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Post by Alex on Sept 26, 2021 5:46:19 GMT
It is astonishing seeing some of the pictures of people filling up multiple Jerry cans or loading their boots with several large chemical bottles full of petrol. Firstly you have to wonder why on earth they feel the need hoard so much fuel. The report that BP leaked was of a few filling stations closing. How did these people hear that and translate it to mean that the country's pumps would all run dry? Secondly you have to wonder what they plan to do with all the fuel? Assuming their worst fears are realised and the UK has no petrol for sale for months are they going to be carefully rationing it out to theirs and their loved ones cars? How do these morons think the situation is going to play out? Unfortunately we'll never know as they're probably hidden away in the nuclear bunker at the end of their gardens arguing over who gets to have today's sheet from the 1000 bog rolls they stocked up on last March.
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Post by Alex on Sept 24, 2021 14:00:57 GMT
I think maybe it's because Max is currently looking likely to stop our Lewis becoming an 8x champ so they're getting much more worked up about it. In similar ways to a lot of people who get more worked up about Schumacher taking out Damon Hill than they do about his move on Villeneuve even though it's debatable that the latter was more egregious.
I'm probably a bit guilty of that in that I think I'd be a much bigger fan of Max if he wasn't racing Lewis because I want Lewis to win for the simply reason that he is British in the same way that if I wasn't English I'd probably be much more in agreement that Italy, on the balance of things, probably deserved to win the Euros in the summer but I am English and an Arsenal supporter so I'm still fuming that the cheating Italians beat us whilst strangling Saka!
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Post by Alex on Sept 23, 2021 10:46:06 GMT
Looks great Jeff. I think you'll really like it even if the performance will be lacking a bit compared to the Alpine. Although from a performance perspective in most of the London traffic you'll not notice much difference I imagine.
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Post by Alex on Sept 23, 2021 7:04:15 GMT
Yeah. Christ knows what happens to the link. Updated with coding correct. They're certainly thorough with the pictures on there even so far as showing the service history. Shame the car used to be looked after by Cuntz!
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Post by Alex on Sept 22, 2021 7:09:48 GMT
I suppose the manufacturers don't want the inner workings of their cars to end up like computers which all have common motherboards and chips etc and the only difference is the casing and the badge on the front. Although tbh cars are sort of already that way with common components throughout.
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Post by Alex on Sept 22, 2021 7:07:09 GMT
Sounds like you're talking yourself into it Ed.
I really hope it sells well. It certainly deserves to. I just hope it's not like the Alpine A110 where a lot of potential buyers really like it, go see and drive it and like it even more, and then go and buy a Porsche.
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Post by Alex on Sept 20, 2021 21:10:40 GMT
I dont think it's as daft an idea as you're making out and I also dont think it needs to change vehicle design too much. Some earlier EVs have had some odd shape battery packs but that was largely because they were based on an ICE car so the battery fitted in the space where a transmission tunnel would have been. Modern pure EV platforms with their skateboard design allows for a pretty square battery pack rather.
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Post by Alex on Sept 18, 2021 16:03:16 GMT
Just watched Schumacher on Netflix. The bulk of the film is his rise to the top first with Benetton and then getting Ferrari to the top. I guess because I was so young when it happened, I didn't really understand the significance of Imola 94 in his story but it was quite moving seeing the effect it had on him.
The latter part of the film is about his accident and the effect on the family. There is little detail about his recovery and what condition he is in and it almost has an obituary feel to it. It's hard to know if the release of this film now is because they know he may be nearing the end but I sincerely hope not although I think we've long been resigned to the fact he'll never recover and will likely not be seen in public again.
It's been so easy the last few years when we've had Lewis Hamilton taking the sport by storm to forget just what an astonishing driver Schumacher was during his racing career. This film really bought back a lot of those memories. Well worth watching.
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Post by Alex on Sept 17, 2021 21:47:54 GMT
I've wondered for some time why manufacturers haven't gone down the route of inventing the equivalent of the AA battery but for cars. You could use the underground space currently being used by petrol and diesel tanks to store a load of charged batteries and just bill motorists for however many kW's of power they want in the new battery. The brands might request a deposit of some sort which means you can only swap over BP batteries if that's who you have an account with. Surely it's not far fetched an idea?
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Random
Sept 17, 2021 15:02:42 GMT
via mobile
Post by Alex on Sept 17, 2021 15:02:42 GMT
....but I was in town and the tickets were as little as $10 each, so we’ll worth it Puts the price of tickets to our sporting events into context, doesn't it? Adult tickets for the Arsenal game against AFC Wimbledon next Wednesday at £10 each Chris if you're interested!
