Blimey, an apparently innocuous question provoking a heated debate on STW- who’d have thought it?

Uncanny…

Thanks all for the advice – some useful stuff there to mull over.

I kind of assumed that to be the case. So any recommendations on getting the technique nailed?

Thing is I think my natural style is to land on the balls of the feet, but with my current shoes I’m forced to land on the heel as it’s the first bit of the shoe to hit the ground.

Oh and I’m not looking to do any competitive or club running – it’s just to do with improving fitness without jarring my back too much.

While we’re on the subject, what’s with the extra long white hairs which appear to sprout out of your nostrils overnight once you get past 35.

Or is that just me?

Talking of close encounters with sea eagles…took these from a boat off Skye last easter.

Like others have said, you can feel the down-draught from the wings when they fly close. Awesome creatures…

+1 for Draytek routers – we use them for all our home based workers and also for our VPN endpoint here in the office. They are really easy to configure and just seem to work.

I’m also a big fan of powerline setups for small home networks and would agree that a pair of adapters plus a small switch or additional wireless AP would meet the requirements of the OP – I’ve got exactly that setup for a couple of home users who live in rambling old properties with a shared internet connection.

They’re not neccessarily an expensive option either – growth in the home AV market means some are now coming in at under £40 a pair – see here:

http://www.misco.co.uk/Product/164418/D-Link-PowerLine-Homeplug-AV-Network-Starter-Kit

Crankman – FWIW, I had the same router as above supplied by my home ISP and it was completely pants, suffering from a load of connection dropouts etc. Binned it for a Draytek in pretty short order.

EDIT – most recent router I bought was this one – great bit of kit. Easy to set up, supports wireless QoS and the USB connection enables it to be connected to a USB hard drive in order to act as a NAS.

http://www.draytek.co.uk/products/vigor2710.html

Been struggling to get an ageing Exchange server to bloody work for most of the morning whilst eating mince pies and wondering whether my alerter is going to go off in the next hour for a final shout of the year before I sign off for Christmas.

Think we’ve got a leaflet here in the office somewhere on dog friendly beaches will see if I can dig it out.

If you’re after a cottage…use advanced search to look for the dog friendly ones.

http://www.helpfulholidays.com/

Just to lift everyone’s spirits, what about Christmas Card from a Hooker by Tom Waits?

As above I’d avoid the valleys on the east side of the moor. They’ll be truly gopping by now.

I haven’t ridden it for a few weeks but most of the Princetown / Burrator loop (Widowmaker) generally holds up OK in a bit of rain and might be worth considering as an option.

Anyone got a recent trail report from up that way?

EDIT – just saw that was already suggested. Doh!

To be honest I generally find it’s best to manually update them, but if you want to make life a bit easier then take a look at Slimdrivers, which is one of the few which doesn’t come with a load of third party bloatware.

http://download.cnet.com/SlimDrivers-Free/3000-18513_4-75279940.html

I’d make sure if you are up to date with any windows updates first.

Also if it’s an XP box, you may find some of the tips in this wiki useful (treat with caution though):

http://www.wikihow.com/Speed-up-a-Windows-XP-Computer

I actually did something similar when I bought our van (T4 Westy). Paid the owner a deposit to hold the van (he gave me a receipt, I had proof of address etc and we had an agreement he wouldn’t flog it to anyone else in the meantime) and then came back a week or so later once I’d raised the balance (I was taking it out of a savings account linked to our mortgage which took a little while).

As above, provided you’re not actually handing over the keys or V5, then I really don’t see what the problem is provided you agree when the balance is to be paid and what will happen if it isn’t paid by that date.

🙂 Well you know what I mean… it’s not really a spectator sport, but they’re great live…

If one was to start dabbling in some Orbital CDs, which ones would be best to start with?

I’d start at the beginning with the eponymous “green” (1991) and “brown” (1993) albums.

My god that brings back memories….anyone else see them at Glasto in 1994? One of the best live music experiences of my life which admittedly is a weird thing to say from a die hard guitar fan about two bald blokes with silly glasses standing behind a computer… but it was awesome.

Is it just big tracks across the moors (ie you go for the views and the environment rather than thrills)?

There’s that but also lots of steep, heavily wooded valleys thick with rocky ‘n’ rooty singletrack. Tops do get pretty boggy after rain but plenty of wet weather alternatives.

