It’s never too early for mini stollen bites. I had most of a pack within 24 hours of buying them a week ago

@mboy I have a 2 week old id7 tourer (base model). It’s awesome. It’s done approx 1000 miles and averaged 3.8mi/kWh. 500 miles of that has been in dark/rain across from Chester to Ashton under lyne in rush hour – drive there was about 3.6, return journeys around 5pm in the light and not rain were up to about 4.5.

I hoped I’d get 300 miles to a full charge on average which so far seems realistic.

A mate of mine had a roaster with the greenhouse on the back. It was an absolute hoot to drive. Not sure how many miles in the end but he had from about 2007 to a year or two ago – scrapped for around £700. It was a 53 plate. He ultimately got rid because it was starting to fall apart.

The engines do have a tendency to go pop (his never did) anywhere from about 60k miles onwards. The actuated clutch is awful and until you get used to it can leave you rolling out onto roundabouts or main roads with zero power for a second or two while it works out what gear to choose. It handles incredibly well and in the right conditions you can get the back end out super easily. The engine bay is tiny and virtually empty – they’re pretty easy to work on.

Not sure what used prices are realistically like but I’d have one in good nick in a heartbeat for 1k if I had that burning a hole in my pocket.

The problem with barefoot shoes, is that now I have my first pair I don’t like any of my others. So now I need to replace them all. As the barefoot equivalents seem to be largely double the price, that’s a bit of a pain.

Argh I forgot there’s an extra space underneath the floor.. I’ll see if I can use that to lower everything enough.

@johnhe – damage wasn’t on the golf, and it wasn’t with Thule bars. The ones I had that caused a problem had a weird securing mechanism that seemed to rely on getting the thing FT which just wasn’t possible. And yes, *very* slight dents. If you get the Thule ones that have the clamping feet, you won’t have any issue (I didn’t on the golf, and I haven’t since with the Mazda).

Bikes upright in the ID.7 boot… I’m not convinced personally, it was a bit of a faff when I’m used to taking the front wheel off and just shoving it in on its side in my saloon (half of the problem is I’m currently terrified of scratching the thing). You could definitely get two in like this, maybe even three if you are good at tetris. They unfortunately don’t go the other way around even with the movable floor totally removed. Boot opening at the edge is not high enough for a 29er wheel, and the seats don’t fold low enough to stop the slammed seat from touching the roof when going the other way around. I’ll probably get some new roof bar feet and stick to using the roof racks or when it’s just me, removing front wheel and throwing it in on its side.

I used them on my golf hatch for about 5 years, on and off, not regular at all but would sometimes leave them on for a few weeks. Never had any issues, worked fine. Have the same on my Mazda 6 saloon, likewise, no issues. I did buy some cheaper ones initially (not cheap, just not Thule) that tightened in a weird way and did some minor damage, they got replaced for free with Thule which have been fine.

That would explain why it didn’t seem to make any difference to the range/ efficiency figures. Good to know, thanks.

@nixie I’ll update in a couple of weeks, done some local driving over the weekend and a 100mile round trip today. I really like it. It’s comfy, quiet, feels well put together and is really easy to drive. Had a go with the regenerative braking, not sure it made much difference but I have the same journey again tomorrow so may try without. Got pretty much 3.5mi/kWh both ways today, on shorter journeys over the weekend I got more like 4. Looks wise, I don’t much like the front but I do like the rear. Not sure about stuff like the augmented reality HUD, partly it’s nice for nav while I’m getting used to where everything is but also partly a bit distracting. Other stuff in the HUD is nice (I come from a Mazda 6 with flip up screen type HUD so I like having the data there). Discovered I have different ‘modes’ – eco, comfort, sport and individual (I originally thought these were for DCC but it let me select each one so maybe not) – not sure any of them made any real difference.

Entry/ exit stuff is nice, I like getting in and the radio turning on immediately, not sure the seat moving back and forth is really of any benefit. Need to work out if there is any kind of memory function in the mirrors for different driver profiles. Also not sure how the seat memory works for different drivers.

On the whole, so far I’m really pleased and the gadget freak in me loves all the bells and whistles. I got the bog standard car with no options except black metallic paint and it still does absolutely tonnes of cool stuff.

When it stops raining (next year maybe?) I’ll put some bikes in it.

I haven’t had a chance over the weekend what with rain and ferrying kids around. But.. the inside is cavernous. I’d be surprised if I couldn’t get a couple of bikes in on top of each other with wheels on.

