Prologue Cycling has a great couple of shops, next door to each other, good for a wander around. Attached is brilliant cafe, great coffee, great cakes and great craic.

Following a recommendation on this site I bought a Worx to replace a very aged corded Mountfield. Well that was a waste of a lot of money.
It’s s***e.
Two batteries cut a lawn the size of a postage stamp.
The cut is high, I get grass not turf.
I’m going to have to spend again and get something decent.
Don’t buy Worx.

I know from what I’ve read on here and other sites that the western MBT’s are far superior in every way. Better armaments, better speed, longer range etc etc. But god forbid one was hit by a round fired from a Russian T72, what would the likely damage be? By all reports the Challengers and Leopards have great protection, but what would be the effects on the guys inside. I assume not killed, but badly injured? Too disabled to continue fighting, or would the tank and occupants just shrug it off and continue?

The rubbish on the streets may be an issue, but my experience of Paris is as Plumber comments, any public order in the city seems to be quite well ‘organised’. That said I certainly wouldn’t want to be going into some of the outlying suburbs, but staying near the Louvre you probably wouldn’t be doing that anyway.
I’m looking at going again over Easter and see no reason why I should think there would be a problem.
Go, take the kids and enjoy.

Not sure about Shimano stuff, but I’m having the same issues with Sram. Needed a new Force AXS crankset. None to be found anywhere. Could find the odd Rival and a few more very expensive Red but not what I really needed. I did locate one from some guys in Staffordshire, but that was the only one I could find in the UK. I did try Bike24 in Germany, where they had plenty, but they wouldn’t export to UK!!!

I believe he’s admitted to using cocaine when he was 17 yr old.
I may be wrong but doesn’t the USA exclude Foreign Nationals who either have a conviction for drug use or admit to previously having used drugs?
Is it a case of one rule for Harry, a different rule for everyone else?????

My wife too; is / was a Headteacher of a large Primary School. She retired last week. Probably a few years too soon, but the pressures from all sides were just crushing. Legally she relinquishes control of the school at midnight tonight!!! Six hours Ten minutes to go before she releases herself from all the stress and hassle.

I suggested Trakke, but have you considered the Peak Design Messenger? Ethical company, put a lot of effort into design. I have a few of their other photographic products and am very impressed.

Wow, you get through some bags!! What do you do to them??…………Have you considered Trakke? I’ve one of their Messenger Bags, which I use as my main camera bag, seems ok to me!

Forty Four thousand million dollars has gone out of Musk’s and many other banks and investment funds different accounts to pay for Twitter. Where has such a mind blowing amount of money gone?? I assume much of it isn’t ‘real’ money!…………….. I always like the counting analogy to figure the size of numbers. It would take 11.5 days to count to a million, 32 years to count to a billion thus 1408 years for someone to count to 44 billion. That’s a lot of money gone somewhere?

I’ve never voted Tory in my life and never will. But we need as a country to get out of huge pile of mess.
Assuming Truss will go before Christmas, and there not being a palatable replacement who won’t cause even more in fighting amongst Tory members and MP’s, I ask does the PM have to be an MP?
Would or could John Major step up as a caretaker to steady the Tory ship and perhaps steady the economy.
I know, again, he wouldn’t be everyones choice, but you could say that he’s been there and done that! He appears to still have all his ‘marbles’. Biden is doing it in America, (ie steadying a rocky ship) couldn’t we have a wise old sage here too?

Watching Bob Mortimer drink a bottle of fizzy water in one go and the resulting after effects. A comedy classic.

How much longer are some of the investigations into Trump going to go on? We have the Washington Riot, New York property fraud, Georgia election, Mar-a-Lago, secrets and there is probably a few more. But all appear to be crawling slowly through judicial mire. There is a new Presidential Election approaching rapidly, and if Trump goes for nomination, then all the prosecuting agencies will face a whole heap of trouble in the eyes of MAGA and other nutters, for attempting to prosecute a Presidential candidate. Is it not time for one of the prosecutors to step up and start proceedings before it is too late.

Neil, probably not too much help really, but I had a ureteric stent after having a 6mm stone removed a few months ago. No, it wasn’t fun, it was uncomfortable and created a considerable amount of blood!! Fortunately my op to remove the stone went well and it was only in 4 days but I was told by the consultant and the specialist nurse that I could if I wanted ride and run whilst it was in place. As it was, because it was only in for such a short time I spent those days recovering from the op and anaesthetic so that I couldn’t get out anyway! Interesting, that once removed, the blood stopped within hours. There’s light at the end of the tunnel!

I’m with Jivehoneyjive. If you’re in NY then any bag or back pack is only going to get in the way. I don’t know what lens (es) you have with it, but if in the city stick one on and leave it. Its all I do; before I go out I decide if its going to be a 35mm or 50mm sort of day, put that lens on and then leave it. Obviously if it’s wet a small bumbag may be useful, but make it simple. Particularly if you are in a city, nothing advertises to those who are looking for weaknesses that an expensive camera bag is likely to be full of expensive goodies! A camera slung over your chest is a lot harder to remove from you.

