Bugger. I could’ve stalked them from the woods.

Yep, could call for GP and blood tests if you have no joy. Probably only caffeine related … you really don’t want something connected with thyroid problems.

Duvel

Mmm, used to drink that for brekkie in Belgium during Euro 2000. Those were the days …

Get a tandem.

when we were spotty kids me and my mates used to really struggle to find things that we considered weren’t worth fighting over..

What, like “You show me yours and I’ll show you mine.”?

No way would I kick off with any of my proper riding mates … except maybe one who’s a bit of a psycho at times.

Have ridden in groups where the odd bloke is a bit of a c0ck and could well get my goat. Maybe it would take either a series of provocations or perhaps just saying the (exact) wrong thing at the wrong time. Unlikely to get that far, but you never know … sometimes people are just f^&*ing out of order.

I was also hoping for a happy ending.

Sincere condolences to you and your family.

Nice, chilled vid.

Haven’t been there since Dec 2003. Had a cracking time. Must go back soon.

Condolences to you mate.

A friend’s brother did the same (gassed himself in his car) aged about 20. Another friend (a depressive) sadly died of what we believe was an overdose in his early 40s. It’s the finality of it all that gets me – you can’t hide from that. Their life has been snuffed out and it’s their family/friends who need to battle on. Best to celebrate their life but at the same time remember you have a duty to look after yourself and your loved ones, i.e you still have your life ahead of you.

If Apple sorted out Finder then I’d ‘enjoy’ OSX a lot more. IMO the worst aspect by a long way.

@loum: Ta, makes sense now (mathematically anyway). Really don’t know why UEFA have to invent that ‘rule’ though. Just stick to GD FFS.

What I couldn’t figure out last night was how Italy were above Spain when Italy were 1-0 up and Spain were still 0-0. Apparently goal diff is out the window and it’s down to the number of goals scored. Yet Italy had scored 3 and Spain 5. Don’t see the sense in that. Some might argue it encourages more goals but methinks not.

Some aspects, yes. Some aspects, not so much.

I’m one of those that takes pride in my work though. Therefore I like to know what the competition are doing and what other tools/apps/models/philosophies/skills/etc are available so I can utilise them in some way.

Mine has been around the 50 mark since my late teens.

I was led to believe that’s totally sound. No idea if that’s the case though.

Wouldn’t surprise me if the original shape is different though.

Like Grahams says, we had an 07 and I think it had the same jack. If you phone up Ford be prepared for all kinds of different stories. If you can’t find anything or are unsure, just pop into some kind of car stereo specialist and ask them. I’m pretty sure we just a cable patched into the centre console where we plugged in an iPod. Job done.

+1 Spesh Hotwalk. We bought it for monkey when he was 17-18 months (in a sale) knowing he would need to grow a bit. 3-4 months on and he’s almost there (even with an inch or so of the post sawn off). Cracking little bike though – could certainly take far more abuse than just rolling around a park.

I’ve just started working on an ‘Identifying Child Poverty’ project and some of the material really doesn’t make nice reading. Really highlights some of the sh1t going on in society these days.

Is she friendly with anyone in HR or someone (i.e. senior manager) who would lend weight to her argument?

I was a little furry when I first met my ex. Being somewhat more articulate than I, she would ‘reprimand’ me and call me “scrofulous”. Turned out to be another nutter. Current monkey lady has no issues with a bit of fur.

A life without (smoked) bacon is no life at all.

I’ve just remembered meeting a bloke wearing full on armour a while back. This was in the Surrey Hills. Yes, the veritably rad and gnarly slopes of the south-east’s finest. We asked why he was fully clobbered up and he explained how he’d had a particularly nasty ‘off’ that led to some rather nasty recuperation. OTT some might say. But if you’ve come that close to paralysis then maybe you’d feel better giving yourself an extra layer of protection.

After seeing a mate hit a tree and split his helmet (ooh err) a few years ago I can only side with the “wear a f&*(ing lid” brigade. End of.

EDIT: TBH I felt the same before that particular incident. Maybe that’s cos of my roadie roots? Who knows? I really don’t understand why any biker chooses not to wear one.

