arrrrgggghhh – Silly news people. BBC man standing in York “Its now starting to rain, that is the last thing thing this city needs”. Rain in York won’t make any difference. York is flooding because of the rain in Dales… 2 DAYS AGO… More rain here where I am, on Monday would mean trouble for York now. BBC – Drown your journalists. Also “this is the worst I’ve ever seen” coming from someone who has only lived in york 2 yrs, is not impressive, it not an important 1st person account, it is not context. There are marks on buildings from floods in the 1600s, that’s historical context…

#and breath#

York is full of Flood gates, they let part of the city flood, to save the rest, cuty centre will be fine and as above, when the river’s up its quite a site. Is going to peak tonight, takes a day for our water to get there and we peaked this time yesterday.

Isn’t there a St. Arrrrrggggh’s in Cornwall?

I think we just came a little bit closer to inventing the Total Perspective Vortex.

lower your expectations or sell the tv.

Certainly an option…

Alternatively – BSG, Walking Dead, Game of Thrones.

Of the Above – Dexter, Spooks (first few series – gets silly after that, but the first are ace), Generation Kill are all very good.

In simplistic terms, Fine. (i pay under average tax as I earn F All at the mo), but Aid to India is a bit odd, and I’m sure if the full budget breakdown there will be some bits that tabloid head line writers can get all irate about. Dare say some of it goes on things I don’t like. That bit can be fixed/altered, but it’s right we help people. The real debate should be on how we do that, spend the money to make a difference, not just address the syptoms etc.

But then you weren’t asking me as I’m not a tax complainer. Happy to pay tax. Was happy to pay it when I was earning well, and am happy to pay it still now I’m not. Would never dream of avoiding it. One day I may want an ambulance to come quickly. Simple as.

I’ve heard many stories of SS from both sides of the satisfaction spectrum. But given the poor CS (a pretty universal trait of the feedback), I never buy anything with moving parts.

Totally understand what you’re talking about. My mum died at the beginning of July, (on the 4th which is annoying, no way of that not being drilled into me every year).

First I distracted myself totally by selling an old bike then bying a new one, building it custom. Only really ‘hit’ me in August if I’m honest. Until then It just felt like she was away.

Following redundancy I moved back in then parents while studying, something I am very grateful for in retrospect, as I got to spend a couple of years with my mum, before she died.

I’ve been beating myself up a bit now and then. Partly its how my brain works, taunting me with the times I didn’t have time for her when looking back she was trying to spend time with me because deep down she knew. It is part of how the brain works, processing info that is important, it keeps it at the top of the memory.

Also I work facing the public so get 50 odd people saying random things to me through the day, usually one hits home once every other day, and I work locally so friends of the family keep popping in to “Check you’re doing ok.” and then hang around cos there’s nothing so say. They mean well but truth be told it doesn’t help.

Hard as well as my Dad is kind of a **** and I don’t much like him. Much of the dad stuff when I was growing was done by my mum, getting me my first shaving stuff, getting me riding a bike. Dad was never that bothered so she did it all.

I also made a really strong effort to replace the memories of her bedridden with cancer, with the normal ones of her bussling about, being busy, and complaining that there were 4 different pairs of boots and cycling shoes in the kitchen. Even talking to her a little when stuff was going on the house that she would have found amusing/disapointing/annoying, Cancer removes people bit by bit, day by day. Is simply horrible and that side left an indelible mark, Mum became someone else, helpless, dependent and almost mute. We got 6 weeks notice. Seemed unrreal at the time as when she told me she was still up and about, and it seemed an impossibly short time. They got it right to with 3 days.

Truth be told I still have a staggering amount of latent anger about so much but nothing to do with it. Also I feel cheated. She was 65 and in no way infirm or decaying, she was busy, out and about, and could have continued to be so for 20 more years with ease.

I spend most of my time pretending it isn’t true. But I’m very far from ok yet. But stuff keeps happening, work, riding, seasons etc… and suddenly its nearly October… bit mental.

hmmm… I loved the early stuff muse did. they can rock like very few British bands… but not really sure they’re going now… “Hey muse where are you going?”

“We’re going over here.”

“Really? cos the last guys who rent over there, they didn’t come back, we never saw them again… Muse? hello muse?”

