No good – its chipped, so they will just return it to the owner as 'found'.

I saw somewhere recently that florescent lights are very bad for rubber based compounds and cause degrading.

I think racing cyclists and their mechanics used to 'age' tyres very carefully in cool dark cellars to improve performance, especially for big races. Expect you can find an article or advice on that if you search around.

Anything that distracts people from growing the truly awful beards seen around the last year or too has my full support!

My dad tried to a few years back (before internet house adverts were much around). However he tried to do it dirt cheap/tightwad and had to fall back on an agent, so it cost him more in the end. He thought a 3 line ad in the for sale column of a local paper was enough. :-0

If say you might pay an agent £2000 for a sale, then I would say myself to budget up to a £1000 on good quality advertising. Decent colour photo and text in paper/web repeated over 2 or 3 weeks and in among the estate agents ads. A nice colour handout to give/send to people. High quality sign outside of your house to look professional. My dad did not see it as still saving say £1000, he saw ANY expenditure as a loss. He needed to get real!

However, there may be much more accessible ways on the web now, to sell your own house, so the above info might be very out of date.

I watch DVDs on mine too with no problem at all. Obviously you need the screen pretty close up, but that makes it very handy to watch in bed or on a train (copied to memory stick for that). As I dont play games, my netbook is used for everything I do – word processing, spreadsheets, music, internet, photoshopping. I have never found it slow, even though I expected it to be with odd bits of photo editing. I relise full size laptops are around, but I want good facilities in a tiny unit. I have a (now fairly old) full size laptop, but getting a netbook that can do everything the big one does is great. Hense my concerns over accidentally buying a replacement that cannot equal the facilites of the one I am replacing, IF Win 7 is significantly cut down. I dont really want to spend, then immediately have to pay for an upgrade to a better version of windows.

Anyway, thanks everyone for all the info you have put forward, its very helpful and I have learned quite a bit of use.

I assumed everyone just used netbooks for everything, like a small laptop (my prev one has been fantastic for this, but hinges etc wearing now as used such a lot). Looks like Microsoft and many people just see it as a terminal, which is a real step backwards from my point of view. If I wanted a web viewing terminal, I would get an internet phone or save for an ipad.

Looking round on the net a bit more now.

"WIn the United States, Windows 7 Starter is only available on small notebook PCs (netbooks). Want to turn your PC into an entertainment hub and personalize it to match your style? Consider Windows 7 Home Premium."
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/compare/starter.aspx

"It is important to note that Windows 7 Starter still includes only a subset of the features offered in the higher editions of Windows 7 such as Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional and above. Windows 7 Starter does not include:
* Aero Glass, meaning you can only use the “Windows Basic” or other opaque themes. It also means you do not get Taskbar Previews or Aero Peek.
* Personalization features for changing desktop backgrounds, window colors, or sound schemes.
* The ability to switch between users without having to log off.
* Multi-monitor support.
* DVD playback.
* Windows Media Center for watching recorded TV or other media.
* Remote Media Streaming for streaming your music, videos, and recorded TV from your home computer.
* Domain support for business customers.
* XP Mode for those that want the ability to run older Windows XP programs on Windows 7.
After using Windows 7 Starter out myself on my Dell Mini 9, I loved the advancements that it inherently offered versus Windows XP but also concluded that I wanted more. I like to personalize my Dell Mini 9 the way I want it (because I like showing it off and take it everywhere because it’s so small). I also use it to watch videos and listen to music. Because I also have a portable DVD drive, I also sometimes watch movies on my Dell Mini 9 as well."
http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/05/29/let-s-talk-about-windows-7-starter.aspx

Other interesting comments at
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=844
http://www.geekwithlaptop.com/netbook-users-not-happy-with-windows-7-starter-edition

I need to look more into the lack of mulimedia support as thats primarily what I use a netbook for – web browsing and home entertainment. I dont think I can stand not to be able to adjust sound themes as they are usually naff and annoying.

Graham, thats a bit worrying. The bits the more advanced systems have dont look very interesting for my purposes anyway, so not going to be worth my forking out more for an advanced copy, maybe. Beginning to think if my XP source is still there, might go for that.

Any comments about updating maps? I am trying to keep the costs low, so will be looking at the lower end products/update options.

The acer Aspire One netbook I have used actually runs older versions of photoshop just fine for my purposes. No hesitating or waiting at all, but I am just using normal photos, not large scale advertising photography. The newer versions wont run as Adobe have put minimum screen size restrictions on the programs 🙁

So the same image is just enlarged, rather than the info being re-arranged or there being additional info on the display?

