Resorting to acronyms is unfair. I’m sure you’d have made an error if you’d tried to type that in full.

Wot? Like …

Their, fix’d dat 4 u.

I only pick people up on their English use when they criticise others I feel the need to be pedantic.

TFTFY 😉

If you are going to start a thread about writing standards at least learn form the corrections.

I’ll repeat: Some of you are being a bit too literal here.

I’m not interested in playing the English teacher here. Just voicing an opinion.

That’s quality, HC. Was that a council/local gov?

Some of you are being a bit too literal here. Was just making a few comments about how some people (often in senior roles that demand communicating regularly to 1000’s of staff) can struggle to string a paragraph together that makes sense.

legible

Doh! You got me there 🙂

Right, and they’re the stupid ones?

Yep, most of the time.

Utter rubbish in fact.

TFTFY

Ah, those were the days …

More dodgy than a curry I had on a Blackpool stag weekend. T’was not a good experience.

Yep. Skype has been shit since the takeover. Mine’s still down.

What’s your budget?

I made flat breads at the weekend to go with a curry instead of rice.

Same here. Also made a wicked puy lentil side-dish; plenty of spices mixed in with star anise. Proper noms.

Is anyone doing the flat bread bacon butties yet?.

Yep, last week. Bacon (must be smoked) and egg is something I can’t do without.

Yep, I’m cool with the idea of ‘letting’ them bump into certain things, so the lagging will be exactly just for that. SM junior is only 9 months though (and crawling at speed) so communicating the virtues of not opening certain doors isnt’ an option just yet. But it will be.

The car has done 20k and I’m going from a turbo diesel to a petrol. On paper the performance is the same, but I’m having to re-learn the power delivery, that is it has a constant power delivery rather than a big dump

“Having to re-learn the power delivery …” Are you serious? How many cars have you driven? It’s a POP to get in a car and figure out how to handle the delivery. Petrols are fairly linear (well, the NA ones are anyway), whereas turbo’d diesels are similar to turbo’d petrols but with more torque, i.e. they generally pick up more quickly throughout the range.

Buy a car purely for the amount of torque? Thats a new one on me.

Exactly when did I say that? If you read my statement correctly, you would note I recommended (IMO) choosing a diesel for the amount of torque and economy. Maybe this isn’t something you think about about when selecting a car, but I do. Having driven something like 400,000 miles in 20 years I’d say I’m qualified to argue the benefits of a torquey ride vs ragging the arse off an ‘underpowered’ petrol engine.

MG knows the score.

JD: service costs are invariably not good whatever you do (other than use indie specialists etc). Saab, however, admit some of their 93’s can go 2 years or 18000m, even though they pretty much don’t make this public. I only found out by asking around – so I told the dealer and he admitted that if you (the customer) are aware of this then they have to stick to it. Certainly saves a few £hundred/year.

A4 Avant here. IMO go with a diesel purely for torque and economy. 1.9/2.0 are perfectly sound – no need to go for a 2.5 or bigger in the real world.

Have just bought a Saab 93 sportwagon too (missus can’t drive my manual A4). Surprisingly good car – plenty of VFM. However, it doesn’t have the sure-footedness of the Germanic brands (all IMHO of course) but it’s quick, torquey, fairly roomy, full of good kit, and all in all better than expected.

No harm in protecting kids and furniture..

Even if we moved stuff around it would still provide the same risk – it’s just the way the rooms are designed (quirky old cottage).

Pipe lagging – nice one, that should do the trick with a bit of gaffer tape here n there. Should be fine as a door stopper too.

Yep, the crawling around thing is good – am doing that already.

Cheers

Had the same experience up there a few years ago … was tearing down the last section of Telegraph Row when a bunch of berserker-type chainmail-clad ‘warriors’ wielding swords and shields leapt out from the left. Another bunch of dwarven-like folk then appeared from the right. Was a bit weird.

Each to their own I suppose.

I may have had to walk up some hills but don’t tell anyone.

Amberly Mount by any chance? That’s a steep fecker even on a good day.

on that note, has anyone done the north downs way in a day? 50% longer, can’t get a figure on the total climb

Like you say, it’s about 150 miles so for most people (even fit bikers) that’s way beyond a single day’s riding.

Farnham to Woldingham is easy, but then it starts getting really ‘footpathy’ and you’ll also need time to correct any navigational errors.

Tis very flat though, so I’d recommend mapping out some road/bridleway options for the east side to replace the proper NDW. Otherwise I could see it going on and on,

How are they going to know you’re using it for work?

One of my friends has been doing this in Thailand for about 5 years. She loves it. Another recently set up her own ‘school’ in Berks for foreign folk. She also loves it.

