Sport to the exclusion of everythng else

As to why – Clive are you are discouraged to ride a bike?

why – Clive are you are discouraged to ride a bike?

That’s rather a personal question!

However, I don’t mind. It’s sitting on a saddle between the legs that’s the problem – an unusual hernia, nicely repaired but the repair would be very difficult to repair again if I did it again (this is the trouble with mesh repairs…).

I’m also not allowed to lift heavy objects. I shouldn’t have been lifting 120kg objects in the first place, and I definitely shouldn’t try again.

I shouldn’t have been lifting 120kg objects in the first place

Dear God! Who are you – Charles Atlas?

Cycling 11 miles to a pub, having two pints and cycling back

My cycling friend Steve (nothing to do with this forum, or RISC OS) and I established, by a careful process of empirical testing, that our safe cycling pints limit was one and a half. One was insufficient; two produced sufficient degradation of the ability to balance as to make us concerned for our personal safety on busy roads. That said, we are not practised drinkers (not that I’m implying anything….)

Dear God! Who are you – Charles Atlas?

No, just a small, solid bloke who wouldn’t take No for an answer. I probably never actually exerted 120kg force, never having the object completely unsupported by anything but me, but probably exerted well over 60kg since I managed to get it (with permission!) out of the skip and onto my trailer, and then off the trailer and onto the workbench at home. It was only later I got a sudden sharp pain in my groin…

Surprised Rick in France doesn’t take it up :-)

Let’s just say I have an issue where it randomly feels like somebody stabbing me in the rear waste outlet, an issue that is greatly aggravated by the seat of a bicycle.

I used to cycle. But as I’m getting old and fat and bits are falling off and way out of warranty, I don’t any more.

even our sworn enemies such as France, which is really sad.

How very English of you, that’s the sad part.
I’ve never perceived the French as the enemy. Nor Germans. Nor… In fact, I prefer to think of random people as “potential friends I’ve not yet met” rather than labelling entire countries as “the enemy”, especially when they’re supposed to be allies in everything that doesn’t involve fish.

UK is allowed several dibs at the pot!

“English exceptionalism”.
Probably the same sort of logic as the baseball “World Series” (where “world” is usually defined as places between California and Maine).

when England had been trying for Centuries

It’s… Complicated.
I kind of imagine the English and the French to have a relationship akin to brothers, with England wanting yet another aiming-at-the-wall contest to prove who is the bestest, and France being like “oh grow up”. ;-)

probably exerted well over 60kg

I think the two heaviest things I’ve carried were mom (about 60kg but she climbed on) and tipping the mower on its side (maybe 35-40kg?). The latter damn near wiped me out, though.

My main carrying weight is 24.5kg (the weight of a full 20l bottle of chemical ick). Some days I do none, some days I have to heave several of them.

As for what you lifted, I’m a small not solid bloke who is quite happy to use “nope” as an answer. ;-)

even our sworn enemies such as France, which is really sad.

How very English of you, that’s the sad part.

Nothing to do with us, you’ve not been keeping up with the sentiments coming out of the Elysee Palace, have you Rick?

UK is allowed several dibs at the pot!

“English exceptionalism”

Quite the oppose, English exceptionalism would be insisting we all compete under the same Great Britain flag like some other sports, but in football the historic nations retain their own teams.

I kind of imagine the English and the French to have a relationship akin to brothers, with England wanting yet another aiming-at-the-wall contest to prove who is the bestest, and France being like “oh grow up”. ;-)

I think the history books accurately reflect who has come off the best each time, with the only exception being when some Vikings who driven the natives out of northern Frankland, decided they liked it better back across the channel.

What I lifted was a big sheet of “Trespa” – really nice architectural cladding (not flammable insulating cladding!) Far too nice to leave in a skip, couldn’t say no. Actually quite a few of them, but only one was that big, I think the next biggest was about half that, but I only bothered to work out the weight of the one that did the damage. Later, by weighing a much smaller piece.

by a careful process of empirical testing, that our safe cycling pints limit was one and a half. One was insufficient; two produced sufficient degradation of the ability to balance as to make us concerned for our personal safety on busy roads. That said, we are not practised drinkers (not that I’m implying anything….)

Practice? Hmmm. Can I go all American and take the fifth?

I will say that I spent an evening and much of the continuance of that into morning (03:30) chatting to a landlord and taking the odd sip (cough) Just enough to be polite (cough)(cough)
When the landlord’s wife appeared and ordered him to cease¹ I departed. The door to the toilets moved a few times (always go before you go) but after bouncing off both sides of the rear door I unlocked my bike and rode away perfectly according to the sober lady watching.

¹ He was doing most of the talking and lining up extra drink before I finished the current one(s).