But then once they released Absolution, they kind of nailed that genre of rock once and for all, nothing more to do there, may as well go peculiar.

Beach Boys were embarrassing and cringe making…

I find it funny as I have worked on things for people with several of those job titles… often in the course doing parts of their job as well…

Heard a woman on a train once bemoaning that whenever she saw track workers they were stood doing nothing……

😆 😆 😆

Claim your money back through Paypal.

Once it’s refunded, tell the seller to come and collect or send a courier to collect.

Job done.

this would be my primary course of action. Are you putting all communications though the ebay message system? They can read it all. You have offered to return for refund, they told you shove it. Pretty sure ebay will come down on your side…

CTC do more for common everyday “Cyclists” imo. BC are a bit power hungry with regards qualifications/events/everything from what I’ve heard which puts me off them. Good for event insurance though. Swing/round abouts etc. [no direct personal experience, just what I get from people who do]

You know you’ve made it when…

To be honest, I really feel that these days there should be some sort of competency test to possess a dog.

yup. Agreed. Shouldn’t be a very strict one, just weed out the screaming fudgetards.

I was very much the pro-dog side of the last debate, but side with you on this. In daytime wouldn’t necessarily go with the lead argument in a park. But at night, yes. Take it it was a bike path/footpath running side by side, seperated by a white line? Or a dual use path?

If it’s a shared use path in a park then you should slow right down to walking pace to pass

Not to be too picky, but if you did that you wouldn’t pass them… I’m being too picky aren’t I…

I wouldn’t trust that not to try to take over the world. On the flip side if you get knocked down and killed it might avenge you…

NO barbers in my little town any more. More’s the pity.

So to the ‘unisex’ hair dressers, explain a number 1 back and sides and cut down to 1/2 an inch on top.

Usual responce “Yes but you don’t it too short do you…” not a question, sort of an observation

Well if by too short you mean shorter than I just described to you, then no, i don’t hence the description in what I would consider to be hair dresser parlance.

No.1 attached to clippers which are then wafted around my head like some kind of talisman against the evil voodoo of too short-a-hair. This is what led me to drop to a number one, used to be a number 2 but my old place pretty much drove the bastards into my skull, which had the desired effect. What’s the point in attaching what is all said and done a measuring device and then NOT USING IT? So we bugger about spending ages waving this device about like we’re doing some kind of mystical Hair Reiki because without ever being applied to my head it doesn’t seem to work very well, before start on the top, after a lot “I’ll go to a number 4 at the top. then start snipping seemingly randomly over the top of my head, constant breaking off todo my neck, then sidies (Do you want these trimming back?” – “No thanks” – BAM – they’re just gone.), then round my ears, each time going back to do a few more seemingly arbitrary snips on top.

“SO How’s that for you?”

And since each snip remove only about 3mm of hair and it’s been a month since my last hair cut “Errr, yeah a little bit more off please” so we go on for a dozen snips removing another mm here and there.

“There we go.”

“Errrr, could you take a little bit more off, pretty please?”

Repeat until eventually I give up. Pay (no tip), go home, and remove the chavesque fringe I always get left with (I’m 32 FFS!) and take the top down a bit best I can in a mirror. Same bloody woman, every month… to begin with I thought she might actually learn after a while but they seems to have been blind pointless optimism on my part. You would have more luck teaching a goldfish to remember the books of the Old Testament.

There did used to be a barbers. I went once, bloke outside flicked his ciggy away as I walked in, followed me in, 10 minutes, just how I wanted it. Minimal pointless waffley chat, sorted. Next time I went down I walked in it had in one month became an art gallery… Of stupid crappy modern art that as far as I can tell involves the artist smacking his face into his palette and then spending 15 minutes head butting the canvas, then slapping a hundred pound price tag on it.

Seriously considered driving 60 mile round trip to go my old place in Leeds, 6 music, hair cut how I liked, good reading matter while I wait. Strictly no appointments. Bliss.

God I miss Leeds.

maycontainnuts +1 😀

It’s a very clean shop sir

Yes, well it’s certainly uncontaminated by cheese

I suggest not looking at Google Images for Mao Sugiyama.

It had not even occurred to me to do so, until that…

Binners, another 5 and you get a “Get out of Ban free” card. 😀

BB – All the parties are guilty of it, its easier to get cheap soundbite win in, over a substantive arguement about something which more complicated than most people want to take the time to understand.

