We have a Bailey Seville, I think it is sub 1500 kg but not by much. We never towed it with a diesel, our previous car was a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.

Stability etc was fine, I’d class the performance as marginal as it was a 2 litre engine that had to drag a fairly heavy car along plus the caravan.

We now have an XC60 T8, another petrol hybrid which easily tows the van (very strong turbo / supercharged petrol engine plus battery boost) and again tows without any stability or other concerns.

Both the above are automatics, highly recommended, makes pulling away and general towing that much easier, not that you can’t do the same with a manual car but it leaves you free to focus on other things.

If you are buying the Volvo try and find one with a towbar fitted, I did not go very deep into this but it looks like you might need to get a dealer fit at £1K, a lot of functionality is integrated in with the towbar fitment which a third party might not be able to do.

I would not go for a full petrol Volvo based on the alarming consumption from an S90 loaner I was given for a day.

Whether hybrid works for you depends on whether you can do most of your day to day based on the battery range (for a plug in hybrid, Volvo also have some non plug in hybrids which I think just have a small battery that recoups braking energy and gives a mile or three range).

Electric prices are also making lug in hybrid less of an attractive choice but that was always coming, sooner or later electric charged cars will be hit with some kind of tax to replace revenue from petrol / diesel taxes.

Wish I’d seen this before… Had a keyhole repair done on Thursday, inguinal hernia on my right side.

Fully agree the discomfort is all around the scar area – torso – and I am not enjoying getting out of bed, laughing, coughing etc.

The guts in a bag comment above is a cracker but much too funny for my comfort.

Not too much discomfort so far on the toilet, I was given a box of cocodamol but advised to go easy on them as they cause constipation. On that basis I’ve stick to ibuprofen which seems to have served me well.

Not noticed any side effects from gas filling although the shoulder pain that I usually get has disappeared for now – result.

Not knowing any better I worked from home in Friday, sat at my desk and sent some emails. Don’t think it did me any harm, I’ll see how those emails read back on Monday.

For driving I was told not to until I can do an emergency stop – seems fair enough.

Good luck fellow scar bearers keep the stories coming.

Very well written piece!

My brother’s S-Max seemed to be a useful piece of kit. Our Berlingo was great but not so great that we couldn’t kill it. Sounds like you managed the same.

Fiat Ulysse came after that and was OK but not as roomy as the package suggested and will be superannuated by now.

There’s a lot to be said for asking around your contacts and see if you might get lucky. I’ve been choosy about cars all my motoring life and I wonder what it’s cost me vs buying whatever is cheap and effective to get the job done.

Berlingo is the closest we came to this – although ultimately 100,000+ miles in it cried uncle.

No chance the pictures / video are faked, that would have been an easy denial and done, plus maybe a lucrative court case.

Maybe the next point of interest is where the film emerged from…

This is how I see it

Dear My MP

I’m writing to express my deep concern about the issues raised by the recent disclosure regarding the Secretary of State for Health, the points which I see at issue are

Appointment to a paid directorship of a friend
The friendship was apparently undeclared at that time
The subsequent relationship was never declared
These are clear breaches of ministerial code

The breaking of social distancing rules in force at the time
These were the Minister’s own rules
In a similar situation the Minister censured Neil Ferguson for breaking rules
He accepted Ferguson’s resignation
He also supported any prosecution that the CPS might choose to make
This is a very clear double standard

There is the question of the morality of the Minister’s actions. This can be considered as a private matter except that this speaks to and calls into question the Minister’s integrity

It is very disappointing that the Minister did not resign in respect of his hypocritical actions, simple contrition is not enough for a person in the highest office who has repeatedly given out the message that we must all observe the rules he has set out and then breaks them himself.

Equally disappointing is that the PM has not required the Minister to leave office, if not by his own resignation then a dismissal.

Why is all this important? Integrity in public office should be a given. Not so under this government, there are other examples which you will be aware of where advisors and Ministers have remained in office when they have clearly broken the applicable codes.

A second point is the undermining of public compliance with current and future lockdown rules. Individuals simply will not observe rules in the knowledge that those setting them out are flouting them without consequence.

I hope and expect that you will share my views which I believe are reflected by the wider public and in particular your constituents. Polling results would certainly suggest this is the case.

Please do represent these views through party channels, it is important that this Minister be removed quickly if the public confidence and compliance with lockdown rules is to be recovered.

Yours

Epoxy by all means but I didn’t bother, levelled the floor with compound…. You may not need to do this… Then fitted interlocking floor tiles. Very pleased with those. Side door is great for privacy.

@tj turned up on the bike many times, no issue.

Maybe I’m just on the treadmill but have been able to donate fairly seamlessly over about a 30 year period, Sheffield area.

One of the highly compatible groups but not sure it has made much difference to my experience.

All I can say is well played to those making a special effort to donate and please hang in there.

I suggest a lowball offer, option A but also put a time limit on the offer, one week is fair. Don’t overpay, or rather don’t overpay to the extent that it will give you buyer’s remorse later.

This will need firstly the will at government level and secondly a generation to fix.

Going after McD and their analogues is not the answer, it is about making dropping and leaving litter socially unacceptable. Nice idea to use qr codes to make it easy to find and fine offenders and that can be part of the process but if individuals can’t be educated / persuaded to buy in then it’s still a losing battle.

Having said that I am prepared to volunteer to pick up spent ammo for the litter dropper snipers.

Plenty of machine shops but the economics say they would need £100 just to get to the start line. That’s not greed, they need to make money. So you need to check your own contacts and see if there might be someone who would do you a favour, see if you can find a way to make the job interesting for the machinist.

