Fowllyd

Indeed - there's some scary hair and clothes there! I can be found in the front row of the 78 photo, looking fabulously miserable. It was a cold day and we'd been sitting there for ages while the photographer arsed around. And in the 79 pic there's a future Oscar winner sitting in the front row, being hooked by a walking stick.

When I think back to some of the teachers we had through the grammar school, I'm sure you're right! I know that the sixth form used to wear uniform as well, though the blazers and ties were dark blue (or was it black?) rather than green - can't remember when they stopped that, but it was probably only a year or two before you were there. When I started at BP in 1971 I was contstantly told to get my hair cut - and it wasn't even that long! And I remember being really miffed when I went into the sixth form in 1976, and the fifth year (the last intake to the old grammar school) didn't have to wear uniform. For old school/college photos have a look at this site - it's a shockingly bad web site, but the photos are interesting!

Having to wear a green blazer with a badge that looked like a cabbage (it was meant to be a rose) did leave some scars.

We're everywhere. We are legion.

You bugger. I was just about to post the obvious response to your original post, then saw you'd edited it before I could hit the post button!

It's a kind of wood, you fool. Everyone knows that.

Neither. It's for under your arms.

Bishopstoke Infant School Stoke Park Junior School, Bishopstoke Barton Peveril Grammar School Barton Peveril Sixth Form College University of Reading

Nothing to stop you taking her surname - would that show more or less commitment than her taking yours? My first wife kept her original surname, and I wasn't remotely fussed about it. In fact, the only person who was fussed was her mother. My current wife took my name; she'd kept her first married name post-divorce because it's her children's name (and for no other reason), and was more than happy to change it. She still uses that name for correspondance with the girls' school etc. as it's easier to do so. I guess I'd have found it a bit odd if she'd wanted to retain her first married name after we married, but I wouldn't have minded at all if she'd chosen to revert to her original surname.

It mentions in the same article that Clarkson is being represented by Olswang. Last I knew they were lawyers.

F*ck me, I hadn't seen that! I somehow don't think I'd have asked had I done.

At the risk of sounding like Hypo, who insinuated (or even suggested) that you were angry?

If any of the phew read this, they may end up getting very excited indeed. I'm sure they'd be happy to ditch their status as the biggest, bestest, bestest-supportedest club in the whole wide world for a mega-wad of Chinese cash. Then again, it does say he may buy a football club, not the football club, so he probably hasn't dared to set his sights so high...

Excellent. If there was one thing this thread lacked it was a bit of blackmail, and now it has it!

Twerking Saint? I reckon that would do it for the bear.

Actually I was thinking 'B-r-o-w-n n-o-s-e' but we're on the same page!

Well you certainly won't be able to pronounce it if you can't spell it!

Were this not the nice, friendly thread, my response might be along the lines of: "F*ck you, urswipe! I'm the soul of sophisti-f*cking-cation I'll have you know!" But, as it is the nice, friendly thread, I'll just have to gently suggest that you are in fact more than somewhat mistaken in you view.

I think the more sophisticated among us appreciate Lou's witty and erudite posts, along with her warm and sunny yet sensitive personality. Oh, and the avatar helps too!

Sorry Lou, but that comma is a give-away. No hairy-arsed bloke would ever put a comma in that sentence.

Aniseed balls Cough candy twist Fruit Pastilles Acid drops Marks & Spencer Fizzy Fish (though sadly they don't do them any more, the bastards)

I lived in London from 1986 to 2004 and cycled most places for the great majority of that time. I was pretty active in the London Cycling Campaign, and can claim to have been one of the starters of the Critical Mass rides back in the mid nineties (are they still going? I have no idea). When it comes to cycle lanes or other cycling facilities, they are all too often appalling designed, normally as they have just been added as an afterthought to a road scheme. Well-designed facilities are obviously a good deal better, but they're not too common. My own view is quite simply that the roads themselves need to be safe for cyclists to use; separation all too often leads to a kind of road apartheid, as can be seen very clearly with mixed-use pavements (motorists assume all too easily that cyclists should not be on the road if there's a shared-use pavement, and can be aggressive towards those who prefer to use the road). Generally, what is needed is respect and mutual appreciation of others' right to be on the road; easy to say, far less easy to achieve - a lot of hostility and ingrained attitudes on both sides out there. I never felt that cycling in London required bravery to be honest, but the faster you can ride the better you tend to get on, especially on the main roads.

Ouch! Sounds unpleasant - hope you're all OK and fighting fit now. I think you're right. I'm pretty sure I've never heard of any such thing happening before.

adder