How about crossing the border and checking out those Welsh hills? Must be loads of good trails up there.

I’m hoping to take the bike next time I’m there.

I need variety. I did the same stuff for years and got utterly bored of it.

Same here, but I have loads of different routes/sections/trails/areas to explore (mainly North Downs, Surrey Hills and South Downs) so there’s nearly always enough variety to prevent boredom settling in.

Used to do gym stuff but that just did my head in – much prefer being outside.

EDIT: are you referring to workouts as in gym sessions? I’m referring to biking/running.

Yep, totally full of energy, vitality and creativity right now.

Consistent workouts, whether they be biking/running etc give me what I refer to as “a spring in my step” where I feel ‘lighter’ and fitter/healthier. I get grumpy if I’m not exercising regularly enough.

Creativity stems from a lot of things IME. My work is creative so that’s one outlet. Plus right now I’m revisiting the book that I’ve been writing on and off since 2004. Currently on a roll and getting loads done. Having said that, a key contributing factor has been the missus and little monkey remaining oop north with family while I’m back down sarf churning out the word count.

I crashed and burned as soon as I left Uni – it just left me cold in terms of wanting to work in my chosen field (business/IT etc). Such a shockingly shit course for what was supposed to be one of the top 3 in the UK. Way behind the times, just like the college course I took as a pre-cursor.

IMO, some people go into Uni expecting their course (and tutors) to be relevant and topical. And I think a lot of people are let down. Maybe some things don’t have to change in the same way, e.g. History, Classics, etc – because they remain as they are. But stuff that changes really needs to be on the ball. And my course wasn;t.

Had a cracking time socially though – right through HOR and then into our flat. Ended up drifting for a couple of years immediately after because I was bored of the ‘whole lot’. Then did my own thing. Became a tennis coach for a couple of years. Then got back into my field and did really well.

But I can honestly say that nothing I learned (academically) in college or Uni has served me in a positive way.

If my son was thinking about Uni right now, I’d do some serious digging to find out what’s on offer, what makes them unique, how they compare with rival Unis, how well their Alumni fair etc. All this bollocks about ‘high pass rate’ blah blah is exactly that – bollocks.

Sad news indeed – a decent bloke and a proper scrapper.

Also lost the incomparable Whispering Ted today …

They are weak around the chainstays though, I’ve known a few die this way.

Yep, my 2004 S-Works went the same way.

I’d recommend maintaining all moving parts as regularly as possibly, perhaps even more so if you’re ‘upping’ the forks.

Yep.

Not sure what the ‘state’ will do about it though. How about you take some piccies of him ‘in action’ and send them as evidence?

To Quirrel and whoever else is going into labour soon, check out TENS dual channel machines.

Highly recommended by our NHS friends (and a couple of close friends) so I got one for the missus last year. She honestly doesn’t know how she’d have got through the whole labour episode without it. So for the sake of £30 or so, it has to be worth a punt at least.

STW not the best place to seek sympathy/opinions when selling on ebay. I had an issue with a numpty (with 0 feedback) who won my HD2 phone (by bidding in the last few seconds) for £230 even though I said bids would only be accepted from those with 10+ feedback. I said I wouldn’t complete the sale (didn’t trust him at all – he was a right tool) so he gave me neg feedback by whinging something like “Wouldn’t let me buy it because of feedback” – the first I’ve received in 8 years or so. Ebay wouldn’t do anything about it. Spent 2 weeks friggin about trying to sort things out then settled on relisting. Phone sold within 24hrs and I got full wack on BIN. Neg feedback still stands of course + I’m not allowed to add my side of the story.

MOTS = move on. People will understand. When selling from now on you can always include a line or two as to why your feedback has dropped.

As for STWers, some of the comments to my post were a bit unwarranted. I guess that proves we have numpties here as well 🙂

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again … slap a post up on TSF[/url].

Might take 24 hours for someone to respond, but once they do you’re usually in the hands of someone who knows their shizzle. I speak from the experience of myself and others.

with the holy trinity of church, pond and pub

Are you referring to those of a depressed/suicidal nature who might decide one day (when they’ve had enough) to:

1. go to the pub and get pished
2. say a prayer or two in the church grounds
3. and then drown themselves in the pond

?

