Early Risers.

[Hroth]

1 minute ago, PhilJ W said:

Goodnight all.

 

But it's only

 

ummmm...

 

NEARLY 11PM???

 

Where did this evening go? 🤔

 

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

It’s been a busy day here, lots of domestic tasks have been done. The front room, dining room, hall, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom floors have all been moped. Lots of washing has been done as well, Sheila is now able to do the ironing and put stuff away. She is also now able to put wet washing on the airers, which are located in the attic, I just carry the full washing basket upstairs for her. I’m still not able to do any ‘dirty’ work at the moment, but I’m hoping that will change after Thursday’s visit to the eye hospital, as I’m urging to get back outside into the garden, to do some tidying up etc.

 

Today I finished my course of antibiotics and I’m pleased to say that everything now seems to have gone back to normal, which is a great relief to me. Other than that, it’s just the same old stuff. 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

 

 

Remember the Alfa Sud.. aka "the Soap sud"

 

 

And the Honda Zot - thats due for a bloated  SUV-style relaunch maybe?

 

 

 

 

Edited February 6 by monkeysarefun

[BR60103]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Please note that these are averages and not median values, all it takes is one significant outlier at either end of the bell shape curve to alter the average value. This I reckon implies that there are enough really, really skinny  men in the UK to offset all the Billy Bunters and bring the average weight down.....

 

Remember, if Elon Musk walks into a pub, on average all the clients are billionaires.

 

[pH]

4 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

… it is fitted with every conceivable extra and I'm still finding new ones.

But how many of them are you using? Our car is over 4 years old, but there are whole sections of the owner’s handbook that I have never had reason to refer to, and do not expect to have in future.

[Ozexpatriate]

9 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

In 2011 The larger Holden Caprice was modified  into a police patrol vehicle and used by a few police departments in the US.

The Chevy Caprice (1965 - 1996) like the Ford Crown Victoria had been a police vehicle for decades. (Plenty of Dodges too - think the Bluesmobile.)

 

The linked Wikipedia article notes the 2011 Holden Caprice used as a police vehicle. I imagine police departments didn't want to give up on their preferred vehicle and Chevy pivoted to the Holden to keep their niche customers happy.

[Ozexpatriate]

10 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Although the modern day Fiat is bigger than in the 60s, a car review website had this to say about the Fiat 500 dimensions: The Fiat 500 is only 3.5m long, 1.6m wide and 1.5m tall, so it's shorter and thinner than the Mini, but a little taller. The normal Mini Hatchback is 3.8m long, 1.7m wide and 1.4m tall. The original Fiat 500 was 2.9 m long, 1.3 m 52 wide (without mirrors) and 1.3 m high. So, the current version is not that much bigger than the original Fiat 500.

Flavio - my point was related to the Fiat 500L (discontinued in 2020) - which like the Mini Countryman is significantly larger than the new Fiat 500. The reintroduced Fiat and Mini product ranges are relatively similar - meaning Fiat really did little differently (size wise) than BMW in their approach.

 

If I haven't made any transcription errors (mostly but not all from Wikipedia) - the data you have for a 3.5m long Fiat 500 seems too big. Same for the 1960s Mini hatchback.

 

                                                       Length       x      Width     x      Height

Mini (original)                              3,054 mm  x  1,410 mm  x  1,346 mm

MINI Cooper S (2001)                 3,627 mm  x  1,689 mm  x  1,427 mm

MINI Countryman Cooper S     4,110 mm  x  1,789 mm  x  1,561 mm

Fiat 500 (original)                       2,970 mm  x  1,320 mm  x  1,320 mm

Fiat 500 (2024)                            3,571 mm  x  1,627 mm  x  1,488 mm

Fiat 500L (2020)                          4,350 mm  x  1,780 mm  x  1,660 mm

 

You can see that the Fiat 500L is measurably bigger than the Mini Countryman - around 12% larger on overall dimensions.

 

I didn't include the redesign of the 'new' Mini from 2005. It got slightly bigger. The Countryman is much bigger. Both the 500L and the Countryman are crossover utility vehicles.

 

Using the Fiat 500 as a baseline, the product of length x width x height (not Archimedes approved) indicates the 500L is 250% the overall dimensions and the Countryman is 222% the overall dimensions of the original 500.

 

The reintroduced MINI and 500 are very comparable in size.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

11 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

2750 nm of torque? it ain't the bhp that gives you the oomfffffffffffffffffffff

Technically it is torque that produces acceleration. (F = m x a) In rotational dynamics, torque is a measure of rotational force.

 

Power (in Watts please if we are working with Nm of torque, rather than horsies per foot-pound furlongs per fortnight) is related but the relationship is not necessarily linear over time.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Slept very well .. which is great as my sleep patterns have been all over the place recently.

 

Mainly a house tidying/muddling/meeting organising day ahead culminating in a trip to the MRS tonight.

