@dooosuk Thanks very kind offer! I do have that book however, its in a pile with a few by Gina Ford, a couple of gentle sleep ones, some by self proclaimed baby whisperers and a couple of weird looking American ones. All marked must read when have spare moment (nine months and still waiting!)

Thanks for everyone’s comments this thread has made me feel better, with out actually making me feel better

A friend of ours had a rule “What ever gets said in the night is forgotten in the morning” seems appropriate.

She is just trying to crawl at the moment and eating more substantial amounts of solids, hoping when either of those get established things may change.

She did sleep 8 till 12 solid last night but previous nights this week was up every 30 mins.

I did under underestimate how hard it would be (you can see why sleep deprivation is a form of torture). However i’ve never regretted it for a single second.

For anyone expecting… a) you might get a perfect sleeper, b) even if you don’t the good times far outweigh the bad ones.

the sleep consultants look interesting, i think i will ride it out unless it really starts to impact my job/relationship then have to try a different tack.

Thanks Again

That’s a lovely post if I may say so. Our first since 6/8wks old has slept through the night (is 14 mo), waking more regularly only when ill. Reading this thread over the last few days however, has put the fear into me about number 2 being a ‘nightmare’ by comparison haha. Don’t know why i’m doing that to myself but the above post brought me back some sense and perspective! The good definitly outweighs the bad, so i echo the above comments to those new dads out there!

top tip: don’t ever let your mum do the dishes. Mine insisted on doing so after we had them round for Sunday lunch.

I’ve not been able to find anything in the kitchen since

Genuine lol there from me. Has happened to me 3 times by the Mother in law, who of course, has diplomatic immunity on such crimes. I have to suffer in silence when I need to peel potatoes. Its not right.

Just checked my phone specs (BT 8500 phone) and the blocking feature seems to be called “trueCall” rather than Call Guardian. Sorry for any confusion.
I dont see why trueCall wouldn’t work on Sky. All it needs is the caller id enabled on the line. Everything else is done on the phone side. Might want to either disable the voicemail or 1571 service if you want to use the phones built in answerphone.

an elderly family member of mine used Call Guardian until recently and having been a BT customer, had purchased it as a service on his line- though i think youre talking about a device or handset type that has this ‘truecall’ functionality. its similar to CG as far as i know, though im pretty sure CG is a feature exclusive to a standard BT line regardless of handset type.

don’t think you can get Call Guardian with a Sky phone package?

Bloke with an e-bike came out on our local ride a few times.

He’s got a throttle on it so he doesn’t have to pedal up hills.

Only person I’ve ever known come on an mtb ride in jeans – he never works up enough of a sweat to make them chafe, I think.

wow. i don’t know whether to be depressed or impressed reading that lol

Film him with a cam mounted on you? That would show the alleged speed difference you’re claiming if he is achieving 30mph on the flat past you without pedalling.. which for an ebike seems unlikely. I suspect they’d be keen to view the footage. Word of mouth won’t get far with that kind of trivial complaint-from their POV- I would imagine.

A handful of nuts

OP’s own? That’ll take the mind off the chocolate right enough.

It’s not strictly the same, but this thread brings back memories of an ex colleague who when asked ANY question, always prefaced his answer with a weary “its one of them i’nt it?”

ONE OF WHAT?!

The question is this: Given that God is infinite, and that the universe is also infinite… would you like a toasted teacake?

lovely bit of classic Red Dwarf there. As it happens, the voice of Talky Toaster was played by the actor who first played Kryten before Robert Llewellyn.

Thanks people
Quicker drying would be an advantage as my current 5-10s take days even with newspaper stuffings

the 2F0 has a ‘honeycomb’ style fabric construction for the upper which aids drying massively in my experience- never had to go down the newspaper route. They also have good toe protection too.

Although I did suggest that her pins on the pedals were quite worn down. Might be a different story with the 2FO and new pins.

I found the grip great with Saints in the longer pin configuration, but as an experiment decided to buy a handful of 12mm allen bolts and with those, the grip was insane-never went back to the original pins after that. So pin combination and height is a valid point you’re right-though that applies to all pedals really. The portion of the pin protruding from the pedal body with spacer in place is, from memory, in the region of 6mm-they are savage but really gel with the 2F0. Horrific slop this weekend and never slipped a pedal.

Specialized 2FO. Love mine, v light, v quick drying, stiff enough for higher mileage on flats and the sole is great.

is there a consensus on the reliability of their carbon bikes from the recent model years? I’ve read a few crack reports but not sure how truthful that is and whether they’re any more reliable or not than any other producer.

for me the TuesAL in black is lovely looking and indeed a bargain.

‘Assembly is the reverse of removal’ – That’s my favourite bit. (From Hillman Imp 1970)

I’ve not read that one sadly, but I like the sound of that. The chapter on brake light cluster removal on the 308 (esp the line about circlip pliers!!- those who read it as a 13 y/o will know what i mean ;)) still resonates with me as an adult. They were very different times mind you. Tried the Audible version recently of the old C1 Manual as a free download. Not the same, narrator was very distracting- particularly his Northern Irish accent which to this day i still don’t fully understand the reason for. Its a French car ffs!

