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Post by racingteatray on Jan 12, 2024 12:03:31 GMT
I am very thinning on top and grey at the sides - my father-in-law, who has a good 30yrs on me, has more hair and less grey hair, which is mildly upsetting.
My wife, who has thick dark hair that hasn't gone grey at all yet, isn't impressed.
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Post by Big Blue on Jan 12, 2024 14:38:08 GMT
I am very thinning on top and grey at the sides - my father-in-law, who has a good 30yrs on me, has more hair and less grey hair, which is mildly upsetting. My wife, who has thick dark hair that hasn't gone grey at all yet, isn't impressed. I am neither thinning nor greying. My beard is flecked with grey but my head is as suspicious as German ex-Chancellor Gerhardt Schrőder, although more red than jet black. I suppose I am thinning but given the density of my kids’ hair I guess I had longer to go before it showed. |
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Post by racingteatray on Jan 12, 2024 14:53:32 GMT
I am very thinning on top and grey at the sides - my father-in-law, who has a good 30yrs on me, has more hair and less grey hair, which is mildly upsetting. My wife, who has thick dark hair that hasn't gone grey at all yet, isn't impressed. I am neither thinning nor greying. My beard is flecked with grey but my head is as suspicious as German ex-Chancellor Gerhardt Schrőder, although more red than jet black. I suppose I am thinning but given the density of my kids’ hair I guess I had longer to go before it showed. Yes, you don't look your age at all. Lucky so and so! |
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Post by Eff One on Jan 12, 2024 17:02:34 GMT
We went skiing in Italy over Christmas, first time since the pandemic for me. It flashed past - just as I felt like I was getting back into the swing of things, it was time to leave. So I'm looking at going again, either on my own or tagging along with some friends in February.
I have spousal permission since a) I turn 50 in February and b) my wife is on her way to Megève at the moment for a girls' long weekend.
We have nothing booked but are planning on returning to Gran Canaria at Easter.
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 12, 2024 18:40:01 GMT
Having started to look at possible destinations this lunchtime, I'm not sure I'll be going anywhere on holiday this year. Prices of travel and hotels have gone up significantly and most of the "deals" I looked at do not seem good value for money (and many are unaffordable)
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Post by PG on Jan 13, 2024 8:13:40 GMT
Mrs PG always jokes that she married me as my father still had a full head of hair at 65, but then I discovered that my dad had been combing over a bit (very cleverly it seems!) so that blew that out of the water. I've thinnned gracefully on top over the past years and gone grey. I don't think I'd ever consider the Turkish hair option. The photos I've seen of people with that always look odd - like they've had a rush of growth not quite the right colour on top and the old greying sides are bushing out. Maybe you need some serious post treatment hair-dressing as well!
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Post by PG on Jan 13, 2024 8:17:09 GMT
Having started to look at possible destinations this lunchtime, I'm not sure I'll be going anywhere on holiday this year. Prices of travel and hotels have gone up significantly and most of the "deals" I looked at do not seem good value for money (and many are unaffordable) UK prices also seem to be a bit shocking. When we went to York in late November we had to pay a small fortune (to my eye) for what I considered to be a mid-range hotel. |
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Post by Alex on Jan 13, 2024 12:36:11 GMT
Having started to look at possible destinations this lunchtime, I'm not sure I'll be going anywhere on holiday this year. Prices of travel and hotels have gone up significantly and most of the "deals" I looked at do not seem good value for money (and many are unaffordable) UK prices also seem to be a bit shocking. When we went to York in late November we had to pay a small fortune (to my eye) for what I considered to be a mid-range hotel. The 'staycation' trend of the Covid years has really seemed to have push up the price of domestic holiday accommodation. I'd look at overseas holidays but the wife hasn't got a passport so we'd need to sort all that out first. Bit of a shame as it would be nice to be a bit spontaneous about this. |
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Post by johnc on Jan 13, 2024 12:53:14 GMT
It's not just travel and accommodation, everything has rocketed in price and the UK seems to be more expensive than other places. My daughter bought me a Massimo Dutti shirt at Christmas which cost €49.95 in Spain but is £59.95 here. I also had some Zara aftershave which my wife particularly liked and that cost peanuts, at €15.95 in Spain. In the UK the same aftershave is £29.95.
