I prefer the first set of policies over the 2nd, so the question is sort of irrelevent, at least to me!

I think there is some legal criteria which means you can force the owner to sell the leasehold to you, rather than just extend it. You might have to live there for a set period of time first. Ask at citizens advice or just root round the web for more info.

Some of the leasholders I have known seem to have had odd restrictions on like the colour of paint they can use, or not being able to convert the downstairs garage into any kind of room.

I should have added there is a traffic free bike path around most of the ring road, which is up grassy bank from the traffic for large amounts of its length – particualry the more northern end of the road. It also links to the Bristol/Bath path and some national routes.

Try your local library as there a several route guides publihed for Bristol and surrounding area. They may also be available on South Glos / Bristol council / Bath council websites as downloads. They used to be. Many local bike shops also have the free council maps available.

Nip into the Sustrans office next to College Green – they have loads of ride guides for local area and for all across the country. Most of the leaflets are free. Dont try to visit them on a weekend though, as they are shut when the most people could actually visit them for advice. they also have a website with downloadable guides.

A ride down the avon gorge to Portishead (or on to Clevedon if you are keen) is rather nice as you get to see Bristol docks, the gorge, suspension bridge etc. Several cafes round docks and in Portishead, plus Portishead park/’seafront’ which would be nice for a picnic (Waitrose near by!). You can combine it with a road route one way or the other if you want more traffic and hills. There is always the Bristol/Bath path, esp if anyone is a steam train/cafe fan or fancies the georgian architecture of Bath.

General strikes out into the countryside can be done from any point on the ring road if you are near the edge of the city.

All I can think of right now.

None of it was priced, you had to guess what it was classed as from a bit of paper stuck on the wall of the venue.

Look very carefully at what you buy – its not all samples. Some are seconds and misprints but are not labled as such and are mixed in with everything else. At the Bath sale they also gave me no til reciept, so might be tricky to complain about damaged noticed after purchase.

A work collegue once seriously asked me what the purpose of an acorn was. (brought up in a city). Disbelief when I said it would turn into a tree if planted. I just dont know what schools teach, I really dont.

As a female, I think it very unfair that blokes are still disadvantaged in custody issues. I still get the impression mothers get priority which to me is wrong. You could try the Citizens Advice Beaureu as a starting point if you are low on money and want to know where you stand (and find out if legal aid is available) as all this stuff is so expensive.

A friends son was obstructed by his ex girlfriend and found it very hard to see his child. He was told by his solicitor to keep records of all contact he had with the child and all money spent on it as proof the father was very ‘hands on’ whenever he could be. In the end, she moved to Australia and took the child with her. It was all very sad.

Good luck.

Worth trying a different brand of shorts and perhaps try out some different saddles? Padding and shaping of both has a lot of input in this area! It could be your saddle is too wide towards the mid/front section and is rubbing.

I have heard the big catch is you will have to buy a car less than 1 year old.

I wonder how many of those running really old cars can actually afford to buy a car that is less than a year old? If they could afford that, would they not have traded up without an ‘offer’?

Handy trick for the better off though – go out, buy an old car for peanuts and get 2 grand off a brand new car you would have bought anyway…

“If a punter in an outwardly appearing stable family feels the need to visit a prostitute then the damage is already there.”

I dont think that view is quiet accurate. I think some men would be happy seeing a prostitute for occasional ‘somebody new’ sex, but would want to keep thier partner/marriage at the same time. That would imply selfishness/greed rather than unhappiness. I suspect most women would not want to stay with a partner who made that choice though – at least, not when they found out!

I can’t say as I would knowingly date a man I knew had used prostitutes. I would not be happy with his view of women as objects to be purchased as I would be concerned he would view all women in such an empty way and to be honest, I would see him as kind of cheap and sleezy.

Regulators have no balls as they want a nice job on company boards when they move on. That won’t happen if the rock the boat of the old boys network or cut down on thier pocket money.

The compounds used by Avid seem the most effective on my Mavic rims.
Some of the other brands seemed to do nothing at all if wet! Avid lasting a fair time too.

I can’t see any comment from Chipps or any editorial – or do I have to go through each of the 50 photos? After the first few, dont much feel like bothering.

