I’m old enough to have fond memories of the eighties spy thriller No Way Out. Probably haven’t seen it in thirty years…

Just found it on All4. It holds up really well. Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Sean Young. Great film.

Aw man. It feels like so many not-that-old rappers are passing away. I have absolutely loved De La since 3 feet, according to iTunes I could listen to them for 9 hours 52 minutes!

I was lucky enough to see them at this weird event in Bristol a few years ago, a sort of music / BBQ event. Dave shouted at one point “You guys picked the best day to some and see us! You know why? Because it’s a Saturday!”

The English speaking world should know, that in French, chatGPT means “Cat, I farted.”

I wouldn’t bother with Bedgebury any more.  I go there with a five year old for the playgrounds, the singletrack’s almost completely been ruined with bad trail building and type 1 covering everything.  Even the bike shop went bust!

Covert woods near Barham / Canterbury isn’t far, that’s good fun to ride.

https://goo.gl/maps/LD2UnU1NcAMcDvqV7

One of the reasons I enjoy teaching more than speaking to Tesco happened today:

Year 7 – in an exam. One of the “spikier” student is obviously peeking at another students work so I start off with my most non-confrontational lines “I’d like to find out what you know, not her. Why don’t you grab a seat up the front here so you can concentrate?”

She refuses. I admit it wasn’t really a request. Move, thanks. Refused, I suggested getting a detention over swapping seats seems like a terrible waste of time. Finally, she moves, and on the way says to me:

“Don’t even look at me, you disgust me!”

I sometimes think I should go back on twitter, just to create an account of “stupid shit students said to me today”

There are exceptions to that rule… Step forward that moron MP Gullis. He was a teacher somewhere.

It’s a valid point, Spin. 2 different languages to 5 year groups and I’m still coming across topics I’ve not done before, or it’s been ages. Sometimes it’s quicker, I find a lesson from last time and repeat. It’s getting better than my first few years too. It won’t be long before I’m writing scribbles in the planner in the 20mins after school.

Today I found a lesson for tomorrow, and the last time I did it was in lockdown. There’s instructions in it for the students to write things in the chat box of Teams. Ahhh, the joys of remote learning.

Looks like I picked the wrong time to get into teaching… I switched from the private sector in 2017, so now in my 6th year? I’ve beaten the odds and survived this far (also outlived eight education secretaries since I graduated)

It’s odd for me, as I was expecting a pay cut anyway, so the lack of money still feels like that, rather than government cuts. But even after such a short time, I can already feel the cuts in other ways. We no longer get TAs helping the SEND kids (at least not in languages, my subject. They get prioritised for Maths and English).

Budget for trips, books, equipment etc feels extremely tight. Then the big one, staff. We’re losing teachers to retirement etc and can’t replace. I have to teach outside of my subject regularly, which isn’t great.

It’s a weird job, hard to describe to people and hard to train for. Even while you’re training you don’t really get an idea of the pressure and workload.

I’m probably still quite inefficient at planning, but to give you an idea:

27 teaching hours per week, I have about 6 free 50min periods per week. Add CPD, meetings etc and it’s supposed to add up to this figure of x hours per week. But, this assumes you can plan all your 27 classes in 3 50 min periods of “planning time” Which is impossible.

I’m in my room by 7:30, teach until 3, leave school about 4-5. Every evening, plus Sunday, I have to spend 1-3 hours planning. God knows what this is per week, I don’t want to know.

But, I do mostly enjoy it. Grumpy teenagers are still more fun to deal with than Tesco buyers.

Today was weird. I’m in the “couldn’t post me a ballot” union so went to school. It was shut, so I got a ton of marking and planning done. For the first time in ages, I’ve had two evenings off. Woop-Woop

That’s a great price, I bought a set of these when they were about 15-20. They’re really well made, and I appreciate the extra safety of the allen key closure. I bought them to replace a Lezyne version that just “pushed tight” and had dropped out somewhere.

By the way, they also fit inside cranks if your grips are closed ended. Probably you’ll only get it to fit on one side.

Do you reckon you could bodge them into a rubber ended grip somehow? I’d like to put a set onto another bike with closed grips…

Reckon it’ll be worth riding peaselake if the village shop is shut and you can’t get a pork n leek slice?

I just ‘spoke’ with amazon as it’s still not received.
They said it’s showing as delayed potentially lost.

Reckon they can’t send a replacement, only issue a refund. And now it’s gone up £50.

Is that normal. / ok? The thing is available to buy but they won’t replace a lost one…

My school had a Thorpe park trip planned tomorrow, that’s cancelled. Surprised this is going ahead.

Mines still not arrived. Amazon site says “it might be lost”

Looks like I’m destined never to have this watch.

I ordered one of the instinct solars at Christmas that got cancelled by Garmin…

Just ordered one here, and got a “it’s been delayed” email… Reckon this one will get canned too?