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Post by racingteatray on Jan 13, 2024 14:35:35 GMT
It's not just travel and accommodation, everything has rocketed in price and the UK seems to be more expensive than other places. My daughter bought me a Massimo Dutti shirt at Christmas which cost €49.95 in Spain but is £59.95 here. I also had some Zara aftershave which my wife particularly liked and that cost peanuts, at €15.95 in Spain. In the UK the same aftershave is £29.95. More to the point, as Brits we can also shop duty-free in Europe. Sure, through Global Blue etc, you don't get anything like the full VAT back - it's more like 12%, but that's still a worthwhile further saving if you need to make a bigger purchase. But we do get cheaper cars. The UK price of my Macan GTS with options today (it's gone up since I bought it) is around £82k (before tax etc). The retail price in Italy for an identically-specified Macan GTS is EUR116k, or pretty neatly £100k at today's exchange rate. And that's not a Porsche-specific thing. |
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Post by Martin on Jan 13, 2024 15:20:54 GMT
It's not just travel and accommodation, everything has rocketed in price and the UK seems to be more expensive than other places. My daughter bought me a Massimo Dutti shirt at Christmas which cost €49.95 in Spain but is £59.95 here. I also had some Zara aftershave which my wife particularly liked and that cost peanuts, at €15.95 in Spain. In the UK the same aftershave is £29.95. More to the point, as Brits we can also shop duty-free in Europe. Sure, through Global Blue etc, you don't get anything like the full VAT back - it's more like 12%, but that's still a worthwhile further saving if you need to make a bigger purchase. But we do get cheaper cars. The UK price of my Macan GTS with options today (it's gone up since I bought it) is around £82k (before tax etc). The retail price in Italy for an identically-specified Macan GTS is EUR116k, or pretty neatly £100k at today's exchange rate. And that's not a Porsche-specific thing. Do you know how residuals compare? It’s probably not a great time to compare with how they’re falling off in the UK at the moment, but interesting to know if you get some of the extra cost back. |
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Post by racingteatray on Jan 13, 2024 19:14:41 GMT
Residuals are generally better, but that doesn't detract from the fact that you need to tie up more disposable in the thing in the first place.
And in addition, in Italy at any rate, I think it is more than offset by the road tax, which on a Macan GTS would be c.EUR3,900 per annum. That's because while the UK imposes a blanket additional road tax if the original list price was in excess of £40k, in Italy they impose a "super bollo" on all cars with more than 250bhp - the more powerful the car, the more tax you pay, and it applies on a sliding scale (stepping down a bit every five years) until the car is 20yrs old.
Even normal road tax is higher - on our Mini in Italy it would be EUR258, vs £180 here.
Insurance is also quite a bit more expensive - we enquired on the Mini and it would be around EUR600 per year.
Quite astonishing really, for the country that prides itself on its supercar manufacturers.
