Normal. My lab is 7 and will still play fight with younger dogs that want a go especially my dad’s dog but she is in charge and will shut it down if it gets too much. She’ll do it for maybe 20 mins now but as a pub it could be hours.

Rinsing it now!! Just came top of the leader board for the first time. Mostly medic and an occasional scout. Enjoying playing Rush the most at the moment but may get into some longer games now I’ve got the hang of it.

There are 2 other pet insurance threads recently. I recommended animal friends but in single-track fashion my suggestion was shot down with a link to bad reviews.

I hadn’t appreciated what real flu was until I got it last March. At 35 years old I was knocked flat and in bed for 2 weeks with fever, delirium and night sweats so bad I was going to bed with 4 towels to wipe down with/lie on. It was 4 weeks till I was 100% and I had a weeks holiday lying about in the sun at the end of that period which probably helped.

Or go down the animal shelter and they’ll soon be smitten with whichever one does the best sad eyes and waggy tail from its cage.

Past doing the most environmentally sound thing at the least expense possible I couldn’t care less what happens to me as I’ll be gone.

My post has also been edited to remove the word that was in the title. The word which I beleive also means idiot. Wouldn’t have thought it was a banned word but why hasn’t it been stared out rather than just removed as my post makes no sense now

Out of interest I thought I’d put petplan in to the same review site. It gets 2.6 vs the 2.1 out of 5 that animal friends gets. I believe the premiums for petplan are much higher than animal friends so on balance it may be much of a muchness. For anyone interested it costs me £28 per month to insure my 7 year old lab.

never heard of animal friends so thought id do a quick google. this was the first link i found.

ok, theres bad reviews of any company if you look hard enough, but i didnt really have to try too hard for these to crop up.

As you say you can find bad reviews of most companies if you look. Particularly insurance! I’ve claimed a few times from them for emergency out of hours treatment of a broken leg and a couple of other more minor surgeries and they have been great. The xs is low and my premiums have increased very little over 7 years. I spent hours researching which product and company to use as so many pet insurance policies have clauses or limitations on what they pay out. I went for gold cover as they pay out for lifetime illness and have no upper limits on amount they pay. I read some of the bad reviews and looks like there’s two sides to the story on the first few. We have no idea what level of cover those complainants selected.

Not sure who the are in the guardian that you refer to but from reading that article the only I could identify were the people working at the home office who rejected the application. Utterly ludicrous and the only thing they didn’t comply with was sending in their passports which they needed but sending in solicitor approved photo copies instead which were meant to be acceptable.

Surely off road down hill mountain biking, particularly more technical rough, steep stuff is strength training? I answered honestly and got a 10 and i’m no saint. I admitted to choosing hard cheese and snacking on crisps etc but I do get very regular exercise of both types and don’t smoke and but drink 3 times a week.

Animal friends

Going to Cape Verde in January for some sun and surf

X box one and it’s getting a lot of use! Really getting the hang of Battlefield online now!

If you want flavour and quality get a whole free range turkey from the butcher not a crown. If you really don’t need that much meat then get a chicken, goose or duck which will have even more flavour and moisture.

Coming down hard and cutting him off/kicking him out is not the way forward. Do not try to tell him to stop doing drugs and that they are bad because as others have said they are very common and a lot of fun in the right circumstances and if not out of control. Dealing is a worry so maybe a soft approach telling him it’s his life if he wants to experiment with recreational drugs at uni but that he could lose out on future employment if he gets a record for dealing.

My parents were very liberal and never banned me from anything but educated me and let me follow my own path of discovery so drugs was not taboo to me. I may have dabled back in my 20`s but was far more moderate than some friends who’s parents would have freaked out if they knew. After a period all that late night clubbing and staying in bed feeling rough and low the next day really lost its appeal and relatively clean living is where it’s at now.

If it smells ok should be alright but maybe cook it very well. If it’s higher welfare and good quality you are less likely to have nasties living in it.

Sharing food with people I love. I don’t do guilt trip Christmas with people I don’t like I chose a select few I want to be with or I go abroad sometimes. No pressure no stress.

Sour dough is resting in the fridge ready for baking in the morning and the ham is in a pot ready to be cooked tomorrow. Any good glaze recipes?

Lol I remember that. Hopefully some equally amusing this year.

What the hell is a face mat thing?

I can always tell a post is from chewk before I see the username…

Just made my 1St sourdough. Bit of a drawn out process but omg it is the nicest most flavourful bread I’ve ever had. A real umami quality so really nice with just some cornish butter. I posted on here awhile back about how to get a bread with more flavour and lots mentioned slowing down the proof by putting it in the fridge overnight and this really worked.

Buy good organic flour and keep it dry

That is the best news I’ve heard all day!

My partner before I knew him moved to SE from Belfast for a new job. He didn’t really know anyone here and family all in Northern Ireland or Scotland. The first proper friend he made was from posting up on here asking if anyone could show him the local trails (Surrey hills). That person became a good friend and had other lovely friends and since I met my partner they are some of my favourite people who we go on riding holidays with etc.

I also used to feel a bit lacking in a social scene before I met my partner and really got into riding. I joined my local mtb group and have loads of friends through that and have the opposite problem now of juggling all the potential events/invites. Weekly rides, dig days, weekend trips to Wales and pub meet ups to sit around and talk about bikes and riding. My non bikie friends tend to suffer a bit as it does take over rather.

One other thing I recently had quite a bit of spare time in the week to fill and was feeling a bit lost and aimless so started volunteering at the local rspca. Lots of nice people to chat to there and loads of lovely dogs to walk and cats to stroke. I come back feeling great from my weekly visit there.

Well off out of there. I hope he finds a nice supportive boss next.

Is this the puddle at the bottom of van goghs missing ear? There is a line avoiding it if so

Short climb back to reservoir :-o that one kills me!

Just started on this last night and haven’t played a doom game since I had it on pc in the 90’s and can still remember jumping out of my skin when finding a monster lurking round a corner and that brilliant monster groan they would emit. This feels quite different to me less eerie more action packed. Enjoying the menu system for all the unlocks and mods but not feeling the fear in the game play but it’s early days. Will enjoy switching to this for a bit of light relief from intense Battlefield.

Absolutely gorgeous!

Me too

[/url]beech1 by My Ti[/url], on Flickr[/img]

[/url]HPIM0377 by My Ti[/url], on Flickr[/img]

[/url]07012010214 by My Ti[/url], on Flickr[/img]

Bit like those miserable walkers who don’t want us bikers around. Live and let life for goodness sake

Bog off the dog thread misery guts^

I have swype

Can’t say I followed those rules as didn’t know them and my lab is a great trail dog 7 years on no issues and can happily run up to 15 miles. Everyone thinks she is a young dog as she is so bouncy and energetic. Think she would have been climbing the walls with 25 mins a day. First ride was about 6 months old though only a few miles.

Was awesomenes! Like summer but with better grip. Lots of new trails about too!