Funny this thread has popped back up, was just thinking it was getting close to tick time again. Since posting this:

Rarely get bitten, probably one or two a year but even then I have had a confirmed infection of Lyme. Took a while to get my doctor to take me seriously, they really thought it was a fake disease, but when the lethargy got to me quite seriously they ran tests and I came back positive. A long course of antibiotics eventually sorted it out and I’ve got no lasting effects but it did knock me down a few pegs for nearly 12 months!

Still ride in shorts just make sure I check for them afterwards.

I got a late season bite last year, only a mild rash and no ill effects so must have got lucky:

Will have to see about some sort of spray for this year, hard to find one that I don’t have a reaction to!

Having researched this quite heavily a few years ago with restorers etc I went with the Bilt Hamber range of products and have been suitably impressed.

The last few years have pretty much completely changed me, probably in the 90% range. Some of it is better but a lot is worse.

Just before 2020 I was:

In a stable and good job I liked, working 4 days a week for very good money. I had a few extra responsibilities above the basic job that gave me massive amounts of freedom to control my work/life balance.
Was in a happy place mentally having just come out of the end of a few years of therapy, medication control and dealing with a few external issues.
Was the fittest I had ever been, cycled to work every day and got out in the hills at least twice a week.
Had a decent group of friends.

Post pandemic these had changed to:

No permanent job after my old industry collapsed (delivered cash to banks and shops, the sudden switch to cashless by everyone brought forward the change by a good 5-10 years).
Destroyed my mental health thanks to the above and also due to the multiple lockdowns severely hampering my efforts to retrain as a HGV driver and then find permanent work.
Stuck where I live as I’m at the mercy of the rental market, social mobility has pretty much ground to a halt and led to me having to give up a decent job I found in 2022 as rents are so high and I couldn’t sustain a 95 mile round commute any longer.
My physical fitness is pretty much destroyed due to most of the above. No more cycle commute, lack of free time and mental barriers have meant I have gone from 6 days a week outdoors riding in some form all year round to 2 outdoor rides so far this year in 3 months. I’ve put on well over 10kg of pure fat and struggle with anything that gets me breathing remotely hard. I’d be even worse if it wasn’t for Zwift!
Have had to jettison some friends and others have drifted away to just being acquaintances thanks to events and behaviours during the various lockdowns. A few core friends have remained but my social circle, which was never big, has shrunk to a tiny amount and almost all of those people live all over the country and two on different continents.

I’ve got a few people I know that never knew me before the pandemic so they don’t notice the changes in me, physically and mentally. Most of them have never seen me without a beard as I started growing my first ever one on the day the first lockdown started!

From the outside it can seem like I’ve done well out of the last few years: I have my dream car tucked away, a decent amount of savings put away, my new skills are in demand etc. But in reality I’m mentally broken, physically a wreck and living a life currently without direction or purpose. Some of that is down to losing my dad late last year but the vast majority of it is down to the effects of the pandemic and the response the country had to it. It doesn’t help that the country gave a glimpse of how good it could be during the lockdowns, especially the first one, but has quickly forgotten that and come out the other side worse.

It feels like the past 4 years have ripped away everything that was good about my life and virtually nothing has come along to replace the void.

Just finished watching it. Forgot just how crazy the whole thing was and how many times the slightest change in anything would have meant failure for the kids.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/28/more-than-half-of-tory-members-in-poll-say-islam-a-threat-to-british-way-of-life

Scary stuff.

Been known about for ages, there are a few others snuck in places too but can’t remember them!

The newer ones that are all over YouTube and I’ve spotted in a few movies is the Coin sound from Sonic the Hedgehog and the Alert sound from Metal Gear Solid.

Sort of enjoyed it but looking up the locations on Google Earth afterwards revealed just how contrived a lot of it was. The start point is right next to a main road, not only served by the railway as they claimed. The tunnel is a few miles away and totally passable, no land mines etc plus they went through it the wrong direction. The river crossing has a bridge a mile to the west whereas they only showed the satellite images to the east.

Seeing as it’s the penultimate one I’ve given it a bit of leeway. Did notice that Richard Porter wasn’t listed in the credits on this one though so maybe that made a difference.

It takes a good few trips to properly bed the pads and discs in, until then there will be small hotspots as they conform to each other. As long as one isn’t hotter than the other across an axle then it will sort itself out with use. It’s why it’s always recommended you take it easy for the first 100 miles or so.