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Post by alf on Jan 15, 2024 10:50:59 GMT
We went skiing in Italy over Christmas, first time since the pandemic for me. It flashed past - just as I felt like I was getting back into the swing of things, it was time to leave. So I'm looking at going again, either on my own or tagging along with some friends in February. I have spousal permission since a) I turn 50 in February and b) my wife is on her way to Megève at the moment for a girls' long weekend. We have nothing booked but are planning on returning to Gran Canaria at Easter. Snap on the 50 in February thing! I was thinking that another thing I should do this year (again in a kind of "load the credit card" rather than typical over-sensible way) would be a Jonathan Palmer day, or other proper trackday. I have not nearly kept up my intention of doing at least one trackday type activity a year, recently... Forum Jonathan Palmer day (if they still exist)? |
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Post by johnc on Jan 15, 2024 11:02:51 GMT
Forum Jonathan Palmer day (if they still exist)? I was at PalmerSport in August and had a great day. It is expensive to come all the way south on your own to take part, with flights, car hire, hotel, food and that's before you pay for the day but I might be a maybe!! |
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Post by clunes on Jan 15, 2024 11:32:34 GMT
Forum Jonathan Palmer day (if they still exist)? I was at PalmerSport in August and had a great day. It is expensive to come all the way south on your own to take part, with flights, car hire, hotel, food and that's before you pay for the day but I might be a maybe!! I missed out on a couple of (work paid) PalmerSport days when I was younger due to being abroad with the job and its something I've always wanted to do - never heard a bad thing so depending on the time/costs/logistics etc I am a definite maybe! |
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Post by johnc on Jan 15, 2024 12:14:20 GMT
I have never had a bad visit to PalmerSport either. Every time I have thoroughly enjoyed it and on a few occasions loved it - I think the subtle difference is sometimes down to the instructors you get and how well you get on with them. One time in the Caterhams I had an "instructor" who really didn't say anything other than brake and power. At the end he gave me my best time and asked if I was happy with that to which I replied, not really. His quip was "well you should have driven more quickly then" which really didn't go down too well. He was technically correct but there was plenty he could have done to make me faster and with the intercom he could have told me.
Don't get me wrong, most of the instructors are excellent and they encourage you by telling you where to straight line a corner, how late you can brake at certain corners or where you can apply full power - these are all things you learn but by the time you are starting to get an idea yourself you have run out of laps.
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Post by Big Blue on Jan 16, 2024 9:13:31 GMT
I have spousal permission since a) I turn 50 in February and b) my wife is on her way to Megève at the moment for a girls' long weekend. Snap on the 50 in February thing! Ha ha. My little brother is 50 in February. Must've been the oil crisis....... |
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Post by Eff One on Jan 16, 2024 16:37:17 GMT
Forum Jonathan Palmer day (if they still exist)? I was looking at these the other day actually. My brother did a half day for his 40th and had a fantastic time. |
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Post by alf on Jan 18, 2024 11:57:45 GMT
Forum Jonathan Palmer day (if they still exist)? I was looking at these the other day actually. My brother did a half day for his 40th and had a fantastic time. I did a full day as a present for my 40th and loved it - though it was a culture shock to get back into it, the first session (M3's) the instructor sald little except at the end that I was too smooth/cautious/slow, like John said for his day, nice to know that earlier! I'd be more interested in the morning, afternoon or evening sessions than full day I think. Each have 3 good car options (and karting for the evening) "from" £545, half the price of the full day . That has 8 events, but 3 of them (off road, karting, drifting) I have minimal interest in. The afternoon session has the best 3 cars I think in terms of approachability (harder to know where you are with so little time in the single seater), the evening session would have the benefit of a bit of a social afterwards. If we did it, for anyone like johnc having to fly in, I'd happily collect them from say Reading station (an easy bus or train ride from Heathrow) drop them at a local hotel here, then drive them to the event and drop them back at maybe Luton airport after, if that helps. @eff One has to drive past me to get to Bedford as well, if joining the car trip there could be a forum mini meet for up to 4 of us (my car is a 4 seater) that way  I did see this place recommended, which could offer not only a nice drive into Wales but also an overnight there before? I like the skill aspect of rallying, though far prefer the speed/grip/g feeling of track driving, but I only did a half hour in a FWD car - this looks proper! www.philprice.co.uk/courses/full-day-rally-driving-experience/ |
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Post by johnc on Jan 18, 2024 14:33:46 GMT
That works for me if the timing is right.
One of my best times at PalmerSport was when I climbed in to the Le Mans 2 seater and the instructor said, "so what do you want to achieve today" to which I said I want to beat Fraser (my very wealthy friend who has an ex Brundle F3 car he raced in the European historic F3 championship). The instructor said "well lets go and do it then" and from the moment we left the pits were were on it with great communication and interaction. Apart from one single seater run, I have never been so fast on that circuit (and yes I did beat Fraser)
Re the rallying, I know exactly what he means:
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Post by Stuntman on Jan 19, 2024 21:44:36 GMT
I would potentially be up for a Palmersport or Rally day somewhere. I haven't been on track for a good few years but still really enjoy trying to make a car go fast.
