Heading out shortly in the wind, been out with the dog this morning and despite the high winds for a week still a lot of mud and slop about.

Which probably means a bike clean this afternoon

Cheers

2000 rockhopper with 63mm rockshox Judy forks, bought new at Hardisty cycles in Newcastle, now Edinburgh coop. Blue and white frame. I’ll have a pic somewhere.

Would still have it if some scroat hadn’t nicked it and a subsequent stumpy fsr out my garage.

I went E/W on Bettiol and Fuglsang at Strade.

Brand Morgan will be back, its worked well for him and ITV during the last 12 months appearing to be the man taking on the government (whilst simultaneously not landing a glove on them) and now as GB News (government broadcasting?) is recruiting and the alt-right/right-wing claim they have been silenced (pleeeeaaaaasssse….) now that the shouty orange poppet has departed his throne of tweets across the sea, perhaps they reached out to Morgan in an attempt to drag across a few floating voters from vague centre right (whatever that is) to join them. He will sit to the left of most on that show but perhaps he can double up as a royal correspondent given his expertise in that area or become the mental health champion, again he is blessed with an apparent expertise in that area also.

Countryside? yes, but don’t be surprised if he returns like canoe man (hard done to IMO) but with a slightly different link to Panama.

Tip trip tomorrow with some rubble from the garden I do love a good clear out.

A practical and reliable (= boring) 15 plate Yeti for everything and my old VW for sunnier covid free times.

https://www.instagram.com/p/5QDhcPAd5N/

@gonefishin your correct it is an auto immune condition
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coeliac-disease/

I’d never considered it would put me in a position to get the vaccine so early, I’m very grateful and although was a little achy yesterday I’m not complaining one bit

We had a visit from the PM (think it was Major) back in the late 90’s at Faslane when a boat had finished its service and was paying off. Everything was painted green, tarmac coloured, or shiny whatever. Never seen such a waste painting ridiculous things to celebrate a battered, barely holding it together 30 year old Submarine that was dead on its planes.

The standard brand new fluro jackets and shiny white hard hats came out for the press snaps.

XK140 in cream with wire wheels and red leather interior.

Porsche 356

I’m a pound shop version of MSP suggestion.

I once sang yellow Submarine in a bar in Solent on Sea 25 years ago and the barman threw me off for fear of his takings. I retired after that.

I bought a shed from Northern Garden Sheds last April, arrived in July, 8×8 double door19mm T&G solid, beautiful construction, really happy. Based near Newcastle upon Tyne

https://www.northerngardensheds.co.uk/

Beer and lots of just like Woody

Also magnetic led lights for the kitchen cupboards

Yip, I got a call on Tuesday telling me I was level 6 so I had my vaccine today. My affliction…I’m coeliac. Didnt expect anything till the summer but I didnt knock back the opportunity.

As above, bloody awful things. The X6 is hideous. I cant stand the look of the iPace from Jaguar either.

Vaccine day tomorrow for me. The call from the GP reception was interesting ‘you are level 6 and you can have the vaccine if thats something you’d be interested in?

Strange way to put it. Try and stop me!

With regards to the enforcement not being a great idea, I kinda have some sympathy with that angle. My council occasionally announces that it was successful in bringing a prosecution against some flat bed driver for dumping tyres and mattresses etc in a local verge. Fine £200 cost of barrister £5000.

Ive seen this a lot, whats the point? The council still had to pay for the removal itself.

A lot of the charging for dropping at recycling centres seems counter productive to me. If the council or company running the place can realistically turn a profit on selling the recyclable stuff (garden waste for composting and bio fuel, bricks and stone for hardcore for house/road building) why wouldn’t they accept commercial waste? Surely that would outweigh the costs of barristers for the 5 prosecutions a year they seem to carry out (against the hundreds of fly tipping cases)

I saw the piece on BBC breakfast this morning about using CCTV to collect data on people chucking rubbish out of car windows.

I could post on here a hundred photos of the bags of rubbish I’ve filled with the OH and our neighbour from local woods and fields and hedges, the council round here started removing bins from the streets but in reality that only gave sensible people nowhere to put rubbish.

The usual tramps still just dump their crap anywhere they fancy.

3 weeks ago I reported on the fly tipping page of the local council the latest flat bed transit load of crap at a regular spot, since then three more loads have found there way there, it’s now a small hill.

We had a fire at the local recycling centre (run by SITA on behalf of Gateshead Council) the place will be shut for months I imagine as the whole thing needs removing and rebuilding.

I can only imagine this will have the effect that removing bins have had, the knock on might be that people now pay ‘licensed waste removal firms’ to dump it in the country lanes around the area.

Looks great, I saw a pic on lakesmtb insta feed earlier the stillness on the water is amazing.

5 years ago that was exactly my thoughts, almost 14 years working for a big corporate had driven me to despair of the role. Took my redundancy, rode my bike for a while convinced I wasn’t going back to it. Then a call from an old colleague who gave my name to a small company (3 staff rather than 40k) they had some interesting products and plans, I became the sales manager, procurement manager, marketing manager, logistics, conference organiser. Now we have a grand total of 4 staff and it’s as much fun as I’ve had in work. Smaller works so much quicker, no chain of command going through 3 time zones and 12 levels of business speak, complete autonomy to make decisions based on mutual trust and respect of knowledge and experience.

