Scotland mostly - through nsl4u

While I'm in here taking a link for a business colleague, May Quigley of Serenityscene, I thought that I'd say that I bought a new kettle for the home last week and it's so 'stunning' in my opinion that I'm happy to tell you about it ...
It's the Breville Spectra. Put it this way (sad though I am) it's such good fun that I am going to take a bundle of photos of it in action and if I get a result will post them as a collage ('it')! Talk about waiting for the kettle to boil, or watching paint dry..this is a stunner and a brilliant piece of concept product engineering.
It's far lighter and quieter than the stainles steel one we got as a present (our choice) which also fell over and started 'shocking' us after 3 months!...warranty return and sexy replacement! Try one, you'll not be disappointed. Cheers, Denis.
 

Road Cycling!

I've been doing more and more these last few years as the running has waned a wee bit. I don't do a lot of miles, just don't have the time, but I wanted to share with you some pet hates....
In simple terms drivers occur to me to fall into a few categories, namely 1/ there's the young maddies who go flying by at considerable speed and don't allow enough distance nor consideration that cyclists 'wobble' (mostly to miss rough road defects) 2/ lorry drivers who just come too close and don't think about their wheels being extremely intimidating when they are 2-3ft away and at shoulder height 3/ I'm sorry to say the grey-haired brigade who seem not to want to cross any white lines (ever) and therefore go past some 2 feet off your side (though much slower than the young maddies!) 4/ the total eejits who decide they cannot wait 20 seconds so will overtake you on blind (totally blind!) corners with half their vehicle on the other lane...consequences..?!!

I'm sure there are far more categories but these seem the prevalent ones to me. Of course the other thing that really hacks me off is the quality of road surfaces, and on 80-100psi tyres, I seem to get white knuckle far too often and indeed even get numb toes - a real pain, and is highlighted worst by really good smooth roads (which are far too few and far between); the only solution I see is to try and pick routes that are more user-friendly.

Finally, the press has been recently quite busy about how there's a great drive to get people walking and cycling (and all the 'great stuff that is being done') but equally there are figures showing declining numbers of for example children cycling...I am not surprised and in truth any parent allowing or encouraging children onto the roads with bikes need their heads looked at...it's a nightmare too often (thank goodness not all the time - certainly though I have 'incidents' nearly every journey...).

I think that 30-40% vehicle drivers are ignorant of cyclists, the cyclist's general safety (exposure!) and the safe distances of clearance and decent speed of passing; these drivers are actually inept and dangerous and it leaves very big questions about how they are trained and what headlines are given about the courtesy and safety required for cyclists.
Many of the road lane widths are far too narrow for the width of vehicles using them (do you look at the side clearances of lorries and buses on the roads between kerbs and centre lines..far too often that are 'hit or exceeded' ?!also seriously demanding for them to 'stay in lane', but, 'who can hurt them?'). The heavy freight traffic causes road surface degradation- probably exacerbated with the increased gross weights allowed these last 20 years. The rubbish and gutter dross is an added nuisance and causes punctures and forces cyclists further out from kerbs and verges. The ''cyclist-friendly'' road markings are a little short of being a joke (though I acknowledge at least an attempt is being made) - without discreet lanes cycling and road traffic really do not mix properly at all, with us on both sides being sometimes a bit too inconsiderate of the 'others'. Finally, I do have to compliment the majority of drivers of vehicles who are very courteous and respectful of the safe-distance-needs which cyclists require - it is totally fine to share the roads with them - thankyou!