Forgot to mention, the leak started just after I changed the oil, so did wonder if the chemical composition of the new oil could be to blame hence the interest in adding the additive.

I’ll probably replace with a newer estate when the secondhand market calms down so likely only going to keep another 6months.

It’s an XF,sorry meant crankshaft seal not camshaft. Garage reckoned £350 to replace it.

Had a restricted performance light on my car yesterday – ordered a £15 OBD reader off Amazon which came up with a fault on one of the mass airflow sensors. £40 for a new one from eurocarparts and 10 minutes to fit and all working fine now. So I’d say it’s worth a punt to get a reader if you haven’t got one.

I always thought there must be more to quilts than was immediately obvious but the best reviewed ones seem to just be a sleeping bag style foot box and no zip sleeping “bag” and I can’t see what I’d gain going from an unzipped bag to a specific quilt of similar quality?

I think the idea is that the underside of a sleeping bag will be compressed by your body weight and the down won’t have any significant insulation value, so effectively you save weight and pack size by removing it. Personally I don’t like the constricted feeling of a sleeping bag and as a warm sleeper it’s easier to regulate your temperature with a quilt.

Thanks @timizere, looks like I can get the 20F/-6c version for £15 more which has an extra 200g down and a slightly bigger pack size – do you reckon it’s worth the extra weight/size, I’ll probably be using it more in the warmer months, but do fancy a trip before the winter properly sets in.

Yeah, I’m a hot sleeper. I did look at the alpkit down one which I think would be good for summer, but probably a bit cold now.

I guess I could unzip a regular sleeping bag, but I assume there must be some advantages of a dedicated quilt?

Just looked at the big Agnes bags but I don’t like the idea of being constricted.

And, of course, it’s little consolation that infection on its own offers better protection than vaccination alone if the result is a poor health outcome of some kind, short or long term.

True, and I’d rather my daughter had acquired her immunity via a vaccine rather than infection, but it’s happened now and in my mind it tips the balance towards not getting the jab given she will have good immunity. Also tipping the risk/benefit ratio is the 56% increase in severe vaccine reactions in those with previous infections. In my daughters case she had a mild illness but did have a very severe headache for 12 hours after she got better and I did wonder if it could be a blood clot caused by the immune response – I’d be a bit nervous about a vaccine potentially triggering that again.

No, vaccination gives much longer lasting protection.

Seems that might not be the case with the delta variant…

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.24.21262415v1

https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n2101

My daughter had covid 2 months ago and I must admit I’m wavering on getting her jabbed.

The risk/benefit ratio of vaccination is quite different for kids. On balance I would have wanted her to have it if she hadn’t of caught covid, but I’m assuming her recent infection has given her similar levels of protection as the vaccine so I’m now not sure if it is worth the admittedly small but somewhat unknown risk of vaccination. Anyone else having similar thoughts?

Thanks for the feedback – I’ve got some 30c Vittortia corsa controls arriving tomorrow, will be interesting to see how much faster they are vs. the nanos.

Mmm, I’m tempted to sling some road tyres on and give it a go. I was just about to set the nanos up tubeless but I guess better to stick to tubes if I’m going to be swapping tyres.

What would be the STW recommendation for a fast road tyre available in 30/32c? (i23 rims min thickness)

Finished King Alfred’s Way route last Wednesday, 220 miles, 15,500ft of climbing, 5 days biking and 4 nights camping. Happy to provide any info or answer any questions (if I can) for anyone that is think of doing the trail.

MTB or gravel bike? I did 30miles on the ridgeway on my new gravel bike the other day – couldn’t help thinking I’d be more comfortable on my MTB, but maybe I just need to get used to it.

@mudmuncher

I’ve just checked, it’s a 2 not a 1. Probably why its bigger than mine. Has a zip either side. You would have to be very friendly to sleep and pretty small.

https://www.vango.co.uk/gb/camping-equipment/741-f10-helium-ul-2.html

Its available at millets/blacks for £270 with £50 off at the moment.

