Search found 371 matches

by PaulB
21 Jul 2018, 11:38pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Toblerone
Replies: 18
Views: 1171

Re: Toblerone

Toblerone is my guilty pleasure and I always receive one or two at Christmas and birthday.

A few years ago I was in Zurich and dropped into a local restaurant for a meal. There was a giant (fake) Toblerone hanging from the ceiling. One one side it said Toblerone, the second side said Toblertwo and the third side - Toblerthree. Strange, they speak German in Zurich and that joke only works in English!
by PaulB
14 Jun 2018, 1:43pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Who should we be boycotting?
Replies: 193
Views: 25762

Re: Who should we be boycotting?

[quote="pwa"]It has to be a personal list. my own list, at the moment:

Anything from Israel (due to the West Bank / Gaza issues)

You do realise that most of the inside of your computer is developed in Israel?
by PaulB
24 May 2018, 11:10pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Ken Livingstone has left the labour party
Replies: 54
Views: 1767

Re: Ken Livingstone has left the labour party

mercalia wrote:
Cyril Haearn wrote:Who is Ken Livingstone?


twice mayor of London( beating the labour candidate ) and long standing mp. introduced the congestion charge and oyster cards in London. Vehement critic of tony Blair. Achieved the 2012 summer olympics bid and ushering in a major redevelopment of the city's East End,

Characterised as "the only truly successful left-wing British politician of modern times" until Corbyn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Livingstone


If I remember correctly, the so called "Boris Bikes" were actually Livingstone's idea but he lost his position of mayor before it could be implemented. Buffoon Boris just inherited the scheme. If Red Ken has left the Labour party I'm not surprised - who would want to belong to a party that had Dianne Abbott in it?
by PaulB
23 May 2018, 12:19pm
Forum: Cycling UK Topics and Discussions
Topic: Cycle magazine not in plastic please.
Replies: 45
Views: 23172

Re: Cycle magazine not in plastic please.

I'm all for saving the planet and re-cycling but I have just received a magazine through the post that had no packaging to protect it and it looks decidedly second hand. If I saw it on the shelves of WHS I'd have picked another copy. It was a dry, sunny morning so I dread to think what state it would have been in if it had been pouring down. I have had some catalogues delivered via the post without protective covers and on wet days they are all but ruined.

If I am paying to receive something I expect it to arrive unscathed.
by PaulB
19 May 2018, 6:40pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Best racks for 20" wheeled bikes?
Replies: 17
Views: 3484

Re: Best racks for 20" wheeled bikes?

It depends on your folder but I had no problems with a standard rack fitting my Xootr Swift.

SSCN5012.JPG
by PaulB
23 Apr 2018, 5:58pm
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Campagnolo 12 speed
Replies: 73
Views: 5691

Re: Campagnolo 12 speed

I buy Campagnolo and really like the way it looks and performs. I don't race so the 12 speed cassette will be of little use to me - it was specifically developed for racing to help maintain a smooth cadence when gear changing. I built my last three road bikes because I was frustrated at not being able to buy an "off the shelf" machine with Campag as standard. I was thinking about using Ribble Cycles on line bike builder to construct a Grand Fondo bike but they no longer appear to stock Campagnolo. I was in a large cycle store in Manchester this weekend and did not see one bike with Campag components so I won't be buying anything there!

A previous post compared the cost of Campag's Potenza with Shimano 105. Potenza was launched to rival Ultegra so it should be more expensive.

I like the idea of SRAM Etap which does away with all cables and wires except for the brakes. There was a Cannondale fitted with Etap in the Manchester store and it looked so clean without the gear cables. I think manufacturers must get great deals from Shimano to use their products because the big S seems to have an almost monopoly on "off the shelf" bikes. I'll stick with Campagnolo as it has served me well for the 50 or so years I have been using it. I also like to try to support British, or at least European, made products so Campagnolo's Italian Centaur group set (Potenza is made in Romania - I think) fits well with my Italian made alloy road frame.

There's nothing wrong with Shimano's performance but I just think their brake/gear shifters are ugly. I have 105 on my folder and there is no problem but those shifters are just gross!
by PaulB
23 Nov 2017, 2:17pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Black Friday Anyone
Replies: 20
Views: 1342

Re: Black Friday Anyone

Black Friday appears to be another US bandwagon that retailers are jumping on to make us part with our money. I saw a report the other day that showed that Black Friday deals were not always good value. It is marketing done for the benefit of shops and not customers.
by PaulB
23 Nov 2017, 2:14pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Nuclear power safe?
Replies: 62
Views: 2443

Re: Nuclear power safe?