72 and doing the LEJOG! Bonkers (in a crazily cool kind of way).

Here’s to the old boy making a full recovery. And if there was something more sinister behind what happened, I sincerely hope those responsible are brought to account.

Healing vibes …

I never took the thought of having kids seriously until the missus and I went for it kind of spontaneously 2.5 yrs ago. Now I wouldn’t swap anything in the world for our little chimp. Sure, the testing times can really push you to the limit and you might just end up forgoing all those things you did before. But nothing in the world compares to the other side of the coin. End of.

Nice vid.

I’m sure he’ll get a bike soon enough – whether it be from Giant or whoever.

I’d also like to see him have a session with Jedi. I’d defo chip in for that. I reckon that would blow his mind.

<not wearing a tin hat>

If you were serious about casing let’s say a big property, would you not at least use online mapping to check out the area etc?

</still not wearing a tin hat>

The extra detail will probably prove to be even more handy for thieves than ‘just’ relying on Googlemaps and Bing etc.

Cool post.

Me likey.

with a huge 2gb of ram running Lion

You’re taking the pi55, right?

If you wanna speed up your machine then check out Onyx (for Lion). It cleans up all kinds of stuff – just beware what you tinker with though. Tis free too.

As someone said, kids going to a good childminder is actually a really good part of growing up and learning, we chose ours because of reputation and the fact that they get a lot of creative and learning time, nurseries dont offer that, they pay kids min wage to baby sit and spend all their time chasing the brats so if you have a good one they get less attention.

Yep, IMO a good CM will do exactly that. Can’t agree with you re nurseries not offering that though – way too much of a generalisation. I’ll admit we didn’t feel comfortable with the first few we visited so we looked further afield and found an awesome one. Fantastic staff + indoor environment + outdoor environment + excellent food + special activities as well as days/evenings for parents to join in.

Yep, it’s a pretty hard one to swallow this. Our first CM demanded full wack whilst on holiday too – see my original (now closed) post here.

She needs (targets) to earn £xx thousands of pounds a year. If you can find a childminder who doesn’t charge for holidays, then she’s either adding that money to your normal bill, or she’s struggling for clients (read not very good).

So you just gotta suck it up!

Whilst I can see how easy it is to agree with your sentiment, what you’re actually stating is complete BS. Little monkey is now in the care of an awesome CM (30 years in the game) recommended to us by a friend and everyone who knows her at the local pre-school nursery. She charges half the local going rate, won’t accept anything for when she OR we are on hols, and only asks to be paid for the time she does. So if we were to pick monkey up at say 3:00 instead of 5:30, she wouldn’t expect us to fork out for the ‘un-used’ 2.5hrs … I would still pay the full wack in that instance though because she’s great and we’re fortunate to have her.

EDIT: Also, there was one occasion where she was rushed to hospital overnight and couldn’t take monkey the following day. Her daughters, who are both lovely (and in their 30s) stepped in and looked after him for the duration. They both have kids aged 1-5yrs and they all get on great.

11 months, 51 weeks and 2 days here.

Tesco: can’t stand them.

Jimmy: IMO still trying too hard to find a platform that elevates him to Jamie Oliver status.

Finding it hard to carry stuff like water and food/gels though.

I wear the same gear as when biking, i.e. camelbak type stuff. Ultra light and pretty much never in the way.

Interesting thread.

What’s the education system like out there? This is one of my main drivers for looking abroad.

I accidentally took a couple too many in a 24hr window a few months back (effectively a double dose took one lot when igot home from work, forgot i’d done it and took same again half hour later). called nhs direct and was slightly surprised how seriously they took it.

So basically you took 4 tabs instead of 2 in maybe 30 mins? Hardly seems OD-ville to me. Did you feel ill?

There may not be any ‘true’ DH sections at Swinley but there are several bits you’d want to ride fast. I’d prefer having a front to a back.

Sat: out n about with little monkey then mates are cooking up a curry and bringing it round.

Sun: home improvements and a 2hr run.

Happy days.

Send it back.