Had a stroke of luck yesterday! I came across someone who has to get rid of loads of plastic pallets. Stacked up and wrapped in membrane they’ll act just like the crates, but they’re free!

Thanks neilforrow, I’ll fill it three times to check the drainage.

Thanks for that chaps. It’s not clay and we’re going to get building control to have a peek inside the hole before we put anything inside just to make we’re ticking all the boxes.
By the sounds of it, once I’ve done the storm flood test and estimated the size, I’ll be OK with rubble and a membrane.

We were going to get a Civic 2.2 CDTi but got an Audi A3 SE for the same money on a two year contract. It works out at under £3000 a year and includes tyres, servicing etc but with 10 000 limited mileage.
We like it…

Come the revolution…

I bought Wahoo (cadence/speed and heart rate) and it’s been fine. The App works well and can be downloaded to Strava.
There’s a “indoor cycling” option in the App to cater for turbo sessions. It works well and I’m happy with it.

The only problem is, blue won’t match my bike…

So they’re going to charge me even more?

If you wouldn’t drink it – don’t cook with it!

Fair do’s! There was a guy that used to ‘float’ around our way on a VRX claiming it to be the greatest/next big thing. Everyone that rode it said it was a nail and no-one on a hardtail ever got passed by him… I’m just wondering if the £1000 pounds was a typo?

Either way it has been removed, so we’ll never know if it really was worth £1000!

Take up smoking or get a lodger – preferably a tramp (or French student).

I remember being at school and one kid cried upon hearing Freddie had fallen off his perch… He’s now the headmaster of that school!

“Literally one of the worst suspension designs.”

…seems to work for an Orange 5!!!

I’m in exactly the same situation as MuppetWrangler, with 6ft fences all round. However when it got broken in to last month the thrives must’ve been over the fence at least 3 times… Everyone in the house uses the shed, (chicken/fish food every day) etc so if I make it like Fort Knox, the kids won’t lock it up again , or the chickens will starve! I also don’t trust the kids with an alarm at 06:30 in the morning. I’m thinking a Yale keypad lock is the way forward for £50.

+1 for Bike Tart

They now have a store in the city centre of Canterbury, or one at Barham 10 minutes outside with free parking and no traffic!

Parcelforce – 12 hour window
DPD 1 hour window sent by text.

Win for DPD.
I’m currently waiting for 2 deliveries from ParcelForce, they might come on Monday, but the tracking system is so out of date, I can’t be sure. I can’t help thinking that if CRC had used DPD, I would’ve had my items by now. ParcelForce must be unbelievably cheap for online companies to rest their reputation on them…

Oh God…
I’ve just bought a road bike (after 20 years away mountain biking) and I’m currently looking at a pair of SKS longboards.
What soundproofing would you recommend for the garage to avoid everyone hearing my language?

I’ve had a 200, 300s and TD5s for work purposes. The TD5s have been chipped and pull like trains (I tow a big/heavy trailer on a regular basis). I prefer the TD5s purely because of the extra grunt. I have always kept up with the service intervals at a good quality independent garbage that specialises in just Land Rovers and I’ve had few problems.
If you’re doing the servicing yourself then I guess a 300TDi for the ease and lots of pimp potential for your money could be an option, but is you’re not paying for the servicing then I’d go for a TD5. I have no experience of the newer Transit engined Defenders, but reports aren’t great.

I have to ask – why are you buying a Defender? I have now moved on to Discoveries (because I no longer need the extra 5 seats) and they do the same job on and off road (for all but 1% of circumstances) and I would never go back.

Had a 75% reduction on my tibia meniscus in May. Still recovering and trying to get fit for skiing in January. Kneeling on hard surfaces hurts and some twisting motions hurt too. Biking is basically OK but not pain free. Good luck!

I have Tom Tom on my phone. It means that I permanently have a SatNav with me… Make sure you take a charger too – it eats battery.

Thanks Captain! She was nicked without a seat post, so I’m thinking that my best bet is to contact the local shops.. I have alerted them to anyone looking to buy a 31.6mm post…

I even went out last night at 03:00 to see if they were doing the rounds again.

