Off Topic

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  Recipes, home grown goodness, BBQing and food stuff
  • taniwharugby  

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  @nzzp a water pan might do it. When I seasoned my akorn i had an empty chamber and it was fine. A kamado will be the same. Easy to keep consistent temperature, in fact the danger is getting it too hot
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  Beer thread
  • taniwharugby  

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  @Crucial said in Beer thread: @MN5 said in Beer thread: @raznomore said in Beer thread: @mariner4life get on to Panhead Supercharger from uncle Dan's. Better than Tuatara APA(bit of an OG beer now and there easily better NZ beers we can get in OZ now. If you can get it try some Deek Creek. It's been turning up in Dan Murphys regularly. As has Good George in Squealer sized bottles. If you drink those side by side it's astonishing how much better the former is. It could be argued the Tuatara Pilsners are better than Panheads though. The Panhead guy used to be head brewer at Tuatara before he went out on his own. I guess he would have had to change some recipes that he would have quite liked and had left behind. Well given the opportunity to make a XPA, he did a good job.
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  Best Kiwi Rock Songs
  • MN5  

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  Still a catchy song
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  Awesome stuff you see on the internet
  • Tim  

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  @Siam said in Awesome stuff you see on the internet: @Victor-Meldrew said in Awesome stuff you see on the internet: @Crucial said in Awesome stuff you see on the internet: Female Kestrel by the look of it. We're not 100% sure what it was TBH. Resident avian expert, Mrs M, thought the banding on the tail feathers looked more Sparrowhawk than Kestrel. If it is a Kestrel, it was poss. a juvenile. As you say, looks to be female. Other small possibility is it was a migrating Merlin. Which would be awesome. NERDS!!!!!! BIIIIRDS!!!!
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  Hawt discussion (lots of PG13 gifs/pics)
  • canefan  

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  @Bones said in Hawt discussion (lots of PG13 gifs/pics): @NTA
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  TV Serieseseses
  • taniwharugby  

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  @NTA said in TV Serieseseses: War Of The Worlds I might need to give that one a look, I watched the 2019 BBC one last year which was a bit average https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8001226/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_5
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  Twitter
  • jegga  

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  I hope he's OK
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  The TSF Travel Tips Thread
  • mariner4life  

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  @dogmeat said in The TSF Travel Tips Thread: @Hooroo I worked with a guy who said he hitched from Perth to Sydney - got picked up just outside Perth by some mad truckie who did the whole trip non-stop inside two days. Popping pills the whole way with just fuel stops. I'd be spending two days crossing the Simpson Desert.
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  R.I.P. 2020
  • Salacious Crumb  

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  @raznomore said in R.I.P. 2020: @Godder did some chick from laters eps die recently as well? Also I saw Adam Savage was being accused of sexual abuses. Jessi Combs died a couple years ago, she filled in I think when Kari was away on maternity leave. Died in a car crash ( she was a race car driver)
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  Planes
  • jegga  

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  Todd man, better than burning or burying them, like the RNZAF!
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  Memes
  • Tim  

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  Science!
  • Stockcar86  

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  Very cool, a map of our Galactic Super Cluster named Laniakea. The Milky Way is just a small part of this cluster. https://www.space.com/27016-galaxy-supercluster-laniakea-milky-way-home.html And straight to the YouTube video: Just mind blowing stuff with the numbers and distances and sizes.
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  Re: Movie review thread...
  • taniwharugby  

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  @antipodean said in Re: Movie review thread...: @Bovidae said in Re: Movie review thread...: I have just watched The Old Guard. An enjoyable action flick but not quite as good as I was expecting based on the trailer. I will watch again though. Good way to spend 120mins. Villain is a bit cartoonish with eyes way, way too close together. Charlize looks great. The type of flick that you search Netflix for. They don't all have to be be great but just basic action movies with a bit of a storyline that are well produced aren't as common as you think. A set up for number 2 was telegraphed early in the movie, so we will probably get another.
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  What are you listening to, right now................
  • dK  

