Its alright I suppose but I prefer my cars with a bit of character, which is why I brought one of these a few years back.

One day I might actually finish its long and drawn out restoration (started in 2003) and actually get to drive it.

Have you checked the click clack valves?

Shimmy dohickeys?

Dangle flange rotation?

Wankle nodules?

I fought the law and the, law won, I fought the law and the, law won.

Too small? Focal point of the room faces the wrong way? Who knows?

andym – Hitler liked dogs and children so therefore all dogs and children are Nazis.

I like this game.

Hello sooty – how’s jim ?

Bit busy at the mo, keeping an eye of for all these dodgy Muslims that are all over the shop, apparently.

Swarfega and ball bearings you say? Luxury.

In my day it were used battleship oil full of rusty razor blades all wrapped up in an old diving suit and an old lead pipe for smacking the backsides with, and we were grateful.

GG – The equivalent on another forum I frequent is linking to an article on the military written by Lewis Page.

One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.

Nelson Mandella was considered a terrorist once upon a time and some still consider him in a similar light to those ex-IRA members who now are MP’s.

You say they’re a very small minority, however muslims don’t come forward to say so.

Of course they are a small minority. How large is the UK Muslim population? How large were the crowds that featured in your pictures?

If every Muslim was some nut who thought the west were all infidels why were the crowds so comparatively small?

Perhaps the Daily Wail isn’t the best source for information if you wish field an argument that holds water.

And on her bike, of course.

I was 26 when my daughter was born and although initially the realities of fatherhood were a shock I love her to bits and she has grown into a proper little character of her own.

In her favorite city.

I, as many sensible people do, realise that the pictures shown above really represent a very small minority within the Muslim communtiy and insisting they are representative of Islam is the same as saying NIck Griffin and his chums are representative of all white people.

I do love this ironic one though,

……was it made by Cove?

Yes, the famous Deep Cove bikeshop of North Shore fame is actually located in Warwickshire.

Having lived in two places with trams (Croydon and Nottingham) I am all for them. Fantastic things and as has been touched on, a lot more predicable than a bus.

Perversely, I believe that although the Manchester Metro was one of the trams schemes that had the least financial trouble it is less successful overall than many other schemes.

The Croydon Tramlink is so successful that they are now facing an under-capacity problem and are trying to borrow extra trams whilst new ones are being built (lead times for a tram being about 3 years) to assist with the over-crowding issues.

Its got to be the weirdest twist a thread has had away from the OP question is a fair while, thats for sure.

Is it some unwritten rule that all London street rides must end at the Old Thameside Inn?

Before I moved north for the good life the street rides I used to regularly go on always finished there.

Or from their correct name, ‘Biscuits AB”

AB = @rse blocking.

Its ‘Fatchas fault in’it?

“Thatcher, Thatcher, white poo snatcher”.

is there some sort of version of ‘Godwin’s Law’ that you can invoke for people who use The Sun as an apparently reliable source to back their beliefs?

I managed to spin an 4 ton truck (military fuels vehicle) on the M6 once.

Purely my fault. We had been warned that the interlocks that activate the brakes if the hoses are removed were very ‘iffy’ and consequently we had to be very sure that the hoses were secured, a combination of tiredness and end of exercise rush clouded my judgement. Just north of Lancaster coming south for Stafford one of the hoses bounced in its tray sucificiantly to activate the air brakes and before you knew it I was facing the wrong way (we had spun around to face the outside lane) and sitting next to a passenger who was more terrified than I was which was a lot.

Luckily it was early hours, the motorway was pretty empty and being the rear vehicle in the convoy there was no one close enough to not be able to take avoiding action. As soon as the vehicle had stopped and the hose settled again the air brakes released and I reversed the vehicle onto the hard shoulder. I then jumped out and checked the vehicle for any obvious damage, double checked the hoses again, got back in the cab and completely froze for about 10 minutes.

