@mogrim I think Spanish dual nationality is a bit more nuanced. They require you to forego your British citizenship when you become a Spanish citizen, so in effect in Spain you are always Spanish, but you can keep your British passport and be British everywhere else in the world, should you so wish.

“sheep” is a local term for something else surely? Or a typo?

I decided a trickle charger was too much hassle to hook up. I went for the Halfords Advanced Smart charger. I run an extension cable out to the drive and plug it in every 2-3 weeks on the Mondeo (which I’m not using much) and it charges back up to full in a few hours.

Please don’t take offence, but how is that difficult to understand?

😂 I know what you mean, however I went right through this junction the other night when it was empty of traffic and I fixated on the solid green and only after did I realise I’d jumped the red 😳

I suppose the issue is that lights need to be 100% obvious even for numpties like me, so it needs to be a green ahead arrow not solid.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/Q7AME8mRBNcGFj9V7

Here’s the junction on Google maps

very leftfield…have you thought about a small yacht? 2nd hand yachts can be found for quite cheap, whereas dinghies seem to be be holding strong (probably due to staycations). Something older like a Westerly Centaur for £7K would be great for day cruising with kids. Requires a small amount more skill and experience, but it’s easy to sail.
You will have to find somewhere to keep it and you’re annual running costs will be much more than a dinghy… maybe not such a good idea!

Wahl Colour Pro Styler Hair Clipper 9155-2417X was £12.99 at Argos and does a great job*. Difficult to find stock though.

* having an able and willing partner helps!

Mud levels are at their peak like everywhere in the country but this is finest sticky Cotswold mud. There’s the old rail line to Nailsworth which is OK for a family ride, but dull otherwise. The canal path might be rideable but not much fun. No fire roads and any farm gravel tracks are full of puddles. Your best chance is getting out early on the cold frozen days or road ride out into the Cotswolds.
On the plus side, when it dries up it’s a great riding area. Hook up with the Bigfoot club when lockdown eases to get to know the trails.

As others have said wait until you’re officially moved to EDF.
I was with Tonik when they went bust and got moved to Scottish Power. It took a couple of months for me to get an account number and as soon as I had that I moved to Avro energy, who were cheapest at the time.

applying to join the CCCP you say? I thought this government was leaning more towards the fascists than the socialists.

IANAL but

Protection from Harassment Act 1997 section 2
Malicious Communications Act 1988 section 1
Communications Act 2003 section 127

she needs to go to the Law

Never heard of the bloke until raised here. Read (some of) his blog from December about this female journo and then read the comments. WTF. He appears to be attracting lots of incels. What a tw*t.

I’m a Project Manager for a company who builds and maintains equipment for Navy ships and the entire UK Submarine fleet.
I’ve been going into work 2-3 days per week as needed as i’m managing a lot of critical work in our build facility.

this is a great example of how we ended up with so many kids in school. Everyone thinks their role is ‘critical’ yet in reality few are.

correct, it’s just a suspicion but it seems reasonably grounded given the number of shocks. Does anyone on here have that many good spec, fully functioning shocks in their garage?
Take away the online element and if someone was selling parts like that at a car boot sale it would ring alarm bells.

What you are describing is a lightweight XC hardtail mountain bike

Squirt year round. Works ok for wet 2h rides this time of year.

seasonal fruit and veg

They must have a pretty empty stall, there’s not much in ‘season’ in January.

Our Lidl has run out of peppers (grown in Spain this time of year)

Example Canyon Neuron 6:

Apr 2020 £1649
Nov 2020 £1849
Jan 2021 £2099

27% increase in less than a year for the exact same spec. The first jump I put down to supply/demand, the second is Brexit.

(*also worth being aware of for insurance claims for specified bikes)

Has everyone forgotten the horse meat scandal?

Why I mention that is, US food may have lower welfare standards, but I think the idea of the food quality (risk to human health) actually being worse may be quite overstated, unless someone can point me to some definitive study?

Horse meat was an issue with food labelling, not food safety.

The much higher occurrence of food poisoning in the US indicates an increased risk to human health (you can do your own Googling on this point)

unlikely to be legally enforceable. It’s government guidance masquerading as Law again.

Been taking it during September to April for the last couple of years. I think i get enough sunshine outside those months.
It’s the only supplement recommended by the NHS for everyone.
Another anecdote: my wife doesn’t take vitD, she got covid and I didn’t (or was asymptomatic).

I’ve got a Reba RL 29 120mm on an XC hardtail. I find its small bump sensitivity is zero but when it starts engaging it’s quite good over rougher terrain. Nice and light too. I wouldn’t want it on a trail bike.

Pip Hare has been the best thing about this race for me. I wish I had just a smidge of her strength and resilience.

2nd is a different cut around the shoulders, which might be for added protection when carrying a pack.
If you like it why worry? Return it if not, they have a good return policy.

