As said, technique. Most people learn to an OK standard when they’re kids then never revisit it as they reckon they can swim already and the rest is fitness. My wife never learned as a kid but had months of tuition in her 30s to do a triathlon and swims brilliantly (but only front crawl, mind). The people at the sharp end of triathlon swims make it look absolutely effortless, smooth movements, little splashing but they’re absolutely motoring through the water.

Find a good adult swim coach and do a few sessions, they’ll probably figure out what you need to change straight away.

Topeak smartguage D2 is great. Can easily switch between schrader and presta for car/bike use.

re: Tesla chargers – the latest V4 ones (solid inside, longer cable on the outside) have contactless readers.

V3 and earlier (empty middle, cable inside) don’t so you need to use the app.

I’ve leased several. It’s good value if you’re less fussed about a specific car than a good deal – leasing.com, leaseloco.com, etc for comparing deals.

Have a play around with how much upfront, etc – I used to do a spreadsheet to compare total costs. Things like admin fees can swing it too, some that looked a bit more per month were less overall. Any options tend to be spread over the cost of the lease so generally not worth it unless there’s something you absolutely need – stuff with good spec as standard will do better.

Never felt the need for service plans, normally mine were over 2 years so a service or two, always in warranty, rarely needed tyres so I just kept a bit aside just in case.

Pitfalls – understand the excess mileage charges, and that it can be expensive to exit early. There are industry “fair wear and tear” guidelines for condition when it goes back although the odd thing we’ve had over that have had pretty reasonable repair costs – eg a kerbed wheel was far less than the cost of me getting it refurbed.

https://www.caa.co.uk/drones/

You can do the flyer ID test free and the prep materials cover all the rules. Sub-250g is quite permissive these days, main thing is to keep away from crowds and the restricted zones, airports/airfields and the like.

A wide, sweeping shot from up high for setting a scene is quite easy with the DJI drones. Putting a camera somewhere tricky for a fairly static shot is also pretty easy. Following action, quick pans, etc are hard. The dreamy low, fast, swinging around footage you see is done with FPV drones, super fast and powerful that are sending a realtime view back to goggles. They take quite a bit of practice to even fly competently, the people doing it commercially are at the top of their game.

Forestry England (so FoD and the like) want you to apply for a permit to film. I think BPW do too.

Octopus Electroverse card works on Ionity, you just tap and go. Octopus energy customers can bill to their account, but anyone can get one and bill to a credit/debit card. No costs outside of the charging itself.

Local mainly roadie/commuter shop do a membership scheme so you pay £15 a month and get one basic and one premium service over the year plus collection/delivery service and discounts on other stuff. Higher tier also gets you a bike fit a year (plus minor checks or consults through the year), free labour on minor adjustments, loan of bike travel boxes, and they’ll come out in their van to pick you up if you have an accident or mechanical problem.

People don’t have to worry about a big service cost all at once, shop gets them coming back for minor things and also should catch any mechanical issues early. That rolling income is handy for the shop and when the workshop is getting quiet they can just book in some servicing.

I got one like this recently when my ancient Optimate died. Works well, our “big car” can go weeks between uses so I just set a reminder to plug it in every 6 weeks or so. Always worth having one anyway IMO. If the battery charges OK and shows as healthy then you can start looking at other possible causes.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Automatic-Maintainer-Suitable-Motorcycle-Batteries/dp/B09FKXHW2R/

I was about to say Blunt. Was given one years ago by family in NZ and it’s brilliant. Not sure I’d spend £75 on one though.

re: recycling centre weirdo – he’s probably on about the vast defleet centres (like the old Rockingham circuit, or Bruntingthorpe, or Bedford Autodrome) which have always been the place where cars go at the end of leases, it’s just that these days there’s a huge glut of salary sacrifice EVs taken in 2020/21 which are going back. They can look like they’re just sat there but most cars are turned around pretty quickly.

https://www.youtube.com/@JonathanPorterfield regularly does videos of the car auctions where they get sold, there’s just a lot of EVs moving through the market now. Arguably though inflation, cost of living, interest rates, etc  have slowed all car sales down, new car sales are still well below where they were in 2019.

As for hydrogen in the US, lol. This article/video on the current state of the California hydrogen network is worth a look: https://www.theverge.com/c/2024/8/20/24195787/lost-highway

The £50/month flexi rental is a good option for a month or two to see how you get on – think you get a discount off buying one after too.

I used to ride mine across London, get the train out to where I was working then ride the last mile to there. Bag on the front definitely helps the weight balance. I sold it a couple of years after that commute ended and it wasn’t getting used as much, but then wanted another folder after and got one of the Carrera ones. It rides a little nicer but the fold is awful.

Be wary of secondhand though, while there’s some mint barely used ones about there are some owners (like an old flatmate) who use them everyday, ride them into the ground then buy a new one. Plenty get stolen too.