Great pics – when you say Hameldown do you mean you’re riding the Two Moors Way? Cheeky 🙂

As above, it’s a broad church…. my own route wasn’t exactly orthodox. I’ve got a degree in English and was on the dole for about 6 months after graduating in the early 90s. Jobcentre offered me a place on a basic IT course at a local community centre. From that I went to working on the phones at BT for a bit before helping out with producing reports and then gradually moving to more IT focussed roles….it’s all snowballed from there really but it really was a case of starting at the bottom.

In the last 15 years I’ve done data analysis, application development, managed an application support team, project management and a load of business analysis stuff. Worked in telecoms, engineering and travel sectors – both here and abroad – all mainly for big, corporate organisations.

To this day I don’t have any formal IT qualifications but have basically learnt everything on the job. I’d say that experience counts for more than qualifications in a lot of respects so I’d be wary of shelling out big bucks out of your own pocket for expensive training without any experience to back it up. Far better to look at getting a foot in the door at a junior level and working from there.

Don’t be scared about putting in speculative applications for jobs for which you may not be 100% qualified – a lot of job ads verge into “moon on a stick” territory.

I am good at problem solving, organising events and people and am not afraid to take a risk and make decisions.

A lot of what are classed as IT roles are far more about people than technology…perhaps look at Business Analysis or for a junior Project Management?? Or Service Management??

With regard to those wanting to get out…sure most people feel like that about their jobs at some points… I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t neccessarily IT I was sick of, just the corporate environment that I was working in… last year we moved to Devon and I now look after IT for a small travel company where I basically look after pretty much everything with a plug. Much more “hands on” than previous roles (with little in the way of backup support if it all goes wrong!) and if I’m honest I’m as busy as I ever was but I have to say I love it. I also now have an alternative career as a retained firefighter which keeps things fresh!

Possibly too utilitarian for your needs, but what about a Surly Troll? Massive tyre clearance, has canti studs etc.

I’ve got a 1×1 which is the same geometry (the Troll is basically a geared 1×1 with extra mounts) and it’s probably one of the best bikes I’ve ever owned for sheer ridability and the grin factor.

Or what about a Thorn Nomad?

This is brilliant – particularly if you are a child of the 70s:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41038.The_Rotters_Club

Worked in various roles from agent to sales/ tech support in a big call centre in Bristol the mid 90s. All sorts of stuff going on – mainly involving sex, drugs and drink . One of those places where come Friday night everyone piled into the pub and you had no clue were you would end up, or who with.

Loads of dodgy tales but some particular gems were the bloke who regularly used to do an evening shift tripping his nuts off on ‘shrooms whilst trying to flog Friends & Family to old dears in Basingstoke and a couple found doing the beast with two backs under the sales managers desk one night by the cleaner.

One guy in the sales team was effectively homeless but covering for it by pulling double shifts and spending his downtime running up huge gambling debts in the local casino. Another mate unfortunately had a “follow through” incident on the bus in to start an early shift after a heavy night before – white chinos too (!). He “borrowed” another pair of kecks from a locker and stashed the evidence behind a ceiling tile, only for it to fall out a week later when some maintenance guys were checking the aircon ducts.

If anyone’s read Matt Thorne’s book, Eight Minutes Idle, I’m sure he must have worked in the same office or known some of the same people.

Also worked for a bit in a business sales team for the same company – ruled with a fist of iron by a boss who was a drag queen in his spare time and had the filthiest sense of humour imaginable. If we hit targets no questions were asked and had some mad nights out as rewards. One end of quarter bash involved an overnight trip to a hotel in France with the senior management team. My best mate got completely mangled on the bus to Dover on a blend of Glenfiddich and antihistamines (!). Went completely loopy and started fighting with everyone on the bus. On arrival in France, he tried to nut a border cop, called the sales director a Ginger Minger and attempted to grope another member of staff. He’s a martial arts nut and it took 5 of us to get him off the bus and pin him down in the room until he eventually passed out. He then woke up, stone cold sober at 4am and trashed the rest of us (who were paralytic by that point) at poker. I’m still not convinced it wasn’t the most elaborate bluff ever but to this day he claims to have no recollection of the trip at all.

I went from there to a telecoms company in Holland which was remarkably tame in comparison – apart from the South African / Israeli midget who lasted 3 weeks in our team before he got sacked for downloading toilet porn, and the IT consultant who managed to liven up a particularly dull presentation when the screensaver on his laptop started flashing up “readers wives” type photos of his missus.

