A CTEK battery charger / reconditioner is what you need.
We have a 1992 Merc, a 2007 Alfa and a more modern Jag in the house and the CTEK is used once or twice a year to recondition their batteries.
Plug in and leave, it takes 5-6 hours and is brilliant. I know others use them hooked-up on Trickle charge mode

See https://www.ctek.com/uk/battery-chargers-12v-24v/car-charger

Widely available (even Halfords).

Mains water pressure varies due to demand and the pressure management valves on the network

Agreed – we’re conscious of that in our area. We thought that was more likely to be a factor than the type of tap TBH

Thanks for the feedback all. Really appreciated.

Thanks Ross – it is a more contemporary free-standing bath, ‘flush to the wall and no space underneath’ so hopefully okay for watery misery.
Just a quandary over water pressure from wall mounted tap vs tap-stand really.

Thanks B that’s helpful.

Further info:
– the bathroom is a reasonable size (but not massive)
– we have a separate shower cubicle so the bath is for more occasional use

We are inclined to avoid the freestanding tap/shower contraption and move towards the more conventional wall-mounted taps. Have you come across comments re lack of pressure? I would assume it would be no worse than a freestanding tap tbh

Agreed Michelin Cross Climate. We’ve fitted to wife’s, son’s and daughter’s cars.
Kind of perfect for typical GB winters.

I have got a brand new combine harvester and I am prepared to give you the key.

Postman, binmen and milkman all get a tip at Christmas. This year we’ve added the Hermes guy as he’s always great and as others have said he’s had an extraordinary year.
We’re in Worcestershire but we are from the northeast, so not sure about the territory behaviour.

Thanks all. I’m giving a mains-powered Draper 180w one a go.

Forty quid which is about as much as I wanted to spend really.

…a key problem has been that Ofgem have encouraged a massive growth in new suppliers with very little diligence in their credibility. All to encourage “the market”.
Many selling power and gas at unsustainable prices with little to no headroom and poor hedging strategies. Several of these cheap suppliers have also failed to hand over the Renewable fees that they have collected to Ofgem which has led to them being wound up … and guess what, the uncollected Renewable fees are then “mutualised” across all other suppliers. A double whammy for the well-run businesses.

What are people’s experience with the whole energy suppliers going bust and switching to the Big 7 thing?”

And as an important note, it’s now the Big-5 as Eon have taken over npower as part of a much more elaborate asset swap across Europe.

My kids are all older now but for many many years I did most (95%) of my riding in the hours of darkness, after the kids were in bed.
Just 1-2hrs but 2/3 times per week. It meant I had the palest of legs and only saw my trails through a tunnel of (Troute) Lights.

Yup. You couldn’t make it up.

Awesome ride – a monumental effort to dominate with a >60s win. Perfect.

I note they describe FW as Scotland

Yeah. Just checked for you, Fort William is still definitely in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Apologies for reopening this one…

We have use of a motor home for a few days next week (Monday 30th Aug to Wednesday 1st).
Hoping to get to the coast for a few chilled days – me the missus and two girls (20 & 16).

Had been considering Shell Island but I gather from comments on here that experiences can be a bit of a lottery if the reprobates are out in force.

Would welcome other thoughts or recommendations please for suitable campervan site?

**Camper is 7.0m long x 2.3m wide so conscious of accessibility

Good luck Caher

But my top tip is to get an independent inspection. It costs a tiny proportion of the total outlay

I totally agree Reeksy. I had a close call last year when looking at a couple of XJRs. I paid for an RAC inspection (about £350 iirc) on the black one … received a call from the guy before he submitted his full report. “Very nice car. You are aware of the three replacement panels? And a poorly sealed door skin?” He’d detected the issues when measuring paint depth. I honestly would have taken it for a twenty minute blast and been desperate to hand over my cash and get home. So worth the reassurance of a professional check.

Obviously had to repeat the exercise with car #2 (in Racing Green). Positive outcome and the verbal report from the engineer was “Nicest car I’ve tested this year, possibly ever”

Yes I get that totally espresso…excruciating time to be buying. But essential to get a ‘starter car’ for daughter heading back to Uni. Just kind of resigned that we’ll have to pay the asking price.

Looking to buy a used car for my daughter over the next few days from Inchcape. Are we all still sucking it up and paying ticket price at dealers?

