*Bob*

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I'm loving the vigour of the convert, but you can't make everybody prefer plastic windows simply by repeatedly screaming "you must like plastic windows and if you don't you must be an idiot" at them. Not when they have eyes, can see the difference - and don't want them. The biggest problem with uPVC in period houses (even at the highest quality of uPVC) is that you're putting something which is and always will be uniformly perfect - on both sides - into an environment which was never perfect in the first place and is also bound-up in a cycle of constant degradation and renewal - also known as 'character'. So eg yes, you may not have to repaint the sashes, but unless everything else around them is kept in absolutely perfect condition, they just look a bit wrong. And they're one colour, fixed, which you're stuck with forever and can't repaint even if you want to. I can appreciate how some people can't tell the difference; how some can tell but aren't that arsed and how other factors such as cost, maintenance and energy factors play their part. Good for them. But to pooh-pooh the load of people who just don't like them for perfectly good reasons is frankly daft. Incidentally, all the windows in our house, top and bottom, front and back - are made of wood and are (save for two panes) 120 years old. Seems like a fairly good shelf-life for stupid old wood to me. And, of course, they'll never look weird.

I liked the GB outfits. Angelic Astronaut Chic, with a hint of Asda. Makes a change to the usual look (British Airways steward meets John Lewis shop assistant). The continual wheeling-out (literally) of Ali at these things is starting to feel mighty uncomfortable though.

It could have been so, so awful, but it just wasn't. The best music score and selection I think I've ever heard put together for the kind of global event that could have so easily (and usually does) sound corporate, pompous - and populist.. in the wrong way. If Macca had just done 'The End' and walked off, I probably would have lunged to my feet and applauded. I have already pretended I didn't hear Hey Jude. There were some genuinely great and moving bits.. And some filler, but ?27m can't buy everything. Comparisons with the gaudy Chinese showboat affair are pointless.. $100m buys you a lot more in China than ?27m buys you in London. There was heart and thought in the show. I'll take that over six hours of continuous fireworks and an ultrabright LED nailed to every available surface. Boyle supped from the poison chalice and came-up with the goods, flipping the moaners the bird. Good on yer.

fazer71 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Must all be in my imagination I'm potty to be > considering something which has all been done. > Done = get it cheap > DIY = pay a mad price so I can spend another mad > ammount to make it nice.... > Insane .... This is meaningless nonsense. Is this the level of communication you were attempting with your builders? No wonder it went pear-shaped.

I don't recognise your 'universal' description from our experience of having building work done. Quite the opposite, in fact. I'm sure many others would agree.

If you feel that strongly, Fazer, you should name them before somebody else gets the same treatment. It daft to condemn the entire bulding trade because of a bad experience though. There's are people on here who have been happy to recommend their builders after a good experience.

You can't walk down the street these days without tripping of one of those ?70k plumbers. Everywhere, they are.

The myth of the ?70k plumber lives on..

If you do it without a proper preamp as above then you've have to stick the ground connection from the turntable to something metal as well, to avoid a right old hum. Surely a man with 'cool factor' like yourself, Otta, knows a DJ with some decks and mixer? Or someone who wanted to be a DJ and bought decks and a mixer which are now quietly rotting in the loft? I'd offer to help you out myself - only I have low self-esteem.

It's only a few records.. you'll do it in a couple of evenings, then lie back and, er, reap the benefits. Wouldn't do it for myself (well, actually I did do it once and - as Jeremy said - never listened to 'em). The crackles, pops and noise that sound all characterful and waaanderful playing from vinyl just sound irritating and overhyped when digitised. And that was using decent gear!

Haven't you got Spotify, Otta? You can get most of Manowar's stuff on there, no problem.

Our cat definitely buries her cack. She begins by digging a small trench, two inches deep, using a special cat trowel. Then, squatting over said hole, she curls one down and - after carefully earthing-over the excrement - she tops the area with shingle and finishes with a light spray of Oust. Dream on!

aaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwww

And - as if by magic - a potential thread of quirky delights is magically transformed into a banal moan-a-thon. No, really - tell me more of your thoughts RE the current state of daytime television. Light up my life.

Reap / Sow

Sunlover00 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > cat sits outside the window on tge fence winding up my dogs. Pulling faces, flicking the v's etc? We keep the *BobCat* in a night though, no worries. And less massive vet bills. She comes scurrying in on the dot just before lights out, happy as Larry.

Line-up every living tennis player in front of everyone in the world who watches tennis - ask them to step forward and watch John Mc get the loudest cheer - every time. There's your answer on personalities. But as Pibe says, it's tennis from a different era - and it's pointless comparing the two, really. It's Formula One tennis these days. Incredible athleticism, unbelievable play.. but in the quest for complete professionalism there's a whole lot of, I dunno, charm maybe? - gone out of the whole thing.

He's basically Ivan Lendl, isn't he? The ultimate acknowledgement of which being Lendl seeking him out as a coaching student - and Murray believing Lendl to be the man to help him.

Most sport is dull as dishwater - unless you make an effort to get yourself interested. It's the effort that makes for the interest. That's what's good about the Olympics.. It's a giant reason to make an effort to get interested in things you would normally rather rub sandpaper on your gonads than watch. And when you get into the spirit, almost anything can be fun. Even the completely daft events. And it doesn't come round too often so you can spend the next four years blissfully sport-free.

The Secret Garden Party.. 2 weeks to go!!!!!!!!!! (and I HATE multiple exclamation marks.. That's how good it is)

It's not them, it's us.

I am Inveeencibaaaall!

Bird

Anyway it's not really worth getting that hot-and-bothered about, is it? I never quite understood the how-very-dare-they-not-present-themselves-before-us-for-divine-judgement attitude. Up to them. Their loss.