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Mrs PixelMix and I got back from our New York honeymoon this morning, only 24 hours late. We were the first flight from Newark to be delayed (should have left Thursday evening) so BA stuck us in a hotel overnight and said we would be leaving the next day. We all clambered out of bed at 5am expecting to leave Friday morning, only to be told it would be Friday night. We were then told that there were no flights, but BA's own website confirmed that a plane was leaving for Prestwick (rather than the scheduled Heathrow destination). Unfortunately, BA HQ decided that rather than letting the Thursday night passengers know (as the local crew had expected and insinuated), the Friday night passengers would have their bookings honoured instead.

We had to rebook for a flight on the 22nd (a week later than expected) but thought we would try a lift to the airport and chance stand by just in case. Glad we did, as we walked straight on to the flight (most of the Friday passengers presumably thought it was cancelled or didn't want to go to Prestwick instead of Heathrow) and the plane left with dozens of empty seats. Cabin and local crew were furious that they were flying half empty when if it had been left up to them, they could have filled the plane with Thursday's passengers, most of whom are still in a hotel.

We count ourselves very lucky, as no idea when we would get back otherwise. At least BA are paying for hotels and food for non locals, but a whole week in a hotel in the middle of nowhere would have been a bit grin.

To cut a long story short, worth keeping an eye on the various websites and don't assume you won't get a stand by seat on any flights that do leave – in our experience, there is virtually no-one sitting in the airport. Ground and cabin crews have been incredibly helpful in difficult circumstances.

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Sounds like a software problem rather than hardware. Probably a badly coded website?

Make sure safari is up to date, an eye on activity monitor to see if there are any CPU hogging programs.

I enjoy a bit of photography on and off the bike, although I'm not great at it. I think a lot of other stw users do too. Can give you something to do in any weather and it is satisfying when you get a shot you are proud of.

Don't think it matter, but I suppose if you are concerned about such things, it might get less mud in it if the split is tucked away at the back under the frame

Stevo at on one is normally good at providing that info if you drop them an email.

I think I would feel embarassed if riding around on an uber niche top end bike with no skills, but I have mid range skills and a mid range bike. I do enjoy catching people up on the downhill bits at Glentress (not exactly gnarly I'll admit) when I'm on the rigid singlespeed whilst they ride their 5" £2,000 bikes though. I'd be embarassed if it was the other way round, but really, as long as you have a good time riding what you have, I supposed you shouldn't be embarassed.

It is indeed caused by DWH's post.

Grrr, it's still too dark when I get home from work for night rides without lights. However, when I get back from holiday in a fortnight…. :)

I use o2 who are reasonably cheap, and uncapped usage etc. Especially cheap is you are an o2 mobile customer, and my speed is reasonable (I get 6.5Mb on an '8Mb' contract.

Qwerty – does look rather tidy. Nice one! Not sure I want to go down the eccentric hub route, but certainly worth thinking about.

I do like the look of the current Genesis Day One Cross, but I do wonder if I would then just end up upgrading lots of bits (including the fork for a carbon one), and then end up spending more than a custom build. How do you find the weight?

Ti_Tim – any other time I might have been interested since I think I probably want a 52cm, but I've not chance at all of getting a new bike past Mrs PixelMix right now!

we do indeed.

(i am markd by the way – i was logged into the classified for some old bits i have)

Ah, that's handy. You'll need to let me know if you get one. I'm in no rush to pick one up so your review would be appreciated. ;)

I might pop in this Saturday to sort out a few other things (primarily to enquire about getting some Forks serviced). I'll leave the credit card at home though in case I accidentally leave with a cross check on order.

Carpet tax

:D

True, the cross check seems to be the only one with a mech hanger, although if it comes to it, mech hangers that bolt through the skewer are available.

Cross Check in black is quite tidy, and handily my LBS does them, although it is over twice the price of a Pompino frame, and I'm not sure I fancy steel forks, so those would be getting changed anyway.

Thanks. Anymore kicking around?

42:18 seems to be the gear of choice as standard. Is that what people tend to stick with?

Tis true, perhaps a niche too far?! I think the two go well though – saves on the maintenance when ploughing round muddy fields in winter, and good for building up strength in the off season.

I went for SRAM last time as I got a cracking deal on an OE part which was 11-28 instead of the usual 11-32. Since I seldom used the 32 cog, it was a good way to save weight.

Definitely worth shopping around (I got mine at Evans which was most unexpected!) for who has the cheapest OE part.

