*sigh* Generally I'm quite happy to be somewhere between crap and mediocre at anything I do but seeing that makes me somewhat envious that I wasn't born with that kind of talent.

Hopefully he will get some good advice re who to play with and other rock and roll lifestyle pitfalls!

Maybe it's Saturday but still cheery.

Currently on the third train of the day, heading to Amsterdam from Huddersfield via Eurostar.

No bikes and no camping gear but we've got 2x Interrail passes for 15 days continuous travel. Also first class which seems to include a reasonable amount of food and wine

Munich next, then hopefully Black Forest and Switzerland on some scenic lines.

It's early days but so far, the experience is worlds ahead of flying

Mortgage renewed and wasn’t as bad as we were expecting

I’ll take that for a happy Friday (day late posting)

Just been out for a quick one with some chums on the Town Council.

Walking home (I know, but I inexplicably forgot to take the Brommie) across the park and it's blimmin' freezing out there. Feels like Winter.

Maybe it actually is Winter, and we've been in the pub for 3 months and not realised that it's now December.

Anyway it's now obviously Winter. I flippin' love Winter bivvies - far more than Summer ones - and I'm sorely tempted to nip out right now for an emergency bivvy.

Only one problem: I'm too pissed to remember where I put my bike. And even though the gear is pretty much pre-packed I can't remember where that is either. Have I even made it back to our house? Good point. Maybe I'm in someone else's house by mistake and they don't have any bikepacking gear.

Well I tried.

And, like with BB200, that's the main thing isn't it?

I was cutting insulation in/for the loft. Long knife slipped and I stabbed myself in the wrist. Thought I may have hit a main artery.

Ran downstairs with lots of pressure applied. Fingers blue and the wife quickly threw some plasters over after a dab of honey. Thumb numb, but still work Alhamdulillah.

Definitely cheery. Took some Cocodamols and every so often I think I'm wearing a tight watch strap on that wrist. Then the wife complained about bills and VAT on school fees (a new thing on Islamic, I mean private schools). So we had a little debate to which I lost (again).

At least I still have my thumb, alive and a bike. Phew...

Reg. In response to your last sentence. I'm not entirely sure these days. I think most people try and finish. I dunno. I'm not passed so maybe not in the right frameset of balls!

Cheery Wednesday - just checked on the Midge forecast, given lots of low temps across Scotland last night, and they have shut it down for the season = no more midges!

On balance, despite a very mild winter and lots of warmth and dampness, it's been a good year for us, less so for the midges....

Time to get oot there

Was over in Dumfriesshire last week, staying in a place called Glenmidge no less. It was still pretty warm and not windy, and absolutely no sign of midges Friday was particularly cheery actually: clear blue sky, 25°C, a warm breeze - yet we sat by a still loch in some woods completely unmolested

I stayed in the van at Tarbet in an excellent lay-by..but got midged in the night. Little fuckers got through my roof vents

CF, made a very quick recovery from what I think is the latest round of COVID, and have made it to the start of my holidays, a girls boating week on the Norfolk Broads with my friend and Hermione.

Never been to this part of the world before, weather forecast is good, looking forward to it

Verena wrote: ↑Fri Sep 13, 2024 9:43 pm CF, made a very quick recovery from what I think is the latest round of COVID, and have made it to the start of my holidays, a girls boating week on the Norfolk Broads with my friend and Hermione.

Never been to this part of the world before, weather forecast is good, looking forward to it

A very nice part of the world (ask Boab, he lives there) - every village has a fab pub and the broads wildlife is fascinating. I used to go out with someone from down there and we did a few expeditions round the Broads, defo somewhere I'd like to pedal round at some point.

Cycled through the broads, er, once last summer. Looked nice, if a bit busy.
Cheery Friday here, as I spent the day at Duxford IWM watching various and sundry WWII planes take to the skies ahead of the weekends big air show.

Verena wrote: ↑Fri Sep 13, 2024 9:43 pm CF, made a very quick recovery from what I think is the latest round of COVID,

Glad to hear it

and have made it to the start of my holidays, a girls boating week on the Norfolk Broads with my friend and Hermione.

What're you calling the tour then? Two, sorry Three, Broads Around The Broads?

If you had been feeling a bit listless and aimless beforehand, and were undertaking the tour on paddleboards, you could be Three Bored Broads Aboard Boards Around The Broads.

Or if....

The term broad, as applied to a female person, is often taken to be derogatory. This isn't necessarily the case, and certainly not in V's case .

In fact, it sez on tinternet that it could be derived from the German "braut", which happily fits perfectly with V's origins .

Er, have a nice holiday anyway .

RIP wrote: ↑Sat Sep 14, 2024 12:59 am

Verena wrote: ↑Fri Sep 13, 2024 9:43 pm CF, made a very quick recovery from what I think is the latest round of COVID,

Glad to hear it

and have made it to the start of my holidays, a girls boating week on the Norfolk Broads with my friend and Hermione.

