Also stayed up to watch the mixed Triathlon. Just a terrific win for the GB team. Gutsy start from Learmonth, brilliant run from Brownlee to set Georgia up and Alex Yee held his nerve and composure. It felt as though the French guy blew himself out trying to catch the GB and American athletes. I thought it was brilliant to watch as well as an outstanding result. And considering the slip at the start our mixed swimming relay team produced an awesome result. There has been some terrific sport on show so far and I have been loving it.

I thought Karun’s summary was pretty spot on. Max’s style of driving is “aggressive” as both he and CH put it. And he does seem to have developed a very strong and deliberate style of intimidation, some of which can be considered “strong” and some of it is just stepping beyond that line. As has been mentioned, they were going at it from the start and Hamilton did back off a couple of times and gave him space. This time though he had so much more momentum, Max still tried to squeeze him into the pit wall and I think the main reason Hamilton had come out was to try and give himself a shot at making the apex. Max then turned in too quickly and too strongly – not sure where or how he expected Hamilton to go. I felt the penalty for Hamilton was a bit harsh but in the end he overcame it with a quiet sensational last 15 laps or so. Again, as much as I like Bottas, he just wasn’t really at the races again today. Wasn’t really putting the pressure on Lando and allowing Le Clerc to get away.

I hope the incident makes Max think a little more about the way he drives but I suspect it won’t. Maybe though, he will think twice before trying to squeeze Hamilton too hard.

CH is just an annoying windbag at times though. Funny how the Imola incident (when Max basically slapped Hamilton on the corner) from his perspective is “just hard racing and if you don’t like it you need to consider whether racing is your thing” and yet yesterday’s incident is “totally out of order” and “desperate”.

Having been critical of Sterling’s performances in the previous matches I will credit him with a much better performance in today’s match. I thought he played really well – apart from his attempt to play Mueller in. And Macguire had a much more solid game at the back – even if he does seem painfully right footed. I thought Saka had a good first half as well. Agree that this isn’t a vintage Germany side but they still have the potential to damage you – as Portugal found out. Not the prettiest match to watch for a lot of it but job done for now. :)

To go against the grain a bit I had a Camelbak MULE for a quite a few years but it was getting a bit tatty and I fancied changing it. Ended up going with a new MULE to replace it. There are more pockets although I don’t know they are all as easily accessible as the previous model but they are better at protecting the tools compartment. The bladder also has a much better top than the old one. Overall, I like it. Straps seem to stay put for now too which is a bonus. :)

Car dealerships are just like any other business – they want to make as much money as they can so there is no automatic discount. Maybe not so much these days, but for some sales people their commission might not be paid for their previous sale until the car that was p/x’ed against it has been sold. Situations like that can encourage a sales person to want to try and shift the car quicker making them more amenable to doing a deal. But they will also still have an eye on the profit margin in the car which may not be as big as you think it is.

Whether paying cash or using a p/x the most important figure you need to bear in mind is the cost to change. What are you happy to pay? Ignore any shenanigans about p/x value or discount off the car – it’s just a number balancing game by the dealer. If the cost to change is above what you are happy to pay then just walk away. You are not obliged to buy the car. Sometimes dealers will be more willing to do better deals near the end of a month if they are close to hitting their targets but ultimately there are no real tricks. Some dealers or smarmy sales people will try various psychological games but just ignore them. Keep your eye on the total cost to change and if you don’t like it just say so and walk. No need to be grumpy or rude – they’re just doing their job. And you are the customer making the right decision for you.

Have bought quite a few cars over the years and have never had anyone try and slap any kind of additional admin fee on a second hand car. We get conned into by online ticket sales which is pretty irritating but a car dealership? Nope, they can do one. It would be like the Tesco cashier ringing up your shopping and then, just as you are about to pay, slaps on an additional £20 admin fee to cover his/her time for, basically, doing the job. Would you pay that?

As others have said, different category of car. The Mondeo is a noticeably bigger car which means a lot more space inside. Also, likely to be cheaper in Road Tax than the A4. And they are pretty good cars. Decent to drive. Sure, maybe has a bit of a repmobile reputation but they are very good, competent cars. Currently have a Mondeo hatch but have had an estate in the past. Of the two choices you have listed I’d go with the Mondeo every time.

Not sure I could have a single album on a constant loop. Have had a few albums recently that I have listened to a few times but not back to back on loop. More often I have had one of my Spotify Daily Mixes which gives a nice bit of variety when I don’t have anything specific.

