That failing your cycling proficiency test* won’t stop you riding bikes for another five decades and counting…

* yes I really did, but maintain to to this day that the observer was talking to her friend when she didn’t see me looking over my shoulder when moving off.

Or 5) the hire car is significantly more expensive to run, because he could be out several hundred quid.

slightly off topic, but in the mid 90’s I was at a campsite near the Kyle of Lochalsh where I met an Australian couple who had arrived at Heathrow to find that the small automatic saloon they had booked wasn’t available. After a bit of arguing the manager lent them his car at the same hire rate, a V8 Range Rover as it was the only auto on site. They were delighted with the upgrade until they filled it up the first time and realised how expensive uk fuel was compared with at home. They reckoned that it was going to triple their fuel cost for their extensive uk road trip.

The Shuttleworth airshows have a different format this year, fewer weekends but some set over two days. Might be worth checking out if that suits your plans. I have always found the evening shows to be the best if you want to see the really old aircraft flying

interesting design for a pilot cutter,

I don’t think she was ever a Pilot cutter, she was built as a ‘relaxed cruising yacht and deep sea fishing vessel’

That’s fantastic

That doesn’t mean all HR are perfect, some may still screw up

This. Just because they have used a process to determine which person is in line for redundancy in the past doesn’t mean that it’s the right one and can be challenged

I have a 12 mini

It is a good size for me and has an excellent camera. My sister in law bought a refurbished 12 mini from Apple and she is delighted with it

Our last retriever before Luca was called Rosie. Did cause a modicum of amusement to those with young children considering my name

also in the early naughties calling Rosie out loudly in busy areas usually had one or two young girls look up at the same time

+1 for a visit to Macau. I went on a day trip on the hydrofoil service which was very interesting in itself. A fascinating contrast to Hong Kong as stated above, or at least it was when I went a couple of decades ago

Good luck. Hope she settles in soon. At least it’s a nice day for being outside with her

Looks like Luca stayed white

yes, whilst he has become subtly darker-champagne?-he is still pale. Well, at least he is until he gets muddy.Two tone would then best describe him

She looks lovely if a bit bold already!

Luca was  the spitting image of her at that age, he says hi from the Malverns

Would post an image but the icon has disappeared

Whats this incorrect jump starting? How do you do that? (or more accurately not do it)

On modern cars, don’t connect the black negative lead on either vehicle to the battery, connect to a good earth instead.There is usually a metal post or strip by the terminal for this purpose. Otherwise sensitive electronics can be damaged.

Mick_r got me thinking about Nuthatches. I have not used wood stain much in my work but thought it might make a useful subject for an experiment. It has mostly come out as I wanted but I realised after the event with a bit of research maple isn’t necessarily the best timber to take up the dye evenly especially if there is a joint in the block.

other timbers used are Cherry for the body, Walnut for the eye band and beak and Yew for the base

I watched the Dyfi ospreys every day last year, a great way to start the day to have a quick catch up. The second bird arrived yesterday.

Also the Worcester Cathedral Peregrines, although their live feed seems down at the moment. She is sitting on eggs already

Melamine sheet?

Like the artwork. My brother had a red Mk2, Mk5 and currently has a Mk7.5 Gti. He let the side down with his Silver Mk6

And yes we are a VAG family. Dad had a 1500 Beetle, a 412 Variant, a Watercooled Type 2 camper and currently has a Touran. Mum had three generations of Polo

The original GTI was clearly quite special but again not unique

I had a 1984 1800. It was lovely apart from the disconcertingly inconsistent brake feel which was caused by the movement of the pedal being transferred across the bulkhead by a horizontal rod to the master cylinder/servo, which would twist if you really stamped on the pedal. And it had drum brakes on the rear

Another varifocals user, took to them with no problems but I have been wearing glasses all the time since I was five. I think people who are new to wearing them permanently find it takes longer to adjust to them. My recommendation is to go for the best quality lenses that you feel you can afford, it does make a difference with varifocals in my experience and to stick with them if you find them strange to start with

Riding with them was not an issue as most of the time you are using the distance portion anyway and the real bonus is that you can focus close when you get a mechanical or need to read a map or your phone

Puffin in Walnut, maple and sapele, the base is cherry

I am happy with the form but the surface finish not quite as hoped

I was lucky enough to go to Sequoia National Park in the mid 90’s and saw some of the really big old redwoods. They are all above about 4000ft elevation. It is difficult to comprehend just how big they are until you get close to them because in a stand of the large trees there are no ‘normal’ height ones to give a sense of scale. The bark alone is a few feet thick apparently

For reference there is now apparently no piece of wood or rope in the HMS victory that was in the original.