Hermes Birkin??

Fisherman.

Mat, I had Varicocele on my left side (more common than the right) Basically varicose veins in the bollocks. I spoke with my GP and later a couple of Urology consultants, all were happy that as long as I could put up with the pain then I could continue riding and I would do no further damage. The pain varied day to day, week to week. Some days I just had to give up and realise that I just wasn’t strong enough to beat the ache. (like you ibuprofen had little or no effect). I often found the pain worse when I was exercising hard, presumably pumping more blood faster around my body. I learnt not to go uphill at full belt!!
Eventually, after seeing the urologists I had them treated, and since then have had no issues whatsoever.
Sorry no experience of epididymitis, I guess as its an infection you might find antibiotics work.
As far as exercise is concerned, the usual caveat; I’m not a Dr.

I am very much enjoying the schadenfreude of all this. Let the man and his party suffer.
But by now Johnson and his closest advisors must be destroyed both psychologically and physiologically.
Johnson does still have access to our Nuclear Codes. He’s still the Prime Minister and must make the ultimate decisions. God forbid a global crisis occurs in the near future, though we all know Putin has been rattling his sabre.
Should a crisis occur, can we trust Johnson to make rational decisions, or do we have enough checks and balances in place to prevent a disaster curing??

A wild corner of garden last week, Mrs YP cutting some wildflowers. You can just see some recently planted silver birch trees popping their heads above the daisies.

Nothing wrong with 7 Bro7hers in Media City, or the Dockyard next door.
Why would you need a stab vest???

I’m fairly certain you only need a Certificat-Air sticker if you are driving within the Paris Peripherique. Or if you are going to other cities such as Lyon or Grenoble.
As far as somewhere to stay, have you considered Versailles? We’ve stayed there regularly instead of staying in Paris itself. Versailles mainly because it’s a lot cheaper and feels more ‘French’ than the big city next door!
It’s not a big town, feels very safe, plenty of places to eat and drink, a rail station with direct access to Paris in the town centre.
The added advantage, even if you don’t go inside is the spectacle of the Palace.

Sunday am.. Still £1.74.9 at Tesco Annan.

Sharkbait, where do you get so much detailed info from? Is it direct from your Inverter? My Sunny Boy only provides me with very basic info. I like the way yours provides such a detailed report.

This may have been asked of before, but I can’t search 7000 posts!!
How are the areas of Ukraine not directly affected by this awful conflict coping with the situation? At the moment the war is very generally directly affecting the East and South of the country. I know some missiles have been launched and landed in the Lviv area to the West, but Ukraine is a massive country. Roughly 900 miles East to West. What is happening in those areas in the centre and west. How are the populations conducting their lives? Is industry still working, is agriculture still in production, are children being educated? Or is the whole of those area’s not directly affected by the day to day conflict supporting those who are?

Announced via BBC website that Decathlon are now pulling out of Russia. However no information on their sister companies Auchan and Leroy Merlin.

More Cash, I think I’ve recently been down exactly the same course of symptoms and tests as you. My PSA is normal for my age (62) and the ‘finger’ on two separate occasions revealed nothing abnormal. Both my GP and later Consultant were both confident it was Prostatitis. Nothing serious, more an inconvenience!! That said I also had symptoms of aching balls and the odd pain in my ‘appendage’.Tamsulosin for me and also antibiotics. Either or both have w calmed the situation down and I’m feeling much more normal.
The other thing I should mention is are you confident you don’t have Kidney Stones? If they are rattling round in your Kidney or Ureter then they can have an impact on your urinary urges. It might be a good idea if whilst they are scanning for one thing they scan for another!

I’ve just given up thinking about an Electric Car. I ordered an Audi Q4 in September last year with an expected delivery date in March. It then almost immediately got put back to April. Then again to May. Just after Christmas I was told not to expect delivery until August. That then stretched to January 2023. Then I found out last week that the majority of looms for VAG cars are manufactured in Ukraine.
My dealer basically told me they hadn’t a clue regarding delivery but they weren’t expecting any EV cars other than those currently in transit until next year, date unknown.
Though the price I was going to pay was fixed, the trade in value for my current car wasn’t. As the delay was increasing, then the swap cost was also increasing.
I cancelled the order last week, and they’re happy about returning my deposit.
What really boils my p*** is the dealer and VAG are still taking orders on cars they know they can’t fulfil. Some poor punters are paying ing deposits and have expectations on something they’ll probably never see.
I suspect other manufacturers are in the same boat. A combination of semi conductor shortage the Ukraine crisis and Brexit are going to make European built EV’s almost impossible to get hold of.

