My two and a half year old lurcher came from a dogs’ home – we got him at about six months old.

He was a nervous wreck at first and had no training whatsoever. Over the course of two long, hard years, I’ve trained him to do the usuals; sit, down, stay, come and so on.

A month or so back, we took him to my brother in law’s house for a two day party where he met and played with about a dozen other dogs – all belonging to other guests. He was massively excited by all this, needless to say.

On day two though, he leapt, snarling at a 3 year old girl (she was running into the room, screaming, and running out again every few seconds), knocking her to the floor. He immediately jumped off her and slunk back to me with his tail between his legs. Happily, the little girl was fine – jumped up and carried on playing. No-one saw this happen apart from me.

As soon as we got home – the dog was booked into the local behaviour class. If he had bitten her, he would be in Dog Heaven (or Hell) by now. The training classes are expensive, hard work, and have to be followed through every day on his walks, but better this than no dog.

A couple of niggles with Pearl, trackball needs regulary cleaning and battery life isn’t too great. Otherwise a good phone.

Sorry for the slight hijack, but how do you go about cleaning your trackball? I tried recently and was scuppered by the tiny torque bolts in the back of the phone…..

Agree with most of the above – nice, little phone – main gripe for me is the way the ringer doesn’t make itself known until about the fourth ring – many callers have given up before you even know someone’s calling you.

For two years I ploughed a lonely furrow in Aberdeen as a cycle courier. Two or three near misses a month, two serious accidents in the two year period (bike destroyed, broken bones).

Now I live in NE England and am scared sh1tless every time I have to ride on the road.

Further to BigDummy’s approach, I highly recommend laying out a prayer mat in the outside lane of the roundabout on which you have just had a near miss, and thanking Allah for your deliverance (or Buddah / God / LBS / etc., etc.). Slows ’em down a bit……

Craster, schmaster – try these bad boys[/url]

The Roches is waaaay to ‘Apple Pie’ for me. Saccharine(?) sweet

Donno ’bout that – there’s some jarring dischordancy going on in that album.

Yup – Late Junction is great for world music and general off kilter weirdness. You might also want to have a listen to The Roches, specifically an album called ‘Nurds’. All female harmonising – a lot of a- capello stuff. Interesting…

It’s not that bad – although we did find a tar pit which swallowed everything we threw into it, including a 4′ x 6′ bit of ply….

I found the site about seven or eight years ago, cycling the coast path from Sunderland to Hartlepool. It’s almost all flattened now – it was still a going concern back then.

The dog looking confused. Sorry for the lack of jugs.

Google maps link;

here

bikes!It’s in Hartlepool – old magnesium extraction plant. More here if you like Blenders.

user-removed – Member
…
I hate vegetarians

What a strange thing to say.

Sorry – I meant to say I hate miltant veggies of the kind found on the PETA site – the kind who would run you over for having a leather satchel.

Brought up in Aberdeen and it’s alreet. The West end is good for renting – architecture’s nice throughout. Belmont Street has a few nice bars (bit studenty though).

Riding – good if you like natural stuff / forest tracks – Deeside is full of great scenery.

Watched a truly awful video made by Swiss animal rights activists in a Chinese fur farm.

If you want to have your soul indelibly stained, check out the PETA website, here; http://www.peta.org.uk/feat/dogcatfuruk.asp

I hate vegetarians, even though I’m married to one (!?) but watching these vids made me put my hand in my pocket. Dogs being skinned alive whilst hung upside down in a Chinese fur farm, desperately trying to right themselves to see what’s happening to them. Once they’re skinned, the still living carcasses are thrown on a heap – it’s a pathetic sight, watching these creatures trying to lick their wounds…

Warning – soul-staining content.

Amazing. Strange how watching stuff like that gives you the feeling that you can do it too. Usually this feeling disappears half way through the first set of doubles………

Just to buck the trend….. Shot whilst zooming in from 20mm to 10mm on a long exposure and a spot of narrow flash.

