@Dickyboy – I’m about 10 miles NW of Reading. Is it the station carpark you use at Perivale? Would there be spaces at around 9am? Is this the car park you mean near Marylebone flyover
http://www.q-park.co.uk/parking/parkingid/2128

@jota180 – just checked splitting it at Slough and it is a bit cheaper, I guess it might take a bit longer

Wow, not traveled into London on a train for about 10 years! Just checked the price and it’s £45 return from Reading to Kings Cross, if my missus comes will be £90, so leaning towards Borehamwood again!

Hi All,

Thanks for the tips!

Need to get there for 10am, so will be traveling at the worst time.

Will check out the links+app + option of Euston/Paddington provided above.

My son can be a bit lively hence not wanting to be crammed in on a train/tube for too long during rush hour, but maybe the top deck of a bus would keep him entertained for long enough

The cat now thinks your house is part of it’s territory.

You need to urinate in the corner of every room. Not a lot, just let a little bit of wee out in every room.

My 4 year old has already done that several times over, so looks like I’m covered

Yes, let it out straight away. I’ve seen it in the garden before so I think it is a neighbours cat.

Done a smell test in each room and I think I got away with it.

They do a 3 year warranty for £90

I guess that is an option but not sure how good that would be and if you’d have to send it back to Hong Kong.

My other concern would be if some of the features were different between a UK spec and an Asian model.

Ridiculous – it’s not like he is about to sit his GCSEs next week.

At 4 years old all they do is mess about in sandpits and pour paint over each other. It would be far more educational and stimulating experience for him to go to the TDF.

As a kid I had weeks off every year to go on holiday even into my teens.

I’m sure the teachers aren’t really bothered but I recall they have to report unauthourised absences to the local authority, so it it better to just say they have a doctors appointment etc., then you are not putting the teacher in an awkward position even if they know/suspect you are going to the TDF.

Nanny state gone mad

Just checked and….

Official UK 6D with UK warranty etc. is £1229 from Jessops.

HDEW = £1200 (import, their own warranty, but UK shop)
Digalrev = £1079 (import, but give their own warranty)
SLRhut = £899 (import, leap of faith, PDF only manual, but HUGE saving)

70D is £599 in SLRhut and £750 for a UK sourced official one

I must admit I’m tempted by the SLRhut price, just would have to hope it didn’t go wrong!

Seriously turn it off, it will only make you unhappy.

Ps 53k would be take home, you’d need to earn over £80K/yr to take home 53K.

….. sorry couldn’t resist!

Gas, really? Just go inside and use the hob.

Mmmm, the point is I just want to go outside and use the hob/grill.

Not denying the charms of the charcoal BBQ as stated in my first post and may also invest in a charcoal weber as my current charcoal one is on its last legs.

What I’d like to do is do a lot more cooking outside during the summer maybe 4 or 5 days a week, including cooking the kids tea so I can keep an eye on them while they play outside and gas would be a lot quicker and convenient and my clothes won’t stink of smoke/lighter fluid/petrol and I won’t have to get the washing off the clothes line beforehand.

Thanks for the groupon tip.

Leaning a bit towards the gas webers though.

anyone know if the q1200 stand easily detaches so you can also use it as a portable BBQ?

Some invaluable advice in the video below.

I wonder if you could just buy a burner that you could temporally place inside a charcoal bbq.

Then you’d have the best of both worlds. Satisfying the primal instinct to cook with fire, but when you just want a quick BBQ without the hassle then place a burner inside where the charcoal normally sits and away you go.

Seems to be a lot of thumbs up for the webers, but it looks like they take special canisters rather than plugging into a standard gas bottle. Doesn’t that get a bet expensive and I imagine they don’t last long?

If you are saying you will get it every few years then warfarin seems a bit OTT. Someone I know has had it 3 or 4 times starting in his 20s but not lasting more than a day. No AF for the last 7 or 8 years now and no meds ever taken.

Thanks for the continued advice

I did some testing today…

With bars rotated forward in the stem which raises the grips (which I thought would improve things), it is worse, numbness + pain within 15 minutes – realised that up sweep means more pressure on outside of hand near little finger but rotated the other way with grips pointing down it is definitely better, but still not 100%.

