I’m SE based and 10-12ish hour drive vs 1 hour to get to airport & parked plus shuttle to terminal + 2 hours before flight + 2 hour flight + 1 hour at least collecting luggage + 2 hours with a transfer faffing about stopping everywhere or 1 hour drive but at least half an hour getting to the car rental and sorting out the car.

So, worst case with flying, and that’s assuming no flight delays, it’s not that much quicker than driving door to door.

That said, skiing I tend to fly but luggage costs are racking up these days taking skis.

Plus Les Deux Alpes is close to Grenoble airport so less of a transfer in theory.

Bike trips I’d prefer driving as so much more flexible with what I can take and don’t have to pull the bike apart.

Anyway, flight prices have gone up a lot. The pound being bad one reason for a start. No idea where it will go what with Brexit and stuff.

Train, looks like Eurostar to Paris and SNCF to Grenoble. Then transfer. Quick look and about £150 return just based on one person (interested myself at train prices. Last time I did one was a very long time ago Eurostar overnight ski train).

Depends how big your house is and if you have concrete walls/old tough construction.

Using 5ghz in a 4 bed detached 1970’s without an issue. Still picks up WiFi in the driveway.

As said, my Amazon Fire box struggles on 5Ghz. It’s in the corner of the room and got a decent TP-Link access point in the adjacent hallway and only partition wall between and open doorway. Got the access point to improve signal through the house and it does. I can get 5Ghz other side of the house and almost outside, unlike my old router’s WiFi, but the Amazon box struggles not being that far away. I think it’s because it’s right at the back of the AV kit (plugged into an HDMI input) and there’s a lot of other equipment and various radio sources between it and the router. It gets a 5Ghz signal but it’s weak and it’s been causing a lot of buffering streaming 1080p / 4K video. 2.4Ghz, no problem.

I don’t Kudos Zwift and other garage related activities. Still spams my feed with them.

Everything I do is followers only. No leaderboards, no challenges, no heatmap, and I find it much better that way. Takes away the competition element and keeps sensitive trails off the map. Though I could just not use Strava now, but all my past ride history is in there and the equipment tracking.

Still though, my followers will be spammed by my stuff and vice versa. Doesn’t seem to matter about kudos given, though the order they appear in the feed seems to vary now they’ve done a half-baked attempt at social media feed that isn’t in chronological order. Again, still get Zwift crap though.

Strava moan – still no MTB activity type in Strava. Been years requested and ignored. Yet plenty of other types like commuting, zwift, e-bikes even. Though as said, not being on leaderboards etc, it’s less relevant.

Something I’ve worked out recently is if your router does both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz and you’re having signal issues you may want to force the device to use 2.4Ghz.

I’ve got that with my Amazon Fire box which is tucked away in a corner hooked up to AV amp and struggles with signal.

Reason being, 5Ghz has a shorter range than 2.4Ghz. You may get faster throughput with 5 if in range, or at least not have it clashing so much with other signals nearby, but you can struggle getting a signal unless you’re close to the router / access point.

From quick Google it looks like Virgin Hub 3 routers have both 2.4 and 5, and newer Chromecast devices support 5. However apparently the hub defaults to a single SSID for both frequencies, so it will be random which the device connects to. You may be able to go into the router settings though and configure a different SSID for each and then can set the Chromecast to pick up the 2.4.

Alternatively if Chromecast can be set to only use 2.4, then try that.

I’d check first if the Chromecast says what frequency it’s on. Not sure how you’d do that or if it can tell you. If it’s already on 2.4, then ignore all this.

Euronews is one of the most neutral, but it’s a really tediously dull rotation of plain news in voice over style with not much detail and there’s still a bias in that it’s mostly focused on EU stuff. There’s only so much tediously factual stuff about Brussels, France and Germany you can cope with. They did cover some Brexit the other day though. Only flipped over as BBC and Sky were off on their agenda programmes rather than reporting news.

