I still think resurrecting your own long-dead threads is more than a bit insecure.

Valet parking can be arranged for the suitably elite – if they deign to grace us with their presence.

Free hugs for anyone who can follow the ‘hidden’ clues in the first post and find the jumble on the day! 😀

Just because it’s the worst since 1963 doesn’t mean that its the only time it’s been bad enough to close the place down.

OK then – twice since 1963. Not the best return on an investment – I’m sure you’d be whining like a girl with a skinned knee over your taxes paying for a fleet of barely-used snow clearing vehicles costing millions and doing squat.

pixelmix

How much would it cost to have a couple of gritters / snow ploughs kept in a shed somewhere?

Quite a lot of money – even more to have enough to make a difference for the worst snow in how long? 40 years or so? You pay for the building you store them in, you pay the depreciation, you pay for the maintenance, you pay for the manpower to fix them, you pay for more people to operate them, the running costs etc.
We have been very unlucky on the weather recently – 3 years of ’20 year’ weather in a row. Not the sort of odds you’d bet on. It costs a lot to operate like Sweden, Denmark etc with their predictable, long winters. It really would be a waste of scarce taxpayers money to have all that kit sitting around for a week or two every couple of years.

Either help out for free or stay in barracks.

Trash – shut up. The MoD gets funds to do tasks set out by central government – training, operations etc. If another government department wants them to do something outside their defined roles, then costs fall where they lie. Funds are transferred between high level budgets. There aren’t the numbers in the Forces or the spare funds to do what used to be done on a grace and favour basis.

the council will get a big bill

Not necessarily – there might have been an offer of assistance.

SBZ – have you let anyone know this nursing home has a problem? Perhaps there were limited resources and someone used a priority system? Perhaps the council cleared council nursing homes – is the one near you a private business? Or would you just prefer to be apathetic and whine on a cycling forum?

The Quad one works fine with Avid Elixirs.

Just got up. My legs feel veeeeery strange and tight in odd places. Not sure my body was ever designed to do that.
I was 3rd fastest qualifier – how the hell? Fat and unfit is no way to enter a race.
Today, I shall mostly be walking like I’ve poo’d myself and avoiding going up or down stairs.

I had one of the Mondeo 4WD in the 90s. Yes, it was a great car, but the added weight, cost, running costs, additional tyre wear etc weren’t worth it. Ironically, the only car I’ve ever written off driving (very sedately) in bad weather.

HOLY CRAP! That was frikkin hard!

TheKingofSweden represented, tollah was a backsliding race-dodger, I got knocked out in the quarter finals and our very own trickydisco only went and won it! Qualified for the Nationals in London! Superb effort fella!

I did think you were going to throw up when they told you the final was over 1000m instead of 500m. Your face was pure hate.

tricky – say hello. You’ll guess who I am before I know who you are.

tollah is currently stuck in Cabot Circus I hear – the tubby forest-dweller has never seen so many electric lights in one place!

Little Life back carrier for a bit older. We have a Baby Jogger pram, but not recommended for the very wee as they need to be able to hold their heads up themselves.
4 wheel prams seem to be much more stable for day to day use, but the Jogger is the 29er of prams and rolls over most anything.

Already got a lawyer on standby for when I get arrested for licking bike frames!

I currently work in a government department that is fastidious in all transactions and goes to the far end of a fart to jump through all legislative hoops. If the FC is applying 50% of what I see, then the naysayers are just throwing stones.
A tender was bid for, to run a new 200 cover restaurant with a forecast increasing footfall. 2 girls who run a caf in a bus didn’t win it. Some people complain. Some people aren’t surprised.

*puts hand up*

I’m a giant.

*departs with 20 league strides*

both private and public sector I feel confident to say that it can be as honest or as bent as the people involved want to make it.

Correct. Given the current drive towards transparency and the FC knowing this would get a lot of publicity, do you think those involved wanted to get this one right? Or do you think they gaffed it off and rode the ragged edge?

I was only pulling nails where I was cutting the pallets up so as not to blunt my saw.
Fany – I found paper bricks were something to take a long time making and a longer time drying. To get them dense enough I was soaking the paper for days in the garage then pressing the bricks, then letting them dry properly – so it was a summer job ready for winter. Those that had been soaked longest and dried longest seemed to be the most dense and burned better.

I did it for a while, but found the work put in cutting pallets down and pulling nails etc wasn’t enough for the amount of fuel it gave me for the fire. You tend not to get decent lumps of wood. I ended up using them for kindling and getting logs for longer burning.

There is no loyalty and they have no understanding of either the costs or hassle of running a business.

They are not allowed loyalty – they must tender on a level playing field – that is a legal requirement and they can’t get around that – tell me you are just being provocative on that point. They don’t have to understand your costs or your hassle – they contract for a requirement. What do you think they have to do – subsidise your overheads? I do feel for smaller businesses tendering with government departments, but don’t complain because the rules force them to deal with an even hand.

Paceman – the fork trail issue was dealt with a few years ago – it just takes an entrenched public a few more years to catch up.

Road cycling – the USA has a more roadie-friendly network of roads – those smooth surfaces have to be a good thing. The MTB scene in the USA is there and big – just not the coverage. They even have schools competing against each other – that has to be good. 29er has nothing to do with familiar standards – they have a lot of racers and a lot of big country riding that suits the bikes – we have a small, crowded island where we cram a lot into small spaces! I think more people just ride bikes now – I know some hardcore roadies commenting on the ‘******* sportif riders’ being dangerous in higher Cat races – blurred edges between the niches.

