Odd! I read they were using Trances. Nevermind. Ignore me.

Pret a Manger do discounts for using your own mug.

I notice the Giant team are using Trances this year, rather than Reigns. The Trance being naturally shorter and steeper than the Reign. I’ve often wondered what my Trance would be capable of if I stuck a 160mm fork on it (I run a 150mm Revelation on it at the moment).

+1 for Buffy. Willow and Faith were also “badass”. However, the answer is Ellen Ripley.

A few other candidates: Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling; Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity (The Matrix); Jamie Lee Curtis (Helloween).

And surprise surprise the live chat is full of Fkat Earthers saying how fake it all is

Haha yeah, I saw that. I especially like the comments about how water, such as the oceans, can’t curve.

Classy response from the ageing rockstar- that all kinds of batshit crazy

That’s about par for the course for Nugent: The guy is a grade A bell-end and has been spouting his right-wing bull-“””” for decades. I hope his bow and arrow backfires.

I thought the “Alpeen” looked cheap: Not necessarily in the finishes, just the overall design.

He was also banging on about weight saving and yet they chose to include a second set of headlights. Yes, I know this was to emulate the original rally cars, but surely goes against weight savings elsewhere, and certainly didn’t help the looks.

No one in their right mind would spend over £50K on a Renault.

Awww he’s a cute fella.

I’ll venture Sprocket.

Another one that gets me is signalling to turn right at a roundabout and then going straight on. Bizarre.

Oh, and don’t get me started on people doing U-turns around mini roundabouts. Grrrrrrrr.

Pictures are needed.

Who the hell are they going to get in next? And who the hell would want that job anyway?!

It’s a bonanza payday. I’m sure they’ll get someone who’s mercenary enough. They don’t even have to succeed: Just do an average job for 6 months to a year, let top-class players manage themselves, and walk away with £5m in their pocket when it all hits the fan. Hell, even a league-winning manager gets the sack these days, so there’s no real motivation to be anything other than someone who turns up and puts names on a team sheet each week.

He’d be mad to go to Utd as well.

I gave up giving stuff up. I was very successful.

Get a mountain bike and stop fannying around on the road. Roads are for cars.

Why the hell should I be prevented from doing something I enjoy by self-important, idiotic drivers?

Oh, and I also have a mountain bike, a DH bike and a cx bike, but I shouldn’t have to justify what I do to excuse dangerous road users.

extremely disconcerting as you’ve no idea whether they’ve actually seen you, and aren’t just going to drive into you!

Absolutely. It gets me every time.

I’m just back from an 80km road ride over to Box Hill and back: Chilblains in both hands and both feet say “Spring is here”!!! :-D

I read that review yesterday, although I didn’t read the comments so didn’t pick up on the comments from the guy from Zerode.

Although his comments about Mike Levy’s riding skills were childish and out of order, I do think he has a point about the weight of the bike: Putting over 2kg of tyres on a bike that is meant to be climbed is always going to make it feel sluggish.

He did apologise, and retract some of what he said, later on, which is something.

@ eddiebaby

My amateur opinion is that it needs two main things:

1. Cropping: for me, it leads the eye down to the bottom right, which is the least interesting part. I’d crop it to remove the buildings in this corner.

2. Colour: personally, I’m not a fan of the tint as it plays down the finishes of the buildings too much. I’d either go colour or b&w to emphasize the reflections.

Thanks guys. I’ll have a look at the Smart Sams as well.

has anyone commented that judging by the OP’s stem length and saddle position on the seatpost he/she might need the next size up?

I haven’t commented on it but it was the first thing I noticed when I first opened the thread. I agree.

And who gives a sh1t about traditional?

+1.

Go for discs.

I’m currently using some Maxxis Roamers, which came with the bike. They have very little grip and are heavy (780g, or thereabouts). I’m looking for something that is lighter and has some grip to it.

I guess, if nothing else, porridge for brekkie helps reduce cholesterol by replacing some other brekkie food that may be bad for cholesterol. However, I believe the sciencey bit is the porridge contains a type of fibre that does help reduce the bad type of cholesterol.

I like a bit of texture in my porridge so use jumbo oats (Flahavans), mixed with cinnamon, fresh ginger (finely grated), coconut milk (the Alpro one) and half a banana. I then microwave it for 4 minutes. I then mix in plain, natural yoghurt.

Probably The Eagles and Pink Floyd.

I saw Deadpool for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I have to say that I found it a bit try-hard. I enjoyed it, don’t get me wrong, but it was a bit “ooh, look at me, I’m so ironically clever”.

How fast was the point going when it flew over?

@mikey74 – there’s dairy-free yoghurts in Tesco and Sainsbo, in the free-from aisle.  Tried a coconut one which was rather nice.

Thanks, but I’ve tried many of them: They generally taste pretty bad and have added sugar. I like the Coyo stuff but it’s stupidly expensive and very calorific.

I’m going to continue to move away from meat. For intents and purposes I’m pescatarian at the moment and love fish.

I’d like to cut down on dairy but have yet to find an acceptable replacement for natural plain yoghurt (suggestions welcome).

I’m also going to try and cut down on plastic but buying veg in the supermarket seems to come with lots of plastic bags. I don’t use the loose ones they give you, but things like Vittoria tomatoes and blueberries all come in plastic.

