Just to counter the 'will cost more' comments and admittedly nothing like the same scale, I had a new XT cassette spacer, lockring and complete retune of my indexing and tightening of freewheel and hub bearings (the whole thing was trying to abandon wheel) carried out by Jon at Bicycle Smithy in Hazel Grove. I reckoned about £30 if I was lucky probably more. Actual charge was £7:00! I was stunned in a very good way.

"round here" is the Peak District and I can't think of anywhere smooth. I've not lost anything yet.
I'm a complete convert to Osprey packs and undoubtedly, the more you spend the better it will be but ultimately, it will sit on your back and so it will be damper than not having one on.

I can't say I've noticed any difference in having it distributed around me and the bike or in a backpack to be honest. It all seems to work well enough round here.

Tube, two tyre levers, co2 can and head strapped to the seatpost. Multitool, couple of pieces of chain and powerlinks in jersey pocket. Arm warmers in other jersey pocket, £10 note (just in case) and a couple of gels in last jersey pocket. 750ml (x2 on my bike) water bottles with a Nuun tab in each.
No backpack required unless I'm out for a full day.

It's a nightmare too much to bare already. Please spare us anymore details….no really, please spare us.

"I refuse to venture North of Watford ever again"

It's not all bad then.

I bought my Bob copy brand new from Ebay for £65:00. I doubt you coulod make something for less but I bet it would be fun.

I lied! I forgot about the magical bike fixing abilities of Jon at The Bicycle Smithy in Hazel Grove last week. A repair I thought would be about £30:00. Got charged £7:00, I gave £10:00. I felt quite guitly.
I'm hoping one of the brands that Jon stocks is going to bring out a nice road bike in the autumn so I can buy it from him.

Pack and Pedal, Auckland. It was pretty cool. A bit pricey but good stock of bike and kayaking stuff.

Manchester city centre to Sheffield is rideable almost all off road with lots of the Peak District's delights in between (mentioned just in case you don't always want to get the train).
Buxton and Chapel-en-le-Frith are sort of 'near to' good riding but Chinley, Edale, Hope, Bamford and to a slightly lesser extent Hathersage and Dore (all on the Manchester – Sheffield line) are in the middle of it.
Even jumping off at Marple and New Mills gets you very close to some 'mini Peak District' riding.

No, he was being ironic. He really is very good at it.

Some sort of idiot was about to write something in permanent marker on Robin Hoods Picking Rods when I was up there on Monday evening. I hung around until he'd walked off.

Go and have a look at some of the ads. That should help you work it out…..
Mind you, that ace Cannondale Flash doesn't come with pedals so I suppose you could say it's not a complete bike. Does that make it a 'parts' sale? That's going to disturb me all day now.
Buy a dog, that will give you the attention you clearly crave.

The eloqution and media handling skills of the players of Man.City have not really had any influence on my decision to buy a season ticket each year to be honest but now you mention it, I'm going to demand a quote from Shakespeare everytime Tevez sticks one in.
There's a thought, maybe Manu is quoting Keates but no bugger can understand a word he's saying.
The BBC bod who booked him for the pre, half time and post match discussion is signing on on Tuesday :-}

I'm going to Manchester in the morning to buy some new cycling kit, a couple of books and maybe even a coffee in Waterstones on Deansgate. Getting the train at 9:15 from Hazel Grove.

Question- Do Shimano or Time offer the same amount of float and ease of clipping in and out in all conditions, lightweight and astonishing strange looking pedals which are really quite nice if you like that kind of thing?

Answer- No, because their pedals are designed to do what they are designed to do and if you want the above in your pedals you have to accept that regular servicing and even an hour with the usually easily available Eggbeater repair kit and some basic tools will need to be employed when they get a bit loose on the spindle.

It's called yin and yang. Choose one.

My ride in was as lovely. I used the single speed commuter for the first time in months and stayed on the canal until I reached Man City's ground. The city centre roads were as busy as ever though.

Up until 2 years ago, I was a Civil Servant (5 years with DWP). I was at the top of my grade – Admin. Officer. My salary when I left was £16,000 per annum and absolutley no chance of promotion as all the jobs were locked in. I could go to the next level up as Team Leader -Executive Officer but I wouldn't have been paid more and it would only have been a temporary position anyway.
The constant crap about Civil Servants having it easy does my head in. I'm much better off with the council :-}

That's the bugger! I'm going to snitch on him.