Keep ’em peeled!

Thanks for that!

I’ve had both now on an A3 which is fine for 95% of the time and when we need something bigger, we put on a roof box or take my Discovery!
The bigger the number A3/A4/A6, the more toys you get as standard and more refinement. We have fully loaded all 3 cars for sing in the Alps and I have to say that in the A6 the journey was over almost as soon as it began – it’s great for cursing motorways. Having said that, most of our journeys now are fairly short, so now, the A3 is perfect…
A4 was a W reg 2.5TDi, A6 was an ’08 2.0 TDi, A3 is ’13 2.0 TDi. All have nice cabins (I prefer them to BMW) and the 170HP 2.0 is surprisingly nippy and I get an average of 52mpg (not the 67mpg quoted – see honest John for real world mpg figures).

Miniscus tear on my knee, followed by keyhole surgery kept me off the bike (and everything else!) for 2 1/2 months. My third ride in a week today and I could get out of the saddle to pedal uphill. I’m stoked!
You’ll get back into it…. I’m now using my spare time much more wisely as I’m now aware of how finite it can be due to the injury.
Rest, recover and get back on it!

Get him a muzzle?
Actually if you have an aggressive dog, you might try castration. However I doubt that FIFA would consider castration…

I’m not sure it’s caravanning or camping. All I know is that my neighbours would scoff if I bought a caravan, but if I put that on the back of my Land Rover, they’d want to come on holiday too.

Eucalyptus oil.
Buy it in a little bottle in Boots etc.
Our dog used to get tar in his paws from off the beach and would happily walk over carpet and sofas. I gets it out without leaving residual stains. (Clears your nose too!)

Try tightening up your rear QR a bit…

Thanks all!
I think that has tipped the balance towards getting one as there are lots of roast dinners eaten here!

Copper and Spices in Folkestone – Awesome food. Not a ‘regular’ curry house, more a curry restaurant.
I’m going there with the kids tonight. They love it. Tell them Michael Spice sent you! I’m always giving him new business!

I used to deliver fish to a restaurant in Dover called the Allotment and the food there always looked good. Clean kitchen and very friendly staff. Apart from that Dover is unknown to me.

On the way to Dover (J11 off the M20) is a great pub called the Drum. Literally less than a minute from J11. The beer is always fantastic and the food is nothing pretentious but inexpensive too, so good for a family. They’re always busy because they’re good at what they do. If you go there tell them you’ve been recommended by Spice from Kent Ballooning and I might get a free pint!

Paul McCartney seems to be popular…

What do vegetarian worms eat?
Linda McCartney

A woman asks her doctor, “How many calories are there in man-juice”?
“Trust me”, replies the doctor, “If you swallow, no-one will care how fat you are”.

+1 for anything Osprey

I’ve got 2 and they’re both light/comfy/practical.

Get it fitted in Cotswolds and you won’t be disappointed with your purchase!

I got 100%!!!!! Operations Manual and Flight test next – hopefully followed quickly by CAA approval…
Aspect Aerial Filming is on the way!

http://www.freeflysystems.com/products/cinestar-8.php
http://quadcopters.co.uk/droidworx-skyjib-x4-heavy-598-p.asp

Might be more suitable if you’re looking to get broadcast quality footage with an Epic camera…

[All a matter of perspective £300 camera is a crash camera to me but good advice to practice on a smaller cheaper model.]

Ha Ha!!! It’s surprising how many people who think that!!! GH3’s, 1D – 5D’s are great, but if you’ve got Epics then you’re obviously serious.
You can hire companies, pilot+observer, Octocopter/Hexacopter with gimbal to carry your camera and do the shoot for you or you can go down the training route. With Cameras such as yours you normally have a pilot and camera operator AND an observer. If you’re wanting to carry out a shoot (presumably for skiing) in February then you’ll be wanting to hire a company as the “Permission for Aerial Work” takes about three months to complete. I come from an aviation background I’m a commercial balloon pilot and instructor, so a lot of the air law/Met/Ops Manual etc was second nature to me – I find out on Tuesday if I’ve passed, so fingers crossed. If you go through the process that EuroUAS lay out, you shouldn’t have a problem.