I’m trying to re-enter the HGV driver market and there’s very little work out there, especially of any quality. Even spoke to an agency earlier in the week and they’re not taking on due to them struggling to find placements for the drivers they already have! Could be a local issue though as two local large distribution hubs have shed hundreds of drivers onto the market recently. Not the best situation when you’re looking for work after a few months out.

apparently 80% of TV production freelance staff in the north west are presently out of work

Same story in South Wales, in TV and theatre.

My Fabia is about to tick over the 200k mark and on the last MOT back in December the tester said he wouldn’t believe had down half the mileage unless he saw the dash himself! No rust whatsoever (10 years old), cleans up really well and only ever carries me and a bike on the towbar so the interior looks mint when hoovered. So yes, modern cars can easily get to 200k with no issues, said Fabia hasn’t had anything more than service items in all of those miles. If you know and trust the Suzuki then keep it going, much better to know a car than switch to an unknown.

The ‘security’ door for the hallway of my block of flats.

Going through it once? Never fully closes so you have to pull it closed.
Doing multiple trips in and out? Clicks shut EVERY. DAMN. TIME.

Everything and anything in a public convenience that can only be operated by waving your hand in front of it like a Jedi and leaves you wondering whether it just doesn’t work or just wants to watch you do jazz hands again.

At my old workplace the loo had sensors for the lights, one by the sink and urinal and one in the trap. The trap one only ever worked once in a 10 minute period so you would always be left in pitch darkness after a minute when it switched off.

I must be the lucky one as my printer, toaster and kettle behave perfectly and have done for years. Both my washing machine and air fryer make a simple sound when finished too, the washer beeps eight times and the air fryer just dings once!

Recently gone back on it for the second time after the last few years and recent personal events, 2 months in so far so it’s just starting to fully take effect. The first time was in 2018 (came off it 3 months before the pandemic hit, perfect timing…) and I initially started on Citalopram plus CBT sessions, switched to Sertraline and made much better progress after some odd side-effects! Both times have been for anxiety, it allows me to take care of things while it smooths out my emotional response.

I’m off to the docs on Monday to ask for some, although I don’t know how to ask TBH, talk about my anxiety and lack of enjoyment a lot and hope he jumps to the right conclusion?

Just talk to them about how you feel and that you think it may help, they’ll do the rest.

I’m going through the same issue with my dad’s paperwork except I’ve got 8 filing cabinets full!

He was a self-employed accountant and they’re mostly old records for his clients and all well over a decade old so no need to keep them. Currently getting quotes for someone like Shred-It to take it all away as it’s easily too much to take to the tip or burn, current best quote is £120 for shredding on-site and taken away.

Better when it’s the front tyre of your road bike which is just behind your head in the car…….

Try a road one at 90 psi going at 3am when you store the bike in your bedroom.

Good to see another driver admitting they’re not fit for driving.

It’s a very good indicator, much like lots don’t know when to use theirs.

Are there repeaters in 30 zones in Wales now then?

Yes.

I’m guessing yes, purely for money laundering I suspect.

They would ask a few basic questions and then possibly file a Money Laundering Report after they have accepted it in. As long as you go to your local branch. have an active account with them with decent history and answer honestly and clearly you won’t have any issues on the day. The deposit may well be uncleared while background checks are run etc but on the whole there shouldn’t be any issues. It’s always best to give the branch notice of the deposit too as they may have issues with storing that large amount for a few days, it isn’t uncommon for smaller branches to have a rather low limit on what they can keep on site! The branch may well ask you to bring it in on a specific day and time, usually a few hours before their Cash Delivery as they can then get it offsite quickly. It’s actually not as uncommon an occurrence as you may think!

A short loop round the blue at the FOD, my first outdoor ride this year thanks to anxiety attacks. Even though I took it really easy my heart rate averaged at 144bpm, waaay above what it should be!

Even then I think I overdid it as my chest is hurting and refusing to calm down a few hours later.  Back to gentle pootling for a while I fear.

Also missed this first time around, donated.

Have seen the difference a wig makes to a kid’s mental state when I was taking my dad to chemo sessions, something so simple can really improve their chances and/or make their last days more pleasant.

I was originally labelled as autistic in my early 30’s but over the last decade or so that has proved to be not a very good fit, APD fits me much better although I still describe my self as suffering from Imposter Syndrome when asked as it’s at least understood by joe public! I have almost all of the stuff in the left circle above but major on the social stuff hence the Imposter Syndrome! I don’t have a strong need to be liked though, as long as people aren’t actively bullying me (was severely bullied since I can remember and it has only recently not been a problem) then I’m happy enough.

I also recognise some of those boxes but I’ve never really been eager to see which disorders I could possibly get diagnosed with.