I’ve come to the conclusion the Ergon grips (or Specialized equivalent) would solve this.

Just need to decide which ones Gs or Gp and whether to get built in bar ends. Never used bar ends before – are they worth the extra weight/cost?

Most “military” land is common land that they temporally borrowed during WW1/2 for training.

Unfortunately they forgot to give it back.

Thanks for the tips.

I’ve rotated the bars forward slightly which has raised them up a touch and lowered the levers, feels a bit better but wont’t be able to really tell until I go for a ride.

Those ergo grips look good, I notice halfords stock them and I recall they have a 28 day exchange policy so might get a pair to try out. Failing that the salsa bend 2 bars look like they have a decent amount of sweep, ideally I’d like to try something a bit wider but they may be the best option if the other things don’t work.

Hypnotoad – just googled them, that is some serious back sweep, looks like 40 degrees or so!

Think they maybe even a bit narrower than my current bars so would be good if there was something a bit wider with not quite that much sweep.

An Audi Q7 in white, got to be pretty near the top of the tree in the hierarchy of twatmobiles.

I hope they get locked up for attempted murder.

you are contributing to the destruction of habitat and the loss of native species

ermmm, no.

On second thoughts, I’m actually preserving the habitat, providing a tasty treat for the bugs and critters that will go onto feed the birds and mammals and generally increase the diversity and wildlife. Redressing the balance of all the thousands of gallons of pesticides and weedkiller that are pumped into the countryside every day. Those selfish gits who put their banana skins and apple cores into plastic bags and take them home should be ashamed.

devils advocate a bit here, but if a paper bag took only a few weeks to decompose would you be happy screwing it up and chucking it in a hedge when you’re finished? or is it just food that’s OK?

Good question but No, because paper could blow back onto the trail/path and be visible and I think it takes a lot longer than a few weeks to decompose.

you are contributing to the destruction of habitat and the loss of native species

ermmm, no.

I chuck them in the undergrowth. But then I pick up “proper” rubbish too, restoring balance.

+1, spent a few hours last month when on holiday on the south coast filling a dustbin liner with all the rubbish on the beach so don’t consider myself a litter bug.

….willing to change my ways however if my banana skin experiment in my hedge takes more than a few weeks to disappear.

Thought they would be gone in a few weeks and if in the undergrowth not visible is it an issue? On a cold mountain I can see it could take much longer and if visible that is obviously unacceptable. Will chuck one in my hedge tomorrow to see how long it takes.

I don’t really see the issue if they aren’t visible, e.g. long undergrowth away from a path, trail etc. I wouldn’t chuck them where they could be seen by other people obviously. Surely a lot more environmentally friendly than putting them in a plastic bag, taking them home and them ending up in landfill?

Same inconsistencies in the pics of the Kona he is selling – some have water bottle cage some don’t.

What year is your 5 series?

I’ve got some BMW bars and 2x lockable bike carriers I’ve had in my garage for the last 3+ years that I keep meaning to sell

With the 30quid trade in evans are doing I could get a 29er disc myka for 370, looks ok.
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/myka-disc-29-2014-womens-mountain-bike-ec053422

Brant, you couldn’t afford the upkeep and maintenance.

Badllama, would be a plan if her feet would reach the ground.

Thanks for the suggestions! Keep them coming.

May go and check out Snellsmore or phoenix trail this afternoon.

I did take my daughter around the fire roads at swinley last year but she was nearly taken off by a strava pilot so hoping for something a bit quieter. I have been to the local playing field a few times but looking for something a bit more interesting

Misses had them a few times and worked very well and worth it to confirm diagnosis, however it usually returns within 4-6 weeks. Other half now had op and it has permanently gone

Just make sure it’s got a Buck Rogers toilet, an “extender” and a 24hr mini-mart round the corner.

Ah-Haaaaa

Spot on yet again

Thank you sir!

I genuinely wish you luck with that, but for reasons I explained above you will need a lot of it

I’m under no illusion it is likely they will pay for this, however I do have a few things up my sleeve I can bring into play to try and persuade them.

