What bike storage bit? If you're traveling at Christmas forget it.

It'll be crammed with people carying presents either to or from relatives not to mention suit cases etc. It's not worth it.

Shop dummies- I was scarred they'd suddenly move.
Grotbags off Pink Windmill/Emu whatever it was called.

I've shot through a bush (phna) and into groups of suspect males who suddenly scatter to look at the bark on a tree and other inconvincing things on several rides in certain woods to the North of Notts.

My housemate went for a walk one day round that area and went for a pea in a hedge whereupon his intentions were woefully missconstrued by a rather keen gentleman.

Still makes me roll about laughing just thinking about his face when he told the story, the mind boggles as to what he actually looked like at the time! 😆

Worst one I had was a three line whip deal with no notice in Oxford when I was working for an investment co' in Notts. So I had to upsticks and get to Oxford there and then for a tray of party rings and to hear an MD open his speech with a quote from Hitler 😆
You couldn't make it up!

We have two Parties an official drink and dancing based one in the evening and an unoficial dinner and conversation based one at lunch time organised by those with families or an aversion to office party type discos. Usually they are on or around the same day.

Officially you are supposed to choose one or the other, but as we have to foot the bill ourselves you can do both.

I opt for the day time as
A, Being in the presence of inebriated and lecherous senior officers doesn't appeal ( see TV's Gene Hunt for example)
B, I tend to keep my perosnality in check at work and hide behind a shirt and tie, I have little desire to try and perpetuate this in my own time after work.

Cooo, I feel like I realy started something here, having just logged on to see the massive trail of posts.

Hobo, hope you have clamed down, sorry for any grief I/you may have incurred on this thread. I had no idea you had trade experience. Your explanation as to your orig comments makes sense when qualified with your details re' buying of trade cars etc.

2u2r- re' tree, that's the sweetest thing that anyone has done for me in a long time (are you really Father Christmas in disguise).

As my handle may suggest I'm used to being a hands on type fixer of things and cars where expensive repair jobs are 'just one of those things' due to wear and tear is a whole new world to me.

I shall keep evryone informed of the progress of my repairs etc and hopefully will be able to get to see some of our families at Christmas without relying on trains that invariably never arrive etc.

OK news so far…..

I finally got my wife to stop rocking back and forth and repeating "it's all my fault" and actually give me the name and number of the dealer etc and have made some calls.

The dealer has asked to be put in contact with the garage, should it be the head gasket he'll give us a full refund and arrange to get the car to his to fix/dump at his leisure.
Should it be anything cheaper/else he will make an arrangemnet with the garage.

I laid it on thick about the car not even getting home and my wife being stranded.

I will keep you all updated and will retire to bed tonight wiser than when I got up (although I am at present still £3K out of pocket and getting public transport at Christmas).

Thanks for all your help and advice.

Yes, am trying to contact the sellar at the moment.

I agree 100% with comments re' contact, but have been a little hampered by being the third party in all this (albeit the chump who stumped up the money) so therefore lacking all the details as I wasn't there on the day. My father in law and wife did the whole going to the garage together as Father Daughter thing.

If you have cables and pipes running along or accross the joists a layer of battening along the top with gaps for the pipes etc to go through makes it all smooth.

This also allows you to add cables to whereever you may want them later on too.

Hobo, not at all.

No need for the nasty shouty capitals. It's our first car, my wife passed her test three weeks ago and I can't even drive, I bike everywhere.

We bought what we belived to be a good car after a test drive, a look over by my Father in law and faith in the dealers promises of a recent service etc. I'll hold my hand up to nievety here as I belived a service checked for faults etc so something like this wouldn't happen.

At the time in three lanes of Saturday night Christmas traffic it was deemed to be more important to call the AA as they could actually tow the thing out the way or more importantly fix what could have been a minor fault. Phoning a man 120 miles away wouldn't actually get the thing fixed and on our drive which was/is our priority.

The AA suggestion was that it had got petrol in it's diesal fuel line somehow and seeing as we had filled it up (from a diesal pump!) just after leaving there was the posibility that the fault lay with us somehow. It wasn't until today that a garage mechanic actually got to look at the car and dissmissed this idea.

As for warranty, it was a small one man dealership who offered to pay for a years tax and the recent service was deemed to serve as a quality garuntee.

