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Post by garry on Jan 5, 2022 8:56:28 GMT
Hah! Judging by the car park in Vienna I assume after nigh on two years with reduced numbers of Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenes, Brits and Austrians coming home / on holiday the fleet content has suffered. Nothing exciting hanging around. Are the prices a lot higher than 2 years ago as well? Two weeks of USA car hire, was £1,065 when I booked 2 years ago, but will be at least £2,600 this August. That's not just because of the truck I want, even something tiny like a Mirage is nearly £1,000 and a Full Size (Maxima) is £1,300. Crazy. Wow! I'd walk....
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Post by garry on Dec 24, 2021 11:32:08 GMT
Both boys had it at different times earlier this year, neither were particularly ill and no one else in the house got it (crucially they were not treated any differently and locked away in the rooms for the duration of isolation). It’s interesting to note that despite being clearly very conscious of not putting yourself at risk and taking all of the measures seriously, you’ve still managed to catch it. Doesn’t that make you wonder that all of these measures might not have the impact you think and the simple fact is, if it’s going to get you, there is bugger all you can do about it. The reason I have had the flu jab every year since 2015 is because I caught flu in 2014 and i have never been as ill before or since. At the time I was supremely fit and healthy, yet no one else in the house or anyone else I had come into contact with picked it up. It took me 6 months to shake off the last vestiges of that particular dose. Not really - it reinforces that young kids are skanky little scumbags. They totally fail to really take in anything you say about hygiene and constantly do ridiculous things…. Put 30 of them together all day without their parents and what do you expect?? As usual, young kids are the super-spreaders and yes it’s galling that all my own actions came to naught - but it won’t stop me trying! Actually I’ll be less worried now as I’ve had it 😀 Like play together .
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Post by garry on Dec 24, 2021 11:27:22 GMT
Anyway from testing positive I went rapidlly downhill with a tremendous headache (I couldn’t even watch tv or read- certainly couldn’t have driven) and coughing of a deep, slightly panicky nature - you really worry if you’ll be able to breathe again. Bear in mind also I ran a 50k off road race in 5:30 per km pace 2 months ago and have kept my running up since then, and have a BMI of 22… But take it from me, milder or not, you don’t want this, and i can see how people could die or need hospitals. How do you know it's Omicron?
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Post by garry on Dec 24, 2021 8:19:43 GMT
I spoke to a client today who was getting pretty animated about those who wouldn't get vaccinated. He blamed them for over burdening the NHS, for killing cancer and other patients who can't get the treatment they require and for all the restrictions on his life that he feels are overkill. His solution is to restrict the unvaccinated from leaving home. In fact he was so animated about it, he would probably just lock them all up and throw away the key or worse. Replace unvaccinated with Jewish and you can see how this type of sentiment isn’t new. Circa 92% of the entire Scottish population aged 12 and over has now had at least one jab. So just like the Germans misdirected their ire, your client needs to think about the root cause of his situation. It’s obvious with hindsight that the real enemy of Germany was Adolf, but who is your clients real enemy? The 8% of jab refuseniks (some of whom can’t be vaccinated) or the people telling him that he needs to be afraid of the unclean and mandating that he can’t go to the footy?
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Post by garry on Dec 23, 2021 7:32:42 GMT
I noticed it’s now available to stream on Amazon prime. My dad is no longer in good enough health to take to the cinema so it will be great to get it on our big screen and have a movie night over Christmas.
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Post by garry on Dec 21, 2021 19:46:08 GMT
Agreed it’s a lot of money, but what else would you buy for similar cash? It offers a level of usability and practicality that no other sports car can get close to - the 2+2 cabin and fact you can use it everyday whilst still being as good as sports cars get. I'm not sure I'd call it practical, they stayed at our house for 1 night and the front boot plus back seats were full, albeit they had walking gear in there as well as a change of clothes. There's more space in a Nissan GT-R for example. If I had that money I'd struggle to spend it all on one car but as I said I'm not really a Porsche person so a 911 wouldn't be on my list anyway. I was imprseed by the refinement alongside the impressive performance though. I’ve had all sorts in a 911 - my road bike, a Christmas tree (admittedly that needed the sunroof open), camping gear for a long weekend and, most memorably, 3 air hostesses! I was always happy with refinement, but I see Harry Metcalfe giving the 992 a hard time on that score. Agree that it feels very expensive now.
