AK350Z

Peadogeddon episode, epic.

As you can see from the video above, there are zero high consequence jumps at 'Degla. Everything is rollable. If anything, the only "black" part of Llandegla is the effort needed to get back up all the hills at the end of the sections. You have to remember that Llandegla is like 1 hours drive away from about 10 million people, and with all the inner city scroats from liverpool and manchester going there at the weekends, they can't afford to have loads of jumps that are going to cripple people if they **** it up. Get yourself there with some fresh legs, take your time, do all the black bits (which is basically all the actual good bits), and see what you think then.

Moral of the trip is: Llandegla. Not as @*!# as it used to be.

Fair to say that got me sweating a bit too! Actually, what I can't actually believe is the womans reactions, a few half hearted protests and then basically goes along with it. Most peoples wives/GFs would have murdered the driver themselves if they were decent human beings.

Happy birthday Hen!

I see what you did there. Put less bluntly, on the flip side, America has a much greater culture of philanthropy than most countries: Individual and Family Philanthropy 88% of households give to charity.1 The average annual household contribution is $2,213 while the mean is $870.1 Americans gave $298.3 billion in 2011. This reflects a 3.9% increase from 2010.2 Corporate giving held steady in 2011 at $14.55 billion.2 Foundation giving increased in 2011 to $41.67 billion--a 1.8% increase from 2010.4 In 2011, the largest source of charitable giving came from individuals at $217.79 billion, or 73% of total giving; followed by foundations ($41.67 billion/14%), bequests ($24.41 billion/8%), and corporations ($14.55 billion/5%).2 In 2011, the majority of charitable dollars went to religion (32%), education (13%), human services (12%), and grantmaking foundations (9%).2 International Affairs organizations experienced the largest giving increase in 2011, receiving 7.6% more than the previous year, making the two-year increase more than 15%.2 Charitable giving accounted for 2% of gross domestic product in 2010.2 Historically, charitable giving rises about one-third as fast as the stock market.3 It is estimated that between $6.6 trillion and $27.4 trillion in charitable bequests will be made between 1998-2052.5 It is estimated total charitable contributions will total between $21.2 to $55.4 trillion in between 1998-2052.5 By the year 2055, some $41 trillion will change hands as Americans pass on their accumulated assets to the next generation.5 95% of high net worth households give to charity.6 62% of high net worth donors cite “giving back to the community†as a chief motivation for giving.6 Last year, the greatest percentage of high net worth households gave to educational (80 percent) and basic needs (79 percent) organizations, followed by 69% to the arts, 65% to health related organizations, and 65% to religious organizations.6 In 2010, 140 of the largest charities reported receiving $1.2 billion in online donations, compared to the $887 million received in 2009.7

I think this sums up my feelings nicely about the 4C:

Yeah, best start hoping for a few breaks in the showers!

Double bubble yesterday. Had myself a nice loop of the Duddon though the day, then met up with a couple of mates for a tuesday night ride from Muncaster. We totally didn't get lost on the trackless moors. Honest! So all in, 28 miles and 4,381ft. Had to make the most of it, as it's a touch wet today! Couple of pics from the Duddon, was a bit odd, as I felt like I had no energy at all, but Strava says I hit loads of PBs!

Much better, think i'd still have it on the '86 though.

it's probably just the difference between the plug thread size i.e. M14, and the width across the flats of your hex socket - 10mm.

VW Up.

Give me a ****ing break.

I think you need to read the post a bit closer....

I've always used Collinite 915 on the Zed, and it seems to be pretty bombproof. To much hassle for El Punto though. That 476 is interesting though, and cheap enough to try out too...

I had a cooking one on courtesy hire and thought it was a bit bobbins. The Qashqai I had last year was a far nicer drive, and doesn't waste load space with funky body panels.

Left hand side is the Armour All.

Cheers guys, it's one of my favourite treats to head over there. And as Dave noticed, the cakes (or indeed the fry-up at Hartside cafe) don't do any harm either! I though christmas had come early the other year when they re-surfaced the majority of the pass, that hairpin is perfect, like something you'd find on a circuit. Almost perfect sighting, especially coming up - there's virtually no danger of missing someone coming the other way. Nice and wide, with not to much gradient, so you can even have a wee go coming downhill too. Anyone half decent with photoshop etc? For the calendar entry I could do with the originals jazzed up a bit - just basic stuff like saturation, colour balance etc, I can't do it. Maybe a job for Andrew?? (Clown)

If it lasts another week or two, I'll certainly consider some for sprucing up the commuter mobiles.