New houses can be as bad, some modern building materials like foil backed insulation, underlays etc can be very effective at stopping wifi.

We just have a single AP for a 1930s semi but it’s mounted on the ceiling in the downstairs hallway, it’s a spot that’s quite central and means nothing is too far from it, far better than by the front door where the old analogue line came in.

Also got Reolink. We’re on a busy road and any motion-based alerting was terrible, car headlights, trees moving in the wind, etc would set it off. With the reolink person detection I now get an alert as soon as someone walks on to the driveway (giving me a few more seconds to get to the door) but not any other time.

Ours are wired, I have them record to a local SD card and also send recordings via FTP. They can be hooked up to a recorder or something like the Synology surveillance station or BlueIris but I don’t feel the need. No need for a subscription for any of that, only if you want to keep your recordings on their cloud.

Definitely worth running a cable and getting PoE cameras. The wifi ones still need power, and if they’re battery then that’s a lot of recharging to do.

The new Unifi cloud gateways are nice, they have all the management software/interface on board so you don’t need another thing or to run it elsewhere. Picked up an ultra last week to replace a USG and it’s a nice bit of kit.

Get a cloud gateway express and it’s got its own access point, then install some more U6+ access points for better coverage as you need.

If you want to restrict wifi you can create a second/third network that the kids can know the password to and have times to disable it.

Any individual wifi client is likely to be getting 30-40mbit. Teams calls even with lots of video being thrown around are considerably less. 4k netflix is around 20mbit.

I only get 500mbit FTTP for the 70mbit upload as I have to move multi-GB files around sometimes. I’d actually be pretty happy with a symmetric 50mbit if I could get that.

Game downloads are quick especially if you can cable to the router – but then if you don’t mind your console being in standby mode just set it to auto-update overnight and it doesn’t matter how long it takes.

Put your details into https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressHome and it will show what exactly is available from your exchange and if FTTP is coming soon. It’s unlikely to be long and it would make more sense to me to stick it out with Virgin for a bit until you can get fibre installed rather than get a copper line at this point.

Yes, that – if you’re putting in beds, furniture, etc the extra space is useful. I’ve been looking at things like the flatout camper beds that fold up to the side, they end up noticeable leaning inwards on Transporter and Custom.

(and I’ve learned a new word today)

The Bromley Council one (BR5 2SG) is in Hoblingwell Wood Rec, it’s a tarmac pump track in Velosolutions style, although I don’t think it’s one of theirs. Free public access in a park.

https://www.bromley.gov.uk/news/article/348/hoblingwell-cycle-track-now-open

Better pic at: https://www.roughrideguide.co.uk/route-details/885

“Lewisham BMX Track” isn’t right, that refers to the one in the corner of Beckenham Place Park which has been there a while. And funnily enough, is in Lewisham rather than Bromley.

Bexley one (DA7 6BD) is a Velosolutions tarmac pump track. Again, free public access in a park. https://www.velosolutionsuk.com/pumptracks/bexley-pumptrack

 

Both smooth tarmac so good for anything with wheels.

For a camper, Trafic/Vivaro (also sold by Nissan) as the boxy shape gives more space. Else I’d probably get one of the EMP2 vans.

fwiw, I think the Transit wet belt issue shouldn’t rule one out, either get one done recently or budget a grand to do it, change oil on time and change belt on the revised schedule.

Cheapest Vitus e-Sommet coming up on 2 years. No regrets although I’m looking forward to a future ebike with similar performance but 5kg+ of weight lopped off. It’s good for bikepark type riding but still fun for the local night rides and takes away the fitness / can’t be arsed / gloopy mud excuses.

Shimano e7000 has been fine although I have a few mates with ep8s that have had issues.

Main thing I’m set on for next bike is swappable batteries. One of the best days was blasting up the path at FOD and getting in run after run but I used 1000wh of battery by 2.30pm and had to go home.

Excellent!

The previous Transit Custom had a petrol PHEV version too, there’s a bunch of Sky ones coming off lease and through the auctions now.

I wish Hyundai would bring the Staria here, it looks ace too. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyundai_Staria

Got email with pricing the other day, £5999 for PL Carbon (800Wh), £8849 for PL Carbon Pro (600Wh), £8999 for PL Carbon Pro (800Wh).

They’ve got about a dozen UK shops signed up as dealers who can do test rides.

I just have a Bambu Lab A1 Mini which has so far been the perfect little home printer. It’s still £170 (never went up after their sale) and it’s an absolute bargain for that.

Yes, nylon washer if you need one, but I’m not sure it’s necessary for this part anyway.

On the way to you! FYI (and anyone else doing similar) the little standoffs at the bottom mean you need all the rest to be supported (the green lines) which can leave a bit of an ugly finish as the surface is printing on to other filament, not the bed of the printer. Obviously not a problem on the Canyon part as it’s injection moulded.

