Yes boosted as in nicked – Po Po have been duly informed!

Fish market (not sure if it has moved though)
Edo Museum
Robot Restaurant
Eat at as many of the places under the arches between Ginza and Shimbashi as possible
Eat out / get beers in Shimbashi
Go to the Tamiya shop (one for the R/C folks)
Run around the Imperial Gardens
Go to Shibuya and wander about
Ditto Akihabara (go into Super Potato Retro Kan if you like old video games)
Take an empty bag and fill it with cool Japanese things from the shops. The shops are amazing and I don’t even like shops.
Eat as much as you can!

Another vote for John Wyndham. Day of the Triffids obvs but I also LOVED The Chrysalids as a kid, might still be my favourite book ever and definitely kicked off a life-long addiction to post-apocalypitica. Iain M Banks also a good recommendation. Dune as noted above definitely. You might want to see how he gets on with some of the more accessible Philip K Dick stuff, maybe one of the short story compilations as a starter.Try Olaf Stapledon’s First and Last Men for some mind blowing epoch-spanning early SF. And obviously Brave New World too.

I had an implant 7 years ago, lateral incisor, the tooth had been giving me gyp for years and I eventually got it pulled. The dentist went through all the options and the implant, while expensive, seemed like the best option. It’s been trouble free ever since, feels like the strongest tooth in my mouth. I also had a bit of remedial bone repair because my jaw had become infected and lost some mass. That added a bit to the cost and time but again it was totally worth it. Not sure what the going rate is now but mine was a bit over 4k in total expense.

I got an ‘evolution’ brand one from B&Q a few weeks back for (I think) 70 or 80 notes. Seems pretty good though I haven’t done any compound cuts with it yet. No slider at that price though.

Disaster averted I hope, I bled it again last night and spent ages on the remote, there were bubbles emerging for a fair while. Pumping the remote the last 1/4 of its travel while pulling up in the syringe seemed to release a last few bubbles. Post works now and returns at its usual speed (which it wasn’t doing the other night). No leaks detectable either. I might bleed it again tomorrow to make double sure but I’m hoping not to be buying a new dropper just yet!

Don’t quit unless you’ve got something to go to. I resigned last month, last day tomorrow, after 12 years in this job. Had many ups and downs and times when I felt like the OP and just wanted to jack it in and retrain as a carpenter or something. But the reality of being the main (and for a good number of years the sole) earner can get you through a lot in my experience. Even having a week off unpaid between jobs I’m going to notice financially.

What I would say is focus your job hunting on times when you feel better about work (they will come back). When I felt low I felt extra stuck as my confidence was shot and I didn’t know what I had to offer other shops. Also if you do that, when you do quit your old employer takes notice!

thanks both, will give it another shot tonight and double-check the seals. Yes I did fit the barb into a fresh cut.

If you do the Great Ocean Road to the 12 Apostles stay for a night at least at Chris’s at Beacon Point on the way https://www.chriss.com.au/home the view from the apartment balconies is stunning.

My mum is Australian and most of my family live there but all up in QLD, Victoria was a great new place to explore on our last trip and I’d definitely like to see more.

I’ve got an ST estate and it’s a great car, all that power through the front wheels means it goes through tyres pretty fast though. If I was doing a lot of miles a year I’d probably look elsewhere for that reason. If they made a RS estate I’d be all over that, yob stylings regardless!

I used to fit ski boots when I worked at Snow & Rock, years ago now. As above, the boots choose you but most manufacturers have a similar fit across models so getting that foot shape right at the start is important. We used to take the liner out & get the customer to put their foot in the shell with the toes touching the end, if you can fit 2 fingers behind the heel the size is about right.

Unless you want to try on some manky shop sock I suggest you go to the fitting with your own ski socks. Thinner is better! And I reckon everyone can benefit from some custom-moulded footbeds. We used the Sidas ones, I think Tiso have a machine from memory. They are a bit pricey but so worth it. And I’ve had 20 years out of one pair, swapping between boots. I quite fancy some new ones from Alain Baxter though.

Surfdome also having a sale on. I bought the wife a new board yesterday, 20% off and another 20% off that with the SALE20 code. And they delivered in 24hrs for free too. Glenshee here we come (again)!

I’ve always set twins up about half an inch back from centre, i.e. the nose ends up being an inch longer than the tail. When I set them up centred I find they look ‘off’ and anyway there’s no real advantage to having them bang in the middle. I’ve been riding super directional tapered boards all this winter with a fair bit of setback and it’s amazing how well they ride fakie. I wouldn’t want to try it in powder but for mucking about on the piste it’s fine. And a twin will be even better.

I figured she was a copy because why else would the doppelganger torch its own creation? It clearly intends to do what it does, which I thought would be consistent with the remnants of the real Lena.

I thought it was really good. Less Lovecraftian than the books, certainly more accessible, but I liked that the characters had names and the lack of the pit/crawler component didn’t really detract. Lots of nice subtle touches like Kane’s acknowledgement of Lena’s affair via the background music (Crosby Stills & Nash?) while they were reading on the sofa. Doppelganger bit maybe was a touch too long & overstylised but I really liked ‘Kane’ and ‘Lena’s own uncertainty at the end even though it’s clear to the audience they are both copies. Definitely worth a second watch.