Once I had pulled myself together we set off after the convoy who were unaware of what happened (great convoy discipline there chaps) though I fessed up once we were safely back at Stafford.

As a result of that incident the interlocks across the entire fleet were replaced so they were less ‘iffy’ and I learnt a new found respect of the humble ration pack standard biscuit brown for its ability to stop you sh!tting yourself.

Now that is deviant behaviour!

RB – I’d have had you down as Tutti Fruity.

Stalin could easily have improved the place.

Are you saying a naval bombardment followed up by an opposed landing complete with close air support would have improved Blackpool?

I think you may be onto something there, the IRA bomb in Manchester led to huge improvements to the city.

….The gorilla puts down his length of 4×2 and kicks you in the arse instead……

Lol. That is a truly fantastic piece of descriptive writing.

I almost cried with laughter when I read that as I know exactly what you are on about.

……..womans more prominent dominant role in the bedroom as a example of sexual equality……

Whilst I agree that women are more sure of what they want in the bedroom I would argue they aren’t necessarily ‘dominating’ in the bedroom, in fact based on many of my female friends, quite the reverse.

A lot of my female friends work in very demanding and responsible positions that not so long ago would have purely been the preserve of males and whilst its true that they work hard, play hard and know what they want many of them like to switch off from being the whip cracker (so to speak) at work and be the ‘taken’ by their partner.

Its a common theme in sub/Dom relationships that people who work in positions of power want to submit sexually and its can be found to an extent throughout more ‘vanilla’ sexual encounters.

You like them unconscious do you?

Rhypnol salesman a good friend?

{Shudder}

The thought of a stag weekend there a few years back almost brings me out in a cold sweat. Horrible place.

We were originally going to go to Hamburg but the father of the groom didn’t have a passport as apparently there is nothing worth seeing outside the UK.

🙄

To add a nice point though. I had some cracking chips from one of the chippies.

He may consider it a step up from Bingo.

Did he get some of those parts off a Raleigh Vektar?

I remember a few years ago hearing letters of complaint to the BBC as one of their puppets spoke with a welsh accent.

Wasn’t that ‘Why Bird’ or something?

vinnyeh – I was only joking about the rolled up ST mag, thats a step too far for even me. 😉

Probably the sort of parents who were banned from watching commercial telly when they were kids in case it enraged their rebellious ethers.

Idiots.

Heaven forbid years of stiff upper lipped British prudeness be challenged, no matter what the means to challenge it is.

Although I’d never purchase such a device* I understand that there are quite a few people who do and hence their presence being lifted from purely the darkened recesses of ‘Private Shops’ to being advertised and sold by one of the biggest producers of condoms.

*When do you put it for FFS? Before on the off chance you get lucky, during and interrupt ‘proceedings’? The mind boggles.

No, others can enjoy cock rings, I’ll stick with tying my wife to the bed, ball gagging her and slapping her with rolled up copy of Singletrack whilst wearing a Spongebob Squarepants costume thank you very much, weirdos.

What’s the point though Sooty?

What for political/civil unrest?

Well if its done on a large enough scale and with enough intent it might just remind the government they are the tail and shouldn’t be wagging the dog.

Kids these days have no fight in them for political unrest.

{Wanders off grumbling about the good old days}

RB – If it does all kick off in London do you mind if we all doss at your gaff?

Samuri – Were you riding sáns helmet?

I spotted a guy on a black SC hardtail, head down, a@se up with a ‘race face’ on him somewhere on the first section of black route. He was really motoring.

I was adjusting my rear shock at the time to take into account the trail being smoother than I expected.

😉

So any chance of a repeat performance of the Poll Tax riots in the summer?

We could call them the “no more boom and bust” riots.

I was at Llandegla today as well. I had a great time.

I’m sure you did.

If we all liked the same thing it’d be a pretty boring world.

BTW, are the black routes at GT etc also IMBA graded?

“Where’s your bell”

“At home next to my gun”.

😉

I ride the Peaks a fair bit on my own and have never really worried about it.