My mate has a broken ankle but needs to run 10 miles a day for the next 12 days…..

Being married to a speech and language therapist makes me agree with philC.

One of these bad boys works for me, if you can stand the shame of having a teeny mudguard. Better than servicing your bearings every other month!

Hmmm. Not really, sorry. My only experience of sharing a house with complete strangers was when I started uni as a very mature student down here in the North East. All my housemates were female students, so probably a very different scenario to the one you have in mind.

One of them was a total dick – the kind who writes their name on every sheet of bog roll and chains up their sausages with a Squire padlock. I had, ahem, better relations with all the rest of them though 🙂 *

Actually, I suppose that it was quite amazing.

Find a flat with a very, very good local pub and let your flatmates sit in and be boring if they so choose.

*Sadly, not at the same time 🙁

Aye, it isn’t easy, but after a few weeks hanging around a decent snooker hall, it’ll feel very natural. And when you go back to pool it’ll feel like trying to cycle a kids’ bike (and you’ll whip everyone).

My dog’s one and only haircut. Ever. Poor lad.

Mystic cat – absolutely amazing!

Lol at this thread. I had a pair of Miniature Russian Blue hamsters when I was a lad. One of them ate most of the other one. Was much smaller (and bluer!) than the one in the vid above though. Was glad to see those guys let it go when they’d finished teasing it….

mango – that 2nd pic is fantastic – bags of atmosphere…

Also liking the light in will’s photo above ^^

Not an action shot, but the end of a long day riding and shooting…

Another of the same guy – different day…..

You’ve spelt ‘and’ wrong.

So is that really bad then? ^^^

I do a lot of uploading of large files to various printers and album companies. It’s a pain as the connection drops out a lot and the uploads take ages.

The router is wireless and gets very hot if I’m doing a lot of heavy duty internetting. It’s D-Link job from PC World….

LOL! 😆

Cheers for all the responses.

OK – just been to speedtest and it tells me;

Download 1.97 Mb/s

Upload 0.23 Mb/s

PING 74 ms

Orange Home (which scores a paltry 2.25 out of 5).

Is that bad?

EDIT – sorry for double post – edited to get rid of ‘speed teat’ in first post 🙂

Cheers for all the responses.

OK – just been to speedteat and it tells me;

Download 1.97 Mb/s

Upload 0.23 Mb/s

PING 74 ms

Orange Home (which scores a paltry 2.25 out of 5).

Is that bad?

*Weeps too*

I want to live in that house. At least until I need a pint of milk and a packet of Drum, at which point I’d move somewhere sensible.

I tried, and waited six minutes for a result – I’m guessing that’s not good. I’m also uploading a giant wedding album at the same time and it’s taken two and a half hours so far.

The router overheated within five mins and needed a break in the snow outside. This process repeats itself twice a week – is this normal?

What’s a one of them then? Is there any truth to the ads promising “Our fastest broadband ever!!”

Thank the Lord it was just a Canon….

😀 *

*Nikon afficianado!

Aaarg. All my local dog walks are festooned with lumps of poo just now. Absolutely vile. Just because there’s snow on the ground doesn’t mean you can leave the gift lying there, replete in its cradle of slightly melted snow.

And the poor dog has to spend his whole evening licking other dogs’ poo off his paws….. 🙁

Forfeit – rub your mate’s nose in a pile of it?

Occasionally, some misguided fool buys me a bottle of Grants / Bells / Grouse. Not one to look a gift-horse in the mouth, I’ll happily neck it with a bit of lemonade.

Any malts get a tiny wee drop of water to open them up. If I’m buying malts in a pub, I usually ask for a half pint of water and dispense the water myself – otherwise you run the risk of your nip getting drowned.

NickyB – some of that looks terrifying….

These pics have been up on here before – not actually my favourite ride of the year, but didn’t have a camera with me. Still a cracking ride apart from being a solo – Glen Sligichan;

I had that elevated stays one ^^^^ in lurid purple. It also had RST forks when there wasn’t much else about. Spent many happy hours watching them move (slightly) as I went over bumps 🙂

As I understand it he’s not a student nor affected by the issue of fees / withdrawel of allowances.

