Haha I asked this in my noob’er days, got some hilarious suggestions….never did get the actual answer, google was my friend instead.

If you email me the old address, I might be able to give you the name, number, mobile etc of who is living there now? In case I sound dodgy, the company I work for hold electoral roll, phone directory, mobile databases etc amongst other things!

Nice to see fence painted, leaves swept, and weeds pulled before taking the pic.

Gold star for OP.

SH1TTYLINK.

There, that is the only useful thing I can add to this thread. That is all.

A few points to slightly balance my previous post…..they are fragile, so get a nice beefy rubber case that bounces. Plus, remember that whenever you sleep, the phone needs to sleep! (I.e. it doesn’t tend to last for more than a day!)

100% an iPhone – strongly recommend 4, 4S, or 5 depending on where the budget reaches.

My 62 year old dad (who has never used a computer before in his life) was able to pick up an iPad, and just start using it within minutes – it’s by far the most intuitive operating system. Granted its an iPad, and your looking for a phone, but its the same operating system – just on a bigger screen :-)

I should also point out that he tried a HTC smart phone before the iPad on Android, and just couldn’t get his head round it, so sold it.

Thanks so much for all the responses – sorry I haven’t replied, I went away last night, and only just had a chance to login for my daily STW fix! :-)

Basically, I wont lie – I ‘fell’ into the role about 18 months ago. I’ve been at the company I work for for 7 years, and our IT Director was heavily involved in implementing our ISO27001 certification, and the maintaining of it was too much for him to do as well as his actual IT Director role. So I had just finished a major project I was working on in another department, and then I began to help with the ‘maintenance’ of our ISO27001 certificate and keeping all the other security related policies and controls up to date. So I’m very much on the ‘governance’ side of information security – e.g. I’ve got a good knowledge on the ISO27001 standard (passed a Lead Auditor exam with BSI in July :-) ) however knowledge is VERY much lacking in the technical nitty gritty.

As my role has developed, I now manage our ISO 27001 certification, and deal with all the audits etc – so I really need to get some general network infrastructure knowledge embedded into my brain if i’m going to be able to progress my career.

My money’s on public sector.

^ I wish haha, give me 30-odd holidays anytime!!

At least you can take comfort from the fact that they don’t see IS as a risk in your company

^ We have an in-house Certified Ethical Hacker, conduct external pen tests on all our systems every 6 months, and hold over a Billion records in total…believe me, IS is one of our most-considered risks!

I’m going to look into the CISM course I think, because like someone mentioned above, it’s slightly higher level which will suit me more. Also, great suggestion about the CISSP revision notes, looks like i’m going to have some reading over Xmas!

I went for a solo last night round Castell Coch….stupidly decided to mount the Lumenator on the bars instead of my helmet…..and every time I heard a creepy noise/saw strange eyes lighting up I couldn’t just turn my head and look!! Cue slightly faster than normal riding! :oops:

Wow, they are stunning pictures.

I have half days booked all week next week, so going to do the same…..but I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to match those pics in South Wales!

I strongly advise spending that little bit more now and getting a 3G version, even if you don’t use it that much.

A Samba Mobile SIM card means you get completely free 3G data whilst in the UK, providing you watch a couple of adverts now and again to too up your data ‘battery’. My dad is with Samba, and its perfect if he’s just out and about and wants to check his email without the faff of finding wi-fi.

I’ve never regretted anything I’ve done and only carry regret in things i haven’t .

^^ my life motto.

I’d like to add my 2 cents…..

As a gay male, I can confirm that those sort of ‘strippers’ are by no means a ‘turn on’, so I don’t think your OH is trying to hide anything, or is failing to admit anything. It is just another form of entertainment for girls (and gays) to just generally point, laugh, and giggle at. You say that if they wanted a laugh they should go to a comedy show – have you considered the fact that they simply don’t want to go to a comedy show?

Life is too short for ‘discussions’ like this with OH’s – just let her get on with it :-) :-)

Surely should be named “War on LONDONS roads” (ok apart from the scary tanker incident in Glasgow).

Commuting in Cardiff seems pretty damn good now :-)

FYI Smart’s are half price at Tredz. IMO, very bright, and can be seen from a good distance…

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Smart-Lunar-R2-Rear-Light_39274.htm

EDIT: I lied, they’re 42% off.

8 years off the bike due to turning 17, getting a car, and getting lazy (aka Fat).

26 now, been back on it for about 18 months and was totally gutted I left it so long! LOVE it. :D :D :D

Nothing in Cardiff :-)

I’m wondering if I should be concerned that a) I cant even remember what BB I fitted to my bike, and b) it was fitted 10 years ago (6 of those years it was on a break in my shed – but its had a good 5 years worth of all terrain riding!)

:oops:

Done – as already mentioned above, Q7 needs a No.

next question was, any good pubs in Rhayader?

