Jeffrey Donaldson – member of Orange Order as an enjoy to a country Wiki lists having Catholicism as the most prevalent religion. What could go wrong?

This has to be a joke, right?

Trade people on Twitter unbothered by it – saying his job will be to talk cricket to cricket obsessed Aussies and then introduce someone who wants to do a deal.

So taking bollocks over a beer – possible well suited.

Stir?
Milk in cup, tea poured from pot. No stirring needed.

There are folk round here getting 4 visits per day from the NHS Care at Home team, plus support from other agencies

The in-laws get that in East Renfrewshire and it was enough for almost a year. But they have gone very rapidly (since May) from that being entirely adequate to nowhere near enough.

If you can get that up and running, you already need to be thinking of what the next stage will be and when because it can happen pretty fast. The in-laws have gone from that OK in May to the conversation now being live in care or care home.

Currently have it in place for my Mum. We use an agency so it is their responsibility to find holiday / illness cover and there are two carers generally who work week on / week off with some others who occasionally do that holiday / illness cover. I just couldn’t manage it myself and the only people we know who have done so lived close to their relative and worked part time so could sort any absences.

At £950/wk it isn’t cheap. With the cost of the house on top, it is twice what a nursing home might be, but she and my Dad saved so they could have a comfortable old age. He’s dead, but as long as she can still appreciate being at home, she will. I think we’ll probably have done 3 years of this by the time she eventually goes in a care home.

Carer cleans, shops, cooks, sorts medication, chats, laundry, arranges work around the house. And gets 2 hours off each day. Before the carer came in, Mum was deteriorating fast, but with the carer she has been stable and outlasted any expectation we had for her.

Spoilsport

+1

Or Head towards nethy bridge, turn left at forest lodge and then visit loch garten and loch mallachie on tracks through the woods.

25mile 5000ft climbs, a hardmoors 29 m 5000ft and the other day another hardmoors 27m 4000ft , not fast but all sub 7 hours elapsed time

Not fast? Some of us may beg to differ. Impressive recovery and good luck with it continuing.

You could compare their failings with their Charter and then follow up with formal complaint along those lines.
I ended up doing that for the mess they made of child benefit payments some years ago (multiple offices sending letters contradicting each other) and it did solve the problem.

Had an RX9 for a couple of years and its versatility makes it my most ridden bike. It can cope with tougher ground than I thought it might with 40mm tyres on it. Not regretted getting it at all.

Why don’t you just go

Doesn’t make any difference. There’s a certain conceit in thinking no address could possibly not want a TV licence, but even if you say why, they ignore it.

So although I think going from the 50 kW (really 30-something) “fast” dc ones to about 100 is really important, beyond that the time benefit in most situations is pretty modest.

I don’t think the benefit of faster charge speeds is meant for any one driver. What it does is reduce the time you need to be plugged in. Which means pressure on public chargers reduced and perhaps waiting for one will be just as long as waiting for a pump at the petrol station now. That should reduce one of the barriers to uptake of EVs.

At least i hope it is that way when I hope to switch in 18 months.

Encouraged by all those who are getting back to it, started trying to get back to autumn’s fitness a couple of weeks ago – all in the hills as i really don’t get on with roads. Did the 6 Munros east of the road at Glenshee on Sunday in a vaguely tolerable time and was just waiting for the pain and stiffness to follow. But…nothing. Feel absolutely fine, so now thinking of those longer days to work towards. Just need Scottish summer to last longer than 2 days.

to do it safely will take time (training) and money (training plus equipment hire)

That’s the main reason for joining a club – you get all that much cheaper than through any other route. And then once you’re confident, buddies for car share on trips, suggestions of places to go etc.

Jambourgie – biggest issues I’ve found with beginners not going in a straight line are (1) not holding the paddle right by not having the same distance between hand and blade on each side (2) most people have a dominant side, so pulling harder on that side than the other (3) waiting to spin out rather than adjusting a stroke to keep straight before they start to go off line. It all sorts with time in the boat.