 

Cars are getting bigger, car parks aren't.  Which increases the dink and dent probabilities when in a car park.  

We loved our Mini 850.  The new ones seem less personable and not very mini like at all.

 

Watch out.. rant coming on..

 

Is it just me or are others fed up with "repurposed" management speak words?

 

Examples... "equity"

"Cromulent" thank you the Simpsons(!)

"FEED forward".. a sure way of causing instability but now used by people who think they know about training and HR.. and know nothing about mentoring..

 

PAH!

 

Baz

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a Charente that is allegedly goi g to get damp.  

 

More work was done in the lounge.  Walls poly filled and to be rubbed down today.  Shutters not hung for two reasons. 

A) the paint was still sticky. 

B) when I tried to extract the bolts from the old ones that secure them to the hinges, the bolts were seriously corroded with rather narrow waists in the middle.  The DIY shop only had four and I need 24.

 

So it's on wittbe lounges waltoday.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,

5 hours sleep, short awake , 2.5 hours sleep. A good total,

Right forepaw and right ankle not happy though.

 

Ben the I really want out now Collie insisted we went out, he then had an extended tour of the garden, asking permission from me to go down into the area I've been clearing.

The ground is soft to soggy again, but in garden puddles have gone. 

 

Odd thing on the way back from the museum yesterday, a group of three vehicles in the entrance to a field, all private not council vans, but 3 people were wearing florescents and one woman was walking from the group along the road carrying a massive tape measure . I wonder what they were up to, the BT have our telephone cables under that verge there, the road is narrow at that point and the majority of the traffic does an awkward 90 left towards another village. It's also at the end of a group of houses. So a possible site for more..

Whatever happens I expect some road disruption...

 

Plans for today, 

Another coat of paint on a picture frame,

Muddling

 

 

Edited February 7 by TheQ

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Lots of rain overnight from 18.30 yesterday evening but it's dry at the moment and very dull.   Should stay dry today with some bright spells possible but more heavy rain is due tonight.   It's a bit cooler at 4°C and might reach 8°C.

After yesterday's dental clean up I went for a short walk, only a mile managed as the Hip came out to play.  Got home and we have decided to book a short break in the early summer.  The kids and grandkids gave us the funds for our 75th birthday last year and we've been dithering over where to go.  We've decided that we'd quite like another trip to Beamish as new additions have been made there since our first visit five years ago so a hotel has now been booked. 

After that I muddled for a while and will probably do a bit more today after a walk....Hip permitting.

It doesn't look like The Boss is in a hurry for me to gettamoveon but I will anyway.

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited February 7 by grandadbob

[Rich_F]

Last day of job today! I was expecting it, but the director who gave me redundancy hasn't even showed up! 

 

Definitely better off out even if it wasn't my decision! 

[DaveF]

A few breaks are appearing in the clouds, it's 1°C outside and almost no wind so iot doesn't feel to bad.

 

The boiler started properly this morning, I lay in bed listening to it for a while to make quite sure.

 

In a few minutes I will go to post the friend's cards I forgot yesterday and will then go and lok at the Quayside as it looks as though THV Patricia is there - unless she moves off before I arrive.  After that it will be time for coffee and then some general pottering and tidying.  I also want to move the DVD player so I can get at it without bending too much which will be a bit uncomfortable after next week.  There are some cab rides, amongst other things, I want to watch.

 

Yesterday evening I manged to stay awake to watch Maigret, then went to bed and slept better.  The rest of the evening was messing about with You Tube to watch a few bits and pieces I'd come across.

 

David

Edited February 7 by DaveF
To remove a blank space at the bottom of the post

[PhilJ W]

6 hours ago, pH said:

But how many of them are you using? Our car is over 4 years old, but there are whole sections of the owner’s handbook that I have never had reason to refer to, and do not expect to have in future.

Many of them on my car I won't be using such as bluetooth but I find the steering wheel controls for the radio very useful as the radio itself looks like something used for a moon landing. The rather large glovebox can also be used as a coolbox* incorporated with the air conditioning. There are many other extras so I will have to study the owners manual.

*The glovebox is in two parts with a smaller compartment in the lid.

 

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, a little late getting, I was up, honest.

 

Sunny and still sur le rock, but only 2c which is a bit chilly for us.  All sorts of weather disasters fore-guessed for tomorrow, pestilence, a snowflake, usual Manx panic when whiteness is about.  Going to be windy too, so the snowflake may drift.  I may just stay in.  Oh hang on.....🤣

 

A couple of weeks ago when it was frosty there were two cars off the road just outside the village, one upside down on a verge, the other is upside down in a tree down a gully - it's still there, owner not willing to pay for recovery and third party only insurance.  Not sure who the landowner is, it's sort of no-mans land.  This icy patch occurs because a certain geegee owning millionaire didn't want his mansion to be seen from the road so planted a stand of trees, that now shades the road.  Thing is he was dead before the trees got big enough.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Not too bad a night last night, only one callout from bladder control. But this morning after the change in the weather the dampness has brought Arthur Itis out in all his glory. I took a couple of Nurofen earlier and that has calmed things down so I'm just waiting a couple more hours before the next dose.