EDIT: not much more I can say than that … other than I can put you in contact with them if you like …

minimum wage,
no training,
no supervision,
no work based assessment.

Not having a go at you Meehaja, but under what circumstances do the above advocate the (continued) employment and ‘supervision’ of staff that carry out such abuse?

Plenty of other people receive the same ‘package’, but they don’t conduct themselves in the same way.

drink at three times the rate I would normally

The same here. I used to chain smoke back in the day too.

I remember the 03 Rugby WC final: in the pub around 8am or whenever it was, followed by some serious speed-drinking until the final whistle. Passed out around lunch-time before being woken up by mates. Proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon playing pool against mates and all-comers and didn’t lose a single game! Loser buys a pint too = I still remember seeing my table piling up with pints and JDs. Kept going all night too. Those were the days 😀

Remember this one? went down, then got up and had a tantrum, then fell over again. Over a little scratch!

That’ll be because of this then:

At the end of an interview, they always ask if you have any questions. What are good things to ask?

Forum Search is your friend – this very subject has been covered a fair bit.

The pessimistic side of me sees;

– United failing to show up in the first 30 mins, during which Barca score twice (remember how shocking we were at Anfield and the Emirates this year)
– Vidic gets sent off on the stroke of half-time
– United restrict themselves to taking pot-shots from 30yds (a la Ronaldo of 09)
– Barca hit on the counter and finish 4-0 winners

And the more optimistic side of me sees (believes);

– Both team a mixture of nerves interspersed with moments of creativity
– United decide to up the tempo
– Barca get upset that the side they’re playing can’t be bullied like their usual weekly fodder
– United go 1-0 up through Rooney on the half-hour mark
– United then sit back allowing Barca space – which results in a Villa equaliser
– Barca start the second half on fire and go 2-1 up courtesy of Messi
– United on the ropes until making it 2-2 with a Ferdinand header from a lucky corner
– With E/T approaching, Giggs slips Hernandez clear and the boy coolly slots home to grab the winner

If the game is anything like that, then I’ll be an absolute wreck and will most likely need new pants.

lso going to totally stop snacking on cashews, carrots and humous and reduce my general in take of fat

I heard this week that raw carrots are good (as one might suspect), but cooked carrots release a whole load of sugars. If so, does that mean cooked carrots are of the menu?

Good find. That was wicked.

Would it be bakeable ?. iGram flour scones ????

The missus used gram flour to make yorkshire puddings last night 🙂 They smelt like prawn crackers but looked like fluffy rock cakes! Not an issue with a good bit of gravy (gram flour to thicken) on top 🙂

Yeah, I’ve gone to 130ml water to 100g flour.

Doing exactly the same here 🙂

Recipes kept saying 110ml or so but like you say, they kept coming out like cardboard biscuits.

Cooking tip: tiny bit of olive oil in pan (e.g. omelette pan), get up to medium heat, pour in mixture, lid on for 1-2 mins, turn over and replace lid for 1 min or so. Job done.

And it seems to work better if you let the mixture settle for 10 mins after making it … and stir it each time before adding to pan.

Adding herbs and spices makes a big difference too.

Now getting the hang of these flatbreads – just required a bit of experimenting to get the consistency right.

Just had a couple infused with dry-fried cumin/carroway and then wrapped around leftover roast beef, horseradish, humus and rocket. Proper nom noms.

Seems like a few others are getting stuck on certain weights too. I lost 8-9 lbs in the first 2 weeks, but in the 10 days since then I’ve not shifting anything. And that includes committing even more to the iRules, i.e. no milk or sugar at all (previously it was just a little).

Interestingly the weight loss came at the same time I quit booze on M-F. And the last time I cut right back was 2+ years ago when exactly the same thing happened: quit booze M-F but continued eating all my normal foods = similar weight loss over the same period.

Therefore I’m wondering how much of this loss is actually down to the diet – or if it’s just booze related. I feel ‘better’ (basically cleaner and lighter) – but frustratingly am not shifting any more pounds.

Hmm

The missus made this chicken broth with leftovers from w/e roast. Added some more herbage from le jardin and then accompanied it with some flatbread (recipe/method now sorted).

T’was bang on the money – having remains for lunch right now.

I’m with you on the spice thing Dave – but I was referring more to a method of prepping/cooking – as opposed to the flavouring/seasoning. Online stuff said to make them like pancakes, but they just didn’t come out right. Ta

What about sweet potatoes? Are they iCompliant?

And does anyone have a decent flatbread recipe? Tried a couple yesterday but they just came out like nutty cardboard.

Defo check out Money Saving Experts – mortages and endowments forum.

Plenty of folk on there know their onions.

I think the original was PC only, as is the sequel. Looks damn fine though: