Gave up TV about 10 years ago when I bought a wrecked house that needed doing up. Got married and managed to wean the wife off the one programme a week she thought she couldn’t do without – ER. Probably know around 10 other people with no TV – mainly outdoor types. Manage to entertain kids of 5 and 4 without resorting to TV/DVDs etc, though occasionally let them watch a bit of CBeebies on iPlayer, and they watch at Grannys house and during wet play at school (which I’ve complained about, to some slight effect – anyone else think that’s wrong?), and guess what, they play brilliantly together, eldest can read almost anything on sight and youngest not far behind. If you think there is anything wrong with this BTW (i.e. if you think we’re depriving the poor little blighters) then read Remotely Controlled by Dr Aric Sigman who points out lots of evidence that it’s not just the content of TV programmes that is bad for kids, but the nature of the medium itself.

OTOH, recently started watching a few things on iPlayer – like Masterchef!

Oh, go on then…

Wife and I having a picnic.

This is also my contribution to the Masterchef thread.

And whilst out riding (after the picnic).

Whatever happened to that nice Patricia Hewitt?

Got mine from Freecycle.co.uk Had to take it down and remove it from the garden of the guy giving it away, but other than that it was free. Just go onto your nearest group and do a “wanted” ad.

One person’s “generous system of care and support” is another persons overpaid dentists.

The reason most dentists “can’t afford” to do NHS work is because otherwise they wouldn’t make £100K for a 4 day week.

Of course that’s just my opinion.

London & Country – did my last 2 mortgages – brilliant service and no charge to you above what you would pay if you went direct – My broker was a guy called Tristan Parker – ask for him.

Of course, if you tell them that Jon Brooke from Wareham sent you then they’ll send me a bottle of champagne, but that has nothing to do with my recommendation whatsoever.

Given that 25% of Primary Schools are church schools I’m not sure how effective the “brainwashing” is – can’t say I’ve noticed a big problem caused by large groups of fundamentalist Christian kids on the streets of a night. As it happens I’m an atheist but my daughter goes to a church school and if she ends up a “sober” Christian rather than one of the pissed up, leery, lawless, immoral kids that cause about 99% of the problems in our town, then I’ll take my chances and try not to be too down on myself

OTH my wife, who’s a year 6 teacher, reckons that 24 hours (if we are actually talking about 24 hours? – mucker?) is a bit much for a 12 year old and liable to make some of them feel a bit faint/ill/grumpy – as she notices them going downhill after a few hours without food at school.

So in answer to the question, yes, you did over react, a bit.

Thanks for the post though. We’ve just had a really useful conversation about how we feed our 2 kids.

I used to think that a plane could take off on a conveyor.

1987 (or maybe 88) – Specialized RockHopper Comp in Dinucci Green

Seen here at my first ever race at Inside Park

Anyone know that recipe for peach and potato cakes with peach and basil sauce BTW?

1930 -> World population 2 billion
Now -> World population 6.5 billion

Growth supported largely by availablility of oil for fertilizers/transport/chemicals(including medicines)

Peak oil -> about now

Hmmm…..

I’m making the brum brum noises and everything.

Any mechanics on here. My car won’t go.

My wife is a teacher. Yesterday the staff all managed to get to their small village school in the middle of nowhere, but at 10 to nine when no kids had turned up and plenty had phoned in to say they weren’t coming they decided to close. She stayed there most of the day though doing planning/sorting etc. which seems to take more of her time than the actual teaching anyway (usually she’s gone by 7.15 am, back at about 6 pm and does a couple of hours planning after tea each weeknight). On the other hand my daughter’s school just up the road in town closed from the off, but as I was helping at my son’s nursery yesterday morning (voluntarily, like many of the parents do) I took her with us and she had a nice time playing with the little kids.

Today we had more snow on the ground but a better forecast but luckily my wife’s school, daughter’s school and son’s nursery all decided early to close for the day – so we’ve all just spent two hours outside with most of the neighbours and their kids sledging down the hill at the side of the house.

PS – my wife, the teacher also pays NI and taxes. Surprised a cyclist would want to bring up the subject of hypothecated taxes given the ire that not cyclist motorists tend to heap on us for daring to use the roads with vehicles without tax disks even though we’ve all got cars at home.

You probably don’t need orthotics.

Are you running off-road? if so, get some grippy shoes – Inov-8 are widely available (and british) in a range of models so you can probably find a supplier nearby. Personally I like Adidas Swoop IIs very soft, forgiving shoe but without too thick a sole (important to reduce chance of turning an ankle) but plenty of grip.

Pete Bland has a good website for all off road running stuff.

Probably your foot hurts because you are doing something new. Have a few days off then do it again.

My mate John Bardgett in Cumbria had a bike rack on the back of his Ducati, so he wins.

These days I do lots of running and not much biking. As per all the OPs the problem you may have is that your fitness will allow you to run quite a long way quite fast, but then you may not be able to walk for a few days after. If you don’t want to spend a lot of time building up your distances I would suggest going out and doing a 10 km run (not that much really) but taking it very steady. If you find that you are OK the day after then do it again the next week a bit quicker. If you find that your legs are bu&&ered after, then get a massage or just do a bit of light riding until they feel better (a few days). You’ll probably find that after you’ve gone through the pain and stiffness cycle a few times you’ll be OK.

BTW I’m not a doctor, nor have I read any of this in a book – it’s just what works for me – proceed at your own risk.

BTW again, although my overall cycling fitness is not what it once was, I have found that running has dramatically increased my leg strength and I can now ride short hard sections that I couldn’t have ridden when I cycled a lot and hardly ran at all.

Just got home and am currently sorting and tagging 1700 pics, and tagging with rider numbers, though many numbers are hard to spot as they are: small, wrapped around top tube, obscured by snow/mud or not lit by off-camera flash – so I’m afraid if you are looking for your pic you may have to do some browsing – some great (IMHO) pics though. Should be online by late tonight if I can stay awake.