It's FUBAR'd

(F*cked up beyond all recognition)

Whilst that might be true – seeing as they're Shimano brakes, perhaps SNAFU would be more appropriate….

On the plus side,

… one that I haven't heard recently, but was played to death during student days – to be resurrected??

Marlene on the Wall by Suzanne Vega

More petrol on the Beatles / Lennon / McCrapney fire – bunch of talentless scousers

ABBA – sh!te…. wife and family's love of MamaMia is driving me out of the house…

All that American teen sh!te that the girls seem to love at discos – Grease etc

Boy Bands – ALL of THEM, ever

And a special peace of hatred for…

YMCA

and all the muppets who insist that a) everyone should like dancing to it, and b) everyone should know the fooking moves AARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH

DU ???? – isn't that stuff a bit heavy on a bike

I think reviewers probably do put too much emphasis on descending… but that's entirely subjective. Lots of the recent (last 2-3 years) crop of AM / Trail bikes have been marketed by bike companies and written up by reviewers as all day suitable – verging on mis-selling if you ask me.

My HT is a bitch on any downhills with drops and jumps – rewarding when you get it right. 21" frame with a long top tube and circa 90mm forks. Climbs well though :D, and nothing compares to the laser guided feel through swoopy flowy sections of singletrack. Feels more like slalom skiing working from edge to edge

I believe that there are a few 2009 Anthem X3s around for that sort of money. Availability of particular sizes might be an issue though

not that long ago, welsh was only a spoken language – it had no alphabet or spelling.

The welsh adopted the english/latin alphabet – this was a good idea, no point inventing their own letters/typeface/typewriters etc. Russian / Geek alphabets would also have made good choices.

Most languages trace back to purely oral traditions – just depends how long back you wish to look…

I would have thought that written forms of the Brythonic languages go back at least as far as written English

tankslapper – Member
Northern Irish if you please!! Married to a Welsh woman now POW – Prisoner of Wales!

Learning the language – slowly…..

…from the road signs by the look of your red lights 😉

fwb2006 – Member
Da iawn rkk01, un point am

Diolch / Meur ras

Doesn't the soft mutation mutate the p to a b??

As in…

Mae hi'n bump o'r gloch rather than mae hi'n pump o'r gloch

My wife has been looking for some shin pads.

As a recent return to mtbing, she doesn't want to cut / graze up her legs. Been looking at the 661 Veggies – anyone (especially female riders on here) have any thoughts ??

Used cotton nappies for both of our kids. They work well up to 12 months, but after that there is too much volume for them to contain, and it all gets a bit messy.

You definately save money compared to disposables, in terms of weekly shop.

Less convinced about longer term environmental benefits (and I work in the environmental industry…). More power, water and detergent use – plus our washing machine was on its last legs by the time they were both done with nappies.

Last night's commute home – weasel

… and ex-military in the classroom is not uncommon.

As posted above, many retire from the services at a young age with another career in front of them. My maths teacher was ex-Navy, and he was a bloody good teacher, mainly because he knew man-management and how to get on with people…

However, ex-military in the class room are first and foremost, not ex-military, they are current qualified class teachers. Fine if DC want to get more ex soldiers into teaching, can't see anything wrong with that, but the ethos and standards of behaviour that they bring to the profession will need to be those of the teaching profession, not of the military. They will be constrained by the same beaureacracy (child protection, depending on your viewpoint)as any other teacher.

Mrs rkk01 has recently started work in a school that was in special measures. It has a new head, but the leadership isn't / wasn't the reason for the school's low level of achievemnet.

The school in question takes all of the kids which have been excluded from other schools in the County, all they know is fighting and kicking the sh!t out of everyone. Discipline is (semi) maintained in a very physical manner using approved restraints. The parents are off this planet – clue – this is the problem…. the staff / head are those given the unenviable task of managing the problem

Are you implying that comprehensives provide a lower quality education GG?

Eton College provides a higher quality of education

available only to those who can afford it and have the contacts to get in – in exchange, a better education than the masses, and critically, access to networks and contacts to be set up for life??

modern warfare 2 is the only game worth mentioning

Also worth mentioning is, although COD titles are very good they're FPS games for the least talented, so easy to play good fun though on consoles.

