Well ‘boom’ has ended, in quite a spectacular manner too. Lucky those red rosette wearing gibbons in government have plenty of national debt to throw at the people they really care about though, Thatcher’s old pals in finance.

Head For The Hills in Dorking is the only Dialled BIkes dealing LBS I know of (they also have/had Dialled Bikes test bikes). They do custom builds.

Not an expert of Spanish culture at all, nor did I profess to be in any of the posts I’ve made. Indeed I thank Juan for pointing out its a linguistic nuance that I as an Englishman have failed to identify which now helps me to see blacking-up and banana throwing as part of the rich history of the language and culture of Spain rather than being bigoted acts that have no place in the 21st century.

Of course on the other hand when the ‘helicopter incident’ happened I was slightly more aware of the ins and outs of Chinook operations than your clueless ‘source at the MoD’, although I’m not in that position anymore.

Specialized design some of their frames to be off-set for stronger wheel builds, Orange make shonky bikes but have a hat full of excuses.

😉

Just remember,

tm – I whole-hearted agree, Spain seems to have a real problem with racism.

Of course some posters on this thread believe that its just that its just that we don’t understand the subtle nuances of Spanish culture and language that leads to draw the conclusion that, as a country, they are a bunch of knuckle dragging bigots.

Of course I’m fully aware that by calling an entire populace “knuckle dragging bigots” I too am guilty of generalising hugely, but to touch on what I posted earlier I’m sure there are many thousands of Spaniards who would be disgusted by the behaviour of this blacked-up individual but as a country (and the institutions therein) have consistently failed to take appropriate action against this kind of racist behaviour in the past and until they do start to crack down it’ll be a mark against the country in my eyes.

Forgive me if I’m wrong but isn’t Hamilton mixed race (his mum being a caucasian)?

Surely then blacking up is all about pointing out (part) of his racial background rather than just being about him as an individual?

Unless of course as Juan touches on, we’re all being terribly ignorant about all this and its just a matter of confusion over linguistics.

I bet she has a mouth action like a pelican.

Its an almost perfect place for newbies to trail centres. You can roll everything and there is little to catch you out.

Have fun.

Henno would kick all of them into touch. He’s been to Afghanistan you know, with not a single weapon to hand other than his razor wit?

Not at all, just helpfully pointing out its all a big misunderstanding due to language differences.

🙂

Its was a busy place that balcony.

Apparently lots of guys known as Walt also say they were present.

;o)

This place just down the road from me does basic replacement keys for £50 for a Citroen, though the flippy ones cost a little more.

Yeah but surely those strips of black and nasty tape they have to wear over their eyes hinders them a bit in a pub fight?

TLH – Juan has says its just a language thing so it must be us English-speakers who are at fault for not understanding the subtle nuances of the Spanish language and the part throwing bananas and blacking up plays within it.

Do you reckon David Davis manages to get to any reunions?

Ah so its a language thing. Blacking up, throwing bananas and generally acting like British football supporters in the 70’s is just a linguistic burp?

If you want proper military fiction I believe you’d be better off reading anything written by ‘Sharkey’ Ward AKA ‘The Bearded Bullsh***er’, as he is known in FAA circles.

Lofty Wiseman would tear both of them a new one.

What kind of bike do you ride?

They have one of the best EBB’s you can get on a singlespeed frame and in my ever-so-humble opinion its a far cleaner method of tensioning a chain than the Heath Robinson approach that most disc-specific frames featuring horizontal drop-outs use.

Tiny Tim used to ‘white up’ too.

Do the Spanish have major racial issues?

As individuals, some do, some don’t. As a nation, yes.

Damn, its taken me long enough to get over my ‘getting to know Chuckie Egg 2 again’ addiction.

Yes thats right Hora.

(Ex-Volvo V40 owner here). Steer clear of phase 1 models (built before mid-way through 2000), go for a 1.8 or larger (2.0 LPT is what I had and its without doubt the best of the bunch) and avoid at all costs the GDI engined models as they are service hungry, need a de-coke after a shockingly short amount of time and they have a whole raft of well-documented (at least on Volvo owner forum) problems. The ride is firmer than most Volvo’s but they aren’t bad cars if you keep away from iffy ones.

cfh – Well off-topic but did you see ‘Teasing Tina’ made an unplanned flight at the weekend?

Its just as well you didn’t bring a coat.

I can play quite a few brass instruments, though my first love was the cornet. I’ve recently started learning the Ukulele as I fancied learning something new and didn’t want to spend a whole heap of money.

Well at Brunty over the weekend a certain preserved Victor that often carries out fast taxi runs down the runway became airborne for a short while. Naughty, naughty.

As has been said, whilst some may consider this sort of fraud a victim-less crime such abuse of the system could lead to its demise.

Cressers would have known what to do in a situation like this.

….. but could someone else take it for a test drive under their 3rd party cover?

Depends what their policy states.

Some will grant third party cover, some only in ’emergencies’ and some not at all (mainly to stop people abusing the system by insuring a low-grouped car then using the associated third party coverage to drive a friends higher-grouped car).

…Nope, they would have to be fully comp,…

Not so. Some (though very rare these days) TPO insurance policies allow coverage on other vehicles.

The language may be a little right-wing and the tone a bit too Alf Garnet but ‘enfht’ isn’t shooting too far wide.

The comparison drawn between loyal, hard-working people who are willing to lay down their lives for this country and some people who take what they can from this country and offer it little in return is quite a easy one to draw. Of course the latter type of parasite need not be born of foreign shores, we have plenty of home-grown parasites we could use for comparative purposes before jumping aboard the Daily Mail Express.

Do you work in a castle Renton?

My grand-father was a Chindit and served alongside the Gurkhas in the far-east, “a more loyal British solider there never was” was his opinion of them and my limited experience of working alongside them during my time in the military left me with nothing but respect (and a taste for Gurkha curries, rooster feet and all).

It is terrible how the Gurkhas have been treated over the years, loyal, hard-working and willing to lay down their lives for our country yet treated so poorly when compared to so many others who inhabit these fair isles.

Daft question I know (and you may have already answered it, I’m not reading through all that) but why didn’t you just have your eyes tested through the usual channels, ie: go to the med centre and be referred to a contracted optician?

Locally employed opticians provide you with the full details of your required prescription, on the correct MOD form and you even get to keep a copy which you can take into any opticians and have a pair of glasses made up from. Oh and you get a free pair of defence specs, just what is needed to get out Freedom Parades etc. 😉

Of course if you really want that £10 then book a few days off and sit yourself down behind that highly efficient JPA system.

Or next time a fairy is calibrating the flange nuts or something on a Tonka laser designator just have a quick peek in the lens for a bit of cheap and easy laser corrective surgery (caution, this may not actually work).

Wouldn’t Kerry Katona be the perfect person to play the oxygen thief formerly known as Jade Goody?

Thanks very much for all the replies and links to resources to be plundered. Only one question remains though. How long does it take for your fingers to get used to the slight ache that comes from playing a string instrument. My number 3 finger is aching like mad.