I would recommend going out and getting really hammmered! It will relax you, you'll stop worrying and the morning-after headache you can explain away by comming from the hangover and nothing worse than that! Sometimes the more things you try to use to cure a stress related thing (if this is the likely cause) the more stressed you get!

I've sent off all the paperwork to the council now including a letter describing the business in detail so they will get an idea of what it is about and how it is run. Will see how it goes. I might re-word the website to make it more clear that we aren't a mountain bike centre but really welcomes mountain bikers.

MartynS- follow the link on my webpage under mountain biking and it will take you to Mountain bike skills courses website. I've only got one space left on Saturday's beginners course so if she prefers a smaller group (less than 6) then I would advice choosing any of the other dates available.

We also have a meat slicer, a rocket launching kit and a English bentside spinnet….I'll wait for the rush of bookings…..

Maybe we should have a singletrackworld camping/sleepover in my house/garden type party. Now that would make her appreciate the quiet times at least! And of course you are all my personal friends and I'm obvioulsy not charging you so I might not be braking any rules either!!

epicyclo – love that idea! She already has double glazing but funnily enough changed the roman blinds to venetian blinds so she could keep an eye out for any guests!

TheLittlestHobo- I know where you are coming from and in the first few months when we started it was evident how expensive it was going to be to run a business. The home and contents insurance is over £1500/year! When environmental health came to inspect it costs us another £400 to get the necessary equipment to comply etc. As far as I know we are ok now so maybe you are right I should just let the neighbour baarp away which she is exceedingly good at! Another neighbour has thanked us for distracting her away from them so they don't get it in the neck anymore!

Horatiohufnagel, yes I'd love to have mountain bikers come and stay but unfortunately they don't seem to come in pairs (only double bedrooms) and want to mountain bike in the Peak! Of all the guests I've ever had only two has brought their own bikes to do some cycling!

Just spoken to the council and they seemed reasonable enough about things so will just put it in writing now and send it off! Hopefully that is the end of that!

bruneep, I wish I was joking!
To be honest this neighbour is primarly angry about the B&B (none of the other neigbours are thankfully) and the mountain biking thing I'm sure is a way of trying to close the B&B down. I'm quite upset because to please this lady I'm deliberatly turning people away that try and book to keep the visitors down. So in the last few months we have been quite quiet with occupancy of about 2 nights a week and I thought this might have pleased her….and then I got this letter! Very annoying!

Thanks for the advice. I'll see what the council says when I speak to them.

We have just come back from a trip to Wales and used our new bike carrier for the first time. It was absolutely superb which you would expect from looking at the price. thule towball mounted carrier

My Bianchi mountain bike is a MUTT. Thankfully I only ride it in Italy.

Hurrah for the good news! My email is in my profile. Let me know if I can do anything to help!

The way to solve this problem is to rinse them in plenty of cold water before attempting to peel them. This will shrink the egg and the shell will come away from the egg much easier.

Do you remember the ride you did with me a year ago in New Mills/Hayfield? Well, I would imagine the route will be similar in style but maybe even slightly harder as there are even more hills to climb. Will be good fun though but it depends on how fit your mates are!

nbt- can't see the photos (internet is too slow!) so I can't tell if p. 23 can be describes as "tired and emotional" but I never make false promises and I wasn't too tired to remember what I've promised and the offer is still there. I'm more than happy to help organise another event and if more people had helped in the past maybe terrahawk and harry-the-spider would consider doing another one, because there sure is an awful lot of work to do!

I did the Evans "Ride it" event in the same area on the same windy day and saw a lot of you 100km guys. Did the 43 miles option with a staggering 1500 meters of climbing! Fairly hard going up the Snake pass in that wind!! Almost had to pedal to get down to Glossop on the other side.

A friend of mine had problems cancelling because they won't cancel your subscription while you still have a DVD on the go. So you need to make sure that your "list" is empty and you have returned the last film and they have received it before cancelling.

My dog always unties my shoelaces when I'm going really fast down a descent (even if I'm pedalling) and when untied she pulls the laces and tries to drag me off the trails! Definately exciting going for a ride with my dog! (Been looking into velcro shoes….)

There are professional dog walkers and daykennels available for people who have full time jobs. If you are prepared to pay for these services then why not get a dog? A dog is a wonderful thing to have and I ended up changing my career completely because of ours and haven't looked back since!

I have the same ones as rotary (sixsixone race kneeshin armour) and they are indeed very comfortable and work extremely well. I hesitated buying them as they didn't "look" comfortable but I'm so glad I did. Even on very long warm rides you completely forget you are wearing them. They even fit well on my very skinny legs! Can't recommend them enough.

If a dog starts nipping at you while riding just stop suddenly, put your feet down and don't look at the dog, just ignore it. They very quickly loose interest in you. Most dogs that I've come across aren't nipping at you because they actually want to hurt you, they just get very over excited by cyclists for some reason. Kicking at it will just make them even more excited (I've tried many times with my dog who loves trying to untie my shoelaces on every ride, a habit we are slowly getting ot top of I'm happy to say!) Stopping will also make it easy to have a word with the owner if you feel that you have been scared by the dog or the dog has done some damage to you or your bike and/or let the owner catch the dog to put the lead on. Trying to pedal faster will just make the dog even more tempted to follow you!

