Any other names of good players?

I am open to any kind of music – I know very little about music so it seems silly not to be open minded.

We have a 5 string banjo passed down through the family from the 1920's or 30's, it used to play in a dance band at public dance halls. The band must have been reasonable as it was their only living. Sadly I have known no one in the family who can still play it. I thought it might be fun to find out what sort of music it might be capable of and the range of stuff available to banjos, so I wish to sample music fairly widely, just out of curiosity.

Most kind offer, I will get in touch.

Thanks both of you – surprised anyone has replied, yet alone so fast.
Any idea what the Hendrix track might be called?

The person I am curious about – Distorted beliefs about every day stuff and inability to see they are distorted however much logic is ignored in order to continue believing the distorted belief. Very paranoid views of situations and people. Saying something and 2 days later having no real recall of the discussion, let alone details. Massive mood swings from saying people are wonderful to hating them with a vengeance. General overall mood swing from 'not interested in designer wear snobbery, being competitive is not my thing at all, not attention seeking' to 'centre of the room, all must be designer quality, obsession with competitive behaviour' as rough example of mood/personality swing.
I know they did used to take both cocaine and cannabis regularly and in close time frames ie multiple doses in same week of each drug. I just wonder if this 'personality' is the result of long term use, if they are back on biggish doses or if its just their basic personality and nothing at all to do with what they have taken.

Does it impact on me?
Yes.
Do I want to become further involved or intervene on a personal level? No.
Am a puzzled by the behaviour?
Yes, so I want to understand it for my own benefit.
I dont wish to discuss it with the person. I dont think it would benefit either of us to make it into a personal discussion. They have plenty of family/associates if they want help and they seem to see no signs of personality issues in themselves, so I cant see them wanting 'help' as they seem happy even if they are a pain in the ass to other people.

Yes, it is a serious question. Can anyone recommend any drug awareness sites that are genuinely constructive/informative? I would like to understand more, I am not looking to intervene as I dont feel its my place.

http://www.hammockforums.net/

I used to see one on my way to work – it seemed happy and was quite old when it 'disappeared' though it may just have moved rather than died as several houses were up for sale there. It had very long hair so you did not realise a let was missing until it hopped.

A friend knows one and apparently its an excellent hunter.

I have met a couple of 3 legged dogs too.

I have read it is likely at least 2 riders will withdraw from the race with injuries from today. If they had continued the race on such a dodgy surface and more riders were wiped out with serious injuries, it would end up with pretty much no race at all to watch for the next few weeks and where then would the spectators and sponsers be? Worse, someone could have died in a crash as the conditions were apparently so bad. I think the guy was right to ask for the race to be adjusted.

Seems to me this could all be turned around to a different perspective – that the school threatens to report to social services all parents who allow their children to be driven to school. On the grounds the parents are deliberately risking the long term health of the child (possibly leading to earlier than usual death from heart and/or weight problems). This would remove a huge amount of traffic, local schools would be driven to improve standards by parents who could no longer ship them miles across town thereby improving everyone's education and it would be safe for the kids to walk and cycle to school as the roads would be much emptier. Win win 😉

Update, just in case anyone remembers this post from a few months back.

The cat ground us all down. Having it hiss at me and struggle to get away when I carried it up the path of its house was the final straw (its normally a very friendly and placid cat, the owner herself described it as non aggressive). It lives here now with us and its owner is replacing it with another sort of pet and she seems to really be looking forward to the new pet arriving, which is nice as she seems a kind person. All the rest of her cats are still with her, though 2 of them come to visit with the cat that's moved in here. They always go home after though and don't hang around like he used to. They just seem to say hello.

Our orig cat seems very happy with the situation, provided his food gets given to him before the other gets fed! They spend all their time together and often go to sleep near each other.

So the cats seem happy and at least we are still on passable terms with the neighbour.

Thanks for all the advice folks, much of it was interesting, helpful or amusing 🙂

http://www.accuweather.com

Click the UK and Irish section at the top of the page. The winter predictions 09/10 were far better than the Met office.

"cookeaa – Member
All self respecting "Proper" Human males should have a shed or garage full of tools and a rudimentary knowledge of how to use them in order to effect repairs and maintenance on their Bike/car/Steam traction engine, failure to do so makes you a Girly…. FACT!"

Or as an alternative, give the bike to your female flatmate to fix as she is the one with all the repair tools, which is what happens in this house. I should know, I am the female that gets to fix everything. Thanks for your vote of confidence in women!

A lot of the royals seem to fear change – the queen always dresses the same, just changes the colour. Now Charles wife is dressing like the queen (bit scary to have a wife so like your mum!).

The Zara pic is fun, but they screwed up and forgot to put the fake mud on the bottom of the shoes. Careless continuity there!

Well done on winning out over something you found so hard. Congratulations. Your thoughts on its effect on others are interesting too.

The various photos are great. Good luck with the various hounds 🙂

Its ok, I'll save the security worries and come and look at your screen.

