currently back in the UK but have lived in Italy and Germany, going back to Italy 2010. I missed (in no particular order):

Pubs with real ale and log-fires
A good bacon sarnie
Sausage rolls
Comedy (although italians are quite funny…but Germans…)
Good Chinese/Thai restaurants

I know what you mean, Italy generally is v.bad, the maps that do exist tend to have a certain artistic license!

Lake Garda / Dolomites is an exception due to it’s Germanic history

Lake Garda, couple of good bike parks in Austria

You defo don’t need guides in the right area and if you do a bit of research. Austria and the Dolomites are very good and generally overlooked by Brits, you will find that Germans don’t tend to do the package guided holiday thing (except Alpine crossing).

Don’t believe the owners of bike holiday companies :0) Give it a go!

fair enough, its only to register your ADSL package though, this means you would be able to compare your speed with others in your postcode when available.

NOT for any other reason (no useful data for other purposes is collected)

but as I said fair’nuff

pantsonfire:

1) use http://www.isposure.com
2) BT use it too for internal reporting
3) don’t believe BT engineers

That is all

http://www.isposure.com (I work for this company)

hmmm, evilweed must have popped out for a spliff…..

“I not anti weed god knows I have smoked enough in the past, but I am not stupid (or arrogant) enough to think its without side effects. “

Very true, but no more so than alcohol……

“and it isn’t *harmless* just like booze etc.”

Booze harmless, what planet do you live on?

I know considerably more than 4 people whose lives have been ruined by Booze….

“dont worry rudi boy……..i alrady asked you mum last night…. “

LOL

I would go for the HR 2.35 personally, I find the 2.1 a bit sketchy when pushing it

Meta 5 (08): can suffer from creaks, convoluted suspension which is a faff to keep clean and a flexy back end.

However…… is an absolute blast downhill, so good IMO that it makes up for all its failings. Orange 5 probably a more sensible choice for the muddy UK, however doesn’t have the same personality as the Meta IMO

The sad thing is that some people don’t realise that people who make these comments usually have a hdden agenda (investment agenda) and are using their media platform to talk markets/currencies up/down.

Of course the UK isn’t finished, don’t be so ridiculous….

sheesh…

Didn’t finish my degree, earn between 60-100k (last year 80k), 60k is fixed, 34 yrs old.

However, live with considerable job secutity all the time, not just during a recession

I’m with stato, brake test was a stupid move, your own fault realy

looks much better than my solo night (early evening) ride on the boggy south downs tonight…obviously no pics

Can’t help you with using the laptop as a wireless router but my instincts say it won’t work. However you internet connection is a bit slow (bandwidth) and may make online gaming painful. However your ping time is pretty good and that is the most important metric for online gaming so could be ok.

just out of interest how come he watches no TV?

Gary M is right IMO, greed caused this and most of the other recessions and unless we find a way to eradicate greed from human nature the cycle will begin again.

The only question is when will we reach the bottom and how bad will it get before then….

oh and DO NOT use Orange

not an expert but mails, attachments and views from a CRM system / Database would be downloaded.

“All success is down to me! I am a fighter, I am a tiger, I am a winner! “

Yep, that is me in some non-descript hotel in a Euro city, 8am before a presentation ;0)

soon, moving back to Italy end of this year but will be in Liguria late spring – will defo come over for a ride

nasher IS Rivierabike

aha…

“UK is all right at the moment (largely because of the deals I have pulled in ).”

Typical presales ;0)

you are still closing deals and we are in the grip of a recession, ok lots of travelling (me too) but unless the deals dry up I would stay where you are.

Lots of speculative sales employment going on now with unachievable targets, many companies also interviewing when there is no real job just in case someone exceptional comes along.

I would think very carefully

or…..fly to Verona, hire a car and ride lake Garda for a couple of days and then drive down to Chiantishire…

geoffj knows what he is talking about, you would have a frustrating couple of days unless you have a local guide. Try borrowing / hiring a road bike, a very different experience than in the UK – they don’t have the sad MTB/roady stigma thing over there ;0)

works for me, bit of discipline is all you need (and a Blackberry :-))