What're you calling the tour then? Two, sorry Three, Broads Around The Broads?

If you had been feeling a bit listless and aimless beforehand, and were undertaking the tour on paddleboards, you could be Three Bored Broads Aboard Boards Around The Broads.

Or if....

How very dare you, calling us broad...

Although a week of doing very little apart from eat will most probably have a certain broadening effect

Yes I'd imagine it would be a very nice area to explore by bike too...

Wildlife is in fine fettle this morning ...

V wrote: How very dare you, calling us broad

Excellent, how could I possibly have missed that one .

At the risk of pushing the wordplay too far (much too late Reg, much much too late), I've got to type that out just to see it in print .

OK.... Three Bored Broad Broads Aboard Boards Around The Broads.

Always controversial to inject sex, religion or politics into the proceedings, but... bit of politics for Saturday afternoon .



Yep I know, who believes statistics. Still, there was outcry over seatbelt and drink-driving laws at the time... "infringes muh freedums dunnit"... (what about the freedoms of the affected third parties though eh?)

No doubt some stretches will revert to 30... fine, nothing wrong with tweaks from experience.

Had a heated debate with someone after 20mph introduced in our town main through road, about a mile in length. (More or less the whole town is 20mph now and nobody says a word). The bloke insisted his life had ended as it would take longer to drive and pick up his newspaper from a few hundred yards away. At a constant 20 or 30mph the difference would be 60 seconds out of his day. But of course, the same as anywhere else, you could never drive at a constant 30mph anyway - the main hold-ups are caused by other traffic not the speed limit: vehicles turning right across your path, plus three roundabouts in that mile, plus several zebra crossings, etc. I worked out the difference would actually be about 8 seconds. "What will you do with those eight seconds that you've saved?" I enquired. No answer. Conversely the town is far safer and more pleasant. Bargain.

Having a van it means *my* NSL figures are 10mph lower than for a car. Does it make a difference? Varies between not really and no!

I drive the A65 between Skipton and J36 on the M6 regularly. There are mobile speed cameras on the North Yorkshire parts of this, which amounts to most of it really, so I have the speed limiter set to 50mph. I just have to watch my speed through the villages. Time difference between van and car? There isn't any: traffic pulling on to the road, turning off the road, etc. etc. means that if someone overtakes me at one end of the road they are maybe a couple of hundred metres ahead of me at the other end. Simple volume of traffic makes more difference, school holidays mean my journey may be five minutes quicker.

Err, Reg, are you in a time warp?

whitestone wrote: ↑Sun Sep 15, 2024 2:19 pm Err, Reg, are you in a time warp?

Wot, me?



I'm always amused by the hangem n floggem Daily Hatemail brigade raving on about all the law breaking going on, but in the same breath whine on about speed cameras and legal speed limits.

Three Broadly Bored Broad Broads Abroad Aboard Boards Around The Broads on B-roads.

Hmm Reg, I would say those figures regarding insurance premiums and claims are a lot of tosh. We've had 20's all over the place up here for years (plus we made them self enforcing so non of this 'speeds reduced by 6-7mph' stuff, people actually do 20mph, more or less), and I'm entirely unaware of anyone reporting cheaper insurance....

No reason not to do them of course, the real benefit is 20mph traffic speeds = easier for peds to cross the road, the safety benefits are not quite as advertised, although they are there, if you get compliance rather than just reduced speeds. The Welsh method of introducing them is mince though - changing default urban from 30 to 20. A perfect example is on the way to Stus gaff - Caerswys was a 30 so is now a 20. Carno was a 40 and is still a 40.... In Scotland we did it the hard way - Orders for each and every place rather than a blanket change - expensive but it allows you to be pragmatic and the compliance is the justification for the dosh.

Bearlegged wrote: ↑Sun Sep 15, 2024 9:00 pm Three Broadly Bored Broad Broads Abroad Aboard Boards Around The Broads on B-roads.

Um, just a small picky point though, how does one paddleboard along a B-road?

Could be skateboards? Less risk of falling in and getting wet.

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Sun Sep 15, 2024 9:50 pm Hmm Reg, I would say those figures regarding insurance premiums and claims are a lot of tosh.

A quick google says otherwise...

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/poli ... r-29907251

The world of insurance is a bizarre set of non-logical rules applied at random My boss's insurance is cheaper as his wife is a named driver. She's 85 and has given up driving, when he said he didn't want her on the policy at renewal the premium went up, so he left he on and she renews her license as required.

I could get cheaper insurance for my van if I didn't use it off the Island, but I'd estimate there is a crash a day here due to the low standard of driving.

Bearlegged wrote: ↑Sun Sep 15, 2024 10:59 pm Could be skateboards? Less risk of falling in and getting wet.

Less risk as apposed to no risk!