Oops, sorry Steelfreak, my mistake ;~)

I can remember following H the first time I rode that one as he dissappeared over the mound on his old hardtail and me thinking ‘who is this mad white-haired old man with no fear’ !

daj, marvin, you’ll have to join a guided ride in FoD with someone to show you these trails; they’re not always easy to find and directions are difficult to give as one tree-lined junction is much the same as another.

“Because Israel assassinates Palestinian politicians.“

ernie_lynch, you were doing well until you gave that answer!

Unlike (it would appear) you, I have no allegiances and no real understanding of the situation (although I have travelled and lived in the Middle East) but Israel have their agenda, Iran has its agenda, the USA has its agenda, the UK has its agenda, Russia has its agenda and there are deep-seated business and poltical agendas behind all parties and we only get to see and hear what those with their own agendas want us to see and hear. We can form our own opinions based only on what we choose to see and hear.

Hi Steelfreak.

Matt. It’s sometimes referred to as Dowies 2, starts opposite the end of the Bigfoot trail, more often riders join the end of it only [below Dowies and the Skull] with a choice of two runouts.

Motorcycle Trail because Dowie originally created his trails on a motorcyle :~)

If Hamas are a democratically elected government as several posters have said on here, why does their political leader live in exile whilst the unelected military leaders of Hamas control Gaza?

Are they married? If not then I believe he has no claim to custody of the son without some form of legal agreement.
When you say “heading over to hers“, is it her property or theirs? If it is not his, she can refuse entry.
How far are they in legal terms with regards to custody of the son? Who is legally in the right? You’re right though, sounds messy and whatever you end up doing will upset someone!

Could be an interesting answer because not everything is always as obvious as it seems – I mean, according to James May’s (excellent) recent programme on toys, Lego are the world’s largest producer of tyres!

Ola Matt, como esta? ;~)

“I’d like to know who started the thread.“

IHN started it !

(“,)

Blimey Sheldona, you must be mellowing with age (although to be fair, HONC is slowly becoming more core!)

“whats this honc thing anyway ?“

It’s a 50km/100km ride around the North Cotswolds (Hell of the North Cotswolds). Named after a Belgian based ride I believe. Mostly roads, lanes, and bridleways although over the last few years the off road / on road percentage has increased in favour of off road. Seems to have become very popular over the last 5 or so years leading to it getting fully subscribed well in advance. I like it because it falls relatively early in the year making it a good ‘starting’ event to aim for. Oh, and cakes of course; good cakes (“,)

Phew, just got in – no. 999

Only Joking… Loadsa places left (“,)

No 289 for me. missed the last couple of years so looking forwards to doing it again.

CountZero – have just been given Kathy Reichs’ Bones to Ashes; first of her books that I’ll have read so looking forward to it [enjoy P D James though don’t yet know if there are any similarities].

Currently reading Laurie Lee – As I Walked Out One Midsummer’s Morning. Giving me itchy feet ;~)

Some observations. I don’t profess to understand the situation and my ‘civilised’ survival instinct will never fully understand why anyone would willingly give their life for the glory of their cause.

Conflict has been going on for over 2000 years in the Middle East; I can’t see it being resolved in the near future.

My understanding is that Hamas ‘assumed’ control after an undecided election.

I can’t help but recall to mind the end of the film Lawrence of Arabia.

I do wonder who are right: colonial empires that put lines on pieces of paper to say who can go where, or, nomadic peoples who don’t understand why a line on a piece of paper should restrict where they can go.

Random thoughts I know and probably not entirely relevant but they’re thoughts that come to my mind when trying to understand some of these conflicts.

“doors are open…“

He, he – hope they’re double doors after this xmas!!

“ok.. and while I’m being a numpty… how do you post topics so they appear in either OT or BIKE forum.. this one apprears to have gone direct to the bike bits.“

Go to the appropriate forum first and then start your new topic; it will then appear in that forum (as well as appearing in the combined forum ‘home page’). HTH.

“Giving the awards to only worthy people – people who save lives – run homeless shelters etc. would mean that people really wouldn’t pay any attention to the honours, because no one is really that interesting in the good and the worthy, meaning the honours would no longer have a high public profile.“

Which is why we’re all discussing Chris’s honour and not his Mum’s (yes, I know this is a cycling forum).

He, he ~ at my age everything I do is at a gentle pace; you will however have a memorable experience (“,)

Might have to watch the repeat on Tuesday for this one; I fancy seing what the Beeb have made of The 39 Steps on the other side.

Hey Rocketdog. Hoping to start doing some FoD rides again in ’09, it’s been too long (or so I keep getting told!) since we used to do them ;~)

Sound like a plan, let me know (on STW’s as good a place as any!) if it’s a goer and we’ll get it sorted

I can hold mboy’s hand if you want to be shown around the Forest of Dean in April (or any other time for that matter). Just tell us a suitable date and time (Sundays are easiest for me) nearest your birthdays and I’ll do the rest. You’ll be quite safe in my hands…

Mincing in the quarry ~ just reliving the body-swerve around the wee tree half way down, eh?

Sorry I had to drop out, just can’t seem to shake off this chestiness. Hope Amanda is feeling a bit better too. Paul/tree interface? What happened there then?