Typically the information is available before hand so you could have done a bit of research

I rent cars pretty often. I have never needed to confirm the factory-fit options before-hand with an ICE car. I was collecting the car out-of-hours also. I note the advice given to @teaandbiscuits was ‘use a super-charger’, not ‘check you are hiring a car that can use a super-charger’.

@w00dster I am not sure why your first long trip was a disaster, but I disagree that it was on you. EV technology is sufficiently mature that it’s reasonable to expect it to ‘just work’.

Going to France next year and picking up an electric hire car 

I just hired an EV for the first time. I knew there were fast chargers at my destination. After 20 minutes trying to work out how to plug the CCS connector in (and some googling) it turns out fast charging is only an option on Renault Zoe, and it was a blanking panel. Luckily there was a public AC charger a few KM away.

In the end, it was pretty straight-forward but I was surprised how difficult/confusing it was the first time, and without a smartphone/data roaming and plenty of time I would have been screwed. Bear in mind ICE cars have a label inside the fuel cap telling you the fuel to use, and the car rental companies still often add a sticker outside reminding you.

Avoid UK plugs and adaptors. Get a European* mains lead, and charge things via your laptop USB ports.

* Other destinations are available.

I have a Revolt 0 and a Camino I built up with Tiagra. Both great bikes. I use the Revolt both as a winter road and faster gravel bike. The Sonder is a little more stable and a bit slower. The Revolt (M) sometimes feels big, whereas the Sonder and my other Giant (TCR) are perfect sized (both M’s).

I’ve not adjusted the seat on the Revolt since I got it, though the little rubber cover on the seat tube adjuster is a bit rubbish.

If I could only have one, I would keep the Revolt.

I liked Terribly Happy (Netflix) – a sort of Danish Coen brothers film. If you’ve run out of noir, there is other good nordic stuff you could consider also – I am enjoying Lykkeland/State of Happiness which is based on the start of the Norwegian oil industry (similar to Deutschland 83, it’s a nice blend of nostalgia and real events. But no murders).

I recently had a letter from a different tracing firm about a pension I had ~25 years ago. It transpired a recent legal judgement means the transfer value was a few % less than it should have been. If you are fairly sure you don’t have outstanding debts, and you have previously been in a pension scheme, it is probably in your interests to investigate.

Yeah, I did it also – in a near-identical time (though the official time is a bit faster, as passing the welfare stations is neutralised). Seemed well-organised – from what I saw at least.

I’m not a group rider, so spent half the time being a bit scared in a bunch, and the other half upset I had been dropped and needed to get into a new group asap.

Route seemed fine, though I do prefer the Surrey route as I like to climb.

The coast can get very busy. Although there are less West Europeans, there are a lot of Serb and Russian tourists. The coast around Kotor is pretty cool. The Durmitor national park has some pretty good walks. We were not able to book rafting in the Tara canyon while we were there – you probably want to book this before leaving UK. Canyoning in Nevidio canyon looked cool also. Ostrog monastery is one of the big tourist spots inland, but I wouldn’t bother unless you are a monastery fan.

Wild swimming: Cascades de Purcaraccia in the South East, and/or under the Genoese bridge in Asco are both popular spots. Deep pools and crystal clear (and cold!)

Did this last week (after 26 years – you are obviously less cautious than we were). In Brighton, but I guess it’s broadly similar everywhere. There is a ‘statutory ceremony’ which is the cheapest option, but was only available for very limited times (I assume they are obliged to offer this, but would rather you gave them more money). For convenience, we booked the cheapest ceremony room the council offered, which cost a bit more, but the ‘ceremony’ was exactly the same as the ‘statutory’ option. 2 witnesses, a few signatures, no vows or anything. Took about 15 minutes. We had to book about 3 months in advance, and also there is an interview which had to be scheduled at least 4 weeks beforehand.

Thanks all, it doesn’t sound like it would be as elegant as I had hoped. Will have a deeper look into mesh.

The pi-VPN (i.e. wireguard) tunnels back to another server – so I can either connect to the server, or breakout to the internet depending on which SSID I use. (the correct approach is to just have the VPN client on the end device, but I can’t do this on some of the IOT devices I want to use)

Edit: that was painful, but got there in the end…

edit: no images

The fork has a carbon steerer, and was supplied with a star-nut also, which I probably won’t fit.

Edit: trying to work out how to share photos

Onderbikes.com?!

It’s difficult to tell from the spacing – my assumption is the ‘S’ stayed on the decal backing, rather than the all the decals being wrong. It is only the 5mm lettering, so not a big issue. Curious to know if it’s just me. The easiest resolution maybe if I just register the domain.

My Camino frame arrived this week. Medium Black – the frame and fork are matching ‘charcoal grey’. Looks a fantastic frame, very happy – I need to find some bits to turn it into a bike now. The only thing wrong is the graphics on the seat-tube says “onderbikes.com” but I expect I will get over this.

