Fish-Finger-er

Your spoilt for choice, theres coed y brenin, which is pretty extensive about 40 minutes away, theres betws y coed trails as well which are meant to be real good, although ive never road them, youve got the slab, which is above barmouth(not a trail centre, but an amazing ride none the less,i should imagine routes will be on google with a search), I couldnt advice as due to having a caravan 6 miles from it, i ride some unofficial footpath based routes out onto it, and dont take the bridleway route out of barmouth. theres also trails at machynthleth (sp?) mb wales turns out theres another place with official trails, beginning with H not far from you. mb north wales them two should be of use

yea, wasnt specifically aimed at you, was more at the people who are like "woohoo go england, we love england" then when thomas mueller slammed in goals 3 and 4, they were like "tossy crappy england, grrr we hate this country, lets go smoke some roll ups in the beer garden and not even watch the end of the game"

pretty much this. minus the injury and riding bit. Honestly, in the last 18 months since I turned 22, I feel Ive had more than I had in the 4 years running up to that, its almost like stuff has just clicked into place and I see atuff in a different light, and because of that, everything else has just kind of fitted round that and fell into place. if youd asked me what id be doing in 2 years time, 18 months ago, I dont think I'd be even close to guessing right, and even now, 6 months from now, I dont have a clue what will be happening, and im not sure I want to know. On the grand scheme of things, life is very temporary, its the longest thing well have, but we dont know how long it will last for so to plan what your going to do with it, when it could be over any moment, is a bit of a waste. I realise that sounds really down and morbid, but its completely the opposite, do what makes you happy and what you want to do now, dont sacrifice happiness now for your planned happiness in the future, as you may not be here for it, or on a slightly less serious issue, things may not work out the way you planned.

been away for a few days. but my 2 cents on it all. National pride isnt a temporary thing that we should celebrate one day a year, or until the quarter finals of every world cup.I always thought of it being something about being proud of your heritage, or where your from, not an excuse to wear a daft T shirt and suddenly start being a fan of cricket because weve just got good at it.

See ive just done bulgaria this season skiing, had mates who went there on a summer holiday too. Neither of us have come back impressed. The locals are horrible,pushy,arrogant,with touts trying to hastle you into their bars/restaurants. Barstaff tipping themselves excessively(met an aussie guy who hadnt tipped a bargirl one round, the next round he bought a 4 lev drink, he ended up getting 8 1 lev coins back as change, and 8 1 lev coins into the tip jar), sticking drinks on our orders we hadnt asked for(every 5 rounds an extra round of mystery spirits was brought over, we though these where free rounds, they wernt). We went to a traditional bulgarian restaurant(mehana) for tea one night, was rather nice, a bill of 325 lev between 7 people, common sense dictated 50 lev each, leave 350 lev, and a 25 lev tip, we also tipped the musician in the restaurant about 15 lev. so in total we left a 40 lev tip on a 325 lev meal(plus they advertise free taxis to the restaurant from your hotel, we tipped the driver 5 lev again). This is rather acceptable in my opinion. 2 minutes later we had a waiter chasing us down, stopping us in the street wielding a knife(granted it was the knife he had on his belt at all times for presenting the bill, chopping fruit/meat etc, but he still had it on him. he basically told us wed left a shit tip and wanted an extra 10 lev each from us, I explained at this point we left a decent tip, especially considering that 3 of us had asked for veal, and had beef(tough beef at that, but I didnt express this). as for prices, drinks in the english speaking bars where priced at about 6 lev a pint, which was about £2.50(mate said it was similar, possibly a bit more expensive at times in summer), which isnt excessive for a tourist destination, but you could get san miguel for €1.75 in magaluf, and 3 pints for €5 at most places(not to mention 15/20 euro all you can drink offers). Drinks in the traditional places where cheaper, but you had the above happen. and £30 for a piece of garlic bread, a beef kebab with chips,a pint and a brandy aint all that cheap. (for reference the best italian ive ever been too was in san antonio, I got a 9 inch garlic bread, the worlds biggest bowl of carbonara,which was banging, and a pint of lager, for €12.)

+1 +1.

unless "swarve" means "like a chobber" in essex, your way off mark, jamie had it pretty much spot on with what he had there. way i was always told to dress for an interview that doesnt require a suit, but is formal. dress like youve got to attend a wedding reception, that you want to pull the bridesmaid at. That way youll dress smart enough to fit in, but not that smart you look like a chump. whacking a white polo above some suit trousers, or wearing black trousers, with a plain white shirt above it, makes it look like your in almost school uniform/dressing smart for a funeral because you have to. and whacking a hoodie and trainers on, just accentuates this look. wear a shirt, but wear a shirt with some detail(i dont mean flames up the back of it, or chinese dragons), to the point where you could swap your trousers for jeans and be seen wearing it on a night out. trousers, go charcoal or black, likewise matching belt, you dont want stuff to stand out to much, just because you think it looks alternative smart casual, the blokes who interviewing you may be the wrong side of 50, and just think your crap at matching colours. Its better to not make an impression with your clothes,and leave it up to your actual interview to impress, than to make a bad impression and not have a chance from the off.