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Post by Alex on Sept 17, 2021 14:49:40 GMT
Most modern EVs are also being designed to act as batteries that can give back to the grid. I saw something that reckoned that if the national grid needed to it could take 10% of the power from all the cars plugged in and get enough leccy to power London for a month. Using smart systems they could take a few % from your car whilst it's plugged in and then give it back if it's still plugged in once the demand has dropped and you'd be none the wiser. Useful for when they have to get ready for all the kettles to be turned on at the stroke of half time during the big game.
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Post by Alex on Sept 16, 2021 20:00:17 GMT
Vettel just announced as staying on for 2022 alongside Stroll. This leaves 3 seats unconfirmed for next season, one alongside Bottas and the two at Haas I bet there's going to be a right bun fight for those two Haas places!
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Post by Alex on Sept 15, 2021 19:31:21 GMT
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Post by Alex on Sept 15, 2021 10:25:32 GMT
The sad thing about dementia is that it's the exact opposite of the head in a jar. The head has gone but is stuck in a body that modern medicine has allowed to outlive its design. We did not evolve as a species to live much beyond 50 so with life expectancy being somewhere in the 70s and many many people getting into their 80s and 90s its no wonder so many end up needing such high cost care. Couple that to a funding model that was based on people living for a max 10yrs after retirement and there was always going to come a point where the money pot was no longer overflowing but was in fact almost empty.
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Post by Alex on Sept 14, 2021 21:15:09 GMT
Sounds like you did it justice with it's last trip and I'm glad you got to thoroughly enjoy despite a couple of mishaps. If it wasn't for the fuel costs it is a very covetable car so I hope you've been able to find it a decent new home. The new car has a lot to live up to by the sounds of it.
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Post by Alex on Sept 14, 2021 13:54:10 GMT
I take the approach of completing my overtake a bit slower then normal, applying left indicator on full and moving left as slowly as possible taking a full passive aggressive approach 😀
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Post by Alex on Sept 14, 2021 13:15:57 GMT
Just had an e-mail from the local carvery trying to flog Christmas Day lunches from £59-99 per person. I don't think I will be taking them up on the offer....... To be fair they have to pay staff a decent bit of overtime to give up their Christmas day which is part of the cost. But I've had a number of friends go out for Xmas Dinner and be rather disappointed by what they've been served and the level of service given. At £60 a head you're far better just doing it yourself and if you don't like the hassle of a turkey roast then cook something completely different but that is special to you. At least that way you'll appreciate it.
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Post by Alex on Sept 14, 2021 12:31:32 GMT
I'll add tailgaters to my list. If I am doing the posted limit, what makes them think being up my chuff will make me go faster? Even more so on motorways when they somehow expect you to be able to magic the cars in front out of the way too! Had a knob in an Audi the other week on the M4 race up behind me flashing his lights when I was in a queue of 5 cars getting past a pair of HGVs who'd created a road block in lane 1 & 2. Was he somehow suggesting we all move out of his way?
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Post by Alex on Sept 14, 2021 12:30:41 GMT
Haven't got the faintest clue! I can tell you I reckon I've done about 350k in total driving since 2002 but so much has been in company cars its difficult to really tell. I've also had a fair few hire cars and I couldn't remember how many miles I've done in them all.
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Post by Alex on Sept 14, 2021 12:27:58 GMT
Back when I was a slightly less mature driver, I used to play a game with my fellow company cars drivers where we would try to orbit middle lane hogs. Pull out from lane 1 to 3, overtake, back to lane one and slow down so they overtake, repeat until they realise what you're up to. One of my colleagues reckoned he managed 7 full orbits but I'm calling BS on that!
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Post by Alex on Sept 13, 2021 12:51:23 GMT
I think that the idea of not having to sell the home you worked hard for is an honourable one but one that doesn't account for the sheer boom in housing values. If you own a house that based on inflation of the money you originally paid for it should be worth £200k but due to local house price rises is actually worth £500k (a common analogy for London and SE), that is in essence £300k that you haven't paid for but have been lucky enough to have been gifted through having the fortune of being born in the 1950s as opposed to the 1990s.
Equally the notion that you've paid in to NI and pension all your working life so shouldn't pay now is also flawed, mostly because today's 90 year old were paying into a system based on them dying by the age of 75 and not remaining able bodied but feeble of mind well into their 9th or even 10th decade. My grandad had a pretty good pension from his days working for Panasonic but he retired at the age of 62 and lived until 93. His pension wasn't meant to be paying out for 30 years so it's no wonder so many legacy schemes from big UK businesses have massive deficits which need to be filled by someone and the only ones available to fill them are those working today.
It's these particular reasons that make me think that perhaps more needs to be collected from inheritance tax but as someone who has elderly relatives on both sides of my family who have houses worth far more than was ever paid for them, I also see how I'd quite like to inherit as much as possible.