AJ as shown in the west is a funny one. Obviously biased but does a fair job of trying to look genuine, complete with known western journalists you think you’d trust. It’s state media of Qatar and the western channel is propaganda. Does cover many things you might not see on BBC and Sky, but there’s an agenda to it obviously.

The western version of RT is similarly biased obviously towards its state while trying to appeal to the west.

Anyway – https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/

Though I don’t know if sites like that are themselves biased.

Just to clear something up

Though probably made it way more confusing 😄

Just to clear something up. Routers are the device that route traffic between the Internet and your home network. When talking about home routers they tend to come with a modem built in that connects it to the Internet (dealing with signal from the box down the road or the exchange, which is often the cause of poor Internet speed and dropped connections, rather than WiFi signal), plus also usually come with WiFi access point built in but often aren’t very good and lack a decent antenna. Because of their design as the modem they are usually located by the phone socket which is often in the worst place in the house to create a good WiFi signal.

The WiFi part of it may be dodgy and replacing the router with something different may get you a better access point and WiFi signal, but it may introduce other issues in the routing and the modem part, plus if not from the provider will require configuration. Though might resolve issues with the Internet connection itself if there are any.

WiFi extender all depends on the kind of extender. Many are crap. Some work okay, some work well.

A good Wireless Access Point can be wired from the router to a central point or act as extender. Generally better than the little extender things that plug into a power socket. Have a look at TP-Link access points. Worth spending a bit on a decent wall or ceiling mounted one. They usually offer 5Ghz as well as 2.4Ghz. 5 is a less congested space and performs well over a short range, but it’s poor over distances. 2.4 will go further.

Mesh stuff is basically the same and access points can act in a mesh. Just allows you to use multiple ones.

Aside from that, Talk Talk are one of the worst providers in the country, so changing provider may solve a lot of problems, even if it’s just support.

I did this but found even taking my BP at home stressed me out 😂so now take the occasional reading (but carry on with the living healthy stuff obvs.)

Take them regularly and make it a routine thing and not pay much attention to it, just note down the numbers. Need to be around similar times if not taken throughout the day. Alternatively you can get a 24hr monitor. Causes stress but then you get used to it kicking in every now and again and just let it do its job. Averaged out mine was fine.

White coat syndrome and anxiety about BP skew it a lot.

Also, pee first. Full bladder can increase BP readings.

OP – what kind of regular exercise? I’m not particularly high for BP but was top end of normal*, borderline over. Family history of high BP though so been a concern. Since regularly doing MTB it’s dropped a lot and also my resting heart rate is way down. At home it’s in the 40s! Early on riding my heart rate would go crazy and not drop below 90 for hours after.

* – in US, top end of normal would be pre-hypertension and get you onto drugs. In UK it’s just “oh, perfectly normal, go away”. Not that I want the drugs. The riding keeps mine in check, but if I stop riding I have to pay more attention to it and my weight.

There is no such thing as unbiased TV news reporting.

BBC definitely has biases though it’s also up it’s own arse with political correctness and the necessity to provide an equal voice so much that it gives far too much air time to fringe crack pots just to say they’re being balanced. Wastes too much time on debate and discussion too rather than just reporting news events. Same with Sky.

I find it difficult to get actual news about what is going on with TV news channels. So much buried away, deeming atrocities across the world or even at home as of less importance than crap about Brexit or the royal family.

Twitter has a lot of bollocks on it, but for live events it’s more accurate and up to date with breaking events way before BBC or Sky will get onto them. Just ignore anything that is an opinion. And yeah, the news channels take twitter as their news feed but they don’t pick up the news bits, they pick up the opinions as if they’ve invited an “expert” to discuss something. When they do invite the experts they’re just some YouTuber rather than someone with actual expertise.

Mix and match. I use XT and XTR cassettes between a few bikes, but SRAM GX mechs and one bike on an X01 mech. X1/X01 shifters. KMC chains. All 11sp.