Chicken and Chorizo stew – easy, quick and very tasty

Fry up a mixture of red and green peppers in some olive oil until browned, tip into a bowl and put to one side

Add some sliced Chorizo to the pan, fry until golden and the red oil comes out – tip some of the oil out if too much

Add in some sliced chicken breast and brown in the Chorizo oil, add some finely chopped onions and garlic, a good spoonful of paprika, some dried chilli flakes and oregano – season well

chuck in some red wine, let it reduce and then add in a tin of tomatoes – simmer for 20 mins.

Add in the peppers, and then a drained tin of either butter beans or chickpeas (both equally good).

Serve with either rice or cous-cous.

But seriously, just about anything that you’d need to leave London to experience & enjoy you’d be far better off travelling to Europe for than the provinces…….

And in that one sentence you’ve neatly encapsulated all the reasons why , love it though I do, I’d never want to move back there…

Big But Slimmer – window, top right of your pic. Used to be our office!

Lived there for a while – was still commuting in up to about 18 months ago… at the moment, I love the fact that I can enjoy it as a visitor on my own terms without getting jaded by having to do it. Haven’t been for a while but looking forward to a weekend visit in the New Year.

I love the vibrancy, mix of cultures, architecture and the fact that it’s still at heart a load of different villages joined together, all with their own distinct character.

The view from Waterloo Bridge and the South Bank at night, the fantastic pubs you can find tucked away in the most unlikely of places, free museums, Borough Market early in the morning.

There is no way I’d return to live or work there however – much prefer to enjoy it as an occasional visitor.

In its own way, I find it, and its inhabitants, really parochial.

I know what you mean by this – so many born and bred Londoners I know – all well-travelled, educated people for the most part – have virtually no knowledge or interest in UK life outside the orbit of the M25

+1 for Finisterre. I’ve got a Bise gilet and it’s hardly ever off my back. Great bit of kit. As above, worth getting on their mailing list as they often have sales on

I always lusted after a Kona but, although it shames me to say it, what I ended up with was an Emmelle Cheetah in a really horrible metallic lilac colour.

Not a great bike in any shape or form but had great fun ragging it rotten around the coastpath and mountains of N Wales with no regard to personal safety or access laws.

I actually still had the frame, converted to a singlespeed and covered in Hammerite until about a year ago.

East coast of Harris. Just off the Golden Road.

Given they were struggling to get a working shopping trolley, shat makes you think they could get bikes?

To be fair, I find it difficult to find a working shopping trolley in the Newton Abbot branch of Asda, God only knows how I’d cope with the apocalypse.

Personally come the reckoning I’d be fighting my way down to the Dorset coast to liberate a couple of Pugsleys from Charlie the BikeMonger’s storeroom.

Some great answers so far.

Op what is RTC training ? nice hooligan bar though !

RTC = Road Traffic Collision. Course was about dealing with them rather than causing them I should point out. I’m training as a retained firefighter.

I quite like my tool for finding punctures…

That manages to be both bonkers AND genius…

Surly Karate Monkey? Not particularly light but not too lardy with decent components and a hoot to ride.

Have a look at the Fulcrum Red Power wheels from bikediscount.de.

Bought some SLs last year for my Karate Monkey and have been really impressed with them. Great price and service too (they arrived in a couple of days):

http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k677/a63922/red-power-29-sl-disc-6-bolt.html

Also have the XL for a bit more money:

http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k677/a63927/red-power-29-xl-disc-6-bolt.html

I installed a Shoretel PBX and contact center at our place last year. Great system – really easy to manage and support and very scaleable too. Been very impressed with it.

I’d personally avoid BT as a partner for this sort of thing… and I used to work for them! IMHO the organisation is just too fragmented to give a decent level of support these days. New tech has really broken the stranglehold the big guys used to have on PBXs.

Plenty of smaller resellers out there who can still offer national coverage and will offer a better deal.

Get several quotes from different suppliers – we were also looking at Avaya and Toshiba options from our incumbent supplier, both of which would have worked out far more expensive over the course of the maintenance contract than the Shoretel system we eventually went for, and which was a far better fit for our requirements.

Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss further.

I really think you need to get him to choose it. Or what about a voucher?

http://www.theskateboardshop.co.uk/the-skateboard-shop-e-voucher-p-1715.html
http://www.skatewarehouse.co.uk/extra-stuff/gift-vouchers-1.html

DD, I raise you this…

Great, great book. Hope they do justice with the film.

Thanks for sharing – did a similar route myself a couple of weeks back.

Had several here on Dartmoor already.