
Applespider
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Everything posted by Applespider
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Not on a hungover morning... particularly when accompanied by a bacon and fried egg butty
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Ms B Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Urgh, insects. While living in the Netherlands > some years ago I learned NEVER to wear lipgloss or > balm while cycling. But it would be excellent practice for that office challenge to eat a sugar donut without licking your lips...
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Go to Decathlon and buy 'skiing' sunglasses - they quite often have an anti-fog coating on the lenses which don't steam up as much. The other reason for a mask (although I'm even more put off by finding it's hot and restrictive - is to avoid the greenfly. I'm sure I've eaten a few bugs in recent weeks. I don't suffer from asthma or hay fever so would rather avoid the mask if I could although I'm pretty sure the stretch from Stockwell to Vauxhall can't be doing great things for my lungs some days.
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How do you find the mask when you are riding? I've thought about them but wondered if they'd feel really hot or restrictive.
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Ah... perhaps it's just my dodgy terminology - sprockets... gotcha!
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I'd been told that often when you change chain, you need to change ring since otherwise it may jump. Since I spend mist of time in the middle ring, they are a lot more worn down. Reason for new bike wasn't just shininess but by the time I bought the new bits and paid for fitting, it might be only slightly cheaper than getting the new C2W bike. I might go for a wander to some bike shops and try a few road bikes. If I find something I like then great. If not, I'll just keep my current one. Since getting cleats, the bike feels less right which is the other reason for considering a change - I don't really have room for 2 bikes :-( Ms B - had the same experience with cycle instructors. Such a confidence boost. I find using the cycle maps in conjunction with Google Streetview works well for spotting route turns visually.
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ooooh... goodie. I might pick up a fresh batch for winter since last year's are a bit mucky... Helmet-wise, I think a BMX one will be equally good on the road as on a BMX track. The average 'road' helmet is only designed for impacts up to a few miles per hour. I only wear mine since if I did fall off, I don't want roadrash on my head. I'm mostly unconvinced about how well it would protect me from motor vehicles. Another bike question for you all. My company runs a Cycle to Work scheme every 18 months or so. I got a hybrid 18 months ago which I ride to work most days from March through to October. The CTS scheme is open until early June and then that's it until late 2012/early 2013. So... do I upgrade my bike now and sell the current one while it's in pretty good nick? Or wait until the next round by which time my current bike will probably need new chainring/tyres etc? And if I do get a new bike...do I attempt the shift to a road bike or just replace with a slightly better version of what I have?
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Yes, it's relatively easy once you get the basic steps into your brain. Yes, it's fun if you enjoy dancing and don't mind looking a little silly the first couple of times. Whether it's a good workout depends on your current level of fitness and the instructor. Get a great instructor and they will give options so that everyone gets a good workout. Get one who is less experienced and if you've already got a good level of fitness, you may not break a sweat. I've seen some reports claiming a calorie burn of 1000 per hour which I think is very unlikely for most people but you'll definitely burn more than you would sitting on the sofa and any exercise is better than none!
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At the moment the Boris Bikes only go to the boundary of zone 1. There is talk of extending them along the Cycle Superhighways (so that would mean southwest into Battersea/Clapham with CS7 and east towards Barking on CS3). ED is on the proposed route of CS6 but I can't recall when that's coming in. They are still adding docking stations to the centre and it's still losing money. And not sure if you've used a Boris bike but while ED is only 20-30 minutes from Central London on a normal bike, I'm not sure how pleasant it would be on a Boris bike since they are somewhat heavy and have dreadful gearing.