Bear in mind the route you take may affect the need for quarantine/isolation on your return. Last year, my family flew back from CPH, while I drove via Hook of Holland which meant I had to isolate while they didn’t. The drive is OK, but there can be bad traffic crossing the Elbe in Hamburg and further north as well as delays at the border into Denmark. Taking the ferry from Puttgarden is a good option.

If I remember right, last year you needed confirmation of a week’s booking to enter Denmark, which may limit your options.

In addition to what others have said, the North coast of Zealand is the main tourist area (around Hornbaek). South Djurlands on Jutland is another area worth considering. You can take the ferry direct to from Zealand to Aarhus, which avoids a long drive through Funen.

Replacing OpenVPN with ZeroTier could be an alternative to avoid needing inbound connections in either site.

How much is the mortgage actually costing? This is hinted at in some of the comments above – I am assuming a pretty big chunk of the £1000pm is capital repayment. As your assets exceed your outstanding mortgage, this means each payment is just decreasing the liquidity of your capital and does not affect your overall wealth. The mortgage interest is the cost of the extra liquidity, so you should consider if that’s worth it to you – rather than think of it as reducing outgoings by £1000pm.

Some comments above talk about the security of paying off the mortgage, but providing you ensure your assets cover the outstanding mortgage, your position is the same.

My position is not too dis-similar. I still have a sizeable mortgage – this was a lifetime interest-only tracker form before the crash. I have no intention of paying off any capital anytime soon (although I could, if needed).

If it’s working for internal addresses, but not external it sounds like a routing problem, rather than DHCP or similar.

If the BT device has a modem, it probably expects to send external ‘internet’ traffic via that modem. What you should try is configuring the default route (i.e. 0.0.0.0/0 assuming no IPv6) on the BT router to use the Ethernet port or IP address the 5G modem is connected to. Depending on the BT configuration, the Huawei modem may need to be in bridged or route mode.

The definitive answer is in the manufacturers handbook (at least if you have a Fiesta*):
Note: Do not press the release button while pulling the lever up.

However, similar to some previous posters, with a manual handbrake, I usually push the button in, but then give it a final click. Clearly this is the best method, minimising noise while ensuring positive ratchet engagement. I also always leave the car in gear. In neutral and clutch down to start.

* I don’t have a Fiesta.

Dirty Harry: Cop uses basic numeracy to resolve difficult case.
Thelma and Louise: Two women did not plan their journey which leads to a dead end.
Goldfinger: man very interested in metal; people around him pretend to be asleep.

I totally get Lycra – by far the most comfortable thing to wear on any bike.

But bib-shorts? Normal Lycra shorts are perfectly comfortable. When riding, I try to work out how something more expensive and heavier with inconvenient straps over my shoulders could possibly be an improvement. My clothes fit properly, so I’ve never exposed flesh between shorts and jersey. Sure, maybe the waistband could be uncomfortable for the ‘larger’ cyclist – but that doesn’t explain why the pro-peloton wear them.

There are lots of guides if you search for ‘nginx raspberry pi reverse proxy’. I can’t remember which ones I’ve used – this one looks OK: https://medium.com/@mikezrimsek/configuring-nginx-as-a-reverse-proxy-897532936f9f

If you have a domain name you can point to your home IP address, you can make the server_name in the NGINX configuration something like ‘my3dprinter.example.com’. This makes it easy to access and you can blocks the vast majority of port-scanners as they will just be using the IP address and so NGINX will drop it.

I use a RPi with NGINX for reverse proxy. Everything is accessed externally via port 443 (with Lets Encryt certificates), and proxied internally, based on the subdomain. You can set a rate-limit on NGINX to stop anybody trying to brute-force the printer login.

I also use the same RPi for DHCP and DNS with dnsmasq. Works well and is very reliable.

I’ve enjoyed swimming with manatees when I’ve been in Orlando. Early start and an a couple of hours drive from Orlando, but I’d recommend. https://www.riverventures.com is good.

I am convinced this forum uses a better algorithm than Facebook. This thread popped up as I was in the departure lounge in Podgorica airport, after a 2 week holiday.

Some random thoughts:
– the coast is very (too) busy in summer – October will be quieter, also possibly a bit rainy. We stayed on Lustica peninsular, which was a bit quieter. Kotor was quite busy, but would probably be a good base in October.
– hire a small car, rather than a big one. You will still end up reversing on the small roads a bit. Some of the bigger roads are OK, but average speed on small roads is very slow.
– You can just wander into the submarine tunnels and old forts near Rose if you like urb-ex.
– Mobile roaming is expensive. However, Wifi is everywhere. 4G reception is good and cheap with a local SIM card.
– Food is cheap. You can eat well for EUR10 per person
– Ostrog monastery is OK, but not amazing
– Would not plan any biking. Would probably be quite good, but saw very little. A few MTB hire-bikes, but they were more BSO than anything worth riding. For road-riding, some good climbs but far too much traffic.
– We spent some time in Durmitor also, which was pretty good (though were staying about 90 minutes drive away which was too far). If I went again, I would stay at Eco Selo Nevidio for a few days.
– Failed to fit in rafting or canyoning. It would have been better to have arranged more before we left, rather than just rely on TripAdvisor while we were there.