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  @Crucial said in What are you listening to, right now................: @dogmeat said in What are you listening to, right now................: @Crucial I've only listened to it once - as I was out walking last night. On first hearing it reminds me a lot of other elder statesmen of the music scene. Superbly crafted, fantastic arrangements, melodically strong but just doesn't grab me. Bit soulless. It has gathered some great reviews though so I'll give it a bit more time. I agree with that on first listen. As some of the songs were released prior to the album I was also quite ho-hum on it until a few listenings later. I actually find much of it quite soulful, just without the obvious tropes that go along with the description, no overwrought vocals etc. Most of the reviews I have read have been lukewarm on the track 'Rockets' which is an obvious Bowie homage. I find it quite a stunning song. To take a sound so obviously from one of your musical 'heroes' and make it also obviously your own is quite a feat. I'm in the lukewarm club but definitely Bowie esque. Nice work with "Heroes". So listening to this now:
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  Life changes
  • Virgil  

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  @Virgil said in Life changes: Well I’ve got a bit of a mess to clean up Jeez man, control yourself. If @R-L can’t post a gif without you getting all sexist about it [shakes head]
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  Pest Control (rats/mice)
  • taniwharugby  

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  great, went up to put the fans in the roof for the winter, and was a very distinct smell of somethign dead... have an old GoPro-type camera with no infra red on it, so looking at fitting a light I have to the extendable selfie stick that came with it and do a bit of a search in the soffit that I struggle to get near enough to due to the roof...which will be a painful exercise searching and then watching (probably to find the body either the 1st place I went to, or where I probably cant reach anyway...)
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  Good podcasts
  • jegga  

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  @taniwharugby said in Good podcasts: The Great Fail: Death of Atari Interesting listen...is ep 11, but havent listened to any of the other ones where they chart the demise (LA Gear, Google Glass) Great series. Thanks
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  Alternative needed from the absolute crap of stuff.co.nz
  • Rembrandt  

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  Absolutley FUBAR eh. Imagine finding that boat....
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  Stupid shit you see on the internet
  • Tim  

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  Not sure if this will embed properly
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  The thread of learning something new every day
  • Tim  

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  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/António_de_Oliveira_Salazar#Death_and_funeral In 1968, Salazar suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. Most sources maintain that it occurred when he fell from a chair in his summer house. In February 2009 though, there were anonymous witnesses who admitted, after some investigation into Salazar's best-kept secrets, that he had fallen in a bath instead of from a chair.[93] Believing that the 79-year-old prime minister would die soon after the fall, President Américo Tomás dismissed Salazar and replaced him with Marcelo Caetano. Despite the injury, Salazar lived for a further two years. When he unexpectedly recovered lucidity, his intimates did not tell him he had been removed from power, instead allowing him to "rule" in privacy until his death in July 1970.[94]
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  Favourite Comedians
  • Rembrandt  

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  Parenting
  • mariner4life  

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  @dK said in Parenting: @Snowy said in Parenting: @Virgil said in Parenting: Having a husband must be worse... look at all of us. My wife is a massive fail as far as raising a child to a mature, responsible adult goes, but I do blame her for all of my faults. Is that because you were unaware of them until she mentioned them? Well she certainly reminds me of them a lot. I didn't have any until I met her though, so still her fault.
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  Interesting reads
  • Tim  

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  On August 4, 1911, Germany Schaefer was the last MLB player to steal first base, forcing a rule change. Also in 1914 he randomly walked in to a Chicago court room and successfully defended two drunks and got them acquitted. https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/germany-schaefer/
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  South Island driving route
  • voodoo  

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  @Bones said in South Island driving route: @Snowy said in South Island driving route: @Bones said in South Island driving route: @Snowy I thought there is? Is it only on the LH side? Nope. Just side of the road sign. Pisses my Welsh wife off no end that we don’t have the roadmarking. She is actually correct for once. I like how you have to make a distinction as to which wife you're talking about. To be Mr Serious briefly - they have the arrows in the UK and she has been caught out in head on traffic due to lack of them here. I struggle dealing with one wife, so you can keep your Middle Eastbourne polygamy ideas to yourself.
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  Rocket Lab
  • canefan  

