taratibu

Yes, fair point about the 2 Round Sheffield runs, which I had forgotten. I hadn't really considered those runs outside Sheffield either, so my comment was based on the 'in-city' runs. I do the Sheffield half every year, but have to say that I don't think the route is particularly good, nor that of the Great Yorkshire run when compared to the Percy Pud. Anyway, I'm still keen to get the chance to earn a Christmas Pudding, so if anyone has a place that they can't use please let me know!

I agree with the last bit of that, but I do also think that the Percy Pud is a great race. It's local, run by the local running club, relatively flat and on a reasonably nice course, I.e.not like the great Yorkshire run. The other local one is the ten-ten-ten, but the paths are a little narrow and so things get very congested , so the Percy pud is still my favorite.

The race is already sold out! All 2000 places went in under 48 hours. I tried to sign up this morning and they had already gone. If any of the lucky (or at least better organised than me) entrants can't do this for any reason and are willing to transfer their place, please let me know. thanks

how about this for spitting the dummy out?!

Can anyone tell me what the building that is now the big Barclays was BEFORE it was the Gap? It's driving us mad trying to remember!

Europa Prestige, near the train station. Cheaper than MB main dealer but still MB approved, and great service too. HTH.

We did this for a colleague at work who went on a round the world trip - there used to be a book binders near the forum (on Eldon street) who used to bind university theses and dissertations, so we had a book made up from blank paper, leather bound and embossed with her name on it. We also had a $50 bill laminated in the back page with a "break in case of emergency" note... I can't remember how much we paid as it was years ago, but you could try similar binders.

I have - I'm originally from Dar-es-Salaam. I haven't been back for a while, but used to love going to Zanzibar as it was always a lot more chilled out than the mainland, and the pace of life seemed much slower. As always, it depends what you want to do. There are some great places to go snorkelling and scuba diving, some lovely beaches, lots of Arab ruins and some great spice tours. Walking round Stone Town is a good experience and a real eye-opener, but if you're after something more 18-30s then it's probably not the place for you. you could also try aim4africa (google them - I haven't posted enough to be able to add a link). I haven't used them personally, but have a friend who used them to book his honeymoon to Z'bar and he seemed pleased with them.

The problem with wind turbines in built up areas is that the wind funnelling and vortexes created by obstructions significantly reduce the amount of power that you can generate. In the case of the B&Q version, £1500 gets you a 1kw turbine, but this is the max output and in most cases when the wind is blowing it will generate about 30% of that (300W), or enough to power 3 lightbulbs. 'Big' wind on the other hand is very effective if sited in the right place. This requires extensive surveys (year long anemometer readings and acoustic monitoring), but I don't see wind turbines as being nearly as ugly as electricity pylons.