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Post by garry on Dec 21, 2021 19:43:14 GMT
Agreed it’s a lot of money, but what else would you buy for similar cash? It offers a level of usability and practicality that no other sports car can get close to - the 2+2 cabin and fact you can use it everyday whilst still being as good as sports cars get. I'm not sure I'd call it practical, they stayed at our house for 1 night and the front boot plus back seats were full, albeit they had walking gear in there as well as a change of clothes. There's more space in a Nissan GT-R for example. If I had that money I'd struggle to spend it all on one car but as I said I'm not really a Porsche person so a 911 wouldn't be on my list anyway. I was imprseed by the refinement alongside the impressive performance though. I’ve had all sorts in a 911 - my road bike, a Christmas tree (admittedly that needed the sunroof open), camping gear for a long weekend and, most memorably, 3 air hostesses! I was always happy with refinement, but I see Harry Metcalfe giving the 992 a hard time on that score. Agree that it feels very expensive now.
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Post by garry on Dec 21, 2021 10:27:46 GMT
The problem with the NHS is that it’s perceived as “free”. We have lots of business guru's in the accountancy profession who promote ways of making your practice more successful. One of the most common phrases I hear is "Client's don't value anything you give them for free, so don't do it"
I wonder if that is the way a lot of people view the NHS?Regarding the point about the European model of health insurance, is that a fixed premium regardless of age? In principle I don't have an issue with a financial contribution to the NHS but I would not want it to be like private medical insurance where the costs escalate at a ridiculous rate as you get older and just when you are perhaps least able to afford it with only a pension for income and no employer to contribute. UK employers may argue that they already pay with 13.8% employer's NI which will increase to 15.05% from April 2022 - it's not as if they get anything from it. I was thinking about this. I work on pricing strategies with some of my customers and it's well documented in the software sector that free product has incredibly low take up because it's perceived as having limited value.
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Post by garry on Dec 20, 2021 21:36:26 GMT
Agreed it’s a lot of money, but what else would you buy for similar cash? It offers a level of usability and practicality that no other sports car can get close to - the 2+2 cabin and fact you can use it everyday whilst still being as good as sports cars get.
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Post by garry on Dec 20, 2021 16:25:35 GMT
My only experience of the F type was an early V8 S rwd. Took it on a circa 20 mile test drive over some damp country roads. You could make it step out at will (or not at will if you weren't being careful). Required concentration, but lots of fun.
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Post by garry on Dec 20, 2021 15:20:48 GMT
There should be no more talk of restrictions or any more ridiculous rules - address the core issue of a lack of capacity and move on, otherwise we will forever be at the mercy of inadequate health care provision. This is the real issue though, isn't it? Massively increasing capacity to deal with the circa 1000 patients a day being admitted to hospital with COVID - without affecting other services - will be very, very, very expensive. And there is a good chance throwing money at the issue will not solve it. New Labour abandoned their fiscal sense mid way through their term and threw tens of billions more at the NHS, and studies show the improvement in service lagged massively behind the additional funding. The NHS already swallows a massive share of the total budget, and its usually protected in a way that can be devastating for smaller departments. Do we want to pay the taxes for another 50 or 100 billion a year to sort out the NHS - and social care implications - of just letting a pandemic run riot, yet wanting undiminished care? Do I want to pay another 5p on my income tax permanently for that, rather than make some proportionate (and if I'm honest not that horrific) changes to my life for a while? This isn't something that can be just scaled up as needed - it would be massively more spending permanently. It becomes a choice of big government vs small government, high taxation vs low taxation, and I for one am not comfortable with a focus on ever increased spending over some degree of personal responsibility. I think this is a slippery slope. It's predicted on the 'protect our NHS' doctrine which is more fully described as "We the people will give up some of our liberties to stop the NHS being overwhelmed". On the surface this seems equitable - we're happy to trade very small liberties to stop spiralling NHS demands. But where does that end for you? What liberty is a step too far? If I said "Our NHS needs to be protected from overweight people so we should close down all takeaways" or "Our NHS deals with huge numbers of drink related issues so we should stop the sale of alcohol" you'd probably think I was nuts, but I'd say its just few extra steps down the path that you're already on. History is littered with examples of this slow drip effect where a religious like dogma drives a nation to worse and worse decisions. Step back two years and imagine being told that in the near future the government would be able to, at will, close parts of the economy down and restrict when you could leave the house. And they'd be able to do this with the support of the people as we all did our bit to 'protect our NHS'. Project forwards and who knows what new rules they'll come up with. In the end it's not about big or small government, it's about control They work for us, we don't work for them - you can't let them ever forget that.