All works great for me. 11sp with 11-40/42 is my sweet spot. No need for 12.

Cassettes last ages. I don’t let chain checkers tell me when to bin perfectly good cassettes and chains though.

It’s just a number related to number of times I’ve witnessed the earth going around the sun. I barely acknowledge them most years and don’t see why a round decimal number makes a difference. Each one just reminds me of the onward march towards death.

Chuck in something about existential pointlessness, and there’s my happy thoughts for the day. 😄

But I’ll go on a bike ride, so that keeps me happy.

If there’s an obvious fault with the way it was installed and proven it shouldn’t fail in this time, then his liability. Hard to prove though. If a faulty part then questionable but you’re over the statutory 6 years to claim against a manufacturer so unlikely you’ll get anywhere with that. Otherwise down to your insurance.

Flying to Chambery for Xmas skiing. I expect the passport queue to be 90-120 minutes instead of 60…

Going into France, Italy, Spain, it’s usually been no queue and barely a glance at the passport and waived through.

It’s coming back to UK I find the queues are bad, despite going through the EU channel and picking the e-passport readers. Usually because the whole system has gone tits up, rather than the process involved in checking.

Still though, being required to go through external immigration into EU may change matters.

Got a long way to go before it’s like getting into the US though.

only a couple – whereabout are you then ?

Woking of the Old. Probably more like 3 via roads.

They don’t have European Union written on them anymore though…

I’m expecting the French to spit on these passports.

NME have convered it, in reference to Radiohead’s Paranoid Android.

Stephen Moore, the actor who inspired the title of Radiohead’s ‘Paranoid Android’, has died

Had this twice. Old Pug 206 famous for heater matrix corrosion and pissing out coolant into passenger foot well. Caused foggy windscreen with heater on. Though not specific to rain but often heater would be on in rain when colder. Other in the Civic when the air con pump died. No air con, just moist air, more so in wet weather.

Deadkenny, I read that MS reversed their decision to scrap internal use licenses after negative feedback from partners.

Hope so, and not surprised about negative feedback given so many use it for cheap licences. Popular with contractor businesses like mine. Though I think that’s why they wanted to scrap it as they’re not getting sales out of it as intended and we’re getting cheap software 😁

What’s your source here? All I can find is a date of death on Wikipedia, no news reports or anything?

Twitter sources who apparently know him and being echoed by Who and Hitchikers groups, though true, nothing official.

The wiki date seems wrong unless it’s taken a while to announce.

Anyway, sad if true. Marvin, Kevin’s dad, Adrian Mole’s dad, Silurian in Who, many other appearances.

I’d prefer to be charged at the point of shipping rather than up front and most shops do this, but can see the point with discounts. Should be the price you agreed or cheaper though, but all the online supermarkets reserve the right to substitute and the value of that substitution could be less than what you bought so you’re technically at a loss.

Doubt you’ll find much difference elsewhere though.

Amazon stuff is okay, but their stock is limited, even though it mostly comes from Morrisons and I know they do the stuff in store but not offered online yet I can see the delivery man tracker has come from the store. So I end up having to go in store. Though I mostly just use the local express shops for most of my shop and put up with less selection. It’s the quickest option to get most stuff and least hassle.

I carry one but I seem to lend out tubes and pump to other people.

I have CO2 also but carry pump as it’s pretty good one and fine for a slow puncture that’s in the process of sealing so don’t want to waste CO2. Though I now have boxes of CO2 sitting unused as I don’t use them much (buying in bulk was cheaper :D ). Was using them to seat tubeless but I’ve got the knack of using a track pump now.

Last couple of times I used a tube as a get-me-home with rim damage. One cracked, one with a nail through the rim seat (both carbon. Not using carbon rims again).

Otherwise I’ve managed to fix more dramatic holes with anchovy type things, but rarely get noticeable punctures.

Meanwhile they’ll have signed up your phone number to their insurance sales team who will call you 5 times a day at all hours over the span of a few months around renewal time.