I'm just trying to sort the mess out that my wife has got into as (sexist comments unwelcome) my wife handled everything and I have yet to lay eyes on the car. My part was earning the cash to pay for it and I had/have faith in her abilites to be no more or less savvy when it comes to cars than me. 😥

Mudshark, yep exactley that- approaching lights, slow down then whoosh smoke and no engine.

Thomthumb, I paid cash (well via a debbit card).

I sympathise re-fox service costs, I'm currently selling a load of stuff on the classifieds to fund the service costs to avoid a more costly repair later on.

I too am toying with the idea of a more fit and forget style fork bought S/H for the cost of the service.

We're waiting for a full diagnosis so we do't get fobbed off with a load of cr4p when we ring up saying it's dead. We'd like the amunition of saying you sold us a car with XX fault.

Paid cash deposit and then debbit card for the rest on the day.

Yep, straight from the dealers bar a lunch stop in Leeds.

Taking it anywhere is impossible without the aid of a two truck.

The AA towed it to a nearby garage, their (The AA) initial diagnosis of contaminated fuel was wrong, current thought by the garage is a blown head gasket, which may cost more than the car to repair.

Seems fair enough to me, it's all subject to interpretation.

In my own job I have to be carefull what I do as and say as I have quite a public facing role and people's opinions of me can colour the organisation which I represent.

I had to ask some friends on "myface" to take down pics and tags of me from a few private events to avoid my private life bcoming public life and therefore compromising the integrity of my position.

I'm sure a good few politicinas enjoy some nob gags in private but they wouldn't want them quoted in the paper or used as election promises lest we all chnage our opinion of them (possibly for the better, but there you go…)

I'm currently looking into shutting down a company that manufactures false receipts enabling shop lifters to get cash back on stolen items.

The law is a grey area on this sort of reproduction, there's a diference between what you feel is dodgy and what is illeagal and that difference is your sense of personal morality.

choice is yours…

If a task/job is done with the participant knowingly feeling/beleiving it to be a bit off and the job turns out to be connected to something major, that particpant could be facing a big telling off from a man in a wig.

If he is conned into doing it in good faith under false pretences than he is slightly better off.

Sobriety- mail is in your in box.

Hopefully see you tonight.

oh yes shimano oil that came with the levers.
and eye protection- I am Practical Matt after all 😉
although I may have to temper this name to Relativly Practical Matt after this episode.

I wish more manuals were written by comitee like this.

OK I'll get the valve closed and get cranking tonight, possibly after buying another bottle of fluid.

Although anyone who wishes to help or just point and laugh is still welcome to come to my aid.

I have to get HO numbers for work quite a bit, as a general rule there are coporate websites out there seperate from the company ones, usualy it's "company name"plc.com or similar.

But a quick google search will usualy throw something up.

Sobriety- I'm in Gedling, just off Westdale lane.

Tinsy, yes you have a point 😳

this is the first time I have ever been stumped by anything mechanical or practical. I feel so ashamed (and stupid)

I connected a bleed bottle to the bleed valve, opened the valve and filled the reservoir. cranked the levers and topped up the reservoir as it emptied.
The bleed tube started to fill with pink fluid from the fluid bottle.
I tightened up teh bleed valve and filled the resrevoir to the top, sealed it and teh levers still got all teh way back to the bar without any resistance.
Am I supposed to shut off the bleed valve in between pumps? I thought I was supposed to fill the system till it was in effect bleeding right through and then seal it all up.

Plenty of people on here own their own company from comments I've read in the past and images of cars (and bikes obviously) gives indication of a few quid in the bank.

Are we talking net worth in £s or how many people answer to you?

My position menas that cops, private security and council workers answer to me but it's not a very senior position really, just one of statutory coordination to make sure everyone is playing nicely with each other.

IMHO, I'd say anyone who saves lives or actually makes the fabric of society move smoothly to benefit other people are the most important like nurses or the RAF guys airlifting people out of the floods.

(that should put the cat amoung the pigeons for all the public sector bashers out there!)

I saw some fresh graffitti in Notts city centre the other day. Written on a white lit up traffic bollard-
"Glen Matlock is a ****"

-I like the idea of a crusty punk ruminating for thirty years before suddenly finally leaping to his feet with this conculsion and having to rush out and write it everywhere.

I was there on Friday, the Kitchener trail is good fun for a blast.

If you're used to red trails in Wales with rocks n stuff you'll think it's child's play but if you like a good single track hack with the opportunity for the oldd jump both man made and tree root then you'll enjoy it.

