South Downs practically on your doorstep for riding.
Lots of nice bars, cafes, restaurants and stuff.
London prices for everything though – houses, food, drink, the lot.
Only hour from London by rail if you needed to commute.

I think it’s also crucial to guage what the customer doesn’t want to know – some can get way too techy with non-techy customers and end up confusing them to the point where they’re no longer sure that the bike they were looking at is right for them or not.

A muppet in Evans nearly talked himself out of a sale when I went along with a mate to look at budget hybrids – he just wanted something fastish and fairly comfy to ride to work and some leisure stuff at the weekend. We found a last-season Mongoose with decent parts, nice colour, right size for him, hefty amount off. He test rides it, likes it. Really all the sales guy had to do was run his card through, maybe pausing to ask if there were any other bits (lights, helmet, etc) he wanted.

Nope, he *has* to start pulling out other bikes, none of which are quite so well suited and pricier, even if they’re in his budget. Then he goes on at great length about the relative merits of various parts and groupsets. By now my mate is wavering and starts second-guessing his opinion of the first, and is on the verge of walking out to think it over. In the end, after riding one of others and me talking some sense into him, he goes for the first one. Madness.

Personally, I don’t take any bike shop salesperson’s opinions on the quality of kit at face value and 99% of the time I just need someone to get it for me from the back and run it through the till.

Baseball cap on backwards is a great help for protecting the back of your neck, gives a little bit of protection for the rest of your head too.

Wear sturdy boots – broken ankles are not fun, and most trainers clog up with mud and become useless anyway.

If you’ve got MTB kneepads (and maybe elbows too) take them and wear them. All the better for stylishly sliding into a piece of cover :D

Finally I would definitely recommend running around- being involved as much as possible- its soo much more fun than worrying, sitting there scared of being hit etc.

Absolutely – so many people see the paintballs flying and just hide behind something. Then they spend a fortune on paint, trying to hit people from miles away. If you actually get up and move you’re a pretty tricky thing to hit (especially if you’re going across, rather than towards someone) and as long as you’ve got some cover to get to it would be a lucky shot to get you.

Ideally if you’re in a group of friends try to get some tactics going so you actually have a plan. Even if not, try to team up with someone else so that one can give covering fire (even just firing randomly at bits of cover to keep people’s heads down) while the other moves.

Should be free, as long as your policy has glass cover.

I had three windows smashed in, they replaced the lot (including the expensive heated rear window) for the £50 excess, no effect on no claims either.

I love the engineering aspect of mechanical watches, a fascinating exercise in shrinking all of those bearings, cogs and springs down to a size that fits on a wrist. I’m amazed by the (nowhere near as good as quartz) accuracy too given what goes on inside the case.

However, that side of it is easily satisfied with <£150 japanese ones, especially now that ebay brings all of the interesting ones that have never been sold in the UK within reach. Lots of watches in the price range above that (including some really expensive ones) just use off-the-shelf movements, with maybe some degree of customisation if you’re lucky. Only up into the silly money do you get proper in-house movements.

And I agree with the sentiments about size – the fashion for big watches is silly. You look like an idiot unless you’ve got arms like Arnie to pull it off.

Everyone said the same about 2003, and 2000, and 97… and in fact every new iteration of Windows. Suddenly the version before the latest one becomes the most stable and fantastic thing ever, until another new version comes along and the one currently pervieved as slow, crashy and rubbish becomes wonderful.

Ginger has worked well for people I know, including fellow divers who’d get horribly sick on boats. You can get it in concentrated capsules from health food shops if you don’t like the taste.

Sadly no longer commuting, so it’s rusting in the rain outside instead.

Are there rights of way there? I used to go there a fair bit as an army cadet!

Plenty of 36h options here: http://www.parker-international.co.uk/c/65/Rims—Clincher.html

Jar stuff is lazy :) – my girlfriend makes a big batch every 6 months or so (half of which ends up being given away).