We’ve relatives in that position.
They just used the extra bedrooms. Their previous open plan space caused conflict when one wanted to watch TV and one wanted to read, so when they moved, instead of beds in the extra rooms, they have a study, a hobby room etc.

I would have to bin a couple of seats and kids to get it inside the minibus and apparently that is a no-no.

?? That’s what roof racks are for. You put the kids up there to make room for the important stuff.

A while since I’ve been there, but there was enough stalkers trail to make it a great run. I’d bike it as an out and back trip but not contemplate it carrying an overnight pack.

If you are the minibus driver and they are heading to Knoydart, are they going to take the ferry back to Mallaig after? In which case, park the bus there and kayak in to join them in Sourlies. Loch Nevis is a good trip.

If you’re not using it, let someone else enjoy it.

That’s the one. Got rid of a lot recently and once I’ve done one more build for kids moving a size up on frame, that’ll be it other than spares for current bikes. As I’ve had my value out of what’s left over, it goes to the local bike charity rather than being sold. N=2 now, which is fine.

If you’re going to ban something, there are likely to be some people who will try and work around the law. So if you are serious about it, consulting on what forms it can take, avoiding loopholes, making any ban effective and the penalties reasonable could be a good step.

If that’s what they do. With this lot, you never know.

That boxster video…^

Which road is that?

Couple of sections of the roads on Majorca. He wasn’t going quick – because you can’t.

If you do follow the canal (or thereabouts) my recollection is that the the surface east of Linlithgow and certainly around Winchburgh wasn’t the best. Could do worse than head from Linlithgow on country roads to South Queensferry, grab an ice cream and head through Dalmeny estate to cramond brig. Then drop down to cramond village (track by the river is muddy, but OK apart from a set of steps) and head along the coast until you hit the cycle network heading back into the city.

Glasgow to Edinburgh on the canal tow path is relatively easy as long as you’re not on 25mm tyres.

Who has stock will be a big issue too as all watersports kit seems to be flying off the shelves. Decathlon often have decently priced ranges so you can get an idea of what the different thicknesses feel like. Some of ours are from there and we got Gul ones from Tiso too all in the £60-80 area. 2-3mm sees the kids get a bit cold in the sea after a couple of hours at this time of year (8C), but as that’s about the same as their attention span it works ok

Another +1 for plastic Nukeproofs. Bought them because cheap as a temporary measure but haven’t felt the need to change.
I’ve never had proper flat shoes either – just use the worn out fellrunners i have a steady supply of.

My parents bought Husqvarna ones maybe 6 or 7 years ago as they got too old to cut the grass themselves. The mowers have now expired through old age (5 or 6000 hours) and are being replaced with the new base Husqvarna ones. As well as labour saving, my Dad was delighted the grass became moss and weed free.

As soon as the kids leave home and stop leaving stuff lying all over the garden, we’ll have one.

Worst was a Fiat Panda which, at less than 10 yo and with around 30k on the clock, collapsed going over a speed bump. Rear end had corroded so much that bits of axle and spring littered the road. At least it was light enough to push home until it could be scrapped.

Honourable mention to the old Saab 9-3 1.9 diesel which had a season ticket for the AA lorry. Shame really as the rest of the car was good and if we’d bought a petrol one it might still be going.

I’m not particularly mechanically minded, but your symptoms sound like what i had in a VW Jetta years ago where lots of knowledgeable people thought it was the clutch until it turned out the fuel pump was dying.

40+ years of kayaking here, chucking wet / muddy / sandy kit in the back of the car.
Best solution – a trug. Way cheaper than a pickup and more reliable too.

When my now 12yo was that age he squeezed onto a 26″ (small Orange sub 5). Yes it was perhaps a touch big but they grow so fast at that age they grow into it and then out of it in no time. If it fits perfectly now it isn’t going to last long.
He’s now past 5’10”, skipped a medium frame and is now riding my 2011 large Canyon Strive.

