Serotta made ti frame for a couple of hundred.

No way could I afford it at full price. Live in fear of someone nicking it.

To be honest, the idea behind the Tempra was just to have it running continuously. The bathroom door is generally open (bloody kids…) and we live in a damp wooded valley. It would just help move some of the damp air around the house

When the their shower is going, that would use the normal fan that it always does.

Ideally I’d like a PIV, but we’re a chalet bungalow…

Not hijacking, but dudie, do you recommend the Greenwood CV2GIP over something like the Vent Axia Tempra?

Only ask as the wife has just told me we’ve got a bathroom man coming tomorrow for a chat about a refit. And I want something!

Just like to point out, they’re not my photos, but Tim Schulz

the lorry is out now

the stack is definitely unsafe. Hopefully they can repair it. Only problem is the road is single carriageway, so once scaffold is there…could be shut for a few days.

well that crossroads is this crossroads. The lorry was coming from Reading, turning left to go up the steep hill (bit stupid even attempting that!)

oh yes. Set a little distance back to allow for slow cars/tractors coming through.

Bit dangerous as a junction. More dangerous a few years back when there was no footpath. The Bull donated part of the garden for that. Very good of them.

that’s the bottom of Streatley Hill. You’ve either seen it after coming down on a bike (and therefore have many insects on your glasses) or going up (so are looking at the ground).

The former. Long term resident of Goring (so not quite Streatley I admit…)

Even longer term resident now of course

scuppered my drive home. And the drive out this evening to the boy’s football training.

He must have got it under the bridge at pangbourne, and over the 7.5T weight limit at Lower Basildon.

Tis a tight left coming down. And great fun when the combines come down.

Funnily enough, the chap who campaigned for traffic lights in the first place was Bomber Harris, late of the parish.

I’m just looking forward to SQ2322322323256 turning up and telling us this is normal, nothing to see here, all is fine. And most of all, DON’T PANIC.

:lol:

I was going to comment on the price of the Pickenflick frame on there; at the moment it’s £288 inc all the extras. I remember PX churning them out at ~£600 not long ago.

Obviously at the moment, they’ve got a ‘sale’ on, so they’re back up a grand.

kids each have one of these
http://www.argos.co.uk/product/5497797
. No issues with them at all, and cheap enough to replace when inevitably dropped.

Just been through the same thing for the young lady for Xmas.

Looked at new ones. Then just got a refurbed dell, with an i5, 8gb of ram, 320gb of hdd, 14″ screen. Battery was 80% fine. Came with Win7 pro but used the [slightly dodgy] still free Win 10 upgrade. Got 12 months warranty. Very slight mark on case, apart from that it’s pristine.

Very impressed actually. Cost £210. Can say where if it’s not breaking protocol

we’ve an individual account each, and a joint. The mortgage, and utilities, come out of the joint. Everything else comes out of mine. I (we!) spend all ours , save hers. She pays less tax, so…. If we overspend mine, I get money off her. Obviously she uses my credit card; the only exceptions are her haircuts (the price gives me a heart attack, and if I’m lucky, my birthday/xmas presents. An element of surprise is good!)

We’ve been together 22 years; there is a vague element of trust, but it’s been like this for ~19 odd years, since travelling I guess. She cares more about money than I do (dad was a bank manager). She looks after my investments, and squirrels stuff away I know nothing about.

I like it like this. If I knew we had 10k sat somewhere, I’d get an urge to spend.

we have one of these. No stick, bung it in the oven, no manky bits of Teflon, clean with a scourer if need be (although normally just a quick wipe round works)

on the decathlon website

* Our feathers come from Chinese ducks reared for their meat; we remove their feathers after slaughter. We hold the death certificates for these ducks

They’re more expensive than a Rourke at the moment, but bearing in mind they’ve got to have a sale on them at some point…

now, I know we’re all slagging off PX at the moment, but they’ve just brought out a stainless steel bike. Bloody lovely.

Slightly over budget, but give it a couple of weeks it’ll be well under.

Not disc, but proper BB. Only 7.6kg for a steel bike, that’ll never rust, and you’ll not see another.

and being steel you’ll be able ride it all day

remember the mantra.

Decathlon is good.

That’s all

I have one of these, and it’s very good indeed. Compared with the normal TNF etc, it’s a third of the price, and as well made, if not better. Usual two year guarantee as well

^^^

This (damn, people beat me. Agreeing with Duckman’s comment!)

I used to be a fanboi of PX and OO. But after the customer service woes I experienced, which turned out to be a known fault, I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole. Especially as they then seem to sell on the returned/broken frames to that dodgy Golf Shop on eBay.

Shame – once were good. Then not. If you believe Charles Darwin, they ain’t fit anymore.

I’ve got a few of these.

Gold secure, and Art4. 17mm shackle, and not too big (can’t get a jack in).

Someone tried to get my old bike at station once with the lock on. They failed miserably (stamped on the back wheel though. Gits :cry: )

Anyway, it’s only £17. Recommended here

Streatley has a youth hostel.

We’re about an hour out of that there London, and it’s cheap. Might have left it too late though; it’s walking season here.

good program on the ridgeway – you don’t realise how lovely it is around here

all the ‘goring’ stuff was in Streatley though! :-)

have to confess I’ve got past the buying Goretex/Event etc. Found the best method is to wear a soft shell (either gilet or coat), and have a sailing coat in the bag. Sailing coats are dry, but not the most breathable. But did I mention the dryness?

At the moment it’s all decathlon. Either this, this (in black), or this. Combined price, less than £120. Works wonders. Keeps me dry, and comes with a natty bright orange hood in case I’m going down for the third time. :lol:

I think a lot of it is in the ‘wearing a waterproof too early’ malarky. The softshell keeps most of the rain off. If it really starts hammering down then you get the better one out.

if you want to know why western Europe was more advanced than the Americas, Africa, Oceania etc, then this is book to read.

And a lot of it has to do with the width of the continent. Allows a greater range of plants/animals living in the same climatic zone.

may not be the answer you’re after, but we looked at this recently – had all the usual suspects around. Had the usual ‘discounts’ applied.

Still came out a lot more expensive than getting a local chippy knock something up. And of course with a local lad, the after sales is slightly better than one of the bigger chains :lol:

That is basically my view of sportives; too restrictive. Done a couple, mostly recently in France (which was nice). And a lovely Norfolk one.

We have loads of them around us, both wiggle and Evans. Both off road and on road. Three hundred people on narrow country lanes with no idea of road craft. Having said that, they’re not that much worse than the big clubs in packs of 50, all wearing the same top, and all acting like bellends.

Road cycling to me is getting out there and exploring. If you see a new road, or feel fine after a certain distance, change your plan. Discover the country. Explore.

I’m lucky I live in a quiet part of the south east. It’s incredible rural one side of the river. The other side is more popular, but still busyish If I lived in a city, I may be more tempted to get out and do sportives, and I may not have the skills on country lanes. Also, city cycling probably makes you more assertive and aggressive than you need to be out here.

This[/url] is a blog-ette of someone everesting the hill next to me.

Looks quite tricky

fortunately there’s a space (at least one).

I may well give it a go. Obviously need to run it past her indoors first.

My only slight concern is a neighbour opposite is on it, and another neighbour two doors down. If there’s ever any planning in the near vicinity we’ll all have to leave the room!

Peyote – didn’t mean it like that. Honest.

Not getting off topic, but there’s a difference between a steep hill, and one in the top 100 climbs, used in the Tour of Britain, and has a TT number in the low tens. Course, there are other routes up the hill, but they involve cycling along the A road for a couple of miles.

back on topic – I’m tempted. Still. Despite all the warnings. The existing councillors may have entrenched views, but I’d like to think that wouldn’t sway me. I’ll investigate further.

interesting idea about the community cycle club. Only problem where we are is there’s two roads in the village. One is a very steep hill down to the river. The other is a narrow winding A road. It deters the amateur/less confident cyclists. Shame – as once on the bike it’s quiet country lanes (or bridleways) for miles.

I think they do make a difference. I love where we live, but there are a couple of things that would help bring it into the 21st Century.

We’ve been here 14 years. Done the PreSchool committee and the Schools Friends committee. Kind of missed the boat being a school governor (and my mum did that for 30 years; I know what goes on there!). It’s either being a Parish Councillor, or helping run the football team. And I hate football.

I’m not really a busybody; normal bloke (hopefully!) with [sometimes] a bit of time on my hands.

And I used to be moaned at. Happens all the time at work. I ignore them (or if they’re really annoying me, disable their access)

I’ll tread carefully. May try and see exactly what’s involved.

but in a situation like the pub one mentioned by nick, surely having more enlightened members on board would help. We do have many, many sportives going through the village; it’s a very strong MTB area as well. Can’t move for cyclists some weekends, and there’s often Ultra marathons using the village hall as a base.

At the moment, out of the existing councillors, I’d say they’re all in mid forties except one. So not too old fashioned.

one of the recent bones of contention in the village plan appears to be whether to turn the old [red] phone box into a book exchange. It does seem to have gone on for some time.

Yeah, that’s my fear. All the members at the moment are WASPs (as am I), so diversity doesn’t feature heavily. But then it doesn’t in the village anyway. It’s an expensive village, in an expensive area, surrounded by NT land, in an AONB. Change doesn’t happen.

I do know three of the councillors reasonably well (small village as I say) – all are not officious. The other two extant ones I don’t really know. I may try and have a word with one or two of the existing ones without committing myself

the £3 Q5 Cree torches – we have a few of them. Very good, very bright, but the light field is nowhere near as wide as a bigger torch.

It depends what you’re doing I guess. The smaller ones are used by the kids when going to the lavvy in the night. Or walking home from the pub (ideal to throw into a pocket). The bigger ones are used walking in the woods at night; deer spotting etc. Or during one of our many power cuts (overhead lines, trees and a lot of wind around here)

course, with Clas, don’t forget the free delivery over 50 quid, and there’s normally a “10% off a first order” popup.

bit of an investment, but I use one of these at home (country, no lights, bit dark). It’s excellent. Clas

You will need a battery and charger – which aren’t cheap – but if you’ve got more of the other tools, it’s worth it. To be honest, at the moment you might as well buy the drill, as it comes with a battery and charger, which separately cost not much less. The other work light in the range is bright enough to wake the dead – and the batteries last about 9 hours of burn time.

Comes with a 5 year warranty