ID4 Company car here. 77kWh Battery, Style Edition with decent spec. It’s a pleasant enough place to waft about in, the range is decent in summer but drops of a lot in the cold (first EV, so I can’t say how pronounced that is on other cars.) As others have said, the infotainment is ergonomically garbage. I cannot believe a company with the resources of VW signed it off. Apparently newer versions have a somewhat improved version, but it does appear the quest for a button free, minimalist interior meant throwing any kind of acceptable UX out of the window (not the rear windows though, that requires two separate button presses, unlike all other cars made, ever.)

Mine has the tow bar so the bike goes on the back.

All that said, I’ve not at any point pined after the PHEV Passat it replaced, and I expect I’ll most likely have another when the time comes.

They do look value as a used car, TBF.

Not me, but a lady I used to work with worked in posh Cotwolds hotels for many years and therefore had numerous celeb related anecdotes. My favourite was from when she was waiting silver service for a big media do in the late eighties. She was clearing plates between courses, when she inadvertently tipped a significant portion of dauphinoise potatoes into the open handbag of a smartly dressed lady as she chatted with colleagues. The head waiter saw this and shot her a devil glance to indicate she should say absolutely nothing.

I often wonder what Sue Lawley quite made of the cold vomit-y contents of her bag later that evening, but in the unlikely event she is on STW, Karen says she is truly sorry.

Music.

How can soundwaves, in a series of varying frequencies simultaneously affect the brain chemistry of thousands of individuals in a stadium to joy and rapture? The same frequencies, arranged in a slightly different order can pass unnoticed in a lift.

Properly mad, that.

Did you jot down their licence plate to check if they had  licences and insurance? Were they wearing hi-vis?

Sounds like you left the pub way too early if they lycra-clad giffers were still out.

Hmmm, brings to mind those cause of death records from the 1600’s.

Sore toothe ….17

**Goes and flosses**

Or….

BX Baracus

Michelle Visa(ge)

One for the obscure Citroen fans,

LNA Bonham-Carter

I’ve ditched the full wallet, but my phone has a Magsafe Quadlock case with a magnetic slim wallet that carries my debit card, driving licence and Tesco Clubcard.

99% for the time I use Apple Pay, but I’m also covered for buying stuff, photo ID and cheaper sandwiches.

Something like this…. Amazon

Interesting. Our eldest has just started in year 7 and his school specifically bans Air Force 1’s, citing affordability. It is an academy that caters for pretty wide range socio-economic areas, so I do kind of get this. They are super-strict regarding uniforms generally, with debits for untucked shirts and missing blazers. I do wonder about the point of uniforms in 2024, but if you’re going to have them they probably should be enforced.

Anyway, apologies for the digression.

except the statement was from the head of the uk armed forces.

Call me cynical, but I suspect there is a degree of Politics at play here. It’s the kind of statement that is guaranteed to provoke this kind of conversation among the general populace and feed a headline or two.

Public awareness about what would actually be needed in terms actually fighting a real war is pretty low, and therefore raising defence spending as a voters priority is most likely the aim here.

Home Guard for the likes of us. Wooden rifles at the ready! 🙂

They’ll most likely need them for our frontline troops.

I’m sure the minute war is declared Michelle Mone will set up a brand new company to supply the Army with body armour made from shower curtains.

My old, stolen-dented-recovered On One Ti456, repurposed as my wife’s commuter/gravel cruiser. Mostly garage bits and bobs, running on 650b wheels and 45c tyres. She is currently pondering whether to try some drop bars on it, to she how she gets on before splurging on a proper gravel bike.

Autumn!

What’s an AMA!?

Ask me anything.

I was waiting a at the click and collect desk of a large toy store chain yesterday and saw a customer just wave her phone at at the young staff member, presumably with her order details. She then picked up her order and wafted off without a word, never mind a smile or a thank you. If human ignorance was a person, I had just met them.

Mind you, I started my working life in retail 25 years ago and was routinely shouted at, threatened, and spoken down to, so I’m not sure much has changed.

Guess it wasn’t pop art then.

Why on earth wouldn’t you be clipped in going down something rough? That’s a scenario when you definitely do want to be clipped in to stop your foot moving.

Well in theory, I suppose you wouldn’t, but I’ve been riding SPuDs for thirty years and I still find myself struggling on occasion to re-clip after stopping on a techie section. A complete beginner would find this as well I would imagine.
Riding Godz, YMMV

But he is a teenager and very likely to be cleverer than you on tech!

Not clever enough to delete his search history.

I’m not sure there’s a conflict-free way of dealing with this, but if you physically restrict his data access, sitting him down in a calmer moment to explain why it’s happening gives you something to calmly refer to when he’s mardy later on. It might also help you keep your cool when things escalate, easier said than done if you’re anything like me.

We’ve all this to come, as our eleven year old is already demonstrating a bit of sneakiness and extreme huffs when trying to limit his screen time. That’s with loads of parental restrictions on his phone already.

As a flicker of hope, I have a colleague who had a right old time with his lad at GCSE age that culminated with explosive rows and re-plastering when walls were punched. He’s now a lovely lad who’s great mates with his dad, suggesting however grim it gets, it’s temporary.

Good luck.

