Cycle lanes painted along the roadside are often full of tyre puncturing dirt and debris. Vehicles never run across that tarmac so the crap never gets blown away.

I strap some Zip ties across the rear frame close to the tyre tread. They knock thorns, nails, etc out of the tread before the turning wheel pounds them through the tyre.

Lights are so cheap these days with batteries that last weeks there's no reason to not use them. However, cyclists with mega bright LED headlamps angled to cause maximum dazzle are a menace. Its doubly annoying, because a light angled so the rider can see the road ahead will not dazzle other road users.

Yesterday morning (Sunday), a series of no parking cones arrived across the street.
This morning, Water people have arrived to dig a hole two houses up. Again!

New people moved in two months ago. Immediately requested a water meter. Water people came along, in stages. First, the sign people, to set cones and signs. Then two days later, along came the hole diggers. Hole dug, fenced, and left. Another two days, along came two guys, fitted the water meter in about half and hour, and off they went.
A week later, the fillers arrived, filled the hole in, but didn't finish it, as they apparently don't do surfacing. Amazingly, next day, it got surfaced. Another two days, and the signs were collected.

Since then, they've re-opened the hole 3 times, this is now the fourth.
Oh, and they had to move their van, with a lot of fuss, to let the bin lorry through.

There's not much to go wrong, maybe just leaks. It is what they do, fit water meters, yet that seems to be difficult for them. The two guys today seem to have repositioned teh fences 5 times, with lots of noise, all around the same small hole. There are bigger holes between their ears I fear.

My house is at the end of a short road at the end of a bumpy narrow adopted domestic street. My bit is owned by the local district council but is outside the county highways department.

Poor signage (county highways issue) causes at least 1 car per hour to come past my place only to find nowhere to go. Vans have to reverse out. Cars can turn around. The muppet drivers fail to notice that the road is little wider than a footpath. The point is our section of tarmac is footpath quality. It's the original C19th country lane with very thin tarmac.
Last week, someone came and filled a pothole. Lovely! But they ignored two others within 20ft of the one they filled. We have asked for improved "cul-de-sac" and "access only" signs but nothing ever happens so the cars keep coming and knocking out the potholes.

portland_bill said:

Insurers make a little money, scheme pays for itself

Click to expand...

That’s assuming it’s affordable for the masses, as insurers won’t be running it at a loss, and rightly so.

To be honest as most are already covered by the liability section of their home insurance policy (assuming they have cover in place, although not all, a lot do) I don’t see why it should be that you’re forcing someone to pay for another policy only to duplicate cover.

Germany has compulsory health insurance much as we have compulsory car insurance. There is the costs of company profits but there is also the motive to keep costs down by avoiding waste and avoiding bloated systems. Both methods (state controlled and commercially controlled) systems work but the latter is less prone to bureaucratic bloat and empire building.
The USA system where its a total free for all clearly does not work, because nobody wants to provide the boring day to day health care and the fancy stuff becomes stupidly expensive.

Most Easterly Pandas said:

That’s assuming it’s affordable for the masses, as insurers won’t be running it at a loss, and rightly so.

To be honest as most are already covered by the liability section of their home insurance policy (assuming they have cover in place, although not all, a lot do) I don’t see why it should be that you’re forcing someone to pay for another policy only to duplicate cover.

Click to expand...

You've mentioned the liability section of home insurance before in regard to bicycles, which I was surprised about, but not owning a bicycle, didn't bother me much.
Having a sad moment this morning, I have had a read through the insurance documents (tedious), and took a long time to find any mention of bicycles.
The liability section does say it will meet claims made against me:
"We’ll pay any amount that you or your family are
legally obliged to pay following an accident that
results in someone being ill, injured, or results in
someone’s death.
We’ll also pay amounts that you or your family are
legally obliged to pay if an accident causes damage to
someone else’s property."
Then in the exclusions, is this:
"We won’t pay claims for injuries that happen as a
result of playing any sport or using a bicycle outside
the boundary of your home unless there’s no other
insurance you can claim on."
It appears that they will pay claims against me if I damage someone, or their property, whilst riding a bicycle, but they will do so reluctantly. (As if insurance companies ever pay willingly)

However, not everyone has home insurance. And chasing them for damages can be difficult, especially as they may be reluctant ot give any ID at the time of the collision. If cyclists had to carry insurance proof, the visible proof would give a policy number, and an easier route to a claim. Bicycle insurance could be given as a separate policy, as I suggested earlier, or included in home insurance. All I'm proposing is that proof is carried.

