I saw her on the first night of her tour last year, about this time of year. It was in a small venue (The Thekla), her car had broken down en route so she was late – but it was a fantastic gig. She’s got a great voice, smoky songs, and had people humming along after one chorus of some new songs. She deserves it.

More complex is not the same thing as “better”, for life forms or for man-made mechanisms.

As for “can you give me an example of something evolving into something simpler please”

If (for instance) you regard having legs as being more complex than not, then the change of primitive dogs to sea-lions, elephants to dugongs and whatever-it-was to whales provide some examples. Or lizards losing legs and becoming slow-worms.

If weak and slow animals are predated on more than faster ones, then a species will probably evolve to be stronger or faster.
Humans will change, but we won’t know the direction of the change. Taller and cleverer ain’t necessarily better. (Tall miners die more often. They get stuck and can’t work as well in tight spaces.Over a couple of hundred years of primitive mining, average height of miners dropped in mining areas)

They sit unused in many peoples’ cupboards – we got one free from Freecycle in case we didn’t use it, but it’s so useful for stews & so on that it’s prob worth buying something new. Bigger is better.

Cold wet rain in Bristol

I know the Sustrans lawyer slightly. He says he really enjoys it.

Persian (Farsi) is written in Arabic script, but it’s not related linguistically. I would recommend Farsi as there are fewer speakers in the UK.

or cycle to Barnstaple instead.

The steam train station in Norton is only a couple of miles from the main line. Check out their services – you might be pleasantly surprised

…oh. They must be the sole distributors for the new cut-price 10-speed lightweight Rohloff hub.

Fred – aahh, the ignorance of the southerners.

The “Leeds” area, as you call it, is also part of an industrial axis covering only slightly more area than the M25, going across to Manchester & Warrington, and has about 15% of the population. Hardly insignificant, but it’s given much less weight than than in the national news.

In answer to the original question: Nah.

Because the poor and dishonest can buy great nicked bikes cheaply, and loads get nicked.

I was being (semi) serious – years ago when I was going out with a very demanding woman, she discovered that not washing her armpits and other bits a) would make me keener and b) was worth another once or twice a night.

08:15 and nowt in Bristol.

If you want an f-me scent, just tell her not to wash for three days.
It works for me.

:-)

Except that Total is a French company, and (is or was, I think) partly owned by the French govt. So why should they employ Brits more than Spaniards?

I have been paid twice in similar situations.
So yes, start work asap

Robbie in Swindon?
That’ll keep Aleigh happy. :-)

No thanks, mos.
It doesn’t appeal to me, I’m dull, boring & vanilla, and married.
And very content

Give me time (!) and I’ll send you an MP3, if I can find it…

And I thought the thread title was short for “Calling all ladies – Fat Simon’s Back!”

They don’t think you are interested. They think that perhaps one or two of the millions of people to whom they have sent the same spam, might be interested. They’re probably right.

Alternatively, someone’s analysed your interweb searches and put 2+2 together and gotten 56.

There’s enough free stuff out there for you to find without paying, – or so I’m told. :?

THe “acidophilus” part of the name indicates they like acid conditions (like those in the stomach) so they are not killed, and pass on down to the lower guts, where they displace the bacteria which cannot handle some polymers such as dextrans, so you fart less. Which must be good.

and we’ll warn the sheep, too.

3 ideas / recommendations:
1. PLane to Nice, train to either Sospel or Entrevaux (differnt stations, different train co.s) Take a hotel and walk out, using the 1:25k maps or the guide books.
2. Chemin Stevenson, in the Cevennes. Nice easy but lovely walking, good cheapish hotels, but go after the spring rains. Awkward for travel.

3.http://www.walking-europe.co.uk/Italy/pisa%20to%20lucca/pisa%20to%20lucca.html

If you’re into paying all that much, why not just get a new SS frame from On-One or the like at not much more?

Drunken 3am texts and phone calls

As above, both Babelfish & Google (& Systran) produce gibberish most of the time. It’s OK to trnaslate TO your language, but not FROM.

Always do a reverse translation before writing anything to anyone else.
I think you need to either find a friendly bilingual native or pay someone money.

Thanks, Fred/Az – wonderful.

I hope you’ve learned to map-read by now! :wink:

A polite letter back, saying “sorry, just entered into a relationship, but just in case, what’s your number?” So she’s easy to find if the current dating breaks down

Ah, that’s called being “Nice”.
It means you don’t react when you’re treated a little bit badly, so people think you don’t mind, so they treat you a little bit worse, and worse, etc.

Then you get so fed up you have to put your foot down, stop putting up with it, and they think you’ve changed / gone all hormonal on them.

Sound familiar?
And yes, being a bit more assertive is the answer.

Anyway, Aleigh, I’d say you are quite good at making new friends as well, so you’ll be fine.

£7 / hr in Bristol.
3 hours should be enough for an Ean. Private has worked out OK for us, with references from friends.

“-ough” has 8 different sounds, I think.

AS for the “be arriving” – the use of the future continuous tense indicates that the arrival will be a process and not instantaneous. That said, there’s no practical difference in the two verb phrases.

I’ve only dropped a couple deliberately, mostly it’s just drifting apart.
But one guy I did drop because he’d turned into a money-obsessed bore contacted us again last month, and he was OK again.

Perhaps you’re not tolerant of others’ faults?

And, – how does one “shake off” friends? Tell’ em to eff off? Or just ignore their invitations?

The “Estate” is all his and their jointly held goods.
Bank account, pension, house, etc.

My condolences to you and to shreck. It’s a tough time.

Just south of Alton Priors. It shows up nicely on Google maps / satellite view

Good idea. PLus twos would be more flattering, though.
Whay aren’t they for sales in LBS’s??

The Barge Inn at Honey Street, near Pewsey.
It’s on the Kennet-Avon canl path (cyclable), behind a pub, nice n flat. Just watch the kids don’t fall in the canal.

You will look like a prat, especially on a Brompton or cargo bike.

Somehow, I don’t think this will worry you, so go ahead.

If you want warmth, I recommend a motor-cyclist’s balaclava which sill provide full head insulation and will fit under a helmet. There again, that won’t look suave and city-slicker-like, either.

:-)

apparently Fox News openly mused about whether he was legally president after the fluff. So the additional ceremony prevents any further nitpicking speculation.