I went over again from work last night past the Picking Rods and into Mellor. I've found some really nice bridleways and a couple of very worthwhile singletrack footpaths.
A word of warning though, the farmer whose field backs on to Mellor church REALLY doesn't like cyclists. It was a race between me getting up the gert steep hill and through the churchyard and him getting into his house and back out again with his shotgun and pack salt.
I was mightily impressed with my climbing ability on the back of a 33 mile ride at that point that also included going up Chunal. I didn't realise I had the ability :-}
He may not have meant what he said but I believed him. Miserable arse!

Dark Peak. I only intended riding for a couple of hours but I was having such a good time and I had not much else to do, it turned in to most of the day.
The first time I've been on Gird Lane, Robin Hoods Picking Rods and Lantern Pike as well.

dab-how did you get in my head and steal my thoughts without me feeling any pain what so ever?
Nah – I've Endur(a)ed enough of their stuff for a lifetime.
Gore, Rapha, Assos and Protective for me.

4 miles- 60 minutes

"..the majority of the comments and opinions are based on "other" Endura products, not the Equipe range?"
Is there a difference in quality (control) between MTB and road clothing from Endura then?

"on to the bridleway section of the Cown Edge Way south east west of Robins Hood Picking Rods."
Whoopsie- I was holding the map upside down :-}

It didn't take long did it. The salient point completely missed again.
Clearly the point being made or question asked is the lack of notification that a change was being applied for or made and the author has concerns that this could happen again to a much larger degree.

Edric – I work for a council. When that funny little thing in the corner makes that noise and I have to pick it up and say hello, I say what I have to make the other person go away as soon as possible. We all employ the path of least resistance here :-}.

I (well, a friend on my behalf) bought the Raptor 14 from Snow and Rock (Manchester) on Sunday. £61:00*
It is by far the best all day pack I've owned and I've only done one 4 hour ride with it.
I have an Osprey 6, Osprey courier bag and now this. It's very comfortable. I filled it with stuff that I didn't even need for the ride just to get an idea of how it performed full. Very comfortable (I bought the large – I'm 5'9") and the Hydraulic system is great.

*Should have been £85:00, 15% discount on any order of £50;00 until the end of the month and then he put another 15% discount on because he was taking a fancy to the purchaser apparently. Quite sad but made me smile and 15% more in my account than there would have been :-}

Thanks for the replies. I've not got a map to hand now but I'm trying to link something up from Mellor Cross to the Picking Rods by as much bridleway as possible but not adding on huge pointless miles or tracks that are as dull as dishwater. I might as well stay on the lanes until I get to the bridleway near the Picking Rods if that's the case.
I think I'll go for a ride up there tonight with the map.

Not a penny. We were travelling round Africa and in the village we were staying in in Kenya for a few days, the village elder wouldn't allow us to sleep in the same room unless we were married.
Mrs Karioke (elders wife) did the wedding for free. We got a piece of paper in a form of swahili and that was that. My wife (South African) couldn't make out much of the document.
Two months later when we were back in the UK, I took the form to the Inland Revenue to see if I could get married mans tax. They told me it had to be translated or verifed by a solicitor. We found a solicitor in Whaley Range (Manchester) who was from that region of Kenya. She did her best with it and gave us a sworn verification (of some sort) that it was a legitimate marriage doscument. Handed that in to the tax office and a married mans tax code was mine.
What do I win?

I once read on here "Middle class aspirations with working class incomes"- that made me laugh and brought to mind a lot of people I know personally who use this website.
Sorry – carry on.

Congratulatons Graham S, you are one of the minority dickheads who can't asess what is considered to be a reasonable distance for you to move over into the near side lane as the majority of the driving population seem able to do.

You think if you move out of the area you are no longer required to pay any outstanding council tax?
I'm trying not to giggle…….no, failed, I truly guffawed :-}

I've just gone back over the thread and I saw your post about owing council tax and being abroad MSP. The bailif will return the account to c/tax after three failed visits and if c/tax can't trace you, they'll let it go for now but they will periodically carry out a new Experian and LOCKTOR trace and if you're located in the UK or overseas, depending on the amount outstanding and the council's policy on recovery, they may begin recovery again on you, Council tax debt is not Statute Barred. It's like murder, never closed.

"The collecters then managed to get a hold of my elderly mother" – That's well below the belt and I strongly suspect they had no right to even mention the debt. DPA and all that plus it was your (assumed) debt, not your mother's.

I've just got a trace result back which I requested earlier this week. The guy is Spain (I have his rather nice sounding full address), he's getting a bailif warning letter :-}

Mavic Crossmax Enduro. Tubeless ready (or you could put tubes in if you really wanted to) including some lovely brand new qr's. Lovely condition, £130 delivered by hand.

