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1

General Discussion Area / Daylight!

« on: 17 June 2025, 21:45:00 »

It is still light in England but dark here in Spain.

It is hot as hell here but cooler in England despite apparently being nearer the sun and having longer days!

Answers on a postcard. Prize is ice cold beers.

2

General Discussion Area / Drought measures

« on: 17 June 2025, 20:26:26 »

My dad was old enough to remember how their house was built. Each house on the estate was built with a soak away ( amazingly). Very few if any inhabitants know. He successfully claimed a reduction in water rates by proving rainwater goods waste did not appear in the street distribution. Just a few quid.

Scroll on and the property is up for sale. I have reinstated the down pipes as that is what normal people do ( saves spalling) and the water company have spotted house is up for sale and want a meeting………

I would love to be there and ask “ what about the umpteen sewage discharges per year?”.  That ain’t going to happen. Water rates for new owner will conform , water rates will continue increasing and sewage dumping will continue unabated.

3

General Discussion Area / Pigeon or pterodactyl?

« on: 08 June 2025, 19:44:04 »

Question on Radio 1 this afternoon.

A cricketer hit what with a ball? Pigeon or Pterodactyl? Err I will say pigeon as never heard of a Pterodactyl. Correct!

What on earth do youngsters actually learn at school nowadays? 

4

General Discussion Area / Trump Musk fallout

« on: 06 June 2025, 20:43:42 »

I am not a fan of EVs but if Trump’s Tesla appears on Gumtree I will have a punt.

How could the bromance go so wrong?

5

General Discussion Area / KFC advert

« on: 24 May 2025, 20:02:58 »

How weird is that advert?  Thought it was for chocolate!

It will be a cold day in hell for me to darken their doors.

6

General Discussion Area / EU UK reset

« on: 19 May 2025, 09:33:43 »

“Starmer has just taken us half way back into the EU, while of course denying that he is doing anything of the sort.
Probably the worst part is giving them another 12years of access to fishing UK waters.
Another 12 years of Spanish factory ships hoovering the fish out of the water, and there will be no fish left.
How much more betrayal  can the remains of our fishing industry can the fishermen put up with ffs“

Thought I would start a new thread using your comment. I haven’t seen the detail yet - only the fishing element. Fishing accounts for less than 0.4% of UK GDP and would decline from new access by French and Spanish boats. You are quite right that Spain has very efficient trawlers that hoover the fish up. They need to as we folk in Spain eat a lot of fish compared to Brits. I have a friend in Truro who also eats a lot of fish and we compare notes on prices and availability.  Some items caught and exported by British fishermen to Spain are cheaper here than they are back home. How can that be? Apparently no market .

The expat forums are all full of how “ we” won’t have to queue at third country passport control. That could be a trade off for the fishing……… ( that is tongue in cheek).

Again we need to see the detail but my gut feeling ( as someone who still believes Britain is better out of the federal beast called the EU) is why not have closer links within reason? We have more affinity with Europe than anywhere else even if there was a change of US president. The world is a pretty polarised place now.

7

General Discussion Area / Hammerhead crane building

« on: 05 May 2025, 20:28:12 »

I am away on holiday.

New huge holiday blocks going up behind our block. They have been busy building hammerhead cranes all week. They have a mobile extending crane and a rigger( ?) assembling the pieces. Impressive stuff

8

General Discussion Area / Charge to stay in a French prison!

« on: 29 April 2025, 17:38:34 »

Just like having a charge to stay in a French hospital. Seems like a good idea. Might act as a deterrent.

Should be means tested too so that the rich pay more.

I am reading an excellent book at the moment on the actual mechanics of the transportation and life of convicts to Australia often for trivial offences. It is hard to believe it occurred only 200 years ago or so. Punishment ,for amazingly trivial violations in the colony , like 50 lashes just meted out on a whim. Sometimes the victim couldn’t be given the punishment all in one day and was brought back in a wheelbarrow the next for the balance.