Yes, the majority of Firearms Officers are trained to shoot small animals i.e dogs etc for either safety or humane reasons. They can use either their 9mm handgun or .223 Long Arm.
However for larger animals, as you mention the like of cattle or bulls then only a trained officer (generally a member of the rifle team) will shoot them with either a .308 or perhaps a rifled slug shotgun. In my days as a rifle officer we had much larger calibres and weapons lodged in the armoury should a zoo type animal escape.
As part of the rifle team we had training in how to take down these animals. Head shots were the requirement as they caused an ‘instant’ kill. Heart shots cause a much slower death, during which time a rampaging animal can cause a lot of destruction.
Such removal of animals was never taken lightly, and would only be done as a very last resort.

If you are going down the Police, IAM, RoSPA route then you should really have a look at Motorcycle Roadcraft, it boring, very very boring but they as instructors will base any instruction on techniques from Roadcraft. If you’ve at least read it and have some knowledge of it then you should be able to answer and ask questions rather than be instructed all the time.
To continue with the boring reading you could also spruce up on the new Highway Code.
I’m sure Kilo will concur but there was a time whilst on Advanced bike courses you were required to know and quote most sections of Roadcraft verbatim, and to quote paragraphs via the radio whilst riding!!

Always worth looking into Police BikeSafe if it or similar is available in your area. You’ll get the standard lecture on road safety, speed and accident prevention. But check if you get the opportunity to go out with a Police Rider. No, they’re not racing bikers, but they do know how to read the road and get the right lines on the approach to bends. If you’re riding ability isn’t great they’ll match their input to your ability, but if it can be seen you know what you’re doing (as it reads as if you do) then they’ll push you to make progress. No, its not a track day and depending on the cop you may or may not have to abide by 60 or 70 speed limits within good reason (some are more lenient than others).
You may get something out of it, but if you don’t go then you won’t get anything.
(I used to be one of those rider / instructors a good few years ago, and we had all sorts of riders come through)

Might be safe, might not be. Ask yourself the same question when you are travelling at 85mph on the motorway?

A pair of Blundstone boots. I used to wear approach shoes for work and play, but had soggy feet daily. I saw a review (I think) on work boots on here and read about the Blunnie’s.
They’re great, warm, comfortable and most importantly dry.Once clean and buffed up, they’re good enough for most socially distanced social events too.

One of the roles of a school is to educate.
One of the roles of a parent is to educate.
Is it time to take on a degree of parental responsibility and educate the child not to lift drain covers ( and not to put their fingers in plug sockets)?
Schools are kind of busy at the moment, if the injury is as you say, then they’ll be aware.
Perhaps next time you’re dropping the kid off you asked wether the drain cover has now been secured, and a word has been given to the children in their class not to lift the covers. Then leave it at that.
A learning curve for the kid.

AdverTIsment.

Can I get / I’ll get

What? as opposed to pardon.

The gun depends on wether its firing a subsonic (generally a 9mm) or supersonic high velocity often a 223 (but there are many many others) round. A subsonic round over a relatively short distance maintains a fairly level trajectory. However a high velocity round leaves the barrel and dips, before rising, before levelling off again. If you are too close the round will strike the object lower than your aim!! Thats why snipers or sports shooters using perhaps a 308 or larger over distance have to dial in elevation to the scope to counter the fall and rise of the round. And also adjust for wind! It can be complicated!
I know nothing of knives.

Yes, same for me. Initial X ray then wait for six weeks for follow up, then another three months for another follow up.
As for the aches and pains, again it sounds fairly normal. I had tremendous aches in my shoulder bladed and down my arm. That said on different days with damp or cold weather I could have trouble anywhere on my upper torso.
I suspect we are all different but what you describe does sound similar to my own experience.
As far as sling is concerned, the hospital give away was useless. On the evening after breaking it I went on Amazon and bought my own. Not only was it a sling but it had a chest strap which was invaluable in stabilising my shoulder and reducing pain.
The hospital had said initially to wear it for a couple of weeks, I ended up wearing it for about a month, and then began to slowly wean myself off it.
Good luck.

Robholland.I think it is all connected back together now, pain is virtually nil (perhaps when sleeping on my side) and movement is back to 95% + of what it once was. My only issue now is the bone wanting out! If it doesn’t heal up they’re intending shaving the top bit off to make less of a spike.

I broke mine in the early weeks of January. Bloody hell did it hurt!! You have all my sympathies.
I guess it took until early May before I was feeling back to normal. That said I was cycling the roads (but taking it very easy) after a couple of months.
Everyone seems to react / respond differently. I heard stories of guys getting back on their bike within days, others took a year. I don’t think three months is a long time. Perhaps in another three months I’d start thinking about other options.
I went back to hospital a couple of weeks ago, as the ‘sharp’ end of mine wants out of my shoulder! I can’t carry a rucksack, camera, even the strap of my bib shorts is uncomfortable. The consultant wants to wait another couple of months to allow callus to develop and see if it calms down.
This is the x ray 5 months after injury.

Exactly what Chew and Stumpyjon say.
Trying to piss the Head off regarding threats and leverage isn’t going to end well, no matter how long she has been employed at the school.