Most recent listens are Kip Moore (Wild World Deluxe) and Vince Gill (Okie)

Touchscreen can be nice but it depends how often it is likely to be used. However, once you do throw a touchscreen in then you are looking at bigger $$. Since laptops went to SSDs, combined with Windows 10 they do seem to be reasonably pacey and maintain it. Well, to be honest, the Windows machines keeping a reasonable pace with age started with Windows 7 but only seemed to really see the benefit of those changes when SSDs became more prevalent. If it were me, I’d probably consider spending a bit more than a minimal budget and get something that should last quite a few years and provide the flexibility to do more then just the minimum for school. Been a fan of the XPS machines but they are not cheap. The Latitudes are also pretty good (well, ones I have had in the past) and the HP Envy range are good. I would also be looking at i5 or equivalent as a minimum.

I got Mrs BC an i7 Envy for Christmas (got a reasonable deal through a work discount scheme – PerksAtWork) which she really likes. Seems pretty decent so far although I’m not totally convinced by the 13″ screen. A 14 or 15 would be better.

I expect it will be put down to “tournament football” but it’s not been very good to watch. First half of the match last night was a lot better and we looked a bit more attack minded. There was definitely more of a spark to them. The second half was a weird mixture of frustrating and terrifying. Slow, slow, defensive, slow just gets dull to watch. And then our defence seem to conspire to remove any shred of confidence in them by allowing themselves to be played backwards and resorting to Pickford having to lump it forward – what I would have thought was the very thing they are trying to avoid by playing it from the back. I can imagine most other countries looking at our defence and licking their lips. And although he scored I did think Sterling had another rank game. Watching him play for England is mystifying. He has a reputation at club level of being a great player. ON the basis of what I see in an England shirt, I would struggle to put him in our local pub team. Let’s hope we step up a few gears in the next round or we will be out.

Hugely frustrating game to watch. England play like that against even one of the semi decent teams on this tournament and they will be spanked. No urgency, no creativity, soft passing. On that performance Sterling is one of the most over-rated players – utter shite the whole game. No comparison to the Wales match the other afternoon. I really do hope we can improve!

The street circuit in 2 weeks time is a very different kettle of fish to Monaco though, isn’t it. Supposedly the advantage Ferrari had at Monaco is because they are actually quite good in tight, twisty tracks where there is no long straight drag, where they are down on pace. Given that there is a honking long straight past the pits in Baku I would not be expecting to see the Ferraris as strong as they were this weekend.

Agree that it seems a bit harsh on Bottas for the wheel nut on Sunday – the mechanics have to be able to adjust their position as we regularly see drivers miss the perfect stopping point. Feel a bit for him as he was at least hanging onto 2nd at the time and you would expect him to have been able to stay there for the rest of the race and bring some good points in for the team. Where Bottas has a problem now is the other teams getting stronger. Merc are getting to the point where they need a strong racing number 2 driver. Bottas is usually very quick over 1 lap but all too often he disappears in the race and is consequently not in an optimal position to capitalise on issues or mistakes ahead of him. Merc being quite dominant these past few years has meant there wasn’t quite so much pressure on him. This season is different. Not even sure he would get a seat back at Williams next year if Russell is indeed the one to get the Merc nod.

We’ve got a Neff (and had one before that). Had it about maybe 8 years or so now. Looks nice but not sure I would get another. I have a bot of a preference for Bosch as, on the whole, the Bosch appliances we have bought have all been good, solid and dependable. Some are not fans (so to speak) of Neff and refer the them as Naff but that always seems like an easy gag. There is also Miele but they are quite pricey. However, they also have an outlet store which, if you are lucky, can get you something just merely expensive. Miele Outlet

I can’t see Bottas being replaced mid season as Merc on the whole don’t do that. As long as he can bring good points home on race day and help Merc to win the constructors title then he will have done the job they require of him. Obviously he has his own ambitions and does still seem to think he is capable of winning the drivers title. Unfortunately, the evidence suggests that he isn’t a strong / good enough racer to be able to do that over the course of the season. Sure, if you believe the little hints he has dropped now and again that here have been races where he was dealing with an issue, then we could cut him some slack, but in reality we have seen over the last 3 seasons that he just doesn’t quite have that winning x-factor. He can drive very quickly and certainly helps to push Lewis and Max to their best in qualifying but is not fast enough or consistent enough throughout the race. He should have been better / more competitive in Portugal and he should have been able to do better in Spain. But he was too far off the pace and therefore his lack of letting Lewis through just ends up looking petulant and silly.

