Bobba

Now that the nights are drawing in we will now doubt be subjected to additional cyclists behavioural problems i.e. their idea of correct lighting, or otherwise. This week I have seen ones with no lights, bikes with tiny little lights of no use whatsoever (except if they're knocked over they can say I did have lights guv) and the ones that really get my goat are those brighter than car headlights, sometimes worn on the helmets so that they are way over the height limit for cars. And, some are stroboscopes in design which could be detrimental to pedestrians with problems with epilepsy. I've seen advertised the Niterider 3600 Pro which, shining at 3600 lumens, is currently the brightest bike light. Whereas a typical car headlight produces about 1500 lumens. OK for night mountain biking in the countryside perhaps but not in the city where it distracts drivers. Without legislation on brightness, which will never happen, it's yet another problem we will have to put up with.

I do believe that Magic Mushrooms can become an acquired taste. Although not from personal experience!!

As an accountant I was once a Finance Officer for a mail order Co. one of our clients was a high street chain which always took early settlement discount even when paying late and despite our invoices stating 30 day settlement. Their entitlement was in their conditions on the reverse of their purchase order. Many times a local branch would email an order. It didn’t quote a PO No which followed some time later. Fed up with their business practice I raised an invoice reclaiming all of the misclaimed discounts. Over a year it was in the £’000’s .Part of their response was it was their business practice and if we didn’t like it they’d place orders elsewhere! My owner/ director was incensed at the bullyboy tactics. We identified a senior director in their organisation and sent him a Letter before Action. The invoice was paid with an apology and orders continued. we had the time, resources, commitment and energy to do this. But for sole trader the circumstances may dictate putting up with it. Sadly.

Agreed. But perhaps we're showing our age!! JDog's post set the memories going. In a modest way I was part of the then music scene. Playing in two local bands from 1963- Dec1968. Our management often managed to book us as support band to groups appearing in either the Bristol Corn Exchange or Bath Pavilion. Bands such as Cream (Bath Pavilion), Steam Packet (which comprised Brian Auger and the Trinity plus Rod Stewart, Long John Baldry and Julie Driscoll) Georgie Fame and the blue flames, John Mayall, Yardbirds. Wayne Fontana, Hermans Hermits, Dave Dee, Dozey, Beaky, Mick and Tich. Even Lulu and the Luvers (Coleford Royal British Legion). Not all to every ones choice! Best memory? Cream, Bath Pavilion when they started to wheel in the speaker cabinets we thought it would never end! To my mind their best number that night was NSU. Deafening. Perhaps it's rose coloured glasses syndrome, but I think we got more for our money from the bands in those days. Once on stage it was often difficult to get them off. And no false encores.

A report in The Times today (can’t do links on my ‘phone). The Road Collision Reporting Guidelines are out for consultation. Under the Guidelines it is proposed that the abuse of cyclists in the media would be treated as a hate crime. Careful what you say 😂😂😂

I renewed my SGC last year and the requirement for a med cert was not raised by A&S Constabulary and I was not contacted by my GP. Some weeks back I required an Outpatient Referral letter from my GP and item 3 on the list of medical matters was "Shotgun application cert". No fee was asked for at that time. I must be among the lucky ones.

I’ ve an AimCam. Wouldn’t recommend one. Very tiny camera mounted on shooting glasses. Extremely difficult and fiddly to line up and easily knocked out of alignment. Playback slow motion not easy to master to see where you’re missing.👎

Ditto. And I say that as someone who has a SP1 Sporter with adjustable comb. It felt OK in the shop and haven’t adjusted it since. A case of marry in haste and repent at leisure it spends most of its’ life in the cabinet. Would sell at right price!

Out of idle curiosity I looked at the option of a replacement adjustable stock from Beretta. For a SP1 Sporting, with foregrip they’re s €927 (£830) I wonder how this price compares to alterations by a gunsmith?

Ditto. Sort of mucks up my PW browsing enjoyment. Perhaps the mods can Find a software patch so that the forum works on all platforms.

Scully, understood. Thanks.

Ouch! Gosh Scully, I wasn't contradicting you or picking an arguement with you. Merely confirming your point from my own experience.

I once experienced this slim (and slimmer) chance. It can happen. Quite unbelievably in my case by what proved to be a trespasser walking her dog on the other side of the hedge in which I was sat shooting over stubble. Part way through the morning I became aware of what at first looked like two schoolgirls walking around my car parked in the corner of the field, so I wandered down to see what was going on. Getting closer I could see it was two female community support officers. We had a friendly chat, they noted my SGC No and I asked them why they were there. They said a woman had reported a man attacking a hedge with a large machete and then sitting with a gun as if waiting for somebody. She thought it suspicious and dangerous so she reported it. I've never experienced or heard of anything similar before or since that event. But yes, it can happen.