Took delivery of my new ID.7 tourer last night. Been out and about today, it’s a marvellous thing and it makes me want to immediately replace our other car. Does anyone with an ID vehicle have any kind of a guide on how to set up all the bells and whistles in the infotainment though – it’s a proper maze of settings!

I’ve been doing that for a while on my car allowance car, didn’t realise I could still do it for a company car. It’s unfortunately not the difference, but tax back on the difference. Something to look into a bit in April though I guess ta.

@chrispoffer thanks, I did kinda want to get a known brand but equally that’s pretty cheap. Is it going to cause me any problems with intelligent octopus (octopus will talk to my car so I just need the charger to provide power whenever the car pulls it).

Re company cars – I get a flat rate of 7p per mile from work, which is utter pants if you do any kinda of decent length journeys and need to use a rapid charger. I think on a 400 mile round trip assuming my car does 300 miles I’ll probably be out of pocket by a few £ because the company won’t cover it.

@Daffy thanks good to know. I will be getting a granny charger asap just might not get a chance this weekend. Not sure how I feel about second hand but don’t mind spending £150-£200 on one – it will get used when I go to my parents in Norfolk from Cheshire at the very least.

With my car arriving tomorrow, no home charge point (yet) and I assume no 3 pin charger with the car I’ve been looking at charging while I’m out at work on Monday (typically the new car coincides with leaving the house for work for three days in a row for the first time in months).

I’ve got myself an electroverse card and had the impression it was convenient and possibly even cheaper than using whatever app/ debit card tap is required for whatever charger. Having said that, when I look at a charger near my destination on electroverse, the app says 65p per kWh whereas zap map for the same charger says 60p. Am I missing something here? Work will only pay me 7p per mile so keen to charge as cheaply as possible until I can sort out a home charger of some form.

Thanks all, lots of options to pick from (I think generic ‘soft-shell trousers’ is probably what I am looking for). To answer the question of seriousness, yes, this is a serious question, due to having looked outside and determined I do not have anything that is particularly appropriate.

Just loaded the app on my partners Android and it finds an unknown Airtag on that too.

What happens if your partner takes their phone down the road like 100m (away from the scooter and you and your house) and tries it there?

I had this with my washing machine/ utility room sink (less used). I cut a piece out of the waste pipe on the wall, fitted a specific trap/ upstand pipe and plumbed washing machine waste into that. No smells now.

I’m diving into the electric car world shortly and wondering about charging. Currently with Octopus so imagine we will be moving to the overnight tariff – I can’t see any reason not to? Wall chargers are expensive so won’t be getting one until the old car is sold most likely. I’m assuming I can make do with the standard 3 pin plug for a while as the car won’t do huge miles frequently (bit of a pain though as it only comes with the type 2 cable so I have to fork out for a 3 pin one!)

When it comes to wall chargers, what is good these days? Is it worth an intelligent one over a ‘normal’ one to be able to get on the intelligent go tariff?

I’ve been looking at public chargers as we will likely have to rely on those occasionally without a decent one at home, they all seem to be around 80p/kwh – is that normal ?

Ah, I’ve just looked at the manual for the mini and I misunderstood how it works. So I feed it permanent live, output to the light, and for light 1, I connect the switched live to the switch port of the shelly, then I can make shelly 1 turn on shelly 2 when shelly 1 switched live goes on ?

@pdw your guess is as good as mine..! Both hall lights are new(ish) so were fitted when the previous owners renovated. I’m not sure what they were thinking…

Two shellys with some automation to make them sync (could I again skip HA and make shelly 1 run a script when it gets power to trigger shelly 2?) sounds like a good first step to get past the boss, though I do like the idea of the i4 and wall switch!

I do have a handful of hue lights and a hub so it’s an option, but specifically for these two lights in the hall, a hue replacement is not really feasible unless I replace the whole units. The problem I have, is that one of the lights is connected to the switch, the other, has no switched live so I can either wire into live for permanent on, or leave disconnected for permanent off (as it has been for 2+ years).

My thinking is I can put something like a Shelly 1 Mini in the problem light, and use it to turn the light on/off over wifi. But then I need a way to control the Shelly unit. Obviously I could set up something in HA and use my phone, but it would be nice to have it controlled from a physical switch for ease.

So that leads me to, 2x Shelly 1 mini, one in each light in the hall. Then some kind of a switch on the wall to replace the current switch entirely, when you press this new switch, it sends a command to HA which then triggers both Shelly’s to turn on.

Previous house had an old galaxy tab on the wall for all things Smart Control, but in this case I would really just like some kind of semi traditional switch.