Her recipe is very similar to this one, if my memory is right: http://mydhaba.blogspot.com/2005/12/nimbu-ka-achaar-aka-lime-pickle.html

All but the biggest current iPod don’t have enough space to hold all my music at once. Some smart playlists (a couple of “recently added” type ones, plus some random good stuff) does me fine on my iphone, plus the podcasts I subscribe to.

The Darkroom app helps the camera a lot – doesn’t do anything the camera doesn’t already but monitors camera shake and picks the right moment to release the shutter. Makes it far more usable in low light.

But yes, if you *REALLY* care about 5MP cameras, flash, MMS messaging then for god’s sake buy something else rather than buying an iPhone and moaning about it.

The french police have over 50 Kawasaki ZZR1400s for their “fast interception” officers – derestricted apparently and will do 195mph.

Netbook + 3G modem. Even the iPhone would get annoying if it was a primary browsing device.

I’ve had a couple of nice meals in Budokan – can’t remember the street but it’s just down the road from that Zero Degrees microbrewery place.

The Alfa specialists I go to charge between £50 and £60 an hour, plus VAT (and they’re all Alfa-trained, with all the diagnostic kit, etc). I’d imagine a more general place would charge a bit less.

I’m not sure what materials the pictured one is of, but even the £20 cruz one at the link I posted seems to have more metal in it.

With anything like this, I always check it’s still secure a few miles down the road after starting off, then every time I stop after. Usually it’s OK, but occasionally things can work themselves loose over a long journey.

Keep you eyes on ebay for Thule – I picked up a full set of the posh Thule aero ones for my car (the OEM Alfa ones) for £50, brand new. Unlike every other set of bars I’ve had they don’t make any noise at motorway speeds.

Mind you, by the looks of those you’ve got roofrails already so bars are much simpler and no worries about damaging paint or the channels they’d sit in.

As for the bike bit, I’d be inclined to splash out a bit more for something better known. Mail-order can be a fair bit cheaper:

http://www.roofbox.co.uk/bike-carriers/bike-carriers-racks-range.php#roofmountingbikeracks

£40 will get you a Thule Freeride 530 if you’re buying two at the same time. I’d be inclined to pay the extra £20 tbh.

I speak from experience that you don’t need to be super-fit to get round olympic distance :D The more prepared you are, the more you’ll enjoy (rather than endure) it though.

Swimming is most people’s big worry. Get plenty of time in the pool and work your way up to the distance (don’t cheat by pushing off at the start of each length). Consider getting some coaching if you’ve not swum in ages or picked up all sorts of bad habits (my gf had the massive advantage of not learning to swim when she was a kid!). Lots of local pools either have a scheduled adult swim class or can put you in touch with someone. Most people are really splashy, which is slow and wastes loads of energy.

For open water, try to get some proper (ideally coached) practice in. Most tri clubs will run sessions all season at a lake somewhere – it’s very different experience swimming in a wetsuit, not having tiles on the bottom to follow and needing to “sight” the bouy you’re heading for. Few people swim in a straight line unaided so you need to get in the habit of raising your head to check and adjust. Practice the mass starts too, they can be intimidating as hell if you’ve not experienced one before the start of the race!

That said, for a first go there are plenty of club-level races which are pool-based so you can skip that stuff just to give it a try.

Bike you’ll probably be fine on, don’t worry too much about tri bars, just get on with riding as fast as possible. Road bike is fine, but you see plenty of people on hybrids or even MTBs. Check the drafting and overtaking rules as it varies from event to event.

Running is running – but one thing to include in your training is running straight after cycling. It’s not a natural or easy thing to go from one to the other and (again, from experience) your legs will stop working on the run unless you’ve specifically trained for that.

As said, joining a tri club is a good idea as you’ll be able to get plenty of advice as well as access to things like open water training.

But generally, get on and try one! I enjoy them, got a bit stuck just cycling, it gave me a reason to swim and run on a regular basis and get some kind of balance.

NHS dentists contract isn’t designed to reward quality work.

This.

Plus with the capped charges aspect, and that lots of people only go to the dentist when lots of things are wrong (and/or they’re in abject pain), there are lots of cases where the amount paid to the dentist doesn’t even cover materials and lab fees, let alone their time. Even in cases closer to the average, given that an NHS dentist is expected to treat up to six fillings at the same price as one, they can’t do a proper job for the time/money available.