[New Haven Neil]

6 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Many of them on my car I won't be using such as bluetooth but I find the steering wheel controls for the radio very useful as the radio itself looks like something used for a moon landing. The rather large glovebox can also be used as a coolbox* incorporated with the air conditioning. There are many other extras so I will have to study the owners manual.

*The glovebox is in two parts with a smaller compartment in the lid.

 

 

My car's a bit like that, lots of things I'll never use, but the thing that caught me out not long after I got it was it speaking to me, when I accidentally pressed one of the steering wheel buttons when parking - I didn't know it did that!  I jumped a mile, there wasn't anybody else in the car.  Hmm, it was time to read the handbook...#cough.  It does work well for the voice instructed hands free phone though, it seems able to understand a mild Geordie accent, whereas Mrs NHN's Citroen doesn't.

[PhilJ W]

Any more news of @polybear? The black dog seems to have been out of his kennel for a long time.

[PhilJ W]

3 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

My car's a bit like that, lots of things I'll never use, but the thing that caught me out not long after I got it was it speaking to me, when I accidentally pressed one of the steering wheel buttons when parking - I didn't know it did that!  I jumped a mile, there wasn't anybody else in the car.  Hmm, it was time to read the handbook...#cough.  It does work well for the voice instructed hands free phone though, it seems able to understand a mild Geordie accent, whereas Mrs NHN's Citroen doesn't.

I'm not sure if my car has any voice controlled items. I will have to be careful what I say and refrain from such expressions such as "Well bu@@er me.". 

[iL Dottore]

My thanks to all who weighed in with corrections, updates, and extra information on my posts about the Fiat 500 and the Mini.

 

I think my point still stands: that the Fiat 500 reboot is a lot closer in design, style and (for want of a better term) “atmosphere” to the original than the current Mini is to the original Mini Minor.

 

However, there is one significant drawback with the current Fiat 500: unlike the original, it is unlikely that you can get eight people into a modern Fiat 500. Back in about 1973, I was on a camping holiday with friends and we decided to go into town, but only had one car available: the Fiat 500; so we removed the front passenger seat, and by being incredibly “closely acquainted“ managed to get eight of us Into the car. I also learned a valuable “life lesson” with that exercise: namely, how incredibly heavy a petite and attractive young signorina can be!

 

I’ve actually had the opportunity to drive a modern Fiat 500 (it was a hire car), and I thought it was tremendously good fun to drive. But certainly not something for Speed Demons (so Chimpey would be rather disappointed with  it).

[Winslow Boy]

14 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

My car's a bit like that, lots of things I'll never use, but the thing that caught me out not long after I got it was it speaking to me, when I accidentally pressed one of the steering wheel buttons when parking - I didn't know it did that!  I jumped a mile, there wasn't anybody else in the car.  Hmm, it was time to read the handbook...#cough.  It does work well for the voice instructed hands free phone though, it seems able to understand a mild Geordie accent, whereas Mrs NHN's Citroen doesn't.

Assuming we are still allowed to say this - that's the french for you.

 

I'll wait now to see if the 'thought police' come knocking at the door.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

It was sunny a few minutes ago, but it’s a wee bit cloudy now, pah. Today we are going to RHS Bridgewater for a walk round the gardens. This will be Sheila’s first ‘day’ out since her op 5 weeks ago! The plan is to walk round the lake and the woods then decamp to the restaurant and have some tea and a slice. Other than that there’s not much else planned for the day. 
 

Back later. 
 

Brian

[jamie92208]

18 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

My thanks to all who weighed in with corrections, updates, and extra information on my posts about the Fiat 500 and the Mini.

 

I think my point still stands: that the Fiat 500 reboot is a lot closer in design, style and (for want of a better term) “atmosphere” to the original than the current Mini is to the original Mini Minor.

 

However, there is one significant drawback with the current Fiat 500: unlike the original, it is unlikely that you can get eight people into a modern Fiat 500. Back in about 1973, I was on a camping holiday with friends and we decided to go into town, but only had one car available: the Fiat 500; so we removed the front passenger seat, and by being incredibly “closely acquainted“ managed to get eight of us Into the car. I also learned a valuable “life lesson” with that exercise: namely, how incredibly heavy a petite and attractive young signorina can be!

 

I’ve actually had the opportunity to drive a modern Fiat 500 (it was a hire car), and I thought it was tremendously good fun to drive. But certainly not something for Speed Demons (so Chimpey would be rather disappointed with  it).

We had a Fiat 500 for a week as a hire car, last year.  I liked it but would not like to have been a back seat passenger. The driving compartment was as big as Beth's Clio.  The only minor problem was the small fuel tank. I reckon the range on the motorway was about 250 miles. 

 

Jamie