WCA, it even looks like there’s a carbon weave in the door card? Perhaps again they’ve avoided the entire process to save a few grams

Midge repellent for while you’re near Kielder water

New vinyl turned up in the last couple of weeks mixed in with my usual iTunes randoms …
• Dexys Midnight Runners: Searching for the Young Soul Rebels
• Amy Winehouse at the BBC
• Soul to Soul: Club Classics Vol. One
• Paul Weller: Fat Pop
• Paul Weller: Midsommer Musik

Slight tangent, but what do you folks do with dead Carbon components?

… I recently had to dispose of a cracked carbon bar.

Nothing like a Jaguar Rickon, I’ve had four.
Just remember they are schizophrenic, absolutely sublime, calm and comfortable most of the time but can be (brutally) quick when you want them to be.

There’s a bunch of cars that satisfy your criteria.
My 4.4sec 175mph mile muncher cost much less (do you need to buy new?). I have owned the ex-Harry’s Garage XJR since last autumn. Stunning in every way … now just plain BRG – no Orange lipstick in sight!

Oh, and such is the engineering excellence in the Jaguar, on the motorway I easily return 38mpg, last time fully laden with five adults and gears in a 300 mile run to Northumberland. Not bad for a 5 litre supercharged V8. It’s barely ticking-over at 70mph

The Nicky Grist Stages should be running on 10th July (see link to further details below).

Great event in an interesting split format which may help your lad acclimatise to the noise/speed…all of the 1400s etc start in the first batch in reverse seeding order and the best 1400 drivers are a sight to behold! Then after a 5/10 minute break the main field comes through in normal seeded order.

Great event around Builth so probably taking in Crychan, Halfway etc – but check closer to the event for spectator permits etc

http://www.nickygriststages.co.uk/nicky-grist-stages-on-course-to-host-forest-rallyings-return-to-wales-on-saturday-10-july/

bmp

Edit: have now read the full thread, I hadn’t appreciated that you’ve had this going on for twelve months.

Great to read that your lad has ‘evolved’

It’s a tricky one for me. But this is the critical bit now :

the high strength super skunks raise your risk factors for psychosis etc, particularly in the vulnerable (young).

Time for open, honest discussion about weed

So from experience it becomes like Russian Roulette…
•Friend#1 hung him self (30yrs ago) when just 20, due to episodes of paranoia. At that point in time I hadn’t linked the mental health issues with his cannabis use.
•Friend#2 teenage son ended up sectioned and not permitted to have contact with family due to risk to them and/or himself. He has improved now but is permanently medicated as a result.
•ex-Boss’s 21yr old son was undergoing treatment for paranoia but local services were unable to find a safe bed for him overnight (he was in his Uni town). He jumped from Clifton Suspension Bridge.

That’s too many people “lost to cannabis” in my relatively small circle of friends.

@elshalimo

That looks less like “a prang” and much more like ‘someone’ has driven the car for miles while the flailing tyre has destroyed itself and ripped a chunk of bodywork off.

**many years of rallying experience says this is tyre damage not a crash as such

East side of Jubilee Hill apparently.

My missus runs around in an all black 2007 Alfa 147 Collezione which is quite canny.
I am the proud owner of the ex Harry’s Garage Jaguar XJR in British Racing Green …all over now (thankfully we’ve lost the Orange ‘lipstick’ and wing mirrors).

Love it (don’t care much if you don’t):

Any local independent delis available?

Our local French deli (in Worcestershire) sell lovely salami and chorizo.

Thanks both.

Mild garage envy there footflaps!

Yes. A superb driver. And such a gent.
RIP Hannu

Oh, and four of the six bikes would probably benefit from and anchor for security.

Yeah I’ve had the clear out. Just leaving me with various tread pattern MTB tyres all with decent tread depending on season plus 3-4 road tyres. A couple of which are spanking new.

Thanks all. I used to hang them off the end of an old plank. Hoping to have something a tad more elegant.

Still ride my 26” Cannondale Flash here (it’s much faster and more capable than I am nowadays) plus my ‘spare’ Scott Scale if I fancy a change but my 16yr old daughter has kind-of first dabs on the Scale.

Oh, and a bunch of spare wheels and tyres in the garage just in case.

You can’t really bring XR3i and XR2s in to a thread about mkII rally cars though. Can you? Really?
And an XR2 over a 205gti, where is the ban-hammer when you need it?