Search found 15469 matches

by kwackers
20 Mar 2021, 8:42am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: I don't like living in England....
Replies: 2010
Views: 75147

Re: I don't like living in England....

Ben@Forest wrote:It's 74% forested and has a major mosquito population where it's swampy/marshy or wet - and it's called 'the land of a thousand lakes' - so it's often wet.

Sounds like Scotland! But when have people ever allowed reality to get in the way of their idealistic view?

If I was to emigrate I think my chosen country would be Canada.
Some decent wilderness, English speaking (ish) and not too American (although more American than your average Canadian thinks it is).
by kwackers
19 Mar 2021, 10:53pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: I don't like living in England....
Replies: 2010
Views: 75147

Re: I don't like living in England....

5 million people in a country bigger than the UK - some proper wilderness too I'd expect.

For your average UK citizen living on top of each other I could see the appeal.

Bear, elk and wolves too!
I always feel that the wilderness should be dangerous. It's what I like when I go to North America and go for a run on the remote trails - a 'proper' sense of wilderness complete with real wild animals.
(Mind you I once got jumped by a squirrel here in blighty)
by kwackers
19 Mar 2021, 4:01pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: TV licensing...
Replies: 1894
Views: 104072

Re: TV licensing...

I'm not sure they'll accept a cheque from you Mick.

It'd be like getting a cheque from a guy in Nigeria.
You know it's a scam but you can't quite figure out the how and why...
by kwackers
19 Mar 2021, 3:58pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Who's had the vaccine?
Replies: 1420
Views: 56881

Re: Who's had the vaccine?

Vorpal wrote:The TB vaccine left many folks with a distinctive scar.

So, I'm not sure that the covid vaccine is different.

Funnily enough I have a TB scar, but although I vaguely remember having the vaccine I don't remember being ill after.

I'm not often ill, off the top of my head I can only remember being so ill three times in my life that I had to lie down and rest and they passed within a couple of hours.
Whilst the symptoms where different I'd say that's how ill I felt with the vaccine (and it lasted longer).
I'm pretty sure I'd have remembered being that ill...
by kwackers
19 Mar 2021, 3:52pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: what the heck is going on??
Replies: 70
Views: 3919

Re: what the heck is going on??

Mick F wrote:The Leaf is a big car.
Too big for our needs.
Renault Zoe is a better size.

We have a Yaris Hybrid, and that's on the big side for us.

Leaf is a little over a foot longer, there's really not much in it.
(Zoe is taller)
by kwackers
19 Mar 2021, 11:51am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Who's had the vaccine?
Replies: 1420
Views: 56881

Re: Who's had the vaccine?

francovendee wrote:Being in the right age group (over 75) I had my first jab on the 4th Feb. It was the Pfizer type and i had no ill effects and had a 30 mile bike ride the following day.
My second jab was on the 4th March and this time I felt lousy for about a week. Felt very tired and had aching legs. All back to normal again now.

The "general wisdom" seems to be the effects of the Pfizer are felt on the second jab.

My missus had Pfizer, she was fine. Her second one is due in a few weeks.
I had AZ and that was fairly crap on the first dose.

I was racking my brains trying to think of any adverse reaction to previous vaccines and couldn't ever remember having one.
Wonder why these are different?
by kwackers
19 Mar 2021, 11:42am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Covid-19 : 2nd Lockdown 2020 : 3rd Lockdown 2021
Replies: 1005
Views: 36321

Re: Covid-19 : 2nd Lockdown 2020 : 3rd Lockdown 2021

Vorpal wrote:We've had a letter home that the British (aka Kent) variant is in community transmission in our area, and that it not only is more transmissible, but it is more likely to infect younger people, and transmits much more easily among children than the previous variants

It's one of our best exports! (Some would say our only export).
by kwackers
19 Mar 2021, 11:02am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Irritants?
Replies: 33
Views: 1211

Re: Irritants?

Oldjohnw wrote:And I have worn glasses since I was 7 years old. Perhaps I was born old.

Not old, just random.
We're all random, some of that randomness affects how you see, your susceptibility to disease, your ability to run sub 4 minute miles - it's an endless list.

Ageing just adds more randomness on top, trouble is it's doing it continually so even if you started off in good shape eventually it'll get you.
If it didn't we'd live forever!
by kwackers
19 Mar 2021, 10:55am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: TV licensing...
Replies: 1894
Views: 104072

Re: TV licensing...

merseymouth wrote:So, They've worn MickF down over the TVL? But sounds like he's still in denial! He'l be commenting about "Soap" plots next :oops: :lol: :lol: :lol: MM

What would crack me up is if he's testing his shiny new aerial out on his shiny TV and debating whether it's worth buying a license just as the TV licence bloke peers through his window.