Oh and the really heavily used bike path near where I work – we keep getting emails saying not to use it as people are regularly assaulted on it. In the last 2 years this has still not been sorted out.

Local bike lane past the school has been 'improved' however only because it was installed so badly in the first place ie no dropped kerbs and a route that took it swerving back and forth from one side of a road to another with no crossing places.

Lots and lots of money wasted on big glossy metal signs saying 'consultation' followed by 'this will now be improved soon'. Most of these signs were not needed.

I attended a consultation – instead of looking for ideas they just showed maps of all the existing paths they were going to tart up a bit. The pedestrian / cyclist tunnel they said most people had asked for in the consultation instead of the tarting up 'will not be happening for years'.

Bristol bike rental scheme is bust, but little is being said about this. It was doomed to fail anyway as not only were most of the bike chains and handlebars rusty but there were only a few 'stations' and they were almost next to each other making it faster to walk between them than release a bike and re-lock it.

A lot of money seems to have been wasted on visiting and telling individual adults what route to cycle to work. Lets face it, if people cant be bothered to look for a route they are not very motivated.

Some kind of bike loan was set up so that adults could borrow a bike for a few weeks to see how they got on biking – A really good thing. Again, hardly any publicity that I have seen.

Group rides round the city were set up to help people practice cycling – Despite being an interested cyclist I only found this out after most of the events had taken place – no big signs advertising these!

The people promoting cycling visited the local Uni – on a day when huge numbers of students had an end of year work hand in, so were worn out and disinterested or they had already left to travel home for the break. Also none of the uni staff were told the project was visiting so they all missed it too.

On the whole it seems mostly a scheme that purchases excessive numbers of signs, large numbers of banners for the city centre that serve no practical purpose and self publicises how successful it is, rather than something actually useful to large numbers of the public.

Could have done a lot better if their heart had been actually in it.

If you already own the stem, just try it and see. If you have to buy it, get the right size.

I hate these sort of useless and ego chasing stunts. I wish people would put this much physical effort into something useful, like digging X number of water wells in 3rd world countries in X number of weeks.

All sorts of interesting free material can be found at http://www.archive.org both audio and reading.

Deodorant does not 'just smell' you are thinking of perfumes and suchlike. Deodorant inhibits the growth of the bacteria that cause smell, so you continue to sweat naturally but there is a reduction or more often total absence of any bad smell.

More really nice stories and lovely pics, thanks. I still feel a bit guilty about 'cat knapping' but it seems very determined not to go back to its house. Given up taking it back as its always back here with our cat within hours at the very most. At least its a nice cat!

I might try some of these with ours, he too is a 'cat food' only sort of cat which is a bit disappointing.

The pics of the cats people have posted here are beautiful. Thanks.

I used to cat sit for someone who fed their cats Maltesers and the cats had to be given the chance to drink out of a slow running tap in the bathroom basin twice a day as it was their favourite drinking place, so basin suddenly full of 3 very hairy cats, which was odd. They always had a proper bowl of water on the floor all the time, so I guess they just found it fun.

I just wondered if official wheels size had been reduced to 'assist' 16" sales.

" Mr Agreeable – Member

Given how well known it is that bike theft is quite organised in Bristol, one would think the police would have seen this event as perfect for an undercover sting… but seemingly not.

And if they had, would you expect it to have been launched in a blaze of publicity?"

Nope, not until after the event. But I am not holding my breath. The bike theft problem has been going on in Bristol for several years now, with beatings up when biking and push in raids to peoples homes after they cycle back from Leigh Woods.

I think they appointed some individual policeman (I am sure he is doing his best over a cause that is not taken seriously nationally) to look into bike issues in Bristol. I think he came on here asking for advice as he did not cycle himself. Its not his fault, but its hard to believe there is no one in Bristol police force who cycles and who could have been allocated the role. I don't expect to request a non swimmer to act as a life guard 🙁

"Transport for London (TfL) has this morning announced the launch of a 30-strong police unit dedicated to addressing the issue of stolen and vandalised bikes in the capital, and Together with Mayor of London Boris Johnson, it has also published a draft Cycle Security Plan in an effort to tackle the theft of bicycles in the city."

http://road.cc/content/news/18335-new-police-squad-target-bike-theft-and-vandalism-london

Lets hope they do better than the Bristol police appear to! 🙁

If there is an issue, why not just send the proposed menu to people and they can either discuss it with you or just not attend that particular meal?

Given how well known it is that bike theft is quite organised in Bristol, one would think the police would have seen this event as perfect for an undercover sting… but seemingly not.

Despair!

A friend recently returned to the UK from a decade abroad said to me recently 'what do police actually DO these days? – I never see any.' and to be honest, its very hard to answer that. Another friend had to wait 6 weeks before being allowed to look through the photo books at the police station to try to identify who attacked him.