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Car Horns on Lordship Lane Junction with Court Lane
Applespider replied to bluecanary's topic in General ED Issues / Gossip
aspidistra - 10pm jackhammers might become more common. There was an article tonight about the Mayor's new powers (in effect next year) to charge companies for digging up TFL roads. Regular maintenance would be ?1K a day, emergency ?1.5K a day - to encourage maintenance over fixing. But it would be cheaper to do things overnight or during holidays since the priority is keeping traffic flowing over residents' sleep. The roadworks here and around Denmark Hill both seem to be never-ending. -
Yikes! Very glad that you (and your kids) are OK aside from the shock, obviously. What brass some folks have even to risk walking into someone else's home... hope they are caught and get their comeuppance.
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Sorry to hear that your bag was stolen. Couple of tips for the future - if your bag has long handles, then hanging it off your knee while you are sitting down means you are more aware of it. Or loop the handles under your chair leg or foot to make it less of a target. You can also get little handbag hooks that let you hang your bag off any table.
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How many Scottish people are in East Dulwich. Say aye...!
Applespider replied to Frankito's topic in The Lounge
Frankito Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I hate Salmond..... Boring and useless, how he has > managed to fool an otherwise intelligent nation > into believing that nationalism is in the > collective interest defeats me! I don't think he has. I'm Scottish with the rest of my family still up there and several of them (and other pals) while they voted SNP this time (for the first time ever!), it wasn't because of Salmond or nationalism; they're not keen on either. It was self-preservation since the SNP were the only ones not automatically planning on cancelling projects that would put them out of jobs. And, as they put it, they did actually deliver on many of their last round of manifesto promises. I suspect it was that they didn't particularly like anyone else's so the SNP were the best of a bad bunch. As several I've spoken to today have said, 'Bring on the referendum on independence and then we can vote 'no' and get it off the agenda for another few generations' I was staggered that they got a majority though - absolutely astonishing. -
I'm not a big M&S fan either. I just don't think they have the range of ingredients to cook with and what they do have is expensive (particularly in Simply Food where they add a premium). Ready-meal/ready-veg fans will probably give you a 'yes' vote. Personally, if we're angling for (or arguing yet again about)a more expensive food shop, I'd rather have Waitrose. I can think of a lot more things I buy in Waitrose that I can't buy in M&S than the other way around.
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London Bridge to Holborn by bus, how long does it really take?
Applespider replied to Smiler's topic in The Lounge
You'd probably want to allow at least 30 minutes to be safe - since there's no guarantee a bus will show up as soon as you get to the stop - let alone make the 19 minute journey time. The Tube is quickest but horrible to try to get on at London Bridge in rush hour. If cycling the whole way is too nervewracking initially, you could try a Boris bike? Or, on a nice day, walking along the river? Probably wouldn't take that much longer than the bus journey and be infinitely more pleasant. -
lillyanginger - yup, the longer you leave it to ferment, the more flavour it will have. But if Sophie's fermenting overnight, it should give enough flavour... I wonder if you made it a little earlier in the evening and let it do more ferementing at room temperature before retarding it in the fridge, it might make a difference to the flavour... Thanks! My first few months were much less pretty looking and flatter; now I've got it to the point where I usually end up with a decent looking loaf. Crust-wise... I preheat my oven as hot as it will go (250C on the dial) and I have a granite worktop saver in it (?9.50 from Wilkinsons) which takes it up to around 275 (according to the oven thermometer). I put an old baking tin in the base of the oven to heat up too. I spray the surface of the dough with water before I slash and put it the oven... and then pour some hot water into the old baking tin to try to get some 'steam' into the oven. I cook the bread with the oven dial around 220C for 10 minutes and then drop it down to 200C for 20 minutes. It's Dan Lepard's course that I fancy going on but it's quite pricey. Waitrose do a bread course at their cookery school too that I thought about doing... will take a look at the Lighthouse Bakery one too though. Ah... living on my own, I didn't have to convince anyone although I do get asked to bring a loaf to various friends and family members now. Haven't bought a loaf in over 18 months... :))
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Cycling (daily commute) for a beginner. Advice?