I wasn’t either and having been through the tests a decade ago I wouldn’t recommend it really as it tries to put you in boxes whereas almost everyone is a mix of stuff.

Talking is good for some people. This always comes up as the way forward but it’s not always the case.

Tried a few talking therapies and they all just made me worse. I find writing things down works far better, either for private use or to show to others. Currently going through a period of extreme anxiety after a rough few years and nothing is currently working so eager to follow this thread and see what other suggestions crop up.

(Monty Python Iirc)

I suspect a lot of crossover with the crap joke thread here. 🙂

I’m seeing quite a lot lifted from the ‘We Got The Chocolates’ podcast.

Lovely day wasted.

Everywhere that NRW look after us under threat right now, the only trail centre that isn’t is Cwmcarn as it’s run by Caerphilly Council. NRW’s funding has been cut massively over the last decade so they’re having to do more with a lot less.

I think CyB has perhaps been left behind a bit and hasn’t advanced with the capabilities of modern bikes and now needs some more technical features to compete with other venues.

Apart from Y Slab on the original Red Bull trail and the skills zone nothing has been changed for seemingly decades. I’m up there every few months (not always with a bike) and have noticed that there are a lot more runners and elderly people out for a coffee than bikers in the carpark than there used to be. Still love riding there but it really doesn’t have any reason to draw in the new riders.

I have two versions of being in immense pain.

The first was getting Chicken Pox when I was 21. Had it for a solid week and was absolutely covered in them so my whole body was throbbing and itchy. After the first day I genuinely spent the next 6 days either under a shower or in a bath as it was the only way to even remotely relieve the pain. Couldn’t eat for the whole time thanks to having Pox in my mouth! I’ve got multiple scars all over my body from it. The pain wasn’t bad in itself, like a bad nettle sting, but when it’s constant and all over your body it quickly escalates. More than happy to openly say the experience reduced me to a gibbering wreck who just sat there in the foetal position under the shower crying for hours non-stop!

The second was when I shattered two teeth simultaneously thanks to a particularly hard knock to my jaw. Two open teeth with exposed nerves really, really hurts and what was worse was I didn’t have a dentist so had to brave the local hospital. Thankfully it’s a University one so got to have them both removed quickly as long as I let students observe but it was still nearly a whole day of having knives constantly pushed into my jaw. The instant relief as the second tooth came out was unreal.

All they need to do is put a clause in the sale contract saying if it is compulsory purchased withing X years then try are guaranteed to get their purchase price plus Y percent increase per year of ownership. That will get everyone snapping them up and put a big complication in getting it all back

Which would reform prefer? A labour government with a huge majority or a labour struggling to get a majority? Thats their choice. when push comes to shove they will not want a strong labour government

Farage will revel in the Tories being annihilated, especially if his Reform picks up a few seats along the way. He can then go to the Tories and offer to lead them back from oblivion, becoming the ‘saviour’ of the party and creating a proper nuisance of himself from the side-lines. Once they become remotely electable again he will ‘stand aside’ for a new leader of his preference, that keeps him on the gravy train without having to do any of the really hard stuff.

Long-term a Labour landslide could actually be good for Reform and especially Farage.

I’d expect my own bank to be taking it up and challenging it on my behalf, so wondering if that’s the first line of complaint?

Vis your bank then via the ombudsman. Nationwide will not do anything for you directly as the staff will have limited access to the machine and it’s records. Nationwide machines are filled by G4S and they also take care of the reconciling of the machines too. As part of the Link network all banks agree to work in this way and share information.

If it tries to dispense cash and no one takes it, it should take the cash back in. I’m not sure if it dumps it in an unclaimed bin or puts it back in the pot and relies on the machine/cash people logging a discrepancy.

The cash moves from one of usually four cassettes inside the machine to the dispenser when you request it, if any notes jam they get diverted to the purge bin, a fifth cassette that is sealed. If you fail to take dispensed cash within a set timeframe (usually 20-30 seconds) then the machine will take the money back in and it again goes to the sealed purge bin, there is no way for it to go back to the dispensing cassettes. The machine’s log will show where every note has gone, either still in the main cassettes, out the dispenser slot and taken or in the purge bin. The machines are 99% accurate and it’s very rare anything more than a note goes missing. The only way the system can lose count is if the machine loses power midway through the cash travelling from the dispensing cassettes to the dispensing slot, when the machine regains power it will automatically do a test run of a note from each dispensing cassette to the purge bin, anything stuck mid-transit will also end up there too. The record will show a faulty transaction and the machine will be ‘down’ that amount while the purge bin contents will be ‘up’ thus cancelling each other out when the contents are reconciled after a refill.