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Post by garry on Dec 19, 2021 18:01:50 GMT
^ We don't need to quarantine, and shouldn't self-isolate for something as mild as the common cold. Enough damage to society has been caused already So don’t get tested. The lurid headlines over the last few days about a surge in cases are mostly made up of an increase in testing. In October there was circa 800k tests per day, which has risen to 1.5 million daily tests. The positivity rate is the same (just under 5%). So in news that should surprise no one, if you test loads more people, you’ll find loads more cases. The more we comply, the longer this lasts.
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Post by garry on Dec 17, 2021 14:41:23 GMT
I get the arguments about civil liberties and am myself a strong advocate of a strong economy, as lower incomes and fewer jobs have so many knock-on effects. What persuaded me to believe in measures to limit the spread was largely, and remains, hospital capacity. We can speculate as much as we like about how Omicron is milder, but if the factual reality is that hospitals are overloaded then we don't have the protection we as a rich society expect and more people will die, and have very unpleasant life experiences short of death, from other causes as well. And if we say "the NHS is there to protect us not the other way around" then surely we have to accept personal responsibility for our communal health, as we all seem so sure it largely affects people with other illnesses/poor health? Poor health can happen to anyone but a very great deal of it happens through life choices we make. When will you think the measures are an imposition? Hospitals are stretched beyond capacity most winters and can easily be overwhelmed by a flu outbreak. Should we wear masks for the foreseeable future and get comfortable with mid winter lockdowns being imposed at short notice, predicated by early warnings of potential virus threats? This will have an impact on GDP which has a clear link to life expectancy. Should we simply accept this as a consequence?
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Post by garry on Dec 17, 2021 14:19:35 GMT
Going back to the original point, I'm slightly surprised by some of the answers on here to be honest, but I'm certainly not going to hold it against any of you, it's well argued and being able to disagree without taking it personally is a key part of living in a democracy - or should be! I also think people are way too precious about things like wearing masks. Maybe that's because I spent a few years of my life in a profession where you undertook extreme privation in training even though you knew there was a 0% chance of an enemy sniper taking them out for, say, heating up their dinner on a cooking fire in a training ground in Wales in winter. Road safety is the same - we all do things on every journey (or should) - looking properly over our shoulder joining another road, ignoring messages on our phone, adopting reasonable speeds and distances - that are a hassle and are mitigating a tiny % actual risk. The flu graph above suggests to me that masks and other measures we have taken do work, and personally I always use an FFP rated one not the crap some use. Again its not difficult. Sorry - should have gone in rants Hear hear! CW suits and masks were evil (we thought at the time) but a necessary one for squad survival, and IMO same goes for mask wearing now - even the "surgical" quaity ones we're issued. I'm limited in the opinions I'm permitted to voice due to my job, but for those who insist masks do nothing, try this; without wearing a mask, blow on your hand and see how far away it can get from your mouth before you no longer feel any breath. Then put even a basic mask on and try - if you get further away than a cuple of inches, your PFR is mightily impressive! Now, I know that the more minute particles of various things will pass throuh, but the idea is for them to reduce the risk, not wipe it out. Every little helps and all that. Rocket science it ain't. It’s not rocket science, it’s data science. We’re circa 2 years in and have huge amounts of data from every region of the world. The hypothesis ‘masks reduce covid infection’ should be provable by the data showing some point of inflection associated with mask mandates. It doesn’t. Similarly, the argument that we’d be in some much worse state without taking measures fails an empirical test. There are plenty of places around the world that responded with a ‘do nothing’ attitude yet nowhere has seen covid spiral out of control.
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Post by garry on Dec 17, 2021 11:34:10 GMT
There could be a whole catalogue of things which have led to this protest vote: the promised utopia of Brexit turning out to be something very different, the mention of Peppa Pig in a rambling speech by the man who is supposed to be reliable, sensible and in charge, the you do as you're told and we'll do what we like attitude, the handling of the pandemic, Govt. contracts being handed out to "mates", some of Labour's smear tactics leaving some of the sh*t sticking, rising prices etc etc. I don't think there is any one thing, but there is a fairly toxic mix when you take it all together. Personally I am not too concerned about the handling of the pandemic because no-one has been here before so lots of mistakes were always going to be made - perhaps one of those mistakes is the over-reliance on the experts who, by their very nature, are going to be super cautious. I think the fall in the Labour vote was a tactical one, to get the Tories out. The LibDems are always the go to party for disillusioned Tories and with a top up from Labour, it's job done. With Boris' cull before the last election of lots of credible but perhaps non Brexit supporting Tories, it is hard to see where a replacement leader will come from. Rishi is the only one I believe would have general public support.Rishi will be popular until the general public realise that the money he has pissed away over the last two years was theirs. It’s like getting a Christmas present and then finding out they bought it on your credit card.
