St Landrew

Yep, I know what you mean. I can't go near any post-Meddle Pink Floyd myself nowadays. However, Ummagumma, Nice Pair, etc.. are superb.

Yes, I bought sweets from the jar with the old money. I did recite..! I did have a school cap too, for a while. But I'm blowed if I tweaked the peak whenever I passed a lady.

Hmm, sort of what I was going to say..!

Hmm, not as I heard it. Of course, most of the podcast was about Alonso, Piquet and Renault, but what he did say was that he believed that the FIA had to be neutral, otherwise there would be no point in the sport. Renault continue to race as if this is so. He did watch the race footage afterwards, and he, and his colleague, both thought any so-called advantage had been well and truly negated by Hamilton giving way to Raikonnen, and the fact that Kimi overtook Lewis in front of the spun Williams. He paid special attention to the corner where Hamilton did pass Raikonnen saying Kimi had braked early, because of the wet, and Hamilton easily passed him. He didn't mention any waved yellow flags regarding Kimi's re-pass, which was a shame, as I'd have liked to have heard his views on that. He did think Lewis completely outdrove Kimi once the rain began to fall, and that Lewis was very harshly treated by being denied the win. However, people should not overlook Raikonnen. My words, but that's all he said.

Ah yeah... they're 35.5" tall x 11" wide x 16.5" deep, and weigh around 70lbs each speaker, mate. Here's are two bad photos of what they look like [one of them has the speaker grille taken off]. Cost new [1990] £805. I believe they're discontinued now, but the last time Kef made a pair they cost one pound less than £2000: To lift them usually takes two people because there's nothing to hold onto except smooth wood veneer. But if you take the grilles off you can put your hand into the port [near the bottom], lift the weight, and then balance the speaker with your other hand. I don't recommend anyone trying this for long though. It hurts the back muscles somewhat. The plus factor is that when you turn the volume up, it sounds as if the band that are on the record are actually standing and playing in your living room. They're that good. But they must have other superb equipment in the chain, because they make bad cd players, amps, turntables, tuners, whatever, sound... well, bad. I might as well source some photos for the other stuff, just for anyone's interest. Here's an example of the World famous Linn Sondek turntable [shown without usual lid in this pic] Cost new [1990 and without pickup arm remember] £465: Incidentally, everything about this turntable is expensive [including that pickup arm in the pic, which I think is a Linn Ekos at £995 on it's own]. I bought some new plastic and spring lid hinges from Linn the other day. They cost £21. As mentioned before, my Linn Sondek is partnered by the Linn Ittok. Once the best pickup arms ever made. Nowadays, I think it's considered about 2nd/3rd [behind the Ekos] in the all time list. Here's one mounted on another Sondek. Note the wood finish on the Sondek. Mine has that. Cost new [1990 - just the arm, remember] £399. Bit cheaper than the Ekos, eh..? And the moving coil cartridge. Linn have discontinued this baby, but very many people still think it's the best thing they ever produced, and is the best cartridge ever made. At worst it's considered the 2nd or 3rd best ever. Actually, I think Linn think they made a boo-boo when they discontinued this one, but they're a stubborn company. They never go back. The only 3 bolted cartridge ever made - The Linn Troika. Cost new [1990, and sit down for this] £653 and actually worth every penny: Lastly, the Naim amps. Made just up the road in Salisbury. Back in 1990 I went upto the factory to see them being made. I bought them direct 2 days later [after factory soak testing] and Naim threw in 30 metres of their own speaker cable free [normally priced at £10 a metre]. Well, I was paying dealer price direct from the factory. I've given most of it away over the years. But they did throw in special Linn Troika moving coil pre-amp boards too. An extra option cost normally. Hence they only cost £400 each. Here's the NAC 62 [actually it isn't, but it looks identical except for having only 3 input options. An NAC 62 has 4 inputs, and is a better sounding amp as well: Note the lack of tone controls. You don't need them. You're almost certainly listening to the finest reproduced music you've ever heard. You don't need extra bass and treble. And finally the power amp. The NAP140. One of the best Naim ever made, which means one of the best ever made. This one is in its later styling. I like the earlier style above on the pre-amp, so just imagine the styling above for this model below: The knob just clicks the unit on, and a little light shows. That's all. But by le god doesn't it deliver some oomph. Just Google Naim watts or Naim wattage. My NAP140 is only good for 45 wpc continuous into 8 ohms impedance. But it will still blow the socks off. It would sound much louder than another 100wpc amp. No distortion, just pure volume. I remember listening to Led Zeppelin II in my house in Kent. The neighbours were at the local village cricket, and my wife was buying a mutton joint in Pluckley butchers. I wondered whether I could hear the lads at the bottom of my garden. So I put the record on, turned up the wick to well over three quarters, and ran to the bottom of the garden [about 25 yards away]. I had to run back very quickly, as Jimmy Page's Heartbreaker riff was about to blow the windows out. I just got back in, in time to be hit with the bass as it joined the lead guitar. Good job the windows were actually open because the whole house started to vibrate. The Sondek calmly played on. I turned the volume down a tad and went back outside. Now I wasn't in fear of demolishing the house, it sounded gorgeous, and gave the Kefs a good work out. My neighbour Ian, from over the field, [about 200 yards away] came out of his house and strolled over. He leaned on my fence and said, That's my favourite Led Zep album. So we drank whisky together and listened to Led Zep. Not bad. :partyman: And that's another thing. The house I live in now is much too small for the Kefs. They need a bit of room to breathe. But I still want £450 ovno for them.