Aren’t these machines fitted with cameras?

Not always and a few are dummies.

How would I know what commission the salesperson or dealer was getting? What would trigger someone to complain further down the line.

The claims are not about the salesperson getting commission for selling the finance, it’s about them being incentivised to push the higher rates above the lower rate deals. Plenty of customers qualified for the lowest rate offered but were only shown the higher rate deal as that gave the salesperson/dealer a bigger kickback. The FCA rules state that the customer should be informed of any deals that are better suited to them at the time of purchase and this was not always happening. It’s this part that is being investigated.

Nothing wrong with either of my main bikes and looking to move the hardtail on as I never use it so very doubtful anything new will appear this year. Any big spending will go on trips and maybe a skills day or two, much bigger bang fro buck than a new bike.

Finally completed my Ecto 1 a few days ago, been doing it in and off for nearly 3 years!

Works out at one section of the build manual every 2 months 😳

Still, it’s done now so looking for any suggestions for the next kit to get as I’ve sort of lost track of what’s been released.

Those terrify me. Can’t understand why some people hug the gutter and invite other drivers to make risky overtakes against oncoming traffic. Why don’t they mark the lanes so you’ve got two in one direction, one in the other, then reverse it intermittently?

Because they are absolutely lethal. The Heads of the Valley road (A470) used to be all like that in South Wales and the accident rate was horrific.

Has anyone else noticed the number of people who seem to think that just because their phone is in a cradle, it’s absolutely fine to use it to watch a movie?

Yes, plus people FaceTimeing or whatever you call it.

Bit of a shock to read they’re in trouble but when you think about it probably not that surprising. They’ve just got left behind, not because the bikes are poor but because their design just isn’t fashionable. I hope they can either restructure and come out the other side ok or the staff can find new work very soon.

I know their full build prices were challenging in terms of value (but they’re far from the only brand doing that) but I feel they suffered unfairly by using what people thought was a dated design because it didn’t have a load of pivots and linkages or swoopy carbon fibre.

I had a 5 in 2010 and it was the bike I loved the most, it was pricy back then but not overly so compared to the competition. When it came to replace it in 2018 I tried a new 5 which was great but the price was a big sticking point. I ended up with a Cotic Rocket at £4k, that in itself was £5-700 more than some bikes for a similar spec but the equivalent 5 or Alpine 6 was £1k on top of that. IIRC correctly the Orange offerings were something like 40% more expensive than the likes of Bird or Canyon for similar specs! Looking at the prices now it’s just as bad.

Long gone are the days of them being the trail centre fashion brand of choice, and telling that the replacement (Santa Cruz) might even represent better value

The Welsh trail centres used to be awash with Orange bikes all the way up to about 2017, now I see the odd one but it’s usually at FOD I spy one hammering the DH trails.

I’ve got to contact the railway about options, sending the ashes through the firebox or getting them made into a glass bird and placing it somewhere along the line is a consideration. All depends upon what they are allowed to do as I know they have done things for people before but not for a few years. Worst case scenario is I scatter them in one of two spots dad liked so he can watch the trains forever more.

NYD: Spent looking after my mum as she had a bit of a ‘moment’ emotionally.
2nd: Had a massive anxiety attack that ended up with me in A&E due to the horrific chest pains I was having.
3rd: Recovering from the above. Did a gentle Zwift ride which helped calm me down for an hour or so.
4th: Going to my GP then the pharmacy after being put back on Sertraline, a pretty high dose.
5th: Pushing through the anxiety so that we could intern my dad’s ashes.
6th: Trying to catch up on sleep missed over the last few days.
7th: Meant to be going out early morning with the local RC crawler group but it’s 2am and I’m sat here waiting for painkillers to kick in and dull the chest pains so I can get some sleep.

The 8th is meant to be signing up with my old work agency so I can get back to working but that’s looking highly unlikely. If my meds have to go to any higher dose then that will reach the trigger point for informing the DVLA and I could be barred from driving anything bigger than a car for 12 months, not good for a HGV driver.

2024 so far: more of the same shit that seems to have been a constant since 2017 with a small break at the beginning of 2020.

I get to draw this to a close today.

Friday we did the internment of my dad’s ashes at the local church. A private ceremony with my mum my sister and myself only. Just a short 10 minute ceremony but it has definitely brought it all to a close, especially for mum. Dad is now sat in a field 200m from the family house he bought as a confirmed batchelor, moved into on my parent’s 1st wedding anniversary after completely renovating it and where we will always call ‘Home’. He has direct line of sight of his favourite view of the mountains, the same as he had every morning from the kitchen window and the view he used in his latter years to check he could still see ok as he ate his breakfast.