Red Squirrels and Pine Martens, that’s just showing off. Lucky sod ;)

Thanks for the replies so far. I’d seen the Gear4Music bundles so it’s interesting they were mentioned. Obviously going full size will give more choice but he will need to be able to carry it on his back for a mile to school. Clearly I know zip on the subject, but I don’t want the clueless Dad that buys the equivalent of the ‘bike to grow into,’ putting him off for life.

What tools do you need to get the original one off?

Not the bloody one I had in my toolbox ;)

They have slightly wider (I think) splines than the HG tool, I had to do some googling but there are plenty on Ebay.

Welcome to the club. It’s a proper little mountain bike, Youngest has had his for about a year and has ridden Cannock, Thetford, Sherwood Pines, The New Forest and the Netherlands. The plus tyres make an enormous difference to his confidence. I have added a Mega-range freewheel and some cheap Clarks hydraulics as sharp climbs made him really angry, demanding immediate Haribo’s before he would attempt them.

I can only tell you about the Ti version, but Mrs LJ is currently clocking up the miles on her parts bin commuter with 650b x 47’s. Plenty of clearance for gravelly tyres, I tried a 2.1 Racing Ralph on the back and it just fitted with 20 psi and a fag paper to spare. The fork is an Identiti 29er and she rides with a 50mm stem and a stack of spacers to get enough height on the front. Goes well enough.

When first explored, it was discovered that the swimming pool on the Titanic was still full of water.

Google is now 25 years old…

Leonardo Di Caprio has announced he’s switching to Bing.

As seen on Twitter yesterday :)

However they resolve it, I can’t see it’ll be a happy ending. Seems to be a real buzz about the story though.

These threads come up every couple of months and each time it is very hard to look past Vitus for the money. Which one, depends on how it is likely to be used. If it’s for ‘playing out’ and flatish cycle paths etc. then the V brake bike will be spot on. If he’s likely to be getting into mountain biking a bit then 24+ with discs will be a lot more fun. My youngest has the 20 inch and doesn’t have great grip strength so the discs make a huge difference to his confidence. The plus tyres are a great lightweight alternative to a coil fork.

I’m fairly sure all the dolphins would leave.

For god’s sake, get to the Doctor’s.

Not me, but years ago I went on a blind date with a woman who explained she was currently in temporary accommodation supplied by her insurers. Turns out she had made a fish casserole and left the pan to soak in the sink while she got ready to go out, only she’d left the tap on before leaving. She came back from her night out to find she’d not only flooded her flat, but also the one below, causing the neighbour’s ceiling to partially collapse.

That was actually one of the milder red flags from that date.

Surprised Taken hasn’t been mentioned yet for pop-culture impact. Loads of imitations since (many with Liam Neeson, now I come to think of it)

What about the ‘J’ in Homer J. Simpson?

It’s Jay.

Since this thread is already owl-heavy, I only recently discovered that the “twit” and the “terwoo” are two different owls engaged in a love ballad*.

*This could just as likely be the equivalent of “Alright darlin” – “Clear off, loser”, I don’t know, I don’t speak owl.

Working today.

We’re mid way through a kitchen renovation and there’s space in the second skip, so tomorrow I will be clearing out the shed and loft. Expecting it to be pretty cathartic and I’m actually looking forward to it.
I’ll probably reward myself with an hour on the gravel bike before tea.

We’re heading off for our 1st family camping holiday in a couple of weeks. What could  possibly go wrong? This thread is giving me anxiety lol

In fairness you’re only hearing the horror stories. As long as you remember it’s not actually a holiday for you, you’ll not be disappointed. ;)

My folks arranged a large family holiday to Spain for their Ruby wedding. Mrs LJ was heavily pregnant (last month of being able to fly) but had been checked out by the midwife and had her fit to fly letter to hand. The Stasi operative on the boarding gate decided that due to the letter not being dated, we weren’t going anywhere. Cue tears from stressed wife and 4yo son while I negotiated through the most gritted of teeth. In the end the pilot intervened and we were allowed on to find someone in the seats we had pre booked and kicked off at being asked to move.

We arrived in Malaga at 10pm and went to collect the hire car from the baking hot basement to be met by a member of the hire staff having a fist fight with a customer.

We finally picked up the the car to discover that despite there only being two bits of minor damage on the collection form, the actual car looked like Father Ted’s competition prize.

The following week was spent trying to contact the midwife to get a new letter, slightly worried that if Mrs LJ was denied return boarding, Jr. would be entitled to a Spanish passport. Add to that her horrible back ache and reflux while trying to look like we were all having fun for my dear Mum and Dad.

It was a while before we flew again.

Doesn’t sound crazy. Not tried it myself, but it looks like you have most of the bits to make it a fairly low cost experiment. Try it and let us know how you get on.

Format seems weird on an iPhone, but here goes….

I think you need to carefully transfer it to a sealable container and somehow get it over to @sharkattack

I believe he may have a use for it.

Another vote for the Vitus 20+. Here’s my 6yo living his best life on it.

He’s now riding easy blue trails with his big brother and the fat tyres do a way better job than a cheap suspension fork at his weight. I upgraded the freewheel to a Mega-range one off eBay and the Clarkes Clout hydro brakes were dead cheap in the sales, but both these are only really necessary if venturing onto proper trails.