I have used a sharp knife to unscrew something on a few occasions aswell but luckily ive had no injuries. I tend to opt for scissors instead as a replacement for the screwdriver.

& it's all so very true too!

Gotta love the poms! Except when playing cricket against them!

Oh, and since we now have an official UK thread....

I love Jilly Cooper's books, especially her book "Class"... outdated, since she wrote it in the late seventies, I think...
But how is the class system going in England these days? Do you ever get any of the U's and aristocracy supporting bike racing, or are they all at the cricket and tennis, showjumping or horseracing? (We know Betty loves the gee gees...)

Believe it or not more than half of the British bike owners (sports type bikes) are bankers, accountants, solicitors etc....well they're the ones with the real good bikes, you know MV Augusta's and the likes. The cost of insuring these big engined bikes here is so expensive you need a high powered job just so you can own one of these drop dead gorgeous machines and be totally legal while doing so.

My fella used to have a Honda Super-blackbird 1100XX about 10 years back but was not able to get insurance for it. The only way to insure that kind of bike at the age he was back then (under 30) would be to pay more than the price of the bike when bought new hence to say he has long since sold it!
In Britain it's a rich man's sport or hobby if you want to be attending track days on a regular basis, either be loaded or get some top notch sponsors to help you out.

Also both Prices William and Harry are keen bikers and have even done private track days at Donington I believe.

Ah, but didn't you know? The accountants and lawyers etc are VERY middle class! Cashed up, but sociallly, you know, still wage earners! (And possibly went to a comprehensive... shudder shudder.)

But I guess William and Harry participating answers the question perfectly! Though I'd like to see the day they're rubbing shoulders with the masses on a race week end!

Catty the Princes are doing an Africa trip like the long way down that Ewan and Charlie did apparently, but for their chosen charity.

They'd never get to mingle with us lot at a race meeting though, that would be far too dangerous for our future King. Maybe one day William & Harry will get to have their own Royal Box in VIP at Donington??

Cricket, tennis show jumping and horse racing are sports for the masses and not in any way for the Upper-crust over here....almost certainly comprehensive kids, but for someone to get to be a top notch solicitor or accountant they first need to go onto University. Oxford & Cambridge regularly take in kids who previously had a comprehensive education, they get into these places by how well they did in their school exams and comprehensives do every bit as good as the private and public schools do, often better.

Well, in order to have success in those sports, they do have to open them up to the masses - waiting for the upper crust to get good enough to get a gold medal... well, it doesn't work.
Anyway, I'm talking more about class/system and prejudice rather than what is practical, every day life. I was asking about how rife it is in modern England these days... if Old Boy Networks, (you know, one went to Harrow or Eton, then onto Cambridge or Oxford...) etc still existed or not. Obviously profit motive opened the way for the working classes and lower middle classes to join the upper echelons... for work, anyway!
Actually, I guess a good case in point is Mohammed el Fayed. His money still wouldn't open the doors to him "socially". I guess that means that it still does exist and is thriving! I just wondered if that ilk, those that rejected el Fayed, were into bike culture at all... you've answered yes!

Oh, and are the Princes being filmed doing their bike ride? (And they're gonna be hard pressed to beat Ewan's hotness factor! (see the kiss he layed on his wife when they got back? hehe!)

Didn't you ever see that photo of Prince William in his speedos? That's one hot guy for sure!

Is he? Not sure I want to see the future king of england in budgie smugglers...
ALways thought Harry was pipping Wills at the post on the looks front... and poor Wills... that hair is getting VERY thin on top...

So, just read that all foreigners will now need an ID card to live in Britain, or just England... though Britain would make more sense...

That means I won't be able to go on a crime spree when I finally hit the shores of your cute little island! (And I will get there eventually... I'm gonna have to win lotto it seems, but those odds are better than me actually managing to save to go to England...) They will have my fingerprints on file... but then again, I can always razor them off like Kevin Spacey did in "Seven"...