StreetCowboy

I have some sympathy with the OP. If we were to rank The Clangers, Star Trek and Star Wars, then there would be no argument bar placing for second and third.

You can kid yourself that things were better when you were young, but change is not a new thing. It is unfortunate that your prejudices and mine have passed their sell-by date, but young people can forge on ahead and make the world in their own ideal, not bound by the inherited stupidity of you and me. The best that we can hope is that by pedagogy, we can inculcate our own prejudices in the youth of today, and maybe prolong the age of us dinosaurs a few years longer. My children are too polite to say "...or not", and I am sure they view me in the same light as my mother, and as I view her late mother. Old age is a terrible thing, though fortunately mostly for those around us, rather than ourselves.

How do you mean “stupid tones?” Most people in the world speak tonal languages,and the fact that you and I struggle is our shortcoming, not theirs. Thai people seem to cope with English ok.

A bold endeavour! There’s nothing that gives you a thirst more than a few bevvies, bar maybe an excess. Back in the day, I’d go to the pub for my dinner, maybe a couple more, pop down to see Cliff or HankMarvin in the Reef, and then flag a taxi into town to get into trouble. I’m older, sadder, and maybe wiser now, The Reef has closed, and taxis are few and far between in these Grab days.

I would describe myself as robust rather than humungeous, and they’re 32 spoke wheels. I’ve not even been loading up two cases of beer, due to the slightly narrower carrier compared to the previous shopping bike. That bike also suffered from broken spokes… Anyway, the rear wheel is in the shop, the bike is up on the stand, I cycled my road bike into the office today with a backpack, and recommissioned the mountain bike to cycle across to the pub for dinner and to buy milk and beer from the supermarket next door.

I’ve pretty much had enough of broken spokes. As you know, I respoked the wheel of my old shopping bike shortly before it’s careless loss, and replaced it a few months later. I fixed one broken spoke at my expense on the replacement, and took the bike back to Giant to fix two more under warranty within the year. In the last three months, it has accumulated three more, and I have pretty much had enough of it. Anyone that blames my tremendous - possibly excessively - manly figure had better be prepared to break into a run if they say that to my face. Anyway, I’ve had enough of broken spokes, and I am swithering between completely respioking the wheel or swapping the cassette with my mountain bike wheel….

For motivating songs, Ivor Cutler's "I'm Happy" takes some beating.

That is a really interesting question. For me, as a monotheist, I would expect God, in his omniscient omnipotence, to have everyone’s interests in mind, regardless of the self-interested blathering of the tonsured or the beardy As a polytheist, one would need to direct your pleas to the relevant authority, whether it be the God of Mechanical Travel, TinnHau, Goddess of Mercy to Travellers and those upon the Sea, or Lord Guan, god of justice and rigorous adherence to rules, as well as patron of both the police force and triads. As a Buddhist, I am sceptical that any plea for intervention might help, and the best that you might wish that whatever mishap might afflict you, you can address with stoic fortitude knowing that you are repaying previous errors and storing karma for a future life. God looks after the careful; the devil can find opportunities for the careless.

Travelators should be safe for use by the stupid, the badly laden, intoxicated etc. there is no requirement for a minimum level of competence for riding a travelator, unlike controlling a 2-tonne high speed vehicle in the public street, for which a minimum competence is expected. Staying alert, controlling your baggage and looking where you are going is always good advice, but regardless of any contribution of the victim, the travelator comb plate should have ensured safety from major incident.

My replacement front wheel (purchased in 2016 to replace a twisted rim on my road bike following a mishap) is an acknowledged barsteward of the first order for replacing tubes and tyres. So I relegated that wheel to my mountain bike, which was rarely used by my dearly beloved (the frame is too small for me, but That didn’t stop me putting in several thousand km back in the day) and occasionally by my buddy’s sister, when she visits. After the last loan, the tyre went flat; my buddy fixed it - and again, before returning the bike in good Nick; and the tyre deflated. My buddy took this as an affront to his manhood, and asked that I let him resolve the problem. Some weeks later, he says I can collect the wheel, but if it suffers a puncture in the future, scrap the wheel and keep the tyre. Schwalbe Marathons rarely suffer punctures on the road, but they’re not easy to fit - especially on that wheel.