Plus the contracts that NHS dentists have are rarely set at a suitable level, usually too low – so they run out of “NHS budget” before the end of the year and would have to sit on their hands if they didn’t ration it out.

Thus not surprising that most dentists that do treat NHS patients will prioritise children, then adults who actually look after their teeth and have regular checkups (and thus don’t accumulate problems) over someone who’s not seen a dentist in a decade and wants it all fixed for £50.

Blame the government, they used to let dentists get on with their jobs and picked up the bill for whatever needed doing.

(not a dentist, but have several as friends)

The 40p for 10,000 miles then 25p after is the limits of what you can claim before you get taxed. The company can pay you 40p a mile regardless, but you’ll get taxed on 15p of every mile beyond.

Hence 30k business miles at 40p a mile – (.4 x 10000 + .25 x 20000) = £9k tax-free, then (.15x 20000) a further £3000 which you’ll get taxed on. Assuming higher rate tax, that becomes £1800, so you get £10800 in your pocket per year to buy and run a car.

A fairly economical diesel will cost 10p a mile in fuel alone which is £3k gone straight away, insurance £500 at least, probably £1000 in servicing/tyres a year at that mileage – still gives you £6300pa to run something. Of course, this is all dependant on the mileage staying high, as if it dropped then factors like the depreciation still exist even if the car’s sat there. Doesn’t seem like too bad a deal though, especially if you’re home-based so all mileage counts as business.

Bear in mind if they paid you car allowance that *will* get taxed, so you actually need quite a lot to get the same amount to spend.

Does anyone have (or have driven) a DSG-equipped one? Any good?

An Octavia estate is pretty tempting for me anyway (25k miles a year on car allowance with MTB and scuba diving as hobbies), if I can have an auto that makes lighter work of London traffic and the M25 without being horrible to drive or killing fuel economy that would be ace.

4 steel wheels and winter tyres would do more good….

Indeed. With a set of chains in the boot for if it gets *really* bad. The only 4x4s in the ski resorts seem to be british-registered, and usually struggling on their summer tyres.

As shown on the roads today, traction to get moving (on the flat at least) is rarely the problem, it’s turning and stopping where 4WD is irrelevant. Well under £500 will get you a set of steel wheels with winter tyres, stick them on in November, save the salt corroding your alloys, switch back in March. It’s what the germans and swiss all seem to do, I don’t know why the idea doesn’t catch on.

I live just down the road from the Arsenal stadium and there are a lot of posh and non-posh people who are season ticket holders, cheapest of which starts at just under a grand a year. That’d buy a lot of bike, equipment and travel expenses.

Then again, there are people who’ll have a couple of pints in the local every single day, and that comes to about the same. Add 10 fags a day and you’d be close to the price of a decent full-sus bike after a year.

Plus you don’t *have* to travel to ride. When I was younger I was quite happy just riding around the local woods and bridleways, just had OS maps of the area and we went off wherever looked interesting.

1, maybe 2. No debt, no mortgage, enough tucked away in the (unlikely) event of losing job to survive being out of work for probably a year or so.

Work not ideal, but it’s the least bad job I’ve had so can’t complain really.

I’d say probably L, but they have changed the cut of their items a few times.

At least they’re good about sending things back – afaik they still put a post-paid return label in the bag.

How do you get in and out of your drive with those guitars in the way?

I took my helmet (bought a few years back to avoid the scabby hire ones at the indoor slopes) with me to Sainte Foy this month. Noticable how many more people are wearing them.

Had it on from day 1 to see whether it annoyed me. It didn’t. Goggles stay in place better, head nice and warm, and more confidence to try silly stuff.

I can’t say I’ve properly injured myself on skis or snowboard, but I have bashed my head a few times when learning to board (it’s easy to catch an edge), or hitting unexpected ice. If a helmet is the difference between a bit of a headache, and knocking myself out and needing assistance, then it’s 100% worthwhile for me.