Samuri did you work on an intensive farm? My family kept pigs on a small, (outdoor raised) scale. They are lovely, friendly affectionate animals with personalities very like those of dogs. I don't understand why you equate 'smart' with 'not very nice'. I can only assume it was the conditions they were kept in or how they were treated at your place of work, as they are super animals if treated well, so they are not afraid or mentally distressed.

Some intensive farms are like concentration camps where the poor pig does not even have enough room to turn around and face a different direction. They struggle to cope then, just like a human would if treated so cruelly.

Anywhere else outside of the school grounds you can chain a bike – its probabally no more insecure than most school grounds or work place bike parks if you use a good lock.

Could also be worth (if you are accompanying the child on his/her ride) if any local house holders would be prepared to allow it to be parked in their garden for a small fee. Someone in my family used to rent out drive space to a commuter in that way.

All a bit sad though isn't it – so much is said by politicians to look good and so little is done in reality.

Worth trying to get on the school governors board, or get the local paper to do a campaign?

I would have said it was fine. I had my first pen knife around 10 (and they are fun for girls too, not just for boys) but had to spend ages working my parents around to it, as they thought I 'might cut myself'. Ironic as they left me to use billhooks, hatchets and hackers on my own from… well I cant ever remember not having access to them as a young child. I could have cut whole hands and feet off with those. Parents!

If you want bizarre, work recently installed a totally unwarranted cycle lane (just painted markings) across the car park. Its too narrow for the 2 way cycle traffic to use as its only 1 bike wide and its right next to the cars, so they can reverse into you more easily. What intrigues me though is since this narrow walkway has been painted onto the tarmac, all the pedestrians dutifully walk along it in single file, forcing all the bikes to ride where they used to, more safely, in the wider 'car' lane.

I have met several pedestrians (not work related) who tell me they deliberately walk in cycle lanes as an act of hostility towards cyclists.

I do wish pedestrians/ramblers/roadies/MTB and horse riders would stop their sectarianism and co-operate as they all make each others lives worse – for generally, the most weak and stuck up of 'them and us' reasons.

'Aggressive bell ringing'. Can be open to interpretation. Last year I was walking with a non-cycling friend along a shared pedestrian/bike path that was quite narrow, bordered by a canal.

In my view, lots of cyclists riding home rang their bells at a fair distance (from behind us) so that we knew we were there and we could step aside on to the grass, as there was no where much for a cyclist to go to get around us and it was evening rush hour, so there were quite a few bikes. I thought they were being constructive and were mostly very friendly and helpful when trying to pass by.

My friend saw the situation as a load of louts who were taking over the path, ringing bells only to demand we should 'just get out of the way' as they believed they were more important than us and that the bell ringing proved their arrogance.

My fiend got so hostile at being 'bullied' we had to leave the path and go and walk on a main road.

Same moment, wildly different interpretations.

There is no slight to Merlin in this, by the way. The wheel is 4 or 5 years old and as I said, just fine in normal life.

Thanks for info all. Its a bit annoying as its a nice wheel from Merlin which has had no hard impacts or damage and it only a little out. On the road there is no issue with it at all noticable, but its still enough to play up on the trainer, thumping on the roller enough to annoy. I guess cos the bike is in such a locked down state on a trainer.

I usually fix my own bike stuff, but not sure I have the temperament to do wheels! I ought to get my act together and at least try to learn at some point, but not this week as everything I go near is going wrong at the moment 🙂

It seems to me that the cycling press also perpetuates the 'its OK to drug' view. They still hold up as heroes people who were known (and died from) the drugs they used when competing, with the feeble excuse 'well, they all did it then'. The cycling press have not genuinely moved on, not in their heart of hearts. Tom Simpson dying on a hill of dehydration and drugs is not the heroic subject for celebration t-shirts, yet you still see them and similar items reviewed and for sale in the cycling press with every encouragement to wear them. Writers cycling up the hill where Simpson died, still write that they stopped to show respect. Respect? for someone who fanatically cheated and drugged himself to death?

There seem to be less drug related issues in the women's cycling but women's road cycling, so you would think it was worth promoting as a cleaner area for more positive publicity, but it still seems largely ignored by the press – where are the magazine supplements listing the competitors in the women's version of the Tour de France or those of other countries, or even of our own? I have never seen a single one.

Personally I hope cycling does get torn apart by the latest accusations as the gradual rebuilding of a shattered sport over the years might give us a better sport and a decent, sincere set of governing bodies.

I get eczema but I found E45 made it worse. If it turns out you have eczema, try various scent free hand creams. The best treatment I ever found was a Boots own intensive handcream which was better than any product ever prescribed by the Docs. 10 mins of stinging then you could literally see the rash improving in my case – used to take days of treatment with mild steroid cream from the Docs.

Also keep an eye out on products you come into contact with – detergent, soap, fabric conditioner, household or garage chemicals you come into contact with at work or home. They can trigger off stuff. Worst one for me was Lux soap.

I've had no problems with my last few orders. Happy to use Wiggle.