Come for a ride.............

[Scimitar]

Re the big girl. At least she is riding her bike, so she is quite likely to shed some weight. Full marks to her.

Oh yes, she's making the effort and that's something I can relate to.

 

[Blew it]

What are you using to edit the videos? I've got a cheap muvi cam thing but I don't know how to edit the videos.

Jim, do yourself a favour, start with a very basic editor. I use Windows, so used Windows Movie Maker Live... loads of tutorials on Youtube.

If your using MAC, then I believe the editor bundled is called i-video or something.

Once the general concept is in your grasp, you can move up to enhanced editors such as Power Director, Wondershare and all the others. Mark my words, you'll be tearing your hair out when first starting...stick with it...it all comes together quite quickly. Have a go, you'll be joining me at the bottom of the learning curve.

Royalty free music. I use the one on the link below. You can download the tracks for free, but you must attribute the tracks on your credits. I chose to purchase the two albums for £18. In which case there is no requirement to attribute, but you can if you like.

Have fun.
Regards
Bob


Rickvanman's FREE Royalty Free Music

 

[neptune]

I am one of those lucky types who weigh the same at 67 as I did at 18, namely ten and a half stone. I have always been fairly active, and I pedal 10 miles a day, as well as a bit of ebiking. But we all have our own private demons, and I still smoke... But something will kill us all in the end.

 

[eddieo]

Grrrrrrrr.........))

 

[Waspy]

Hi Waspy,

Swindon is a great place for cycling with over sixty miles of traffic-free shared routes. More routes are added with each new development, it being a planning requirement to link into the existing cycling network.

There's only two hills within the borough, Lady Lane (12%) but it doesn't actually go anywhere. Blunsdon Hill (18%) but again, it goes nowhere. It's a good hill for testing systems....whizz down it at 40 mph and then turn round and clamber back up at 9 mph. The best way to figure out where the routes are is to use the cycle map in conjunction with Google Earth.

Please note: Some of the cut-throughs and short-cuts are not shown on the maps, these are unofficial "local conventions".

Swindon Cycle route map is available as a free hard-copy from libraries, the Tourist Information Office at Regents Circus ( if it's still there ). Or, next time you're at Emotion EVC, there's a pile of them on the leaflet table.

If you need any help with finding the routes, or with your conversion, then PM me for contact details.

The cycle map can also be downloaded in PDF format on the link below.

http://www.swindontravelchoices.co.uk/assets/CycleLeaflet_SwindonTown.pdf

Regards
Bob

Brilliant Bob,

Thank you very much.

" the Tourist Information Office " LOL hard to imagine many tourists in there.

What history Swindon does have tends to be neglected like the Mechanics Institute.

But credit to Swindon for their cycle path policy. I downloaded the pdf you linked to (12 pages) so I think I'll have to get a folded glossy version. I've never actually been in Emotion EVC, I know what I'm like, I'll probably walk out of their with a huge hole in my credit card.

As for hills, don't forget Victoria Hill (although probably not on any cycle routes) but the prize goes to Western Street, although it's the same hill.

I used to cycle up Blunsdon Hill, before the by-pass, when I was a kid returning from a day out in Lechlade.

I have only just returned to living in Swindon after many years away.

Thanks again for your offer of help.

Ian

 

[Blew it]

...As for hills, don't forget Victoria Hill (although probably not on any cycle routes) but the prize goes to Western Street, although it's the same hill.

Yes, you're quite right, I had conveniently forgotten about Eastcott, Dover, Prospect and Victoria...I've never attempted any of them. Western! I remember helping somebody move house from there many years ago. I parked the car in reverse gear, but every time we put a box in the boot I could hear the disc rotors slipping past the pads...had to quickly turn the wheels into the kerb to hold it.

"Swindon Hill" on which Old Town is built, is extremely unstable ground..a curious mixture of layers of twisted limestone and sand. And it wasn't a very good idea to start a railway tunnel straight through it in the 1800's. The voids left in the hill from that failed attempt are now collapsing...taking the sewage system with it...that's what is causing the traffic chaos up there just now.

 

[flecc]

I am one of those lucky types who weigh the same at 67 as I did at 18, namely ten and a half stone. I have always been fairly active, and I pedal 10 miles a day, as well as a bit of ebiking. But we all have our own private demons, and I still smoke... But something will kill us all in the end.

Ditto on the weight at 18, and now the same at 76 (trigger another Grrrrrrr from Eddie!).

But I gave up smoking suddenly at 10am on Monday 6th January 1986 after smoking for almost 40 years, culminating in later years at 60 plus a day.

 

[Waspy]

"Swindon Hill" on which Old Town is built, is extremely unstable ground..a curious mixture of layers of twisted limestone and sand. And it wasn't a very good idea to start a railway tunnel straight through it in the 1800's. The voids left in the hill from that failed attempt are now collapsing...taking the sewage system with it...that's what is causing the traffic chaos up there just now.

Very interesting Bob, I love this sort of stuff, as does my son whom I have sent this to.