The duo lingo podcasts are pretty good, you can download transcripts too.

I’m a Spanish teacher, if that makes any difference…

Some progress. I’ve been able to remove the old cable remnant from the barrel-shaped end that connects to the bottom of the post. At least I can re-use that.

Based on the non-movement of the outer, my only option is to pull out the old cable towards the trigger end, push in a new one, connect it to the barrel thing and to the post. This all supposes I have enough cable/slack to do this without moving the outer (because it doesn’t seem to be moving at all). I don’t think it’s going to move without taking out the BB.

Hard to tell if the outer is damaged. It appears to be rust that got to the cable where it exited the outer and connected to the post. I imagine pulling out the old cable isn’t going to do the outer much good…

Thanks for replies…

Yes I have removed the post to see what happened. That’s how I knew it had snapped at the point it joins the base of the post.

What’s the difference between a gear and brake cable? I didn’t know there was one.

I can’t tighten the cable, because it has snapped. hard to tell if it had a nipple/end thingy as well as that barrel shaped nut. I have the old one, with a remnant of the cable in it. Can’t see if it can be re-used or not.

This appears to have a barrel shaped end that’s bigger than a normal cable end thing. Like this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284372802068?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1wz8Oz6v3Qu6Ip5DFWinfhA56&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=284372802068&targetid=293946777986&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=1007031&poi=&campaignid=17116423086&mkgroupid=134652533165&rlsatarget=pla-293946777986&abcId=9300856&merchantid=115513727&gclid=CjwKCAjwh-CVBhB8EiwAjFEPGcaVAWJzxmXEPqGuAkOPLmtOuNHcmzmTLZMSHJKrw7vrWLM0Vn7zgxoC3eAQAvD_BwE

If I push the outer from the trigger end, there’s a cm or two of movement but no action in the down tube, like it’s snagged. I could yank the inner cable out of the whole thing, and introduce a new one…
Reckon I could attach that thing from ebay onto the end of it?

Interesting thread this, as a I recently started a teaching career. I used to have a job in the ‘real world’ using the languages I learnt at school, until I figured I’d rather argue with grumpy teenagers than Tesco buyers…

My working week will start tomorrow, after dinner it will take me about 3-4 hours to prep the 7 lessons I have tomorrow. Most evenings, it will take me from approx 8 until 9/10pm to do the class prep. I get to my classroom at 7:30, teach until 15:00 (apart from tomorrow when it’s 17:00). I get home about 17-18:00, eat, try to relax and start lesson prep. Every month or two there’s a parents’ evening 16:00-19:00. 37 relentless 5 minute Zoom calls with no break, a few meetings and lots of CPD. I’ve never had the courage to wok out my hourly rate since I took a pay cut from working in the ‘real world’ but it’s bound to be closer to minimum wage than whatever made-up figure gets bandied around the news in the next few weeks.

Some highlights so far in about 5 years of teaching:

Being accused by a parent of beating his child bloody with a pencil case. (I had tapped him on the shoulder to wake him up in an exam and suggested it was a touch rude to be sleeping)

A card from a year 11 student this year saying “eres un profesor increíble” and thanking me, saying she thinks she will get a great grade. Was a bit dusty in my classroom when I opened that.

A year 11 student saying she was going to pick Spanish A level.

And just the other week, discussing the resurrection of Jesus, a student said “Is that when Jesus re-spawned?”

Such a weird profession, almost impossible to describe accurately what it’s like to someone without actually living it yourself.

I used to transfer boxes of grapes and pineapples from one place to another. Now I get verbally abused by 11-16 year olds.

Congratulations! I’ll never forget the feeling of passing my black belt. Celebrated in A&E with a broken bone in my hand after the breaking wood bit went wrong…

I ended up doing 4 black belts (in TKD) but I’ve recently stopped training and miss it often.

Something that stayed with me was this quote: getting a black belt is like learning an alphabet. Now you’re ready to start learning the language.

This pet rescue thing must have been Carrie Antoinette’s idea?

Does anyone think Bojo gives a toss about animals?

It was very lucky! one yellow in the first word, then got it.

I tried it today for the first time,got it on the second attempt…

Beginners luck?

Really weird. I ordered very late Christmas night, and noticed that some of the colours were showing at the original full price, so ordered a tactical as it was at the sale price.

I figured they’d sold all the volume they wanted at the low price. Seemed that was the case when people started receiving them.

Anyway, I don’t really want it at 20% (although the actual code takes it from £249 to £185 which I make about 26%)

If anyone wants 26% off, help yourself: GRMN20-NYS-JAV-XV99

A 2.7rs 911 worth about £2.3million being photographed in a picturesque part of Surrey Hills for a magazine.

About 30 police cars and no idea how many coppers on a man hunt.