I think the course looks terrible: The rocky bit up top was good but it just peters out to nothing. The urban bit at the end has only been tacked on to ensure the course is long enough. As it is, I think I’m right in saying it’s the shortest track on the WC circuit.

I’m certainly not adverse to having urban parts on a DH course: In fact, I love the urban DH races, but they have to offer something of interest, rather than 30-40 seconds of flat pedalling.

And Sam is certain no Claudio.

Ah! So you went for the PD Cert. In that case, I would suggest a quick call to your planning officer to inform them of the change. They’ll probably ask for a drawing.

There may not be a charge but if there is you should have a chat with your builder about who pays as it’s them who’ve built it in the wrong place.

Planners usually accept a 1mm variation between drawings and built i.e. 1mm = 100mm at 1:100 scale, but you are outside that, so it’s worth a call to cover yourselves. They may not care, but at least you’ll know for sure.

But is that due to the Building Control application or is it on as a Planning application? They are two very separate things. Many councils are now listing BC applications on their websites.

So my local council don’t need to be notified as it’s permitted and still on our property ?

Yep. Building Control will see it anyway during their site visits. I assume you haven’t submitted any kind of planning application/drawings to the Planning Dept. as it’s PD?

I would notify your party wall surveyor” They can then inspect it and advise if there are any issues. The whole point of the party wall is to protect your neighbour against damage done from your building work. If there is no damage, or you’re not jeopardising any waterproofing, flashing etc, then there shouldn’t be a problem.

Building Control won’t care if it’s built in a different place to the plans, as long as it doesn’t affect the structure and roof finishes.

However, I’d be worried about the flashing: 50mm is not a much space to be able to fit a proper flashing: Check how the builder has finished the flashing between the roof, the dormer and your party wall.

If you have a gable wall you could put an air brick in to provide some roof ventilation.

Technically, a toilet should have at least an intermittent extract fan, providing no less than 15l/s extract.

Can you add insulation externally? This would allow much more depth and therefore performance.

You can, but it would probably be more complicated as you’d have to finish it somehow; probably using an insulated render system, or timber weatherboarding on battens, which would all significantly add to the cost.

Yeah, fitting on adhesive “dabs” will create a small ventilation space behind the insulation. You could also fit to 25mm treated softwood battens, if space allows.

The hardest part will probably be making sure the joints are well taped and sealed. You could then either paint the plasterboard or skim first.

Yeah, K118 on the ceiling as well: It contains an integral vapour control layer. To ensure it acts as a vapour barrier, you need to properly tape the joints again.

Is the roof ventilated? if not, condensation in between the joists could be an issue once you’ve insulated.

Fit as thick as your available space will allow.

Have a look at the Kingspan website: They have lots of fitting guidelines.

https://www.kingspan.com/gb/en-gb/products/insulation/insulation-boards/kooltherm/kooltherm-k118-insulated-plasterboard

I needed some new running shoes so I went to a running shop in Tunbridge Wells where they got me to run up and down a few times and then put me on the treadmill video. The upshot is they could see no reason why the shop I bought my old shoes from (Sweatshop in Brighton) put me in support shoes. I ended up with some Brooks Ghost 10s, which are a neutral shoe.

I’ve now done 4 runs in them and they are sooooooo much better than my old ones. The added comfort really makes running more enjoyable. I did 10k today, which was the first time since the British 10k last June, due to various injuries and lack of time.

PS. There’s something very soothing about running whilst it’s snowing.

Unless it’s timber frame you won’t need a vapour barrier on the walls, but it’s a good idea to fit one on the ceiling.

As for what insulation type: As space is a premium, you’d want to go PIR, such as Kingspan as it has a better thermal conductivity than mineral wool.

The trouble with insulating a single-leaf wall is you want to create a cavity so if any moisture does work it’s way through the brickwork it drips down the cavity and is caught by a cavity tray, which can then be drained by weepholes through the perpends in the brickwork. Of course, this will lose you space in the room, but British Gypsum do independent wall lining systems for this.

Failing that, an insulated plasterboard, such as Kingspan K118 would probably do the trick.

Ya got me!

I blame everyone else.

But in this case my groundworker has cancelled a 24 m3 pour using a 60m boom which is one of only 3 in the country due to the forecast. The forecast that showed a double snow symbol with 90 percent probability under it for the early hours of this morning, coupled with an “Amber warning”

It’s **** bone dry and sunny at the moment outside. Yes it’s a free service, yes it’s a forecast but **** me it’s waaaay off today.

Blamers and tools keep on blaming and tooling. Cheeky ****!

Even without the snow, wouldn’t temperature be a factor? You can’t pour concrete below certain temps (5 deg C, I believe).

Better still, return it using My Hermes: It’ll just disappear into the ether.

Having just studied under one of the Country’s most eminent earthquake geologists, I think EQs are another good analogy: You are damned if you make a prediction that then doesn’t manifest, and you are damned if you don’t make a prediction and a catastrophe occurs. The simple [well, quite complicated, actually] fact is earthquakes are virtually impossible to predict but most people don’t understand why this is and expect the scientists to get it right every time. The weather is similar, IMO.

So, what do you do? You “manage” people’s expectations by dressing up your predictions with percentages of likelihood and caveats. The problem is, people don’t read the percentages and caveats.