Did it with an early 20th century place which was utterly rank when we took it on. Took us 6 weeks to strip right back to the bare essentials and re-work it to be able to move in. Deeply unpleasant process at times but if you have the stomach for it, it is mostly likely to be just hard work to get what you want.

Sadly some were breaking the rules, saw some fairly large groups with no social distancing

Been the same all the way through. But remember lots of the students are in larger bubbles than families because of the nature of their accommodation. Some may be breaking the rules but not all. Yesterday, there was at least decent separation between the groups. Groups of parents doing school drop off / collection were less responsible.

I’ve run the 4000s both clockwise and anticlockwise and have never thought of riding the route.
You’d have a good couple of hours of deeply unpleasant hike a bike from Corrour until after Sgor an Lochain Uaine. Lots of boulder hopping.
I’d second bedmaker’s Coire Dhondail suggestion if you must take a bike up there.

I’ve got a Karrimor rucsac I still use which is so old it has Dougal Haston’s name on it. Patched up a few times but still goes.
Various bits of buffalo kit some of which dates from early 90s.

Plenty of things have come and gone since, but the old stuff just keeps going.

Still, if they can’t be recovered then there always seem to be sets available 2nd hand from people who have immediately switched out stock Spyres for hydraulics

I have just done this. If anyone wants a pair of spyres (one OK, one not so OK) you may as well have them rather than me dropping them into the Bike Station.

Kier Starmer much to my disappointment has failed to hold this government to account

There’s next to nothing he can do with such a Tory majority. The Tories were ineffective in opposition after 1997 and 2001 elections because the Labour Government could ignore them. This period will be similar for Labour.

To my mind the intended purpose of the ‘council boundary+5’ rule was to allow exactly this…. so that city council areas residents could spread out a bit for their exercise. But perhaps I’m guilty of taking the interpretation that suits me!

Edinburgh’s 100 sq miles includes a chunk of the Pentlands, so if we didn’t travel to spread out a bit all 500k of us would be in the same central green spaces. I run out to Braids or Pentlands because the places closer to me are crowded with people who don’t seem to remember to keep their distance when passing. And also reduces the increasing wear and tear on a small number of places which are being wrecked at present.

Brexit positive news –
Left wing STW members plan to leave UK 🤣
WIN!

Isn’t that all a little Douglas Adams and Golgafrincham Ark Fleet Ship B?
Which went well, from memory.

I think you have been overly optimistic if you were expecting significant benefits at this stage of proceedings.
Patience required now people.

No. Sorry, but just No. There was patience through the negotiation cycle, but having been presented with a car crash to negotiate and a wholly negative short term outlook, those benefits need to be listed now for there to be any. We were promised all these great deals ready to go from day 1. Not a sniff yet. So sorry, no patience, I’ve got bills to pay.

Any one else worked out their personal cost of brexit.

I don’t buy much other than food and bikes and with the bikes sorted in 2018 that’s it for a decade, so most personal cost is the time and effort of dealing with it at work.

At work – until January we exported food with about 50% to the EU. That’s been a logistics disaster which we’re just about on top of. We can’t yet say what its cost as the logistics chains haven’t settled down completely, but at least £300k per year is the running estimate. With delays and no benefit at all. So that’s £60k less tax to the UK Treasury.

And we still sell to all those other countries we did before Brexit which the EU never stopped us doing. Can’t see any trade deal giving us any benefit ever. Oh, apart from China, where they are busy trying to erect barriers to trade and the UK is discovering just how trivial and irrelevant its sovereignty is compared to China’s. being part of the EU might have helped.

Has there been any discussion regarding vaccinating the teachers for those returning classes?

My wife is a teacher and says that although raised with govt by unions, no commitment yet. Primary kids don’t distance, the school layout doesn’t suit it, kids don’t wear masks, ventilation is negligible and handwashing not possible without long travel through school to toilets where there’s no hot water anyway.

This guy gets it

He sells remote working. So that’s his pitch. I have been working from home for nearly a decade in an organisation which hasn’t had an HQ building so I can see much of how it works, but he’s over-egging quite a lot of it.