I still think Russell will be one of the Merc drivers next year which could make things quite spicy with Lewis but could also leave Merc being very dominant with two very strong drivers

geordiemick00
Free Member
I’m the the only person who actually thinks Angela Rayner is a bit MILFY??

Raising the quality of the debate. :) But in answer to your question, yeah, I think you are. Doesn’t float my boat (or anything else for that matter) – and that’s before she opens her mouth. Both her and Anneliese Dodds are two MPs that don’t help the Labour cause at all IMHO. Both difficult to listen to – and not in a challenging, thought provoking way.

It’s all a personal thing though isn’t it? Humour. Having read both articles of hers, linked to in this thread, I can’t say either of them left me feeling the need to read any more of her stuff. Not funny. Not especially clever and has that whiff of someone trying just that little bit too hard. Feels a bit like the “right-on” comedy of Ben Elton from his early days – only he was quite funny.

Don’t really get the mild comparison above between her and Kuenssberg and Peston. Completely different styles and purposes. Maybe I’m missing something – wouldn’t be the first time :)

AZ on Friday morning for me. Slightly sore arm when you touch it but other than that absolutely nothing. Is disappoint in a way, but, nah, not really. :) Feel quite fortunate.

Funny thing is I quite like Vettel as a person. He became insufferable during the last 18 months or so of his championship years at RB and some of the time at Ferrari. However, away from the race track or out of the kitchen heat of racing he is quite personable. My sense is that AM wanted him as much for his experience and what he might be able to bring to the team in helping them to develop and not just a vain hope that he might help them win more races on the track. Before we get to the first weekend I am quite looking forward to this season as it does feel as though there could be quite a big shake up – especially if RB are fast out of the gates. Agre with other comments that Mercedes are a class act and do appear to have the ability to get to grips with issues in their cars quite quickly – although they did struggle a couple of seasons ago in trying to get the tyres into their operating window. In the end it didn’t matter too much as Vettel failed to capitalise and RB weren’t fast enough early enough in the season. I can certainly anticipate tensions at RB between Perez and Max which, ironically, may end up costing them vital points. Really looking forward to the season!

Make me a decent (sensible) offer and a 2015 – 27.5 medium advanced is yours…. (No Covid tax)

:)

That’s probably about the age of mine :)

The biggest thing I am trying to rationalise in my head is the lack of front derailleur. Been such a part of mt riding life for years that I am struggling to think about doing without it. Even though, if I’m honest, I very rarely used the granny ring. And the prices seem to have gone up a fair bit and not a big fan of how may are using SRAM. Maybe I’m just a bit of a Shimano fanboi in denial. :) Although I don’t need to change my bike at the moment I can’t help thinking about it as I am still riding 26″ rims. I really do like the composite frame and geometry of my bike (probably surprisingly old Giant XTC) and love the feel of it but can’t help casting envious glances over at the 29er world. But finding something comparable for a reasonable price doesn’t seem to be as easy as I thought it might be!

@b230ftw. Are you talking about a Teams call on your laptop or a Teams call on your phone?

Using my laptop the speakers are for playback and I have a separate Jabra disc thingy for Teams / Skype calls. The only thing I have to do when a Teams call comes in is stop Spotify or whatever else I am listening to. As far as I can tell most Bluetooth devices can only accept one connected device at a time. So, for me, my laptop is connected to the Edifiers and uses these as the computer speakers. When I get a Teams call the Jabra acts as both speaker and mic. If I am joining a Teams conference (where Teams is in broadcast mode) the sound comes through the Bluetooth speakers. Yes, they might be a bit spendy, but the quality, IMHO, makes it worth it. The Audio Pro we have was for Mrs BC and I listened to a few alternatives before selecting it. For me, it was the best sounding one I tried. I did like the Kef Muo which had the best mid and treble range of any of the Bluetooth speakers I tried but it lacked bass depth. For what you get I think the Edifiers are pretty good value for money but they are static and need the mains. I find they work brilliantly in my office

Have to say I do like Rhod Gilbert too. Certainly appeals to my sense of humour. And the plane luggage sketch is just brilliant.

