Cycling UK Forum

I've been a very frequent 'lurker' on the Tea Shop part of this forum for about four years and have found you all to be, for the greater part, amusing and well read correspondents with excellent powers of reasoning and well able to articulate thoughts and arguements.

However ... there's always a 'but' isn't there ? .... I have noticed that lately, say over the last six-or-so months, some of the more entertaining, longstanding forum posters are often conspicuous by their absence and a lot of the discussions seem now to rapidly become a little on the 'heated' side. I wonder if those posters of yesterday have stepped back because of the change of tone in the forum or is it that the lack of their steadying presence has had the effect of allowing the tone to become less friendly ?

I used to enjoy reading virtually everything that was written in the Tea Shop but it's become a bit of a trial. I doubt I'm alone in thinking this way.

So, please get it back to the way it used to be because it was so much better, nicer, and entertaining back then. I know you can all do it if you have a will to.

Oh, and one more request....please stop posting links as answers to questions. Does anyone actually follow them ? Ever ?

See you all again in six months. I hope the Tea Shop's still here.

VinceLedge wrote: ↑1 May 2023, 5:44pm Presumably if you swear by 'Almighty God' but don't actually believe in one it must invalidate the oath.

I dare say there was a choice of things to swear on ... God, Allah, Jehova, and probably a choice for agnostics too.

I think the Form of Attestation is probably a legally binding contract because these sorts of things usually are .... although I'm not sure I'd obey the orders of RAF Ruperts any more. In fact I KNOW I wouldn't.

I already have sworn allegiance, back in the 1980s when I attested to join the RAF because of the 'her Heirs and Successors' bit. By that means there are hundreds of thousands, probably millions, of ex- and currently serving miltary personnel, civil servants, and all sorts of others who have too

"I, Gravity Boy (I was a lot younger then ! ), Swear by Almighty God that I will be Faithful and bear True Allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, her Heirs and Successors, and that I will, as in Duty bound, Honestly and Faithfully Defend Her Majesty, her Heirs and Successors, in Person, Crown and Dignity against all Enemies and will Observe and Obey all Orders of Her Majesty, her Heirs and Successors, and of the Air Officers and other Officers set over me."

I remember signing the form of attestation to say I agreed to all the above but I don't think I signed anything to refute it when I left.

Nearly all of the spoonerisms attributed to Spooner are apocryphal. However, one of the stories that makes me chuckle is when Spooner was supposedly crossing a footbridge at Oxford and saw a young couple relaxing in a boat, the gentleman stealing a kiss from the blushing young lady.

"My Dear Sir", remarked Spooner, "Punts are not for kissing in !" ..... or at least that's what he meant to say !

An excellent idea ! I'll be fitting some of those magnets asap.

If the *****s do manege to nick my bike I hope this'll make it a bit more difficult for 'em. It might even give me an opportunity to catch 'em at it and administer some of my own (ahem !) rough justice

Today I attended an interesting lecture given by our onboard Medic about the importance of strength training through exercise, resistance training, weight lifting, and the like. Something he talked about that piqued my interest .... me being no longer in the first flush of youth ... is something called sarcopenia. It's "the involuntary loss of muscle mass, strength, and function as we age", something that we soon-to-be oldies must surely not have failed to have noticed happening because everyone is genetically programmed for it to happen sometime after the age of 50.

For anyone interested or / and who might never have heard of it, here's a link to an informative article in the very excellent online publication "The Conversation" :

https://theconversation.com/50-year-old ... age-172941

I think I'll keep on riding my bike, running, and going to the gym for as long as I can. It turns out my bones will fall apart too because of osteoporosis if I don't do lots of weight-bearing exercise. So, lest I become an amorphous blob of elderly meat and fat, I'd better jump to it.

Sweep wrote:

philvantwo wrote:We went to the penzance one a few years ago, the Mrs sat outside with the dog, I went inside to be served and they wouldn't serve me because we had the dog with us! Yet the one at Poole has water bowls for dogs by the outdoor seating area!

sounds odd to me if the dog was outside.
sounds like a barmy misinformed manager.
You get them in all walks of life.
(I have the idea that inside dogs aren't allowed unless they are guide dogs - seem to remember a guide dog inside my local)

All Assistance Dogs, not just Guide Dogs.

This is from https://www.assistancedogs.org.uk/law/

Guide dog and assistance dog owners have important rights under the Equality Act 2010 (EA). The EA provides for people with disabilities to have the same right to services supplied by shops, banks, hotels, libraries, pubs, taxis and restaurants as everyone else.

Win

https://nypost.com/2020/07/24/3-fed-age ... rtland-wh/

'Federal agents likely permanently blinded by Portland protesters’ lasers, White House says'

If this story is true and the personnel really have been left permanently and seriously disabled then it marks a new and terrifying escalation in methodology of criminal assault. No longer is it necessary for a mugger to wave around a knife or other illegal weapon ... even the threat of permanently blinding a victim by waving around any LASER-like object would be ample intimidation.