Apologies for subject matter and for being a cleverd1ck. Sigma 10-20

I use a D200 and a D300 at winter weddings and the D300 is always the weapon of choice. There’s really no comparison when it comes to low light, high ISO shooting – I was totally blown away when I first started using the D300 – there’s barely any noise up to around ISO 6400 and it’s not bad beyond that.

If you can stretch to an SB-900 (flash) too, then you’re sorted. Or a 2nd hand 600 or 800….

OP – Get yersel a copy of The Boatman’s Call – best album I’ve ever bought.

Mezzanine by Massive Attack,
Steal this Album by System of a Down,
Peloton by The Delgados

and, saved the best for last;

Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot by Sparklehorse.

Stand up and congrtulate your boss for recognising a great idea, then expand upon it – keep a little back. Make it clear the conception was yours whilst bigging up the MAN.

Keeps your boss onside, to an extent and also lets the senior management know where the idea came from.

Sh@g his wife.

Worst I’ve ever seen ’em was at a camp site near Keilder Water. Got tortured by huge clouds of them and had to spend a whole beautiful summer’s evening in my tiny tent. My whole body was red and swollen – and I’m not allergic, and my folks live on Skye, and I’m Scottish…..

If you get them bad, they really can ruin your life.

Jeezuz – I can’t get over how rude some folk are – even if they don’t mean to be. Anyhoo, FWIW, I would also recommend sticking with something more trad. Have you / your wife tried a stove-top pot? Total consistency, easy(ish) to clean, and way cooler than a pod machine.

Tastes much better too, IMO.

+1 on the Boardman Pro vote. Just spent the weekend breaking mine in at GT and I’m absolutely satisfied it fits the bill – my needs are pretty similar to yours – and it’s light – just over 25 lbs.

Did have a look at a few steel hardtails (including the Voodoo offerings and a P7, but after picking them up, they just felt daft-heavy – and as has been mentioned, the spec on the Boardman is pretty amazing.

And it’s British :-)

Sounds promising – a quick scan on youtube shows some nice looking trails – just hoping I’ll be able to hire a semi-ok bike over there.

Actually, our vaccuum cleaner’s not the best either – an Electrolux, Dyson based thing. We bought it as it was advertised as being THE hoover for pet owners. It even comes with an attatchment called a ‘pet-paw’, which has its own spinny brush, and is supposed to pull pet hair from curtains, stairs, etc.

Well, the ‘pet-paw’ blocked up after the first use and had to be taken apart, cleaned and screwed back together. Don’t bother with it now. And this hoover is twice the weight of our old one. Bah.

Our Brita filter kettle – you have to fill up a top section and then wait five minutes for the water to filter through. Then wait five minutes (okay, two..) for it to boil. Stand back when pouring as it dribbles boiling water all over the place. Rubbish.

The dog was doing his job – defending his territory / his owner’s territory. That is what dogs do. It’s an entirely different kettle of fish from Mr Nutt’s tale. It’s terribly unfortunate that a public bridleway runs through a farmyard – there’s a lot of it about here in Durham too.

I’ve been bitten by a border collie on Lewis (Isle of). I bled a lot, kicked the bloody dog and ran away quite fast. As long as humans have an association with dogs, we must understand that this is what dogs do – we trained them to do it.

Shot last week – my mate on his Blender.

And another from the same shoot….

Well, here’s some random pics of my dog, being as everyone else is at it. Two and a half now, from a rescue centre and finally beginning to resemble a sentient being….

Last one….

Might see you there a11y – I’m on a brand spankin new Chris Bordman, and the wife’s on a black Carrera. We’ll be the ones causing a three mile tailback of ducathlon racers.

I’ve gone through a couple of dedicated photo rucksacks and found that getting into the bottom section in a hurry is a bit of a pain – usually just end up stuffing the camera in the top with my sandwiches.

Didn’t know dedicated camera rucsacs/hydration packs were available but wonder if they’d be equally fiddly? I’d also be a bit concerned about having a litre of liquid above my camera….

