Sirlickalot – yes, I see what you mean.

surfer – I’ve just read that quote too …the poor thing, how utterly sad and heartbreaking for her loved ones.

how about if it were a british national commiting the same crime in another country

Well you’d be at the mercy of that country’s legal system and would be punished accordingly.

I think the leniency issue is valid …4 months in prison for fleeing the scene of an accident in which a young girl was killed does seem lenient, especially if the child is your daughter.

I think that some kind of face-to-face meeting between the 2 parties would allow the deprived father to express his grief and anger and seek closure.

Well, the point that the understandably bitter father, Mr Houston, eloquently made in an interview that I heard was that Mr Ibrahim is saying that he has a basic human right to be with his family in the UK, yet he has denied Mr Houston the very same through his actions. He also suggested that Mr Ibrahim had fathered children to help his continued residency in the UK.

Mr Ibrahim has allegedly shown no remorse or offered an apology to Mr Houston.

It’s a sad and tragic story but it has nothing to do with his nationality, his colour or his ethnicity despite what the rightwing media might lead you to believe. Mr Ibrahim has served his sentence and is free to return to Iraq with his family, although that in itself is complicated due to him being a member of a persecuted minority in his own country. He is also now free to stay in the UK.

If the decision is wrong then the law must be wrong. We either change the law or accept its shortfalls; it’s not a one size fits all kind of thing.

Personally, I think the decision to allow him to stay is the right one.

Hmm PeterPoddy …I’m not clear how spending £2.5k on a Ford makes my suggestion of buying a potentially more reliable car for less than half that ‘utter rubbish’, but hey-ho! if that’s what you think. I suspect you were in an Autotrader searching frenzy and misread what I wrote?

I was actually going to suggest a Civic – say a 1.4 with c100k miles for about £800.

Comme ca

So, Hora, in reply to your question: it seems that you might want to buy quickly once the Toyota’s gone and of course it’s up to you, but I wouldn’t spend £3k on a car if I could spend <£1k and put the rest into an appreciating asset, ie. my house.

Spend at least £2k less on a totally reliable but totally unfashionable Honda/Nissan/Toyota and renovate your house more quickly?

Television – Marquee Moon album is solid gold classic
Captain Beefheart
Zappa

Sorry for your loss Hora.

Joyous!

I tend to night ride alone mostly, it’s brilliant.

TJ, I applaud your generous, caring spirit.

I spent a truly dreadful night camped at a midge-infested bog of a wooded campsite just outside Kyle of Lochalsh in the late 90s on the promise that I’d be likely to see one of these wee fellas. Yep, you guessed it …not a peep!

According to a very short clip on R4 yesterday James Taylor says that Chapman had ‘button holed’ him (Taylor) in the street the day before Lennon was murdered, ranting about how he was going to kill Lennon.

In April 2000 I spent 4 weeks in the hospital with a comminuted fracture of the left distal tibia – yep, 25 fractures in a piece of my tibia about 1″ long, just above the ankle. And I broke my fibula too, but apparently that doesn’t matter so it was ignored.

4 operations and 1 Ilizarov device fitting later I finally escaped once I’d proved I could walk up a flight of stairs on crutches. Just the act of swinging your legs over the side of the bed after nearly 4 weeks supine was an effort.

5 months later and I was back on two feet without the scaffolding attached.

My left leg is still sore.

Yep, HTN place booked this very day – can’t wait. And I’ll be along for the pre-ride on Jan 3rd too.

The Brownbacks series looks good, might be a bit advanced for me and my level of fitness (little) and style (varied) but I can work on both of those, plus I have a history of offs at Lee Quarry so I’m scared!

Clayton Vale looks interesting.

Cheers.

Based on the fact that the NW is chocca with bike riders I would have thought that this would take off, providing it’s pitched at the right market, which I have no doubt it will be.

I want to do some races in 2011, never having raced before, so I am definitely interested in a local race series. In fact it’d be interesting to be involved in some small way if you ever need a hand.

mdb – I have one, it’s a bog-standard 2010 (Feb) in L and hasn’t been used since June- it is in fantastic condition and is for sale at a good price.

I’m also 6’2″ and the L is a perfect size.

Drop me a mail (in profile) if you’d like to discuss.

Cheers,
Iain

I live in sth Manchester and have a similar foxy dilemma. So far I’ve resisted, I wouldn’t know when the fox will be around and so wouldn’t want to attract other, less welcome critters by leaving food lying around, then there’s the argument about the fox becoming reliant on you so you’d have to keep up the feeding and then when you go away you’d feel guilt blah blah.