Sorry, hit wrong forum 🙁 should be in chat

Sorry, hit wrong forum 🙁 should be in chat

I agree with kaskazi. I think it is fine to encorage people to use low energy bulbs and most people I know have changed to these in areas of thier house which are suitable. However it is a different sort of light and even the highest power low energy bulbs are rubbish for doing some tasks in.

If they are serious then they should do this fairly – vast office atriums of mulitple stories should not be heated. Loads of offices near us do leave lights on all night. Most shops now leave doors wide open, with huge heaters just inside, blasting heat out into the road. Shoping malls have big enlosed areas which could be just roofed, but which have heating AND air conditioning. All air conditioning systems in offices and shops should be discoraged as there are many ways to ventilate better before resorting to this expense.

I also grew up next to a main road that had and still has no street lamps and the motorway in that area also has no lights.

I think there are many ways of reducing energy use, but its easy to ‘pick’ on the public rather than upset businesses. Also it looks like something significant is being done as they hope we wont notice all the stuff that is not being done.

Yes, I do realise it was in history, and perhaps in other countries, but the assumption is that the poster is most likely in the UK and it is implied s/he is receiving treatment. It would be really rotten luck in those circumstances to have the misfortune to die. It possible, but very unlikely. It not really the on the same terror scale as kidney or liver failure or terminal cancer or a brain tumour is it. I certainly hope not anyway as I am being treated for an abcess myself right now. I also survived the previous one I had, as have loads of people I know. Keeping the risks in proportion really helped me when I was curled up on the bed crying in pain 2 or 3 years ago.

If you read several brands of tins, you realise some of them say things like

20% beef
20% cooked beef

So, why was some of the beef precooked? Was it originally for another purpose? Why is some of it not cooked?
It put me right off.

Sympathy. I am on my 2nd abscess under the same tooth. Its no where near as bad as the first run as the nerve was removed for a root canal the first time. The first time was a living hell for several days.

Only thing I can think of to say is that be grateful its not a terminal disease and that the pain WILL stop eventually. When it hurts really badly, these thoughts seem much more valuable and worthwhile than they might seem to a casual reader on here.

The bottom line is why was this guy not just sacked for incompetence the same as someone less rich would have been? Why was there need for ‘negotiation’.

Also, why is he not automatically stripped of his title ‘For services to banking’ without hesitation. I mean, the government is taking the p*** isn’t it, to even pretend they are changing things when this entangled with the ‘old boy network’.

I would have a word with your doctor.

People who dont get travel sick just dont understand how truely awful it can be. You feel so ill at times you would rather be shot than continue on the journey, its really that bad for some of us. Car travel ruined most events as a child as going on holiday, day trips, visits to relatives were all utter hell and I stopped wanting to go. Being sick is bad enough, but the lead up to it actually happening is by far the worse. Its just plain cruel to ignore children and just say ‘you will grow out of it’.

On the brighter side, try different forms of transport. I have always loved going on boats as I was never ill on them no matter how rough the sea and it was huge fun to finally find transport I could use without misery and without feeling I was the person ruining everyones day (believe me, you are aware of it from the annoyed adult comments from people lucky enough not to feel so so ill. Trains were ok. Buses awful.

I am mostly fine now even over huge distances, but still get a day once or twice a year with no clear reason, when anything over a couple of miles gives me a problem.

Help your kids, its not just about not being sick, its about being able to join in, not being disapproved of, not being ‘the one who is always spoiling things’ or messing up the car ‘inconveniently’ and its about having parents who seem to care instead of being smugly/cruelly dismissive of how utterly ill you can feel.

From past experience, write out a very precise list of what you want the architect to do – size, boundaries etc maybe with sketches or pics of houses with similar features.

I was involved with an extension plane once and what was requested and agreed verbally bore no resemblance to what the guy came up with on the plans. It was only an extension, to reach to the building line, but he drew it way too short and did the roof differently to how we had requested it, then claimed it was what he was asked to do and billed hundreds for what were useless plans, but we had no proof of what we had asked for (oh stupid us!).

I am not sure how true it is that no one is using the royal mail.

I can say with total confidence that I have used the royal mail a huge amount more since internet shopping took off than I ever did earlier in my life. The amount of mail I send is not any less either, though I have never been a big sender of mail.