Haynes Manual: Peugeot 308 petrol

Read it. Preferred his earlier work.

I tend to agree. It’s a little sluggish you’re right, but It’s full of twists to keep it interesting. Less sweary than the seminal ‘Haynes Manual 2009 Citroen C1 Petrol though which if I’m honest, was a disappointment.

Haynes Manual: Peugeot 308 petrol

And, I don’t think anyone has specifically mentioned them even being a ‘status symbol’ – it’s just a tool for the job. Some people might think of them as status symbols, but they’re the same people mentioned above who think that having a new car on the drive somehow elevates them above their neighbours….

I’m not interested in debating what people spend on other items in their life- this thread is about prams right? That point has already been made, as if i was un aware of the parallel.

I’m just offering the suggestion that to those out there who – just as i was not so long ago – might be looking at the mounting costs for setting up their home and life for their precious bundle of joy, that they needn’t think that they have to shell out such a huge amount of cash on as you put it, a “tool for the job”

Same thing could be said about anything though; a £500 road bike does the same thing as a £5000 one for us mere mortals who wouldn’t notice much difference.

People have varying degrees of money and attitudes to things; some people including myself like and will pay for well made things have don’t fall apart in a year or two’s time.

Maybe so, although there are several examples in this thread alone of instances where buying ‘the best’ on the market has proven to be misguided purchasing. I couldn’t justify it i know that much. If others can so be it, good luck to them, but i think a reality check is lacking in many new parents who see all these prams and assume they have to do the same. You don’t. It’s depressing as f*ck.

“I agree, but try telling that to my Wife.

Do you buy all your stuff second hand though? Bikes? TV? Car? Phone? Clothes?

People buy new stuff. It’s hardly surprising that people want to buy nice new kit for their shiny, precious new child to use, is it?

While I would have preferred to have spent £100 on a second hand buggy for our daughter & put the £400 saved into a savings account for her (or other sensible spending option), my Wife wanted to get a new buggy.
And to be perfectly honest our daughter is likely to be our only child so within reason, my Wife could have what she wanted….”

well no, I don’t live in a yurt and buy only second hand if that’s what you mean, but all I ever heard from society about having a child was… that it’s expensive. If anyone has the spare cash for it then that’s fine, i guess that’s my TS right?

It’s just struck me as crazy generally that the pram of all things has become such a status symbol. It just seems accepted that you have to budget HUNDREDS for a pram when the time comes, when if people wised up about their priorities for 5 seconds they’d realise it was total BS. My wife shares my values on parenting expenditure so perhaps i’m lucky in that regard- although of course I believe you when it comes to that stalemate..of course that has reared its head, it happens to all of us. My own sister 10 years ago got some Bugaboo thing and guess what? it fell apart and she sold it 5 months later for less than a third of what she paid for it. I think it was £800 RRP! I know i sound like an asshat, but its one aspect of modern parenting that seems so out of touch. Its a pram.

I cant believe the £££ being casually thrown about here! we used a 2nd hand Mammas and Pappas MPX travel system, travel cot, carseat/upright seat, and wheel thing for £70 the lot on a local FB sales thing. Its been bombproof. I know this righteousness wont end well in a msg board on the internet but ffs, the culture of fashionable prams is absolutely ludicrous.

Many thanks for the varied replies guys. I think I have to date at least 29 different perps, including my wife apparently. Will set about narrowing it down soon.. Last night’s repair work didn’t show any poo in the shallow holes, but it did seem that the majority of the holes were in fact at the base of the plants I mentioned- the red stemmed Cornus alba (cheers John Drummer) exposing some root material.. so it appears whatever it is is after the roots of the plants. No bulbs panted as far as I know as the developer landscaper did the work. Boring old rabbits perhaps?

It’s almost certainly not a mole btw as someone mentioned. I know a mole hill when i see it. The mulch is being dug out from the top (2 to 3 trowel fulls), and the patch is NOT turfed so thankfully I’m not seeing large scale damage as shown above..

I hope to catch the damn thing in the act, so I can at least know and possibly think of a deterrent- getting a thorny hedge in there would be a good excuse to buy plants i’m thinking. I’d be quite ‘happy’ if it was a badger, as i don’t think i’ve ever seen a live one in the wild.. but i know they can be very destructive. The developer who we’ve got a good informal relationship with btw, has not had any reports of damage to any neighbouring gardens and i haven’t yet asked neighbours who are all a friendly bunch I’m pleased to say.

Apparently one neighbour had a problem with a horny and overly territorial Robin aggressively damaging their car resulting in them covering their car mirrors and windows with towels at night… must be in the water.

