XmisterIS

I grew up in London, but moved to Aaaaaam'shur about 14 years ago. Today, one of the delegates on my course said, "I thought you were from down that way, you've got a bit of a Hampshire accent". So I guess that makes me an Aaaaaaam'shur boy now. I don't mind. London has succeeded in giving me a thumping headache in just one day! I miss the trees. And the trac'rrs. And the cumboine aaaaav'strs. And the sheep. The less said about the sheep, the better ...

I always use a roller on an extension pole. You can get coverage from top of wall to bottom in one sweep like that. It's a very very fast way of doing it.

Would that I could! I need to be *in* London, with bum on seat in venue by 9.30am, and I can't say when I'll be leaving on the third day. So the upshot is, if you need to book at train that is at a sensible time for the working day, you will pay through the nose for it.

I am shortly off to London on business for 2 nights / 3 days. It turns out that on balance, to drive to central London and pay £1/hour parking, continuously, for the whole 3 days, will cost me £12 ***LESS*** than a peak-time 3-day return on the train (unless I want to restrict myself to one train only on the outward and return legs), and that's including petrol costs and the congestion charge. So much for the Government's "sustainable transport policy", which rhymes with "joke".

"When I'm lying in my bed ... wanking!" Priceless! LOL! I've still got me twinge ...

Booby Happyday!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lrOywZ1yLY

Woke up this morning with a bad back, it twinges suddenly in certain positions. Talking to people is interesting: "Hi XmisterIS, how are you today? Did you have a good weekend?" "Hi, yes, oiyafucker! Sorry. Yes, I had a great weekend thanks. I went to bollocks! Sorry. My back. I went to Romsey to see buggerfucker! Sorry, my back. It twinges. cockface!" Stretching exercises, I think ...

Not always! Also, there's an option I've found when you're in street view to place a pin where you're standing ... but it doesn't always work ... !

Sometimes Google gets it wring and the pushpin is not in the right place on Google Maps. So, I go into Streetview, wander around until I find the correct spot. Great. Does anyone know how I can tell Streetview to deposit a pushpin exactly where I'm standing, so that I can see the location clearly when I go back to the map view?

Sounds like you do more advanced printmaking than me! I just use Adobe Photoshop to design web graphics, and the PDF printer to print technical manuals and product brochures!

Depends what you're doing! My work would look shite if I made it in Paint or Word then used a print-as-pdf tool Surely that depends on how you send it to the tool? E.g. making sure that the resolution is preserved (300 or 600 dpi for print quality, I am guessing), and the colour algorithms are correctly set up (e.g. using CMYK instead of RGB for printable material). Seems to work for me! I like bullzip because you can modify the kernel client layer of the tool as you wish via an INI file, if you use the Linux distro.

Whit na noo na wanna dee tha wagga wagga! Haggis. Aye.

And as for the road tax argument ... well, it's tired! Nobody pays road tax, we pay VED. There are plenty of cars out there on which you pay £0 in VED, but nobody shouts at them, "You don't pay road tax". It's a question of perspective (and wilful ignorance!) which is not helped by those cyclists who (a) ride like twats and (b) dress from head to toe in lycra and act like they own the road (see point a). I do agree that there should be a tax on cyclists - £10 per year would be fine by me, so long as it was ring-fenced for the provision and maintenance of cycle lanes. Seeing that the gov't doesn't ring fence any of the fuel duty that we pay, and that councils don't ring fence any of the parking charges that car drivers pay, I can't see the gov't ring-fencing anything that they get from cyclists either!

Personally, as a software engineer, I recommend Bullzip PDF Printer. It really is all you need. You install it and then you can print anything you want to it as if it were a printer - but it saves the output as a PDF document. No bells, no whistles, just a plain, simple, bulletproof piece of software. It's free and I've been using it for years. Why choose anything else which has unnecessary complication that comes at a cost? See here: http://www.bullzip.com/

I opened a dispute against them via PayPal. Within four hours they had refunded the money and sent me a message along the lines of, "We're really sorry, there seems to have been some sort of mix-up, please accept our humble refund", to which I replied, "Isn't it funny how you only send a refund and appology after I opened a dispute against you, yet prior to that you ignored all my attempts at communication?" I decided to leave it at that!