Was this story ever reported in the UK media ?

Win

One of the two Wetherspoons in Wrexham, actually a Lloyds No.1 Bar, is locally known as 'the Turkey Shed'.

I never got the nickname until I went in there for a cup of coffee one weekday morning. It's a former Midland Bank building, one large room with the bar running down one side. It was packed to the rafters with groups of middle aged to elderly men all nursing beers, apparently competing with each other to see who could be heard in Liverpool. Really ... it was as deafening as you would imagine Bernard Matthews' back garden to be and sounded much the same. And, just like turkeys, many of the customers had the male equivalent of 'bingo wings' ... loose skin under their chins that looked like turkeys' wattles.

The coffee was good though. And cheap

"They say the day you die is just like any other day, only shorter. The meaning of life is that it stops. That's what makes it so precious right?"

- from 'Dolan's Cadillac' by Stephen King

Mike Sales wrote:

Morzedec wrote:"Under The Shade of the Old Apple Tree" will save a few bob on undertaker's fees - I'd be quite happy with that.

Gosh, just look at the size of his Bramleys .........

Happy days,

Burial at sea appeals to me.
Sewn into a sailcloth shroud with a couple of cannonballs and a last stitch through the septum, laid on a hatch board, tilted over the bulwarks.

Again, one of Joan Bakewell's excellent BBC R4 series of programs "We Need to Talk About Death" covers burial at sea .... it's a method of disposal that is still available and there are several UK funeral directors who can arrange it. It's done in specially designated areas a short way off the coast and the coffins are, of course, perforated and weighted to ensure the remains don't wash-up onshore.

I really cannot recommend "We Need to Talk About Death" too highly, if only because most people are so keen to shy away from serious conversations about this important subject that affects every one of us.

Win

Available on BBC R4 as a podcast is a programme from one of Joan Bakewell's two excellent series of programs from 2016 and 2017 'We Need to Talk About Death" called "Give My Body To Science".

Search on the BBC website for WeNeedToTalkAboutDeath-20171213-GiveMyBodyToScience.mp3

The podcast explains in detail why so many people leave their bodies to science, how to do it, what happens to the bodies, what happens in the case that the deceased is an organ donor, the full gamut of information. I recommend listening to this series and especially to this podcast.

I've no idea how they do things elsewhere in the world although I doubt that anywhere are corpses treated with anything other than great care, respect and dignity.

Win

It's always a good idea to seek independent financial advice. So, how about going to see an Independent Financial Advisor (with the emphasis on Independent) ? I don't mean a high street bank's Financial Advisor who are only able to plug their bank's products. There are plenty of IFAs advertising online but, as with most things, you'd be better off with a personal recommendation from a friend or a trusted colleague.

A good IFA will run you through a list of questions that will establish your 'risk profile' which will help establish the type of investment that is most suitable not just for your level of investment but one that will entail a comfortable level of risk for you personally .... sleepless nights spent worrying about your money won't do either you or your FA any good.

Financial products run from the hardly any risk type where you leave it in the bank to accrue very little interest, through to high risk products that feel like you might as well have taken it to the racecourse, and all steps in between.

A couple of years ago after spending a LOT of time investigating the best options for our money we were more confused than ever by the huge numbers and possible combinations of investments available, but after one visit to a local IFA we'd been profiled, guided to, and decided upon the investments best suited to our personalities and level of income. And, trust me, we haven't looked back since.

I'm not at all sure about this face covering / mask edict being a good thing.

Here in Rio, and all over Brazil, many people have been wearing face coverings and social distancing for weeks now. However, looking at the awful figures (which might or might not be accurate but are very probably weighted to the low side) on the increasing C-19 infections and deaths, covering noses and mouths isn't really doing all that much to mitigate the spread.

Still, better to do something than to do nothing, I suppose.

If you're ever in Stavanger, Norway (and who but Vorpal would be ?) then take some time to visit the Norwegian Petroleum Museum on the dockside. https://www.norskolje.museum.no/en/

Sounds a bit 'niche' I know but it truly is very interesting for anyone with even a passing interest in the history of the North Sea Oil and Gas Industry. Or in heavy engineering.

The excellent exhibits cover from the discovery of the first strikes in the North Sea, through all the various disciplines involved in getting and supporting getting oil and gas, to frank appraisals of the future of the industry. The models of oil installations on show are the epitome of excellence of the model makers art; the industry had massive amounts of cash to throw at every facet so you can imagine just how detailed the models are !

There's even a donated 'drill floor' so you can experience just what it's like to work on a drilling rig.

The film show 'Oil Kid' is staggeringly good as a social commentary on the inter-generational effects of the wealth created since oil and gas fields were discovered.

And everything is dual language - Norwegian and English.

I can't recommend it highly enough !