Will get MW2 sometime between release and Christmas, but agree with the general comment re COD being just another balls out FPS (albeit very entertaining…)

I'm hoping that Gearbox will continue with the thinking gamers WW2 shooter and bring out a Brothers in Arms 4

The tax system as a whole needs a thorough overhaul, especially the income tax rate bands.

The recent commentary about the quality of life in Norway (and other Scandinavian countries) had many folks on here moaning that they pay 50% tax…

Well, with the UK higher rate cut off remaining fairly static throughout my working life (circa 20 yrs) a huge number of "middle income" salaries are now taxed as "high earners".

I would have thought something like 15-20p for the first 20k, then step it up to 25-30p to maybe 50-60k or more. What represents a high earner in the 21st Century?? I would have thought 60k+ or so.

A lot of folks that I know "struggle" (and I know that is relative compared to lower earners) on nice sounding 35-40k salaries, but are totally stuffed by paying 51% tax and NI (>50% hence my comparison to Norway).

Be much fairer to have a genuinely benign tax rate for the low earners and a new middle bracket so that those in middle incomes contribute as they should, but proportionally, and the real high eraners also contribute proportionately…

debt

As yes, been collecting those myself 😥

My son has just started building Airfix kits – that takes me back….

Funnily enough even though I used to build and collect airplane kits as a kid, it wasn't me that got him into it – he saw a Spitfire display from the grandparents house over the summer and was hooked

oldfart just doesn't get it, obviously….

"We're all in this together" – and it's true enough.

Bit like the Titanic – we're all doomed, "we're all in this together", but the crew will be checking the first class tickets on the lifeboat

Clever External security lights

Depends on your definitions of…

…Clever… and…

Security 😉

Clever = Low light / IR camera linked to biometric / facial recognition software

Security = The above, linked to one of these…

You'll be needing this…

About 15 yrs ago we rented a property that had a load of pears, so started making wine to use up the pears.

If you make no other wine, try the rice wine in that book – it is absolutely lethal

GT5 before my pension…..

I hope to be able to contribute to this thread in a few weeks time 😉

There's a 2010 X3 with my name on it somewhere…

Blame the parents? No.

My parents are in their 70s. Their generation worked bloody hard and under conditions were H&S accidents and industrial diseases were commonplace. They are enjoying a comfortable retirement, but they have certainly earned it.

My father started work the year that National Insurance came in – he therefore contributed from day 1. He took early retirement at 56, and was the only was the only person from his 1946 apprenticeship intake to be still alive. For his trade, very few of his generation lasted to retirement at 65, and those that did were typically dead with 2 years.

Thats the reason the currently retired are well off – lots paid in, few got the chance to take out.

Today it's the other way around – fewer paying in and most living longer and in better more active health.

Always surprised by the variety of Swiss watches advertised / on sale when I've gone to Switzerland… UK only seems to get a very limited selection.

No idea if they're any good though

Hmmm,

Not overly keen on Pace's use of the St George's flag on their products – unnecessary really

Agree with M_F. Character gets edited out in favour of "commercial" appeal. Narks me that it is unremittingly "poppy". Any performances with a bit of "edge" to them are very few and far between…. makes it a very bland show

These go back a while, and are based on thorough expedition testing

Cheddar cheese and strawberry jam,
Peanut butter and strawberry jam,
tinned sardines and strawberry jam, and by far the best…

…Snot porridge

Pace RC305 + 130mm fork, light, quick downhill, reasonably quick uphill

As posted on a similar recent thread, try changing the wireless channel??

I was on the point of returning a new Netgear wireless modem router, but a read of the manual suggested that most wifi users leave their wireless on the default channel number. As soon as I swapped channels it was fine.

No.

Brechfa is an absolute hoot.

However I am taken aback by how many people seem to think that they spring from nowhere and don't require any investment or maintenance.

I'm not sure that anyone has argued that. No-one on here can be as naiive to think that the trails would survive the high level of use without maintenance. That's not the same as disagreeing with a pay to ride funding model.

