We went AI to St Lucia, and for a beach/pool/odd day trip holiday it was good – dead easy and relaxing. Although we did have dinner out twice as despite the food being good it was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic in the restaurant. I think I’d go doolally on a 3 week cruise.

If you have a HD telly, you might as well get blu-ray. Get a nice surround sound system too :-)

I think Seabrooks just slice the potato crinkly. A proper potato crisp.

Just wear it, they probably won’t even notice.

How much more would/does it cost to run a second hand BMW? eg 2002-2005 5-series estate? I’m comparing to eg Accord, Mazda6, Mondeo. There seems to be a lot of choice, and you undoubtedly get a lot of car, but what kind of premium would I be paying on insurance, etc?

M_F +1. Prepare for mild-to-chilly. And have a good one. Poland is ace.

It is odd, but good. The new MINI, in contrast, is odd and crap. Looks like it’s been hit with a spade.

If it’s on the groud rightside-up, pull on the power, naturally. If it’s upside-down, you need to slam the brakes on hard instead, then spin it once it’s airborne (and hold on tight).

Ta :-)

I got a HQ Alpha 2.5m recently. It’s 4-line, but seems pretty straightforward, although I need to work on the self-launching, as I found once I’d slammed it into the sand I couldn’t always figure out how to untwist it and get it back up :lol:

Great fun though, and when you get it in the ‘sweet spot’ it is a real buzz. I imagine it won’t be long before I look at upscaling though, especially if I decide I can stretch to a board as well…

I thought the last album was too long and pretty dull – the end of the line for the sound that they really hit paydirt with on Californication and By The Way. I’m hoping that the new album will be a departure of sorts, or a move back into the bass-led funk that in my view made them great. It’s fair to say that BSSM was quite a peak and will be impossible to replicate. Plus, they’re rich forty-somethings now, rather than 20-year old funky monks with habits and ideas.

Never understimate the power of the mind to play convincing tricks. Is what I would say. Having had a couple of similar “events”, and being firmly sceptical about the whole thing (despite really wanting to believe in ghosts, because they are pretty ace in theory).

Girl arrested for rioting in the shop she works for. Disenfranchised or just stoopid?

Bruges is nice for a short visit. Drink beer as per above, then hire a tandem, wobble out along the canal, and get a boat back. Then eat some chocolate and drink some more beer.

Or Krakow, it’s ace. No Eurostar though.

@PaulLewis good twitter feed

Huws +1 stay away from the tube if possible for cheapness

Nice one, FK Beli Dvor comin’ atcha…

The warbley bit at the end sounds like my gran singing. Best bit of the song if you ask me.

Hmmm. This could get expensive! Might look at 4-Line ones too then. Have more options further down the line (pardon the pun). I want something that will stay challenging for a while. Saw one of these hq alphas which looks good

Nice pics! Never seen those colours before.

Thanks all. Thinking about one of 2m or thereabouts. Anything much bigger at the mo seems like overkill – once I know what I’m doing then I can upgrade.

On a related-ish note, this looks quite tidy (or completely mental)…

And I doubt there’s even a nod in the direction of legacy issues, grassroots funding or social housing. FWIW, I think that the London Olympics does have a good shot at getting a lot of things right. It seems that a lot of the issues and mistakes from other comparable projects have been taken on board. And I hope it works out. Although the regional money for a London event is hard to swallow.

Thinking Aloud/Allowed is good.
Loads of other bbc ones, including some shorts (Life Stories?) from David Attenborough. History of the World in 100 Objects.

I like Dan Carlin, Hardcore History is good, and sometimes the other one (Common Sense).

FT’s Lucy Kellaway and Martin Wolf.

Velo Club Don Logan is great, and also Real Peloton (although Rendell and Boulting are doing TdF at the mo).

Cruising down carnality canal in my canoe, can I canoodle?

Ian Durie, RIP

Would I have to stop smoking?

2) farming for meat uses an unjustifiably large amount of resources. It takes many kg of veg matter to make 1kg of meat.

Did anyone read the thing about growing meat the other day? Interesting article, will try to dig it out. Sounds a bit creepy, but far more efficient, and no inhumane animal farming/killing.

Dunno. But I know a a man who does.

On a related but useless note, I tried my new Weber bbq last night. It’s amazing. I got a chimney thing as wel to light the coals. Two sheets of newspaper and ten minutes! Bootiful.

We have a brick thing in the garden, and it is rubbish for cooking things on. The bit for coals is too shallow, there’s insufficient airflow, and access to the back of the grill is difficult when it’s hot which means sliding the tray out each time. Evidently the landlord didn’t put as much effort into its design as you are :-)

I’ve had this in my Amazon wish list for ever.

That’s funny, so have I. I just always seem to find more fun things to promote to my basket! It seems to be the cheapest reasonable one out there.

A snail can pass through a bird’s digestive system and live to tell the tale.

My mum uses ‘udder cream’. You get it from the vets (our vet is a cattle vet), costs about £1 a kilo and has just the same stuff in it apparently,

I nearly fell off my seat. That’s the best post I’ve ever read :D

http://www.thebohocamperco.com

Possibly not quite what you had in mind, but worth a plug in case…

World at War. Epic telly.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, as above, will keep you busy for a while!

+1 for any BBC/Attenborough. Life, Planet Earth, Yellowstone. There’s a box set of Werner Herzog docs which is good.

Just watched the first series of Sons of Anarchy and it was OK, but not up with the classix. Same with Carnivale. Deadwood’s good, Breaking Bad is brill.

Thanks, Nant yr Arian looks good. I’ll be on mbwales.com for the rest of the day :-)

I bought an Acer Iconia Honeycomb in the US – it was $450 which I think is a fair price. I’m really pleased with it – still waiting for more apps, but there’s enough to be getting on with and as an alternative to a lappy for tinterwebs on the sofa, games, social stuff, it’s brill.

Yeah, but tan lines halfway up your leg? :(

Shuggie Otis – Strawberry Letter 22. Great summer song.

Was out this morning for the first road ride of the year. Only an hour or so, but the lack of traffic, sunshine and hills were spot on. Road bikes are so good for giving you an impression of speed and power; nothing wasted, it just goes straight from your legs and out through the wheels.

Equally, getting muddy/dusty and bouncing down hills is fun. I wished I’d brought my mountain bike with me a couple of times when I spotted little trails I hadn’t seen before. Need the wife in the car trailing behind with another bike on the roof :D

The Decemberists – The King is Dead (I’d probably like this even if it wasn’t ace, which it is. Not as ace as Hazards of Love though)

The Tallest Man On Earth – Shallow Grave (took a few goes to get the Dylan-lite nasal voice out of the way, actually pretty good stuff)

Joan As Policewoman – The Deep Field (I like the first half, but overall it isn’t my cuppatee)

Tame Impala are my fave rave at the mo. I downloaded a couple by Loch Lomond too, including the one which was on that Danny Macaskill film, I think they are excellent.

They work well for me. Easy to clip into, and can wear normal feet with ’em too.

Thanks all. Helpful :-)