Not being a student doesn’t take away your right to peaceful protest…

I used pcspecialist after reccomendations from other professional image makers / workers. I needed a laptop which would cope with photoshop / raw processing / album design software and do it all swiftly and reliably.

They were brilliant! There was a small problem with the build when it arrived and they went out of their way to rectify the situation. The laptop has been absolutely spot on – getting on for three years now and no real problems. Highly recommended.

Don’t know if it’s been mentioned yet, but if it were me, I’d be factoring in the kind of driving I’d be doing. If there are a lot of motorway miles, then something old and comfy. Long distances in small, plasticky cars just are not fun.

Similarly, if you’re likely to be running around a lot on rural A roads, crashing in a tiny biscuit tin is more likely to lead to a serious mangling – no-one thinks they’re going to crash (or have someone crash into them) but again, a large car will theoretically give you a better chance.

Sorry for being miserable – just my thoughts….

Yup – same here again tonight 🙁

Sorry, I’m going to bed and I don’t think this thread is going anywhere other than down. Hence, it’s closed. Mod.

Do yer worst sonny-boys – off to bed too!

KINGTUT FTW. It does tend to go a bit mental on here over Christmas, given the sudden intake of booze and time off work..

Or wot?

LOL at brakes!! Elf – bit of both I reckon. Quite right to sow the old oats but I always said I’d marry someone level, sensible, grounded, hot and rich.

Four out of five ain’t bad (she works for the NHS).

Honesty on STW? Crumbs 😉

Well, after many years of being a complete (bloody swear filter) and enjoying the charms of many ladies, with a few longish relationships thrown in… I finally met an old friend on a trip home for Christmas 10 years ago. It was all very Christmassy.

Married now. She loves riding bikes and camping, she’s travelled more than I ever made time for and only about another bazillion reasons. I’m not an easy man to love but I think she does pretty well.

I must say, I’ve been wondering too (along with many of us, I guess). My first thoughts were that perhaps STW is courting a new, squeaky clean sponsor who has demanded a cleanup.

Total speculation though.

Where is elfin these days? Is he banned?

Working here but so sloooooooow – has been on and off for a few days 🙁

Cheers for the heads up then – will deffo pop in for a look!

Kasper the lurcher was at the vet yesterday for the second time in a month. He was badly bitten on his hindquarters a month ago and his vet cleaned him up and prescribed some antibios for a very reasonable amount – no stitches required.

Yesterday was just his booster jabs which he endured stoically and which set me back only £25. Westways vet in Houghton-Le-Spring if anyone cares.

Owning a dog is blooming expensive though when you sit and add it all up; tinned food, dried food, insurance, vet’s bills, chews and treats, toys, etc etc.

Worth every penny though….

EDIT: wot he said – almost word for word 🙂

It’s just that Dalmore is one of my favourites, and still a bargain at £17… Might have a look tomorrow….

and this is legit

Glen Marnoch 12 year old (£12.99 in Aldi) is actually a 12 yr old Dalmore (£35 – £40 per bottle).

Aldi bought the whole vat cheap as it wasn’t selling as Dalmore.

Although I’m happy to believe most things strangers tell me on the internetz, do you mind if I ask how you know? I promise I’m not a Dalmore / Aldi employee… If it is true, I’m in like Flynn.

My first full susser was a Halfords ’08 (I think) i-Drive. Its arrival coincided with my starting to ride with a youthful bunch of lads who were more into 4X, downhill and gnarly hucks.

The i-Drive was perfect for all of that – at least it was for me and my limited skills / cahones, but it was horrible for xc riding. It just felt heavy and sluggish. I’ve since ridden newer, better (and far pricier) full sussers and the difference is like night and day.

So my take on it is that it’s a great bike for chucking around, but notsogood for everyday stuff.

Just for the record, it got pinched and I went back to a hardtail (Boarman Pro 🙂 )

Feeling the STW love 😀

It’s good to find stuff like this in between the arguing 😆