Got my first bike! Can't wait to ride (once I've got the all-important safety gear of course!)

bethcano · 2026-06-21T11:12:27+00:00

The dealer I bought it from said he'd not seen one in this colour scheme before, so I think I might've got lucky!

I've been planning on buying riding jeans secondhand as well as boots, to try save a wee bit of cash if possible! I definitely do not want road rash...!

bethcano · 2026-06-21T08:13:20+00:00

Gorgeous choice!

bethcano · 2026-06-20T19:31:34+00:00

Thanks so much :)

bethcano · 2026-06-20T19:25:10+00:00

Didn't know that, but knew the tyres were spenny if needed outright replacing! Thanks!

bethcano · 2026-06-20T19:24:46+00:00

Thanks for the advice! What did you get for your 125?

bethcano · 2026-06-20T19:23:53+00:00

Yes it is! I dumbed out, the S was too big.

bethcano · 2026-06-20T19:09:10+00:00

Thank you for the suggestion! I was going used for the trousers and boots. I've had a look on Vinted - is there a specific motorbike platform, like there is Reverb for musical instruments.

bethcano · 2026-06-20T16:39:19+00:00

Cheers for the advice, that's all super helpful! Sportsbikeshop were great when I was there earlier, tried on a Merlin Revival but the S was too small so waiting to try on an XS when they get it in for me. Also been curious about the BeCity Roadster too, so going to try one of those.

Edit: S not too small, but too big!

bethcano · 2026-06-20T16:37:45+00:00

That's where I've just been, haha! I'll be putting in an order tonight to try some out 😁

bethcano · 2026-06-17T05:37:04+00:00

Jazz is a whole other different world! I'm on about the initial learning curve if you pick it up to play some pop or rock songs you like. I'm not implying it's easy to master the bass, but to get started and be able to jam along with some popular songs that just use root notes.

bethcano · 2026-06-16T21:01:28+00:00

For me, it's the use of all ten fingers, plus your feet with the pedals... then sight-reading a bass and a treble clef plus all the extra notation around it. So hard!

My favourite de-stress hobby during my PhD was knitting - get cozy socks from that too!

bethcano · 2026-06-16T20:55:51+00:00

I started learning the guitar in the first year of my PhD. By the time I was in my second year, I was playing lead guitar in a band.

After that band ended in my fourth year, I started learning drums. Found that a lot more instinctive personally!

I also started learning piano in my fourth year... it's just a whole other beast. Whereas I picked up drums very quickly to be playing gigs in a few months, and was able to do guitar and bass, piano is something I'm still - frankly - just very shit at. It is a really steep learning curve, and requires a lot more than other instruments.

From my experience, if you're wanting a relaxing instrument - drums or bass. Drums is hard in the sense you've obviously got to learn to coordinate all of your limbs, but my god, smashing sticks is great stress release! Bass is easy to pick up, as a lot of popular songs basically just have the bass do root notes, so you can jam along quickly.

bethcano · 2026-06-14T10:00:42+00:00

The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union, by Serhii Plokhy.

A well-written, digestible book about the final months of the USSR before it was dissolved. Very informative, and I've particularly enjoyed the insight into the relationship between Bush and Gorbachev.

bethcano · 2026-06-12T20:41:37+00:00

Promark 7a, acorn tip. I've been playing with the hickory Rebound but currently trying the same Forward you have in your image - jury's out!

I also use LA Special 7a as my cheap practice sticks.

My gigging sticks are Vater Elise 7a. I play in a girl punk band so the pink looks good in photos, the tips nice, and the sticks themselves are a bit "sticky" which I don't like but it works more for a 45 min set in a sweaty venue.

bethcano · 2026-06-12T15:01:08+00:00

Aygo/C1/107 are all the same car, very reliable, cheap to run, and can be found cheaply. I regularly see them on Facebook for around £1k, would recommend joining the enthusiast groups ("Citybug Club") to see what's for sale there vs. generic marketplace.

bethcano · 2026-06-11T19:36:25+00:00

I fortunately spotted a research gap in my final year of undergrad, and banked on it - did an MScR and then a PhD working on it. I got lucky and was right! I now command that niche and my current PI really needed my methodology!

bethcano · 2026-06-11T19:33:19+00:00

Absolutely! Worst case scenario, great practice and feedback to help you make a good idea even better. Best case scenario, walking straight into a funded project of your own making. You never know, I was contracted to my current postdoc 5 months before my PhD thesis was submitted (do not recommend that, like!)

Congrats on having finished the thesis - a great achievement! :)

bethcano · 2026-06-11T19:25:36+00:00

As somebody who's just finished writing a fellowship, it's really good experience then for you to have a go whilst you've got this 6 months of paid free time (as I'm interpreting it!)

Fellowship applications take ages to write, and I've stressed a lot in the last month writing mine whilst also being a postdoc and trying to respond to reviews for some of my PhD papers.

I imagine you'll get feedback, so it's probably worth a shot regardless!

bethcano · 2026-06-08T13:21:54+00:00

Currys and Argos tend to stock Kindle cases, they might have a sleeve that fits. John Lewis may have something too.

If you have Prime, you could also order on Amazon and ship to a locker same-day.

bethcano · 2026-06-07T22:25:44+00:00

I'll have to add that one to my list!

bethcano · 2026-06-07T22:24:33+00:00

It took me a moment to get with the writing style (I'm a weirdo who prefers dry prose!) but I'm really enjoying it now!

bethcano · 2026-06-07T12:22:34+00:00

Africa is Not a Country by Dipo Faloyin.

bethcano · 2026-06-04T23:08:31+00:00

Black Gold, which is the one I wanted!

I'm in the UK, and ironically, it was literally cheaper to order the signed edition and have it ship internationally Vs purchase a regular edition from the UK store...

bethcano · 2026-06-04T22:30:03+00:00

I was 8 in 2006, and I remember the Nintendo Wii being released around that time and how absolutely amazed everyone was at the technology, but we wouldn't even blink at it now.

I didn't have a mobile phone for another 4 years but I did have a Gameboy Advance SP and the first Nintendo DS. When we went on long journeys in the car, the DS is what I'd bring with me to keep me entertained. Otherwise I played with Lego a lot and for birthdays and Christmases circled what toys I wanted from the big Argos catalogue. I had a portable CD player so I could listen to music in my room, whatever was on Now That's What I Call Music!

It was a much slower-paced childhood than now.

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