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Cheers, last time I remortgaged my old flat the lender I was already with had a deal within a few quid per month of the best I could find so I stayed with them & swapped online, it was done in a few minutes - this time our current lender is way off the pace with the best deals so will have to put some effort in regardless... at least we've timed it well I suppose!

Anyone know what the likely difference is between the best mortgage rate i'll get as an average punter via. various comparison sites & the best rate an actual mortgage advisor will get? Current deal is up in a couple of months & looking to fix for 5 yrs, low ltv - anyone looked into this recently & was it worth getting someone else to do the legwork?

Refurbished Chromecast audio for under £10000000 anyone? I bought one last week after dithering on the alternatives a while back - all good apart from the serial # apparently having been removed with a hedge trimmer.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Google-Chromecast-Audio-2nd-Generation-Music-Media-Streamer-Refurbished-FFP-UK/372978387733?hash=item56d73e8b15%3Ag%3AFCYAAOSw33FeY5jl&LH_BIN=1

On the workplace nicknames, we had a "captain cockeggs" as he was convinced he had invented the term, he was absolutely fucking devastated when we consulted the profanisaurus & it was already there

This used to be my winter commuter, started life as an old Charge Filter, was then built up singlespeed with drop bars for a few years after the original groupset disintegrated - I've now jazzed it up for official toddler transport duties with cheap Shimano hydros which squeal like a pig, on-one OG bars (liking those - £7 well spent) and actual working gears as the toddler now weighs much more than she did this time last year & a 10 mile cycle back from the cafe with a headwind and a snoring 3 year old swinging off the back is unpleasant - Alfine chainset with built in super-fly chain guard, 10speed xt rear mech with all the scratches sharpied out - job done.

Nice - that frame is lovely, looks good with the silver finishing kit, but suits the shape of the Thomson... silver Thomson?

Just read through this link - quite good, lots of graphs on the exponential raise in cases worldwide with projected cases etc etc.

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca

Plus you'll get awesome core strength gains from desperately trying to remain stable on the ball & not crumpling to the floor in a mangled heap

Good call though - I used to do some exercises on one of those balls & had to lower the weights for everything to keep stable, great for beginners as it trains your core to help stabilize whatever else you're working

@dicki Another good one for core (& legs) that requires no equipment other than a yoga mat are deck squats, can mix it up & do them single leg too if you want to give your legs a test too

No worries, think Ben at Kinetics uses them too. They did this one for me a couple of years ago, been in regular commuting use since then & still looks good, nice even finish / threads all masked well / no chips or flaking since & the price was pretty good too.

That looks great - I love wishbone seatstays. Out of curiousity what powdercoater did the guy use? I've used a couple in & around Glasgow with varying degrees of success - last frame I had done was at ESP, had heard slightly mixed reviews but it turned out really good, always keen to hear if there's anyone else that does a good job on frames as most can't be arsed & just stick to wheels...

Just to update on this - after another chat with the HR guy today, he emailed me asking if i'd had a chance to think about sharing the footage as they had another disciplinary meeting tomorrow & stressed;

"As I stated this will only be for my own investigatory use and that of my colleague from HR and no one else and will be destroyed after we have viewed this.

Thanks again for your help and apologises regarding this whole situation"

Reading through some of the bullshit replies on here from companies who simply can't be arsed addressing their employees' conduct made me think perhaps I should be accommodating to those who are actually willing to do something about it, regardless if it's a face-saving exercise for them or not.

News just in as i'm typing this

Having just sent over a link to view the file, i've immediately received a slightly corporate but not entirely impersonal response stating they "are very protective over their company values & image, the actions of this individual are a disgrace & will be dealt with in the most serious manner possible. We will let you know the outcome of the disciplinary process & again please accept our sincere apologies"

So, possible vindication for self-righteous two-wheeled motherfuckers everywhere

I don't think it's as much an output issue - round my way it's more the fact they're probably the cheapest billion-giga-candle efforts that spread the light in all directions, apart from the ground, and they're usually pointing forwards at fucking face height to begin with...

