Art for most people has been dead for ages. Talentless people /self publicists like Tracey Emin and that prat who does the dead animals have helped people despise 'Art'. Banksy has rekindled interest in art for lots of people, bringing originality, humour and actual skill instead of snobbery, emperors clothes and pretension. Who could complain about that?

Try searching the internet under peak district webcams.

Look bad in an enquiry = Assume the population are so thick they will love you again if you make them scared enough.

I used one on the rear wheel for a while, to track my turbo trainer exercise. The problem being that it does not send the signal more than something shortish like 80cm (can't remember exactly). I just mounted the sensor on the seat stay, but being indoors may have helped with the signal. You could try moving the display unit closer to the back wheel if you don't get a signal, but that might make it difficult to read, depends what info you want, if its just distance travelled, easy viewing of the unit might not matter hugely.

If you are looking for new mounting kits, cateye website does downloads of the instruction sheets for units and they usually have the reference names/numbers for mounting kits to fit the units, then you can order any spares you need from somewhere like Wiggle.

http://www.derbyphotos.co.uk/webcams/index.htm

Derbyshire web cams – check the whole page as they are organised pretty randomly

Definitey less need to wash the marino ones but the newer standard buffs have silver bedded in them I think to reduce bacteria, so they are better than they used to be. Make sure the synthetic ones have a dangly tag mentioning the anti bacteria thing though, so you dont get old stock from a slow turnover shop.

Consider getting one from a website rather than a shop, as generally the colours/patterns available in shops are dire.

I have used this site in the past.
http://www.buffwear.co.uk/

Maybe try a forum seach for a post in last couple of days as I am sure I saw someone from up there offer some ice/snow tyres for this event and it was too far for the asker to go and get them. They might still be willing to help out if you can trace the post.

Walked into city the other day as buses were all off due to the ice/snow. In about 5 hours of walking I saw 6 men in total (not togeather), all of whom were wearing shorts and none of whom were exercising or postmen. Saw 2 more today and a small boy of about 7, again none of whom were doing sporty stuff to keep warm.

Is it only a male thing – is there some kind of kick in getting your bits frozen?

Be wary of something called Yak Tracks as I have been looking for anti skid shoe wear and although they get some good reviews, a lot of people seem to find they break or things get trapped in the springs. The microspikes mentioned seem to do lots better in internet reviews.

Chris Townsend (well respected long distance walker/journalist/author) did a review of microspikes:
http://www.tgomagazine.co.uk/gear/winter-gear/crampons/kahtoola-micro-spikes-40-1.989884

Everywhere I tried had sold out of everything and one company said it had a waiting list of 40 people for the microspikes.

And handy for a quick game of tennis when you get to the office…

You ought to mention this to the police, even if casually – if she does this often, she could kill someone by drowning, esp in this freezing weather.

The very old one my dad used to have had no heater in – not recommended!

I have been in a modern estate house (not cheap) where the only (double) bedroom was so small they had to use a 'small' size double bed and could not put a wardrobe in the room as there was no space to open the doors. They could still only walk around one side of the bed and the foot of the bed. A whole group of houses were built like this and to accommodate the appalling size of the bedroom a "dressing area" was designated on plan which was the tiny landing at the top of the stairs! A friend of mine had her babys cot on said landing as the cot could not fit in the room.

Get her to agree to try riding at least X number of bikes before deciding which one she wants. She will then be more aware of weight, postion etc. Then its down to her. Oh and remember the weight of the kids needs to be added on.

If she gets into cycling, she might want another bike later on anyway…

Read in a bike book years back to avoid those which have been lubricated extensively with 3in1 oil, as its veg based and leaves some kind of unhelpful coating on the gears. No idea if its true.

It could be the drain pipe the washing machine is connected to – if that gets blocked its a problem as you get backflush at times into the machine. I have to take the one here apart once a year or so (yuk!) as it is a very shallow incline so stuff tends to stick in it.

Washing soda at 90 is good to clean machines. The last engineer to fix the one here said you need to run a long 90 wash at least once a month to clean the machine.

Could also be your pump not fully functioning, if its not pumping out properly, it will be swishing some of the dirty water around with the clean water rinse etc.

More snow due in Sheffield tomorrow according to my friend who is there. The pavements in the city are so iced is almost impassable in some areas, so guess the Peak District to be colder and more exposed to weather.

If you do a forum search for Peak District, I posted some web cam addresses up the other day – you can see all the snow and just make out where some roads are supposed to be!

They will all be dead by now and the new queens will have moved off to new locations. Wasps only live a season. They dont reuse the same nest or site generally.

A couple of years ago there was one in the roof here and they were just great to watch – so busy, and lines of them going in and out like a motorway. They had no interest in the house or garden, just flew at roof level out into the nearby woods to hunt other insects. They can be noisy when building their nest though.

If we had them come here again, we would be happy to leave them as they were no trouble at all, and as I said, amazing to observe.

Mines very very minor in comparison to the above tales, but I wasted over 6 months waiting for a physio appointment as I could not walk far or cycle at all. After all that wait, I was told by a chap whose English was so poor we could hardly understand each other (I have a broad regional accent which does not help) that he could not find what was wrong in the 10 min exam he gave me and to come back when I was in greater pain.

Was forced to fork out for a private physio and he found the problem in 20 mins and it was fixed within a month. Felt really angry at all the wasted time and lack of interest/communication in the NHS, plus having to pay, when I could have done that in the first place and had 6 months of better life back. Still, compared to some I am very very lucky.