Bought the books for my ex years ago. She loved them – whereas I found them too full of politics and detail for my liking. Beautifully written, mind – just not my bag. Sincerely hope the series does them justice.

Cougar, how did you get to me JA? He could become a seriously good storyteller that boy.

Yep, I find solo riding very therapeutic in a “just thinking stuff over” kind of way.

Have just spent the last 2 weekends along the SDW and reminded myself of how hot it gets when the sun’s in full effect. I remember spending loads of weekends down there in the 2003 heatwave. That was a bonkers year for riding. So for anyone thinking it’ll be a breeze on a hot day – think again. You’re in the open most of the time, and the reflecting of the sun/heat can really catch you out.

No idea … but I’d recommend posting on the TSF[/url]. The mods and other experts over there really know their stuff.

Had loads of problems with FF 3.5 on W7 64bit so never bothered upgrading. Much prefer Chrome these days anyway – even though it’s not nearly so plugin-happy.

“Gavlar”?

Of course I ride in the Surrey Hills, I was just wondering if there was anything nearer Cranleigh, as the guys I saw would still have had to ride to Peaslake.

I take it you don’t ride very far then? Like everyone has said already, Peaslake and all the other trails are only a few miles away.

Flat = explore the back roads to Farnham > Hindhead etc

Hilly = Cross the A281 and head up into the Surrey Hills, e.g. Bramley > Chilworth > Albury > Peaslake > Holmbury > Leith Hill > Ewhurst > Cranleigh

Loads of country lanes to explore and generally remain away from traffic.

I’m 20 minutes into a 4 hour conference call and have already lost the will to live, I’m hoping I don’t get asked any questions as I’m paying more attention to reading various forums…

A few years back I was on a group call on the subject of mindfulness. Got bored and decided to lay on the floor with the phone (speaker-phone mode) on my chest. Needless to say I fell asleep for the last 20 mins. Listened to the recording later that night and clearly heard myself snoring in the background. Thankfully I didn’t have to meet any of those people.

Would like to watch it but don’t have time. Besides, I can’t stand Graham Bell – cocky, arrogant bell end.

Doesn’t sound to me like you’re living up to your username. Perhaps you’re creating a facade .. and hiding from something …

Plenty of websites with loads of tourist info + do a Google Earth and you’ll be able to see some of the stuff you might fancy looking at (and naturally mapping a route together as a result).

Went there years ago and it was very emotive. Want to go back for sure.

3 for my work phone, and Vodafone for personal (iP4). 3 coverage pretty good but I’m convinced some of their handsets are just plain faulty. Their customer service isn’t exactly hot IME either.

Much prefer Vodafone – sure you pay a bit more, but IMO it’s worth it.

Even his Awesomeness Surf Mat wouldn’t be able to keep up with you, so perhaps we should all give up now.

At Uni, I used to knock back the odd one or two Elephant Beers before walking to the first lesson. Truly rough stuff. Don’t believe I’ve touched it since.

When we were 14, me and a mate found 8 cans of Special Brew hidden in his mum’s kitchen. Downed them pretty sharpish then passed out before throwing up a lot (naturally). Did have the odd can a few years back, but watered it down Shandy-style. Can’t say I’ve the need to revisit it ever again.

Most recommendations would be to seek out Nirvana (Westcott) or Pedal n Spoke (Peaslake) > chat to folk in there and pick up a couple of maps. Even so, you’ll probably struggle to get a lot in because you’ll likely miss a bunch of turns etc and therefore overshoot some of the trails.

You might find someone here to hook up with. I’m aiming to get out that way mid-Wed pm but need to clear a load of work first.

If you don’t have a car then Dorking or Gomshall are your best staring points.

Do a search on here (and Google) to find various trail stuff. There are a fair few other sites dedicated to the area so you should be able to at least have some idea beforehand.

It’s all a bullshit con.

You quite clearly don’t know what the **** you’re talking about.

