Paul

Any Linux experts around? I have acquired a laptop for Jamie to break (it's what he does), but before he can break it I need to make it work. The main problem is that it's an old model which someone has tried to upgrade to Windows 7 and it's just not up to the job. I've added some memory that I had lying around and I can get it to boot, it will even run Youtube just, but anything else is out of the question. I'm thinking of putting Ubuntu on it to reduce the useage of the OS (and in no small part to the fact that I doubt the Windows installation is properly licensed). Can anyone explain in words that a total techno duffer might understand, how to go about such a process.

I'm afraid Banks are twentieth century, replaced by internet / phone banking and an ATM. Whilst this closure is sad it is good for the employees that they will have the opportunity to work at another branch. It may be sad, but alo inevitable.

on a narrowboat thickness checks are usually done as part of a full survey, though it is also quite common for more serious owners to have an ultrasonic tester, a bit like a damp meter for caravanners. Decent testers start at around £150, cheaper stuff is, as always, available from China.

no point being good at 19 if you are English, they don't think anyone under 24 can play test cricket. If Sachin was English he wouldn't have made half the test runs he did, coz we'd have waited till the ECB thought he was "ready"

That is what you call a good kicking As good as Cooks captaincy was in Cardiff he was clueless here. Lyth increasingly looks out of his depth. Bell needs a rest. Problem is there are no candidates in the wings. Bairstow maybe. I would even consider Eoin Morgan

well, they have seen off the first hour, and now the ball is getting old it seems much easier to bat. The new ball in 32 overs will be the danger, unless England collapse before hand. We really do need to score some runs off this old ball, try and get within say, a hundred of the follow on target before the new ball is taken. Then we might have half a chance of a resplendent draw. Cook being there to face the second new ball is critical, one might think

are there t20 blast games on Sunday? At least the test players are likely to be available.

technically not MM, though Joe Root is out which perhaps amounts to the same thing.

Members may be aware that I was, in a recent thread somewhat critical, unkind even regarding the television and radio personality Mr Chris Evans. Over the past few days I have decided that this criticism was somewhat unfair, the unkindess perhaps unwarranted. I try not to judge others, and not to make personal comments about others in public. In criticising Mr Evans I forgot this ethos. I am not above acknowledging my mistakes and not too proud to admit to, and apologise for them. On that basis I would like to offer Mr Evans my unreserved apology via that same media which carried the original comments, that being this forum. In that same spirit I would hope that Mr Evans feels inclined to return to his day job, that being the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show and save us all from that god awful woman who "Auntie" has seen fit to put in his place. We are currently enjoying a family holiday in deepest, darkest Wales where signals for anything seem very scarce. My DAB Radio can connect to three channels. One is Radio 2, the others are Welsh language. After three days of Sara Cox I have to admit I'm seriously considering the Welsh Language channels.

only another 339 needed to avoid the follow on. The pitch might have looked slow when Anderson and Broad were bowling, it looks lively enough now. England to follow on 4/11, to lose by an innings 8/11, and the chances of play on day 4, very slim.

England are batting Iain, but don't blink or you might miss it.

I'm not saying a word .....

Sorry Alan!

Sunrise is 5am or thereabouts, I would leave around then. Up at 4:30, cuppa, and a nice steady run down river in the early dawn light. It's a magical time of day. Stop at Berney Arms, tie up for showers with the water you have heated, a spot of bacon and fried bread and wait for the flow on the river to stop. One the water drops calm, which it will do between 9:30 and 10:00 set of across Breydon and you will just about hit the turning tide on the yellow post. Remember the Bure ebbs for twenty to thirty minutes longer than the Yare. You'll have the incoming tide to help you up to Stokesby and be there just before lunch. If you don't fancy such an early start you could leave Oulton Broad around 7 and miss the stop at Berney, Bacon Sarnies are then in order as you cross Breydon. End result will be similar. Oulton Yacht Sta to the turn on Breydon is about 3 hours to 3:10 on the outgoing tide and sensible engine load. Against the tide it is 4:15 - 4:30 flat out and you will use about four times as much fuel.