Applespider replied to philip walker's topic in The Lounge
philip walker Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > and > found myself enjoying it in parts! Plus I've lost > half a stone, bonus..! Congratulations! On both the commute and the weight loss! And yes... forgot that if you're not used to it, you can get a tad saddle sore... Moos - try the cycle lessons mentioned. They're amazing for a confidence boost; seriously, I went from being too nervous to face the roads to merrily careering over Vauxhall Bridge on a daily basis. -
I refresh mine slightly differently. I take the whole tub out of the fridge the night before I want to bake (usually about 75-100g in there) and then make up however much starter I need with all of the fridge starter (that's usually 250-350g) and make sure that I calculate to have about 30g left once I finish baking. The next day, once I've baked, that last bit gets fed again with equal parts water/flour, left out for an hour and then put back into the fridge... where Sammy stays until next time. If it's ended up being longer than 3 weeks, I will take him out and feed him again two nights before I want to bake. Shaping is my downfall - I keep thinking of taking a bread course just to get some shaping tips from an expert. I either make boules if I'm going to be using it all relatively soon or if I'm taking it to a friend. If it's for me (and I tend to freeze it in big chunks - hence why I only bake every 2-3 weeks), I make it into a batard and let it prove in a loaf tin before tipping it out to bake. I've attached pics of today's batards and some boules from a while back.
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Suspect this will get lounged since although it's an ED starter, it's not that specific. There are lots of reasons why sourdough can get slightly less tangy from the starter ageing, to how often you refresh it and how much you discard, what you feed it with and how hydrated you keep the starter, to how long you're letting the actual dough ferment. I bake sourdough every 2-3 weeks - the ones with a 3 week gap are definitely more sour. I suspect that's because when Sammy's been stuck in the fridge for 3 weeks, he gets far more sour than when he's used more often. I try to keep the amount in the fridge at a minimum so then I can keep all that sourness when I come to refresh it. I've also been told that the stiffer you keep your starter (i.e. more flour than water) then the more sour it is likely to go but I've never noticed much of a difference. Sometimes switching to a partial wholewheat/rye starter seems to get more sourness back in the mix - or at least, I've noticed that when trying to resuscitate an old batch left elsewhere. How long do you ferment the dough for before and after shaping?
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Looks like a good time was had by all... And yes, you can do it again next year for the Diamond Jubilee :)-D
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Is the 16th a mistype? I thought it was Saturday 14th which is one reason that I can't make it. If anyone else would like to know more about cycle maintenance but can't make the course, it might be worthwhile you PMing mlteenie. He gave me a useful grounding in cycle maintenance while he checked out my bike last year - and has helped me out with a more tricky problem more recently.
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I get the comedy newsletter from the Hob in Forest Hill and they're showing it from 10am with a BBQ later.
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The other problem is that they haven't told us how many seats in each price band there are in the venue. It's all very well getting a base level ticket but then you find that there are 10 of them and they're all behind pillars. It would have been good to have a sense of 10% of the aquatic centre is level D, 30% is level C, 40% is level B and 20% is level A - at least that way, you'd get an idea of what kind of view you might end up with with each price band. I agree with the ballot to avoid the rush at the start. but I'd have liked to have seen a 'winners' notification before payment with the opportunity to cancel some but I believe that's why they ended up with empty seats in Beijing/Athens so they figured confirmed payment was the best bet. The day tickets sound like an excellent idea - I suspect I'll definitely be up for a few of those when the most popular of my ticket applications fail!
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My aunt uses sandwich bags when she is knitting with more than one colour - puts a ball in each bag and 'zips' them shut and then they don't tangle as much.
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Cycling (daily commute) for a beginner. Advice?
Applespider replied to philip walker's topic in The Lounge
Congrats Ms B! I remember my first venture over Herne Hill... and then I hit Vauxhall Cross (yikes... it's better than a double espresso in the morning!) So Philip, how was your test run? And have you tried this week? It's been a great one for cycle commuting - gorgeous weather and fewer cars on the road.
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