Our local Neighbourhood Watch officer always advises us to ring them, no matter how trivial, if we think someone is lurking about without good reason. It may be nothing but it may be that other people have noted the same vehicle behaving suspiciously and they can build up a picture.

Miracles eh? Let’s take as a miracle what millions and millions of Catholics would call a miracle (or claim they do). Someone has cancer. They pray for a cure to Mary/st someone or they take a trip to Lourdes and the cancer goes away. They believe that God has intervened in their lives and made them well.
But has anyone who is missing an arm ever grown a new arm? No matter how fervently they have prayed, I don’t believe you could show me anyone who has ever grown a new arm.
So- either God has some unfathomable dislike of limbless people and refuses to cure them, or he can’t (in which case he is not omnipotent and therefore not God), or – and let’s invoke Occam’s Razor here – he doesn’t exist.

If a god does exist, and everything that happens happens for a reason, then what possible reason could there be for my wife and I losing our third child at the weekend?

Struth willard, that’s terrible, very sorry to hear that.

I remember seeing an interview with a devout Muslim who had survived the Boxing Day tsunami. His only explanation for what had happened was that “God was testing me”. God wiped out 1/4 million odd people as a test for his faith. Either that’s one solipsistic world view or one weird god. Was he testing the people who didn’t survive too?

don’t worry Martinhutch, he was near Windsor.

Edited! Blooming spellchecker was also insisting on Claremont Ballingry!

Thats an average of 12mph, sat there getting slowly closer to death, all alone in my tin coffin belching fumes

I had the unpleasant experience of having to get from the East of Manchester to the west in the rush hour. People do that journey every day, in both directions. My god, all that wasted time. What else could we be doing? Spending time with our families, learning a foreign language, cooking, enjoying the outdoors, inventing cures for cancer.
It’s bad enough having to go to work without spending 4 hours a day sitting in traffic for the privilege.
It doesn’t pay to think too hard about a lot of aspects of modern life…

the King’s Head
Black Bull
Marquis of Granby
Queen’s Head
Duke of Wellington
Grey Horse
The Bell
The Crown and Anchor

I see mention of “the olden days” when everyone had a job and there was no welfare state. The same “olden days” when if your husband was killed in the pit you also lost your income and your home? We know what society was like before the welfare state and it stank.
Don’t forget that people had to stand before charity panels to be judged on whether they were workshy, feckless or immoral. The poor have long been blamed for their own poverty, by people whose wealth was often dependent on keeping other people poor.

Putoline

I fitted some Stronglight guards to a CX bike this week and they look very good. Not over-generous with their mounting hardwear though, unless my set was missing some.
http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-track-bike/mudguards-road-stronglight-mudguards/stromudr200

Frodo and Bilbo discuss routes down Mount Doom.

You lot!

^bah!

More capitals needed.

Puts people grumbling about mountain bikes causing erosion into their proper perspective :-S

Best: Jim’ll Fix It
Worst: Jim’ll Fix It.

Actually, the worst was those ballets based on Beatrix Potter they used to show at Christmas.
And Emu.

Thanks schnor and ninfan, yes the Roman Road is a fair bet, but there’s also no reason at the eastern end of the track to suppose a change of status. Old OS maps attribute no status at all to that bit, though tHe paths joining from north and south are marked as FPs. I would argue that OS had marked the path west of ESh Hall as bridleway, and intended that status to apply along the whole length. Come te Creation of the Definitive Map somebody argued successfully that the eastern end was a footpath.

I see no helmets.

Bells, perhaps?

Yup, and you’ll notice the bridleways heading south to Hag Wood and to Heugh are also blind.
The question is, in a theoretical sense, how do you demonstrate which of these footpaths is/are unrecorded bridleways? Is it enough to say “well, it must be at least one of them, let’s choose the most obvious line?” or do you have to go through the rigmarole of producing historical and/or user evidence?

Lots of useful input folks, sorry to keep you all speculating. Here’s the link to the definitive map:
http://www.durham.gov.uk/definitivemap

From the drop-down list, select “Esh”. Once loaded the interesting bits are bridleways 22 and 34, and footpath 60 around Esh Hall. If you search around you will see the bridleways all lead to footpaths.

You will notice that another bridleway, 33, heads south, straight through the complaining woman’s garden. I think I may have to go and ride that until she orders a helicopter to come and lift me out.
I had a look at the OS historic maps as well which don’t shed much light. The 1923 map shows22 as a “BP” (Bridle Path) leading to an old drift mine; but gives no indication of its status beyond Esh Hall.
There are no parish boundaries involved.
ninfan –

the local enclosure/1910 finance act maps

– any idea where these are to be found? County records office pr’aps?

The drive is not an adopted highway by the way. I checked on the online map.

I will try to post a link later when I get home.

If I’m correct in assuming the paths looks like: –
BW Drive FP
xxxxxx| |——

It is BW drive BW with the added interest that the drive is also a FP joining perpendicular. It is very hard to tell from the definitive map whether the BW is continuous but the fact that the 2 parts have different numbers suggests that they are not.

“These people.” Now there’s a phrase I dislike.

Landing a modern parachute is like stepping off a stool. Just discuss it with your instructor.

Me. No sight nor sound of it, other than to say I have registered.

Where’s the Blanga? Eg. hawkwind because it goes, Blanga blanga blanga blanga

Anyone who is at a loose end as a result of the trail closures, you could help marshal the car parks. Alll proceeds to the Hamsterley Trailblazers. 8am start at the Grove.

I filled up at a service station in Marshfield, near Bath. The free plastic gloves only had 4 fingers. I said to the cashier, “what kind of Mickey Mouse operation is this?”

we use Aldi’s own.

Probably better to change the chainset for a compact than upgrade to 11 speed – solves the ISIS problem too.

Actually, if you don’t like the look of any of Elizabeth’s heirs, there’s plenty of precedent for just getting rid of them and getting someone else in. You could almost call it traditional…
William Rufus: Killed in a hunting “accident”
Edward II: murdered
Richard II: deposed, murdered
Edward V: deposed, murdered
Richard III: Killed in battle fought to depose him
Henry VI: deposed, possibly murdered
Charles I: Deposed and executed
James II: Deposed
George V: euthanized

With apologies for any I missed.

Moderator! Xmas thread in September!

She’s done the job well but even if she’d been a terrible queen we would still have had to tolerate her.

He still answers to the name ‘Ovlov’.

😀
A member of one mtb club is known forever as “kickstand”, because he came to rides with such an accessory on his bike.

+1 for Aviva, cover up to £1800 per bike and they were falling over themselves to pay out when we were burgled

Thanks folks! Looking forward to that bit with the Shetland pony.

I stopped using it on my road bike as it soon turned the whole transmission black.
I’ve been experimenting with a few dry lubes and have been surprised to find Weldtite TF2 dry to be the cleanest and longest lasting.

We had a really nice meal at the Ship in Mynytho.
The Coastal Path is very good walking.
Loads of quiet lanes which are great for a leisurely bike ride.

I was like this from age 9 or so. I was in my late 40’s before being diagnosed with anxiety. It was all the same stuff.

Wait until his inevitable premature death, then tapdance on his grave in your cleated shoes.