Nice collection you've got there Matt. Oddly, I've only got a handful.

The postman has brought me a credit card statement which contains my SPOT subscription, no prior warning as has been discussed previously, it's £216.71 that includes £6.29 Non Sterling Trans Fee as it's in Euro, Ireland. I should get my cousins to pay it, as they live in Ireland and at least I'd save that bit.

Clearly this is to do with the exchange rate (Brexit) but that's almost a £100 increase on 2 years ago!

Think mine will be staying de-activated/un-subscribed for a while. Anyone want to buy a Spot Gen 3?

It's quite a price hike. I know they charge a maintenance fee the second year on. Someone was asking me about it on the BB200, as I said to them, if the maintenance pays for someone to go up and polish the satellite then I'd be happy to pay it I suspect it's just a way of charging more.

A Revelate Feedbag and a couple of tick remover cards courtesy of Andy at Backcountry.scot

Not had any ticks attached for years and always used the fingernails to pinch and lift. Times move on.

sean_iow wrote:The postman has brought me a credit card statement which contains my SPOT subscription, no prior warning as has been discussed previously, it's £216.71 that includes £6.29 Non Sterling Trans Fee as it's in Euro, Ireland. I should get my cousins to pay it, as they live in Ireland and at least I'd save that bit.

Ouch that's steep!

I called them up in August a month prior to the renewal to cancel. They offered me a discount which I accepted. This is my first renewal with them so it'll act as a benchmark for the future. Should for everyone else here too!

A card to say I had a parcel to collect. I'm waiting for some fabric from Extremtextil to make a new bivi bag. The local parcel office is only open from 07:00 to 13:30 so I'd have to go before work. I got up early, left home at 07:00 and peddled down to the parcels yard. The package was tiny and weighed hardly anything so I stuffed it in my rucksack and headed off. As I rode to work I was thinking that if the fabric is this light then I wouldn't need to make the bag tapered to save weight I could just have a giant rectangle and loads of room inside On arriving at work I was quite excited and the extra 6 hilly miles to go to the post office on the way were worth the effort. On examining the package it hadn't come from abroad On opening it I discovered it was the hearing aid batteries I'd ordered for my Mum Looks like I get to go the long way home from work as well to drop them off.

I sold my old BMW for £50 more than I bought it for (despite adding 14,500 miles to it so it was at 216K!) so I used some of the cash to get:

A pair of 5 ten impact VXI shoes from their online clearance

A 30T Renthal chainring from my local LBS – I then realised I needed different chainring bolts. They only had purple in stock (funny that they'd not sold) – so I’m back to the 80’s now...

A Paramo Torres gillet and Ciclo Jacket from the Paramo store in Marylebone – months of cycling past it most days have finally taken their toll… Most impressed with them so far on the commute and dog walks. Purchase any jacket and you get any cleaning products half price, and registering your first purchase gets you an extra 10% off the total spend. Yay!

New frame/fork arrived yesterday(Vagabond). Planning to build a drop bar trail bike for the local stuff, with the option of light offroad bikepacking etc.
Its a small so hopefully this will be short enough/high enough for a comfortable all day ride. I wanted a '17 model in white, as I am not that keen on the new colour, but they had just sold the last small.
He offered me this years for a good price, it felt rude to say no really Hopefully built by next weekend. Pics to follow.

Dr Nick wrote:I sold my old BMW for £50 more than I bought it for (despite adding 14,500 miles to it so it was at 216K!) so I used some of the cash to get:

I hope some of the cash went towards that E46 SC'd Schnitzer machine

t shirt arrived ta stu

T shirt arrived, thanks Stu.
No, I can't wear it out for the shame of not having earned it but it brings back childhood memories so it's a keeper.

Birthday stuff

JohnClimber wrote: Birthday stuff

Lucky boy, some nice kit there!

I've just received a S2S inflatable pillow - a little bit of luxury. As I've got older the days of no pillow (or a lumpy dry bag) have become more and more uncomfortable.

Looks nice that John

A bag of those Drok USB lights that Stu reviewed a while ago and a couple of OS maps.

'Pillow' - and now of course Peter you'll have the additional hours of pleasure and entertainment contemplating the myriad-ways-of-stopping-pillow-sliding-off-mat conundrum. My current favoured method is zip up my fleece , slide pillow inside up to the neckhole, then slide all that down over the mat and tuck the sleeves under the mat. Not keen on the pillow inside sbag ploy. Don't forget the sliver of tyvek groundsheet..

RIP wrote:'Pillow' - and now of course Peter you'll have the additional hours of pleasure and entertainment contemplating the myriad-ways-of-stopping-pillow-sliding-off-mat conundrum. My current favoured method is zip up my fleece , slide pillow inside up to the neckhole, then slide all that down over the mat and tuck the sleeves under the mat. Not keen on the pillow inside sbag ploy. Don't forget the sliver of tyvek groundsheet..

One thing always leads to another, eh Reg!?! Like the fleece idea - would work with a base-layer too (d'you know, I haven't used fleece in anger for a while now!). Bit like the sleeping bag liner sleeving the mat under a quilt idea. Will have to see how I get on. Velcro tabs on the mat? Duck tape around my head? Sew to a beanie? Arghhh...

sunrace 11-46 cassette 11 speed xt drivetrain mmm looks great

psling wrote:

RIP wrote:'Pillow' - and now of course Peter you'll have the additional hours of pleasure and entertainment contemplating the myriad-ways-of-stopping-pillow-sliding-off-mat conundrum. My current favoured method is zip up my fleece , slide pillow inside up to the neckhole, then slide all that down over the mat and tuck the sleeves under the mat. Not keen on the pillow inside sbag ploy. Don't forget the sliver of tyvek groundsheet..

One thing always leads to another, eh Reg!?! Like the fleece idea - would work with a base-layer too (d'you know, I haven't used fleece in anger for a while now!). Bit like the sleeping bag liner sleeving the mat under a quilt idea. Will have to see how I get on. Velcro tabs on the mat? Duck tape around my head? Sew to a beanie? Arghhh...

Squiggle of seam-sealer on the back on my head usually does the trick.

Or set up on a slope, take the cassette off the bike and slip that under the downward-facing ear to act as a chock.

Nice Criterion (cumulus) down jacket courtesy of Backcountry Scot.
Remarkably warm.

Thank you Mr Taxman for my refund



After this years Bivi a Month finished the wife who won't join me under canvas has accepted my challenge of a "Wild CamperVan a Month" for 2018.

That must’ve been some tax refund John!

Teetosugars wrote:That must’ve been some tax refund John!

I now have a good accountant.....
It was one hell of a bargain to be honest found hidden away on Gumtree in a terribly written and photographed advert.

I recon once tarted up and if sold in the spring on the right channels I could make £4k to 5k if I was to sell it on (if we didn't get on with it).

You'll make something on that. Looks tidy.

Just got a Trailstar copy from Mariner. Going to have a play with it tomorrow.

Will that van get through the mcdonalds drive through John? Burger king might be better !