I did Cambridge/Cambridge North into Kings Cross for just over 3 years.  The train time itself isn’t all of it though, as you’ve got overheads each end.  In Cambridge I cycled to the station, so had to allow 10-25 mins (depending on station) to get to the station, then time to lock the bike, time to get to the platform for the train etc.  Once you get to London it depends how far from Kings Cross you are, walking distance is ok but the tubes can be awful depending on the line.  So train is about an hour, plus 30 mins Cambridge end and 10 mins London end and you’re already looking at 2 hours there and maybe a bit less home but an increased chance of having to stand for most of the journey.  It was nearer to a 12 hour day than a 10 hour day most days, not allowing for the bad journey you get about once or twice a month or if you want to go out with colleagues after work or work late.

In the end I decided less money was worth the hit, as quality of life was better without the commute.  Now kids are in the mix I definitely wouldn’t do it again.

Skoda seem to do an awful lot of things slightly better than VW lately. It’s almost worth paying the lower price.

Unfortunately by the time you go through to options it can sometimes come to the same as the VW equivalent.  I’ve had Skodas and VWs in the past and don’t really mind either.  The Enyaq is something we’ve looked at as a next car as well.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the Enyaq, they’ve had some reasonably good long term reviews.  They’re the same MEB platform as the ID.4/5, but with slightly different software.  If you’re getting it in 7 weeks it should be the more efficient motor and updated infotainment system with larger screen and V4 software.  The infotainment system is ok if you’ve got v3.X or higher, not necessarily the slickest computer interface in the work but the VW one works ok.  A lot of the bad press was for V2, which was slower and clunkier and looked worse compared to cars like the Tesla.

I think there’s the same two drive modes as the VW, which means D and B and no changing of regen modes.  D has more coasting when you lift your foot, whereas B applies the brake when you lift off but not quite 1 pedal driving.   The Skoda has a more traditional interior than the ID range, so has physical buttons from what I understand.

given how awful the ID4 is to drive, the absolutely garbage infotainment setup, the near unusable haptic controls and the ropey braking

Have you driven an ID4 much?  Just wondering, as I’ve been driving one for 3 years, including taking it on road trips over 1000 miles each way and it’s definitely not conforming to that description.  Yes it’s an SUV, so probably not going to be comparable handling wise to a Golf but it’s definitely not awful.  The version 3 software was an improvement over V2 and improved range and charging curve.

If you’re after an estate and an EV there still isn’t much option, other than an ID.7.  The MG5 has an surprisingly small boot so isn’t as practical as I’d hoped.  The i7 touring looks like £70k+ and I’d expect the e-tron A6 Avant to be similarly priced.  Hopefully there’ll be some others coming through, but SUVs seem to be more popular these days.

I don’t have an Enyaq, but have an ID.4 which uses the same MEB platform & have looked at the Enyaq as a possible replacement in the future.  Range is affected by temperature a lot more than an ICE car.  Range is summer is better than winter, although winter range is better since the new software went on.  Generally at motorway speeds you should be able to do ~200 miles in summer on the 20-80 in the 80 I’d guess, but probably only ~160-180 in winter*.  If you put bikes or topbox on the roof it will badly affect the range though.

The longest journey we’ve done in ours was about 900 miles each way (plus overnight stops), which was perfectly doable with a bit of planning.

There is also an i85 now, which has a more efficient motor and better battery tech apparently.

*this is assuming fully loaded car with stuff in.

We went there in 2019, so some stuff may have changed.  The schnitzels at Figlmüller at Wollzeile were really good , although they seem to have other restaurants too.  Stephansplatz is impressive.  Take in some classical music, there are loads of shows most days.Schönbrunn Palace was ok and had nice gardens.  The Prater ferris wheel was ok as well.

You can also do a day trip to Bratislava, as they’re Europe’s closest capital cities and have good train links.

Depends on how much you’re into classical music and the Habsburg history though, but there seemed quite a lot to do.  We were only there a few days before going on to Prague.

I’d reiterate the idea of thinking about bike weights for balance and early pedal bikes.  Mine learnt on a Pinnacle Tineo and a no-name BBSO acquired by a grandparent for the youngest before the eldest progressed to pedalling.  The Tineo was ligher than the BBSO, even though it was bigger, meaning that the youngest struggled with the weight initially.  At around 4.9kg Tineo was a significant weight compared to a young child of 18 months, so I’d aim for the lightest within reasonable cost and don’t be put off by getting them in a used condition as the child with drop them or throw them into things if they’re like mine.

The weight of bike to child is also relevant for them when transitioning to pedal bikes too though and it was a struggle for our youngest in particular, with having to tweak by lowering the bar height on his Kota (another Xth hand bargain) to make it more manageable to learn to pedal.

Rim brakes are good, but it can take them a while to learn how to use them.  We had a few downhill speed crashes, which even happened after initially transitioning to the pedal bike for the youngest, who has also tried dragging his feet rather than using brakes we realised.