LDs did try do get electoral reform off the ground but I don’t know if you remember the AV campaigns, both of which were pretty appalling, the pro insipid, lazy and patronising, and the ‘no’ at best misleading and in my opinion outright lied. That wasn’t debate it was a simplistic, emotive, and a let down, from all parties.

Sometimes the lack of substance has benefitted the Lib Dems, it could be argued it put them into power, but right now its punnishing them and benefitting Labour, who’s most outstanding and substantive contribution to the politcal landscape in the last 6 months had been a staggering silence [given recent efforts is actually a pretty shrewd play by them tbh].

Keep on at the police. May not have sold it yet.

Yup, one more for binners here [gonna get some kind of record here fella], aslo with regret and quiet, sad resignation. Not cos I don’t want to agree with binners. I’m a Lib Dem voter. I supported the coalition at the start as I saw, given the numbers, no other way.

I’m actually OK with the tuition fees. Yes I’d rather they weren’t there at all, and I despise the trend for monetising the value of an education. But the t&cs on these loans are better than they are on mine where the limit for paying them back doesn’t rise with inflation but stays at 15k so effectively drops year on year. Not sure if mine get wiped out after 20yrs either tbh.

But the tories are guilty of moving the goal posts, and as a coalition it was a bold/ambitious one for a country that has not had one in modern times. I’d actually like us to have more, and be more of a multiparty nation, but coalition is likely to become a dirty word after this. Lib Dems are getting the shity end of the stick (in part deservedly, and in part not), and owing to the simplistic nature of debate in our media will likely be destroyed in the next election. As they will be blamed for what the tories are doing. I still think things would have been worse had the coalition not happened. Another election in 6 months could well have return a tory majority as George’s enept cluelessness would not have destroyed everything by then. But a part of me is wondering if five years of tory rule, time for them to bugger everything up with no-one else to take the blame. Might have been better in the long run, force labour to find its balls, and maybe through byelections given the libs and the Labs a chance and calling a vote of no confidence and bringing it to an end.

Long story short, after the last election there was no good way forward. [unless you like calling him Dave]

Be fair. they may just not have expected to need one.

I have a nice stapler from my last job… We were all made redundant and they said they wanted the office empty so…

Got some pretty nice ring binders and a telephone pad…

but… huh? so many questions. Such little ability to come out of the fetal position.

Better than most stuff i hear when subjected to Radio 1…

We were at gisburn the other day when the was a deer on the track ahead of us (just after the wood going up to the crag). We stopped to generally admire it for a bit and it didn’t know we were there, but then deciding to get we made some noise to alert it to our presence, and started slowly riding towards it. It looked up and turned to face us and then started stamping its front hooves on the ground and generally squaring up to us in a “come and a ****ing go mate” did this for about 15 seconds intil to get a better look me made rode out from behind me to along side me, and which point it bounced off into the woods. But was long enough for me to wonder what I would actually do if it charged us.

Yep. Recently sold ‘Nellie’, my 07 meta, to a man on a motorway layby. We went through a lot together. think I may have weirded they guy out a bit by staring at her in the back of his car and not walking away. It was a sad moment. 😥

depends a lot on the film – endless slow mos of whips to american punk rock soundtrack – uninspiring, done too many times, couldn’t give a toss.

People going to a new place and riding loads, actually trails and no just whipping all the damn time. I can watch. If I’m honest no film I’ve seen recently has beaten the good old days of Earthed.

There also the new [ish] type of biking film with arty shots and a drawling voice over about life the universe and everything. While some of the photography is good, I feel its taking itself too seriously.

Just because shops are selling Christmas things, doesn’t mean anyone is forcing you to celebrate Christmas early.

No, and since my Xmas is infact more greenery, lots of holly etc and not just tinsel/shiney tat everywhere it does feel different to what’s been going on everywhere else for the 2 (or 3 these days) months, but it does result in it feeling a little tired and ‘done’ by the time I start celebrating it. It shouldn’t, i know. But it does.

I missed that one, Bloody well done Jamie. That must have taken real discipline and continued commitment.

13 people will assure me that its exercise (or lack of) and not diet.

Will they perchance be partaking of some form of snack while the tell you this. Will bits of that snack fly past your head as they do? 🙂

double helpings even when I say no thanks.

