wouldn't really bother me if it was someone in the same riding group. However, I didn't like the idea of having the same DH frame as my OH. I thought it would just look a bit silly, especially as we're really different builds (and he's much faster than me ..)

I am also uncreative (as an art student, this worries me somewhat) 🙁
I have seen my brother 'under the influence' of stuff like this. We were mucking about with Paul Mckenna's 'think yourself thin' CD. didn't seem to have any effect on me or my other brother, but the younger one started shaking quite terribly. he was actually quite frightened. not sure if it's really the same thing though..

I drive a Toyota Yaris ('06) because it's Japanese, small (I'm a young and inexperienced driver), and I don't know anything about cars.

gathered on a hillside. just doing their thing.
(I do hope you were referring to my post. if not, I apologise)

they're the best ones. made me chuckle for at least five seconds

as a product of the current education system, please don't shoot me down.. but I'd appreciate some answers on a current sentence I'm stuck on:

a group of sheep were gathered
a group of sheep was gathered

'were' sounds nicer. but I'm thinking it's 'was' as 'group' is a singular noun?? (I really don't know what I'm on about)
and I got an A in Higher English.. 🙁

Your wife wouldn't be sitting at home all day, that's for sure – there's loads of stuff to see and do – whether she's into shopping, more shopping, eating or maybe she's outdoors-ey and prefers hiking, sailing?

It's a lonely place if you don't know anyone though – my mum worked as a school nurse to stave off boredom – also meant that she met a lot of expat mums and dads. Appreciate your wife might not want to do this, but I'm sure there are plenty of other expat social networks (perhaps she likes horse racing? 🙂 )

I've always found living space to not be that much of a big deal really. However, on a return visit recently, I appreciated just how noisy the place is. 8 floors up at 3am and I could still hear a steady stream of traffic below. Obviously there are quiet areas too, just need to work a bit harder to find them.

unless your dog is v. small or you plan on living on one of the outer islands, I suggest you might consider leaving it in the UK 🙁

always tap. however, had the misfortune of trying the tap water in a place near chippenham. I couldn't actually drink it, it was that foul. and this was after it had been filtered.
but I'm used to soft, scottish water. an english friend who'd moved up here said he couldn't drink our water because it was too 'sweet'

Dundee
worst: the wind, lack of decent eating
best: proximity to the rest of scotland

think I'm about a 14. My bike is much more gnar than I am..

yes. just.
I can also hook my foot behind my neck, though not sure how this helps my fitness 😀

My mum was approached by an english woman in Birmingham, who asked her if she would mind taking part in a survey. She was asked if she lived in England. My mother replied "No, I'm actually visiting from Scotland". To which the woman said "Oh, but that's the same thing, really, isn't it?"
My mum, being a proud Scot, obviously educated her on the matter and walked off in indignation.

a girl I lived with was always wearing a dressing gown. was useful for tea/toast/hangover meals in the kitchen and other communal areas. this might help your girlfriend to turn into a bit of a slob though

most female students I know (besides me) are really into their tea or coffee. I would suggest coffee making device or speciality teas (spanish hot chocolate is also good)

I would say yes, but not sure what the differences are..
Chinese people from the South look very different to Chinese people from the North – Koreans look kind of 'inbetween' to me. also, if you see an 'oriental' and their hair is dyed orange, they're probably korean

uh, how long would you be going for? they're very different places and if you want to see everything.. might take a wee while. also, go to Hong Kong (if you haven't been before) – it's ace too!

I think it's amazing – clearly you have an awesome, fun-loving wife and I think the photos are a great way to capture that.
Definitely in the camp of 'if you've spent all that money on a dress anyway, may as well get even more good memories out of it!'

edit:
ha, yes, I feel like an absolute failure at times (it's a very isolating feeling) – but I'm slowly getting better at not giving myself such a hard time. Ever since primary school I've always been my harshest judge. I think a lot of girls suffer from this, but as I only ride with boys, I sometimes forget this!

I would also suggest perhaps mixing your rides?
Like, do you have a trail that you ride more often than others and feel comfortable with?

I have access to trails that are quite different in difficulty. So I make sure to challenge myself a little with one track, but I go back to a 'staple' trail (spooky wood at GT for me – it's fun, easy, I know what I'm doing) every so often. It's a quick confidence boost and is a good reminder of why I got into biking in the first place.

I'm a fellow nervy girl rider, but I actually want to enter the Downhill category at the Student Championships in March, and I'm terrified I won't be able to get down the track!

And now I'm caught between really wanting to get out on my bike to get better (and of course, I want to enjoy myself), but because I've set myself a goal of 'getting decent' I've put so much pressure on myself and it gets to me if I can't do a piece of trail. all I can say is what works best for me:

I personally hate riding with a group of people who are better than me. Their presence just reminds me of my own 'failings' and I constantly feel like I'm holding them back, which just makes me nervous and more panicky.

I push myself best when by myself because I can go at exactly the pace that I want to without worrying about anyone watching or waiting around.

I do eventually 'man up' and do something I'm afraid of, but it takes me a lot longer than it would for other people. Half of mountainbiking for me is fighting those inner demons.

My approach means that I'm probably fairly slow when it comes to progressing, but at the moment I can't do it any other way.

I tell myself, if I was so scared I never tried anything challenging, then I wouldn't have progressed at all. And I obviously have, so I must be better than I think I am 🙂

I have one – has saved my chin from a few scrapes, but these have been fairly low speed crashes.

I used to feel a bit silly wearing it (looks a bit overkill) but I hated the idea of getting my face all cut up and bruised. I feel much more confident with the chin guard although I'm fully aware it's not going to stand up to major impact.

