phlegmatist

It's a colloquialism - as in 'bad / badder / even badderer' - not heard a lot in Sheffield, I'll grant you !

Use this site : http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/ And you can work it out near enough exactly. (You need to put Sheffield in the 'Jump to' box, and also click on more options in order to get the drop-down box to select UK). Simon

That chap who used to cycle around town wearing just a cricket box.

Eeek ! Laminate Flooring = bad, Cheap Laminate Flooring = even badder

I'll come and feel it for you if it's that important to you. (Sorry, couldn't resist ).

Assuming, until more detail is known, that it was an accident and not in any way down to any in/action on the driver's part, my thoughts also go out to the driver of the bus; I always imagine that this must be an awful thing to happen to you, and to live with subsequently; added to which it might be his livelihood gone if, as is common, he can't bring himself to drive again.

Try : http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/ You can plot out your route and it will work out the distance for you, and also the elevation along the route. (To get to the Sheffield map, put Sheffield in the 'jump to' box, click on where it says 'more options' which will bring up another pull-down list from which you select United Kingdom). Simon

This is mine : http://www.myspace.com/simonasmith

I was on strike myself today, but I left the picketing to my more hardy determined comrades !

Sorry, I don't quite understand why any paper today would've needed to stage a fake picket, given that all government buildings will have had a real picket line to photograph.

The bus shouldn't be pulling in if there's a bike coming up alongside him in the first place - it should wait until the cycle has gone past before pulling in. If you were in a car, you wouldn't pull in front of an another car in order to park, would you ? Not this tired old chestnut again Road tax isn't a 'subscription' that road users pay in order to be entitled to use the road - amongst other things it goes to pay for the damage that motor vehicles cause to the road - something that can hardly apply to bicycles. Using that logic, pedestrians should pay a fee for stepping off the curb, or crossing the road.

For all the wrong reasons, I would have to say that 'Tesco Express' on West Street has one of the funniest shop names - I do hope they were going for irony.

The people that annoy me, and it particularly happens a lot at the peace garden & high street stops, are that ones that don't bother standing in the queue at the stop but loiter around in the general environs, and then pounce forward as soon as the bus comes.

Why do city planners etc believe nowadays that for something to be 'modern' or attractive it has to be made out of brushed steel with more right angles than a rubics cube ? The bus stops are all gradually being replaced by glass and metal boxes, those new information towers that are springing up throughout the city centre look like razor blades and public seating tends to resemble scrap metal. If they are determined to go for a modern look there are hundreds of innovative talented designers across the country who could come up with attractive interesting designs but, saying that, what's wrong with making a city look attractive with traditional decorative furniture like in other cities across Europe ?

If you don't have any luck getting hold of any sloes, Gordons do a pre-made Sloe Gin. Not quite the same as making it yourself, but very nice nevertherless.

Primark have got some really nice greyish blue ones. Can't remember how much they were, but they were the usual Primark low price.

Of course - that's it. I had a brain fart at the time. As I was typing I knew that reflexive wasn't the word I wanted, but I just couldn't bring intransitive into my head !

As a grammar obsessive myself, a sign that irritates me far more than it should is the one at Abbeydale Road Tesco which reads : 'Please refrain your dog from fouling the footpath' 'Refrain' is a reflexive verb and so can't have an object, only a subject - in other words, you can't refrain something/someone else. It should say 'please refrain from allowing your dog . . ', or perhaps what they had in mind was 'please restrain your dog . . ' As I say, it really shouldn't irritate me as much as it does, but I always find that once you notice something like that, you can't help but read it each and every time you go past.

It always makes me laugh when sad numpties churn out the old 'they don't pay road tax' argument (as has happened a couple of times on this thread). Road tax isn't a subscription that drivers pay for the use of the road, it's recompense for the damage and wear & tear that their vehicles cause to the road. Cyclists cause no damage to the road, so they don't have to pay for the use of the public (note the word public) highway. If cyclists should be taxed for the use of the road, then so should pedestrians be charged for every time they step off the curb.

As a cyclist, I'd just like to point out to the many drivers who don't appear to realise (probably glanced at the highway code 20 years ago and never again since) that the recommended position for riding a bike on the roads is at least 1 metre from the curb and, where practicle in the centre of the lane if you wish. This cuts down the considerable risk posed by broken bottles, drains, stones, litter in the gutter etc. and gives the cyclist enough time to safely move out to pass parked cars. Sorry car drivers if that upsets you - if that doesn't give you enough room to pass, then tough doodoo - you can't pass : learn to live with it. This doesn't mean that you're entitled to pass the cyclist with a matter of millimetres to spare. (Oh, and on the red-light issue - whilst I always stop at red lights, very very occasionally a cyclist has to take some sort of action - for example walking their bike across a junction - if the set of lights has underground sensors, as a bike on it's own is not sufficient to trigger a change, leaving the cyclist potentially standing there for hours).