It followed the formula that worked for them for 20+ years. It just so happens that it’s old and tired and bloated, a bit like Clarkson. I’m not a hater, I loved their Top Gear and earlier Grand Tour things but I guess they had a contract to fulfil with Bezos.

What holiday costs a professionals annual take home pay???????

Walt Disney World with all the added billy big bollocks option boxes ticked.

I live by the mantra ‘you work to live you don’t live to work’. I used it in a job interview once. Didn’t get it, and to be honest I wasn’t disappointed about it one bit. I knew other people in the same role and none of them actually liked it.

Knobs was one of the main reasons I got a Dacia – knobs for climate, buttons for other stuff, touchscreen for the radio/AndroidAuto/Carplay, no lane assist. Even then I change volume, skip tracks etc on the column stalk. Looks like they’ve moved almost everything to touch screen on the new Duster though.

We got a taxi a while back and a Tesla Model S turned up. It was night so the wife and kids couldn’t see in the back to put belts on. The driver had to go through a couple of menu levels to get to the toggle for the rear interior light. Why not just a bloody switch!?

I’ve pooped the screen off a pixel by blowing compressed air in the charger point.

60 psi will do it .

60psi of poo?

Agree with everyone else though, my 6 kept getting pocket fluff in the charge port. Just got an 8 but as yet it’s managed to be fluff free.

There’s a few websites that do carpooling/ridesharing

https://www.blablacar.co.uk/

https://liftshare.com/uk

I see what you mean, the roads are always covered in snow round here. I don’t understand people when they say they’re getting a 4WD/SUV “for when it snows” when we have at most around 10 days where snow actually sits on the roads enough to cause problems.

That’s true, which is why my looking at XC90 T8 Hybrids got as far as finding out the real world mpg. A 2l petrol in a giant SUV is never going to work once the battery is depleted. 303bhp in that Polestar from ICE alone.

Dacia Jogger owner here, they are shit. They do what they do well but I’ve done 30k miles in 14 months and I’d rather have done it in a BMW. That’ll teach me for ordering a car before getting a big pay rise. I’m trying to figure out a way out of the PCP that doesn’t cost me but that’s a different story/thread.

Anyway, M340d, lovely but I just can’t get away with BMW’s recent design language, it’s all over the place.. However, allow me to introduce the Volvo V60 T8 Twin Engined Polestar Engineered. Not only does it have a ludicoursly long name is also had 405bhp, and does 0-60 in 4.4s. 50mpg real world (113mpg if you believe the hype).

my 1st thought was Google Nest….but FM its £120 a year

If you want 24/7 recording yes, otherwise it’s £60, but you can also include any other Nest cameras you have in that as well. For doorbell only it’s expensive but if you have a full Nest setup it’s fairly good value. We have the doorbell but haven’t paid for the subscription so only get 3hrs history of triggered events.

We stayed in the Black Forest in 2017, ended up leaving a day early as we got cabin fever due to not being able to see anything but trees. This was good fun though https://treetop-walks.com/schwarzwald/

If you’re that way inclined and the wife & kids can stand you being a big kid for a bit there’s also the Unimog Museum

How do people have kits sat around unbuilt for 18 months!!!!!!

Space & time, not in some weird physics based lunacy but the real sense. I’ve had the UCS Millenium Falcon for nearly two years because we just don’t have anywhere to put it until we convert the loft. Same goes for the wifes Disney Castle. I’ve also got 4 modular buildings which need to be unboxed from the house move 4 months ago but I may sell those on.

I have just bought the Up house from Sainsburys though because it was cheap and I needed a quick Lego fix.

Lasagna, Chili, Bolognese, Sweet Potato & Chickpea Curry – those are my go to ones. Really should do some batch cooking now we have a bigger freezer.

When it comes to no meat mince I think the best option for bulk is probably the Linda McCartney frozen stuff. Everything else is just that little bit too expensive, or tastes like crap.

Has anyone said the NHS yet? While not that expensive on an individual basis it is as a whole. Having just had to deal with the US “Healthcare” system, and how much a simple chest infection cost, I think the NHS is worth every penny we spend as taxpayers on it.

Las Vegas – just got back from a sales conference over there. Horrific.

Eggs. Fried, scrambled, boiled, poached, omelette, all of those things make me retch as soon as I smell them. I’ve tried to like eggs but I just can’t do it.

Just been to the US where everything at breakfast seems to include eggs, I got a few incredulous looks when I asked for ‘no eggs’.

Had toothache a few times, usually pretty bad. However, the worst thing I have experienced is very high intraocular pressure (when you get too much fluid in your eye). Nothing would touch it, took all the over the counter stuff I could thing of. Rang the eye infirmary and went in, they said the only thing that could fix it would be to stick a needle in my eye to drain off. That was terrifying. After that I had some tablets to stop it happening again.

What about a Liteville 301, always liked the look of these.