Some companies like Kona and Marin have chipped in but I'm not aware of any trails that have been funded entirely by the industry

…and the same goes for FC, who haven't solely funded trails to my (limited) knowledge. I'm only speaking for the trails in the Welsh valleys – but these were badged as community regeneration projects subject to EU grant aid: ie, to provide recreation facilities for local mtbers, and with visiting mtbers being drawn to the area, provide an economic stimulus to deprived areas.

To add to my last post…

Maxaheadset – probably the best post on the thread, bringing well informed opinion to the debate.

So, if the current funding model works at the moment, perhaps it's time is limited. My own view would remain that I'd not want to pay for access. I live close enough to Glyncorrwg that I could ride there (for a full day out), but choose to ride the local trails in the valleys closer to me – that's not a decision based on cost, it's purely more convenient to ride from the door.

(And I'd regard my own opinions on the issue as partially informed, rather than totally ignorant 😉

To respond to a few of those who have bitten on my rant 😉

Northwind – No I didn't build the trails, although I've met a few of those who were involved in the original 9feet.com trail – and I'd be surprised if they argued for a more commercial model.

For all I know, I might have contributed some funding, after all I am a UK taxpayer, and as far as I remember the (early)SWales trails were at least partially grant funded (mix of EU / WAG money – happy to be corrected), so I don't know that the FE / FC paying for the trail build is actually the case. Maintenance is a different issue, and due to the intensity of use, probably needs to be looked at.

thisisnotaspoon / ChriL – I don't demand access to trail centres trails. It's great that they have been built and stimulated greater participation in mtbing. They probably all have different funding models, and I'm not aware that any of those currently involve pay to access. On my occasional trips to Afan / Glyncorrwg I am happy to pay for car parking if I am riding from the main centres, and I'll probably have some food and drink in the cafe. I just don't want to "pay to ride", it's not a concept that I am comfortable with for my participation in this sport (unless associated with an event such as MM).

As argued by others above, very many social, cultural and sporting activities are centrally funded. I've enjoyed a trip to the ballet in the fantastic new Wales Millenium Centre – my ticket price certainly didn't cover the cost of getting a Russian ballet Co to perform, let alone contribute to the construction / upkeep.

I don't play footie or rugby, and have generally no interest in team type sports, all of which enjoy grass roots funding of one sort or another.

I have no intention of going to the 2012 Olympics, but we're not asking the spectators or participants to pay for that either…

Anthem

WTF???? You guys are off your rockers

What is it with the British (English???) obsession with paying for what is already yours 👿

We've been conditioned to pay (through the nose) for everything – note to the parking thread – last time I was in France most towns had free parking because the local councils wanted to encourage custom, not rip off visitors…

Do people pay for the privilege of having a kick around at the local sports fields??

Do you pay to go hill walking in the "wilds"??

Do you expect to pay to go for a blast on a road bike or commute to work – and yes the roads DO need maintaining and money is allegedly spent on making the roads more "cycle friendly"

As far as I recall, lots of the trail centres have been partially grant funded (originally) and mainenance of Afan etc are currently beneficiaries of sponsorship deals.

The Government throws money at trying to encourage a healthier lifestyle…

… get out there and enjoy it and don't let some marketing / franchising ****t charge you for what they should have no right to extort money for

Awful lot of wasted animal life going on here. Everyone I've convinced to go blue hasn't gone back – although they were initially squeamish…

Anyway – sirloin or rib eye (fillet deserves a different approach)

HOT griddle, no fat.
For sirloin, hold the fatty edge onto the heat until nice golden brown colour or being licked by flash flames from the gas ring

Then, 30 seconds per side on the heat of the griddle.

Result, perfectly cooked steak – fat nice a browned, meat sealed, but cold (blue) in the middle. This preserves the melt in the mouth qualities of steak and prevents over cooked chewiness.

Always fancied steak tartare…

… and once worked with a driller who used to eat raw liver from his lunchbox!!

Often wondered this at the Mayhem – why do people ride the course on Friday / Saturday morning???

I always take the view that:

a) I'll be seeing enough of the course over the next 24 hours, and;
b) I'll be expending enough energy over the next 24 hrs not to need a "bonus lap"