A few years ago I had a tour around Sellafield in Cumbria. A group of us stood on top of the reactor (it was beneath several feet of concrete!) and there was no radiation measured. Later the chap showing us around asked how many of us had luminous watches and got us together with a Geiger counter. The radiation it registered from our watches would have been enough to set off an alarm. That is how closely the sites are monitored. Even the slightest increase in background radiation sets alarm bells ringing despite the amount being well below 'danger' level.

There is the potential for a disaster and the specter of the mushroom cloud sits large in people's minds. We live in a time where all risk must be removed (hence the hel*et and high-vis lobby) and it's the perception of danger that fills the news and forms opinion rather than the facts.
by PaulB
23 Nov 2017, 1:52pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Photos with the theme, Down the Road
Replies: 68
Views: 5220

Re: Photos with the theme, Down the Road

In the Caldbeck fells near Carlisle.

P1050940 (800x450).jpg
by PaulB
23 Nov 2017, 1:23pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Cycling World magazine
Replies: 37
Views: 8752

Re: Cycling World magazine

It's a sad situation regarding "Cycling World". I have copies going back to the '80s and had quite a few articles published in it over a few years. It was a magazine aimed at and written by touring cyclists who submitted copy for the pleasure of it and were not paid. The quality of paper used was poor - some of my copies are turning yellow - and some of the material would have benefited from some editing but it was a good read and filled a niche that is no longer catered for.

More recent issues - when available - were mostly 'advertorial' and the covers followed the style of 'Lycra warriors'. There is now no cycling magazine aimed squarely at leisure riders. All the cycling publications on the shelves of WHS look the same and contain training plans for sportives and reviews of carbon fibre machines costing thousands of pounds. Maybe there just isn't the market for a magazine that ignores the more sporting side of cycling.
by PaulB
20 Nov 2017, 11:38pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: The Faraway Tree Lives!
Replies: 18
Views: 1310

Re: The Faraway Tree Lives!

Excellent! I used to read them to my daughter at bed time and kept reading long after she had fallen asleep! Wonderful stories to fire any child's imagination.
by PaulB
22 Sep 2017, 11:24pm
Forum: Helmets & helmet discussion
Topic: Does anyone know why helmets vary in price so much?
Replies: 50
Views: 3989

Re: Does anyone know why helmets vary in price so much?

I bought a helmet from Decathlon. It was part of an order that did not qualify for free postage because I hadn't spent enough. I saw the helmet for just over £5 so added it to the order which gave me free postage. Subtracting the postage from the £5 meant my helmet cost about £3! I've worn it a couple of times and it seems fine. I no longer wear helmets as cycling is about freedom and is safe.
by PaulB
22 Sep 2017, 11:05pm
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Daft TV ads
Replies: 64
Views: 6935

Re: Daft TV ads

Does anyone understand the advert for a bloke's perfume(?). Some rough looking guy drives into the desert, takes a necklace off and buries it. That's it!

Then there are the women only adverts for cars and breakfast cereals. The car one (I think referred to in an earlier post) shows young women driving their kids to school while still wearing their pajamas. That tells me the car is for women only. Then there's the Special K cereal which shows only women eating it, not for us blokes then.

The frightening thing is, there are people among us who think these adverts up!
by PaulB
12 Jun 2017, 11:39am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Are you going to the flicks to see Wonder Woman
Replies: 29
Views: 4381

Re: Are you going to the flicks to see Wonder Woman

Not a film I would go to see but then I don't go to the cinema. Not sure how the very attractive main star will affect young girls' body image problems.

One of the advantages of being a grandad is I get to watch the Toy Story films - over and over - best films ever!
by PaulB
12 Jun 2017, 11:27am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: More PC........Old Story Maybe, Could Be Contentious.
Replies: 15
Views: 1048

Re: More PC........Old Story Maybe, Could Be Contentious.

drossall wrote:
661-Pete wrote:OK another poser. What was the year immediately before 1CE? Logic dictates that it was 0CE, and the one before that was 1BCE. But I've read that in fact historians place 1BCE immediately before 1CE.

There's no year zero because, irrespective of whether you prefer CE/BCE or AD/BC, what you are counting is two eras, the one before and the one after. You can't have a year zero, because it wouldn't be in either era.


That is why the world celebrated the "New Millennium" on the wrong date! The 21st century began on 1st Jan 2001 and not 2000. Looking at the world today - what was there to celebrate? I have never seen the point of marking the turning of the year because apart from the date, nothing changes.