It must be difficult for the younger folk to relate to those times (1955). Looks like Nick Hewer and I are the same age. It wasn't that long post-war. Food rationing ended in 1954. Many families shared rented accommodation. We did. Fortunately it was my mothers sister and her family but with a tyrannical maternal grandfather in the attic. A bit like the Adams family without the humour! My dad was a panel beater. I was lucky. I had a dad. Three of my mates didn't because their fathers never returned from the war. For most there was certainly no spare cash for holidays, you made good with what you had. Fortunately I joined the Scouts. I went from Cubs to Rover Scouts leaving aged 18 yrs. We didn't realise it at the time but it was team building and getting on with people you wouldn't necessarily choose as a friend. And camps were your holiday. But, as Nick says, many of the things we did then would cause problems for today's parents. For example, We went to camp in a removals van. Kids and kit all lumped in the back. No safety belts. We used to build tree platforms to test our rope work and sleep up in the trees, roped in. We'd try and cross rivers with poles and rafts with no buoyancy aids - they didn't exist. Rock climbing with sisal ropes. We even scaled the Avon gorge adjacent to the Bristol Suspension Bridge in Ex WD daps/plimsoles "Made in Pakistan" . We built fires, yes, real flames lit by matches, we were considered responsible to use them, and cooked on open fires. Carried at least two knives - one practical one like a green river knife, and one for show- generally a bone handled job. Sometimes also the exWD clasp knife single blade and Marlin spike. We did night hikes at 16-17yrs unsupervised. A compass, map, plan and a bivouac bag. Most of it not allowed today what with insurance policy conditions, HSE, and knife laws. Good memories and I'm happy to have had that experience.

The same Tony Abbott who says that elderly coved-19 patients should be allowed to die to reduce the economic costs of lockdown. This, of course, raises the question as to at what point do we become "elderly"? Bearing in mind the Abbott is 62 yrs of age!

Indeed. All of this is educative for me. We have access to the farm Polaris and by agreement scoot around margins where they exist - although there are not many.. Perhaps our permission doesn't claim payment. Perhaps the additional yield by not having them exceeds any subsidy payments. I'm curious. I must enquire. Soil compacting is another topic I've not encountered. Our permissions are exclusively arable so very large tractors and spraying trailers, combine harvester and grain trailers and heavy bails on wagons will compact the soil. It's never crossed my mind that for some it's a problem. Although, I did read sometime ago, that soil compaction is under consideration as an aspect of EU soil protection policy.

Me too. Mine is the Osteo version. Left hip replaced, knees knackered, right knee needs doing - too much skiing over the years (not now!). Right hip agonisingly painful. Naproxine 500mg supplemented by paracetamol. Starting to use a stick. NHS say 28 days to see a consultant and 36 weeks thereafter for op. ie 10 mths total. Horrifying wait. We are having to consider digging deep. Fortunately my shooting buddy is like a mother hen as I hobble around trying to be useful. Ibopfufen tablets are a big no no with Naproxine. Is there anything on the info leaflet which says the gel is ok with certain anti inflammatory tablets? Thanks.

Sympathies. Mrs B has recently developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome which is a very painful wrist problem in both wrists. Referred to a specialist GP the advice is wrist splints, overnight bedtime, for 8 weeks and Naproxine 500 mg. If this doesn't work it's an operation.....waiting time? Unknown.

Things may not always be what they seem to be. There's software out there that makes an incoming call from, say, Thailand, look like a local number (eg Bradford) when it pops up on your screen. My wife's younger brother, sadly now deceased, used to do Commision sales when living in Thailand and that is how his employer operated. These days I do not answer calls on my landline if the No is not in my directory.

Thank you one and all Sorry, can not use this one Ben. B-in-law in Corfu spends most of his time glued to his computer studying the GG's. Thanks for this one Chris. Mrs B is taken by it so it's this one this week and one of the others when next it's our turn to choose.

It started in lockdown but lingers on. The upside is that as we cannot travel it keeps us talking with friends and family abroad. Corfu, Singapore etc. And something to do when Sunday lunch is in the oven. I'm stuck for topics - old age !!! So ideas welcommed please. So far we've covered Horses, Games & Pastimes, The human body, Entertainment, Geography, science & Nature, Food & drink, modes of transport, Xmas, british Fauna, Fun facts, colours, pandemics, religion, general knowledge. Thanks.

For those with personal memories of wearing knitted swimming costumes suggests that we're all gentlemen of a particular age (group). The comments brought back memories of the local corporation baths in Kingsdown, Bristol. The springboard was anything but. More a thick slice of tree trunk. Wearing my newly knitted trunks I recall jumping off the board and surfacing with trunks around my ankles due to the weight of water. very embarrassing. As already said, climbing out of the pool with one hand holding up your trunks. But times were different then. Make do and mend. So knitted trunks were the order of the day.

Paint them. Print photo of pigeon on A4 paper. Take to B&Q paint mixing dept for sample pots of both shades of grey. (They scan colours to get matching colour mix) obviously you don't say why you need it, just looking for 'pigeon grey colours!. White emulsion for the bars. Cheaper than new purchase.

I did not do it myself by experimenting with comb raisers / stock extenders from fleabay. That is why I Went to a Professional gun fitter / gunsmith who determined my personal quirks for the gun fit and adjusted the stock accordingly. In very crude terms Worrall, they put the stock in a machine and bend it. I recommend you See a professional, as does JohnfromUK. So come on Grand dad dig deep. That's what we grand dads are for 😇 ATB

Gosh, that brought back memories of my first gun fit with Nigel Teague where we went through this process repeatedly after which he determined (my crude description) that I was looking along the barrels at 10 to the hour so there was a need to put a cast in the stock and also drop the stock a tad. There's an interesting article on theyorkshiregent.com on how to fit a shotgun to yourself.