His weighs less than 1.2kg with ti pegs and no stuff sack. Goes straight into his wet side of his dual sided bar bag.

Thanks, the 2 man does look a much better option for not much weight gain. Actually blacks have a £50 discount code, so £220. Didn’t want to spend loads incase I decide bike packing isn’t for me or if I think pubs and B&Bs are the way forward.

I went a bit mad and bought the Vango Project Hydrogen
Costs £££ but weighs 700g !!

They are incredibly light. Looks like the material is super thin, so I guess you’ll have to be careful not to rip it. Wiggle have them for £432 with the discount code which is a fair chunk lower than everyone else.

My friend I go bike camping with has the vango helium and I always look at it and think I should have bought that one!

I’m 6ft3 and the design of it is great for tall people as the ends have mini poles that are about a foot tall that keeps the tent off your feet and so keeps your sleeping bag dry.

Its the same footprint as mine but seems so much bigger with more use able space than mine.

I think it you change the pegs and ditch the storage bag it’s 1.1kg or 1.2k from memory.

I don’t suppose you know whether it would take the wider 64cm sleeping mats? I can see the inner is 95cm at the widest point, but looks like it narrows at either end.

packing down to the size of a bottle of wine

Looks bigger to me🤣 though probably the same weight.

I did pop down to my local decathlon today to check out that forclaz tent, but they have got rid of most of their tent display due to covid, so couldn’t see it – looks a bit narrow on the inner fly sheet though.

Not seen the cloud up before, looks good, but more muted colours might be better for wild camping. Did consider the alpkit aeronaut was just a bit concerned about the risk of punctures and it’s no lighter than the soloist. That Ordos looks good too👍

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/gt-grade-carbon-elite-gravel-bike-2021

Think you’ll struggle to get better value than this.

I’ve looked at various pictures from the manufacturer, test bikes etc., and they all have 3 small spacers and one larger one, looks to total about 40mm so I’m wondering if they are precut by the bike manufacturer.

I’d be happy with 40mm above and below – that would be more than enough. I’d assumed they come from the manufacturer already cut with a number of spacers, what I don’t want is for wiggle to trim off another 20-30mm and whizz the spacers in the bin.

That’s what I’d like to do eventually. I know a drummer who lives in my street who’s been badgering me to play with him. The trouble is I know he’s very good and I’m a total amateur. It won’t be much fun for him when he hears my slow motion noodling.

I’ve never played outside my own living room yet. Any tips for jamming with a drummer for the first time?

The key thing to remember is the bass is a rhythmical instrument, you can kind of think of it as drums with pitch, so you should focus on locking in with him and getting a good groove going.

You won’t impress a drummer flying up and down the neck with hundreds of notes, much better to play a simple repetitive groove that is really locked in. Trust me, if you nail that you can play the simplest repetitive line for hours on end and neither of you will get bored.

If you want to practice just type drum backing track with the bpm you want in YouTube, there are loads available.

But how do I teach my fingers what my head seems to know…….

That will come with time.

I took the bass up in later life around 5 years ago. I started out using tabs and was learning and memorising songs in a mechanical way. Ie learning what frets/strings to press, consequently I really struggled to hold more than a few songs in my head at anytime. Over the years my brain has gradually adapted so I’m learning the actual bass line in my head and I’m getting to the point where I don’t have to think so much about what fret/string to play, it just kind of happens subconsciously. I still do need to initially learn what frets to play but this is made much easier by hearing the music in my head and sometimes I’ll be playing a song and realise I’m playing the bass line on a completely different string/position on the neck than what I have learnt because I’m recalling the bass line rather than what frets to press.

The biggest tip I can give if you want to get better is to join a band and start playing with other people. I had a couple of years of slow progress playing alone at home, but my skills went up another level within a few months of joining a band.