Halo also do some 24″ rims for MTB too, some general and some heavy duty.

I’ve had one for around 3 months, it handles pretty much like a normal bike and is easy to live with on a day to day.  It’s working quite well for transporting kids (3 & 4.5) around and they seem happy enough on the back, the rear rack also takes 2 Yepp seats without any extra mounting plates which is handy.  We went for the step thru frame, which avoids kicking the front child in the face when mounting and dismounting, but the crossbar is relatively high for a step thru.  Depending on load/distance your riding you may want to consider adding a second battery, although the second battery being in does mean that the bottle carrier mount doesn’t really work for a bottle anymore.  We’ve used it as a car substitute a fair bit, as it avoids having to take a car into town and allows us to swap kids at their weekend activity when in different age groups.  Probably haven’t used it as much as planned as I broke my ribs about halfway through ownership, but it has meant that I can ramp the power up and keep riding to work and back.  We went for one with the rear rack and wrap around to go round the cargo area, which protects the kids in case of a fall etc, this does make it a bit trickier to park on some bike racks.

Happy to answer any other questions.

If that’s the place I think it is he isn’t the first person to be trapped in one of them….. At least this time he had a view, somebody else got caught up in one of those in a basement of the same building a few years ago.

Browns Field is a bit sketchy in winter, not sure it’s good for anyone when wet or covered in leaves!

There are some dirt jumps on Coldhams Common, but not been there physically. Suspect they’re a bit more advanced and aimed at a different market than a pump track though.

@scruffythefirst – Not sure if it’s helpful, but they’ve just built a new one on St Andrews Recreation ground in Cambridge, which I think was done by C&K. There are at least 3 on this side of town now I think (St Andrews Rec, Browns Field, Nuns Way), plus one down in Trumpington and the track in Milton Country Park. Not sure if there are others I haven’t found. I’d have thought trying to get the developers of Marleigh on board with providing it might be a good idea too, as they may be able to put some funding into it/

I’ve got a pair of the Planet X ones and an older pair of Northwave winter boots. The Planet X ones have kept my feet warm and dry through some very wet muddy MTB rides, the fastening isn’t ideal for hike a bike moments as the neoprene flap is in one piece rather than split like the Northwaves but does the job. They seem good value for money and would probably go for them again, but haven’t tried them in really cold weather yet.

The newer recipe books are better than the old SW books from a taste point of view, but there are many good websites out there. The Hairy Dieter books don’t quite seem to fit the SW plan though. If you don’t mind a bit of “fruity” language then check out Two Chubby Cubs, they have a lot of interesting recipes which seem to work.

I think it’s just connected with a ribbon connector, so just presses on or pulls off. I’ve replaced a battery on an 810 and as Eskay says it’s fiddly, but not difficult (fortunately didn’t need a soldering iron).

Was in Corralejo last year with mates, we hired bikes from Easy Riders, 29er HTs. I believe they do guided rides as well, but we just downloaded gps tracks before we went.

Lots of gravel roads, didn’t find much single track. Also there are some fun troughs of sands on some of the trails, can make for some rapid deceleration on a descent.

Did they not give you a colour code too? They told me the tamiya colour to match my black grape cotic this week.

That kind of bike isn’t particularly uncommon in Cambridge.  Whereabouts was it taken from?

“Czterej pancerni i pies” “4 Tank Men and a Dog”.

Polish series about a T34 crew and their dog.

Sounds ace.

It is good!  Also available with subtitles for those of us without Polish.

The ESS U-RX look similar in idea willrab – any feedback on those? Are the big enough that the ‘frame’ isn’t in your field of view?

I haven’t really noticed the frame in use, even though it’s black and plastic.  Looks more odd if you look in a mirror or for people looking at you if you use clear or yellow lenses.  Makes for easier riding as there is less “unexpected” stuff in the way.

Not goggles, but I have some ESS U-RX prescription inserts.  I’ve used them in the Ice glasses, but you can also get carriers for them to be used in either ESS or Oakley goggles.   They have non-glass lenses, so hopefully safer if it all goes a bit wrong.

A report of 42mpg doesn’t mean much on its own. We’d need to know what your driving style and journey patterns are like.

That would have been no battery power due to lack of charger where we were staying, then about 700 miles across Poland and Germany mostly on the Autostrada and Autobahns with a car load of luggage from the holiday. Having done the same journey in a 1.9TDi Octavia previously I think that averaged just over 45mpg over the same route and same drivers.

Having just checked on the Car-Net app it appears we averaged about 42mpg so not quite as good. Average speed was just over 60mph, but that included road works and stops.

In hybrid mode it has done pretty well at getting us to the destination on Sat Nav as the electricity runs out, but not sure if this is coincidence or not. You can go up to 80mph on electric, but the range does drop drastically.