I'm not advocating a change of captain, you can't do that midway through an Ashes series (don't mention 1981, I don't think Mike Brearly is ready for a comeback), but Cook needs help. I played clun cricket for almost thirty years and two seasons in Minor Vounties, so played with a number of test players to be, or past test players and have coached youngsters but don't consider myself an expert. What I do find puzzling is that commentators see the issues with Cook's game, I can see it as can many others yet the England Coaches seem unable to do so. Hopefully Bayliss will improve the back room performance. England seem to have a nack for emerging spinners. Neither Giles nor Swann were considered great players when they entered the test arena but both became key players. I have a feeling Moeen could be similar and the selectors do want bowlers to produce runs so I think he's a fixture for the time being, and deservedly so. On that basis I can't see many obvious changes but Bairstow is hammering at the door and the most likely candidate for the chop is Bell. Problem is we have four or five middle order batsmen who all suit slots 5-7 but a real lack of top order talent for 1-4

you will understand that the forum's language code has substitued silly person from someone who spins a coin.

I didn't mean deteriorated in terms of breaking apart, but the bounce became more inconsistant as the test went on. Even on day two several length deliveries went through shin high. As you say, many tests have been won or lost on the flip of a coin. Alistair Cook may not be in the best form at the moment but he seems to be a lucky silly person

Let's not get carried away, the three main factors in Englands victory were something we had little control over. The first two are linked. England won the toss, and the pitch was quite poor and disintegrated quickly. The third was a dropped catch which cost the Aussies a first innings lead. There is plenty of cricket, and more left in this series yet. England's top order is in disarray. Cook has developed two serious problems, a technical issue where he is not moving his back foot properly meaning he can't get into position properly and a mental lapse where he seems to get impatient. Both are serious issues for an opening bat. His dismissal in the second innings was as bad as cricket ever gets. An opener in an ashes series, the absolute pinnacle of the game slashing at a ball two feet wide of off stump with no foot movement. There is no way he could control where that ball was going. Given that he has a very inexperienced opening partner he should be digging in and providing the anchor. Lyth, the afforementioned inexperienced opening partner might become a good test player but he's not there yet. A few years ago he was a very promising youngster but never seemed to fulfil that, and I can't help feeling England have gone for him in the absence of anything better. Ian Bell has been a phenomenal servant but can't buy a decent innings right now. We can only hope he finds form quickly. He dug in really well for his 60 in the second innings at Cardiff, let's hope that can give him some confidence. England cannot keep relying on Joe Root to bail them out. No doubt they will go to Lords unchanged. It's the England way not to change a winning side but there are issues that need to be sorted.

I'm not sure about selling off the BA, but I did here tell of plans to tax wind when used as a method of propulsion. As it can't be used for heating there will be no 60/40 split permitted, either.

Swift is of course absolutely right when he says there is no chance of any change at Potter to see more boats pass under the bridge. In reality the future almost certainly holds greater restriction of passage on the upper Thurne, be it from rising water levels or legislation. Not a problem to me, my boat fits on a trailer but I do feel sorry for those whose boats are designed to fit under the brodge but which no longer do, at least with any degree of regularity. Entering cloud cuckoo land for a minute or two and looking at what could be done, I don't see any kind of lock arrangement working. The lock would be huge, 45 feet either side of the bridge, twenty feet of bridge itself? The amount of water that would have to be pumped out to lower the level sufficiently would be enourmous, use heaps of electrckery and take forever. A bypass would be much easier, a channel cut behind the pilot's office and chip shop, severing the causeway south of the bridge. Such development could include additional moorings. The bridge would close to traffic except access to the businesses. Pedestrian access southwards could continue either by providing access to the bypass bridge or putting a footbridge over this "new cut". I do like Swift's idea of an improved Potter Heigham. I remember it when it was much more attractive than it is today. If my six numbers come up I'll buy the Broadshaven, bulldoze it and build something more attractive.

Given the virtually zero uptake of electric boating I wonder how the authority can justify any expenditure on electricity posts, especially under the current climate of cut backs, even the maintenance of existing posts. They have to win the award as biggest white elephant in the authroties history, even pushing Dragonfly Towers into second place. Future electrically propelled hire boats are very likely to be self contained hybrid units, not dependant on shorebased charging facilities so there has to be a real argument for removing them and saving the money. I do like the line "comitted to green boating", sadly this is a hugely costly excersise to demonstrate that point with no end result.