Some pretty wise words on music theory from bass legend Victor Wooten that’s worth a listen

Jump to 3m30 onwards…

For online lessons, take a look at Jim Stinnet’s ‘real bass lessons’

He sadly passed away earlier in the year, but has a wealth of free lessons online. He was a professor of music at Berklee and taught YouTube virtuoso Charles Bertroud.

Always smiling and a real passion for the bass. Rip Jim.

Unless I’m misreading this, this is an astounding success.

I’m all for vaccines, but it nowhere near as impressive as it sounds when you think about the details.

The vast majority of those 51k deaths would have occurred in January or February when there were very low numbers that were double jabbed and had the time to build immunity, so you can’t really draw too many conclusions.

“ I’m on the lookout for a barefaced big twin or super twin if you’re selling!”

I can help with that! 😉

PM sent👍

Hi fellow bassists!

I’ve tinkled with the bass occasionally, but the Glockenklang/Barefaced rig is gathering dust.

I’m on the lookout for a barefaced big twin or super twin if you’re selling!

Boosters. And improved vaccines. And the availability of better treatments for those still falling ill. All that is coming, and coming at us fast. Short cuts that seek to infect and damage people in the name of “getting this done” as soon as possible is a political choice that we are being groomed into accepting.

All in favour of boosters, I think it’s crazy we aren’t getting on with that right now. Given the relative low numbers getting jabbed at the moment there must be capacity.

I’m not in favour of “getting this done” by the way, I just think my approach might lead to less death.

If I had a magic wand and could halt all transmission/infection for 6 months to get all kids jabbed etc. Would it be the right thing to cast that spell? I’m really not sure, you’d increase protection for those that aren’t really affected, but in those 6 months the antibody levels in the vaccinated vulnerable would have dropped to 1/8, so you’d possibly end up with more death/disease.

As an alternative to your analysis, Mudmuncher: if you’re going to get Covid anyhow then the more recent your jabs the less likely you are to take up a hospital bed. And your own immune system will have been exposed to the real virus under relatively safe conditions. Double vaccination and having the virus seems to offer the highest level of protection against both getting the virus and serious illness.

Yep, exactly my point

@oldmanmtb2, my thoughts are the multiple regular exposure would lead to less deaths. Restrictions are just kicking the can further down the road and reducing vaccine protection when it inevitability comes back.

@kelvin, We should be pretty much at the point where every adult is jabbed, but maybe we should give it another month to pick up the stragglers and ensure everyone has had their second jabs.

We have had a monumental effort to vaccinate millions of people in a very short period of time, so the level of protection is as good as it’s going to get. Immunity will wane, so my point is it’s perhaps better to get on with exposure to fortify our protection rather than to avoid exposure and potentially undo all of that immunity and protection from the vaccines.

There are no good solutions, we are between a rock and a hard place and I’m not 100% confident I’m correct, but it seems to be the best option as far as I can tell.

Prior to the vaccination program, I believe the restrictions were too little too late and we could have avoided tens of thousands of deaths with stricter controls. However, now we’ve been vaccinated I’m now coming to think more restrictions could be counter productive.

Here’s why….

Covid is the most infectious respiratory infection known to man, this coupled with waning vaccine immunity and a large proportion of the public that are bored with restrictions mean it will continue to circulate at high levels for the foreseeable future. It’s not really a question of if you’ll be exposed to it, it’s when.

So you can either go back to some normality and accept you’ll be exposed to the virus maybe every 2-3 months or be ultra cautious and restrict all your interactions and maybe get exposed every few years. The second option might seem more sensible at first sight, it I think multiple regular exposure might actually be better.