I tried with and without, and totally forgot to take pics of what they came out like :D

Used to have one of the 12v dirtworkers too, big advantage of battery ones is in a busy carpark you can go a bit further away rather than blasting dirt over your (or other people’s) car.

I got one of the generic chinese ones instead that works off my Makita batteries, works well. Have a 10l water container and that’s usually enough to do 2 bikes.

I’ve got some grey PETG to use up, happy to print and post one for you.

I use wired but I’ve been happy with Reolink and they have wireless ones too. Fit a local microSD card and it’ll put recordings on there (which you then access via the app/cloud), you can have it FTP or email as another backup if you don’t have a recording server. Good person/vehicle/pet detection these days too (for alerting and triggering recording) rather than relying on motion.

Remember that if you want IR night vision then they need to be outside, if they’re inside a window then the IR just reflects back into the lens.

I bought a Bambu Lab A1 mini (it’s still at the sale price of £169 which is a bargain), after watching mates struggle with Enders and the like over the years it’s a revelation.

Been printing a lot of gridfinity baseplates and bins to organise stuff, things like drill holders so they can sit ready underneath the shelves, and various silly things for the kids.

Most Teslas on UK roads were made in China. Polestars and the electric Volvos are made in China. BMW iX3 is made in China. The new electric Smarts are made in China. There’s a load more brands like BYD, GWM and others here or coming, China makes a lot of cars in the European market now.

If you want to support local manufacturing then buy a Leaf, all the European ones since 2013 are made in Sunderland.

The only problem with that is roof load, if it’s the higher spec with the rails then the earlier UK cars initially claimed 50kg, then no roof load, then finally 35kg. https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/7-months-after-going-on-sale-mg-can-finally-say-whether-owners-of-its-electric-car-can-use-the-roof-rails-aDorC5p4EiJj

If it’s one without the rails then you can get regular clamp/hook-on bars that take 75kg, or the later cars (long range then the facelift) did come with rails that do 75kg.

Meant to be very reliable – Cleevely mobile EV servicing run a few kitted out as vans putting loads of miles on them ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSrKtJb8Aso ) and there’s hundreds of thousands of them used as taxis in China.

Bit dull but you can’t complain for the money really.

Yep, I forgot my biggest bugbear is the Origin/Epic games I’ve accumulated (mostly free offers to be fair) and the hoops you have to jump through for those. I’ve pretty much stopped bothering, more than enough to get through on Steam.

As the screenshots say, “verified” means it has to work 100%, with no need to use the touchscreen/touchpads – ie a console-like experience. Lots of older stuff gets knocked down to “playable” just because there’s a launcher you need to tap on, or you need to set up the controls once, or do a bit of graphics settings tweaking.

Only game I had not work was Riders Republic, I got a refund on Steam as I couldn’t be bothered with workarounds – I see there’s an update now to make it Steam Deck compatible. There is some modern stuff like the later Call of Duty games that have a Windows-based anticheat system which won’t work unless you install Windows on the deck.

I don’t really use mine enough but it’s great for the odd bit of downtime, mostly the older and indie stuff in my steam library that works well with a controller. It’s also great as a PS4 remote play device with chiaki, and I don’t have xbox live but it apparently works great for streaming games off that too.

I sometimes think about the “what if all this stuff just disappeared in a house fire?” scenario too. Just so much accumulated over nearly 10 years (and two kids) in the same house.

Thankfully both my parents went through sorting out loads of stuff from their own parents when they died. They moved recently but via a year in a little flat while their smaller new house was sorted out. Sold, gave away or binned almost everything bar a few essentials and a small storage unit for some pictures, photos, etc. New house is clutter-free, everything has a place to go, and they’re absolutely loving it.

Lidl had the Mistral SUP pump recently, my local store still has them. Works off 12v, has fittings for most things, were £30.

Else most of those cheap little mains pumps only need 50W or so, so any of the cheap 12v inverters would do.

Yep, 2008 1.9 van, the dashboard/vents gives it away as a T5. It’s had a later front end put on it.

Absolutely mental money for an old basic van (no A/C) with a cheap R&R bed and cabinets in.

They’re claiming IP66 for the motor. The only others I’ve seen to be rated at the Specialized SL motors which are IP56 (ie not as good for dust, same for waterproofing).

Stuck one each of the V4 ones in the slicer and it reckons 72g at the recommended 70% infill so about a quid’s worth of PETG. I’ve only got blue filament but happy to print you off a set and post, you make a donation to my local food bank?

If they’d bring the compact sawstop over at under a grand I’d probably buy one. But I’ve heard rumour after rumour about the brand coming over (not just in a flimsy festool one) over the years and still nothing.

I hardly use it since getting a tracksaw but my dewalt dw745 is still a great bit of kit.