Are you having a laugh? Not much escapes notice at WRC. WRC charges guests £5 per day for additional cars, if they allowed parking only I would expect that they would make the same charge. I have asked about doing just this at the Locks Inn before to be told no, sadly. Personally I would have a word with Hipperson's or Gale's, they both have a good amount of space. The Ferry House at Surlingham may give permission if you frequent the establishment at some point during your stay. I would not endorse the Gret Yarmouth idea. I am always concerned about finding my car where I lft it in GY when I nip in to the Troll Cart for a bite of lunch, let alone three days later.

There is a very interesting comparison between the two photos posted earlier in this thread, and that is the clearly visible high water line. Much, much higher in the Herbert Woods photo than in JM's taken a hundred years ago. Swift tells us that the bridge is not sinking, that countless measurements have been taken. What I want to know, on that basis is why is there not a gap underneath it? We all know that most of East Anglia is sinking (are there still plans to call the new town near Coltishall "Titanic" ), so if the bridge is not, where is the gap? What is it about that small strip of land that is stopping it slowly dropping into the mud, or when they say it is not sinking, do they merely mean that it is not sinking any faster than the ground around it? By the way, the HW photo would be more impressive if it were taken the other side of the bridge!

We had a ride out to Fradley Junction yesterday, largely as we had a bit of business to do nearby and partly because it is one of our favourite places to sit by the canal for a coffee. When we arrived we sat by the top lock for a while and Jamie helped the volunteer lock keeper sending boats up and down, then we wandered down the lane towards the old BW depot and wharf which have been turned into a lovely canal side cafe, with a handful of tables alongside the canal and more in the yard behind. Not surprisingly given the lovely weather the five tables alongside the canal were all occupied when we arrived, two by parties eating lunch and three by individuals sitting with empty coffee cups. Scenting one of these might soon become available we sat at the closest table available and I asked Elaine to "move in" when one became vacant, while I went and ordered lunch. On my return there had been no movement, so I sat down and as is my want, began studying the three people sat alone at the tables by the canal side. One, a woman reading a book, probably something about a paler shade of black given her total immersion in it, she rarely looked up. The second, a man tapping away on a small tablet, or large mobile telephone and the thord another man, reading a copy of the free CRT newspaper "Towpath" which are available inside. The two things they had in common were empty cups and an air of permanence. Our lunch arrived and we enjoyed lovely food and drinks as always durng which time several other parties arrived looking for tables, of which there were now none free even in the yard. A couple of the parties hung around for a few minutes, mistakenly thinking a table might soon become free but eventually they all wandered off along the canal. The staff who bought our food out cleared the empty crockery, including our three "friends" . Afterwards I took Jamie to the little boys room and returned. As we stood up to leave, just over an hour after arriving so did the chap who had been reading the newspaper. The tablet tapper and book reader were still firmly entrenched. As we walked past the book reader opened her shoulder bag and took out a bottle of water, took a couple of swallows and returned it. I have to admit feeling a little upset for the establishment which is clearly missing out on business, and to those who couldn't find space to sit when thhree tables are being occupied by people who i ASSUME ordered the drinks that merited the empty cups apparent when we arrived but who have stayed on at least an hour afterwards at tables where a family could be eating lunch. I call this the "Costa Syndrome" as it is common place in our local Costa where it is commonplace to find several tables occupied by individuals who order nothing for hour on end and sith there connected to the free wi-fi using the place as a free office or somewhere to kill time. Very annoying when you are halfway around the shopping desperate for a coffee and to take the weight of your feet. Not something it is easy to do in town since Greggs closed their cafe in favour of a shop with a bar style thing and a couple of seats. Sorry this became a bit of a moan, but is it just me, or are these people taking the wee wee expecting to occupy someone elses trade premises for so long on the strength of one coffee?

Ellen Naomi Cohen, better known as Cass Elliot, or Mama Cass, singer with The Mamas and Papas died in 1974 at the age of 32, She died in her sleep at Flat 12, 9 Curzon Place, Mayfair, a flat borrowed from Harry Nilsson. Four years later, Keih Moon, drummer with The Who dies in the same flat, also aged 32. Nilsson had previously refused to loan the flat to Moon, concerned that it was cursed following Cass' death.