I still think that I will pack it in at some stage and something different just for the hell of it (once the mortgage is gone and the pension has had some further topping up) but don’t discount moving around within sales, a change of scenery might be all that’s needed to give you back the motivation or enjoyment back. It can be demanding being in a constant cycle of targets and numbers.

All of the above

Snooker table was 20p for 20 mins. No 10p had to be 20. You got one shot after the light went out then it was get off or hand bags!

When I first started behind the bar Federation Brewery (long since swallowed up by John Smiths/Heineken or whoever) had a monopoly on the bar counter. Ordinary was 37p a pint (rainwater had a stronger ABV) Special was 46p. Lager was Tennants at 50p or local brew LCL was 52p. McEwans beers were probably slightly better but only drunk by those who had a job. I once served Jocky Wilson (I know! Amazing) who wasn’t happy we didn’t serve Harp lager.

I have other memories of the club scene that require first aid and occasionally ambulances, musically I saw some great bands who never made it beyond the club scene but were great entertainment nonetheless

Ahhh… fox shit. My dog used to love rolling in it as a puppy. Awful stink

My first job was in my local WMC collecting pint glasses back in the late 80’s. Packed out every weekend for live bands, 600 people in the concert room upstairs, 100 men only in the bar talking, playing darts and snooker (3 full size tables and a pool table were booked out all night) I loved the atmosphere when a band was on, great fun.
Ironically or not very few of the blokes on ‘the committee’ actually worked and the politics were awful (I don’t mean party politics, but the usual no women in the bar and committee diktats) spent a couple of years there whilst doing sixth form (badly) a real education. I walked past the place yesterday and was recalling the nights when 800 would pile in on a Monday night way above the regs but the guy on the door was getting £2 for everyone crossing his path for entry fee.

I’m always pleased to see communities retain a local drinking spot at the expense of a developer flogging some knocked up flats creating a need for 30 non existent parking spaces and a loss of history.

London pub explorer on Instagram chronicles quite a few of these instances

@frnksinatra nice story mate, sounds like a great place.

My dad (in his early 70’s at the time) once had his allotment broken into, plenty damage to his greenhouse, veg plot and a small loft where he has a few pigeons. As he stepped through the gate, all smashed and broken, was a turd. Human.

As a dog owner who walks many of the local riding areas I’m always on top of bagging it up but so many folk just think it’ll rot away (see also the litter thread recently)

Welcome back, it’s a great feeling to be on the bike after a long layoff

ready for beer

biking on sunday

I watched this last week, needs to up his ogmios game but works for me.

Sadly there are plenty more to step into the void he leaves, in fact former VP Pence might be out of work and looking to his former career as a right wing radio host to fill his time and pockets

I have a vague recollection of somebody doing this (or similar) route a few years back on here, Birmingham to London or thereabouts. I quite like a pootle along canal towpaths I always find them relaxing and enjoyable. Shame my nearest one is about 80 miles away.

oh come on surely ash is good for the soil? Don’t tell me all those forest fires I’ve been lighting haven’t been a positive thing for the soil???

I picked up on this terrible story just about 2pm today and hit the fundraising page to contribute.

Good to see that in the last 3 hours its collected another £75k.

We talk about education and enforcement a lot with regard to littering, supplying bins in appropriate places and encouraging those to take rubbish away with them, unfortunately it seems we increasingly live in an age where ‘you can’t tell me what to do mate’ and ‘freedom loving Brits’ can with impunity and scant regard for the natural world literally do what they want.

We have the same issues at much lower levels (of height and humanity)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CK_M1GBADYC/

Totally bottled it this weekend. Yesterday everything was sheet ice with no give and a bitter easterly wind. So I went on a pub crawl instead.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CLPXirMgS8f/

Today the wind was stronger and colder and the rain started. Made a good choice to do nowt all day.

Envious of some nice looking ride pics though, back at it this week in the mud no doubt

On my macbook its now a choice between music or podcasts neither of which recognise my ipod when I connect to it.

more bloody snow

No riding this weekend for me, my next bike will be a kayak or a JCB if the rain continues at this rate.

Just picked up my car today from my local independent garage for its 48k (but actually 50K on the clock now) main service cost me £220, that is for a 5yr Skoda

I worked in a couple of hospitals in Cardiff area recently and requested the Doctors involved send me an email requesting my attendance, subsequently had to supply it to the Holiday Inn where I stayed to cover their arse and mine.

EDIT: Great idea OP for an adventure in these starved times, but probably pushing it a bit.

Lots to think about, I’ve not considered having different pairings front and rear before.

I’m in the north east, so riding can be mostly local bridleways made up of old railway lines, trips to Hamsterley, Chopwell and other local woods. However in ‘normal’ times I travel a bit for work and will take my bike with me so I can hit the odd trail centres as well as trips to the lakes camping.