I did the same as “centralscrutinizer” (with a Pike and Monarch) on my Capra which I’ve had a year. I either don’t ride enough, or don’t have the feeling to spot the difference in 5 clicks of rebound adjustment…

I did pop in a bottomless token, that seemed to make it feel nicer.

I know an Israeli fella who tries to crush your hand every time, and I was shown a brilliant trick to combat it.

When you shake hands with the guy next time, point your index finger out straight. No matter how hard they squeeze, it doesn’t hurt.

On Camden Road is my vote for best breakfast in town: Black Dog Cafe http://www.blackdogcafetw.co.uk/

Monmouth coffee and the best Eggs Benny in Tunbridge Wells. They didn’t used to open on Sunday, but a recent ad in the paper says they’re going to. If they’re open (and haven’t updated the website), that’s worth it.

Also on Camden rd is the Camden Quarter, very nice brekkie and definitely open Sundays: http://www.camdenquarter.co.uk/menus/camden_breakfast_dec15.pdf

Something I’ve found with boots, whilst buying mine and helping others choose theirs is this:

Boot manufacturers seem to be split between ones that suit wide, flat feet and ones that suit narrower feet with high arches. Bear this in mind when you’re looking.

I’ve found Salomon suit my narrow feet, and a friend with wide feet hates them. He suits things like Vans, 32. Burtons appear to be more of an all-rounder.

Spend ages choosing, and spend as much as you can. Boots can totally spoil a holiday.

This week cannot go fast enough, on the 21st I’ll be driving a Dodge Ram 1500 through Washington State to get to Beautiful British Columbia.

I went to Revy a couple of years ago, and really enjoyed it. It reminded me of my favourite (and secret) Canadian resort, but with more modern lifts.

It’s a very modern development with good lifts (gondolas with mid-stations) and posh eateries and condos at the bottom. The mountain is pretty ‘volcano-shaped’ so once you’re at the top, you can go pretty much anywhere and end up getting a cat track back to the lift. The mid station means you can stay high also.

It’s a very long vertical drop, you can really stack up the km’s

Lift queues on powder days may look bad at the bottom (for Canada), but people disperse quickly at the top. There’s also some good off-piste available a short hike from the top. I didn’t get to experience the Cat/Heli skiing, but it’s all serviced from the Resort base so very simple.

I stayed in town (10 min drive) and it’s great. Go and eat in the Village Idiot, it’s absolutely brilliant (and gets busy, so go early or book).

From Calgary, I would recommend a stop off if you’re driving yourself. I was knackered by the time I got to Golden. Plus, you have to get over the Roger’s Pass which is sometimes closed for avalanche control. The good news is you’ll gain an hour from Golden to Revy.

trail rat: “strange i never see apples in the fridge in the shops….. “

You’re right, grapes and apples are ambient in the stores, but if you want to keep them fresh longer put them in the fridge.

I’m sitting above a store of about 2,000 pallets of grapes and apples, all at +1deg

Johnx2 – Any chance you could still share that Dropbox link? I appear to have exactly the same symptoms with Strava…

only had a few days with the X Play (coming from a gen 1 Moto G) Seems fine. It’s far too big, but none of the smaller phones take a big SD card which I like.

Battery is currently at 34% after taking it off charge 7am 05/01. Looks like it will be ‘just’ two days. Although that’s the first day of heavy use and installing apps.

Eckinspain – Bananas get killed by anything under 8 deg Celcius. They’re transported and sold at 14deg.

Was it cold in the shop where you bought it? That’s the big tip off.

for example, pineapples and bananas – never in the fridge

Want to keep apples + grapes longer? – in the fridge

piemonster – I’ve had some great deals from Blue Tomato (Austrian shop that delivers to UK no problem)

and Absolute-Snow.co.uk

Watching the news is bad for you: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/apr/12/news-is-bad-rolf-dobelli

I’ve not watched any news, read any papers for about 2 years. It’s great.

There’s also a great book called Flat Earth News that’s worth reading: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Flat-Earth-News-Award-winning-Distortion/dp/0099512688/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447923543&sr=8-1&keywords=flat+earth+news

That will put you off watching the news.

Just in terms of resort choice, Non-Stop gives you more to choose from than Simplysnowsports who only appear to have Jasper.

As far as I know, the CASI qualification is recognised everywhere except France.

Please, please , please let it be a good snow season! I had 4 weeks in BC last season in the worst snow conditions for a generation. I need the healing powder.

I can recommend Non-Stop ski/boarding instructor courses in Canada based on my friend’s experience in 2003 and my wife’s last season.

They run courses in a number of resorts in the Rockies, 11 weeks starting sometime in January I believe.

Great instruction, accomodation and organisation.

Getting a work visa in Canada is a piece of piss, if you’re under 30.