All week, I've been looking forward to pizza this weekend. Change of plans meant instead of ordering takeaway on Saturday, we were going to make it on Sunday. Got all the ingredients. Got slack in getting the dough made which we should have done earlier. By the time we were ready to stick the pizzas in the oven, it was 1945. Suddenly the power cuts out. Everyone on the street is affected (As well as the surrounding area as it turns out). Ring up the distribution network who say it'll be back in a few mins.

I personally set a time of 2030 before we abandon plans. Visit website which states it'll be on by 2330. Missus says she can't wait to eat, so we heat up last nights leftovers on the gas hob. Sit down to eat and the frikking power comes back on. I am SO peed off.

Gonna have to wait for tomorrow for pizza

Barnet council chief steps down after election blunder | Society | The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016 ... on-blunder

I hope someone does bloody complain.

Fixed that for you... Also, Pizzas? Haven't you heard of rationing?

Sorry, couldn't resist.
OK, I could have resisted, but ultimately, I chose not to.

Excel.

I was trying to do something you'd think would be relatively simple. but no. In the end I exported the data out of excel, imported it into a db and wrote a SQL query to do it. That was literally simpler than how excel wanted things done.

Jonathan

I've been mowing the lawn regularly and decided to get some of that Evergreen 4-in-1 stuff. It comes in a container with a spout which pours out the granules. The idea is you walk up and down the lawn, pouring out the granules. It promises to make yellowing grass green, as well as kill weeds and sprout new grass. "Great!" I thought. Traipsed up and down the lawn, trying to make sure I covered the whole lawn.

Four weeks later and there are three stripes of yellow grass where I hadn't poured the bloody thing.

Can we just put the new Top Gear in this category and leave it at that?

Has that even started yet?

That was... really odd. Like someone doing an impression of old Top Gear but failing to figure out exactly what make the thing they were aping actually funny or good. The script seemed unable to tell the different between being witty and just insulting someone. The stunts were 100% old top gear yet lacked any drama or interest - seriously, Matt LeBlanc sat on the back of a recovery truck for 150 miles is supposed to be good television now?

LeBlanc did a pretty good job reading the script but came across as rather unlikeable. Evans was far too shouty and squeaky and the Clarkson dig at the start was incredibly ill-judged; if you want to set yourself up as the better sequel to something the last thing you do is look really insecure about the show you're following on from RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING. Sabine Schmitz - who is both a genuinely talented driver and a likeable screen presence - was vastly underused and Rory Reid appears to have been entirely relegated to the online-only 'follow on' show, which I suspect about a dozen people will watch.

Also stuff like Evans spending 30 seconds explain what a spoiler does. Why do that? 50% of Top Gear's audience doesn't know about cars and doesn't care so will be bored.. 50% of it does know about cars and so will be utterly patronised. Do they not understand the audience they're speaking to at all?

Add in the fact they kept some of the worst bits of old Top Gear - the interview was awful and went on for ever - while apparently bringing nothing new or original and you're left with one simple question - "what did you think you would gain by doing this"?

I came away from it not hating it, just being utterly non-plussed by it. I imagine this week's viewing figures will be amazing. I imagine next week;s might not be.

EDIT : Reports suggest the online follow up show is actually quite good.

First show of the series just finished.

The following photo is being posted on Twitter quite a lot.

I did think they were trying a bit too hard to follow old Top Gear.
It wasn't awful but it wasn't great either. Still, early days, I'll wait to see how it develops.

The Top Gear extra show http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p03w1dcs/top-gear-extra-gear-episode-1 is genuinely good.

It's essentially everything that Evans Top Gear isn't - energetic, good natured, actually funny, doesn't pander to the petrol heads but has the odd bit of jargon/statistics to make them feel at home. The hosts have a genuine rapport and look very comfortable with each other and the show. It has the news segment the main show was drastically missing, a guest who wasn't an interest vacuum. The piece effectively interviewing Sabine and showing what she's actually about was excellent.

It really is the show New Top Gear should actually be.

Didn't work for me. For a few years I had considered old TG to be a bit past its sell by, but then, the sheer lack of political correctness would melt my stoney heart. It was almost a perfect antidote to modern Britain. Too strong? but you know what I mean.
Here we have a facsimile of a format with none of the wit as Jon has said. Sad day, but hey it's a Tv show, not the end of the world.

edit Just watched Extra Gear and agree with Jon again. It is the show that should have been.

Wrote to the company holding my shares and asked them to sell. I got a letter back saying I couldn't sell per post and need to do it online, finally got the credentials to sell online... Sold, but I then get a letter in the post saying that I need to fill in a paper form and return the certificate!

If I have to do complete the transaction by post anyway, why can't I initiate the sale by post? And why bother with an online selling service if I have to complete it by post anyway? AAAHHH!

Seriously guys! Who cares about Top Gear anymore? Just watch something else if you don't like it.

It's not going to be Top Gear of old and you either like the new presenters or you don't.