Yup. “Oh, yes, Unklehomer will want all this crackling as well there we go, and You can fit another sausage in can’t you. We’ve got some cream left just finish that off ” and its on your plate befote you can say anything.

*not all from the same course obviously, that would be weird.

Ah, but you make that cool by going on about how it’s really a pagan midwinter festival and should be a bacchanalian fun fest and you don’t have any Christian imagery in your house.

I was doing that before I came here, its how I was brought up… I love christmas [Yule] but only celebrate it at Christmas, not before.

i’d be taking it to HR regardless of whether the individual who was threatened wanted to take it further.

This, it should go to HR regardless. IN the private sector you’d be having uncomfortable meetings with senior management and HR and signing bits of paper saying you’d been warned about being a nutter to people. I work for an LA, and recently someone went off in our meeting (nowhere near what you discribe but still hugely inappropriate). I was gobsmacked. Even when our manage rather meakly tried to shut him down he started back up again. To knowledge there was no follow up of it. Is sadly a different world, in a good way in some, in bad way in others.

Well this morning I bust through my intermediate target of 95 kilos. I’m aiming overall at 90. But via mid targets of 95 & 92.5 to allow that feeling of accomplishment, and to re-assess if 90 still seems a sensible target. At the start I was at the lowest point of a pretty constant sin wave between three belt notches going back about 13/14 yrs, and weighed 100kg, so I knew that getting rid of the stuff I’d had for around half my life was really going to take a while.

My stratergy has been based around experience and finding what works for me. No spud etc in the evening – fill up on veg, make a big batch of soup from chicken stock with carrots, leaks bits of chicken and a healthy quota of country soup mix, lentals/pulses grain etc. Its these which make the soup stodgy and stop me being hungry afterward (usually). Also soup can be heated pretty quickly after getting in, so less impotus to snack while waiting for main meal (i’m terrible for this, especially when doing a roast as I pick the fatty bits off while doing the gravy).

Porridge for breakfast, and a cheese sandwich for lunch with lots of salad. So I’m not cutting out nice things cheese/ whole milk etc. But I’m also not having pizza curry, not drinking much etc, and NOT SNACKING. But this would work until I seem to hit a barrier that I just don’t break through 98kg was on, as was 96.5. I might dip down to it, but would then just hover regardless of diet.

A few intensive rides (14 mile of road and track busting a gut, or less bust a gut but well paced constant ride 30 milers both with a fair few climbs) can help me punch through that barrier, and then even if my body corrects and I go back up for a couple of days, a few more days of sensible eating will see me drop back down and keep going to the next one.

Best rule: don’t hoover

this is my problem, I am the family food hoover. Have been since I was a child. Always hungry. Always have been. Always will be. And people will always goad me into just finishing things that are left to save them having to shove it in the fridge/bin it. And I hate waste…

I did once try to buy tinsel in December. Its actually not possible.

Not only that but when asked the shop assistant I got looks like I was some kind of insane morom being deliberately difficult.

The old town is worth a bodge around for just beauty and stuff. Also, ride the underground. They have the steepest most terrifying escalators I’ve ever encountered. (though was carrying stupidly heavy rucksacks at the time). But it did seem an ‘exciting’ experience. 10 years ago, they may have upgraded it now.

Only had deliveries from them, but in my area, been very good, really early in the morning (not bad for rural area) so catches people before they go out, not left things in bad places. May think twice about sending anything with them though from the above.

I’ve drastically changed my food intake recently and while it had a impact on weight loss, it levelled out after while. frustrating as I was eating well and bloody starving (but then I always am). Adapted to the new diet a bit more now, and still loosing weigh very slowly with it. But an intensive ride can drop me a kilo in one day, even if I’m eating more to fuel it. So for me a mix has the best effect. But for now there’s none of my usual “i’ve been on a ride so I can eat infinite curry and quaff gallons of ale” which is a shame cos I really liked doing that. 🙁

Well you never know, you have the van and a MO, but it could just be opportunism. Can’t believe that to watch it thought. Well I can, but I’m still amazed. Did it get bundled into the van or ridden off somewhere?

I also feel your anger… fingers crossed for ye.

the “OOOOHHHHH!” from me at the 1:17 one just scared the bajesus out of the dog… 😆