I remember looking out of the Gent's toilet window in The Plough and way below was the railway line that went to Old Town railway station. I used to live in Devizes Road.

My son lives in Cricklade which has some great bike rides up the old railway line, round the Cotswold Water Park and down the old old canal and through North Meadow. A route I have taken my grandchilren on, on bike rides, good times

I remember now, we cycled up Blunsdon Hill after going fishing in Fairford, after cycling to Lechlade we (me and my sister) had to cycle up the hill in Highworth on the way home. /dementia

The people who live on Blunsdon Hill must be very happy with the new by-pass.

Also, The Plough was my local and it was a great old-school pub run by the elderly parents of Roger Smart, one of the goal scorers in Swindon Town's 3-1 defeat of Arsenal in the League Cup Final in 1969, he used to serve in there and sometimes Don Rogers popped in there for a pint.

Apologies for waffling.

 

[Blew it]

No need to apologise Waspy, there's always time for a yarn....even in a war-zone

Ref. Blunsdon residents, some of them haven't had a decent nights sleep since the by-pass opened....they keep waking up wondering why it's so darn quiet

 

[eddieo]

my excercise route is down to micham common, around back of Croydon to home in Upper Norwood dodging London traffic as I go...I really need to move

Long cycling holidays abroad just about make up for it and keep me going, but south coast becons

 

[JuicyBike]

I am one of those lucky types who weigh the same at 67 as I did at 18, namely ten and a half stone. I have always been fairly active, and I pedal 10 miles a day, as well as a bit of ebiking. But we all have our own private demons, and I still smoke... But something will kill us all in the end.

Seems to me that giving up smoking does extend your life... but only right at the very end (when you might not want it extending... )

 

[flecc]

Seems to me that giving up smoking does extend your life... but only right at the very end (when you might not want it extending... )

In my experience it initially worsens the quality of life, but that soon reverses and by about a year there's a continuing improvement in the quality of life due to great energy and endurance.

Many who give up smoking become very anti-smoking, lecturing others at any opportunity, but I've always resisted that and firmly believe in freedom of choice. To this day I retain a working table lighter and ashtray in my home and any visitors are welcome to smoke if they wish, some gratefully doing so.

I regard the propaganda about secondary smoking as ludicrous. Burning a scrap of dried tobacco leaf is no different from burning any other plant material in bonfires or wood burning stoves and fires, or burning ex-plant material like many fossil fuels.

 

[JuicyBike]

I managed to give up for eighteen months, but missed going out to look at the stars late at night and have a "back door moment".

I remedied that by taking a biscuit to the back door and having a ponderous moment eating that.

Eventually that had to cease when Sarah started complaining about the crumbs and half-eaten biscuits lying around the doorstep and me coming in "stinking of bourbons"...

 

[Old_Dave]

Burning a scrap of dried tobacco leaf

If only it was as simple as that, then that statement is possibly correct..

Its the added chemicals that causes problems.. there's an admitted 599 but some peeps say that the real count is a lot higher.

"Carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen cyanide and ammonia are all present in cigarette smoke. Forty-three known carcinogens are in mainstream smoke, side stream smoke, or both"

I also have ash trays and lighters for house guests ... but they are told to f**k off outside to use them , lol

 

[Waspy]

A good alternative to tobacco is e-cigarettes or 'vaping'

You get smoke (or vapour) you get nicotine. You don't get cancer and it doesn't stink, it's your ticket out of fag town, what's not to like?

Good forum here:

Planet of the Vapes UK Vaping Forums

This is some of my vaping kit:

 

[flecc]

If only it was as simple as that

"Carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen cyanide and ammonia are all present in cigarette smoke. Forty-three known carcinogens are in mainstream smoke, side stream smoke, or both"

It is as simple as that, none of these are added in manufacture, they are all present when mixed plant materials are randomly and sometimes inadequately incinerated in bonfires etc. The proportions may be different of course, but they're still often present.

The propaganda about secondary smoking is often no less than hysterical. Of course a dense fug of any smoke in a enclosed space is harmful, but to extend that proposition to well aired or partially outdoor areas is ridiculous.

 

[Old_Dave]

Well.. we all have our opinions and I do see and accept what your saying about "well aired or partially outdoor area" even though that criteria wasn't in your original comment

 

[flecc]

Agreed Dave. I just get annoyed about the ever increasing hysteria that now prompts some of the fanatics to want to even ban outdoor smoking. And not only that subject. We seem to be in an age where there's a gross over-reaction in almost all areas of contention, moderation seemingly completely out of fashion.

It risks making the world an increasingly unpleasant and unfriendly place.

 

[eddieo]

well if you want to relive the delights of drinking in a smoke filled pub just go to Belgium...Brugge in particular. One pub we walked in and out of (in all the guide books) you could hardly see each other the atmosphere so thick with smoke. Younger pubs much better, Brugge a great city to visit with wonderful cycling...

 

[carpetbagger]

just to upset more people....it should be banned whilst driving,if you haven't got proper control with a mobile phone then you certainly haven't with a burning log stuck out of you mouth or between your fingers........on my opinion