What are the Little Dog courses like? My daughter (U10) likes the idea of entering a bike race but as her riding is mostly along Downslink and similar, I don’t know if the course may be a bit more challenging than she’d be happy with.

Is the “minilap” route available anywhere so that we could have a practice?

Love Denmark – first went when I was 8 and I married a Dane (not on the same trip).

A few random things:

Jutland is very scenic. It’s “very nice” rather than “amazing” – in case you are expecting the scenery to be like Norway/Sweden. (or more like the South Downs, than Scotland). You may already appreciate that, but a lot of people are surprised that the highest point is 171m ASL.

Cycling there is ace. You will probably want to cycle a lot.

You can hire (big metal) canoes on the Gudenaa and other rivers in Jutland – you spend the day paddling downstream, then get the bus home and they’ll collect the canoe later.

If you do want to go to Copenhagen, there is a fast ferry from Arhus or Ebeltoft direct to Zealand, which may be more convenient than the ‘obvious’ way via Funen.

Tivoli in Copenhagen is worth a visit. Also, Bakken (to the north of Copenhagen) is the original amusement park, less well known and apparently quite good.

Also, if you do go to Zealand, the Danhostel in Roskilde is relatively cheap and has a better location than any hotel in Roskilde.

Thanks all! Got a bike from Montlake, then spend the morning in Duthie and the afternoon on Tiger Mountain. Awesome day :D

I still think not shooting journalists and civilians from helicopters would be better PR than treating one girl and putting her in a school thousands of miles from home.

Absolutely. Although one is the action of the US and one the action of Pakistan.

You know I think her case is 100% grounds for Asylum.

Absolutely, although I don’t believe any claim for asylum has been made.

Who is paying for the privilege?

not the UK taxpayer, as far as I can see.

The Pakistani government paid for her hospital treatment and as her father now has an ex-pat government position in Birmingham, I would assume the Pakistani government are also paying for her education fees which would be pretty standard in that situation.

Or should we automatically assume because she is foreign and brown-skinned, it is the gullible British tax-payer picking up the tab?

I assume we are all aware that today is officially 112 Day

Having watched the video in the link there is actually not a lot wrong with it. The guy states you should dial “112” on your mobile as this will work anywhere in the world (it’s part of the GSM standard, as well as a European directive). Good advice.

He then mentions he’s in the UK and gives some examples of dialling “112” in the UK. What he doesn’t say is if you are in the UK, you can also dial “999” and this works in EXACTLY the same way.

I assume this is because the message “dial 112” is a lot more succinct than “dial 112, or if you’d prefer dial an alternative local number if you know it, such as 999 in the UK, although that won’t work on a locked non-UK phone, so in that case you may still have to use 112”

The EU also provides plenty of information about “112”, including things like geolocation of mobile handsets etc. But again the EU does not publicise the option of “999” in the UK.

So the assumption people (incorrectly) jump to when they hear about “112” without any mention of “999” is that it must be something new and/or different to “999”. It’s not – in the UK it is exactly the same. And has been for almost 20 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/999_(emergency_telephone_number) is a pretty good summary of the situation. While Wikipedia has it’s faults, it’s usually a better source than a Facebook status that ends with the phrase “make sure you pass this info on to everybody you know!”

“999” remains the official emergency number because it is known by just about everybody (compared to 13% who are aware of “112”) and changing it would introduce confusion. However, I know some fire engines (for example) have both numbers shown on the side, where previously they only showed “999”.

Rumble roller is great. It definitely had more affect on my calves than a normal roller. It’s good on muscles, but I still use a cheap roller for the ITBs though.

Like drugs & alcohol, you may find it OK to start with a basic roller but over time you need something stronger just to get any effect.

Rumble Roller[/url]. Works on my calves. Extra firm, natch…

The statistics quoted in the article are average figures – clearly the rest of the nation are massive wasters seeing how much everybody here appears to be bringing the average down…

Following on from a previous comment, I am not certain the mantra of always leaving a clean plate is a good one. It seems to be in-grained in people of a certain age, but what may have been a good idea at a time of rationing may not be so great in today’s consumer society.

I have a concept for a diet based on the premise you must always leave food on your plate. The idea being over time your average portion size decreases as a natural reaction to avoid excess wastage. And which is better from the perspective of providing food for the global population: putting 3 potatoes on your plate and throwing out one, or to eat 4 potatoes and being a bit chubby?

My diet idea may not actually work by the way.

Only milk in bottles is sold as pints. The vast majority of milk in this country has been sold in ml for almost 30 years.

This thread discusses whether sealant should be sold in US or UK pints. Both are illegal – it should be sold in ml as that’s the correct measurement for the country in which the product is being sold in.

The only thing you can by in pints is draught beer and cider and of milk in returnable containers. You should have been sold 473ml of sealant which is how we’ve done things in the UK for the last 27 years.

You can’t legally sell a ‘US pint of beer’ in the UK. You could sell 473ml, providing it’s not draught of course.