It's much better in the dry or dry and cold when the trails are hard as the soil is a bit sandy and peaty so you discs get scored and chainsuck can be an issue in the wet.

DH trails are fun, but it's basically a non-technical blast zone.

re password envelope, yep good point I won't give that out.
I didn't think about the stitch up potential.

yes I WILL remember to log off, I thought I already did anyway.
😳

no-one had mentioned I had done it before- that is kind of the source of my ire.

To be honest having slept on it and seen some of your replies you do have some good collective points.

I had been under the impression I was logging off and do hold my hand up to it if I hadn’t, I just think there are better places to raise an issue other than a formal meeting of 50 staff. Fundamentally it’s like raising the fact that your colleague didn’t use all the pages on his note pad before getting a new one at Prime ministers question time.

I will therefore leave a copy of my password in an envelope for anyone that needs to log me off should I c0ck up again.

Yes, I do agree that this does illustrate the petty mindedness of some local Govt attitudes.
Yes I do also agree with the (remarkably insightful) point that senior management had all just had a warning shot fired across their bows re senior level redundancies and this may have had a factor.

Lastly in my personal defence, my job is to work with businesses listening to their problems that affect them and then to organise the police and the council to make them work together to solve the problems. Businesses subscribe to a scheme to access my services and therefore I am self funding – effectively a businesses hosted by the council, therefore Mr Cameron AND Mr Brown like what I do as I don’t cost them or the tax payer any money and I make things better for voters and investors. Which is why I skipped the team meeting in the first place- I was actually out working.

Thanks for being a collective voice of sanity and reason.

scottalej- I just logged on and switched to M&S after your recomendation.

If you're ever in Notts I'll buy you a pint.

This thread has been up plenty. Time to try my memory.
Orlando Bloom
Trent Reznor
Robbie Williams

Ask how the interviewers came to work for the company.

Be likeable, but proffesional, find something to draw on that's relavant to make a comment on in an affable way to break the ice or close the interview. e.g compliment them on their tie or make a joke about your method of transport to arive e.g edge of the seat taxi driver or surprisingly punctual bus

Indicate a keen willingness to learn and develop.

Don't lie to get the job, you'll only get found out – trust me I lied/yes'd my way through loads of interviews and got the nickname Jonesysix jobs as a result of the number of jobs I went through in six months. If you don't have the skills and they won't offer training then you can't do the job.

Wasn't Noris McWhirter connected to dodgy right wing groups in the sixties?

For working dogs this page is pretty handy for advice

http://www.amwa.co.uk/BACK%20PACKING.html

I use panniers all the time on our Malemutes. They can slip around a bit if not secured properly and if your dog is a riggly lad.

On our broad shouldered dogs they fit fine and are great for getting the dogs to carry their own kit.

Try snowpaw store or cullpeppers on line.

Although to be honest I might be mailing Snowpaul myself as his hydro bladder set up sounds ace.

The guard should have stopped the train at the nearest station with BTP availaible and had the party removed. They do the same on planes so why not trains?

I honestly think that behaviour such as this warrants letters to the train company, BTP and possibly the minster for transport. This sort of shit makes me sick. Especially with very young and elderly people in the party.

I spend my working days ensuring people like you can go about their business without feeling thretatend and uncomfortable and I get furious when I hear of stuff like this.

Cool, I had no idea about the forks.

Will a bike computer work with 20" wheels?

I'll upload some pics when I get going.

I'll be spreading this one around my office for sure.

Nice one.

Yep dead handy if you play an open mike night or similar, best off going for second hand as it will be played in and the soundboards will have settled and developed.

There's a erange of differnet woods that will give you different sounds and respones it depnds on what you're looking for and wwhat/how you play.

You looking anywhere in particular, what's your budget?

Yep, it's horrid.

I worked in Argos when it opened as a Saturday job. It was awful.

I could fill a book with tales of inbred inneptitude. For example I once sat in on a conversation between a foreman and his staff at a plant nursery where it became apparent they had no idea that bands played at the Glastonbury festival, they thought students just went there to camp in the mud! As for the confused mystification that my pager created (it was the days before mobile phones)when I tried to explain it's use….

Stumpy- they are £38 for a set.

Much cheaper than the combined cost of a set of middleburn, unless I'm looking in the wrong place.