Last 10 or so miles of my commute is pretty much rural with no stray light coming in whatsoever, I deliberately use the lowest setting I can actually see with on my bar mounted light - pointed at the ground 15ft in front of me - and an exposure light mounted on my helmet to illuminate where i'm looking, there's a guy I pass regularly that I have to slow to a crawl to pass as I literally cannot see a fucking thing other than his bloody light for about 50ft until he passes me, it's like close encounters of the third fucking kind!

Haha, yeah the commuting bike usually lives by the front door overnight & then mysteriously vanishes every weekday between 6am - 7pm but the weather has seen it abandoned in the corner of the kitchen for a day or 3, one bike lying around is tolerated - the rest are jammed Tetris-style into a big cupboard under the stairs.

I'm happy enough with the stereo as it stands, i've had the cd & amp for about 20 years so it owes me nothing but would probably miss it if I replaced it just for convenience, with the smaller speakers it's quite tidy where it is.

@Chalfie she doesn't mind that - makes a change from our 3 year Old's current Kraftwerk phase, never mind the Disney sing along cd it's "robots" on repeat 😂

Yeah something like that would work - I'd thought a single plinth just slightly bigger than the cd/amp with some of those spongy rubber feet would be the easiest to do but a proper "box" would look better

@dbr that valchromat looks interesting, never seen that before, the marble / granite offcut idea is a good one too - I'd maybe take you up on knocking something up but I'm Glasgow(-ish) based so out of the way a bit!

Here's the offending (to the missus) article as it stands - not the ideal arrangement but sounds not bad & I'm loathe to get rid of it just for convenience...

Anyone any ideas for a platform to sit my turntable on - atop my cd & amp - space is limited so it has to work this way unfortunately... would acrylic or similar work with rubber feet on?

Only place I can have my old cd/amp/turntable is in the kitchen on top of a big 'ol wooden unit, it's a decent size but the speakers are sitting on that too (Q Acoustic 3020 - not bad for the size & price) so it's all stacked up & the turntable overhangs the edge of the cd player a bit so I was thinking of something to make it look less like the forgotten pile of old hifi bits in the corner of your local cash converters...

So far i've downsized the speakers so they sit next to the stereo (big standmount Tannoys are apparently not wife-approved kitchen furniture, even when i put plants on top...) & put an old Arcam DAC I had hooked up to it into storage to minimize the amount of "stuff" there so it's as pared back as I can go without deciding "Fuck. This." & sticking the lot on gumtree (like I may have done with a big Sony STR DA3200 surround amp & half a dozen satellite speakers) and buying another streaming box thing instead...

Yeah that's the stuff - here's a pic of the finished article after 3 liberal coats of Danish oil and how the existing glossy varnished bits look - you're next worktops!

Cheers all - no planer but that's also reminded me I need to plane the edge of the bathroom door after we got it re-tiled (guy made a solid 7/10 job on that so bits of that need pulled out & redone bit I digress...)

I think we've got a heat gun up the loft somewhere so will try that route - the existing varnish is flaking in a number of places so it should hopefully come off fairly easily, the paint stripper just turned it to chewing gum, what was I thinking...

What's the easiest way to remove old varnish from kitchen worktops? Heat gun or sander?

Spent yesterday refinishing one bit - started off with screwfix paint & varnish remover, left it a while then a scrape, bit of a pain in the arse & the smell did not do my hangover any good whatsoever - it did remove the old varnish but also left behind a bit of a sticky residue in the grain which I had to end up hand sanding anyway to make sure it was completely gone before going any further. Looks good now after a bit of effort but I don't fancy going that route again...

Are those the 30mm PDW guards on there or the bigger ones? I've got the same frame with some Matt bluemels in 35mm flavour but always fancied some swanky alloy mudguards for it.

Wrap looks good - I like the original finish but was toying with the idea of putting a glitter clear coat over the painted bit on mine to mix it up a bit.

Great frames though, not the lightest but much stiffer and a bit lighter than the 631 equilibrium it replaced, running 28mm tyres on mine which I think suit the ride better than the 25s that were on previously but it's used primarily for commuting and takes in some pretty shitty surfaces so that possibly explains why.