Nothing to do with us,

No, because Johnson was perfectly polite to everybody before and when he was the foreign secretary… https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-johnson-insults-idUSKCN0ZZ25M and https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-36793900 and https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2019/06/boris-johnson-s-racist-insults-dog-whistles-and-slurs and so on, because Johnson is Johnson…
(and that was like thirty seconds of googling)

you’ve not been keeping up with the sentiments coming out of the Elysee Palace

Oh, I’m talking about real people, not politicians. They’re a different breed often severely detached from reality. Case in point: Trump, or Johnson above…or does Johnson speak for you?
And just like Brexit was wrought by about a fifth of the population, there are few elected leaders that command global support, whether in a first past the post setup like the UK or a double election like France, it’s simply a way to narrow down choices until somebody gets a bigger score, but with abstentions and such, the leader of the country could indeed be voted in by a third or a quarter of the populace…
[or, in the case of the UK, you don’t get to elect your leader at all, you vote for the party and the party members choose]
Either way, it’s entirely possible that a lot of a country don’t agree with their leader. Though for some reason in France it’s usually Marine Le Pen (national front) that is doing most of the talking. Possibly because the other dozen parties are in disarray, plus there doesn’t appear to be any concept of an “opposition party”. There’s just the ones in charge and everybody else. That said I suspect BFMTV might lean to the right as they seem to interview Le Pen a lot. I suppose being a French Farage, she’s probably more than willing to be interviewed so she can try to convince people that they nice cuddly reformed foreigner-haters.

The whole “English hate the French” stereotype is known (in my experience it’s not mutual, Frenchies just seem to find the English a bit exasperating) and the question I have been asked on occasion is “why?”.
Since you mentioned about the French being “sworn enemies”, do you have an answer?

I think the history books accurately reflect who has come off the best each time,

Would these be the same history books that try to portray Napoleon as a despot midget that attempted to wage war in Europe? Because the truth is marginally more impressive.
Sure, he was a bastard that ultimately did more harm than good, but he was a glorious bastard. So all those jokes about the French losing a battle in the first five minutes, not even remotely accurate. And in case you missed the undercurrent in Allo-Allo, quite a lot of the French were not happy about getting sold out in the second war. Part of the repercussion of that is the extreme level of regionalism here. If the Chinese (aren’t they the bad guys right now?) decide to take Paris, the rest of France will say “okay, you have Paris, only twenty odd regions to go”. They see themselves as “overseen” by a central government, but can be in charge of themselves.
Whether or not this would work in practice remains to be seen. :-)

Note, incidentally, that this is a setup where certain overseas territories (Guadalupe, Martinique, etc) are part of France and thus part of the European Union, which means any EU citizen can use their right of movement to go live and work there (though they aren’t in Schengen).

and rode away perfectly according to the sober lady watching.

I used to know a rozzer, and he said that the two telltale signs of a potentially drink driver were:

• All over the road
• Driving too well

Some people go nuts when they’re inebriated, while others seem to suddenly remember every little technical detail that years of practice pushed out of their minds (hands up who doesn’t hold the steering wheel correctly).

i hands up who doesn’t hold the steering wheel correctly

My hands are up. I hold the steering wheel Swedish style, because I believe it’s better.

Okay, that’s not really the holding that’s different, but the process of turning it when turning it more than a small amount. I don’t understand why the Swedish method isn’t generally recognized as superior.

You just need a faster steering rack, Clive!

What’s Swedish style?

What’s Swedish style?

Hands at 10 to 2, just as in the UK, but when turning the wheel more that about 60°, you cross one hand over the top of the other rather than “feeding the wheel between the hands.”

On a modern car with power assisted steering (or indeed any car with power assisted steering) it’s rare you need to turn the wheel that much except on tight bends and corners, when you should be going pretty slow. But older vehicles (such as the Series I Landrovers I drove for years) you’re much more likely to need to.

You just need a faster steering rack, Clive!

Rack? No steering rack in a Series I Landie, that ain’t how they work…

[or, in the case of the UK, you don’t get to elect your leader at all, you vote for the party and the party members choose]

Where as the French vote for whoever they think will keep out the person they like the least.

@David j Ruck.I think that like MPs, you should declare an interest, i.e. that both you
and your wife are Conservative Councillors.

Whereas the French majority of voters vote for whoever they think will keep out the person they like the least.

Fixed that for you.

Tactical voting may be something that originated in the earliest Parliament.

are Conservative Councillors

Remind me – is that garlic, a crucifix, or a nice wooden stake?

Fixed that for you.

As Steve said, it’s called “tactical voting” and it is widespread. Just ask the Democrats who voted Trump because they hated Hillary more. It must be quite something to be even more hated than a person like Trump.

How about the British papers that gave instructions on the best way to defeat the Tories / Corbyn (depending on which side they support).

Where as the French vote for whoever they think will keep out the person they like the least.

Ah, but there’s actually a reason why it seems like that. I remember thinking it amusing when Johnson was downplaying the prospect of a snap election (just before holding one!) by saying that the public have no appetite for another election.
Why amusing? Because in France, elections are quite common. There are elections for the consituents of the government. There are the Presidentials, which are completely separate. There are European elections, and there are are elections for the town Mayor (every town has a Mayor, even the place where I live where people are outnumbered by livestock by an order of magnitude).