Foxes are resourceful animals, leave it be.

I’m not clear how

quite seriously racist

and

It’s not a type of racism that will pop up a lot (probably never)

can be reconciled.

First of all, if they are willing to talk, listen to them and try to understand their POV. IMO it’s no good to be challenging and indignant unless you understand the source of their beliefs. Once you understand why they seem racist then you can judge whether it’s right wing nastiness or a weak mind or something else that drives them.

If they won’t talk then leave it for a while until they will. If it upsets you to be in their company knowing them to be racist then unfortunately you have a tough choice to make.

Don’t forget, we’re all products of our influences. Sometimes it takes much thought to see where those influences originate and how they can unwittingly affect our behaviour.

I hope you can sort it out.

Trois Poisson …good skills. I love Django, he was a miraculous player considering his left hand was badly damaged. Gypsy jazz really is something, especially that crazy Rosenberg family; I must make an effort to listen to more.

Today my favourite is …Deerhunter.

Tomorrow, who knows?

2 minute microwave sponge pudding …2oz flour, 2oz butter, 2oz sugar, 1 egg. Cream the butter and sugar, add egg and mix in, add flour and mix to smooth consistency. Lightly grease a Pyrex bowl with butter, pour in mixture, 2 mins in microwave on full power et voila! Simply loosen the sponge edges with a flexible knife and turn out onto a plate; add ice cream or custard to taste. Or make a toffee sauce …butter and muscavado sugar. Or make a chocolate sauce with butter, a little sugar and cocoa powder.

Hmm. Maybe Pay as you go phones don’t come with a mail app pre-installed and will only allow mobile mail.

If that’s the case I’d suggest that you speak to Orange direct. It might be best to avoid the shop route as they are all franchises and usually can’t match what Orange direct can offer.

I’ve got a great £15 month Raccoon plan over 24 months with unlimited internet. OK I’m an existing Orange customer but the same plan with the shop was £25 IIRC.

You don’t need to use Mobile Mail, you just need to set your email account so that it POPs.

Log on to Yahoo, or whatever mail provider you use, and set your options to enable your mail to be POPed and save. Then on your phone fire up the Andriod email app, go to settings (button on LHS usually), choose add account and fill in the email account details and that should do the trick.

HTH

That seems about as reassuring as I can hope for …me and MrsNaranjada are heading up to Peebles for the weekend tomorrow.

Thanks.

If many were honest with themselves they’d admit they change cars either as a “status” thing or through boredom with the current car. Neither are worth flinging money at to “solve.”

+1

suspension has started to make knocking noises but nothing too serious

…on a 3 year old car? WTF?!

I’ve just sold an 02 Focus and replaced it with a lovely 98 Honda Civic Aerodeck with 80k miles that cost £1500. I don’t anticipate needing to change it for at least 3 years, it should be reliable because it’s mechanically simple (in comparison to some modern cars) yet very well made, and if I keep up the maintenance and servicing (which I will) it’ll still be worth something (£500-800) in 3 year’s time even if the miles are up to 150k at that point. My only complaint is the fuel consumption, down from 45+ easy to 35-6 with care.

I’d say get off the nearly-new car every 3 years conveyor if you can because you’ll look back one day in the future and regret what it has cost you.

Late 90s Japanese metal is where it’s at.

I’m not sure if DVLA will provide address details. I worked for Autotrader for a while, they use a webservice that would return V5 details, including address, to build their advert details but it’s not publicly available anymore AFAIK.

As others have said, a polite note will usually suffice. If the car owner’s not an idiot you’ll get a reasonable response; if they are an idiot then it matters not how you approach the topic. I find there are fewer idiots than we think there are or that the tabloid press would have you think there are. The majority of people are OK.

If someone is selling what you want at the price you want to pay then you take that as a start point and use common sense and care to do the transaction. There’s always a point at which you feel exposed, but who in their right mind would trade >£100 with someone they either hadn’t heard of or didn’t know of, or who they had failed to make any kind of connection with?

Of course the best scammers will be very convincing, I’m sure. Caveat emptor and all that.

Feedback on the FS post is a good idea but only if people use it.

You GO Bobba!

Like (I think) Kate Moss said, ‘…nothin tastes as good as skinny feels…’ …a wonderfully insightful phrase from such a dullard.