I have not cycled for the last 6 months, other than my little xmas snow rides, which have made me look more positively at biking again. Hoping to get back into it during the spring if things go well, so might give people a shout when less physically dire! Very kind offer, thanks.

Internet dating – someone said on here it was not a pleasant experience, but they are persevering. What are the downsides to it?

I think a dating site for cyclists might be a good idea. I wonder if the Ramblers have a version? 🙂

Just want to clarify that I was not getting at parents in general for being to busy to bother with people. I do understand the ties of caring for children/dependents etc. I have had to keep to day in day out schedules myself for caring purposes, though not child related. I am fairly understanding about such ties and the restrictions and the tiredness they bring (I realise that has not come across in my earlier writing). For the 2 years I dated, I did not see my boyfriend for any weekends at all, or for bank holidays, family holidays, Christmas, New Year as for each of those he was helping to look after his child in another town (which I applauded him for, though leaving me out was bad behaviour on reflection, as I was open to both his child and its mother) I think that shows a lot of consideration for other peoples family commitments as I chose to sacrifice an awful lot to support his commitment to his child.

It was the attitude of a few parents I have met that I was commenting on who can be oddly smug and offensive in their perspectives.

Plenty are very nice people. I think parents just loose stuff in common with non parents, so find their company often less fulfilling. The effect is the same for some singles though, that they become more left out of the parent dominated social groups. Its an observation of social behaviour, I am not calling parents bad people. Sorry if it sounded as if I was.

I think once you get to a certain age range (varies within your social groups behaviour patterns), its very difficult to meet people to date anyhow.

You get to a point where everyone you know is married or in long term permanent relationships so there are no 'spares' in your social group.

When they start having kids, your friends get too busy to socialise, or worse if they are the snobby sort I have sometimes encountered they start commenting sneeringly on you not having any kids (even if you have no option in this).

I have been told very sincerely by people that as I have no children, I cannot possibly understand what it is to really love something – which to me just means they have mostly been shallow selfish people themselves in the past. Its usually said to me in a patronising simplistic way, as if huge love and loss is a concept I have no understanding of.

Because of the kid thing and because many couples don't want single or childless people around as we don't 'fit' with their own lives, it gets harder and harder to meet anyone, or indeed to be 'socially acceptable' at all and you become more and more outcast and meet less and less people and go to less and less social events. So 'celibate' becomes ever more difficult to avoid.

Thanks for suggestions.

About 20 bike keys on one of mine, from every bike lock I have ever had. Tend to leave that one in the drawer for emergency openings, as its rather big and heavy 🙂

I am sure there are lots of very nice guys out there – its just they want pretty 25 year olds and I certainly dont count as one of those in either respect 🙂

Off to bed now (alone!). Thanks for nice comments. Hope all your sex lives err, pick up!

Superstar, sympathy, as I dont seem to be the sort of person people want either. Different levels of sex drive can be a real problem (remembered from back in the days when I did indulge!).

I tried that. Bloke I just started dating but had been friends with for ages got a call from an ex saying she was 3 months pregnant, after we had been dating for a month. Stood by him for 2 years of hell she put us through – it had to be her that went to family events and me that was left out – and when it started getting better and the future looked more rosy he told me I had never mattered to him and why would he want me if he had a child?

Nope, no one with kids. Too much pain.

Gizzard, made me smile, thanks. Its a common problem with ADs I think.

It was the 2nd time I got really burned. Too old now to do the family stuff and can't face dealing with someone who has their own kids, would feel too left out and not part of it all.

You miss sex to start with, but you notice it less as time goes on.

Coastkid, really enjoyed the photos on your site. Thanks. Amazing beaches.

My housemate wanted me to keep the bikes in the garage!

What did you do to so upset the 'bird'?

Yes, it does exist. Around 8 years for me, as stopped dating around then. Got trashed by someone I loved and decided to draw the line there.

"I wouldn't recommend it unless you were particularly experienced, in which case you probably wouldn't need to ask (again, sorry, not trying to offend!)."

Not offended 🙂 Everyone starts somewhere though when beginning with things, we are not born with deep experience of anything. I am aiming to not fall over on local walks given the world has got iced over, def not heading out for an epic mountain (or even hill) march at this point in time 🙂

Wonder if this statement has any bearing on the tyre failures mentioned above?

"Nokian non foldable tires can safely be rolled up into thirds without damaging the wire bead. We have found however, that the wire beads of Schwalbe tires tend to take sharp bends easily when being rolled, so we don't roll Schwalbes. If the bead in your Nokians does arrive with a slight bend in the bead, don't worry, just gently bend it back straight with your hands. If you mount a tire that has a sharp bend in the bead, there is a chance that the tire could blow off the rim while being inflated, so any tire should be checked to be sure the wire bead is fairly straight before mounting. Tire beads can also be bent by removing a tire from a rim with tire irons, so be careful there too. I've never had a Nokian take a bend in the bead that couldn't easily be straightened."

From the helpful website of Peter White cycles (USA)
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/studdedtires.asp

Wow, thanks for posting. Lovely photos.

Try searching USA and Canadian sites and forums, as these bikes are used there a lot more due to the weather conditions.

Must admit, there is something appealing about a Pugsley.

I second TK Maxx for pan purchase.

Have fun. I love being the only cyclist in sight on my Ice Spikers!