I’ve got a pile of bigger gripes with KrapFit that’s too long to go into, but will never use them again. Funny enough, not having bought their shitty exhausts for over 10 years now, I don’t seem to need a new exhaust every year.

Dynamics 365 is another Microsoft offering.

I would suggest Microsoft Action Pack at £350 a year for a stack load of Windows OS and servers, developer tools, plus cloud benefits inc Azure credits and 365 E3 licences including Exchange (not Salesforce or Dynamics though, unless you sell licences for them). However Microsoft are killing Internal Use Rights licences next year, effectively ending the cheap way to get licences for Windows / MS stuff (though was always for small/micro business and around 5 to 10 seats for most things included). If I read it right, you can’t use it to run your business any more, which was what it was designed for while being a partner product (i.e. you’re supposed to be selling stuff for them). Though you can still use it for R&D which is confusing (can I still keep my Windows licences to develop stuff on, and keep Visual Studio? I guess I lose 365 and Exchange though which is a big hit).

I don’t think Hitler recorded many songs.

Don’t even know where Horsell is.

Couple of miles from my house. Maybury Hill mentioned often in the book just round the corner.

i.e. Woking. Which to be honest currently looks as much a disaster area as described in the book.

Anyway, sadly they filmed this in/around Liverpool.

That area is out of bounds which would be why logs are there. Officially its green, blue, red and fire roads only (or fire rides if you’ve seen the signs 😏).

There’s been increased effort to block off some old classic trails. New England especially with claims of special protection of wildlife there… then they go log it 🤷‍♂️.

As for the training / skills area, keep an eye on Swinley Bike Hub posts of FB. Full details will be announced but it’s not open to the public (CE rules) but can be accessed via membership, skills courses and they’re will also be open sessions. It has to have instructors on site and must be closed out of hours. It’s not pay to ride as CE don’t want a bike park. Aim is for progressive features. Jumps and drops from kerb height upwards to crazy it seems.

Roughly. Things will be made clear soon apparently.

Not work, but gender neutral, or just gender obscure.

Because we bought our EE phones from a 3rd party retailer and as a result EE disable WiFi calling unless you buy direct from them

I’m on EE sim only and have been for years. Got a Nokia 8 via Carphone Warehouse, sim free, no branding and almost raw Android (just couple of tweaks Nokia make). WiFi calling works fine. Was surprised but the option is there in the settings, turned it on and worked.

Have noticed a number of things get configured specific to EE as soon as it picks up EE network including a couple of EE apps auto installed. Nothing bloaty, just their support apps. Don’t know if it’s Nokia that have done this or Google team up with operators to auto install based on the sim.

According to the advert you need Calgon, obviously.

But aside from that snake-oil*, as above, powder. I’ve switched to powder anyway for more eco packaging reasons and a few waterproof items that insist powder only. Working out way cheaper, cleans better and machine and clothes smell better too.

* (detergent does the same job in the right quantity and in soft water areas it’s pretty much pointless. Their claim is Calgon means less detergent required and it’s that stuff that makes it smelly, but doesn’t make that much sense so long as the machine rinses out normally, and many say they tried it and didn’t work)

Center Parcs is over the road, and those places attract crime. Mostly theft and a lot are bikes. Possibly they’ve spotted the bike park and wandered over there. Though break in and try to nick something could understand, but burn the thing down, no.

There are signs saying to remove backpacks from back usually. I do, or at least I pull all the loose straps in front of me and check it’s not catching anything.

Bar down in states is a big no, summer or winter, unless there are kids on the lift who have to follow the rules. Usually an annoyance when a European gets on and lowers the bar. When skiing, I don’t mind if it’s just a bar, but when they have the ski rest it’s an annoyance to get your skis on, especially a crowded lift or boarder next to you, and worse when someone won’t lift their skis off when trying to lift the bar on exit. Easier without the thing.