My problem is that what seems to be normal behaviour on current critical mass rides (huge groups of cyclists ignoring any normal road rules like red lights, partly to stay together and partly because they can, even blocking side roads to stop other traffic) does rather go against the “we are the traffic” ethos.

I like the sound of Critical Manners. Seems to be a SF-only thing so far though.

I’ve never been tempted to buy one for home, but from the experiences of friends who have:

– cheap ones are rubbish. Treadmills need weight to be stable and work properly, and that inevitably means cost. Anything decent is likely to weigh 120+kg, and thus NOT be something that can easily be moved around and put away when not in use.

– equally, consider space carefully. Ones big enough to run on comfortably need a fairly wide and long deck. They don’t look too big in a gym but can look huge in a domestic setting.

– don’t even think about putting it upstairs, or buying one at all if you have a non-ground-floor flat. Weight of person + weight of treadmill will cause lots of problems for the celing downstairs (not to mention the structure of the floor!) plus loads of noise when it’s being used. Garage is ideal, especially as it tends to be cooler so you won’t be sweating buckets.

Personally, if I wanted a machine for doing cardio work at home I’d get a Concept II rower. Far more flexibility about where to put it, easy to get out of the way, replicates doing something you can’t get by walking out of the front door.

Don’t do what my dad did – attempt to sand a 12′ x 35′ space with nothing more than a handheld belt sander. It took him about six days, he had blisters over his hands, and probably spent as much in belt refills as he would on hiring a proper machine.

Looks great though.

Not being funny, but you are pre-focussing right? Pressing down the button half-way so it can focus, then pressing right down when you want the shot? Or are you just mashing the button when you want the shot and getting frustated as it focusses first?

Even the good compacts (and SLRs, unless set for manual focus) need the same for action pics.

Canon G9/G10 are really nice though, take good video too.

8 months? 2 inspections? That’s WAY too much.

A rented property is your home, and you have the right to say who comes into your home and when. The only exception is in an emergency, when the landlord or agents can enter – but that will be for something like a pipe burst or a gas leak when you’re away. You don’t even have to allow viewings at the end of your tenancy if you don’t want to.

The deposit is there for remedial work if needed at the end of your tenancy. They shouldn’t be that bothered about what you’re up to in the meantime, and frankly it’s none of their business anyway.

My mate had two best men for his wedding. One did the ceremony bit (responsible for the rings, etc), announcements, etc – the other did the big after-dinner speech. Worked just fine.

Plenty of scuba diving people I know use similar ones to keep the inside of their drysuits dry when they’re being stored – it’s just silica gel (as you get in little packs in shoeboxes, luggage and the like).

Places that sell silica gel do similar sized packs, but at about half the price – eg. http://www.magichem.co.uk/sachets.htm

The Darkroom app helps the camera in low light – it can detect camera shake and picks the right moment to press the shutter for you so the pics aren’t (quite so) blurry.

I’ve had my 3G iPhone since day 1 in July and it’s great. The contract price isn’t too bad if you use a reasonable amount of calls, texts and data. It includes wifi access on BT Openzone and thecloud too.

Battery life not a big issue – if you use it like a non-smartphone (ie. calls and texts) it lasts ages. Of course, regular use of 3G and wifi with heavy-duty apps on a big, bright screen will deplete the battery fairly fast.

There’s PAYG, but the upfront cost is quite steep. Hopefully now that there’s an unlock for the 3G one it will get secondhand prices (especially of the first, non-3G, iPhone) down a bit.

Or as said, if you just want the apps, music, video, wifi browsing stuff then get a Touch – they’ve been revised a couple of times so cheap ones often available from the apple refurb store or secondhand.

Both mine and her bikes live on a couple of stands in the spare room (they take up most of one wall, but very little floor space). It’s fine as long as they’re (fairly) clean before bringing them back in.

My ropey old nipping-to-the-shops singlespeed lives outside though.

Rainlegs. If you’ve got mudguards, the rest of your legs don’t get wet anyway.

5 miles, assuming the official “charing cross is the centre of london” rule.