Nursery will help them make the transition to school if its a good one. Ofsted reports are like mtb reviews – not worth the paper they are written on. Visit the potential nursery and use your gut instinct, if the car park is full everyday then thats always a good sign, if you can get one within the catchment area of your potential infants school then your kids nursery friends will become thier school friends and you’ll be able to get help with the school runs because you’ll know some of the parents.

Phil Saxena doesn’t make a habit of ‘sanitising’ tracks or trails and as said this will make the trails rideable all year hopefully. Theres so much moaning that no money is being spent then when Bristol stump up the cash, involve the local community and employ a world class trail builder thats not good enough either. If it means I have a trail centre on my doorstep that not only pro level xc’ers but myself and my kids can ride year round then bring it on.

Morgins is a small town and was very quiet when i was there (july) but the 2 downhill trails were special.Les Arcs sounds like the perfect mix, the epic singletrack is exactly that with a dh track you could session plus a fair bit in the town itself. You can always get the eurostar to Les Arcs as well to save flying. Look at trail addiction or Coolbus Rob will point you in the right direction.

whatever you go for get a used one, depreciation is unreal on most of the bikes mentioned. Incidentally I had a single pivot Nic Ufost which was awesome, bombproof and had people talking about it everywhere it went but switched to a four bar Cove shocker which I personally feel is easier to go more quickly on (but i’m no racer). i won’t bother trying to get a dh bike you can pedal, you’ll end up with a bike not particularly great at going up or down imho (cue outrage from those who think an uplift is somehow ‘cheating’)

buy them- Hopes are like italian cars, if you get the set they made on Friday afternoon they will be nowhere near as good as the formulas.And if you don’t get on with them I’ll swap them for my v2s.

good call- thanks.

Depends on the sender- some will mark the package as low value and gift/commercial sample so you avoid duty, but most won’t.Figure on payig the vat and import duty and a handling charge,my Cove Shocker cost me nearly £200 extra despite the gift marking because the value was high. Unfortunately since 9/11 the US postal service have a duty to report ‘suspicious’ transactions so the majority of the people i’ve dealt with in the states won’t risk sending too many ‘gifts’ for fear of the wrath of the authorities. If you are saving the thick end of a grand then think about flying out with a bike bag and an overnight bag, picking up the frame, stripping the price tags off and bringing it back with you. Of course with Chris king dollar for pound you could pop a few bits in as well for your mates to subsidise the trip. Do remember however that if its purchased in Manhattan you’ll pay their version of vat at aboput 7.5% i believe.

And like you I’m not interested in the ‘thats against the law’ brigade , until we stop getting ripped off over here then go for it.

I can highly recommend Kaybee doors. I bought a set of full height oak folding and sliding off them and they are superb.Don't entertain going to one of the natioanlly advertised window companies-they are total **** and make up the prices as they go.

montgomery cheddar is nice, as is Hereford Hop. Look in a local deli of farmers market as opposed to your supermarket (though Waitrose have a fair selection). Go for the cheese made with unpasteurised milk. Chandos deli in bristol is excellent, as is the slow food market we have here every month. Comparing say cathedral city with a good locally made cheese is like comparing a fine single malt with bells, though it can be more expensive you'll use far less as the taste is that much stronger.

a case of chardonnay and a nanny.

Thought long and hard about redundancy but I’d get a years pay,my pension frozen for 20 odd years and be looking for a job in a depressed marketplace with no degree and no trade to speak of.Definitely will involve the full time rep though.Thanks.

In the union and have been for 24 years, they are toothless so far. Don’t want redundancy (not really,too young) , got nearly 25 years service and of the 20 or so affected reckon 18 or so are not best pleased.

adds about an hour on the journey.if I got the travel time as time in work I’d be happy, thats a great idea.

to avoid panic – look what happened when Kent Brockman thought the ant people were taking over …..

or have a look on ebay.com Some of the German and American suppliers have nice stuff.

I may be able to help you out.Got a Kryptonite NYC chain and Molly lock unused if interested? Only problem is it is very heavy so collection from Bristol or S.Wales to make it viable.

I believe it to be 15% vat plus 17.5% import duty,plus a handling charge.

All the b8llocks about the TV people knowing where you are and all that is just hot air.I was threatened by them because I bought a telly and my partner had the licence (different names) -they cannot cross reference and did not like me pointing it out to them when I refused to tell them who held the licence at my address.

snow,lots of it,its chucking it down in S.Wales at present