I've spent quite a bit of time in NYC and don't think you need to be worried about suddenly finding yourself in a bad spot. A good guide book will get them to the best places; they'll probably stay around mid-town, towards the bottom end and Upper East and West Side. The subway is fine – I sometimes used a fun pass which is a one day pass. I did manage to get lost in Central Park though….

To be fair…if you're not used to driving on snow you're likely to not be so good. I tried to be sensible by leaving plenty of space, driving smoothly and not so fast but that just resulted in people coming up close behind me or moving in front of me on the motorway. Not so bad maybe but if I'd lost control they could have crashed into me.

My Grandparents used to run a shoot; always had gun dogs.

Tried a bit of intensive breeding…

But you share your bag with Bingo for warmth reasons surely?

It seems to be worse in some parts than others:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8425718.stm

My mate's wife works for Microsoft in Reading and many had to stay in the office overnight.

Forcing?

I often speak to people about cycling – I'm perhaps even evangelical about it. I imagine I can be seen as quite rude when talking about people that refuse to walk or ride anywhere and are overweight and unhealthy. I've converted a few to the world of cycling but others think I'm a bit odd…. Luckily no-one thinks I deserve the sack.

I'm surprised at how conditions have varied so much over the SE. I'm in Leatherhead and all looked fine yesterday so I went to work in Rickmansworth. No problems though there was more snow on the ground in Rickmansworth than at home. The only reason for me to go in is to be with my colleague as we are able to work from home but he didn't go in. I decided to leave at 4pm and saw that snow was falling heavily and worried about getting up the hill from where I'd parked the car – I struggled but a gritter appeared and I managed to follow it up the hill. M25 was OKish then the snow turned to rain around the M4/M40 and barely saw any snow on the roads after that. But I hear of major problems not much to the west of where I was; I think I was lucky really – staying at home today. Supposed to be driving to Shropshire tomorrow and unsure how sensible that is.

I had a similar thing to white101 – a Barclays bank account last used in early 90s had a statement so sent of the details but they have no record. Crazy really – didn't they have computers in the olden days?! Anyone would think that banks are deliberately dishonest….

I've no thoughts on the rights and wrongs of this matter, but I'm curious as to why you'd ask permission to pray for someone. Surely if you cared and felt it would make a difference you'd do it privately anyway?

Well she probably would but Christians like to pray with each other.

Anyway, if it had been made clear that she shouldn't do this, and that her job would be at risk, then I suppose the action would be appropriate. Every Christian I've met is essentially pretty caring and would have thought she was being helpful. Obviously the intolerance that's out there is shared by some here.

They are fairly similar

I'm not sure what the atheist equivalent of praying is but if Dawkins offered to do that then that's similar to what she did – she didn't comment negatively, and not strongly, on the family's non-believe

Whilst I attempt to save energy and recycle and what-not my wife is less interested – and when she turns on the 2000w heater I do wonder if using a few less 100w bulbs is really gonna make much difference….

Can we send Dawkins round her house to tell her kids about how stupid their parents belief system is and she can let us know if she objects?

That's not exactly the same thing now it it…?!

No! Though I remember being confused as to how he knew I'd gone to my Gran's….

Some kids are scared of Santa?

I changed the dimmer switches to normal ones in the 2 main rooms downstairs when I put in CFLs – though they seemed to work OK with the dimmer switches. My sitting room has 6 wall lights and was silly bright IMO when I moved in – now just use 3 of the wall lights with CFLs and that's fine for us; they're below 20w I'm sure.

BillMC – if she said that the girl would go to hell if she died so she'd better start praying then I'd agree with you.

I suppose it depends to a degree on what actually happened in the house but it's hard to imagine her aggressively forcing her beliefs onto the family – so I imagine she just brought it up and it seems a shame that we have to watch what we say so much in case someone's offended. Would this be the same if someone at my office offered to pray for someone else at work who was ill?

Or does it have to be their official role? I mean you couldn't complain about a priest offering prayer could you? Object, perhaps, but not lodge an official complaint. Many priests see it as their business to visit people in their parish and offer assistance to those that might need it.

I'd like her to go on that I'm a Celebrity prog – she'd get picked on by the viewers like Jordan did (so I hear…).

I don't understand the problem – Americans have guns right? That's what they do. Gotta respect a man with a gun – dis him and you get killed right? So they have a fair society with everyone respecting each other and those that don't get weeded out.

Probably just pull the auction at the last moment.

Have they not agreed to donate to charity as a compromise? Certainly the seller is in the wrong though – always get receipts!

Due to the curvature of space you could actually looking at the back of your own head.

Why is she looking after the payroll system? Should get a contract with a company (like mine!) to look after it for her.

I look forward to digging my car out of trouble with my Lidl folding spade….

For those with front wheel drive cars, try driving backwards….

I did this route back in June; not so close to Paris but flat to rolling hills mostly.

I got food from supermarkets and whatever I found in towns along the way and stayed at Formule 1 hotels which was perhaps a mistake – easy to organize but not usually in useful locations but that didn't really matter as only for sleeps.

How do the schools let the parents now that the school is closed?

I went to 4 schools and none were ever closed – 3 were fee paying if that's relevant?!

I now live 5 miles from where I spent the 1st 12 years of my life having spent 25 years away – kind of a coincidence as I came back for the Surrey Hills.

The accident on the M25 last evening for example gridlocked Chiswick.

What accident was that? I had a slow drive south from J18 yesterday evening but only saw a Ferrari being loaded onto a lorry – signs were saying car fire but I couldn't see anything.

And despite the fact that £29k doesn't sound like a staggeringly high wage to me.

It's all relative – surprised the Virgin Atlantic guys don't all offer themselves to BA at bargain rates….

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article6466748.ece

Not too bad in Leatherhead but my manager's on holiday so my colleague and I have decided to work from home…I don't fancy going on the M25 up to J18 as it'll be bad for sure.

I hear he's rounded the bolt again and regrets burning his bridges.

Sometimes it pays to give free help; I was surprised that a garage helped me take my car's punctured wheel off for free recently (stuck on alloy wheel) but in return I used them to replace the tyre which was about 20% more than I'd usually pay as normally use a cheaper mobile fitter. If they'd charged too much – whatever that might seem to be – then I'd have used a mobile fitter. So all good.

Always expect to pay for a service but ensure you reward unwarranted kindness!

I have a EL500 and did use that on the road at night but not enough in completely unlit areas really – I used it with a cheapish halogen light I had and together they were mostly OK. Not a lot of point adding to another light for off road use though unless your main light is really weak but in that case you'd probably want to replacement your main light.

I get excited about snow – nice to have a decent amount once or twice a year. I reckon trailrakers must be the best tyres – without going to metal studded ones anyway….

Snow's fun for the young but not so great for the old…or those with lengthy commutes to work – will I get stuck?!

of course the union mgt who decide on what strike action to take still get paid….

Live near a tube station that allows bikes all the way to Waterloo or Victoria – or an appropriate overground station.

Snowing steadily at The Tower.

V sorry about this.

BTW, I'm so paranoid about getting my bike stolen that I never leave it in the car unattended if possible and if I have to then I cover it up.