Not according to the Navy museum website. About 20% of her structure is from launch, more from 1805. She was extensively modified before Trafalgar

Litespeed Kitsuma ( I may be a bit biased, but my 2001 model is  the best hard tail I’ve owned and I still have it)

I didn’t get on with my Ragley Ti at all, preferred the On One 456 that I had.

I did jury service a while ago. As outlined above take something to read or a puzzle book. The first morning was a brief training/ admin session followed by jury selection. I did one afternoon and a whole day on one case and was then selected on the third morning for another case but just as we were due to be sworn in the defendant pleaded guilty and so was sent home and wasn’t called again
There were quite a few potential jurors who were self-employed who were very upset about their inclusion and as mentioned above the expenses don’t cover everything.
I found it fascinating and disturbing in equal measure. The one case I sat on was for GBH. I would not rush to do it again.

Whatever you do don’t think it will be a doddle and take a couple of hours at most or you might end up under the car on ramps in the dark and rain soaked to the skin, cold and with no skin on your knuckles and it STILL in two pieces…

it was 35 years ago but it still sends shivers through me

For non-SUV vehicles it’s the weight and gearing.

For instance a manual Mk 7 Golf Gti (2WD) weighs 100kg less than the equivalent manualGolf Mk7 R  (Haldex 4WD)and has significantly higher gearing than the R. The Gti can average 45 mpg driven gently, the R 38 mpg driven in the same way. There are of course many other factors but those are real world figures from my family’s vehicles

I think my 92 year old father uses Saga. As above, the insurance premium for his annual two week trip to Italy to visit my sister is substantially more than the airfare and he chooses to fly premium (club class?) as it makes it easier for him

Mick_r

I have made a couple  pieces on commission, but so far only to people whom I know locally. The trouble is that each piece takes me between 30 and 40 hours, so they are not inexpensive if you consider that  at the minimum wage plus materials….. Many people consider that too much for something that is quite small.

The bike bag looks great- presumably fairly water-resistant?

Thanks @thenorthwind

Yes the blocks are made up from individual pieces. The one for the plover has 14 individual components and took me six hours or so to make before I started shaping. The legs are fabricated from bronze wire and again there are four parts to each side

the beak is laminated from maple veneer and added later

The one for the bullfinch

A ringed plover in a variety of timbers with bronze legs and feet.

Seals in the master cylinder?

this happened to me on my Alfa 105 Junior, luckily at very low speed. I had just left my aunt’s house and drove to the T-junction at the end of her road. Foot straight to the floor. Anxious pumping and application of the handbrake stopped me in time. And even though the car was built in the 70’s it did have dual circuit brakes. Dirt had got behind the seals and scored the bore of the master cylinder, a common problem with the car I found out after the event.

It’s not just SUV’s that it applies to, any PHEV over 1600 kg and any BEV over 2000kg is also going to be charged. I would guess that would cover quite a large proportion of the saloon/ hatch vehicles available in those categories.

It’s on Safari as well

I forgot last time, and then managed to take the old one to the garage when borrowing a car whilst mine was being serviced. Embarrassing and involved a three hour wander around town while the work was done- they were good about doing it straight away.

I had suggested that they could use the online check to see that I did have a current license but no..

My 1989 vauxhall nova did almost 40mpg, and whilst it was a much smaller car, it seems a bit of a backwards step to have a car with almost the same fuel economy 

on the other hand you could argue that a petrol estate car that is probably nearly twice as heavy and with much better space, comfort and safety features yet is quicker and has similar economy is a real advance.

but to actually answer your question, I would have no worries buying a diesel if used on longer runs provided it was Euro 6 compliant. They use less fuel but can cost more to service in the long run in some cases. Diesel is more expensive per litre and there is adblue costs as well but probably still cheaper per mile on fuel

Would suggest you request a copy of all of your medical records from your GP practice, they can make interesting reading.

I spend quite a bit of time reconciling NHS patient paper records to their electronic record for a GP surgery. It is currently part of the GP contract that this continues. It is surprising how many electronic records even post 2005 when consultations went electronic in most surgeries are incomplete.
When patients move from surgery to surgery sometimes the GP to GP record doesn’t transfer, especially if it is between Wales and England or Scotland and England as there is some element of lack of interoperability of their systems, but can be from those just down the road.
If this happens then a new electronic record has to be manually constructed, usually from the paper records that exist  or are printed/ emailed from their previous surgery and they are  only as good as the person imputing the data and what protocols their surgery follow.
tldr: don’t expect your record to be as complete as you might expect, and it’s not usually the current surgeries fault

I appreciate the effort mentioned by nickc, I guess the issue that all films have is trying to get a visually cohesive image on screen showing the scale of the formation and the number of attacking aircraft into a small space which renders the action more exciting/ visceral to the viewer which leads to tweaks that I can appreciate relatively few people are worried about.
And as has been mentioned in historic aircraft forums, the trailer cgi may not be representative of the whole film.