Yea the 9 for the price of 6 thing, is basically the tax and national insurance thing i was on about, you buy up to £1500 a year,out of your pay before tax and national insurance, so you effectively save 31% on the cost of the shares, but youve got to keep them so long, otherwise you have to pay it on them once you sell it. as for working them for a while, 6 years, but 2 years ago, when the employee share plan came out for that year (10% off purchase price for a 3 year plan, or 20% off for a 5 year plan), the shares where like 76p or something, so got a load at 61 and 68p. regards spread betting, i kind of agree on the risk, but if a ryanair plane drops out the sky, its fairly obvious shares are going to take a hit for a couple of days, stick on £15 a point, with a 10 point trailing stop loss. maximum your going to lose is £150, if they drop 25 points(its in euros before anyone says they cant) thats like 7% drop, which isn't a huge amount, given the controversy around their safety regulations and skimping on stuff. even if you dont cash in on it at the bottom, and your trailing stop loss picks it up, thats still £225, for a risk of £150. If you did the same thing on the BP disaster, but risked say £500 at £50 a point, you'd be sat on around £16000 tax free. I know a bloke that did just that, but risked £2000(still at £50 a point, just had a bigger stop loss), cashed them back in after theyd started climbing, at £3.30, then just used the money he'd made, to buy shares in the company that was climbing back up. as far as im aware he still owns the shares, which must be around £23000 worth now,

hold around £26,000 in bt shares, but i work for them, so took advantage of the tax relief and discounts of employee share plans, hasn't worked out too bad. got 3300 at 68p 7100 at 61p 1800 at 117p then I've bought smaller amounts(totalling about 650) between about 160p and 190p, but I haven't paid tax or national insurance on them so its all good. Keep saying I'm going to invest money into shares, but unless it comes out of my pay before I get it, I never seem to have it spare. Also keep saying I'm going to spread bet, and next time a disaster is on sky news, bet short on the big companies in that country. (for example in the moments after the tsunami hit, bet short on honda, nissan, toyota etc in the japanese markets) likewise on the manufacturers and airlines of planes that crash etc, but once again I never actually do it, just think about it, then kick myself every time I look at what i could of made.

honestly dann, Id say bollox to the car, i was the same as you, never really saw the point, till i went on one, and i regret turning them down for the last 4 years. you only live once, some of your best experiences, and stories come from a week of drinking tequila,sniffing salt and squirting lemon in your eye in 30 degree heat whilst hanging out the back of a trainee beauty therapist from hull, not from putting a mg tf engine in a metro.

erm, to be fair, if its your first one, go anywhere, youll have a good time and most likely not make the most of the holiday. I went ibiza and maga last year, there totally different places. Personally id avoid zante, just because of the way the bouncers/police treat clubbers. When people say maga is on the decline,it doesnt make any difference, if you go there in july/august, bcm will be rammed everynight. If its your first trip, id strongly suggest magaluf over other places, because you always here how cheap the booze is, and factor like £100 a day, and it is never enough. But in maga, there are plenty of places that you can go, and its all you can drink all night for €20/€25. so you can get by and still get drunk as hell. most of the excursions(boat parties etc) are all you can drink too. So come the end of the holiday, your not not having fun because your running out of cash. providing you leave 40 euros a day in your back pocket, if worst comes to worst, you can buy a bottle of vodka, 3 litres of coke, and swipe a glass from the poolside, and just refill it in your room, and get drunk at the pool all day for 10 euros, you can get a fry up and chips for 4 euros, and get into bcm bar at 6pm to start drinking for free for €25 euros, which carries you through till when bcm club shuts at 6/7am.

another vote for maxxis ignitors, currently running them, with 20" bmx tubes stretched and knifed open into a tubeless rim tape, and about 30 ml of OKO tyre sealant went from 1 puncture/pinch flat every 80 or so miles on average, to 450 miles so far without a puncture.

less arguing please, lets not get this thread closed, hopefully one day i might be able to post in it.

I am a geek, but meh, so what, I'd rather be playing warcraft and doing something constructive with my time, than wasting it getting drunk down the pub, messing my body up for later life, using up loads of money. It's not like being a geek automatically means we dont like women, i've had sex several times before, and with women with morals and class, not ones that will happily have a picture taken holding someones penis, several hours after meeting them.

Honestly?? I thought she was either having an allergic reaction, or squinting trying to see the thing.