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  This morning was one of those sad reminders of just how tough space flight is.
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  Motorcyclin'
  • Kruse  

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  I need to get my ass into gear and get my full bike licence. Still like the look of the Fazer, any opinions on that one?
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  50 Years of Star Trek - RIP
  • Tim  

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  very late to the party but reading through the thread has been really interesting, dont think i'll be participating too much though because i really liked both Discovery and Picard, sure Picard had some slow episodes, the main thread could have been told in half the time but i still found them both very watchable i think i just didn't analyse them that much, just tried to sit back an enjoy, most reviews ive seen are around the 7/10 mark which i thinks about right, we're not talking Madalorian levels of good here but still fun also love the Orville...find i get taken out of the story sometimes because of the TNG sets/uniforms /lighting etc though, i realise thats kind of the point but after a couple of season it kind of stand out
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  BOP Eruption?
  • NTA  

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  @canefan said in BOP Eruption?: He does know we have a thing called ACC right? I'm gonna take a stab that he knows about it, but doesnt know what it is, given he has done little leg work in terms of looking at the contract between the Cruise company and White Island tours (if there is one)
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  First cars!
  • MajorRage  

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  @Nepia said in First cars!: @Hooroo said in First cars!: @dogmeat said in First cars!: Ferners I give you the automotive glory that is the 1958 CA Bedford Van Mine cost $300 and came with six spare wheels. It was older than me when I bought it at 17 and had definitely seen better days. It had a metallic green paint job and jumped out of third gear (top) every 200 metres so I learned to drive with my foot poised above the clutch which became agony on long drives. Column shift. Th side doors would slide backwards and forwards as you went round corners. Don't know what the top speed was as the speedo never worked but mates and I took it on a roadie to Napier for the first ever NPC game and it took six hours to make the trip from Taupo to the game. Mainly because it didn't have the poke to make it up the hills so all but the lightest of us walked up the steepest climbs. Man I loved that van. mattress in the back Easily get 15 in it. Would hold shit loads of crates for a roadie. Just reach over and help yourself to another.... Once along the desert road we had two of us riding on the bonnet cleaning the windscreen and the car being steered and the pedals controlled by two guys leaning forward from the back seat. I tell you - you always have plenty of friends if you have a van like the Beddie. I solved the issue of arguing during driving lessons as I taught myself to drive in it. Got in and just started driving round and round the block until I got my confidence up and went for my test the next week. It was broke as often as it was going, but it was easy to fix . Drove it till the tyres were down to the canvas. After a couple of years I started a cleaning company to pay my way thu uni , started making "good' money and got rid of the van as it was just too much hassle keeping it on the road and I bought a Fiat. Got more for it as parts than it cost me. Wish I still had it . Most fun vehicle I've ever owned - definitely until the current one. That. Is. Awesome! Me and my flatmates picthed in together for a Bedford van that needed doing up. We never once started doing it up. It sat in the car port and we played poker in it. Then we sold it when we had to move out. A completely pointless exercise but a fun one all the same. What was wrong with the inside of your place that you preferred to play poker in the Bedford? Inside the flat didn’t have the gimmick of a Bedford van!!!
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  Gaming/VR
  • NTA  

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  Sorry you're playing someone to play your game??? It's not like your character gets more stuff the higher level you are in Overwatch, unless it's changed a lot since I last played it! EDIT: Oh a spammer.
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  TSF Book Club
  • Luigi  