I think tired said antibody levels half every 2 months after vaccination (but maybe different for infection?) so after 4 months you have 1/4 of the antibodies, but after 2 years you’ll have 1/4096, so I’m thinking it’s better to have regular exposure to the virus to give the immune system a regular booster, most likely you’d get no symptoms or very mild symptoms but your immunity would be continually topped up. If you hide away and your immunity has waned there is a risk you’d get hit much harder. It’s analogous to being lifted off the ground holding onto a powerful kite in a storm, if you let go you’ll fall to the ground and maybe graze your knee, but if you hold on you’ll potentially fall much further and break your neck. So would you rather graze your knee every 3 months or break your neck every 2 years?

The grift never ends

Pretty shady!

Maybe going off topic, but the prank they did on Katie Hopkins is worth a watch

Had exactly the same last week on my daughters Lenovo- had to roll back to the previous MS update.

Well I put the endoscope camera down, can definitely recommend these. It was pretty blocked so I abandoned it and connected into the garage down pipe which goes into a soak away. Felt a bit bad cutting the bottom off the original cast iron down pipe but I got some cast iron effect plastic pipe and fittings from wickes and I don’t think anyone will be able to tell the difference once it’s painted.

It’s under the patio, so was trying to avoid digging it up unless I really have to. I’ve just poured 4 kettles of boiling water down there, hopefully that will kill the roots and maybe soften them up. I have got a little endoscope camera so will put that down once the water has drained away.

The other option is there is a drain hopper about 2ft away for wastewater so I could just divert the cast iron down pipe into that. About 3ft away is the garage down pipe which is newer and therefore goes to a soak away rather than the sewer, so could also route it into there.

Daughter has tested positive as have several of her school friends. Misses and I are double jabbed and so far are symptom free.

Assuming we don’t get ill will our exposure to presumably the delta variant strengthen our immunity and act as a booster, or do you have to actually get ill with covid to bolster your immunity?

Must have jinxed myself, now have a headache and nausea.

Daughter has tested positive as have several of her school friends. Misses and I are double jabbed and so far are symptom free.

Assuming we don’t get ill will our exposure to presumably the delta variant strengthen our immunity and act as a booster, or do you have to actually get ill with covid to bolster your immunity?

Mmmm not what I wanted to hear!

Any comments on depreciation on these things?

Bought a brand new California 4 years ago. Looking at today’s second hand prices I reckon I could sell for £3-4K more than I paid for it. Obviously covid has boosted values but even before that struck I think I could of pretty much got my money back.

Edit:-Actually just noticed the local VW van center has one exactly the same year/spec as mine with 50% more miles £10K more than I paid for mine new. Are camper vans the new Bitcoin?

Help!

Trying to record a bass line onto a choral arrangement of a Queen song. I’ve got a pitch issue

Can an amp change pitch? I’m using an Ashdown Electric Blue 180 mic’d with a P100 condenser mic into a Scarlett Solo onto audacity.

Basically the guitar sounds flat. I’ve checked and double checked the tuning and intonation, but it still sounds annoyingly flat.

I’ve tried it with two different guitars but it’s just as bad.

If I DI it it sounds much better. Played direct against an MP3 of the backing track its fine too. I’ve checked the DAW playback speed and that seems fine.

WTF is going on?

The amp/mic can’t change the pitch.

Only thing I can think of is some kind of mismatch on your sampling rate. E.g. if audacity is set to 48khz and the Scarlett is set to 44.1khz or vice versa.

OP here, can confirm the 2nd was every bit as bad as the first. Several days of temperatures, nausea, headache with both jabs. Strangely I woke up with a sore arm this morning, 11 days post jab, the soreness had gone away 5 or 6 days ago. Could be the booze I had last night has reignited some inflammation.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/996565/Vaccine_surveillance_report_-_week_25.pdf

Interesting data on page 7 showing the vaccine is slightly more effective in preventing hospitalisation in the delta variant vs. the alpha strain. Not what I was expecting given the weaker antibody response with delta.

The only explanation I can think of is data from the delta variant will be more recent and maybe infections acquired more lately could be at a lower viral load given the level of population vaccination. Or it could just be a mistake?