Done a couple of runs so far, I dont know whether this is right or not, but been told by a couple of people,mainly train at the pace you want to run at and increase the distance, rather than running the distance you want and upping it. does that sound right, or is it bonkers??? (to be honest its making more sense to me, partially because running a mile at 11 or 12 minute pace is still uncomfortable and gets me out of breath after a short time right now) Ive been running 9.5 minute miles, and i can keep that pace up for around a mile, at which point i'll normally do the distance back at a brisk walk/jog, basically going to try and extend that out to 3 or 4 miles by the end of the month, which gives me a semi solid base on which to actually do a 3 month training programme or whatever off runners world.

yea, but they still suffer from a little bit of boatyness unless you buy them like 1 and a bit sizes too small.

mike, adidas stan smiths/voi stardust or the like, are about perfect, they are still skate shoe(ish) soled, (slightly thinner, but slightly stiffer too) but keep the whole foot area free of boat appearance of big skate trainers.

smart like a fox that one. I seriously love it, need some old school curved blade forks on there though to complete the look.

Joe, the only thing thats going to be ripped on you is that medium T shirt you keep kidding yourself you can fit into, that stitching ain't made to hold back 19 stone of podge. Even my mum said you've let yourself go.

you wanna run in front of me sweetcheeks?

thanks jd, id already had a look at some of those schedules on runners world. think im going to try and start running properly the start of may, and will try and stick to one of them 12 week programmes as well as i can do. In the mean time im going to use april, as i already was anyway on the front of losing bodyfat(was originally trying to get in shape for summer) but am going to try and do a bit more running in it, just so when it comes time to start training properly, i might not be a complete beginner. as well as hopefully weighing a bit less then, so ive got less to carry round. Whats the deal with lifting weights and running, i realise im going to have to hold back on squats if i want to run well the next day, but is generally lifting weights and trying to push my cardio like this a bad thing, or a very good thing(im looking at in the way in the army, you build strength, endurance, power etc all at the same time through hard exercise, but by the same token, you never see the bodybuilders in the gym on the running machine even when there trying to cut weight)

Right appears for man pride based reasons, im going to be running a half marathon in september. now last summer i did a fair bit on the xc bike, im not totally averse to exercise, but I dont have a clue where to start. what kind of time I should be aiming for (im thinking sub 2 hours, but im not sure whether to push for sub 1 hour 45). anyone want to fill me in on how i should be training? ive got a decentish pair of running shoes, im thinking of just going out tomorrow night, pounding out as far as i can, then next time try and pound out further/a better time, im aware first couple of runs, ill be done in like 10 minutes, but after that im hoping its rather easy to just push up the distance(it certainly was with mountain biking) Other thing I'm slightly worried about is my weight, im currently around 16-16.5 stone, which i was intending to be on being 14ish stone for summer, but im of a fairly large build, is 14 stone still too much to be carting round 13 miles?? i could go beanpole thing and probably hit 12-12.5, but I dont think I want to be that thin, as I like having some muscle. One of the lads at the gym did the great north run, in sub 2 hours, and is fairly big built, but he dropped from 15 stone to 14 stone for the run, and stopped lifting heavy weights 3 months before, but he has said he wished hed dropped another stone off, and stopped lifting weights like 5 months before(which for me is now). Once ive got technique/pace sorted, can i substitute other forms of cardio to get my fitness up(or even if i was used to pounding out quickish times on the xc bike for 2 hours, is there a chance i dont need to stick in too much effort with regards fitness) just that i find pounding out the miles on foot to be pretty boring.

yea, safe to say im not going i dont think(as with simpsons logic, last year we did 7 days at mallorca rocks for £230, and you could get all you could drink offers at the top night clubs for between 15 and 25 euros. all you can eat chinese was well under a tenner, compare that to £6 for a burger and £4 a pint) But yea, it used to be massive, tickets are still available for god sake. Line up is toss part from the offspring, only issue ive got is a bunch of people want to go back, for one last crack it it(or to kick the dead horse weve flogged for far too long). And so far no one has gone "lets book summer" theyve all been "Well have to see about it"

NO TOMMY YOU LISTEN TO ME, YOU WERE NOT THERE AT THE START OF THE INTERVIEW. See with this whole argument, im seeing 2 distinct levels of belief in the NWO, Matts perfectly believable several large companies have ties to the goverments of major countries, and they do deals to benefit themselves. but to me thats not NWO or some big conspiracy, its how businesses work, and anyone that doesn't realise that, is destined for a life working in foot locker. We then have people like Dave spouting the exact crap that comes out of alex jones etc mouth, which is in my opinion, a bunch of absolute bull crap made to make people like alex jones extremely rich and give a mediocre radio chat show host more fame than he deserves. All I want from Dave is evidence/a discussion/answer to my points, but the trouble is, I seem to think he struggles to find answers for them, because the whole conspiracy story(as thats what it is) is flawed, and he cant give me the answers, because he cant find any which fit. So instead we get youtube links to people talking about something irrelevant. Not to mention the amount of stuff Alex Jones has said, and its been complete and utter bullcrap (Martial/Marshall/Marshmallow law in the usa, with closed borders, dirty bombs, smallpox based terrorist attacks, massive millenium melt down). Its easy to find a past event, and make up a pretty out there,but semi coherent story about how it happened.