I have an Edinburgh bike co-op, one which is utterly rubbish. Tyres will be rock hard before they show 20psi. Seems to be a bit better if you pump a tyre up from flat, but is useless just to plug it on to check/adjust pressues when already inflated.

I have a digital one for the car which is rather handy when combined with the track pump. Can top up the car tyres in no time and then check with the digital one. Unfortunately the digital one won't fit presta valves.

I really wanted to go, but since I'm getting married in a week, probably better to use my time elsewhere. Riding on Saturding instead though.

Maybe next year…

Quite looking forward to a spring of discontent. It's about time workers started flexing their muscles again.

Really? BA strikers and Unite seem to be turkeys voting for Christmas. I'm about to fly BA only because I booked ages ago. If I was looking to book a flight now I'd go Virgin for sure since I wouldn't want the risk of getting cancelled. From what I understand they have reasonable money and terms, so should be grateful they have a job. All they will achieve is costing BA more money, who will then have to make more cutbacks. I'm sure BA could find plenty of cabin crew to fill the places. Fully behind Willie Walsh's tough stance on this one.

I was forced to move company last year and ended up earning less for the past 8 months even though I am now more qualified. Quite happy with that as at least I have a job, even if it means a long commute. Unfortunately too many people seem to think they deserve a pay increase every year regardless of any other factor.

Geesh, this stamp duty thing is all headlines and no trousers. How many people really fall into the strict guidelines? Let's see:-

1) Must be a first time buyer
2) If two purchasers, BOTH must be first time buyers
3) Must be buying between £125,000 and £250,000 (a fair chunk of 1st time buyers will be below £125,000 anyway).
4) Must be main residence

I wish this government would stop buggering about with figures and simplify things. I wonder how much it cost the economy to change the VAT rate, and then change if back? I bet it was a major headache for many small shops.

SDLT would be much simpler if it was just a flat 2% on everything above a de minimis level (e.g £10,000). This would stop properties around the threshold being restricted in value, struggling to sell etc. I'm all in favour of a simpler tax system rather than this guddle to try to grab headlines.

Apparently Colin Robinson is the only official SXC photographer, although he doesn't seem to have put any up yet (link to his site from the SXC website).

Even better when you get something from wiggle for Christmas and your other half kindly leaves the haribo in the the box with the gift. She knows me well. Nom nom nom indeed.

Been a while since the last update so there should be a new one in a few months I would reckon. My 3G does everything I need really, so although my contract is now up, I'm not rushing to upgrade. Might be tempted by a 64GB model with a slightly faster processor though, as that would mean I could fit all of my music on, which is handy, and then I could ditch the iPod classic we keep solely for use in the car.

Definitely avoid frames. It will look very dated and anything that could be done with frames can be done more nicely with CSS stylesheets. I'm no web designer, and have only taught myself what I know, but have a look at http://www.dhkk.co.uk or http://www.blocksoft.net for what I have done with a simple css style sheet.

Let me know if you fancy a bit of a help.

PS, if you are sticking with frames, you can sort the problem in 1 by looking at your "target". You should be assigning a name to the right frame and the link in the left frame should point to the right one.

Hmm, not too convinced by that. Not unless the costs (read salaries) are considerably less than that of eng/wales/NI, which is not what you want really.

Scotland already does reasonably from hi-tech. Wolfson in Edinburgh supplying iPod chips once (not sure they still do), or the gaming industry around Dundee are good examples.

I'm not sure that anywhere in Europe will ever be into 'heavy engineering' these days, but there is certainly scope for this on a small scale to meet local demand where import costs would otherwise be too high.

When Denmark, Norway and Iceland can have rich economies there is no reason why Scotland cant.

I think our esteemed leader got in a bit of bother for spouting that one once too often did he not? :wink:

All comes down to ££ really. Scotland could be far better off in the short term, but they think there's only 50 years of NS oil left (which TJ has correctly pointed out belongs to Scotland). The vast majority of the gas would go to the remainder of the union I believe. What would be scotlands long term revenue stream? tourism perhaps? Also, I think you're not getting any nuclear power stations? Wind will only do so much (which isn't a lot), wave/hydro a goer? These are genuine questions by the way, not digs.

First off, I should clarify that I sit on the fence re indepedence. Pros and cons to both options. But to answer your question, one revenue stream when oil runs out (still plenty of debate as to when that actually will be, as we were told ages ago it would have run out by now) is indeed power generation as you suggest. The western isles are pretty darned breezy, and the Pentland Firth is reckoned to have excellent potential for wave power. Offshore wind turbines also have a big part to play, as a there is plenty of sea around here to stick them in. I believe that Scotland is already a net exporter of electricty, and as power becomes more expensive, this looks like a good revenue stream.