It’s great at coasting, so lifting your foot off the throttle gets best economy.

We’ve had one for about a month and a half, we both like it. My wife is pleased as it drives like a normal car, so no problem people getting used to it.

For long and motorway journeys the adaptive cruise control is good, will go down to stationary too if you’re brave enough. For my wife’s commute of about 12-14 miles each way it’s been on mainly electric since we’ve had it.

Journeys up to about 75 miles you can get 70+mpg if the battery is full when you leave. Our longest trip so far was 1000+ miles each way across Europe, so the electricity ran out quite quickly, and even at German motorway speeds it was averaging 45+mpg.

The only draw back we’ve found is the lack of fast charging and we wish it had a bigger battery.

It looks like an Irish numberplate from Wexford, rather than a diplomatic plate.

Some of the Zoes and Leafs have batteries included, but are sometimes a little more to buy 2nd hand. You can also still get a grant for the charger at home.

For a 2nd car they look like a reasonable option if most of your journeys would be in range. Battery life seems better than feared, but if you do need to replace them it could be pricey.

Are nurses exempt from the minimum earnings for non-EU nationals then? Otherwise how many of these nurses we’re recruiting will be earning more than £35k pa? Given that the NHS were only given a 1% payrise this week I’m not sure that’ll help fill the recruitment hole. We also have a drop in student nurse numbers due to the bursary being scrapped.

Must stay positive though…..

What do you have to say or offer deal wise?

Or you know, maybe Parliament have a say? You know, because they want Parliamentary Sovereignty?

If they’re so confident they’ll get a good deal why are they so scared of having scrutiny?

The referendum didn’t say what kind of exit we’d get, surely parliament having a view would be good for democracy?

I don’t believe that May should be given free reign to do as she pleases with Brexit, especially given the information coming out of David Davis’ mouth at the Commons Select Committee last week.

If May’s arguments against a Scottish Indy Ref 2 are to be believed she’s either missed the idea of irony or is a massive hypocrite.

Without some kind of either parliamentary scrutiny or a referendum on the outcome of negotiations we’ll be the only country in the EU without any kind of ratification or scrutiny of the deal, hardly taking back control.

With so many people currently in limbo due to this I think the Tory party’s game is ruining many peoples lives and should have some kind of scrutiny.

Not sure if it’ll make any difference, but there is a march in London on Saturday to try and make the Government at least take account of remainers.

https://www.uniteforeurope.co.uk/

Hopefully there’ll be enough people to at least be noticed by the news outlets.

what is to stop them saying ok everyone gets a 20% pay cut and has to work 60 hrs a week

I’d say the European Working time directive for the hours, but……

Ability to get a seat will depend upon which trains you’re planning on catching and how early you get to the station. At Cambridge I find you can generally get a seat if you’re there 7 mins before departure, but not always. Homeward it’s a bit of a lottery.

Reliability isn’t too bad, haven’t had to claim that many delayed journeys this year but you can only claim if it’s more than 30 mins late. Depends on your judgement of reliability.

I do this commute at the moment. There are some patchy bits, plus some tunnels. One of the other commuters I spoke to reckoned that they got on best with EE or Three, I think the former.

I’ve got Vodafone and for most it’s ok, but you don’t tend to get 4G till other than either end of the journey.

There’s a Milk Bar for an old fashioned Communist dining era experience, which is on the way from Rynek Glowny towards the Castle. There are more good places, but don’t have my guide/wife with me at the moment to consult.

chewkw – Member
Yes, because I do not like EU bureaucrats.

Because you love Whitehall ones?

Not sure how it makes any difference where the bureaucrat is from, the merely propose the laws. To be ratified the law needs to pass through European Parliament, Council of Ministers, House of Commons and House of Lords.

Given that only 25% of those are unelected I think it’s not really worse than the UK legislative process which is Civil Service, Commons, Lords….

samunkim –
With everyone still shocked by the death of Jo Cox, its perhaps a little unfair to forget Alice Gross.

This a once in a life time opportunity to send a message

Are you seriously trying use 1 murder to make a judgement of EU membership? I’m pretty sure that there will have been more crimes committed by British people than by immigrants, probably as a percentage too.

Does 1 British loner trying to take out Trump mean that the US should quash all trade deals, political deals and ban Brits from the US?

I’m just planning on following the signs and hoping for the best. I’m sure 22% won’t be that bad…..

I’ll be there. I’ll be riding a purple Escapade with dyno lights running the whole time.

Aiming to make it round, rather than a particular time. Should be leaving in the 9:58 slot.

I took one along alot bridleways over the summer, which in some cases you could tell the horses had been using, and it seemed to cope fine. I ended up having to slow down on occasion as the vibration was killing my vision, but the bike was fine.

Tow paths and gravel should be fine.

I’m also going to Cisco Live.

Seen plenty of Communist blocks in Poland and around Dresden. Guess the spy novel scenery may have changed by now though.