That takes the f**king biscuit. What a load of utter bull. So I suppose George Burley is a wonderman for giving Gareth Bale his debut too..? Redknapp gave Theo his debut because even a blind man could see he had pace and skill, and Saints were absolutely desperate. It has nothing to do with Redknapp's obvious high opinion of his own perception.

Hmm, a little sugar coated, and I perceived the sales pitch at the end, but essentially, that's a fairly sound summary of growing up when I was a kid. I was born in 1958 [birthday on the way] and we kids were given just as much freedom to play as kids from earlier eras, but with an added chance to explore because of the post war attitude, which was to go out and enjoy life. There was always the call from parents to beware of the bogeyman, but we were allowed to do things on our own. Besides, if I stayed inside when the sun was shining, my Dad would look at me agast, and ask why on earth wasn't I playing outside. It never took me too long to take his advice. I know I've mentioned it a couple of times before about myself, but could you see a 7 year old boy of today, bussing across town, paying through the turnstiles, into a football stadium on their own, and watching a game, fortnight after fortnight..? Somehow, I don't think so. Is it the perceived danger they would be in..? Would it be their lack of resourcefulness or fear that would stop them..? Would they be so lumberingly fat and lazy that they'd demand to be driven to the stadium anyway..? Well... when you've got SKY in the bedroom, who cares if you can't make it to your local team. And there's just so much texting a 7 year old has to do nowadays, in any case.

Everybody is mental. We all have minds. Do you mean mentally impaired..? Again, I'd take issue. As he is a scientist, he's gone through many years of education and study. If he was mentally impaired it would have shown up before now. Oops, you've started up my pedantic side again CF. Time for me to get off the forum before it develops into a full blown Mr Spock.

Grey memories..? I still remember the vivid green of The Dell pitch the first time I looked upon it, as a kid in 1966. I don't think I've seen a richer colour since. We didn't care about what clothes we had on, as long as we were warm and dry, and preferably clean. The first time I thought I had odd clothes on was when someone told me I had. And then they'd only learned that opinion from someone else, who learned it... Silly really, isn't it. I share your opinion of knowing one's place. It's one of the things that I cheer about of today's society, that hardly anyone now knows their place. I also find it rather sad that the heirarchy still exists, and that some people still look down on poorer, less educated others nowadays, when they are only several months from the financial gutter themselves. Having security and education does not make a nicer person. Just a more secure and educated one.

£450. Just a reminder that they will sound crap if you haven't got an excellent amp to drive them though. And they are a bugger to drive properly. In my experience, most mainstream equipment you see around won't pass muster.

Excellent memories of an era, Alf. Mine was very much the same. There were one or two times we were bored, especially when it rained, but usually there was something to do, or enjoy. I never liked Calshot or Lepe [no sand on the beach] but nowadays I love them, especially Calshot, as I often sail from there. We'd always be going to the beach in the summer, from West Wittering to Weymouth, the biggest argument would be.. where shall we go..? Invariably, if we had a proper summer holiday, it would be Cornwall, and more beaches. On TV, there was the Robinson Crusoe series, and an island with a sandy beach. No wonder I love being near the sea. Did you make arrows out of green garden sticks and playing cards for flights..? They could be lethal. I agree though, it is perceived to be different nowadays. People could just as well get off their arses and do what we did for fun.

Little patch bandages to bounce the photons back..! I thought the original CERN particle accelerators had been around since the late 1970's so I looked it up. The first one was operating in 1957, and the CERN council itself was commisioned in 1954. No wonder there are little bandages about.