First Direct current account doesn’t charge fees. There’s a good guide on MoneySavingExpert about the best (and worst) option for spending abroad. I think the best option is always a pre-loaded card though.

I’ll find out later, Ferrari Daytona SP3 gets dismantled, to be rebuilt as an F40.

Breaking down big Technic sets can be absolute murder on the thumbs. I’ve broken down my 911 GT3RS and the Mack Truck before and it’s not a pleasant experience. Also, you need a lot more containers than you think.

My daughter thoughtfully bought Mrs P a bracelet which comes with the ability to track a tagged giraffe

Fahlo? The boy got one of those last year for Timmy the Turtle. Timmy had stopped moving two months before Christmas. I think the excuse they use is sometimes the trackers fall off or run out of battery, in which case you’ve got a bracelet out of it.

He got another one this year. Esperanza the Turtle hasn’t moved since 9th December. He got a bracelet though.

The wife gave me one of these for when I go through the airport, so I don’t have to carry my drink.

I travel by air once or twice a year.

In the vast majority of cases there is no such thing as a “CEO complaint route,” you could address it to God and it’ll still end up – eventually – with Customer Services.

While this is inevitably true it does work. I’ve only ever had cause to go down the CEO route twice, both times I’d ended up at the banging my head against a brick wall stage with call centre staff that kept parroting the same lines, and had an obstinate refusal to accept that their organisation had not behaved in the correct manner. A fairly polite e-mail copying in the CEO(‘s team of minions) had the problems resolved within a couple of days.

WFH – so I “started” at 9 – spent the last hour researching and ordering a new fridge/freezer after the freezer compartment packed up yesterday. Got some mandatory training to get finished off for the new year, other than that it’s just some housekeeping after a busy last few months.

far less guns being owned (and used)…

I read this a couple of minutes after reading this on the BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67825635

I’m going over in January, the only thing I can think I need is some hair stuff which is $14 a tub but then £20 for shipping to the UK but free to mainland USA.

If you have the ability to only grab some and close the lid I’d go for three. If it’s a troughing exercise 2 at a time until you start to feel guilty.

Pie looks marvellous. For those wanting endless yolk in a gala pie, allow me to introduce the long egg

https://www.danaeg.com/our-products/long-eggs/

No Beef Wellington from Sainsbury’s for the veggie/vegan mob here. They also do a Not Turkey Crown.

This is what £315k buys you in Sunderland https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/140879771

And this is currently the most expensive house in the area at only £2m. It has some interesting decor

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/140022887

Another vote for cheap online – you can put your prescription in, they still ask for PD. You can ask your optometrist to tell you that, or some websites have a measuring thing you can print off and hold up to your face (in a mirror). I’ve used Select Specs quite a few times, usually for the backup pairs at £6 a go. They have a guide on PD here https://www.selectspecs.com/info/pupillary-distance/

Snowrunner is great game for chilling out to

Snowrunner is great but can also be incredibly frustrating. It’s far too easy to just hop on and and look at a mission you think will take 15 mins and 2 hours later you’re still there delivering logs to a shack in the middle of some woods up a track covered in deep mud.

Goat Simulator – great for just arsing about for 15-20 minutes.

Looks like the silicone plug that comes in the end of a disposable vape.

@chakaping – I’ve just posted the same ones in the other thread. Other than a pair of Adidas Gazelles I don’t think I’ve had a pair or trainers since.

Found this from the other thread, I used to have a pair of these, what does that mean Rusty?

I now have a very worn pair of 5:10s which let water in, and a pair of Merrell walking boots. That’s about it.

I appreciate this may have been asked but this thread is 129 pages long so I’m not reading it all.

Would I be off my rocker to buy an older Tesla Model S – specifically one which has the free supercharging (pre-2017)? I’m doing around 24k miles a year so the savings could be huge. I imagine range would have reduced from new but as long as I can see around 200-240 miles from a charge I can cope with that. I’d be looking at something like this, or preferably an 85 if I can find one in budget that hasn’t done moon miles.

I didn’t have clue where that book was going either, it’s bloody good. I’ll second Raw Spirit as well. Haven’t read any Banks for a while so I think everything is overdue a revisit once I’ve finished my current Alastair Reynolds book.

If you time it wrong you can sometimes get stuck at the A195/A194 roundabout at Follingsby Park while they all stream out of the industrial estate. Sat there once while what seemed like 20 vans went past in a row.

Damn you Zoe Ball! I’d nearly done a full week.

Nowt – most I’ve ever won was £90 but that was about 5 years ago.

Dairy Milk because it’s the one that gave me the most chocolate per pound spent. Still insanely expensive when compared to a bar of chocolate though (see easter eggs for another example).

The past two years I had the Tiny Rebel one but they’ve not done on this year, shame really as it was rather good.

And, frankly, there is a very rich vein of other culture ship names to mine for this one

The proper name for Grey Area would be an interesting name for a ferry. Alas, it’s not on their predefined list.