Haha i’m from a few miles away from Rhayader originally (Cardiff now).

The Elan pub is probably one of the nicest – I’ll be honest and admit i’m not a huge fan of Rhayader pubs in general, but I guess that’s just because I’m from there!

I sadly just gave up running due to stupid shin splints. Not helpful advice though I know!

The PR company knew what they were doing all along – they’re not stupid.

My diesel BMW 120D was pretty shocking (for a diesel – 35mpg) in short, traffic-ridden journeys.

My ‘new’ car (a 1.4 petrol Megane) does 45mpg on the same journey.

I was just happy that you didn’t go into the strobe mode as you pressed through the brightness settings.

^^This is definitely a good thing.

From personal experience, I only ever used a flashing mode on previous lights a) because they weren’t really bright enough to be easily noticed on the road on constant mode, and b) to save battery.

With the Lumenator though, even on 10% mode it is very noticeable on the road, and after 2 weeks solid commuting 10 miles each way in the dark – my battery has only just dropped into the ‘blue’ phase (which I believe still means there is something like 60% left!!)

So nedrapier – when are we going to see the finished article, and when are they going on the market? :P

I’m with Mr Jag on this one, the lumenator flash mode isn’t so much “look at me” as “sue me as I’ve destroyed your retinas

Me too – the ‘flash’ mode is completely un-usable in ALL places apart from an epileptic fit research centre. Its a shame you cant adjust the brightness of the flash – a 10% brightness flash would be much less ridiculous.

Haha good effort. :-)

I’ve just started using my Lumenator for commuting…havnt had any complaints yet, but I have been aiming at the front wheel for the unlit cycle-path sections!

I HATE driving in to work – regardless of the weather. 10 mile journey from one side of Cardiff to the other:

Car = 60 minutes + £5 in costs + a slightly stressed feeling
Train = 50 minutes + £4.50 in costs + a very stressed feeling
Bus = completely impractical
Bike = 40 minutes + FREE + a relaxed/rosy-cheeked feeling

There is a clear winnner.

Well done OP for posting this.

Ignore the tools – I wonder why some people even go to the effort of posting anything at all sometimes.

I’ve got an Altura Nevis – works a treat for commuting and short-ish rides. Looks like its on offer at a few stores too, down to £29.99 at Discount Cycles Direct

Just seen the appeal on twitter via Florence Welch (Florence and the Machine). Good luck with the search, really hope he is found soon.

^^^ The green monstrosity has the same semi-retru forks as me :oops:

What intensity do you ride at? Is it a pootle or flat out commute?

I’d say around 70-75% – with little extra bursts here and there where I like to attempt to keep up with traffic in some of the busier parts.

Are you refuelling properly after rides, sounds like a recovery issue to me?

Probably not – what would be classed as ‘properly’? I neck a couple of pints of water if that counts? Haha :roll:

It’s fine but then I’ve pretty much always ridden with just a helmet light.

Cool – its probably something i’ll just get used to then :-)

Just got a Lumenator delivered, and it is literally all the light anyone could need, even on the 40% setting – insane brightness……HOWEVER…..with it mounted on my helmet (edit: and using nothing on the bars), I was really struggling to get any sort of perception of depth when it comes to pot holes, sticky-up rocks, etc. I’m assuming other people have a similar issue…unless its my eyes!

So to summarise, IME I would recommend the Lumenator on the bars, and some sort of cheap spot for the helmet maybe?

You can hold it down to turn off on any setting, but pressing once increases the power level until it goes off and then back to the lowest. Now I just leave it on level 3.

That’s weird, pressing once on mine doesn’t ever switch it off, it just goes through the low-max cycle – only way I can turn it off is to hold it. Maybe it’s been tweaked – how old is yours?

Lumenator FTW

Mine arrived today, so went for my first off-road night ride in about 8 years, with the Lumenator nicely strapped to my helmet and what else can I say…….AMAZING LIGHTS.

On my commute home through Cardiff through the unlit bits, even the lowest setting is completely adequate – any higher just dazzles other cyclists coming towards me (still getting to grips with the whole ‘helmet-moving-with-my-head’ thing!).

Then I went up to Castel Coch (some local forestry with awesome singletrackage) – and didn’t see any real need to go above the ‘medium’ setting. I cranked it up to the max on a few of the downhill bits purely for testing purposes, and wow, it really lights up everything in your path!

I would say, however, the strobe is completely pointless – FAR too bright/epileptic-fit-causing to use anywhere in public. It wouldn’t be so bad if it strobed on the lowest setting, but a 2,200 lumen strobe is just ridiculous.

My biggest niggle is having to cycle through off mode to go down a power level.

Don’t you have to hold the button to turn it off? On mine you do anyway. :-)

Gel padded gloves work for me :-)

Haha oops, I even searched beforehand! :oops:

Still, well worth another watch :P

Will keep an eye out