That's not how you spell 'penile code'

Tilting your bike is a struggle when you have two cases of beer lashed to the rack, and it is a struggle to clear the beer cases as you lift your leg over. Putting one case in each pannier balances the load, but because they have to be clear behind your heels, the panniers move the centre of gravity to far back and the bike becomes uncontrollably rear-heavy when you tilt it. This can be alleviated by putting a couple of six-packs in the front basket.

The chain is brand new; the chain wheel has 18000 I’m on it. When I checked my notes, my previous chain wheel lasted 19000 km before I upgraded my group set to hydraulic brakes. I reckon a lot of the chain wheel wear happened in the last couple of thousand km; I was told this chain did not need replacing at 5000 km, but maybe I should’ve replaced it anyway, on the basis that it would definitely want replaced before 7500 km.

Thanks! I had a look through my notes - this is my third chain since putting a new groupset on my bike, with approximate mileages 5,000 km 5,000 km 8,000 km, so I reckon a lot of the wear happened in the last couple of thousand km. I suffered a similar problem when I replaced my chain on my old shopping bike after about 5,000 km - the shop did not have a cassette in stock - so I bought a cassette at Decathlon. I guess I will just have to quarantine the big chain wheel until a replacement arrives.

My road bike went in for service, and I picked it up this morning, with its new handlebars, bar tape, gear cables and more relevantly, chain and cassette. It’s an 11-32 in lieu of the 11-28, so I was worried about the small - small. Some adjustment, and that was ok; the mechanic had warned me that the big chain wheel teeth were worn, and since the service the chain has started occasionally slipping under load - particularly big chain wheel to small cogs, no problem with small chain wheel. Based on prior experience, I asked the mechanic to tighten the rear derailleur tension, and I tinkered with the rear derailleur adjustment, which may or may not have improved, but not eliminated the problem. Any suggestions for optimisation, while I await a new chain wheel? I did not suffer chain slip before the service - problem may be new chain, old chain wheel

If your job is shaking hands, then your wage-payer comes second

Some people look on the Salvation Army as charity - I see it as something between insurance and investment.

The girls in the bars are not there for their own pleasure, but for their survival, and to look after their children. We can waste their time, or buy ladies' drinks to help them get by, or pass them money directly. My preference is to make sure that they are OK, and that they don't resent me as a cheapskate, in case - through drink or misjudgement - I ever come to rely upon their goodwill.

I would not be happy with one of my hosts being attacked

If I can be permitted a minor digression, I was working back in the day in Manchester, and, as you know, there was a ... as I tell this, I am wondering about the crediility of the story ... anyway, there was a hardware store at the approach to Picadilly Station, and perhaps I had gone there in my lunch hour, because for sure i recall the subsequent conversation as taking place at Oxford Road.... Anyway, with a bit of Errol Flynn fencing planned for the weekend, I had picked up a sledgehammer on my way home, and as I went down to the platform to be met with an announcement of train delays, a wag in the crowd cried out ":Steady on, mate, it's not that late!". Happy days, made happier by the selectiveness of our memories...

There are normal people who play most sports - probably even yacht racing and polo. But when it comes to fencing, who can resist the homonyms? No-one with a sledge hammer, I suggest.

Back in the day, the Duke of Hamilton took a visiting American - possibly a distant relative by marriage - on a tour round his estate. "Man, my ranch in Texas - it takes me two days to drive round it" "Aye, I had a car like that once, but my man Ian fixed it. Do you want him to help you out?"

You are right about the three musketeers. If we were to grade Australian films, then films sans Mad Max would have to be a pass / fail criterion. But on the specific topic of fencing, I think the Mad Max films - although Australian - have less fencing than for example, The Great Escape. Mel Gibson 0 - 1 Steve McQueen. He's not Rudolph Valentino, but few of us are.

Neither of us have improved it

What was the film in which the protagonists melted the stolen gold into Eiffel Towers? Another example of fencing gang aft agley…