I can live without internet explorer! More worried about 7 being any kind of cut down or restricted version just for netbooks (as MS seem previously to have imposed a lot of limitations on netbooks).

Someone said somewhere on here recently that 7 was limited and you could not even change the desktop colours (or something similar to that). Any truth in this or anyone know more?

I have used a netbook before (Acer Aspire, Win XP) and there have been no problems with it, so not sure whether to keep with it or try something new.

I dont want to go to Win 7 and find its annoying and rubbish.

Big improvement. Ta.

It seems to me the most interesting part of the child abuse issue(in relation to the religious aspect), is that the abusing priests cannot believe in God at all despite being deeply involved in a religious structure. If they had any actual faith in God, judgement and afterlife surely they would be too afraid to abuse children because they would fear later consequences in Hell?

The pope is seeking some kind of automatic respect for the Catholic Church and yet he 'employs' people who by their own acts cannot believe in God and are being seen not to have belief – or alternatively they think they are so significant as individuals, God will not be able to punish them in any way.

If clutching at straws of justification I suppose they may be able to claim they 'repent', but that's not convincing as they are repeat offenders so any remorse cannot be sincere. If they are 'swayed by the devil' so very easily, I would think it their place to follow as parishioners rather than lead the church as they could be leading everyone to evil if so easily influenced.

I find religion bizarre.

I lost almost everything in a period of less than 5 years. Parental family, partner, then found the love of my life and lost them too, job went down the pan for separate reasons. Was so near to a breakdown, offered time off work by doc and a bunch of pills. Leaving the house often reduced me to tears and I often had to come home within 20 mins of leaving as I could not cope. No words for the despair, isolation, self punishment, loss, sense of abandonment, anger, hurt and above all grief.

My life is not great now, but I look back and I can see if these things had not occurred I would actually be worse off. I am glad now they happened even though they tore me apart into tiny pieces at the time. I am even glad to have been let down by the person who was the love of my life as I can see now they would have made my life very very difficult long term. Love blinds.

Point is, the most awful dire situations you would do anything to change when happening – sometimes you look back and bizarrely end up feeling really glad they happened and you feel stunned you could feel positive that way after going through so much hurt. I could not see myself how they could ever be viewed as 'good' things to happen. But how you come to look at it changes in ways you could never believe would happen. Hang on in there. It will be OK.

Its put me (even more) off voting for them. I have no children or family. I am happy for my taxes to go towards education costs and NHS care costs of other peoples children/family. I think University should be free of tuition fees. But I so resent married people getting tax breaks or people with children getting extra priority over others. They are privileged enough already by actually having a partner, frequently 2 salaries and also the actual choice of having children.

I would love to have a partner, home, family etc. But I have no choice in the matter. As a result of being single (and therefore a one salary household) I have to pay a proportionality a higher share of Council tax, my utility bills are higher, as is trying to run a car, rent holiday accommodation (joys of single supplement) and anything else that a normal couple would split the costs of. I cannot afford to buy a house at all so will live in rented all my life as a single salary is no longer enough to purchase with, so I loose money normally invested in mortgages and will get no return on a property and will have nothing to leave to anyone when I die. The government considers me a 'lesser' person because I have no partner or children so if things go wrong or I get sick I will get limited benefits and probably no offer of accommodation at all, as families get priority, even if they only just moved to this country. On top of that I get to be looked down on as a social failure for not being able to successfully 'partner up'. No, not a vote catcher for me!

Noisy cat – get it checked by a vet. My dog got very noisy when she got older and we thought she was messing about attention seeking as she seemed utterly normal in every other way, but it turned out she had cancer. If we had caught it earlier she might have been ok. Talk about feeling guilty 🙁

Writing = left hand
Fork = left hand
Spoon = left hand
Tennis racket = right hand
Sewing with needle = right hand
Using a hammer = either hand
Cutting bread or using a saw = right hand

Being given a dessert that needs to be eaten with both a fork and a spoon is a problem for me as I can only really hold one at a time with any comfort, as left handed with both.

"So…you don't know whether she's any good or deserves the job, but you do know that she only got the job because she's a woman older than 25? OK… "

The timing of her appointment is remarkably close to all the criticism the BBC has just had about not valuing women other than as very young, pretty decoration. Beeb are also in the dog house over excessive pay and they need to improve their public image to save executive/talent salaries and to keep the licence fee. A lot of the public are 'older' women.

Look what has happened to MPs due to public awareness and disapproval – the BBC executives must be thinking of public image and their own employment/perks unless they are fools. In addition, fired female staff are starting to take legal action over the blatant sacking of 'older' women. How many complaints have been settled on the quiet with a no publicity clause? Call me cynical, but I prefer the term 'realist'.

How many occasions can you name in the last 10 years when the BBC has appointed an older (by BBC standards) woman in a high profile on screen role? Not many in comparison to the number of men put in the same position, despite women actually being a larger part of the general population.

I am happy to see a woman appointed. I think ageism in the BBC and indeed in entertainment/cinema is pretty despicable and a waste of available talent. It teaches young girls that in later life they will have no value as soon as they are not pretty/sexy enough and it encorages some men to hold that shallow view.

I am not going to kid myself that Claudia is appointed at this particular moment in time just for her ability alone, however good she might be. If BBC managers believed in talent alone, they would not have been sacking all the older (and often very popular with the public) female staff would they?

I hope she shows the BBC how wrong their attitude has been. Good luck to her.

Hi profile opportunity for the BBC to be 'seen' to employ a woman older than 25.

No offence to Claudia, I have not seen her in anything, she may be great at the job. A public relations exercise only for the BEEB though, to help stall all the sexism complaints cos they keep sacking older women for no good reason at all.

It their stated intent to become the UK's biggest outdoor retailer within 2 years. As so much outdoor kit is overpriced, I think this is a good thing.
I just hope they dont grow too fast and do a "Fopp".

As someone mentioned above, I too don't understand why Brown did not strike out and become his own man after Blair left. It seems a huge missed opportunity.

Instead we were flooded with newspapers claiming he was running constantly to Tone for advice, despite Blair being openly disliked by a significant proportion of the population. It was like looking at a repeat of the Blair grovelling to Bush event all over again. And now after all this time, Brown is still crawling to someone who has a very very poor reputation as a human being. How can he expect respect from any of the UK population when he chooses to look so utterly weak (and also so immoral as to choose Blair as his hero). Its so blatantly 'my keeping the job is more important than the good of the country'.

What does Blair do to people near him to keep them so weak – its like they are all having some kind of blinded love affair with him. Is it just that people are hugely drawn to his self confidence and ego, at whatever cost?

I dont think much of her behaviour post event. However, having seen the video, the violence from the copper appeared to be inappropriate and disproportionate.

What's most important to remember is that during the policing of perfectly legal events around those days, the police (against their own rules) covered up their own identity numbers so that no one could report them for bad behaviour… which says everything about how they intended the event to turn out.

They do it for thier own benefit as well as ours. Its part of the church rules that they have to go 'doorstepping'. It is part of saving themselves and making sure they are permitted to go on to a better place after death, so in some ways it is a selfish act as much as 'saving other people'.

The lady I knew was expected to attend church events on Sundays and on 2 evenings a week, every single week in addition to door stepping. Many of them have no pensions as they beleive the end of the world will happen before they reach pension age. They are not supposed to marry outside of thier community. Its a very closed life. They are not allowed to vote or support any political parties. They cannot even attend the weddings of friends if they are in non Witness churches. My friend used to stand outside of the church before and after the ceremony if she wanted to see a friend marry.

If you stand by people who are depressed, struggling and have their back against the wall, as soon as their lives are better and they feel good about life again (no longer depressed or desperate) – they will tell you your friendship was a waste of their valuable time, that you are a reminder of how bad they felt about themselves and they don't want that memory and then they will walk away and never bother to speak to you again.

Happened 3 times so far 🙁
Life lesson: Friendship for many people is only a concept, self is all.

Sorry, not read all of this, so you may have covered this bit already. If you have not already done so, tell your girlfriend how you are feeling. Otherwise she might misunderstand what the fight picking is about, feel unwanted or hurt or indeed just get fed up of you and leave you. Its important she understands whats going on in your head and that it is just temporary and no critism of her.

Well, its not looking like a good move if the comments made today by readers of assorted daily papers are anything to go by. If the Labour party office read some of the comments I think they will be in tears. I think 'backfired' might be a term they are using a lot tonight.

Oh and a set of bike lights (decent cateye ones) that were cheaper for a while than even Wiggle and Chainreaction.

Mail order service is very fast. The shops are good to browse in (been in Sheffield, Cardiff and Bristol ones).

So far I have got £2 off per pair of Brasher 4 season socks, £70 off a Lowe Alpine rucksack which was still being sold at full price in at least 2 other outdoor shops in the city and £100 of the current price of a RAB down sleeping bag – a down one being something I had wanted for 2 years or so but could not afford until the Go Outdoors offer. About £10 off a pair of RAB gaiters and about £50 off a memory map pack I got as a present for my flatmate.

I am not complaining…. 🙂

You can get all sorts of audio (and book) downloads for free at
http://www.archive.org

The old time radio section can be fun. Stuff from 1930's to 1950's and some later stuff. Sound quality varies. Sometimes the adverts are left in and they can be bizarre and fun.