EDIT; just seen the pic of the bag you’re currently using – it looks perfect to just drop into a rucksack.

I bought myself a compact last year for all the reasons mentioned above. Got taken on one ride and hasn’t come out with me since, mostly due to shutter lag (minimal, but there) and lack of control.

Back to DSLR now – D200 with grip removed (spare wedding camera). Like solomanda I just bundle it up in a padded bag, within a heavy duty rucksack liner and hope for the best. Managed to snap the lens off an F90 once by showing off and falling off in quick succession…

Yup – get a UV filter if you’re taking pics in a muddy environment – abslute necessity.

+1 on the carriage dog idea – although most of the dalmations I know are a bit nuts. If I were looking for a trail dog, it would either be a border collie, a deerhound or a dalmation.

As it is, I have a two year old lurcher – looks like a big, hairy whippet with a bit more meat on him than most whippets…. Doesn’t come out riding with me though – he’s good for quick sprints (crazy-fast) but doesn’t enjoy sustained running.

EDIT: I should mention that living with a long haired dog is like living in a cloud.

That cat is the best thing I have ever seen in my life.

Some good suggestions for alternatives, cheers. Aside from having to park just outside Edinburgh, sounds like we won’t know there’s a race on – especially as Mrs Removed will probably want to do the green route :-(

Meeting a few folk for a proper run on Saturday though – can’t wait!!

Sometimes I’m so glad I work for myself. From home.

My mate worked for a while in a large-ish open plan office and the girl who sat opposite him was moved to another department. Said new department was on the other side of the office (literally 30 seconds walk away, and in line of sight). This didn’t deter the team having a lavish leaving do, complete with cards, cake and a posh pressie.

Mentalists.

Most of the above, for me. But also, once you’re all growed up, socialising tends to happen in the pub, getting mildly pissed. Or very pissed. Going for a ride gives the opportunity to get together and hang out with your pals in a non-booze-soaked environment.

What I’m trying to say is that it’s a social activity (but I fear it just sounds like I’m an alky :? )

It’s all just about deterring thieving ****ts. If they really want it, they’re going to have it, even if you go down the claymore route.

Last winter, Gardeners’ Question Time on Radio 4 (laugh it up) devoted a whole prog to the issue of ‘defensive planting’. Definitely the way forward – just plant loads of spiky, stingy, thorny plants growing up possible ingress points to your garden and the thieves will move on to an easier target.

I use one from B&Q. Cost me about £20. I know it’s already paid for itself as the garage got broken into and the bikes were left. I found chainrings, grease and various tools down the side of the garage, otherwise I wouldn’t have known the blighters had visited (they were kind enough to close the door behind them!).

They came back a few months later though when I’d removed the chain to go to the pub with it, and did away with two bikes :-(

The floor anchor came with two ball bearings to hammer into the tops of the bolts – this stops anyone unscrewing them – they’re there for ever!

Much to the wife’s annoyance, I bought myself a set of Motorola TLKR-T3s last year. I wanted them for photography purposes after a few frustrating sessions – mates waiting further up the trail, me sat next to jump/berm/feature getting my camera settings right, mate flies past at high speed cursing my state of unreadiness..

Didn’t really use them in anger ’til last weekend in Balquhidder – there was the usual slow group, fast group thing going on and the range varied between a couple of hundred yards and a couple of clicks, terrain dependant.

As we were staying in chalets a few mins walk apart, they came in handy for abusing each other apres-ride too.

Cost was about £20 from some dodgy Sheffield mail order outfit. Absolutely spot on for areas of no phone coverage.

On Saturday past – in front of about a dozen guys I’d met the night before in the pub. Tried to hop onto, and off a large boulder, caught my chainring (ouch) and went over the bars. No pain, just huge embarassment.

Deffo due a big one though – last (cycle related) broken bone was nearly 10 years ago – smashed up ribs in the middle of a four day Cairngorm extravaganza….