mlteenie

Sorry to lower the tone somewhat, but why do you feel cold when you need a piss, yet warmer afterwards? I think we need to know.

Yes, I have cut through here loads of times and I don't like doing - and the one-way could surely be improved. It doesn't seem as efficient as it could be. Great idea.

SQ, a quick visit to a decent bike shop will provide you with many security items such as cables for your saddle rails (not chain - lighter and less damaging to your bike) to spend your cash on. LCC also provide free cycle maps, so an alternative quiet route can be found. IMO cycling is about the quality of the ride, sometimes more so than the shortest A to B, and as Asset says it really won't take you long to get a bit fitter each time and those extra stones will disappear. I am a very experienced cyclist but I would avoid the OKR if I could. Look for the thread here about 'Who Cycles To Work Form East Dulwich' (sorry, don't know how to do link thingy). Good luck - you can do it!

Dulwich College is indeed cheaper, but the scam (ahem) 'joining' fee is ?100. Good monthly payments for adult couple and students tho'.

AFAIK, traffic light sensors react to car headlights, so that at night a red light can turn to green to flow the traffic thru. I have seen motorists flashing to activate them. As a driver/motorcyclist/pedestrian/bus user/train user/pushchair pusher but mainly a CYCLIST, I don't think motorcycles should be in bus lanes. Coming down Brixton Hill is pretty scary/dangerous as m/c's undertake traffic, but overtake bicycles. I don't find buses too bad. I agree 100% that ASSERTIVENESS is the key. Other (highway code-ignoring) cyclists are the worst threat IMO.

Warming to the subject now!! I once read a fantastically pedantic book which contained a list of 20 of the most commonly mispronounced words in common english usage. The list was called Stevenson's Twenty or something and may be somewhat archaic, but some words I remember were 'dirigible', 'maraschino', 'schism', and er... can't remember any more. Anyway, you get the idea.

The 'family is' 'family are' one really gets my goat, but then again I lsten to R4 too much... it's a side effect. I DO need to get out more. I DIDN'T do english at uni or anything, but surely it is something to do with subject and object in the sentence? 'My family' is a single object, like 'the government' which similarly contains many people although is referred to singly. It really drives me mental when I hear 'a large flock of pigeons were...', when it ought to be 'a large flock was...'. Anyway, these days I deliberately refer to 'sliver' when I mean 'slither' and vice versa. Drives the partner mad and can be quite challenging knowing which one you mean. I do this because of the number of numpties who don't know the difference. Ainsley Harriett, stand up!

I have adopted London ways re: cant and fack/facknell. Half of the problems are caused by people not knowing the difference between UK and US pronunciations eg. sKedule and sHedule. The punchline to the Dave Allen joke was 'Well, that's a load of bullskit' (it was to do with bus schedules.....). Using the k sound is US. And don't get me started on rising cadences (or whatever they are called technically). Y 'know? Everything ends in a question? Really winds me up? I am glad I was working in an office recently and the guy at the next desk kept ending every sentence that way? I had to work hard not to leap across the partition and strangle him? I pity the young.

Thanks for your view, KK....

On R4 just now I heard (I think) the editor of The Ham & High (who have run an ad for the BNP in their paper) say there are parts of London where there are 7 or 8 BNP councillors on some councils. Really? Where?

My deceased grandpa used to refer to Y&Y as 'the ain't-it-a-bloomin'-shame show'.

Morning... little dry today? Nice to chat to Mark and briefly to Mockers. Wasn't minglng as much as usual due to being busy trying to induct three people into the cult. Mwahahaaa!!! Thanks for the nametag SteveT. It ended up above the urinals with all the others. Wasn't too happy with the 'sensitive' approach to chucking out of the EDT bouncers. A thankless task, mind you.

Warming up on the ol' red red wine too, PGC. Can't get down the Castle - gotta eat and get a foundation down first. Bringing a potential new forumie with me too... straight in to the deep end.

OK I know I should know, but where is The Castle?

Sounds good *Bob*. May try that tomorrow, altho' don't do the ol' white death myself (well, not THAT one anyway). Yes, we have a couple of Bialettis and I always want to stop it when the crema starts to come through before the majority of the water, but I never have. And how long does one allow the gurgling to go on for? Some people have been known to heat the buggery out of it until there is no sound. I reckon this must be a bad thing for the flavour, if not the percolator. What I really want at home is a good capuccino. You can froth milk really well as long as it doesn't quite reach boiling, although it ain't steam-stylee.

OK coffee drinkers, I am always interested in improving the enjoyment of our coffee at home. We have tried percolators, cafetieres and plain old pans of hot water, but what is your method? I once saw something on tv about barista training where they said the water mustn't be more than 82 deg c (or something...). So how do you make your perfect cup o' kwaufee?

Legal requirements; shmegal requirements. In practice 'the fuzz' are not going to stop you for having the wrong light setting (or prob. even no lights, unfortunately). It is more of a question of alerting your presence to the motorists and other road users, inc. pedestrians. Also, a lower-mounted light (eg. on your bike) is more visible to a car than one one your bag or worse on your helmet. These are serving almost no useful purpose to the misguided rider (sorry Loz!).

Today through no fault of my own had to listen to a kid's iPod thru speakers containing mainly Now That's What I Call Music 379 (Girls Aloud, etc). Utterly appalling - had to turn it off. The (low) quality of so much of today's pop really makes me angry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice one, seanmlow.

Dammit, Bob. I just came back from work to find mine on the mat and decided it was so appalling that I was gonna stick it the forum too. Ah well, great minds and all that.

I think i just heard one on R4 about deporting siskins to Scandinavia. Any others?

Apparently hawthorn is the 2nd most environmentally beneficial plant after english oak, due to the amount of creatures, etc it supports.

Like many others, Tap has become part of my daily repertoire. I have gone through two VHSs and am now on the dvd (should last a while!). In my varied rock incarnations pride was taken in quoting the more obscure and appropriate lines for any given Tap-like on-the-road situations. BTW, Nige doesn't actually say 'Don't touch it' in the guitar scene. Sorry to be greedy, but for starters: 'Watch his mouth.' 'Too MUCH f*cking perspective!' 'Civilisation! Where'd I put this?' 'I'm joking, of course.'

I'm about ten days into mine.. this time it seems to be quite grey around the chin, which is a new development. About 60% of the area of mine is below the chin line.

'Have you been to a Harvester before?'