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Post by Alex on Sept 13, 2021 12:32:08 GMT
There was one car park I went into a while back that had multi coloured paint scrapings around the ramp and, no word of a lie, an advert placed at the end from a local bodyshop! I'm usually OK with these but so often you have to rely on trying your best to look at the edges of the bonnet because the parking sensors will be on a continuous beep when you're still a foot away.
For me the car parks that I find most hairy are those underneath office buildings that are so tight it's nigh on impossible to maneuver. I was in one in Birmingham the other week where all the pillars were right at the ends of the spaces. Fortunately I found a pair of empty spaces which meant I was able to use on to aid reversing in to the other. The positioning of the wall opposite the spaces would have meant this would not have been possible if the space was occupied. When I got back to the car it was occupied by an Audi that had driven in forwards and I'm glad I was facing out of the space as there's no way when reversing that I'd be able to start turning the wheels until I was clear of the car and pillar at which point I'd almost be hitting the wall!
Driving into Central London is indeed a nightmare and I do my best to avoid it whenever possible (which is most of the times). Only real scary moment came last year when I turned onto Park Lane one for traffic to come to a standstill as the BLM protest came streaming down the road. Being a white man I just sat there hoping no-one managed to upset the crowd!
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Post by Alex on Sept 12, 2021 21:44:27 GMT
I think for me the biggest disappointment (but not surprise) was seeing Max walk away without even a glance in Lewis's direction to check he was OK which, given he rode over the top of him, he could easily not have been.
This is Max's driving style. He doesn't compromise and tbh I don't think he ever will. He prefers the Schumacher way of bullying his way to the F1 title and sod the consequences for anyone else. I'm sure many will say that all the great drivers only become great through their uncompromising rule of the race but when it's as dangerous as that it's no longer something we should be celebrating.
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Post by Alex on Sept 10, 2021 10:20:51 GMT
Yes, my cousin was in London a couple of weeks ago, he said it was like a scene from a movie where the population had been taken by aliens. I don't see any of this. Everything I've been into town over the summer the place has been getting busier and busier, even the west end. The tube heading back to Victoria yesterday just and hour after Jeff's pic was packed. I'll walk it in future if it's going to be that busy!
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Post by Alex on Sept 8, 2021 18:42:00 GMT
Kamiq (small); Karoq (middle); Kodiak (biggest). I know because SiL was wavering between the Kamiq and the Karoq I assume the design team borrowed Audis photocopier.
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Post by Alex on Sept 8, 2021 18:38:58 GMT
Boris will either get away with it or slink off into the sunset before the next general election so as to ensure he hasn't lost one. Bit like Tony Blair did. At the moment he has the benefit of being up against quite soft opposition. I can't imagine he could believe his luck when Kier Starmer got the Labour leadership. As much as I'm sure Starmer is a nice guy, as a lawyer he was up against people who couldn't legally lie and have to answer the questions asked of them. In Boris he comes up against a world class bullshitter who is incredibly adept at not just shirking difficult questions but batting them right back and I don't think he can cope.
It is also a fair point that this had to come at some point. The sheer costs of the pandemic such as furlough, PPE, vaccines and T&T had to be recovered somehow. Add in the financial burden of our ageing population and shrinking birth rate and it's no surprise that taxes have to rise. But NI feels like the least fair way of doing it. It is essentially making the least wealthy pay to protect protect estate of those lucky enough to own their own home.
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Post by Alex on Sept 8, 2021 15:39:25 GMT
Just another thought on this NI increase: if I increase my salary sacrifice pension contribution by 1% will I not have just bypassed this? Or am I being cynical to think that that government knows this and is fine with it because its more money in my pension pot that they can raid for the same purpose further down the line?
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Post by Alex on Sept 8, 2021 14:50:38 GMT
I think George has shown that with the good driver the Williams is not a bad car. Not a great one or a race winner of course but nowhere near as bad as the dog that the Haas is. If they keep improving then it's potentially a good move for Albon. From what I keep reading the Williams team is also still a great environment to work in.
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Post by Alex on Sept 8, 2021 14:47:58 GMT
What this also shows is that if the government want to get us out of cars to help them reach their goal of net zero emissions they need to make rail much cheaper.... This is government (of all colours) we are talking about. And eco-loons (whose daft ideas have become mainstream political thought). They won't make trains cheaper. They'll just make cars more expensive. Alas I fear you are probably spot on with that one. We'll end up back in the dark ages in terms of travel with long distance being the preserve of the rich and most of us plebs living a life where we rarely leave our village and visit the world through our virtual reality headsets.
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Post by Alex on Sept 8, 2021 13:49:42 GMT
Road pricing would be the obvious solution but that is also political suicide. Fuel duty is in effect road pricing because the more you use the road the more fuel you buy and the more duty you pay. But I can't imagine that washing with those who have paid out for electric cars hoping to save money!
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