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  DCEU
  • Kirwan  

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  @Nepia said in DCEU: @Kirwan said in DCEU: @Nepia said in DCEU: @Kirwan said in DCEU: @Nepia said in DCEU: @Kirwan said in DCEU: @Nepia said in DCEU: @raznomore said in DCEU: Am I the only one here that thinks Synder is great visually but isn't a directors arsehole? I've regularly commented on my dislike of Snyder's directing - the last film of his I truly liked was 300. I didn't want to be the first to comment and incur @Kirwan's wraith in this thread. I haven't heard any of these rumours yet (I'm about two weeks behind on the Fatman Beyond podcast but I'm sure they'll discuss this). Keaton coming back to the franchise will be good. It's all subjective. Plenty dislike JJ Abrams style too, and Tarantino. At least when directors have a distinctive style you know what you are in for, and it's easy to avoid if you don't like it. Smith is LOVING the news Oh definitely, I love Tarantino, mostly like JJ (most recent Star Wars definitely excluded) and pretty much dislike all of Snyders superhero movies, which is disappointing because I want to see good Batman and Superman. I'm looking forward to the Robert Pattinson one although I think it's going to be another more 'adult' version however it looks interesting. Did you like the Planet of the Apes movies? Yep. Are they directed by that guy? Reeves, who is doing the new Batman movie. So imagine the style will be different, but those movies were well made. I wonder if Andy Serkis will have a role and if it will be mo cap? Ding, ding. He's Alfred.
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  SpaceX
  • Kirwan  

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  Here is "Zeus", the Boston Dynamic robot dog checking out the destruction of the latest test to failure of the Starship tank.
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  Police Officer reported shot dead
  • taniwharugby  

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  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/419462/massey-police-shooting-second-fugitive-captured-murder-accused-in-court Got her as well. I'm sure they will spend a very long time inside, and rightly so. Awful stuff, I can't imagine the pain that this causes for the family and colleagues.
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  WWE Network
  • Godder  

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  Google wifi
  • NTA  

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  @NTA said in Google wifi: I thought about it some more, and gave up on the idea. The kids have phones and could just hotspot all the porn they want if they were really keen. It's a DNS that you can spec blocklists for. You can put it on their phones, and have it password protected so they can't turn it off, and add a blocklist for workaround services. Never tried those functions, but might be good. Block Bypass Methods Prevent or hinder the use of methods that can help bypass NextDNS filtering on the network. This includes VPNs, proxies, Tor-related software and encrypted DNS providers.
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  Star Wars VII ****contains spoilers****
  • Crucial  

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  This is the extended clip, posted by some dude. First 12 minutes. Goes all the way through to ROJ and Luke's confrontation with the emperor and the choices he has to make regarding the fate of his father
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  Fern Helpline
  • voodoo  

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  @nzzp said in Fern Helpline: @R-L said in Fern Helpline: Any online businesses here? Amazon sellers etc? Can you really make a living online or extra cash? Anyone? No silly get rich schemes or anything, I'm not looking to "get rich" just have a better lifestyle. I'm going to sound really old school here, but my general principle in these sort of opportunities is if you think ' how hard can that be' the answer is usually 'really hard'. Fundamentally, find something that you have knowledge and interest in, and that's where you'll carve out a niche. That may be buying and selling stuff on eBay (classic computer games, stamps, whatever) - but to be good at it you have to knwo your market, and find a way of sourcing stock so that you make money on it. Bad news: the easy stuff is probably already taken (that's what markets tend to do - grab the low hanging fruit). If you're a people person, a side gig in a pub could be a thing, or doing some part time work selling (ice creams, cornish pastys, whatever), or in the UK markets (rather than online) Bottom line - there's no easy way to making serious coin, but find something that you are engaged with and you'll find a way to make a difference, stand out and find a way of succeeding. Also, be realistic about this; the actual money you make is a function of all the time you spend at this, not just the revenue. If it's eBay, your time will be in researching stock, ordering, receiving, holding, repackaging, shipping and then fighting the inevitable arseholes who claim it never arrived or arrived damaged. Then you have to scale up to make money, which takes time and stops it being a side gig. Good luck - no matter what, just start something. If you challenge yourself you will learn shedloads as you go, and it'll help you in many aspects of life. Have fun, but be realistic going into whatever you start doing. Or take @mariner4life advice, which I assume is working for him at the moment during the covid crisis..
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  The Local
  • voodoo  