9

General Car Chat / Outcome of Trump car tariffs?

« on: 28 March 2025, 22:27:53 »

Is it likely that we are heading for a surplus of German , in particular cars, as a result of Trump tariffs? And a knock on of lower secondhand car prices here in Europe?

What do you think?

10

General Discussion Area / Scrapping nhs England

« on: 14 March 2025, 13:16:47 »

Surprised no one has commented about this.

9000 jobs . The cynic in me thinks they will just be re employed by whatever takes its place! Anyone on here affected?

Is it a good thing? Why didn’t the Conservatives do it and next weeks Welfare cuts? Was it just down to they darent lose votes. It almost looks like Labour are doing a better job than doubters could have dreamed!

11

General Discussion Area / Ukraine peace deal

« on: 14 February 2025, 17:32:47 »

Is it going to work?

Got to admire Trump getting on with ( trying) to end the war. Not sure letting Russia back onto the world stage eg G8 is so clever. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?

12

General Car Chat / Running In

« on: 10 February 2025, 07:58:21 »

When I was at school it was still common practice to run a new car in.

“In the days when new cars had to be ‘run in', stickers were common.
To also follow the manufacturers instructions not to exceed 15 mph in the first gear, 25 mph in the second gear and 35 mph in top gear. After 500 miles on the clock you were advised to gradually increase your speed for short periods until reaching 1000 miles.”

When did it stop being a requirement?

I remember vividly , visiting the Opel factory and watching brand new cars being “ tested and driven off the production line”. This basically involved the cars being revved up, rolling road then brakes being sharply applied which catapulted the car forward. Engine screaming and second gear selected before actually leaving the premises in a cloud of ture smoke.

13

General Discussion Area / Fitbit this makes me smile

« on: 03 February 2025, 19:47:41 »

I had a Fitbit but it developed a fault. A vertical  band of bright light. Couldn’t get rid of it. Plus if you got up in the night and went back to bed it didn’t record the second lot of sleep.

So it went in the general household waste at Scarborough.and I bought an Apple Watch.

Funny thing is I have started receiving weekly and monthly stats for the new owner! Must say they don’t exercise much. You cannot beat recycling!

14

General Discussion Area / Trump tariffs

« on: 02 February 2025, 09:11:16 »

Well , I take my hat off to him. He says what he is going to do and does it.

What impact will it all have for us in Europe? Increased prices and reduced spending ( reduced growth)? Yes , I know he hasn’t changed Europe/ US tariffs    yet.

The fentanyl angle is interesting. Mexico says their government isn’t supporting the trade ( my words). That seems reasonable . And that the US ought to be tackling the problem on the streets and organised criminal level rather than asking other countries to turn off the supply.

Maybe the whole thing is a bargaining chip to end the Ukraine war. Trump tells China to stop supplying the raw materials for fentanyl, gives them some concessions ( like reduced increased tariffs) and the Chinese tell Putin to desist. Win Win. Except fentanyl will just end up being replaced by a better, more addictive drug……….

You could argue for increased tariffs on Spain not doing enough to stem the horrific volumes of drugs coming ashore each day destined for the European market.

15

General Discussion Area / Mat Armstrong

« on: 21 January 2025, 07:58:55 »

Don’t normally watch many utube videos.

Yesterday I was a captive audience while an independent one man outfit fixed our “ can’t open boot/broken reversing camera issue”.  It took four hours .

The waiting room had mat Armstrong playing. Quite watchable especially the Aston Martin one. He buys crashed cars and  renovates them and then went on a road trip.  I was impressed at his bravery ? In taking out the dash ( all 50kg) in order to basically replace the passenger airbag. I could see why no one else bid on the Porsche with every panel damaged!

I dare say the differentiator is that he is making his money not from flogging the car at the end but from advertising.

Anyone else watched any of them? What did you think?