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Post by garry on Dec 17, 2021 11:20:13 GMT
I’ve been thinking about this and I’m not sure the Taycan Cross is for me. It’s a great piece of kit but I’ll have the GTS for kicks and I’d prefer my other car to focus on pure comfort. Whilst it’s decent on that front, it ain’t the last word in cosseting. The Etron is a pudding, but it’s extremely comfy. I like the difference between it and the GTS. What I’d really like is a very tax efficient Range Rover. I see rumours of a p440e but no details. It would need to get into the 7% bik tax bracket to make me interested. There is BMW X5 that fits the bill that I need to take a closer look at.
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Post by garry on Dec 17, 2021 8:30:48 GMT
I know it’s a mid term By-Election and the incumbent typically gets a bit of a kicking, but the result in Shropshire is eye opening, A Lib Dem win in a Tory safe seat, who took a 31% drop compared to the General Election result. Perhaps more shocking is that the Labour Party were down 12%. I would have voted lib dem too as a protest to the handling of the pandemic, but I wonder if that’s what drove the vote.
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Post by garry on Dec 15, 2021 8:04:11 GMT
I agree with the points on masks not working. There is a huge amount of data from across the globe that demonstrates this (take covid stats from any country, find the date they introduced mask mandates, find nothing that correlates to a reduction in any covid indicator). But there are huge numbers of otherwise sensible people who’ve swallowed this nonsense.
I agree that social distancing and lockdowns ‘work’ in that they will slow down the rate on infection.
But both of these measures are huge impositions. Social distancing and lockdowns have a massive impact on the economy, on mental health, on physical health, on friendships, on most of the things that make life worth living. Sure, we could all on average last a little longer if we avoided many things (smoking, drinking, over-indulging, driving, many sports, etc) but it would be an existence. Mask wearing is that outside indicator that we need to be afraid of other people. It’s like seeing a dog with a muzzle - you see an indication of danger.
The question that people now need to answer is this; At what point do you say “The impositions are more damaging than the virus”. The current measures are being applied for a virus strain that might have killed one person. It’s as dangerous as Noels House Party! Every winter viruses come along that kill thousands, even tens of thousands. Are you happy to live in a constant state of fear with the ever present threat of your liberties being reduced? Are you happy for your kids to live in that world? Do you want your kids to grow up in fear? Are you happy for Boris Johnson to have the ability to decide whether you can visit your relatives in a care home? Are you happy that Nicola Sturgeon can tell the people of Scotland who they can invite over for Christmas dinner? What if we where led by a less benign leader? Are you happy to be told what countries you can visit and have that list of countries changed overnight on a whim? When you decide the impositions are too great will it be too late? Freedoms are hard won and easily lost.
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Post by garry on Dec 14, 2021 17:30:34 GMT
I just got a Moderna in the right arm and a flu jab in the left (as an asthmatic, but slim, fit and not that old, flu is actually more of a risk to me) since writing the above. I may be feeling interesting later! I had both at the same time and, as per the other things that happen to me over time, nothing happened to me. At present my sciatica is so painful that no amount of anything would bother me.You need Pilates!
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Post by garry on Dec 14, 2021 13:49:37 GMT
This is the graph from the BMJ. You have to step all the way back to 2008 to find a higher death rate. And then every year before. In short, it ain’t that scary or deadly
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Post by garry on Dec 14, 2021 11:31:49 GMT
Well I coughed up some coffee this morning as the Minister on breakfast tv confirmed so far there has been 1 death and a whopping 6 hospitalizations due to this variant. Let’s be accurate one person has died with the variant. No details of age, other conditions, why they were hospitalised, but I think it’s fair to say if that one person was a fit 40 something with no pre conditions we’d be told.
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Post by garry on Dec 14, 2021 11:18:53 GMT
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Post by garry on Dec 13, 2021 17:07:25 GMT
Are people still buying this nonsense? I know I’ve been in the minority here on with my views about covid, but surely people must be seeing that this is getting silly. We now seem to on the path of more lockdowns for something as dangerous as a cold. I’ve played my part re vaccinations in the hope that we’d get back to normal. I’m not doing anything more. I don’t think this will end until the general public stop complying.