Huge swathes of letters denying having a TV, social media posts ranting about TV licenses along with a picture of him watching Coronation street would all be presented at his trial...
by kwackers
19 Mar 2021, 10:41am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: what the heck is going on??
Replies: 70
Views: 3919

Re: what the heck is going on??

al_yrpal wrote:I heard that the Nissan Leaf might be a good choice but am nervous about the condition of a battery on a SH vehicle. Any recommendations?

Al

Depends how old the leaf is.
The older Leaf is only 24Kw so the realistic range is only around 60 miles minus any degradation.
The newer 30Kw battery is a much better bet, I think the tech is better and obvs being bigger can handle more degradation before there's an issue.
(And being newer will generally have less).

On the plus side it's fairly easy to check the state of the health of a Leaf battery and often it's just a single module which is dodgy so not to expensive to fix.
Lots of bumf on the web about how to do this, but be worth your while having someone with some knowledge of them to check it out with you.
(Google 'Leaf Spy')

Ultimately though if the battery has good health and the range is well within what you'd like then you should have no problems.
(Most of the one's I've seen that needed work have all been taxi's)
by kwackers
19 Mar 2021, 10:18am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: TV licensing...
Replies: 1894
Views: 104072

Re: TV licensing...

thirdcrank wrote:
Mick F wrote: ... I will be buying a TVL too, ...


Perhaps they'll have a lockdown-busting celebration at Crapita: a half-day hol for the entire workforce. Or not. Just some computer removing an address from its list of penfriends.

It's been stored on the computer for so long it's now permanently embedded on the hard drive. No amount of overwriting can get rid of it.

Mick will continue getting letters until they replace the whole shebang.
by kwackers
19 Mar 2021, 10:15am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Irritants?
Replies: 33
Views: 1211

Re: Irritants?

Tangled Metal wrote:At 48 I'm thinking will there be any financial benefits to turning 50 in two years time? Or are 50+ insurance and other products just a con?

PS I feel a long way off being old enough to get age related financial deals. I still remember my parents saying they can't help with car insurance deals because they got an amazingly low and fully comp deal from saga which we couldn't get yet. That was nearly 20 years ago I think and we took the Micheal out of them for being old fossils. I'm nearly there and my sister already ahead of me.

I remember turning 50 like it was yesterday.

At the time it was a source of much distress that Saga's house insurance was the cheapest I could find. I swallowed my pride and went with them.
Interestingly they've never even been close ever since - a special deal to hook those of us entering their realm for the first time?..
by kwackers
19 Mar 2021, 10:11am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: what the heck is going on??
Replies: 70
Views: 3919

Re: what the heck is going on??

thirdcrank wrote:I appreciate you are using 'cleaner' in the environmental sense but I fear one negative with the type of system you describe is that many users will treat them badly.. There's an obvious limit to how they can be driven like dodgems imposed by the system itself, but the insides may end up being middens.

Have you seen the insides of most peoples cars now? I doubt most will notice...

I'd imagine you'd end up with competing companies, some which look after their vehicles and some cheaper ones that don't.
You pays your money and you take your chances.

There are already such hire schemes (but without the auto summon/self driving), I guess we could look at them for a hint of the future.
by kwackers
19 Mar 2021, 9:58am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: what the heck is going on??
Replies: 70
Views: 3919

Re: what the heck is going on??

Jdsk wrote:
ncutler wrote:
Stradageek wrote:Maybe we need a touch of the Schumacher 'Small is beautiful' and re-organise ourselves into local communities with local facilities and local jobs. Families can then stay together, we can all walk to the shops etc. Maybe the homeworking shift is a way of starting this?

Agree. Look at the Paris proposals for the 15 minute city.

I also think that the self driving vehicle is a large part of the solution. This is much easier with electric vehicles ( vastly simpler and safer to arrange computer control of an electric mechanism )...

Agree x 4 (I think).

And the last interacts with decreased personal ownership, summoning, and the cars not living on residential streets.

Jonathan

I did originally pin my hopes on EV's requiring smaller lighter cars thus breaking the trend towards bigger and bigger vehicles.
I obviously underestimated just how much people like big cars...

But self driving I think is most likely the real disruptive tech. If I could use an app on my phone to call a car that appears within minutes outside my door and is mine for the duration of my requirements then I doubt I'd bother ever buying a car again.
In one foul swoop it fixes a lot of issues. Removes the need to have expensive vehicles lining streets particularly on the aforementioned narrow terraces who's occupants often daren't use their car anyway for fear of losing their parking.
Removes vast car parking space, is safer, cleaner, uses less resources - in fact it's difficult to find a negative.