The government, Presidential, and (usually) Mayor elections are held in two rounds. The first round is every interested party can register, make up some pleasant sounding bollocks, and send flyers to everybody.
There are numberous political parties in France, so while votes tend to go to the main parties (LREM (Macron), UMP (Sarko’s lot, like Tories), and Socialists (Hollande’s lot, like Labour ought to be)), other parties get some votes too. It tends to have the effect of diluting the vote.

So, the second round has the two with the highest score face off against each other. Quite often this is Le Pen (National Front) versus whoever France will actually elect. I think France would probably implode if they actually voted for the National Front anywhere outside of PACA (that’s the south east with the migrant problem).

But, is France in love with the National Front? No, not really. The thing is that the political spectrum of France is fully left to right, with many parties either centre or to the left. The main right wing are the UMP, and Macron is slightly to the right of centre.

Note: the UMP now call themselves The Republicans, and the National Front now call themselves National Rally (as in Assembly, not cars). Nobody is fooled.

On the left? Well, let’s just say that the leftmost party has a bright red hammer and sickle as its logo. Yes, as in the same one that China was proudly showing off just the other day. There’s even a Trotskyist party.

There are even a few Royalist parties that want to reinstate a monarchy. Given how France got rid of its monarchy (and why), I can only say “they’ve got balls”. What they don’t have, however, is anybody elected. At all.

Because of this, if you want to vote for nationalist policies (France has it’s own share of people who want to kick the foreigners out), you’re pretty much stuck with either the UMP who haven’t lived down the corruption of Sarko no matter what they call themselves, or Le Pen. The UMP are starting to pick up Le Pen’s dog whistles (just as Johnson did with Farage) so people may start to vote for them as an acceptable alternative to the national front.

Compare this with the UK, where the Brexit party and the Tories were vying for who was the rightmost mainstream party. Hell, the stuff bloody Patel is doing these days make the Tories look like a half-hearted attempt at being the BNP.
Labour is right wing these days. While Corbyn may have been a weird throwback to a ‘70s that nobody wants to remember, Blair’s New Labour was basically Tory Lite. The Lib Dems are pretty much centre (and to the Left of Labour). The only real lefties are the Greens. Plus, there aren’t that many parties (Labour, Tories, LibDem, Green, and maybe whatever Farage is mouthing off about this time). So the situation is quite different.

you cross one hand over the top of the other

Oh, I do that. My toy car doesn’t have power steering, so going around roundabouts takes quite a bit of wheel turning. I can’t imagine feeding the wheel between the hands, it just feels like it would be too slow. There’s a roundabout on the way to work where I have to turn sharp right to get onto it, left to go around it, and then another right to get off. Thankfully it’s in a 30 zone as that road is annoying.

What I’d really like is a little flip up wheel that fixes solidly to the steering wheel. I can flip up the wheel and grab it (it’ll be shaped like a mushroom) and just whizz it around to rapidly turn the car.

Edit: Cool, they’re actually a thing. I wonder if they’re legal…?
https://www.amazon.fr/voiture-universel-rotatif-Spinner-Poign%C3%A9e/dp/B01IEUKDPY/

Oh, I do that.

I don’t know what the official position in France is. Sweden prefers it; the UK frowns upon it. I’ve no idea what anyone else says, nor whether it has any legal force either way anywhere.

Cool, they’re actually a thing. I wonder if they’re legal.

No idea, but I’ve seen them in use – particularly in lorries, but a couple of times in buses, too.

@Ron having discovered google, wrote:

@David j Ruck.I think that like MPs, you should declare an interest, i.e. that both you
and your wife are Conservative Councillors.

Ok, we were both on the town council when we lived St Neots, which was quite a while ago now.

I was on the planning committee, deputy chair of the finance committee and the leader of the War with France committee.

leader of the War with France committee.

Blimey. You’re a lot older than I thought. Or St Neot’s is in even more of a time-warp than I, as a former Ely resident, ever realized.

@David J. Ruck. Not Google just remembering something you posted about you and your wife
texting each other during a Council meeting.

Still nice to hear your balanced views again.

Regards Ron.

There are even a few Royalist parties that want to reinstate a monarchy. Given how France got rid of its monarchy (and why), I can only say “they’ve got balls”. What they don’t have, however, is anybody elected. At all.

Any candidates for the top royal job?
Or are all candidates currently undergoing treatment after displaying an unbalanced mind and planning their own death?

I don’t think they plan their own death. They’ll just deny the inevitable until death happens in a harsh and unpleasant way.

a harsh and unpleasant way

But at least quick, although the anticipation can’t be a barrel of laughs, and apparently – according to witnesses – the head appears to know what’s happened at least briefly even after it’s detached.