If you’re going to be needing these sorts of angles on a permanent basis, then I’d do the BNUC-S, it recognised in parts of Europe and the CAA seem to listen to EuroUAS as the market leaders and they have more experience in this field than the powers that be in the CAA. The industry is changing fast and the Governments around the world aren’t sure of how to set out procedures and law at the moment. They are permanently catching up with the new tech and the applications/places it’s being used. The Dutch and UK seems to be the ones to listen to. The US haven’t got a clue and have banned UAV’s for commercial gain.

There are only around 200 operators in the country at the moment, but that’s going to increase lots this year. Whoever you choose do your research, because even if they spout and client list on their website as BBC, Channel 4 etc etc take a look at their showreels and ask to see work they’ve done. HexCam are the only ones I could recommend and that’s not because I’ve ever worked with them but the course instructor mentioned that HexCam is the sort of company to aspire to… The CAA are paranoid about safety – the company you choose should reflect this.

I am going to try to get some skiing shots this season for my showreel. Our company is called Aspect Aerial Filming and we are aiming to launch on March 1st. My brother-in-law is the FD for FACTION SKIS so I’m trying to wangle trips to Verbier next year to get some footage for them!

Oh, and I’m not sure about the customs situation in Austrian airports concerning importing lipo batteries… I’d look into that if I were you before they confiscate all your kit upon arrival!

I’ve got a Phantom and funnily enough, today I’ve done the written part of my test to fly it commercially. I’ve got a Phantom V1 with a ZenMuse H3-2D gimbal and a GoPro Hero3 Black – this is fairly basic but you can still get awesome shots that are easily good enough for internet purposes. For full broadcast you’ll be looking at £6k for the ‘copter and another £8k – 15k for a camera, but I don’t think this is your plan!

You’re chances of renting one with your lack of experience is slim to none.

You don’t need training to film for private use, but if you are receiving any form of valuable renumeration then you will need a licence or “Permission for Aerial Work” from the CAA.

I’d recommend some practice before rocking up on holiday with it, only to find that you have a fly-away (where your ‘copter does exactly that and doesn’t return), or you bury it in the face of the person you’re filming…

The laws in Austria are a bit tight too – see below. You could ‘wing it’ but might end up in a cell.

Good luck and feel free to ask any questions!

Austria
(last edit Jan 9, 2014)

Since 1.1.2014 the Austrians got strict laws about flying multicopters. The law distinguishes areas in 4 different zones. Open nature space, Space with few buildings like farm buildings, areas with a few buildings like houses and last but not least areas with a lot of buildings like cities.
Each area has different legal requirements. This includes takeoff weight, legal aproval and for the last two zones a license to fly plus a official license for the multicopter by it self. To get this license you will need some Austrian flight law training plus a certification of your model and every part that is being used.
Writting all facts down would be to much. Cost to get certified (including legal training) is about €1000. There is a official website containing all the needed information for the whole legalization process. The content is only available in German language. http://www.austrocontrol.at/luftfahrtbehoerde/lizenzen__bewilligungen/flugbewilligungen/unbemannte_lfz

Make sure it won’t effect the carbon resin. Trek recommend using Gorillas Glue for sticking on their seat stay protectors on carbon frames, but that probably won’t help your issues….

I’ve got a Vango Banshee 300 and it’s awesome although you might need a tad more room…

I made it 60, but can’t be arsed posting my working out….

mikewsmith – That’s the one we’re planning on taking, (see link previously in thread!) but after flights (£800-£850) transfers, extra nights accommodation, couple of extra meals out etc it will be £2K.
People are starting to drop out now after the initial “screw it -let’s do it for £800 plus cheap flights” now the actual figures are starting to be realised.
Our LBS has got us a discount of 25% on the TrekTravel price but even so – it’s still a lot that the ‘family’ can’t justify…