MooN

we're just outside the zone too, but as we go down to Lyon regularly and will be going to stinking hell the UK and back for Christmas we'll be crossing zones where they are obligatory so i've had "all season tyres fitted" but still don't know if they count or not...

you really need to get out more... nearly everybody I know both in france and the UK I met through bikes. Other than that it's family or work colleagues. 3 couples of friends here are not bike related but in 2 of them the guys ride.

Top man! Class!

it used to be absolutely normal for men to go arm in arm of holding hands, but then there was a huge public trial of Oscar Wilde in 1895 for gross indecency and sentenced to 2 years hard labour. That alterered the public perception of any kind of open display of affection between men and is probably the reason for the english being such prudes today when it comes to sexuality or even nakedness in public.

lazy day today, had friends overnight on friday night, was round another friends till I had to pick up the twins from the skating rink at midnight and then drive 30 odd k and back again through thick fog to drop one of their friends home. walked to the boulangerie and back this morning for bread and the sky is think with flights of grey cranes heading south so I guess a cold snap is on the way.

Also, I have been voting stolidly for the same person since the beginning so shall be expecting payment and / or favours in return just as soon as the voting is over

the suspense is killing me! I've been invited to a friends for aperatifs ( so probably won't be back till gone midnight) so i'll miss qll the fun and games of the final countdown... I just don't know how I'm going to deal with not knowing...

Ever since i was a child i have wanted to ride the transsiberien express, Moscow - Vladivostock. That evolved into riding the road.

for years I have been saying to clients that the most dangerous piece of equipement on their boat is the bloody selfie stick (that and the nut behind the wheel)

I can say " my wombat has a puncture" in dutch. which is probably about as useful in everyday life...

just a shame some eejit dumped that red thing in front of it

@XTreme ,you would have pissed yourself laughing had you been a fly on the wall on monday morning in the office, it was my first day "solo" ( ie without the guy I am replacing who'd nursed me through the first month desperately trying to teach me how to use excel properly) I nearly had a fucking panic attack when I realised that about 3 of the automatic links in the spreadsheet werent working and I had no clue as to why or how to fix it.

I used to sail with a load of the Essex county fire brigade back in the day and I remember some of them talking about doing their DEV ( Driving Emergency Vehicles) assesment, which they all referred to as the " Driving with Extreme Violence"

never had any problems with windows 10 and i'm a self confessed technophobe luddite without a clue how any of it actually works. Ive started using windows 11 at work now but dont really see any differences apart from a few functionalities that are slicker and more ergonomic. Having said that, it obviously wasn't me that installed it or set it up...

Chicken biryani at La Commune in Lyon

The book " Lord of the Flies" tells the story of a bunch of public schoolboys who take control of an island cut off from the rest of the world and then collapse into vicious in-fighting. it's a work of fiction, or so I'm told...

Moron. natural selection coming into play i supposee

Ooohhh, i could SO say something rude here…

You be frank and I’ll be Ernest… welcome in

Following the example of FIFA, the International Olympique Committee has attributed the next winter olympiques to the Netherlands.

I agree with Pedro on this one, but also agree that there's a difference between " fine tuning " a picture ( cropping a bit, erasing the reg number, redimensioning etc ) and there's serious photoshop type manipulation like making the sky blue when it wasn't, adding or removing elements, which is a little bit cheating really. where to draw the line and how to decide is the real problem. I would be inclined to make no stipulations at all other than those already in place and people vote for which pic they like best according to their own criteria if it becomes silly people will either stop voting or stop participating.

I know the bloody clients turned into wankers since covid. One more thing that made me have to get out form the boat hire thing. I originally put it down to me getting older but everyone I'e spoken to agrees that it IS the clients that have become shits. I have actually spoken to 2 people in the businees who have ceased hiring out boats and now just run a Marina and repair service, because they couldn't deal with the shits any more.

welcome Saul, no such thing as daft questions, only stoopid answers and there's some world champions for that on here...

one of my kids said she wants a dog for Christmas. We normally have a turkey but if it'll make her happy...