I’ve got that bike! It’s great. Mine has cosine wheels but I’d rather have the Hunts. Saddle is really crap, it’s true. If you want to ditch the conical headset spacer you can get a flat one that fits perfect from here: https://www.certifiedslammed.com/products/slam-that-stem-bearing-cover

Hirano had back to back 14s on the first two hits too. I guess they scored White higher cos he went bigger.

EDIT: actually he did a method first off didn’t he. Still should have won in my opinion.

It’s a tough one to call. Hirano definitely has the better style, White of late is well into the huck it and hold on camp. Also that mahoosive stance he insists on doesn’t do him any favours there either. On the other hand, he does go absolutely huge, especially at the top of the pipe.

I would have liked to see Hirano win but he’s only 19. Ferguson was unlucky not to get bronze, that air to fakie at the start was sick.

The bottom bit of the climb up to buzzard’s nest is harder than the second bit (after you cross the road), but neither is particularly difficult. I really like the BBB followed by blue to the bottom as an ender to a day there, seems quite popular with families with young ‘uns too.

Repellent is ok to stop them biting you but they still go up your nose / in your ears / all round your head. We camped in Aviemore on summer night a few years back and there were people wearing beekeeper hats sat round the picnic table of an evening. I hid in my tent till it got dark!

The obvious thing about this half of the series is the relative lack of rubber klingons has improved things immeasurably.

can’t edit my post above to remove Lorca comment…

Also what happened to ‘mirror’ Lorca and also mirror Burnham? Are they already dead (probably not I suppose).

When he gets enough confidence on small runs going fast, he will ask to go on bigger and steeper runs, he will have no choice but to turn.

or he could just do what my 12 year old does and just straightline everything short of black runs. Gives me the fear and does my head in in equal measure!

Clear roads, bomb slopes, dig out lifts… can sometimes take a while. Depends if it keeps snowing or not really. We were in Chamonix for half the 2006 season and for about a week pretty much everything was closed apart from the bunny slopes. My wife was there in 1999 and the place was barely open for 6 weeks. That was a mental season though, and the year of the Argentiere avalanche.

I like the spiritual bit. I had a near-cosmic experience during savasana after one particularly hardcore vinyasa session. It felt a bit like being under the parachute at the end of the whirl-y-gig in 1993!

European ski flights on budget airlines are surely among the lowest VFM purchases you can make. You can fly 4 to Tokyo and back from Edinburgh for not that much more than an easyjet to Geneva.

If you have the right tools it shouldn’t take more than an hour tops to strip the bike into its constituent parts. Putting it all back together and indexing gears etc is usually a bit more of a fiddle. Also having a bike stand is a massive help.

Can’t comment on Pilates but Yoga has been great for my flexibility and core strength. You just have to get used to being the only bloke in the room in most classes.

Cheers, will check that. Thanks!

Dammit how hard is it to buy kids’ skis secondhand?? All ebay stuff goes for silly money and that’s if you can even find the right size in the first place. Really don’t want to cough up for new. Anyone got a reasonable pair of 130s and 155s going??

Cracked on Friday as we were at the in-laws and I didn’t want to deal with the awkward ‘I’m the only one not drinking’ thing. Made it through Saturday and Sunday dry though, now looking ahead to the birthday weekend & two job interviews lined up for Friday – temptation ahead.

I was at the Coe on Saturday, very nice snow and amazing visibility but bloody hell it was busy! Great that it’s baltic now though with more snow forecast.

Niseko was / is fun and a must-do I reckon if you’ve never been to Japan before but all the comments about it being full of Australians are true, you could easily mistake yourself for being in Oz. Not sure about it being tracked out that quick? I was there for 5 days and practically every turn was powder, it was snowing constantly though and we never saw the sun.

MUCH more interesting and way more Japanese was the subsequent week we spent in Nozawa Onsen in Nagano Prefecture (on Honshu). A tiny village set on a steep hill with natural hot springs everywhere, when it was dark and snowing and steam was rising all over the place it was magic. I only explored a fraction of the trees there but I’ve wanted to go back ever since.

I was in Tokyo for work in June and a Japanese guy I talked to in a bar told me that Jogakura in Aomori Prefecture is really good, I haven’t looked into that at all though.

Basically, everything you have heard about the snow in Japan is true.

Anyone else attempting this who has a birthday in the middle of the month? It’s always the biggest challenge for me. But this year, as mentioned above, I just feel genuinely bored with drinking so maybe it will be easier this time.

Thanks all, will explore down the Chromebook route I think. Cheers.

I don’t have any experience of Chromebooks, I am a mac user at home and have a windows machine at work. He’s really into writing stuff at the moment and has been using a raspberry pi plugged into an old monitor of late so any laptop will feel like a big step up. Chromebooks are like a browser-based OS, is that right?

@anagallis, I went with my two sons (10 & 12) because for me the most fun thing about these new SW movies is seeing them in the cinema with them / through their eyes. The 12 year old gave it 7/10 and the 10 year old says it’s his best star wars movie ever. And they have seen all the star wars movies many times. So what do I know with my cynicism?? Your kid(s) will probably love it.

I thought Bladerunner was great and woke up the next day thinking a Dennis Villeneuve standalone Star Wars movie would be excellent.

Still annoyed by TLJ though, and it’s not because of the Porgs neither.

I reckon he is dead and *might* come back as a force ghost

Inside knowledge says he has a cameo in the next film but someone close to him has a much bigger part – ghost Sith Lord anyone? do tell!