Doesn’t quite hot the budget but this might be a nice sounding box: Audio Pro We’ve got a T3 which, although sounding a bit bassy when you first fire it up is still a very good quality sound.

For my study I have a fixed pair of speakers which I think are really very good. And does Bluetooth from my laptop so don’t even need to bother connecting it physically. Edifier Mine are black but really do like them. Especially for those working from home days. I know it’s not quite what you are looking for but perhaps an option to consider.

Interesting development. Maybe Bottas has pricked his ears up a bit. Maybe Hamilton doesn’t want to go into the new era and happy to see out this next year with what he hopes is a good chance of record breaking WDC and walk away. Maybe there’s other stuff in his life that he is looking at how that shapes up and this season will allow him to take stock of what that looks like and whether he could maintain that as well as the commitment needed to keep successful in F1 – especially now the number of races per season has crept up. Certainly leaves the speculation open for Russell in a Merc next season

Who knows but I’m not sure Hamilton would veto Russell. I suspect it is more to veto drivers like Verstappen or Vettel (highly unlikely now though) getting into the car. Not that Hamilton would have anything to fear from Vettel I suspect but Verstappen would be like an angry Rosberg and no-one except the other teams on the grid would want to see that.

What we did is change the bathroom a bit and went away from the quadrant style and got one of these: Merlyn enclosure We bought through Grant and Stone. Must say, absolutely love it. Not massively expensive either but the advantage of virtually no moving parts to break down. Had ours done maybe 3 or 4 years ago now.

UvDL does seem to be clutching at straws a bit. Allegedly her quote is that the “best intentions” bit only really applied when AZ weren’t sure if they would even be able to create a vaccine. Now that they have created one that clause no longer has that meaning and they are due all the vaccines they want and AZ better pick it up. Yet the vaccine still isn’t approved for use in the EU yet so not even sure what point she is trying to make

What are you looking at Amazon for? Why not just buy it straight from MS?

From the horses mouth

We had a Corsa 1.4 (weirdly, they seem cheaper to insure than the 1.2) which is my wife’s car. Used Marmalade to insure for it my son to drive as a learner (seemed a pretty cheap way to do it as it’s the learner that’s insured and you are not using your own insurance). Gave him a load of time out on the road with either me or the missus to get him used to driving in public and practicing things like parking and hill starts. Ended up with him only having to have a relatively small number of lessons and he passed first time. Been on the insurance pretty much since then as a named driver. Fully comp for us all (me, wife, son and daughter) is around £300 per year.

Not totally clear what you are asking for. Do you want Bluetooth speakers that you don’t need an app to manage or are you looking for Bluetooth speakers that will also manage the streaming side of things as well? If it’s the latter then, as mentioned earlier, why bother with Bluetooth? Bluesound or Ruark or Yamaha or… all do streaming systems that will give you that. If you want Bluetooth speaker tat you can just connect to and use your iPad, Phone, Laptop whatever to do the streaming from then you have plenty of choice there. You can go with the speakers that have it built in (Edifier, AudioPro etc) or you can go for Active Monitors and use something like this to provide the Bluetooth connection.

Personally I use Edifier speakers from my laptop and really do like the sound. I have the R1700BT. Sure, they don’t quite have the full bass extension but they do sound clear and balanced. Want more bass? Go for slightly bigger version such as the R1850. Wifey has the AudioPro AddOn T3 which she really likes. It sounds a little bassy when you first start listening but you do get used to it. Considering the size of them they do have pretty deep bass. However, if you are happy to experiment with a Bluetooth receiver (see link above) then I would consider something like the Adam TV5 or TV7. Buy them as single speakers or a pair. Not heard them myself but have heard a number of people strongly recommend them. My son has a pair of Presonus Eris E8XT using the Bluetooth receiver. Personally, although he likes them, I prefer the Edifiers. The Presonus sound a bit boxy to me.

So tell us what the “conversation” was and we can see how right or wrong you are ;). And if you are right, the clincher will be you can tell her your anonymous friends on STW back your view….

