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  Nansen back on his radiator sofa. Radiator isn’t on. He doesn’t care. #caturday #catsofmastodon

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  @MatthewNewell@mastodon.social @markn@mastodonapp.uk @fullywoolly@mastodon.social @Pionir@mastodon.online Some organisers still require them and most don’t (they used to be compulsory on PBP and this trickled down to Audax UK regs but that was an age ago). You can check each event in the calendar… Very few events now require mudguards but they are still commonplace. Welcome to the weirdness of Audax UK.

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  There’s a really good article on quitting in the recent edition of Arrivée (the Audax UK magazine). Not available online yet will post a link when it is. #cycling #audax #audaxuk #biketooter #pbp2027

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  RE: https://c.im/@wlukewindsor/116651254366085922 Evergreen reminder that the UK government has created this problem. I see there are calls for even higher fees to offset our lack of public expenditure on higher education. The problem sits with successive governments’ offloading of tertiary education funding to ‘consumers’ rather than spreading cost across all taxpayers. The assumption that the only beneficiaries of HE are students is wrong, and has material consequences in the creation of one...

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  Whilst it may be that some Universities in the UK have engineered their own problems here is a sobering quote from the OECD: “In Chile, only 47% of tertiary education expenditure comes from government sources, and in the United Kingdom, it is just 43%, the lowest across OECD and partner countries with data”. https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/education-at-a-glance-2025_1c0d9c79-en/full-report/how-is-tertiary-education-financed_2845d742.html (The US spends, for example, about four times as mu...

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  Ties started dying out in Universities a long time ago and I have been openly mocked for being a tie enthusiast (including by one vice-chancellor). Yesterday a number of colleagues told me they loved my tie which I wore at a careers event. I’ve been wearing one less and I think it’s a shame that I am succumbing to a bizarre belief that not wearing a tie somehow erases class or gender privilege (or that choosing to wear one signifies meritocratic ascension). A tie is part of a costume for sure, b...

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  Well that was nice! #Sweden #cycling #BikeTooter

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  So my spare tube was the item that made them hand check my bag this morning. The valve is hard to identify on the scan apparently, everything else was OK because I had taken it out for the visual check on the tray (including a qr skewer and Allen keys). #cycling #BikeTootet #flyingwithbikes

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  Nansen wanted a cuddle 🥰 #catsofmastodon

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  Haha repeat after me 11 speed MTB cassettes need a spacer on an 11 speed road hub. This is the second time I have failed to pay attention to this basic fact. #cycling #BikeTooter

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  BRUTAL headwind this morning. #cycling #BikeTooter #commute

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  Watched the ‘Crocodile’ episode of Black Mirror for the first time last night. It was broadcast in the year that cyclist Tony Parsons was killed (after a hit and run) by two drunk game keepers who covered things up until they didn’t. His bicycle was never found although a key witness desperately tried to find it… in a black comic fugue state. If you’ve watched the episode and the Netflix doc about the Parsons case the parallels are VERY spooky. The central characters of both stories have diverg...

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  @ben_hr@old.mermaid.town I’ve seen quite a few of these but lots I haven’t! Silent Running I first saw as teen when it was on a tour around schools in the UK in the actual 1970s. Made quite an impression on me.

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  https://britain.votes.now/local-elections/live/may-26/manchester-election We may now be surrounded by a depressing sea of light blue but I am delighted to say my friend @samsterby was elected in neighbouring Old Moat and we have a new Green councillor here in Withington, Beth Hartness. Both with sizeable majorities and huge swings. Only a third of the council was up for grabs which was lucky for Labour who retain overall control. I did absolute nothing except vote, which I am a bit ashamed ab...

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  Nansen really loves this nest of Challenge tyres. Nothing but the best for him as always. #CatsOfMastodon

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  Nansen earlier today #caturday #CatsOfMastodon

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  I was gifted this wonderful Satanic cross-stitch by @runpaintrunrun and I am currently experimenting with how to ensure it is looking on me always ;-)

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  Watched the whole of the Deutsche Oper Berlin production of Das Rhinegold last night with @runpaintrunrun (research for her, purely pleasure for me) Loge stole the show #wagner #DasRhinegold

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  My new rando bag is much longer and wider than my old one but much less high. This turns out to be good. It also enables me to do without a decaleur yet is quieter and more stable. Second hand of course, but almost new: the only thing I don’t like is the fidlock attachment plate, straps would be better (I tend not to remove my bag from the bike during rides). My rack is only just long enough to work with the attachment plate. Gilles Berthoud make both cotton and x-pac decaleur-less rando bags bu...

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  Finally beginning to see the bigger changes I expected from giving up alcohol. One year in. It takes that long. Mainly physical, but also psychological. Although I miss some aspects of drinking I can now clearly see the benefits of stopping: but I haven’t turned into an anti-drink crusader. I feel bizarrely at peace with it. I’d been drinking a long time, but like giving up tobacco it’s never too late I guess. #alcohol #alcoholfree #teetotal

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  Nansen is risen #CatsOfMastodon

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  Post kids Easter party (very quiet now). Great piñata from @runpaintrunrun again! I have no pictures as I was holding the rope.

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  Not at the beach

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  Nansen hiding from the storm #caturday

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  Well I’ve cut the grass and fed the cat so having a ribena.

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  Made it out for a quick spin this morning.

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  Been looking for these two photos from 2015, the picture of me looking awful is from the Plains 300, first time I spoke to @runpaintrunrun ❤️, and the two bikes are from the Spurn Point 400 where we rode through the night together after joining forces at the… Point (well close to it as the sea had taken it a few years before). I’m riding the Plains 300 again this year, still stops twice at Dinky’s Diner. #nostalgia #cycling #BikeTooter #brevet #audax #audaxuk

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  Nansen hiding behind the sofa on the radiator again… #catsofmastodon

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  RE: https://mastox.eu/@ZackPolanski/116233289272427951 You can’t out-Farage Farage but you can out-Polanski him. And here again is the striking thing: Farage (and his party) is unpopular with over half the country, so it doesn’t matter how popular he is with *some* of the other half. And this is a reflection of current UK politics where time and again Reform fail to capture seats because their policies are actually unpopular with the majority of voters.

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  I love to see a grafter defeating grifters. Almost can’t believe it, as hopeful as the Brexit vote was hateful. #gortonanddenton #UKPol #GreenParty