Europe is more fussy. Got ranted at by lifties for not lowering the bar and some will even stop the lift.

(take the above with some humour. Yeah, I do accept the safety point really😁)

Was wondering about the wood burner. There’s mention of being targeted before though.

Bad anyway whatever happened.

Been using veg oil for roast spuds for years and I eat meat. Parboiling and adding to oiled pre-heated hot pan is key in my opinion. Needs less time to roast and if boiled until slightly flaking they come out nice and crispy.

I can’t wait to change, I’m constantly having to reset the router and performance is really inconsisten

As said, that could be down to the phone line rather than ISP. Had issues like this before fibre, due to long length to the exchange causing a lot of noise on the line which causes the line to be throttled down to lower speeds. Fibre to cabinet came along, problem gone. Whatever ISP I go with using a BT line, it’s the same physical connection.

We can’t have fibre broadband because they won’t dig the private road up

If fibre as in via a phone line, depends where the cabinet is or would be if they install one. If the cabinet goes near to the private road and the existing phone lines come off that, then there’s no need to dig up the road. If it’s Fibre To The Cabinet, as the line between cabinet to house remains the same. Mine is the same cable that’s been there decades and is even an old overhead one.

If “cable” such as Virgin, then that’s different as yes they’ll need to get the cable down the road. Cable networks have their own issues with signal noise. Worse in my experience as cable is typically coax cable used between cabinet and home and shared between neighbours, with all kinds of interference problems. BT phone line is dedicated line per house.

Fibre To The Premises is another option but may need digging up road also. Far less common option though than Fibre To The Cabinet, but like Virgin etc can do away with a phone line and promises very high speeds. More expensive generally and not much different in cost to FTTC and a phone line.

I would never use them again one of the worst but they are just bt in disguise

I’d argue they’re one of the better ones. Virgin and Talk Talk are amongst the worst.

Yes PN are owned by BT now, but there’s still a difference. Any technical support is best done through their forums though. Some good experts on there and they’re happy to chase support issues and push things through.

The only issues I’ve really had have been down to the BT line. That’s independent of PN or even BT as ISP. PN were pretty good at chasing BT Openreach to sort problems out. A lot of times people moan about their ISP with router dropping connection, but it’s not the ISP itself but the phone line. Switch provider and you could still have the same problem.

Anyway, My broadband is £20.99 for PlusNet Unlimited Fibre and get 76Mbps down, 20Mbps up (pretty much spot on that, not just what they advertised. Though the cabinet is not far down the road).

Line rental on top though, and do think that’s a bit steep for what it is, £18.99.

Other thing with PN is they charge based on BT wholesale prices which are dependent on where you live. I get a lower rate due to large population and good infrastructure. A remote place that’s undersubscribed may get charged more. If you went actual BT you just get charged top whack.

As for not getting what new customers get, that’s the same with most companies and not just in telecoms. Insurance etc. Their argument is those are discounted rates to encourage new customers, and can’t afford to give the discount to everyone. But you have the right to shop around. I would, but ISPs vary a lot. It’s not like switching energy providers, there are actual changes to the service, router settings, mail, and the routing through the network can change which can screw everything up. I stick with what works generally.

Been there with a hub like that. Turned out to be a generic Formula based hub. Answer was no.

Got new wheels. Frame was QR rear but could get DT Thru Bolt with a 10mm hub, which may or may not be stronger/stiffer than a skewer but looked nice and I prefer DT levers.

Soak it in a bit of Plus Gas or penetrating fluid. WD-40 may even be enough. Good amount of leverage with decent quality allen key that’s less likely to round it.

Seem to have half the population of sparrows in my garden. Don’t mind a few less if it reduces the noise at feeding time crack of dawn and early evening. One of the neighbours cats sits in the bush many of them seem to live in and saw it catch one other week. Spent ages playing with its dinner, throwing it in the air, catching it and jumping about. Only remains was a head. Nice looking cat, very curious, friendly.