I've had to get past some very nasty threatening dogs while riding in Italy and getting of the bike, walking past slowly looking the opposite direction has worked very well so far!

You can always take the train to Stockport (2 hours) for some great riding in the Peak District, same as theFlatBoy did

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/is-my-plan-ridiculous-can-you-suggest-better

I have rescued the biking glasses left at the quarry. I'll bring them around to your place next time I'm in Marple, nbt.

Mushrooms – we used to collect them in the forest and if there was one close by I was always the one to find them due to my obsessive fear. I think it was the presence of maggots in them that freaked me out more than anything.

Also balloons that had gone old and wrinkly were absolutley terrifying!

Do I get a prize for having the slowest internet?

I only get 120 kbps download and average page load time is 17.96s!

I'm only 10 miles from Manchester, but somewhat off the beaten track….. I don't think they ever will remember to upgrade us!

Yep, it is in your head. I'm very fit and very light and the only thing I have struggled with sometimes is keeping up with people on road sections especially uphill. I call it "tarmac fatigue"! And the reason for this is that it is boring! Recently I have started either just go along at my own pace and think about other things to stop it from being boring which means I'm last up the hill or use the same psycology as for a difficult off road climb and attack it mentally (forget that you are tired, you are not, it is in your head!!) and then I'm one of the fastest! Same bike! Just different attitude. Stop thinking you are slow, you are just bored!!

About 6 minutes off-road downhill on the bike (in the car it takes up to 15 minutes as I have to take a long detour!) but after a whole day teaching people skills the climb up back home can take 20 minutes! Not complaining though!

My Fiat Panda 4X4 is ridiculously slow! But it absolutely loves the snow! Gets up anything, including our very twisty, steep and icy drive! Beats the Discovery 3 easily!

Went sledging on Sunday and my husband broke a rib and today was the first time he has been able to walk outside the house because of his injured ankle! His foot could easily feature in an episode of Waking the Dead, it looks so terrible. So needless to say he isn't sleding again for a while. I love it though but admit I don't bounce as well as I did as a kid!

Thanks for that! It seems quite clear now. At least I don't have to rush out before Christmas to get an accountant!

Thanks crispy bacon. Does that mean that I don't have to worry about actually paying the tax in until in about a years time? I'll make sure I've got plenty saved for it by then.

Yes, I've let HMRC know.

Anyone know of a good accountant in the Stockport area?

His mother gets briefed every day at the school gates by the teacher to be told of all the naughty things her son has done. Not sure if she does anything about it though and if so what she actually would do!

TenMen- you are so right about the bleating. That is what this kid does all the time, as soon as anyone does anything to him he immediately run to the teachers and grasses everyone else up and the teachers seem happier then telling the other kids off because at least they listen…..

Also the authority from the teachers seems to be lacking. My husband had a meeting today with the mum, bully and head teacher and thought the kid looked scared when meeting with him. (My husband is a big bloke and can look quite stern and scary when he wants to) maybe that would have send submininal signal to the child to back off. You can only hope!

I know what people mean when they say ignore it and let the bully call you all sorts. They have been told to tell the teacher but all the teachers do is give the bully a final warning….again and again and again. Not a good rolemodel for how justice is served in my opinion. Since this isn't the first school that have "failed" with this child maybe to hope the school will solve anything is fruitless. Thankfully we are in a different catchment area for high school so at least in a 1 1/2 years he will be rid of him!

I'll give it until after Christmas and if my son is still complaining about the bullying we'll try and do something about it. I think getting together with the other parents might be a start.

My son is very tough and has played rugby (second year full contact) for 4 years although he is of very slight build. He has shown a lot of restraint when called all sorts of names but occasionally has lost it with this boy, although not really hit him as such. He is in a group that are all bullied by this boy and they seem to support each other. We are fortunate enough to only have one bully in an otherwise perfect little school. As one teacher put it to the wellbehaved kids when complaining about the bullies disruption to the class " in a bigger school you would have at least 4-5 of his type so be glad we only have got one!"

Sounds like I'll tell him to go for it next time! We have already spoken to the headteacher (who I actually really like) but at the meeting she was moaning that while investigating this particular incident they have had to get a supply teacher in to cover her class which costs money. Poor excuse in my opinion. It is only a rumour but apparently the only reason while this child is still in this school is because a relative of his works at the school.

Never knowingly idle.

I've got the Trimetal bike store. It is well made. Nice opening mechanism. Took quite a while to put together but worth it. Feels quite secure but would recommend using a ground anchor to chain the bikes too. The only issue with it is that it isn't quite long enough to take XL mountain bikes. My husbands large frame bike only just fits in. We can easily put 3 bikes if you loosen and twist the bars on one of them. I would still be reluctant to put my nicest bike in it though so it still gets taken into the house to be on the safe side!

I thought the cost wouldn't be too bad before we got our dog. What I didn't expect was that it accelerated my plans for leaving work and I more or less ended up with my dream job because of it! Mountain bike skills instructor and B&B owner! Finanically more uncertain but much more fun! You can't measure the cost or gain in money with pets, once you have got them that is it! You will adjust one way or another to fit in with them!

Sibillini mountains in Italy. Pretty much unknown mtb territory and a great adventure!

I would search Google and use Google Maps as they display the B&B/hotels based on location. Quite a few reviews attached to them too. You'd have to phone/email to book though as they won't have the online booking service which is so impersonal anyway.