I’m sure there are loads such as Novatech, Scan, Ebuyer etc. As it happens I ordered some myself from Scan (Sunday) and it has just arrived. Fitting will commence a bit later

I, for one, am really looking forward to seeing how Russell gets on. In some ways I would have liked to see Hulk given a go but this is the next best thing. Benn very impressed with not only the way Russell has driven this season (sure, he had one moment a few races ago that he will have learned from – but who hasn’t had one?) but also the way he handles himself. This is a great opportunity for him to see what it’s like in the top car and how quickly he can adapt to it. Be fantastic if he gets points – even though it won’t be for Williams. Be embarrassing for Bottas if he outscores him. Either way, something to look forward to in this race

It certainly was a horrific looking crash – especially with the fireball. Long time since we have seen anything like that in F1 which made it even more shocking. I am also glad that Grosjean is mostly ok and that he walked away from the accident. Given his previous experiences in F1 though, I still don’t understand why he cut across the driver behind him which, from what I could see, is ultimately what caused the crash. I suspect that’s probably the last we will see of him in F1. There have been a few few ex racers that have commented that back in their day the race would have carried on after an incident like that. The advances in safety have made it possible to escape big crashes relatively unscathed but I think you still have to have a bit of humanity around them and red flagging the race was the right thing to do.

Agree with many of the comments up there ^. Hermine was looking a sure fire finalist and then had an absolute mare. The two weeks prior I was thinking she could go and win it. And then she blew up – on what should have been her best week. And in a really shallow way , I really do miss Lottie. She was funny and watchable and could bake. I mean, what’s not to like?? Laura has had a few calamities but has somehow survived – should probably have gone the week Lottie went. Still, been an entertaining series. In true bake off fashion any one of them could win it but I think Peter has been the most consistent of the finalists across the series.

In anticipation of this being the first of a brazillian separate Black Friday threads

I thought this thread was about to go in a whole new direction for a minute. ;)

The observation about BF is also true of the “January Sales”. These days they are generally little more than a vehicle for trying pass on the old tat that the shop hasn’t been able to sell all year or cheap tat that they have bought in specially for the “January sales”. Plus they start earlier these days too. Back in the day, the January sales were indeed “an event” where you could get some proper bargains. For years now, though, the real bargains are few and far between and it’s just a cynical, commercial exercise.

As others have said mesh heads is key. The solid pads make a lot more noise than you might expect. Yes, they are not as resonant or loud as an acoustic kit but they are not silent! The feel is not the same as a real drum kit but the principles of drumming and coordination etc, an electronic kit is as good a kit to learn the basics on as anything.

Anything involving Jason Statham

No, not at all! I grant you that they are mostly utter cheese fests but there is something gloriously entertaining about most of them. As other shave said, many on this thread don’t seem to comprehend the concept of worst film ever made. It comes across as a weird case of “right on” credentials setting. I get that you may not like the film and you may have had issues with some of factual accuracy of them but to describe them as the worst film ever? Yeah, right.

Have seen plenty of (to me) awful films. One of the first I remember seeing was Beetlejuice. To me that was just plain awful. Most Steven Seagal films are pretty awful. Under Siege was actually alight but then he seed to go and put on 100 pounds and then try and carry off credible martial arts moves in largely plotless stories. Most of them utter drivel. Found Blade Runner 2049 interminably dull. I wouldn’t describe it as the worst film ever made but I found it so dull I actually went to sleep in the cinema, after running out of resolve to will it to end. Spongebob Squarepants the movie was also a cinematic low point (the things we do for kids sometimes).

Mind you, with the modern way things work I’m not sure there are that many people that even use foldback monitors these days – it’s all in-ears. Individually adjustable mix so no competition about which instruments need to be higher in the foldback mix.

While I do feel a bit sorry for Bottas and his bad luck with the engine I can’t help feeling that his misplaced confidence at the end of the Russian GP was shown up this weekend. Sure, an outstanding qualifying lap and was very feisty at the first couple of corners but, once again, buckled under the pressure. Not sure if he would have been able to hold off Max V for the race or not. I think his retirement has all but confirmed Lewis as World Champion for this season

@kula72 Not quite sure why the attitude. I thought Cougar’s request was perfectly reasonable and well defined. He wasn’t looking to drill you – just curious as he clearly works in the space where he may have come across you. And in your original reply I think it’s fair to say that you didn’t actually offer any advice beyond “do something sensible” which, given the nature of the question, hardly qualified as advice. And woohoo, you’ve got 10 machines at home. So? How do you manage them? Are they part of your business network? In which case that’s a quite different situation to the OP.

Personally, I don’t have a problem with you messaging the OP – decent thing to do. However your responses on this thread don’t do you any favours and based on them your firm is not one I would be looking to do business with.