SC, I trained with CTI[/url] back in 05, having looked around for a good 6 months. They are IMO one of the top three (possibly even the best) coaching orgs in the world. Among the most expensive – yes, but incredibly genuine, open and full of integrity. The motto to adopt is, “I am naturally creative, resourceful and whole”.

Plenty of coach training orgs out there that say stuff like, “We train more coaches than any other org … highest certification rates … blah blah … BS BS”.

I coached for about 2-3 years. Corporate coaching is where the money is – so it’s helpful if you have a network (where people believe/trust in you already). If you don’t, then it’s likely you’ll struggle. Personal (life) coaching is tough to make a good living from unless, once again, you have a network of friends (and their friends) who want/need what you do. I did both, even though the former was a culture I was trying to escape from at that time. Life coaching wise, about 95% of my clients were women; mostly housewives who’d lost their focus/identity or for whatever reason wanted to make some kind of breakthrough (personal, family, career, health etc). Strangely, some of these were based in France, US and SA.

Plenty of charlatans (plus shit coaches ‘produced’ by orgs that just want to pump numbers into their marketing) out there – hence why coaching still struggles to be accepted in the UK.

A key quality you’ll need is the ability to listen … coupled with being able to ask the right question(s) in order to draw out the most productive “answers” that will lead people to take action.

PM me if you like. It’s a very tough world to operate in unless you’re a natural coach and can find the business.

Tip: do you know what your niche would be? Who do you want to work with? Why? What experience do you have? What difference can you make? Can you afford to make little or no money for several months? What’s your bigger picture?

Nice prison-yard backdrop.

You will get HD straight away too if you buy the Humax foxsat box

Don’t you need a dish to pick up free-sat? We can’t have one, hence limited to freeview – which we get through HD-ready TV.

IMHO get the HD one,

Would like to but can’t justify the extra £200 (from say £150-£350) for something like the Fox HD thingy. I reckon HD units will drop by a good few quid next year anyway + neither of us are that bothered by HD quality at the minute anyway. A nice-to-have more than anything else.

Ta.

Will probably go with a 9300T because HD won’t be arriving here for another 12 months. 320Gb seems more reliable than the 500Gb – but I suspect that’s not necessarily the real world case.

Gore Phantom Windstopper 2 (showerproof and with removable sleeves)

pedalhead, is that Princess Leia (in more regal attire) in the pic second from the right?

Some people swear by Dell (which is fair enough), but I hate them due to reselling their kit for years. Nasty account management/customer support etc IME. But their good kit is very good.

I did some looking around end of last year and went with Chillblast. A small indie builder with a very good reputation. Fully customisable etc. Check out some reviews on PC Pro etc. Tres impressed with my machine.

I do have a 4. I’m constantly having to switch it off as it won’t download my emails or websites properly even when I have a good signal or wi-fi. It’s not a signal quality issue that makes it cut out, I tend to have good signal (although won’t get started with the annoyance about when my T-mobile ‘conveniently’ changes to Orange and won’t change back meaning I don’t get 3G; that’s a network thing).

Where did you get the phone from? Maybe it’s a duffer?

Have had my 4 since Sep and rebooted it twice. Practically everything I “do” is on my phone so to me it’s an incredibly capable/resourceful/stable device. End of.

Been living under any nice bridges lately?

Ours is 400yrs+ in parts, but was rewired about 6 years ago.

Had some weird electrical occurrences though, especially a few weeks back when an outbuilding feed went puff with loads of smoke/smell etc. Sparky arrived, took one look and said there was no evidence of anything that could have happened. Took a look myself and sure enough, nothing there. Tis a spooky place at times though.

iStock here too.

If you’re buying then make sure you check the licensing requirements. If you’ve any questions then call/email them and they’ll get back to you. We’re using some at the minute where we have to buy 2 x extended licenses for each image because they’re being “used” in two different ways.

Bit of a mental finish in the end. Couldn’t see Schwartzel winning it 2-3 hours ago. Woods absolutely awesome on the front nine and putting himself in genuine contention. Late Aussie onslaught. Rory Mc losing the plot entirely. Cracking finale.