I'm under the impression that many of the countries you have mentioned (certainly Norway) have some of the highest suicide rates in the world.

That's partly because it is so dark is it not? I'd be a tad grumpy too if I only saw the sun 9 months of the year!

+1 for o2. Pleased with my connection. I think they are good if you live within one of their own pimped up exchanges, but if not, I've heard that you don't get quite such a good service.

I've got the 8Mb service (speed tested at around 6.5Mb) for £7.50 a month since I'm an o2 mobile user, but even the full price is only £12.50. Upload speeds are reasonable (1.3Mb), which is better than some, and affects your general usage even if you aren't 'uploading' in the accepted sense. Unlimited too, none of this '10GB a month' nonsense.

(yes the idea of a Yorkshire Assembly does make sense, only problem is nowt would be free but fresh air and scenery, Hospitals would only let you in if you had something hanging off, presciptions would be a good fart and an asprin and university would be down pit! and think yourself lucky!)

:lol:

My only stipulation would be a full border. Can't say fairer than that?

Nothing fair about the import taxes and border policies you seem to be suggseting which would apply to Scotland (a border neighbour), but not to France, Greece, et al? Sounds pretty discriminatory to me.

I'm not sure you have read all of the comments on here, as a good number of Scots on this forum do not appear to be advocating independence, and certainly none as strongly as you.

Personally, until you erect your 20ft wall and tax me to enter England (at which point I'll head to Ireland or Wales instead), I'll keep supporting British companies and visting all of the various parts of Britain.

If you don't want Scotland to be part of the union, don't be shy, just say it. We won't be offended.

Who cares? Give them independence but make sure there's a proper border, visa's, passport (and charge) etc to cross. Tax scottish imports. That would be fine with me.It's quite obvious that the scots don't like the english, why force them into an alliance they dont want. At least many of the people of NI wanted to be british.

Sounds like you want independence more than many Scots. Who is this 'they'? I'm not sure there is a simply majority in Scotland in favour of independence, so it just sounds like you want independence for Scotland. Unfortunately your argument is self defeating as it just makes you sound like you don't like us Scots.

With your border taxes for Scots, this sounds completely contrary to the EU free movement policies, and just makes you sound racist. Fun to read though.

Ah, this is a great thread. Really brightened up my Monday morning. I see that the OP's myths have mostly been debunked already. To cut a long story short, my understanding of the matter is that Scotland pays a reasonable amount of taxes (including income tax, tax generated by oil, VAT and all the usual stuff), Scotland then gets a chunk of cash to spend as it pleases (e.g care for the elderly in certain circustmances), and other UK regions get the the same deal to spend as they please (e.g fancy Olympic stadia that will probably be empty in 5 years time). I also understand that per head, Scotland receives less than certain other UK regions (London, Wales, NI I believe), but that doesn't mean I hate all pesky Londoners and their funds should all be cut.

If you want your money spent differently in your region, vote appropriately and then pester your MP/Councillor, whoever.

To be honest, if those with the blinkers on want to hate Scotland and her perceived 'freebies', that suits me fine. It'll save me having to encounter you around here, and you can stick with your Daily Mail inspired incorrect 'facts'.

Have something similar up Edinburgh way recently – they've been tarmac-ing the Union Canal towpath near Hermiston. Used to be compacted gravel/earth with grassy bits, nicely drained – now flat ugly tarmac – no doubt soon to be covered in glass courtesy of the locals. Not sure who I should be complaining to, I'd rather they fixed the roads than mess up the paths.

That would be British Waterways rather than the council though surely? I avoid the canal as I can't be bothered battling with walkers at weekends, but I know another cyclist who is looking forward to a clean smooth surface on his hybrid.

Yeah. I'm sure that's the same price as the new one was going to be. Bargain? Maybe not.

LOL at Tazzy's deadpan answer

I just use my camelbak (think it is a 3l blowfish) with my camera in a case inside. My camelbak is the one that expands via a zip if required, but I seldom use that expansion, even with the slr in. It is a pain to stop and get the camera out, but I only carry it every now and again.

Don't know what happend to my above post, but some pics of the sirius would be nice when finished please!

Oh, go on then. Not a great shot, and I sorted out the stretched chain shortly after taking this (first ride chain stretch!) Most get a better photo soon…

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These singlespeed scandals do look quite nice. Nice bike squeekybrakes