It seems to me the people running the Royal Mail are doing everything they can to make the public discontent with the service on purpose and to discourage people from using it, to fit with the governments desire for a figures drop. I am sure the same managers and their friends will do very nicely in any privatisation – pay rises and share handouts and promises of golden handshakes.

I wonder if the mail would have the same ‘problems’ if all the present board/managers were sacked for incompetence and barred for life (both themselves and their families) from holding office or owning shares in the privatised mail?

Ineffective or wilfully incompetent managers should be sacked before any privatisation is considered. I mean, what idiot decided your letter should be measured in 3 separate ways before telling you how much it will cost? That’s a way of saving money and improving public service and usage is it?

Do we say these present managers are ‘innocent’ and have an impossible task and its not their fault the service has gone downhill? Well, if the task is genuinely impossible no amount of privatising can save the mail service. But they already have keen bidders for it and I doubt the bidders are fools. So one can only presume that it being run badly and not profitably enough is deliberate and wilful and there are significant ulterior motives.

Anyone need to make a load of cash on the cheap?

I would be more worried about her being involved with religious groups in school. Children should make up thier own minds when older, not be brainwashed by religions (of any kind) in schools.

I too use a blokes saddle – most of the womens ones are way too wide, so I keep getting pushed forward along the saddle.

I use a charge spoon (mens) at the moment. Its a hard saddle, so some might find it off putting, but its an excellent shape and you get padding from the shorts, plus its only £20.

Wiggles own brand of (I think it was Earnley) padded shorts are cheap and have a much nicer pad than many more expesive brands. Plus if they dont fit, thier return service is very very efficient.

I don’t see it matters much. But if you want equality, put all the lids down – then everyone has to raise and lower a lid.

I think there were a load of bike accidents in Sheffield when the trams were put in. Not just the ‘silent killers’ but also the slippery rail surfaces and the opportunities for wheels to get trapped.

At our last election there was a list with only 2 people to choose from. 1 labour, 1 conservative.

I will never vote right wing, so I had to spoil the paper as there was not even a middle of the road person, just the 2 right wingers. It was awful, basically having no one I could vote for, not even a minor party. I always used to think it was very wrong not to make the effort to vote but thinking I might not go to the poll station next time as there is no real choice of party or politics round here.

Leigh woods is just opposite Ashton Court – you can ride in the forestry commission bit, the National Trust section is less keen on bikers.

PS Sorry, I am terrible at spelling.

Saw some place recently that regular cyclists look an average of 10 years younger than their ‘real’ age. So you lot should all be looked pretty great.

Fine here too.

Go to your local public library. If they dont have them in stock they will order in lanugage packs on CD for you. This will cost only a couple of quid. MP3 them. Sorted.

The range of stuff on offer is amazing if its anything like our local library network.

I have not checked your link, but when choosing a mobile broadband stick for myself I ended up with Vodaphone. I had really wanted a monthy contract rather than a year long one, but when I read the site carefully I realised the pay monthly modem was a different design and stated to be a slower speed then the full contract modem. Then they brought in a faster full contract modem about 2 days before I bought – so presumably the monthly contract one may be either 1 or 2 generations behind for speed.

My year contract one logs on ok in the locations I have tried so far, unless I am in a chain cafe (almost any brand) – my netbook tries to log on, goes through the whole system and then I get a message that my stick is faulty. If I leave the cafes it logs on fine. I have no idea if this is a vodafone issue, a general issue with sticks or if the internet cafe has some kind of blocking system to force you to pay for access to thier own broadband supplier.

A friend has a montly vodaphone broadband stick and seems to be getting on well with it in Cardiff.

Is it cooked in some way, or essentially just dried raw meat?

You can tell the profit margins they must be making by visiting one of thier shops. Huge amounts of floor space (potential sales space) wasted by large pointless visual displays consisting of nothing very useful. If they can afford to throw away that much sales area – and the advertising is way out of proportion to the actual stock levels by most standards – thier profit margins must be vast.

I should be a bit wary of the Bath “sample” sale, although there are some bargains if you can find something you like. I took a look round there and found quite a bit that was misprints or seconds and which was not marked as such (some things with rips in etc were lablelled as damaged) so it was easy to think they were genuine samples rather than faulty in some way.

I did buy something and interestingly I was given no receipt for my payment…

Yes. Even when not, its still useful to understand an opposing point of view.

Has anyone managed to get their own broadband to connect in a chain cafe?