I have written a haiku to help you: My car is not small, It is wider than my bike. Best not to filter!

I remember being off for 3 months because of post-viral fatigue a couple of years back - getting back on the bike after an extended break feels amazing!

I share your sentiments entirely, however ... http://cdn.stripersonline.com/8/8b/8b58e76a_STUPID-PEOPLE-STUPID-3okf15.jpeg

The thing is, that the cycle lane posted in my OP is layed out such that drivers don't feel the need to veer out round cyclists. That's another reason why I like it so much.

Now, I'm aware of two things; firstly, this is a motorbike forum and secondly, any thread with the words "bicycle" or "cylist" in it is likely to cause some forum members to express what might be considered extreme views. Nevertheless, I wish to show you a photograph which everyone can enjoy: This shows a cycle lane in Southampton, from the viewpoint of me, cyclist, this morning (incidentally, it is two-way, you just can't see the directional marker in the opposite direction, further down the lane). Note that it is segregated from the pavement by the kerb and from the rest of the road by a raised, broken kerb. In my opinion, this is how all cycle lanes should be layed out, for the following reasons: 1) It keeps cyclists separate from vehicles and pedestrians, which can only be a good thing for all concerned. 2) Currently, it is not illegal for a cyclist to move out of the cycle lane and onto the main part of the road. Sometimes it's necessary because of potholes, drains, etc. With a wider a fully segregated lane, it would be reasonable to change the law to prohibit cyclists from riding on the vehicular part of the road where a fully segregated, dedicated cycle lane exists. 3) It gives cyclists less excuse to ride their bikes through traffic and on the pavement as if the laws of the road don't apply to them (In the capacity of pedestrian, cyclist, biker and driver, I have shouted obscenities at quite a few University students in Southampton for cycling like dicks - diagonally across a box junction, against the flow of traffic, for example). it's just a pity that the town planners didn't put this kind of thing in all cities right from the get-go after many of them were flattened during WW2. It would save a lot of city people a lot of hassle and would make everything move more smoothly.

engaged thanks!

Before Christmas, I ordered some bike bits online (from a website, not ebay) and they still haven't arrived. I paid £220 in all, via my switch/maestro card, through PayPal. I am not going to "name and shame" just yet as I want to give them the opportunity to put things right. I have phoned them numerous times - no reply. I have emailed them numerous times - no reply. I have tried using their online chat facility - no reply. Last week I sent them a letter - no reply. I am going to give them another week, then I am going to open a dispute via the PayPal resolution centre. I've had non-deliverers on EBay before, I just threaten them with EBay sanctions (and more) and they either cough up a refund or the goods pretty quickly. I wonder, has anyone else experienced this kind of thing via a non-ebay website and how did it turn out for you?

As has already been said, I would imagine a workshop would require a change-of-use permission, because the council needs to make sure that the use for which you propose the land won't inconvenience other residents. Also, you'll need planning permission and you'll need to demonstrate that you're not going to be polluting the local water supply, etc. As an example, there was one of those fly-by-night car wash places that sprang up near us; it turns out they were also doing vehicle repairs and were just pouring gallons and gallons of used oil straight down the drain, which meant a very expensive clean-up operation at the water treatment facility to stop the oil from getting into the water that comes out of everyone's taps! Needless to say, the courts took a pretty dim view of their operations ... I don't intend to scare you off, but you should definitely do your research first. There's hoops to jump through and paperwork, BUT, it is doable. Just be prepared to move at "council speed", not everyone else's speed (councils seem to have absolutely no concept whatsoever of urgency). XmrsIS works in the environmental sector, if you like I can ask her for a definitive list of what you'll need to do to fulfil the requirements of the law.

You have to be really on the ball when getting into buying property. Agents will spot an inexperienced buyer a mile off. Just do your research thoroughly first.