That's the only thing stopping me - last thing I want is to hand it to his employer so they can use it against him only for him then to be legally entitled access to it for the tribunal & that having some knock-on effect on the Police using it against him...

Having said that - it would be fairly difficult to argue that it portrayed anything other than some daft fucker taking wild swings at a poor unsuspecting, mildly annoying cyclist over a stupid argument about road priorities.

Will see if I can speak to someone at local station to see if it'll hinder anything their side, maybe even the hr guy to see if they would be obliged to give him access to it to defend himself, but yes, ultimately - fuck that guy.

Alrighty - looking for some advice on video evidence of an altercation I had a couple of months back with an angry bastard that had a go at me one morning as I cycled into work (on-site, literally outside the door).

Started off as a standard road rage rant because he couldn't get past me, as soon as I engaged in any "dialogue" he bounded out the car like he was reliving a mis-spent youth being a professional swaggerer & starts squaring up to me & issuing random threats - all pretty run of the mill bullshit that too many of us have probably heard before. At this point i'm mindful that a full scale dust up outside the department might be frowned upon come annual review time so I eventually give up & tell him that i'll phone security and he can argue with them, take a photo of reg plate & start video recording as by this point he's getting a bit more animated... sure enough this tips him over the edge & he starts flinging haymakers - one knocks my phone out my hand & he proceeds to stomp on it, unluckily for him it's camera side up & still recording so it's all captured in glorious technicolour - I retrieve phone & keep filming him as he eventually pisses off.

Long(er) story short, plod have been informed & still waiting to hear what's happening on that front - guy was a service engineer for large company, immediately booted off site & going through disciplinary process now - his hr managed contacted me (indirectly) and asked if they could see the video I have to give them a bit more to work with, said they had dashcam from his van which supported my version of events rather than his but didn't show him swinging his fists around & they wanted something indisputable before they took things further (gross misconduct -> dismissal).

So - would I be foolish to pass over any footage with a police investigation pending? Would I be able to state that it was only to be viewed by his HR / management team or would he be legally entitled to a copy of any evidence against him through employment law? The hr guy seemed pretty genuine & seemed like they were trying to get shot of the guy in case it turned into any bad pr - I told him I wouldn't be posting video online & tagging his company or anything like that but would need to think about who gets access to the footage in the meantime with the Police investigation ongoing...

Anyone any ideas? If not for the wrecked phone I had to replace 2 weeks before Christmas I would probably just let the Police get on with it but also - fuck that guy.

While I'm on the shoe thread, I just found a pic of some bold shoes I spotted a while back - these were in a shop in Budapest & I'm glad it was shut as strong drink had been taken - ooft!

Haha - not quite, just hoisted the trousers slightly to get more of the socks in, although when I cycle to work I usually forget what clothes I have at work & end up at the mercy of a random assortment of things - all sorts of shit that really should not go together, today is mild & the shoes have been replaced by huaraches

Not the spangliest of footwear, but I just picked up a cheap pair of Weejuns to try them out, tassels, fringes and more going on - what's not to like?!

First thoughts are "fuck me that's a lot of sock showing" second thoughts are "could probably go louder on the socks"

Will see if I get on with these, dunno if they'll suit my general attire (tramp) but that has never stopped me in the past & it won't start now

Removing all the cables / power leads & unplugging it all from the mains for a while fixed an issue with my old Sky setup years ago too I recall - was in a rage on the phone to tech support as I was in the middle of watching some vitally important Finnish 3rd division women's football match or suchlike, after frantically shouting at the guy that I had turned it off & on 10 times already he told me very calmly & politely that I had to take all the cables out and unplug from the mains for a few minutes to let all the electrical components properly discharge or something to that effect - then he stayed on the line making sympathetic noises until I was done faffing around down the back of the tv & sure enough it worked a charm, I was tempted to to lie & tell him it didn't work then hang up, but by this time he was probably marching round the tech support office in his pants giving out high 5's so I couldn't take that away from him.