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  @Hooroo said in The Local: @Crucial said in The Local: @pakman said in The Local: @Crucial said in The Local: @pakman said in Coronavirus - UK: @Crucial said in Coronavirus - UK: @Catogrande said in Coronavirus - UK: @Crucial said in Coronavirus - UK: @Catogrande said in Coronavirus - UK: @pakman said in Coronavirus - UK: @Catogrande said in Coronavirus - UK: @pakman @Victor-Meldrew A good friend of mine is part of the set up at St Austell and we were talking about how the beer had improved (it was truly awful at one point). He told me that this was down to a new head brewer following retirement of the former HB. The previous one had been there man and boy but couldn't brew beer to save his life. They are very loyal employers. That's rather like Youngs before and after they moved brewing to Bedford. I liked the head brewer, but Ram Brewery was Dickensian. Were brewing at Eagle for six months before they told CAMRA, etc.. In mean time were many reports of beer being on good form! Was never the same after they cleaned up the Thames and the Wandle. Clean? The Wandle isn’t too toxic but the Thames is only “cleaner” not clean. The ex head brewer at Young’s is now the owner/ brewer of Wimbledon Brewery. His Autumn Ale is lovely. Had a great evening with him one night at a Young’s Pub. What shocks me is that Young’s have renamed their standard Bitter. I was usually a Special drinker but I did like an “Ordinary “ from time to time. These things are relative of course. Back along if you fell in the Thames the odds were on you dying of poison before you could drown. I always favoured a pint of mixed. We have a couple of Youngs pubs down here and I get met with blank looks when asking for same. It is particularly galling having to explain the concept at every round that is purchased - even in the same session. Mixed or Ram and Special are pretty standard orders in the Young’s pubs I frequented. For a brief period there was strong rumour that bottled Ram Rod was Special! Ordinary, Spesh and RR all all pretty much the same just brewed out to different ABVs Always enjoy Winter Warmer when the cold sets in. Did you have any particular Youngs haunts? Our local was a Youngs (Hand in Hand - Wimbledon) and as the best dog pub in London the place was often more like the dogs taking their owners out. Our 'weekend away day local' was also a Youngs. The Dolphin in Betchworth. We would often go for a walk or ride in the Surrey Hills and spend the afternoon by the fire chatting to the locals there. Good setup with friendly folk. The best thing was timing a walk from the pub on a Sunday morning through the nearby farmland on a loop to Brockham and back arriving just as the door was being opened as the first pints pulled. Lots of Youngs pubs in Wimbledon actually H&H, Crooked Billet, Rose and Crown, Dog and Fox, The Alexandra. Youngs has a good relationship with the AELTC so during the tennis each of those gets some sort of boost (D&F is the players drinking spot, R&C get minor official dinners, H&H do the lunches for the parking attendants) That parking lunch gig turns over £1,600 a day for 3 weeks during a quiet time of the day. It really is the biggest thing I miss about living over there and would often make up for the crap aspects. Edit: a painting of the H&H by the head barman that they presented us with on our last night. (Must have spent a lot ) Sunday arvo's in a English Garden bar always seems better than a NZ garden bar. I don't know why. When I was in London last year, my brother picked me up from Airport and I was shattered but we went to a pub on top of a hill for a sandwich and a pint and I felt as though I had never left. My tiredness disappeared and I was just so happy and content. Britain knows how to do pubs! That grassy bit in front of the pub is part of the Wimbledon Common and along with the Crooked Billet two doors down this gets filled with deckchairs on a fine day with loads of people spilled out having a drink while the kids run around. An aspect of licensing in the UK that is good and would be seen here in NZ under our very restrictive policies. Turns having a beer into a long slow social get together rather than a 'let's get pissed session. Up at Brewtown in Upper Hutt they have this ridiculous situation where, because areas for consumption must be strictly laid out and ring-fenced, you have these little pens outside where you can only drink the beer from one place. There are also signs that tell you that you can't take a sip while crossing the driveway to the designated piece of grass. BTW the ale named 'Common' by Wimbledon Brewery is basically the same recipe as Youngs 'Ordinary'. It is the brewer's little joke
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  Tech Questions
  • Tim  

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  @Kirwan Might be useful: https://1.1.1.1/family/ There's also Next DNS.