Going back to my post – my point was that, other than a few more 29ers coming in to the UK (as well as home grown), nothing has really changed. Forks might get a bit longer, but the HT remains, the FS is still there and so are the niches. I don’t really see a ‘trend’ in Europe or the USA that is specific to them that we’re ignoring or picking up.

As for ahwiles’ post – either Cy Turner is 3 years out of date with his ‘research’, or you’ve gone astray a bit on what he said. It’s a bit like saying ‘suspension forks were a bit rubbish once – they are better now’. 😕

Kenny Wallace, the ‘former Para’, has my vote for thread contributor of the week. The great big wussy aerobics instructor that he is.

Are we doing your market research or your homework for you?

Specialized are importing their 29ers for 2011, every manufacturer has 29er. There are more people on 29ers than ever before. We have always had the ‘hardcore hardtail’ – I fail to see what has changed from last year. Turner, Santa Cruz, Trek, Specialized, Giant, Scott, LaPierre etc will all sell loads of bikes in the UK.

😕

The FC are building a new centre there – with a 200 cover restaurant – quite a step up methinks and a desire to see bigger numbers there. None of this is secret.

An invitation to tender would have been published. It would have had a number of specific requirements laid out. I don’t know who would have had a hand in the requirements, but I guess it would have been fairly thorough to even get through the higher scrutiny requirements these days.

Companies would have then had a chance to ask for clarification on any point(s) they were unsure of. The bids would have then been submitted. Those bids would have been assessed VERY carefully, against the original requirements specified. There would have possibly been a down-selection process to weed out those wide of the mark then concentrate on those obviously competitive. The successful bidder would then be announced and those who failed (probably) de-briefed on why they didn’t win. Oh – letters of good standing, etc, etc would also be required to ensure no backers are doing anything naughty or have done in the past.

bigsi – this sort of process is undertaken by ANY department spending government / public / YOUR money. It is undertaken to ensure no corruption, no bribery, no nepotism and that everyone competing is competing fairly and equally. You might have an issue with anything that employs more than 4 people, but government is striving in all business to be transparent. Those processes (IMHO) sometimes get in the way of better business, but they are fair, even-handed and utterly transparent. If you really want to ask, I guess a few FoI questions would get you everything you want.

The article is the usual reactionary reporting one expects on a Sunday.
Bidding for ANYTHING that is public money is complete torture – the whole process is designed to give transparency and ensure all bidders are on a level playing field. It does that, but it means you can’t take anything other than the specified requirements into consideration. Therefore, if another bid was seen, by a panel, as ‘better’, then they get the contract. You couldn’t write a contract saying ‘must have been on site for 10 years’ as nobody else could meet that requirement.

Optimistic realist here. I always, always look for the good and always seek to make things better if I can. It is often tempered, especially at work, by that realism. However, I just do believe that I can have a positive impact in the things I do.

clubber – you’ll take a month to decide anyway, so I’ll just say ‘YES’ – just for you tho – nobody else.

I can’t believe nobody wanted to buy a Sturmey Archer’d wheel or some front track hubs! There was a limited number of uber-cool fixies there tho.

http://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/about_apply.php

A lot of information there. I would say, an older lady who is ‘a bit wobbly on her feet’ might not be best suited to having a dog, regardless of good intent.

OK

For those who haven’t heard, there is a BIKE JUMBLE TODAY.

It is in BRISTOL.

It starts at MIDDAY, 12 o’clock, 12 bells

I’ve got a 700c Sturmey Archer-hubbed wheel for sale, along with some really niche stuff – and some other stuff. Come and trade stuff!
Hugs for all those that need them!

Stoner – the Little Life Cross Country fits me at 6’7″ – but the old model not the new one. E Bay for the win and the nice cheapness.

Social skills of a rhino with haemarroids

As opposed to you, you great sleep-deprived speed-talking grizzly.

Oh please don’t get upset. I don’t know how I can get through tonight if I feel I have upset you with a dose of mild sarcasm and and wee bit of 🙄

If I can quote just once more from this thread:

Ok, calm down touchy.

Hugs for all!

I can’t help if you won’t read the first three words.

Frank – you can never tell – there can be about 50 people turn up – some buyers, some sellers. Different people want different things at different times – someone might be dreaming of mint XTR – someone might want a 7 speed cassette – part of the fun of doing it.

What time is it?

This Saturday, midday

🙄

I’d add that baby sleeping bags are great, but I can’t recommend swaddling highly enough for a young baby.

the baby will let you know if it’s too cold or too hot

Given that babies can’t regulate their own temperatures, that is an interesting view. Just have the temperature up a bit at the start – you’ll spend far more of your nights up and about than you do now.

The only reason I can see for adding reinforcement patches is to protect from ski edges or crampons – but they’re smocks, not salopettes!

How about climbing in it? The Army guys I know like the reinforced arms for the way they use it too.

Rumours of new sellers with loads of new stuff too.

Montane is better designed, better thought at the edge of the fabrics (thin fleece instead of pile at the edge – works better in the damp/wet), reinforced arms (if you do more than pose about in them of course), higher collar and much cheaper than a Buffalo. I really like Buffalo, but the Montane version is just like an updated Buffalo. That costs less.