He hasn’t claimed on his insurance has he

True, my NCB is not affected and my insurance company are not even involved – dealing with the third parties insurance.

Just to clarify my risk of having an accident (fault or no fault) didn’t suddenly increase on Sunday after this muppet smashed into my car, my risk of another incident is exactly the same, but what it has done is reveal that statistically (in the insurance companies eyes) my risk is slightly higher. ( and this higher risk was present before the accident)

This is because it has put me into the category of people who had suffered a no fault accident and within this category will be a higher proportion of fraudsters who set up no fault accidents, people who genuinely can’t park, park in risky areas, go to retails parks every day, dither when pulling away from roundabouts etc. etc., hence the higher premiums. Of course on an individual basis there will be people within this group that are very high risk and people who are no higher risk or even lower risk than average but the average risk will be higher across the thousands of people in this category.

For the sake of a 5 minute email I will try and claim a few hundred quid for the increase in premiums I will suffer, I’m not sure i will be successful but I do hold a few cards up my sleeve so we will see.

Surely this should be on the list

Chew – As already mentioned, I already had the renewal letter with the price before the accident, they explicitly said it would increase because of the no fault accident. I still keep all my no claims bonus because I haven’t claimed but the underlying premium has increased as a result

scaredypants – most car parks have a high proportion of minor accident due to the volume of traffic in a small aread, however even taking your argument of a very safe car park with no collisions this doesn’t matter as they aren’t working on individual cases they are working on the overall population of car parks which statistically will be (on average) more dangerous than you drive.

It’s not that I’m happy about any of this, I’m losing out remember and I’ll still be putting in a claim to the 3rd parties insurance for the fact that their policy holder has unfairly re-categorized me as a higher risk driver and my premiums will suffer as a result.

Junkyard – if you accept the more often you park there the more likely you are to be hit then you are halfway there.

Just need to understand that assuming a 50/50 split of drivers that either go to the shops once or twice a week then if there were 300 cars in a car park consisting of drivers that go to the carpark once a week (group A) and cars that go twice a week (group B) then out of those 300 cars 200 will be group B drivers (higher risk) and 100 will be group A drivers (lower risk). Therefore if you get hit in a car park you are twice as likely to be a higher risk group B driver(in this theoretical scenario) and twice as likely to be hit than a group A driver and 1.5 times more likely to be hit than a mixed group of 50/50 group A+B drivers (the general population)

Simples!

As regards not having a drive then your insurance will have already been loaded higher – it’s one of the questions they ask (where is the car kept – on a drive/street)

They do not know this they only know it was hit and past events [ as I assume we can all assume this was random or near enough anyway] dont predict future events – gamblers fallacy and all that

Yes they do, from all the thousands of previous cases they have analysed. The thing to get your head around is the difference between your own individual circumstances – (in this case I was unlucky and generally go to retail parks less than most people, so in reality I am a lower risk than most people) and the overall general risk of people who have already been hit in a retail park which means they are statistically more likely to be parked in one rather than safely parked up at home.

See the explanation I already posted below…

I think the logic goes something like this…..

If there are 2 sets of drivers, group A go to the retail park once a week and group B go twice a week. Group B will therefore statistically be hit twice as often in the car park as group A who leave their car safely on the drive at home.
(Even though group A and group B drivers are both good drivers and park equally safely)

The fact I was hit means statistically I am more likely to be a group B driver (even though from an individual perspective I hate shopping and rarely visit the places)

As a group B driver in the insurance companies eyes I am more likely to be hit again and in some cases the third party may disappear leaving the group B driver to claim off his own insurance therefore increasing the risk.

It is, but the insurance company is now aware that her car is more likely to be hit at a retail park.

Is that true ? I mean really true that your unoccupied car is hit it is more likely to be hit again ? I am struggling to see an actual causal reason here tbh. perhaps you park really badly???

Not strictly true, no more likely to be hit in a retail park than any other car, but the fact is statistically it is more likely to be in a retail park than another car on their books.

The insurance company could get an equally accurate risk adjustment assessment by walking round a retail park taking notes of registration plates and loading those premiums.

The problem is they are going off the statistics based off hundreds of thousands of claims not off my personal circumstances where it is just bad luck I was hit.