I have quite a few Superstars parts on my bikes Hoopsie, no problems with any of them.

Mostly staffed by (very well meaning) volunteers with very little specific training in any area but access to a heap of books on various legislations, rules, terms and conditions etc.
I don't doubt they can help in various ways to some degree but the amount of times they've been on the phone to us while they have a customer on another line who have called them urgently because they have a bailif at the door asking us what the customer can do to stop the bailif.
In the first instance, why would I nake my job harder by saying don't answer the door, close all windows and doors AND curtains (they can't do a sneaky valuation of property then) pray you haven't left the car on the drive etc. and in the second instance, shouldn't you already know this if you're a CAB?

Business concluded but it's never a happy story.
Just in case anybody else is heading toward a similar situation, CALL YOUR C/TAX OFFICE if you even think you may have a bit of a problem. Even if you've not had a bill and are thinking you've got away with it or it will arrive soon. It could be lost in the system and ultimately, if the computer is registering issue and payments not being made, it's going to get messy.
I've just read the comment about CAB and bailifs dropping their fee's and not pursuing.
That's almost certainly because the bailifs for what ever reason have decided not to pursue (although I'd want that confirming by them if I was you) and I very strongly suspect it has very little to do with CAB. They're about as much use when it comes to the nitty gritty of stuff as Christians Against Poverty.

They are a private bailif company, not county court bailifs. They have to go to the county court to be assesed as 'fit and proper' persons to be bailifs and get the court seal on their license before they can be employed by the commercial bailif company.
The company then set their fee's per letter, visit etc.
Dukes and Marstons bailifs charge £125:00 per visit (per bailif) and £150 if they bring a van. It is rare that they will take goods (see previous post on here and email to you "Nulla Bona") but if they do, that visit alone is £150 per person (2 people) and £150 for the van. £450.
One of out bailif company's is based on Merseyside, we're in Cheshire. They wouldn;t even submit tender for the work if they could only charge county court bailif fees.
The council(s) are obliged to ensure that the bailifs they put under contract keep their fees reasonable. I suspect the bailfs would like to charge a whole heap more.
He does however have to give you evidence of how the costs have mounted up.
One other thing you can do is contact the council and ask them for dates of when the initial bill was issued and and when the reminder(s) and summons was sent. They have to prove issue but not receipt ALTHOUGH I am aware that we **sometimes** reset recovery back to reminder stage from summons if somebody kicks up a real fuss. I believe there is yet to be a test case on whether proof of issue and NOT receipt is valid for recovery action. It's an area that councils don't want pushed as if it's ruled proof of receipt is required, that will mean recorded delivery for summons notices and a big increase in costs. That means higher council tax, more people going in to recovery….not really much help to you Mr Nutt but you never know.
I'm now officially late for work.
PS. No, they (council or bailif) can't apply interest to council tax debt.

Alex (& Steve Austin)
He's almost certainly not acting fraudelently and there very definitely WILL be a liabilty order. They can send it to bailifs or carry out any other recovery without the L/O from the magistrates.
If the years charge which has been passed on the bailifs (I'm guessing previous year(s) as we've only just completed our first summons run for 2010 – court date 10/06/2010 – we have just over 1500 accounts having L/O's granted on that day) has been paid in full BEFORE the bailif company made contact, the council are obliged to recall it and the bailif company have no costs incurred to recover.
If you've paid directly to the council AFTER the bailif company have made contact. they will still chase you for fee's.
I have to go to work now….yes, to the Recovery/Bailif dept. Stockport Council.

They can only gain entry by peaceful means i.e. open door or window (see small window comment in the email I've just sent). Once they've been in, they have carte blanche.
Theoretically, they can only take what's yours but they will assume it's all yours unless you can prove otherwise. They'd REALLY rather not get in to taking goods though as it's loads of hassle, unprofitable in most cases and could end up with it being Nulla Bona (see your email again).
The best bit of advice I can give you is pay him in full if you can but keep all doors and windows tightly closed. Peaceful entry is the undoing of most liable people when bailifs come calling.
Check to see if you submitted a c/tax ben claim. The council should have inhibted the account if you did but then the inhibit would only cover the days where benefit was entitled. If the amount outstanding is for a period where benefit was not entitled, you'll be knackered. C.tax is calculated and charged on a daily basis.
They can't break in but if there is an open door or window that they can get through, they can and will.