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Post by garry on Dec 9, 2021 16:34:12 GMT
If you could get the Wheeltappers and Shunters Social club playing on that big screen at the front, the iX would look just like my Grandads lounge in 1975. They'd need to make the ceiling yellow for proper authenticity.
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Post by garry on Dec 9, 2021 16:26:22 GMT
Porsche have a distinct driving feel.I think you could put me blindfold behind the wheel of hundreds of vehicles and I would be able to tell you if it was a porsche from the way it drove (let's not dwell on how I would drive blindfolded). Yep. Electric cars can feel a bit anonymous. Porsche has managed to inject the Porsche DNA into an EV. I guess I was surprised by how much of that DNA they'd managed to capture.
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Post by garry on Dec 9, 2021 14:59:32 GMT
Sounds as good as I'd expect it to be. When is the order going in? I don't like the extra plastic bits on the Cross Turismo, but I think I'd be happy with a GTS Sport Turismo. Not at £115-120k as a private buyer though, there are a lot of cars I'd choose ahead of an EV with that budget. Re the private buyer; the sales guy told me that every Taycan buyer he'd dealt with was buying through their business. Johnc can correct/refine this, but my rough rule of thumb is that an EV is half price through the business vs buying privately - it is out of pre taxed income so that's 45%, it reduces corporation tax, then there's vat and running costs. I too wouldn't look at a taycan as a private buyer.
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Post by garry on Dec 9, 2021 14:42:29 GMT
<button disabled="" class="c-attachment-insert--linked o-btn--sm">Attachment Deleted</button> The steering committee was also happy behind the wheel too. Only just behind the wheel..... She's 5 feet tall on a good day. Her driving position is comical - as high as the seat will go and inches from the wheel. I can't physically get in the car when it's set to her driving position. Memory seats are a non negotiable.
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Post by garry on Dec 9, 2021 12:48:03 GMT
The steering committee was also happy behind the wheel too.
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Post by garry on Dec 9, 2021 12:02:24 GMT
A boxster/cayman gts or a 992 ? Boxster gts
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Post by garry on Dec 9, 2021 11:14:36 GMT
I was down at Porsche Preston specifying the GTS over the weekend(you'll just have to wait for it to be delivered for the reveal!). I expressed an interest in the Taycan which resulted in a Cross Turismo 4s being mine for the day yesterday.
It was in black with 21 inch wheels, privacy glass, pano roof, aluminium window trims. Looks are a personal preference and whilst it isn't my favourite colour I think it looked superb - sporty & practical. It is a really practical car too - plenty of room for four with a decent boot. My Son came along (back from 1st term at University already!) and he had plenty of room sat behind me. We're not a very tall family through - I'm 5'10" and he is a couple of inches taller.
Getting into it feels 'proper' Porsche - you're almost sports car low as you drop into the seat. The interior is decent, but stepping from the Audi to the Porsche I didn't feel I was stepping up in terms of quality or design.
Driving it and the first thing that struck me was how 'Porsche' it felt. This is no limo. There's a firmness to the ride and a weight to the steering. It's not uncomfortable by any stretch, but enough to let you know it's got a sports car intent. There's a lot of pretty narrow country roads around me. The 911 always excelled on these. Firstly by being small enough. The Taycan didn't feel big. From the drivers seat it felt very similar to a 911 in dimensions. Wind it up a little and it feels utterly capable. I don't know how they've hidden the weight, but they have. It feels connected, light, responsive. I was also struck by how flat it cornered. I guess the low slung batteries help. In Sport Plus mode it also produces a noise - like some sort of turbine noise. I thought I'd hate it, but it really added to the experience on a back road blast. The brakes are superb. Electric cars seem to have difficulty with progressive brake feel. The Taycan has a superb progressive brake feel. So, on a back road in sport plus it felt like a great car that happened electric rather than that being the overwhelming characteristic.
Performance wise, this was certainly all I need. Launch control is comically easy (press bake, press accelerator, wait for "launch control activated", lift brake, arrive at horizon!). I'd like to try a turbo S but this has enough go off-the-line for me. I really wonder if I have the reactions to keep up with a much quicker launch.
On a motorway it's very easy. switch it to normal, cruise in silence. It was a very wet & windy day, neither of which seemed to bother it.
Bad points for me:
1. Range. It's OK (circa 270 miles). But I'd like more.
2. Options. It had £25k of options and I couldn't see much frippery!
If you're an electric car doubter, drive one of these and you might well change your mind.
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