Yorkshire89 that’s a great suggestion! as is the NV cam…

“Get some Pyrocanthus in there sharpish!”

cheers! suggestions for aggressive bush welcome. In every sense…

i should say also i am a lover of all animals.. but not when they do things like this! i don’t want to impact on neighbouring pets too but its puzzling me as it seems to have happened out of the blue, and is now a nightly occurrence. it wouldn’t bother me but i put a bird feeder out the back and not a sniff. now i’ve got f*cking Wildebeest at the front running amok..

no hedge yet- its a new build so although planted, its all new growth so plants that were put in are small and the largest plants are slender and deciduous (red stems and variegated foliage, name escapes me). My intention is to get something in there to formally border the patch as i’m fairly happy to get gardening.

heh, that’s hilarious. Yesterdays technology at today’s prices.. thanks for the answers though.

“..don’t forget to look at where you want to be, rather than what’s under your front tyre, and try to relax.”

That is top advice right there. I agree that knocking the tyre pressure down a bit will help considerably- your tyres are great despite the above sarcasm.. its worth saying that these sections of trail are the ones where well dialled suspension comes into its own too, BUT relaxing the upper arms and fettling the tyre pressure will help greatly with control. Learning to correctly un-weight each end of the bike when required pays dividends in these situations too i find.

I don’t know about this Scorton place (I’m not from the NW but live there) but it appears it was more a case of serious stealing to order rather than typical opportunist behaviour. With £80,000 worth of bikes, they must have been all of a fairly high spec one would think. Is the aforementioned cafe a well known roadie hangout?

went looking for some nasal hair clippers, ended up buying the company.

alright. i’ll wind my neck in.

@nickjb the mechanism of the damage, to his bike (or your curious pickled eggs…) isn’t important here- the way that he was treated IS. You mention yourself you wouldn’t trust transporting your bike in a similar way so surely shouldn’t this lack of trust in the company be the issue? Should we not expect a certain level of treatment and not just put it down to some other guy’s tough luck and ‘shit happens’?

“…don’t feel the need to apportion blame to someone else for everything that happens” thats cool, but its CLEAR AS DAY he has been treated especially badly in this instance. I think its perfectly reasonable to expect some wear and tear when transporting heavy fragile goods-and to take precautions but the state of this is terrible and beyond what i would consider reasonable.

wow. If anything I’m impressed at the steely level-headedness of the STW members here who place so little care in how they’re treated. I’m glad you’d not be fussed if something like this happened to you, I really wish I could just bend over and let a company treat me like that.

“I’m not normal then. That’s a damaged bag. War crimes, child exploitation, people trafficking are horrific.

I think it’s an Evoc bag. I’ve used one for 20+ flights with no issues. If my bike was damaged like that I’d be damn annoyed but then would claim on my out-of-home insurance.”

good for you. The point of the story is the company’s treatment of the matter. The story makes clear the bag was in perfect condition if we’re to believe him and the photo’s all point to damage sustained TO THE BIKE that is WELL beyond what he could have reasonably expected. They, Air Canada, refused to see that as their problem. I think in the context of piss poor customer service, the use of ‘horrific’ is justified here. No one is killing babies or conducting “War crimes, child exploitation, people trafficking” that is true, but lets not inflame the discussion with BS comparisons like that..

“i’d be a bit annoyed, possibly even miffed, but hardly my ‘worst nightmare’…”

seriously? give me 5 minutes while i ask this bin lorry here to reverse over your bike and then drag it a mile down the road.. and then tell you ‘sorry man, nothing to do with me’

i would agree that perhaps a bad injury should be considered a nightmare for any cyclist but this incident is clearly horrific to any normal person.

If anyone wants to gawp at tits there are plenty of places to do that (for instance, skype)

er….Skype? the global VOIP service Skype? wow! who you been caling lately? :lol:

kidding aside, @nach, your post is spot on btw. Also, the phrase “…cant we just admire the female form?” mentioned earlier on is an absolute embarrassment in 2015.

cats make me happy. i don’t have any of my own right now. my life is shit.

This thread has been a roller coaster but so pleased for the OP and her tenacity. I hope the prick gets nailed for it! I’ve only had one bike stolen but had the misfortune of watching it happen right in front of me.. bike was never seen again. Not a pleasant experience. hope the OP keeps us posted on the outcome(s)

You can con the one last go gods by saying “two more goes” but only actually doing one.

this is amazing.

“Wow! Hear that loud swooshing noise? That’s the sound of you missing the point by a country mile…”

You are mistaken. The inference appeared to be that blurring out a woman’s breast, regardless of the context, was some how ‘inappropriate’ or in the case of the OP it “..really annoyed him”. This tactless suggestion is what I took exception to, and I couldn’t let that pass.

If it was a comment on the production style/values of the program makers, then his comment could have been made more eloquently. It certainly seems others above share my view that decency should be upheld in this context. Seeing her bare chest would have been an unquestionably unethical thing to do imo.

, and the rear seat passenger was holding the top of the drivers skull in his hands.it has been taken off by driving under the rear edge of a recovery trucks rear deck!

that. is. gnarly. 8O