There's a nip in the air, and I'm nowhere near Pearl Harbour. (Apologies! ) Thought I'd have a wee run out as it was sunny. There's a stiff north wind blowing, and the temps are back down to single figures. My new pads need bedding in, so I headed off to Hartside and a bit of shopping nearby. I must say, I hadn't yet tried any real shenanigans on the Falken 452s fitted to the "Team" LMGT4s since buying them in the spring. After today I can definitely say they don't have the outright grip of the RE050s, by some margin in fact, although it was pretty cold. What they did do however, was break away lovely and smoothly at the limit. No spikyness, just really progressive and easy to gather up. It really made for fun times at sane speeds on the second gear corners, especially the one below! Might get round to buying the Super Sports next summer, the Falkens are getting on a bit now, but I'll certainly be looking to have another trip out soon. : Think this might be a calendar entry? Melmerby Bakery... ...for tea and cake! One more of that lovely hairpin, just ignore the, err, slightly marked tarmac.

Great car, he obviously uses it rather than looks at it, just check the bumper trim flapping in the breeze! Exhaust is a bit OTT for me personally, but otherwise bob on.

Anyone who's watched an EVO magazine online video can't have failed to notice the heavy ads for this product, and as I got a freebee sachet with my subscription, I thought I'd try it out in a 50/50 test. This is the product, I just got a tester though: For comparison, i dug out the closest thing I had to an all in one - some Chemical Guys Jetseal 109. Possibly not the best match, some other liquid wax would have been better, but I wanted to compare ease of use mostly. The test subject was the good old punto work shed. The car was washed as normal with Megs Hyperwash, and half the bonnet was treated with the Armour All, half with the Jetseal. Initially both halves beaded well, although there was a definite improvement in shine from the Armour All side. I drove the car as normal for two weeks, A and B roads, muddy lanes etc. Then took a snap after a rain shower: Applied a bit of hosepipe to see what was happening on the other half: The Armour All appeared to have held up well for the first fortnight, especially as it's a very quick application. You could do a full car in 15 mins. To extend the test, I washed the car with Megs again, then I quickly clayed and waxed the Jetseal half. The wax used was Dodo Orange Crush. Perhaps a more fitting test, although the Armour All is two weeks old now, but lets see how we go...

I don't really know much about the system, but the couple of times I've been out of work and eligible for JSA, the whole jobcenter thing was more hassle than it's worth for £60 a week. They weren't really set up to deal with someone with a trade and degree, so the job database was no use. I last got made redundant in 2007, and after my initial meeting at the dole office, I just ended up sacking it off and labouring for my mates scaffolding company for a few days a week for minimum wage. It was really good craic actually! It's better for your self esteem, and I could do my own job hunting on my days off. I agree that in order to have the "real" benefits lifestyle or whatever, you actually need to be on sickness benefit or similar. In a lot of cases the "sickness" is self inflicted. I used to go out with a girl who was from a council estate up here. Her mum was on DLA (i think) due to her alcoholism, her father was registered carer and so received carers allowance in lieu of work. Due to the booze, the daughter was born with mild cerebral palsy (Had a bit of trouble walking, but much improved thanks to he good old NHS). Two other daughters had children at a young age and qualified for their own council houses, one had a partner who worked, but basically lived in the council house on the quiet. Now, my ex's family had two cars via the two lots of DLA coming in, sky tv and and a LCD telly that paid for weekly for god knows how long. Outwardly it might have looked quite excessive from your Mail mans point of view, but the reality was considerably less rosy, and they certainly weren't living it up. A lot of it could have been sorted early on by giving the mother the support she needed, but I don't think that support was around in the 80s. It was all very sad. I'm not even sure I've furthered this debate, but these are just my experiences of it.

Well the night riding has started again! Past couple of uesdays have been spent going round Dent and Crag fell. This years el cheapo light du jour: http://www.ebay.co.u...984.m1497.l2649 Singapore built, certainly seems better than your average nine quid P7 sweatshop rubbish. And liked this comaparson of the Bronson on 26" wheels vurses the marketing mans preference: