Watched yesterday for the first time, raw and thought provoking, surprisingly gripping and very convincing given its dated appearance.

That looks fun and hard :) , have sent a follow request on Strava to gain the route if I may.

The wife won our 25 year long game of mismatched cutlery warfare.

When we first moved in together 25 years ago she bought two brand new sets of cutlery. Lovely, job done, that’s us sorted in cutlery for the rest of our lives. Except she bought two different styles ON PURPOSE so we would have a  mismatched cutlery draw just like at her parents house, for some unknown reason she likes it. Luckily I spotted this in time to exchange it for the matching style. Potential cutlery OCD trigger averted. Every now and then over the following 20 years I would bring up just how close we had come to mismatched cutlery, we would laugh about it together…or so I thought.

Little did I know during this period my wife was planning an unexpected response.

Fast forward 20 years bigger kitchen, mysteriously one day a new set of cutlery (the posh set apparently) appears with a second cutlery tray. My wife now takes great pleasure in mixing the posh with the beater cutlery set at any opportunity so it now looks like her parents cutlery draw. She seems much happier these days.

How on earth do people manage to wangle the system to claim fraudulent benefits? The number of checks is unreal (and rightly so). DLA you literally have a 30 odd page form to fill out and need proof to support the claim from healthcare professionals.

Universal credit too, the range of checks is wide spreading with follow up appointments to keep the entitlement. Having recently been through this whole process (DLA,UC and carers allowance) for the first time for my wife you wonder how many people are actually fraudulently claiming DLA at least. It is not made anywhere near as easy as presented in the press.

I’m a self employed architectural designer that has autocad for 30 years on small scale resi projects, one off houses/barn conversions/extensions. I self taught myself revit to check whether it would make my work more efficient in the long run. I found it far too complicated for my line of very bespoke work especially on existing historic buildings. I would possibly use it for new houses which required detailed servicing such as passivhaus.

If I was working in a larger practice I would not hesitate to learn revit or a similar product purely for awareness/familiarity/employability.

For my recent bikepacking trip (Dorset 330) I fitted some cheap bar ends (short) to my rigid mtb and fitted them just inside of the brake levers, gives you a similar position to being on the hoods of a drop bar bike and can brake/use the gear shifter without much hand movement. Plus they dont get caught up in overhanging brambles/nettles etc that risk yanking the bars.

Thunderburt tyres (rear with an insert) are spot on too.

Panasonic 2500 working fine for 10 years here.

Make 3 loaves a week on the rapid 3 hour bake, the manual gives you recipes for the rapid bake ingredients, play around with different types of flour ratios and seeds to add variety.

I’ve got 2 mtbs with xt rear mechs and 52t Garbaruk cassettes. Both run fine, the odd back pedal can slip the chain off the big ring but isn’t usually a problem.

Just used my Genesis Fortitude race to ride the Dorset 330. Such a great and versatile bike, perfect for winter bimbling.

yeeaaa 2.4 is alright, keeps you on your toes!

Summer mode Rekon front and XR3 rear on lightweight Silt XC wheelset, for dryish singletrack and moorland xc bimbling. It feels proper rapid compared to the winter setup below.

Winter mode – Hillbilly T9 front with a butcher T9 rear (grippy but that rear is draagy AF so will change next winter) on EX1501 30mm enduro wheelset.

@kramer where did you get the 1030 from for that price please?

Ride on Exmoor, 140 fox 36 factory on mine at the mo with 50mm stem, coming from a 130 rs pike ultimate with 35mm stem, can’t say I’ve noticed a massive difference in climbing efficiency descending is improved but then I’m not exactly a DH demon. It has helped the pedal strikes. Also make sure your shock sag is dialed in well with the pressure this effects the climbing more than anything IMO. Might have to switch the forks back over just to see if there is more of a difference!

It’s an outrage. Oh hang on.

ghost poo when wiping unnecessary

Like emptying a radiator

Ooh there nice too!

https://7rbags.com/

I use Keen Clearwater sandals for bike packing when off the bike, light, packable and pretty comfy with their shaped foot bed and half decent grip.

East Exmoor ish here. Can report stoney generally well drained on most of the above treeline climbs i.e. Dunkery Beacon, top of grabbist etc (apart from heading directly across the moor on peat trail of course), below treeline it’s an absolute gloopfest. We had snow on the moors today and a massive downpour with hail. Perfect UK mtb conditions then :)

I installed a dropper on my scale about a month ago. It’s a 2022 frame, had to remove the bb as there’s an internal mini lip/shelf just above it that the outer cable binds on when feeding through for the first time. Not hard just a bit fiddly.

After years of cycling I randomly started getting a sore, looked like an ingrowing hair and was well painful. Tried all sorts, ended up going to the docs who said it wasn’t that and told to treat with tea tree oil and time off bike till it went away. He also said tilting saddle a smidge downwards to avoid skin pinching between bibs and saddle. Seemed to work for me, up until then I had never had a problem and that’s with a bike fit too. Still worth looking at setup.

Dedicated office away from family life if possible. Be strict with yourself, no checking emails answering or making calls outside of work hours assuming your job allows you to do this. Exercise breaks regularly, one thing I should do more of. If you get a gap in work and it’s quiet don’t feel guilty for doing non work related items to fill the time instead. Remember you’re not on call 24 7( unless you actually are of course). It’s great, listen to what you want on the radio. Can be easy to over procrastinate i.e. this forum, wiggle deals etc so a good working day structure helps.

Radio 6. That background music that fades in and out as the host chats away, namely Steve lemacq etc. Does my head in! Must be getting old.

A decent bed and mattress. Much to my annoyance at having to spend a bike worth of cash on one my wife was right.

It may also be worth contacting MCS and explain the certified MCS installer has left you in the lurch, they may contact the installer and raise the query. Bit of a longshot but worth a call.

As someone who owns a Daikin ASHP (with PV no batteries) on a well insulated house, after installation I had to spend a good few months dialing the settings in. Our heating engineer just wasn’t interested in fine tuning the system and impossible to get hold of. So I recommend checking:

1. The controller is setup to a Weather dependent curve this will adjust the flow temp depending on outside temperature. Good time of year to reduce the flow temperature at its lowest external temperature setting(usually -5). Basically keep the thermostat on high (say 30 degrees so it is calling for heat) then gradually reduce the flow temp until the room becomes uncomfortable, then take the temperature setting up to meet a level that suits. Our WD curve was set up to run the flow quite high, if running to radiators then expect to be around 40  degrees or so depending on heat loss. Alternatively if this sounds too technical see whether the controller has the option to adjust the WD curve by simply using the offset function.

2. Check in the settings that the ASHP is heating the hot water, the default on ours was the immersion which added significantly to our running costs – your mum may not use much hot water so possibly only a little saving here.

3. Check the hot water temperature is not set too high, the daikin allows you to run a disinfection cycle once a week which can be timed to mid day when PV generation is at its highest (only applicable to the summer months obvs). You should be able to manually adjust the HW temp via the controller, were on 50 degrees.

It took me ages to get my head around it, im not a heating engineer and the above advice should help get you a bit more efficient.

Additional info: Our WD curve is 38 degrees (-5 outside) to 28 degrees (15 outside), UFH at ground floor and radiators at first floor.

No new bikes for me this year or probably next year either. Need to reign in my spending on bikes and surplus parts. My bikes are all fairly up to date so it feels like unless the frame is broken any new standard/geometry change is going to make such a negligible difference it just isn’t worth it. Almost like bike development has plateaued particularly for someone like me that prob wouldn’t notice subtle changes.

2015 Fabia estate SE 1.2 TSI (110ps) here from new, tbh it’s been a brilliant car, properly nippy around our hilly country lanes, can fit an XL tallboy in with seats down and front wheel off with ease. 45mpg minimum, £20 tax. 

@rocketdog – can’t argue with that and prob why I didn’t get on with the Tripster now you have highlighted it.

Found it pretty quick on the Flanrou event (on 40mm conti terra trail tyres I should add) on the Somerset levels last year riding with others on cx and gravel bikes. It’s a compromise for sure but not as bad as it would appear. It’s just an idea the op may not of considered. 

My Genesis Fortitude(2013 29er) used for gravel duties, mucky lanes, the odd singletrack, it’s brilliant. Something like this maybe?

I had a Kenesis Tripster with drop bars but found it just too hard going on off road sections. Particularly rutted lanes with tractor gulley tracks. much prefer the flat bar setup plus the steel frame on the genesis is really quite springy. 

Also if routing is internal it’s handy having one of those £13 routing kits you can pick up off Amazon. Makes life so much easier for maintenance.

As part of tightening the purse strings we were going to cancel prime anyway. So prime and Amazon music now cancelled.

Why not take the opportunity to replace that eyesore with some decent timber posts and stainless steel cable/rope so it’s less of a bird killer. What a completely pointless bit of glazing.

Longpigs – The sun is often out.

Very underated album, pressing seems good too.

Will be 6 years teetotal in mid Jan.
My top 3:
1.Guinness zero (my every other day drink as it’s just so so good and easily obtainable/cheap)
2. Samuel Smiths Sam’s Brown Ale 0.5 (if you like it rich and caramely, defo a sit by an open fire in winter drink).

3.Bristol Beer Factory Clear Head 0.5 (pale, citrusy, light, summery drink)

Bought one in the light grey and a pair of those 30squid altura trousers posted a few weeks ago.