This has popped up at a convenient time. Had automation for most lighting in my old house but the bulbs in the new one were all different and it was too much hassle. However, we have a couple of lights in the hall, one of which has no switched live to it. While I’m redecorating, I’m trying to figure out a way of using this second light. Shelly controllers seem like the perfect solution, however, I’m not keen on giving up the wall switch control. What do people use to replace the normal switches (if anything)? Ideally I’d like something to fully replace this switch on the standard wall box, even better if it could power from the lighting ring (there is obviously power here to provide the switched live back to the light so I could get live and neutral easily enough).

We started with our kids (4 and 2) last summer for a few nights, somewhere 1.5 hours drive to get back home. We have always been very rigid on routine at home, and both kids have always been very good with bed at 7 and up at 7, bath/ books before bed etc. First night of trying to get the youngest down reasonably ‘on time’ wasn’t great and he took a while to go (but did eventually). After that we threw ‘bedtime’ out the window and just judged tiredness levels – as soon as ours start really grouching we’d do a book or two and throw them in bed. Showers were done early so out the way. Did a week in Cornwall this year and both were excellent. Wish we’d started younger tbh.

I definitely think it helps when they are mobile and can spend the entire day running around to knacker themselves out.

My assumption is that if you are training hard and regular then it can be of benefit (with some other supplements as well). If you just want to gradually build you don’t need it.

for reference, training 4x a week on careful diet and supplements, saw significant muscle growth over about 6 months. Stopped training, went back to it a couple of years ago, twice a week, sod the diet, no supplements and am now bigger and stronger than I ever was before

Do you know anyone with a Mac? Get a sata to usb adapter, plug your drive into their Mac and away you go. You can even boot their Mac from your drive if it makes things easier.

I have a very good condition hamax siesta that no one wants to buy, if you’re anywhere near Chester you can have that. Worked great for us.

Hmm I wonder if I can make any Cisco Secure Endpoint sales today

@ThePinkster also massively disappointed, I’ve had no campaign material or any sight of Aphra whoever they might be, I held my nose and voted for the labour candidate who lives in north Manchester instead of in the constituency (instead of my preference of greens) and it was a waste of time ?

There aren’t really anything other than footpaths round here so nothing you’re technically allowed to ride on. It will probably be busy and full of dog walkers too. I’d drive 20 mins ish out to Delamere if you want a cycling fix

The last time I told an interviewer to stick their stupid interview question

I recently had an issue with our machine not draining properly. Emptying the filter didn’t sort it. Turned it on its side, pulled the bottom off then pulled out every hose I could find connected to drum and filter. Found a big chunk of timescale that was stuck and wouldn’t make it into the filter for removal. Possibly you have something similar stuck?

I also follow the serious eats recipe linked above (I have Kenji’s book with it in). It’s immense. I find even just following his instructions to make chilli paste (freeze in ice cube trays) and then using them in a generic chilli instead of spices makes a difference.

I’ve always pulled mine pretty much all the way in to the corner of the bar. Just as far as it bends without feeling like I’m forcing it. Never had a problem, I think the leverage on the STI’s is enough that you could make it fairly stiff and not have much problem.

Its better in every way other than one handed operation (I have short fingers)

did you know you can swipe down at the bottom of the screen to bring the top downwards for easier one handed operation?

I love the ikea pocket spring memory foam topped mattresses. We have a dreams king size one that was about £850 and the single we bought for our daughter from ikea for £160 is easily as good, if not nicer.

When we realised we needed a will after having kids, we found a locally recommended guy who came round, took some details, asked some questions about scenarios we’d not considered then went away and wrote a straightforward will (one for each of us, essentially mirrored) for £300. Worth every penny IMO.

I decided to have a go at filling in all the patches in my lawn this year, starting by removing the (what felt like) several thousand dandelions in about 5 sqm of ‘lawn’. Sliced them out per WCA, top dressed, overseeded, and within a week there were possibly several thousand more to replace them! Needless to say the new grass seed has either not grown, or feed several now rather fat birds.

My understanding from everything I’ve watched/ read about ranking a wet room, is that the membrane should cover absolutely everything. Because they’ve left an edge here, either it wasn’t sealed fully or movement in the poorly laid tile has lifted it, and water has been running underneath. Then they’ve put a square of membrane over the centre into the drain…

I dislike expensive things that fail early (or things that are made to look expensive but underneath are a massive bodge). Beauty is skin deep for sure in the case of this house!