FWIW, I've never had trouble with air flow/feelings of restriction but I've never worn anything else!

Most stuff I buy for my bike is second hand, so whenever I buy something new (helmet for 80 quid) it’s pretty hard to swallow!

steady and determined on the climbs,
pootle about on the flats,
attack the easy downhills,
extremely tentative on the difficult downhills..

Boooooooo, what’s with all the Yaris bashing? I love mine (okay, I’ve only ever driven a corsa and a getz for comparison) – and I’m of at least average intelligence and I’m certainly not blonde!

mamadirt – thanks, it’s his pride and joy. it now weighs 37lbs and it ain’t gonna get any lighter!

btw, seconded on the STD – it’s gooorgeous

Feel a bit left out ’cause my bike only weighs 33lbs 🙁
However, this weighed 41lbs before the OH changed pretty much all the spec

My do-everything bike:

what are people’s experiences of telling their GP that they think they might be mildly depressed?

Just curious, ’cause mine were:

‘You sound like you’re bored, not depressed’
and
‘You might have mild depression. here is a prescription for some anti-depressants’

What else do they do/say in the situation?

you’re not meant to worry about things like:

‘I should be doing more with my time’
‘I should have ridden my bike instead of doing nothing’
‘I should be making more of my life’

those thoughts alone are fine by themselves of course, but if you find these repeating in your head (and more importantly, not acting on said thoughts), you’ll just feel rubbish every time you have time to think too much

I guess that’s where getting a hobby comes into it. or get a more stressful job if you like

meh. I was ‘bored’ for a year or so. and then it got worse and worse and I started getting bored and miserable to the point where I didn’t function in society at times.

if you’re still bored in a few months time, you might want to think about why you’re not feeling so great.

otherwise, have fun trying new things 🙂

.. this seems more about you gathering up the courage to leave your wife (and trying to find justification for it) ..

I would second the suggestion of counselling:

you’ll hopefully be able to talk to your wife about the issues you are having (as a couple)
and you can then work out what is most important for you

ah, okay. Well, to answer the OP, you might be being cruel, but I think it depends mainly on your OH’s temperament. When I was just beginning, I found bumps and small rocks/stones scary. I agree with the point made that fully rigid forks could make a beginner rider tend to look directly at the trail, in order to avoid rocks etc, instead of looking where one needed to go. However, if your OH is a bit braver, this might not affect them too much.

If I was your OH I would say you are being cruel 😛 and I would probably have avoided anything technical and cried until I could go home.

However, your OH might not be a big wimp/sulk like me.

Sorry to hijack a bit, but what skills does one learn by going fully rigid? I only ask because I genuinely don’t know, having never ridden without front suspension. Does it help with having to learn to bring the bike up over roots and things?
And what does ‘getting off the front of the bike’ mean??

cheerzies

Right, I know extremely little about such matters, but the BF has the Aiston cycle rack as well. Does the job very well. However, he had to convert the tow bar already there (swan neck style) to a plate (??) style so that he could attach the rack. Think it cost him no more than 150.

Also, he bought the three-bike rack but changed it to carry only two bikes after carrying three downhill bikes on the back contributed to breaking one of the car’s shock mounts. (His car’s a 9 year old Primera though and I imagine your volvo would be okay??)

They’re for cats: so they can sit on window ledges and warm their bums at the same time.

Cheerios
Water/Last of the milk in the cereal bowl
Cantonese radio (even though I can’t understand it)

Probably gonna get shot down for this… but I really like David Shrigley:

John Singer Sargent:

And this:

nope munqe-chick, I too am doing them. Join in, it’s fun!

Managed my second set okayish but much harder than monday. (I started on Week One, column 2, though I think I’m kinda in the middle of 2 and 3 so I’m just doing a number between the two columns)

I like the Tesco self-service thingamibobs.

I lack ‘small talk’ skills and I don’t look very friendly/happy so like to avoid human interaction if possible.
Plus, if you scan items in fast enough, the thing can’t process it quickly enough and you get free food (obviously need to put on the whole ‘grrrr, stupid machine, I’m doing it right I tell you!’ act whilst doing this so that you can protest innocence if one of the supervisors picks up on it)

I am also a firm believer that we should adopt technology such as Octopus Cards instead of carrying around loads of coins and petty cash.

So yeah, I’ve not really contributed to this thread properly.. 😳

I’m afraid I have never had to work out what it cost to send me to private school, but from personal experience:

I’m assuming it varies, but my school uniform was from Aitken and Niven. School blazers cost about 80-100 pounds.
Books were also fairly expensive, but my school set up a website to sell on textbooks secondhand, so can save money that way. Otherwise, you’re buying biology books from Blackwells for about 20quid a pop. If your child is bright they might be able to win awards for academic achievement and get book tokens as a reward..

As for meals, we had to pay for them as well, but to be honest, there’s nothing wrong with taking a packed lunch. At our school we had a rotational queuing system which meant that sometimes you could only be let into the canteen with about 10 mins of lunch break left!

Again, school holidays aren’t compulsory, but my brother has recently been to the Alps on a geography field trip as well down to London to compete in some maths competition.. I’m pretty sure my parents had to pay extra

Looking at my old school website, if you want to send a primary school child on a school summer hockey camp it will cost you 140 pounds a week.

So yes, I’m guessing it depends what school you choose, but my school you pretty much have to pay for everything on top of bog standard school fees (the standard fees are a good bit more than 7,500 too, so maybe my old school’s just a bit of a rip-off)

I’m sorry I can’t provide you with a better overview – perhaps a better person to ask is my mum!

ah, thankyou. Will go for it then – first set done and dusted