I have got a small amount of his ashes kept back so that a part of him can be taken on two special trips. The first is a final walk with the dog and a drink at his favourite pub, those were accomplished today. The second is he wanted one final ride on his favourite steam railway, the. Blaenau Ffestiniog Narrow Gauge. It’s the trip he and mum took on their honeymoon and what we did as a family for his 80th too, he had a lifelong obsession with steam trains and adored that line. As soon as I can I will take him on one last trip up and down the line then leave the ashes there, where exactly is to be figured out.

I won’t be updating anything on this thread about any of that though but if people want to continue using it for their experience with similar experience then carry on. I’ll chip in if I feel I can add anything.

Again, thanks to everyone that has contributed with advice, support and anyone else that just said they were going through similar situations. It all helped. Now I’ve got to start rebuilding myself after all the effort I’ve expended, mentally and physically I’m not in a good place but those are both things that can be changed. Dad’s estate is nearly completed, thankfully an easy one, and the focus is now on mum. 2024 will be different and slightly lonely.

I think the may be a friend of a previous one. The writing style is different but the points being put forward are consistent with a banned user. If it’s the one I’m thinking of them there is a slight overlap between them being banned and this new one so it could be a ‘passing if the baton’ so to speak.

Either way I just scroll past them.

Interning dad’s ashes.

Really hope the coming year is better for all you suffering at the moment.

All the best for the new year.

Well 2024 is starting out as a continuation of the shit I had through the last 1/3 of 2023.

Spent all last night in the local A&E after suffering a rather large anxiety attack. Severe chest pain, shortness of breath and nausea meant I had no choice but to go there. Had all the usual checks to rule out a heart attack and finally got sent home this morning with strict instructions to get a GP appointment and that they would leave a message with my surgery to make sure I got one. Phoned up earlier today and have got one for tomorrow morning, earliest they could do. Hopefully I’ll be put back on the ‘Happy Pills’ but I have to be careful as some of them are on the list of Notifiable Medications that means I can’t drive a HGV while on them and seeing as I need to find a job (most likely going back on agency) in the next week or two I really don’t want to jeopardise that. Will have to discuss that with the doctor at the time though as I didn’t have that worry last time I was on medication. About to jump on Zwift and just aimlessly pedal to try and take my mind off things, would go for a walk but it’s wet and windy outside.

They’ve been slowly making the service worse for a while. I was a customer of LoveFilm when Amazon bought the company so I’ve given them a fair chance. 🤨

Same here, an ex-LoveFilm customer. Don’t watch much on Prime Video and if I do it’s usually a movie that I have to pay for so the whole Ads thing won’t really affect me, won’t stop it annoying me if I do watch something though (which reminds me, still got a season of Picard to watch).

What has peeved me off though is the way they’re running the delivery side down to make it gradually worse after making it the sole reason for the subscription. 18 months ago they made my area (central Cardiff) one where you could order by midday on a lot of items and get them delivered that evening, really handy for avoiding nipping into the supermarket on the way home for something but leaving with something plus sweets, a drink etc. It recently changed to only for orders over £20, then it was pushing Prime Delivery Day ‘to save on packaging’ only it wouldn’t and just meant that your delivery arrived on a Friday rather than next day but still in loads of individual boxes. The local lockers are also useless as they’re either got no slots available or what I’ve ordered can’t be delivered to them for some random reason (usually they’re the wrong size).

Once my current few orders have arrived I’m going to cancel it, when I got a great service out of it I could ignore Bezos’ cockrocket etc but now I can get stuff elsewhere for a similar price and delivered almost as quickly but without a subscription.

Problem isn’t necessarily the NHS being broken as such, but social care is certainly broken, and successive governments have done nothing to address this when we have a population which is living longer and having more complex care needs.
This then means that hospitals can’t safely discharge, which means acute beds don’t become available, when means the ED is full, which means ambulances can’t offload and so it goes.

Having had first-hand experience of looking at the whole system in action these last few months I’d go with that view in general. Obviously there will be regional variances and even variances depending upon the time of day/week these services are needed but in essence the whole system is being held up by the near-complete lack of social care.

Firstly well done for being a god human being and helping another in distress.

The NHS is not quite broken but it is right on the edge. Getting that initial access is the major issue as once you are inside the system it is generally ok. The staff, on the whole, are doing their absolute best with what resources they have but that is the main issue: the resources just aren’t there. Blame the current lot in Westminster for that. The light at the end of the tunnel is that hopefully by the end of this year we will have a different set of people holding the strings and with it the possibility of things changing direction for the better.