Regarding the smoking, there is some good quality help out there that’s free. Start by cutting down, have your first smoke later in the day, try roll-ups as they’re far less convenient – just little strategies and small wins to help you. I’ve heard good things about aversion therapy, NLP too. There are qualified folk who could possibly help you rein it in or even quit with one (admittedly excpensive) visit.

Good luck with all of that.

Totally. But you must include the glottal stop for most annoyance.

Going forwards.

I know a young lad who has Cystic Fibrosis and though he’s not lactose intolerant, as such, he has found that no dairy = less phlegm so without the dairy he has better respiratory function which is v.important to him. He treats himself to soya milk & cream as a substitute, but does so sparingly because the problem with alternatives is cost. If you’re intolerant I’d suggest a life without dairy and its alternatives if possible.

The less dairy we consume the better for the animals too. I come from a farming background; despite what the industry might tell you dairy cattle have a hard, hard life.

I’m always slightly perturbed when asked ‘what music should I listen to?’…if you’re into music you won’t need to ask because you spend time to go out and find it, you go to gigs, you listen to Marc Riley Mon – Thurs. Most of what people go to the trouble of posting (on here) will be missed or ignored because you will get ALOT of people adding their 2p, and sorting the wheat (Joan as Policewoman) from the Chaff (Biffy Clyro) isn’t easy, but then you did ask. Music is a deeply personal and often divisive topic.

My 2p spread bet of old, recent and new:

Field Music
Deerhoof
Dirty Projectors
Smog
Sonic Youth
Rainer Ptacek
Giantsand
Lightning Bolt
Throwing Muses
Everything Everything
Low

It’s a good idea but probably difficult to implement and police.

The problem with taking the restrictive standard approach that tomthumb previously suggested, ie

it is self policing really.
only buy from people with long history, only buy from people whose name you know from the bike/ chat forum. don’t buy form people whose history looks like this
£
£
£
£
£

…is that none of that is clearly defined. How long is long enough? How can I tell if I ‘know’ somebody? What’s wrong with buying from people who only sell if you have a good transaction and get the goods you want at the agreed price?

I don’t post much on STW but recently I sold an On-One Il Pompino on here and the buyer went to the trouble of starting a +ve rant thread to say how chuffed he was with the bike and the efforts I made to get it to him in one piece.

Just use care and common sense.

I regularly consider buying a van to replace the car and each time I return to the same conclusion …Toyota Hiace. Granted they ain’t pretty, but they are robust and very reliable.

Most modern vans seem to be nicely styled but suffer with poor reliability; failed dual mass flywheels, failed clutches, failed gearboxes etc. From what I have read the Hiace is about as dependable as a vehicle can be.

You should be able to find one with c125k-150k fully serviced for less than £3k.

I think it was copied from Great Rock’s logo?

Cycle Gear (www.ukbikesdepot.com) have some deals on Genesis – 2010 iOiD for £879 – Reynolds steel, Rockshox Recon and Alfine 8 speed – low maintenance and a nice spec’ IMO.

Or if he fancies full-bounce and he’s tall I have a Feb 2010 Specialized Pitch Pro in Large for sale that’s in his budget and is in lovely, fresh, standard condition. Email in profile if you’re interested.

Are the BMW bikes nicked licensed Whyte designs?

AFAIK the BMW suspension is more or less their Telelever design which in turn is the Hossack design as used on the Britten – one of the most astonishing motorbikes ever IMO.

Anyway, the idea is that the braking forces are concentrated horizontally backwards into the frame, therefore preventing the forks from diving and also allowing a pretty constant steering geometry; what’s more the suspension can move freely whilst braking. The system rides very well and rewards a smooth style on a motorbike, not sure how that translates to MTB though.

How nice of you to do this Adam, it’s much appreciated.

As you know me and the Pomp had been together for 7 years so it was hard saying goodbye. I’m glad it’s gone to a good home.

Wishing you miles of smiles.

Yes, depends on technique and how much material is being removed.

Bike shop or a local engineer’s workshop is the best bet.

I’d advise some sort of lubricant (a drop of unused engine oil should do), a firmly secured frame, a comfortable body position above the job and a totally square entry into the hole.

Allow the tool to cut.

Don’t forget that alu really is soft.

Snowslave – yes you can if you go to the right of the pile (if it’s still there) and into the little gully descent to the top of the zig-zags. Just follow the tracks left by others.