' bits, rather than just flattening the obstacle altogether?

yes, mid-life crisis is an odd term, seeing as it's just a transitionary period in someone's life – just like leaving home, 'settling down', retiring etc. etc.

that selle italia thing will probably be my next saddle. it's rather ugly and unfortunately expensive, but it'll be dead comfy

yup, always! even about town, when not riding. I am always cold though..

I like that very much. it gives me a warm feeling to see that football makes at least some people happy (for a while at least)

I don't like my saddle very much – It's a charge spoon. Width doesn't seem too bad, but it's still bloody uncomfortable! I haven't tried all that many, but the only saddle I ever thought remotely comfortable was one with a cut-out..

oooh, padded shorts sound interesting… I wear freeride/DH Loeka baggies. Material has held up very well against scrapes. I also wear THE storm knee-shin guards in a S/M. I feel fairly well protected, though I'm not really going fast enough to warrant anything tougher…

think you might have too much 'free' time on your hands. stop dreaming and go out and enjoy being. (agree very much with thebikechain).
easier said than done though for most people (myself included)

ta very much, it's good to be reminded that at least there are other people as rubbish as I am 🙂

Was in my mum's car, overtaking a lorry, we're doing 70mph. This is a two lane motorway (thankfully don't get enough traffic to warrant three-laners) – all of a sudden, an X5 comes speeding up behind us. There's another lorry a wee bit ahead but mum pulls in to let the driver overtake..

and then he slows down and sits on our outside until we're stuck behind the lorry.

punishing someone for being polite – no wonder there are so many middle-laners..

and I thought you were talking about the dross that is currently on…

http://sweethomestyle.tumblr.com/search

Not my council but a few of my friends from Aberdeen are rather angry by the council's decision to concrete over the city gardens. As I understand it, it's rather under-used and not as pleasant as it could be, so Peacock Arts put forward a proposal that included revamping the gardens along with an arts centre. They got permission for this but the council has changed their mind and decided a plaza would be better.

I know very little about the details of the debate but was helpfully steered towards a (not unbiased) facts table: Union Terrace Gardens[/url]

All I can say is that I'm glad I'm not a councillor who has to make such decisions, and I'm glad I don't live in Aberdeen 😉

Funnily enough, I am known for having a rather poor sense of smell (couldn't have put up with andy otherwise..)

I've certainly not banged my head! For one thing, I've smelled this in the air before, a good many months ago.

The weird icky smell of liquorice-covered-celery was certainly strongest in Dundee… but seems to have been fading through the day. Judging by the responses, I'm guessing this is going to remain a gross mystery (that hopefully won't torment me too often).

My friend got her tv from a charity shop, so some must accept them..

if you use this link and type in your town, maybe something will come up? I tried this with edinburgh – for some reason, if I chose a 'specialist' field, nothing came up. Tried again with no preference and loads came up that do accept electricals.

I should have added a disclaimer – I was also wearing tights and was well covered on the top (though it was nicely cut 😉 )

I don't think I'm going to be able to speak on behalf of all the ladies out there… but I choose my clothes on what I think makes me look attractive (being an art student, I also like 'quirky' clothes, purely for the fun). I would rather men think 'she's good looking' than 'she's a bit of a munter'. and in an ideal world, the women would be thinking 'that's a nice top, I wish I had it'

Having said that, I've worn jeans and a tabbard and still overheard men 'leching'. As there was a strong piece of glass between us at the time, all it did was flatter, tbh.

'Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.'

I walked down the street today with very short shorts on. I know I'm going to be looked at, probably more than usual. I take the decision to wear them anyway because I balance the slight discomfort of self-consciousness with the pleasure I get out of wearing bright purple short shorts..

She obviously takes pleasure from displaying her bosom, and if you don't look, someone else will..

My mum has come across a few interesting names (working in a school in HK – some children choose their own English names), the best ones being Ocean and Anakin. She also quite liked Ivan Ho…

Her cousin has a nephew who has a Polish name – which roughly translates as 'Bishop'. His last name is Ivanski, so he gets called Bishop Ivan, which I think is an awesome name!

She was also recently talking to a woman who registers births and deaths – One family had three or four sons (I forget how many..), and they all had the same name, William. and the same 1st middle name… so they called them by their 2nd middle names, only they were Reginald, Robert, Richard, etc. So they all had the same three initials W.R.R, which I imagine is going to be difficult when it comes to opening the post…