The stamps issued in Jersey and Guernsey are not valid for posting in the UK, but lots of under-stamped mail often gets through. I once received mail with no stamps at all – from Jersey!

I’ve now concluded by claim and thankfully it’s ended well.

RSA (trading as Nationwide) have admitted that their claims expert was in error to state that the outbuildings limit applied when I had purchased the additional cycle cover. Had I not pushed this point (and spent hours on the phone) they would have left it as that, so always push.

I raised a complaint and got them to review the original call logs where I asked them about outbuildings and cycle cover (I also got these sent to me under GDPR) and I clearly was told that the outbuildings limit did not apply when purchasing cycle cover. They’ve given me £50 for my wasted time.

I have also got them to review the wording of the policy for cycles as it currently says that cycles are only covered away from home for ‘accidental loss’ (it’s not like a laptop you can leave on the train!). They are providing me with a letter to say that the bikes are cover for theft away from home.

So the lesson is to always read the policy in detail before taking out cover and speak to the agents beforehand if anything is at all unclear, asking them to confirm the call is being recorded.

@5lab thanks for linking to the legislation, I’ve struggled to find it

@Gribs I’m with you. I’ll be sticking to the law and following the guidance when I think it makes a difference. So I won’t be staying within my town, but will stay local and won’t restrict myself to one outdoor exercise a day

The difference now is that ‘local area’ has been given a more precise definition, whereas before we could interpret it ourselves.
It reads like if you live in a town you can’t leave the town boundary.

Reawakening this thread as it seems relevant…

English lockdown 3 looks to be stricter for outdoor exercise than previously. Gov.uk site says only once per day (that was only a guide previously) and within your village, town or part of city. So no rides out in the countryside, unless you live in the sticks?

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-lockdown-stay-at-home

2 closed in Cheltenham so far citing H&S

Applies to Star Trek merch too! William Shatner highlighted this back in October and has shut down sales to the UK from his website.
Still, its great for UK bike businesses, they can hike up their prices… if only they had stock.

Can anyone point me to a list of legislation which the EU ‘imposed’ upon us? I saw an excellent piece of analysis about 12 months ago on social media somewhere, but now I can’t find it. The conclusion was that all the legislation was good and we would have put it in anyway without being in the EU.

I’ve had the Netatmo system for two years, with boiler control and 3 rad valves but I wouldn’t recommend it. The smarts are fairly good, both on the website and app, you can set times and temperatures and it can learn the thermodynamics of your home to turn on the heating ahead of time to get to the right temp (it knows the outside temp). Turning off the heating remotely when away from home and then on the way back is useful.
However, the boiler control went wrong just after two years and dealing with the support team (in France) is very slow: 5 days for an email response and then wait another 5 days (there’s no phone number). I also made the mistake of not specifying a manual control for my boiler, so when it went wrong we had no heating. I ended up buying a new control.
Secondly the TCV valves are very inaccurate with the temperature. I’ve compared them to other thermometers and they vary wildly and also inconsistently, sometimes up 2 degrees sometimes down There’s a TrueTemp function to adjust the temp, but due to the wild swings it doesn’t work.
So, the smart system is useful, but it needs to be well executed. I wish I’d gone with Google Nest.

This is a common fault, there’s lots of info on the On One Fatty Owners FB group and at one point a guy was selling axles. You can get a steel tube off eBay but bear in mind the OD needs to be very exact. I ended up getting a fatsno hub.

As for all the home schooling chats i think middle class single track is forgetting there are some people who are incapable of home schooling.

Spot on! Some children from lower income families will suffer with home schooling due lack of access to technology and parents who can’t work at home and who struggled at school themselves.
This has to be weighed up against the benefits of protecting the elderly and vulnerable.

Apparently 2 sleeps a night use to be the norm

For a short period of time in the West, prior to the the industrial revolution apparently. Though it’s cultural rather than in our generic make up. Best to sleep through.

If your sawing experience is not good I’d 2nd getting the saw guide Pjay mentions. You also want a long blade hack saw 12″ which you can get for around £12-15 at Screwfix etc. Not a junior hack saw.
Measure twice twice!

Bloody hell @sacktwist that’s 2.5hrs and 87km every. single. day of the year…

And at 35kph average 😲

tariff’s are based on import date not purchase date.

If you buy now from the EU, be prepared for a long wait and possible additional taxes on arrival. It might not happen but it’s a gamble.

2.0L Mk4 Mondeo ticks every box (and more) other than tax. £3K should be able to get you a higher spec Titanium 2009/10 around 100,000mi. Make sure the cambelt’s been done. Rear bushes might need doing. DPF is quite resilient, but better to try and find a car that’s done regular longer journeys rather than just pootle around town (similar to any diesel you go for). Massive load space for all the kid’s crap you’ll be carrying around.