Also try your local library for audio books, most of them stock large ranges these days and most are on CDs. Abridged books from 3 hours, some unabridged go up to 18 hours. MP3 them or just take the CDs with you.

I think the key is maybe to treat 'returners' as adults and not let them revert to childlike behaviour, or for you to return to being 'just mum'.

A friends kids have both moved back home after 1 and more years away. They are nice, but it seems to have gone back to their mum doing all the cleaning, most of the cooking, all the washing etc rather than everyone taking it in turns or to at least do thier own. She said the other day 'I don't know how X is going to manage when he leaves home and has to cope with washing own clothes', yet this offspring is a returner! It seems to me such a situation makes the parents life much harder and (perhaps deliberately if one or both parents are needy for status) weakens the returners ability to maintain or go back to being an independent, self sufficient adult. Really it undermines everyone as it stops all parties from moving forward and developing.

I would suggest you talk to your adult returner and both agree to a joint set of rules applicable to both of you as flatmates, and as someone said above, try hard not to slip back into the parent/little kid relationship and seek out a new full adult friendship. I think you have the right attitude to setting out who you and your returner are going to 'be' before anyone actually moves in.

If she goes to any kind of nursery or playgroup, or spends time with a particular group of people or kids, might be worth trying to be more aware how they treat her when she is out of your sight. Maybe someone is causing her to loose confidence by leaving her out or making discoraging comments or just using silent 'attitudes'. Try doing a search for confidence / children on Amazon books, or even just a general web search for the issue under google to get some hints and tips that support your child without pressurising it. Maybe give her tasks or responsibilites you know she will suceed in, and praise her a lot for them. Having confidence and feeling you are worth something as a person are hugely important as an adult and much permanent self image is formed when you are very very young.

Re the MS diagnosis – not fun, but not all bad. Chap I worked with was diagnosed over 10 years ago and he still leads walks and does half marathons. Some of the people he runs with dont know he has any health issues. It can be rough on some people, but its not so bad for plenty more.

Re fat not shifting at 40+ well, thats bollocks you are still eating too much and kidding yourself you have cut down. Like that sad saying, no one was fat in concentration camps. I lost a stone and a half this year, despite not riding much and I come into the over 40 camp.

The hardest part of being over 40 is being aware that lots of people see women over 35 or so as instantly worthless in every aspect, even as colleagues in a workplace. Its generally other peoples prejudices against age (in job applications,in general attitude) that is the problem with getting older. You just feel the same in yourself as you always have, you can do the same things as you always have. Its narrow minded attitudes that start to become a problem as people start to 'write you off' on some kind of automatic basis as our society and particularly our media loath anything but 'youth'.

In the past, I had better general relationships with boyfriends who cried sometimes. They tended to be more emotionally assessable, and more open and caring. All things I found positives. My dad was of the 'old school' and would not let himself cry even when his mum died. I found him generally a remote person and I never really knew what he felt about anything much, or if indeed he felt much at all in the way of emotions. It was a bleak relationship in many ways. Certainly not an attitude I would wish to find in a friend or lover. Its better to have a complete person than someone who lives behind an icy wall.

So does this mean I can run low powered things for short periods of time?

What's the worst that could happen? She gets pregnant and you (and any future partner/children you have) get to pay maintenance to her for the next 20 years!

I think the lack of integrity shown by the Scouts Association is very bad.

If you are teaching children, why pick someone whose techniques are known to be actually dangerous and cavalier and which seem successful only because they are dishonestly faked? Why present 'survival' to kids in ways which could be physically dangerous to them, or to adults for that matter- who might at least be a bit less trusting or use more judgement than young children are able to.

Also why pick someone who has been so deceitful in his TV presentations? Is the Scout message 'Its OK to be dishonest in your dealings with the public if you can climb Everest'? So kids thing its OK to lie, as long as they look good? Or do you say to your kids 'Don't believe in the scout leader he talks rubbish a lot of the time' which really undermines the whole scout association and indeed, highlights its view of the children in it as being less important than having a leader with a high publicity profile?

I went to the Bath sale last year – had been to the Bristol shop sale not long before that. I bought a tee shirt at the 'sample' sale that was actually a 2nd and was not indicated as such in any way and I did not realise there was pattern misprint until I got it home. As they gave out no till receipts at all (rather dodgy/evasive policy?!), it was impossible to take back. I also bought a coat from the Bristol shop (before the tee shirt) which I was really pleased with. It was a mid soft blue. Less than a year later of light use it had faded to a dull grey as the dyes were not up to the job. I would not bother with the company again.