All the more interesting is that Baker is a Tory and was chair of the ERG…

singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/dominic-cummings/page/8/#post-11208423

Not a penny!

His liability completely and if it wasn’t £200 is a long long way over what the damage is worth (assuming a reasonably light kerbing / tyre intact).

And no contract / T&Cs?

As to insurance claims those would be his own, not his pupil’s, no worries on that score.

The guy is a chancer, better off without – let him spin.

Sent a few quid, good luck OP

Three comments

Why not look for another position but say you are not available to start for 3 or whatever months. Gives insurance and often – not always – employers will wait for the right person. Or tell them you have a major traveling holiday booked and see if they will honour that – start the job straight away and take a break after say 3 months. If they won’t then it’s your call what to do, you’re still in control.

Do not say there was a personality issue. Naturally you are not at fault but the employer doesn’t know that and it would be an alarm bell if I was interviewing.

Thirdly good luck!

Donated and bump

We went from a mark 2 to a mark 3, for me the mark 3 was a better all round every day proposition and I did not detect any downgrade in the driving experience. And I would say less rust prone.

But of course will depend on your budget.

As above rust is the big worry, ththe are plenty of places this could crop up but start at the sills, near the rear wheels but don’t restrict yourself to there, check all around including suspension arms etc.

Mechanically they are pretty good, and cheap to repair – cambelt engine so see if it’s been done recently.

And I hope you do find one – plenty around if this one isn’t right. My wife has run them for about 8 years including hefty work mileage with very little trouble.

Good luck

Pro 3 here, had it a few years now – probably falling behind a bit but I’m very happy with it as a one and only machine.

It gets docked at work and drives two screens fine and for me is just big enough to be able to do proper work while traveling.

It seems well built – travels in by backpack without complaint. Saying that had to disable the touchscreen recently as it was giving phantom touches but I don’t really miss that.

Endless faff in the early days with failed boots but that seems to be fixed long ago and hopefully will not apply to later models.

In short I would have another in a heartbeat, the portability is a big win – I will probably have to fight for this as seems like Dell is the PC du jour at work now and I don’t think they have an equivalent in their range?

Done, good luck

Get it seen. Just had fourth corrective surgery on my hands (3r 1l) which are a pita and will keep you off the bike for a month or two and stop you driving for a similar time.

Can also affect feet and the gentleman’s part.

Plus side is if caught early I was told there is potential to treat with steroid injections hence don’t be fobbed off.

Bump

Much appreciated guys, any more pointers gratefully received

For three holes the hole cutter is the right call. Take your time and go from both sides, watch out for drifting away from a vertical position in the drill.

Flying today. Hopefully… Pretty amazing step, I would have thought that their cheapest option is to find some way to make the flights happen, that’s in immediate costs and ongoing claims, bad pr.
I guess that’s the reason why O’Leary is a multi millionaire and I’m booking bargain basement flights.

Take it back to the shop – failing that drill the heads off, take it easy and the stem should be fine, once the tension is off the remaining stud should turn out easy enough.

IKEA – not used it for a year or two and it was clunky then but I would highly recommend putting in your room dimensions and getting a kitchen planner appointment even if you have no intentions of using their products.
Their advisors are up to date with the latest products and gizmos and can save you a lot of time and research – unless you’re doing this a lot then you don’t know what you don’t know!

Thanks for the insights tang, for me it was a great course, with the possible exception of the drag back up to the campsite.
I asked a few years ago why the Eastnor course was getting long vs previous years. Turns out there’s a limit of riders per mile beyond which insurance can’t be had – so side benefit of reducing numbers is a shorter course. Which you probably worked out is my preference.
Very glad I made it to the swansong event, a wonderful job by all the organising team – hope there is more to come with Mayhem 2.0 but in the meantime thank you for some wonderful memories.

Team of four easily averaging out at vet status, probably about 30 mayhems between us plus a few sleepless. So glad to have committed to this especially if it’s going to be a swansong. I’m not expecting to do another… As usual we’re there for the sake of being there, not a hope of winning anything, but hope for a good craic. Getting excited now!

Wallop – yes – not sure it’s an all time classic but push on a little longer…

Just place it for normal delivery – IME most courier deliveries are done in the morning anyway, then collections in the afternoon.
Not much help if you must have it guaranteed but generally worth a punt.

Chapeau!

mmadra, dawson – could I please invite myself on your guided tour?
Based in Woodsetts and would like to see some of the off piste in the park – thanks
Rick

Tricky problem – from what I see if someone parks outside your neighbour’s house you can easily be blocked in because you can’t cut the corner to get out? Maybe as mentioned above you could look at widening your own exit a little?

Could you give your location and see if you can gather enough STWers to join you for a lifting party?
Suspect you are a little far north for me to help…

Take the initiative with the council and ask them to round off the verge?
Sounds like it’s badly designed from the start and this will eliminate the problem / future maintenance.

Turn it to face the stump then you can use that with some rope as a pull point, once it’s upright then walk it into place?
You will need rope at some point to control the descent – I think otherwise there’s a high risk of damage when it descends from the point of balance.
Be highly wary of lifting from a ladder for the obvious reasons – they are only designed for your weight, you’re doubling the load when you lift plus all sorts of offsetting load which will try to tip the ladder.
Hence the rope pull once you get some initial height under the cross beam.
If in doubt – give it a miss…

Edit for apostrophe

Big if….

Excellent, some good leads there thanks guys.