Regarding holidays, for me they are a total luxury and well behind spending money on cars or saving it for 'the future'. This is probably because I have been single for most of my adult life.
Therefore - nothing booked. Haven't taken a holiday abroad since 2018.
My financial circumstances changed drastically for the worse in 2022 so I'm having to be pretty selective about my outgoings.
Am 55 now and considering whether to stop work altogether and just try to live live simply and frugally from now onwards on the resources that I currently have. At the moment I am doing some contract work but this ends in March unless they extend me.
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Post by LandieMark on Jan 21, 2024 15:15:23 GMT
Sorry to hear that, Dan - hope you work out what's best for you.
I was planning on going on a lads NC500 trip in the MX-5 in May, but anniversary and birthday plans have put the kybosh on that, so have booked a 10 day NC500 caravan trip for June instead.
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Post by Boxer6 on Jan 21, 2024 15:46:22 GMT
Sorry to hear that, Dan - hope you work out what's best for you. I was planning on going on a lads NC500 trip in the MX-5 in May, but anniversary and birthday plans have put the kybosh on that, so have booked a 10 day NC500 caravan trip for June instead. Doing the NC500 in the MX-5 would likely entail accommodation, yes? As I said earlier in this thread, Herself said that most hotels are booked up already, though if you're not taking the canine element of the family, you might fare better! Caravan option seems much more like it, but again a 'proper' pitch may prove difficult to book in some areas. For ourselves, we've booked 4 (I think!) nights in Altnaharra, and the plan is to visit some of the more Northern points of interest we haven't already been to. Looking forward to it. We're going to spend a night (or two perhaps) in Inverness before we head further up, as we didn't see much of it last year when we were up. |
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Post by LandieMark on Jan 21, 2024 20:20:23 GMT
Lads trip in the MX5 so no doggos. I've managed to sort all accomodation for June in the caravan without too much issue it appears. There is some triathalon on which messes with west coast dates so I booked these first and worked backwards fairly easily. I am allowing a 2-3 hour drive between sites so we can stop off and enjoy the scenery.
Sorted the booking as follows for whomever may be interested:
Day 1 - Invermill Farm Caravan site Dunkeld.
Day 2 - Bunchrew Caravan Site Inverness.
Day 3 - Wick River Campsite - 2 nights.
Day 5 - Sandgo Sands Oasis Durness.
Day 6 - Ardmair Holiday Park Ullapool.
Day 7 - Shieldaid Camping and Cabins - 2 nights so we can do the Applecross bit without a caravan.
Day 9 - Invermill Farm Caravan site Dunkeld.
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Post by Roadrunner on Jan 22, 2024 10:18:22 GMT
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Post by LandieMark on Jan 22, 2024 12:14:53 GMT
Thanks for that suggestion. I'll add it to the itinerary.
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Post by PG on Jan 22, 2024 12:33:58 GMT
Stunning scenery there.
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Post by PG on Jan 22, 2024 12:39:00 GMT
Palmer Sport - I did a corporate day there or somewhere similar. It was so long ago (about 25 years) that I can't remember where exactly! It was very enjoyable, but it confirmed for me that I am way, way off being any sort of "hand" on a track , whatever the vehicle . I whipped people's arses on the offroad course, but was holding up the bottom of the table on the track.
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Post by alf on Jan 25, 2024 16:46:03 GMT
From holiday plans to hair age comparison.... We are as random as ever we were back in the Autocar days!!!
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Post by ChrisM on Feb 13, 2024 22:40:48 GMT
Having just discovered that with loyalty discount I can get 8 nights in a Lille aparthotel for around £50 per night, I've just booked 8 nights in May for EUR451, and Eurostar for just over £100 return. At that price, I can afford some time away..... and it's at the only place I've ever stayed at in Lille so I know it well. Train fares to Brussels are reasonable and it's quick, so I may finally make it there during my stay in France.
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