The connection between all these songs is that they have been hits, or cult classics, or downright chart busters. They're accepted songs by all and sundry. We're meant to like them. We're a bit odd if we don't like them. So when we hear them it's like my reaction to the first few bars of Eastenders or Coronation Street, i.e. a race for the volume control or off-switch before my brain explodes with mediocrity. I draw the line with Stairway..., but you can throw the rest in the bin. Even so, I wouldn't call them the worst songs ever. My nomination for Songs You're Supposed To Like Because Everyone Does, But You Don't is: Hot Love - T Rex.Overrated bilge. But there's thousands more. EDIT: Have to say, The Stain's nomination of Hotel California is right on the money. The Eagles were at the height of their mediocrity, sorry popularity, at the time. Millions bought the album, and it was wall to wall HC. I've always thought it to be pretentious nonsense. I loathe the line: ...you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave... Yuck..! Never mind. There are millions who still love it. Not me though.

Missed it. Was busy watching Joanna Lumley looking for the Northern Lights on BBC iPlayer. Must say, as I'm a bit of a softie, I did enjoy that. It's on Ch4 + 1, now. The Secret Millionaire, that is.

Not for the first time, the law is an ass.

Well done Andy Murray. He may not be blessed with the ideal personality, to keep everybody entertained, but he can obviously play tennis bloody well. Players don't fluke wins over people like Nadal.

Indeed. I have two emotions on this. One of extreme annoyance on behalf of fair play, wherever it is hiding out nowadays, Hamilton, and McLaren. And the other is contemptous humour directed towards the F1 rule makers, if they think they have manufactured a just cause that denies a perfectly good win from a perfectly fair bit of driving from the very driver who they penalised, which ended up rewarding two drivers who who hadn't a hope in hell of catching the race winner, and exposed the bloke who smashed his race car into a wall, as a driver who can't do his job when the going gets really tough, and looks for excuses for his failure. Ah well. Back to MotoGP.

I suspect it's just kocky*..! Personally, I find him a tad arrogant. But he can carry it off because he's one of the best, if not the best. For a racing driver I think a trace of arrogance is better than any timidity. *the only way I've found to spell the word without it being filtered.

McLaren are going to appeal. They'll need a prayer. And they haven't got one: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7603179.stm

Nice one. Send that reminder to McLaren. Though I doubt it would do much good. I suspect there is a hidden ruling somewhere which suggests that if any arbitrary Non-Ferrari sourced appeal is made, it should have been handed in 5 minutes before it actually was to be valid. I've suspected for many years that the dice have been loaded in Ferrari's favour. This doesn't disuade me from thinking that way. I share your opinion of F1.

What he said was... nobody ever overtakes me on the outside. Not quite the same thing. Frankly, I don't what's making your blood boil..? He's a bloody good driver, possibly, or even probably the best currently out there in an F1 car, and he's a winner. Or would you rather he was another jolly good British loser..?

I was waiting for your input Ponty. Bit of a joke isn't it..? Anyway, congrats to Alonso.

I take no pleasure from being right here. I was almost confident the race stewards would somehow manipulate the outcome to favour Ferrari. If Raikonnen had kept his car on the track, there would have been very little doubt, the race would have been handed to him. As usual, the cards are stacked. The dice are loaded. The fix is in. How can you take a championship seriously when it is patently so sided in favour of Ferrari..? And I would be as outraged if it were another driver. I rest my case..! The weird thing is... today's race was an excellent advert for F1. Invariably, it's as boring as boring gets, and is basically [for me] a filler in between MotoGP races. Well it's been completely ruined. Could be time the other teams took a stand.

No of course it doesn't really matter. Perhaps only to Saints fans, and people who have interest in justice and injustice. The ordinary public probably wouldn't give a toss. But guess what... if you explained all the mitigating circumstances regarding Nathan Dyer that inspired this thread, those same people would probably think the lad hadn't done the right thing.

I listened closely to what Ron Dennis was saying. He was making it very clear that during the particular incident, his team was trying to keep Hamilton very much on the correct rule side of the racing. Even so, it's possible the stewards could rule that Hamilton got an unfair advantage by having better momentum into the corner where he passed Raikonnen for the decisive time. But then Raikonnen would gain no advantage from that because he drove the thing into the wall in any case. If the stewards penalise Hamilton in any way, it'll only harden people's thoughts that Ferrari have a special relationship with the F1 rule makers. What's the odds the stewards don't have a say in this result..?