My text was an idea, a proposal. I am not 'forcing' anyone to pay for another policy, I do not have that authority or power. All motorised vehicles have to have insurance, to cover the damage or injury they may cause. Cyclists are just as capable of causing injury or damage, yet are free to do so with little likelihood of facing up to that. Many years ago, a colleague's car was hit by a bicycle in Oxford (High risk area), and got no compensation from the cyclist. One of my BSM school cars was hit, while stationary, causing over £1000 costs in paintwork, with no compensation. When training a supermarket van driver, while stopped at traffic signals a cyclist came past the nearside, and took the mirror off with his head. (If that had not stopped him, he would have shot out into crossing traffic, no idea what he was thinking.) Despite a policeman attending, due to the cyclist needing medical attention, having concussion, and the policeman got his details, the supermarket got no compensation, probably choosing not to pursue beyond the first request, to avoid bad publicity. So that's £150 off their profits.
Such incidents should be compensated by the cyclist, compulsory insurance would make that easier. With claims genearlly expected to be at a low level, I'd expect such insurance to be reasonably cheap.
I think it is time things were made fairer.

I'm with you on this PB. I feel also that perhaps it would improve the general standards of riders when they have a greater level of personal penalty involved for misdemeanors and help the police confiscate cycles from those, especially youths, riding irresponsibly?

Electric bikes and scooters (while great to ride) show how far behind we are with insurance and the law. It's become obvious that we need laws about insurance on these things. Number plates? No, but things do need to change.

StevenRB45 said:

Got an interview for the job I'm not entirely sure about...

Of course I did...so we'll see how that goes as well.

Click to expand...

Whoops..

Appear to have another Job...it would make me smile if it wasn't a lot more work

Shall have at it and see where we end up...always the danger with going for an interview. You might end up with the job, that'll teach me.

In towns with high kerbs and narrow roads I do ride on the pavement. Sorry but bus drivers usually under "estimate" where their back end - ends, most car drivers dont give a **** and taxi drivers see any cyclist as target practice.
Its technically illegal of course so I don't go blasting along like an idiot

"Must get in front" syndrome.

Leaving Swindon this afternoon, stopped at lights, just as they were turning back to green, a Hyundai iX30 rushed past before the road narrowed. He then proceeded to trundle along at 40 in the 50 limit.

It is possible to intimidate in the Panda, but harder work than perhaps a Range Rover. By moving to an overtaking position, I got him up to 47mph. Then into the 60 limit, took a little while to get him going, but eventually just hit 60 after about 1.5 miles. Then a roundabout where he chose a different route. I signalled left early, I think he paid attention and went another way, as he did initially head towards the slip road left before deciding right instead. A small win.

I just finished posting one of my lengthy posts (sorry) in the thread I started about angle grinders where I mentioned stripping the water storage tank out of an old flat my older son bought and it's caused me to reflect. The old boiler/heating system was completely renewed with a Combi boiler being professionally installed. He had ongoing problems with it cutting out due to pressure loss right through to the day he sold the flat which were never resolved.

Then I realized my younger boy lived in a rented flat when he and his girl first settled down together. It too had a combi and it too regularly required topping up to pressure, a problem his landlord never addressed.

Now in their nice wee cottage with extension to the rear just completed and the old back boiler and gravity system - which functioned perfectly but was not very economical to run - all stripped out and replaced with a Combi in the roof space, which I think is a silly place to put it - they are suffering problems with pressure loss again. His poor wife was stranded without hot water last week with him at work, (he works shifts so wasn't home 'till 11.00 pm) the children to bath and get to bed and no heating either (At least I can put the immersion on if my boiler fails). The installing plumber did attend and get it going again but didn't do any fault finding. On a subsequent visit he's tried to find the leak he thinks is causing it but failed, so put a leak sealer in the system, which seems to me to be not ideal?

Finally, my daughter has a relatively new build with a - complicated to my way of thinking - pressurized system which includes a hot water storage tank and no less than 3 pressure vessels. I've no idea how it works and I'll not be offering to ever do anything, even changing a ceramic tap element - their taps don't have washers like mine - anytime soon! The point of mentioning this is that they too have to top it up roughly twice a year and their plumber seems to think this is normal?

I'll just be sticking with my old gravity fed system thank you very much- although I do have a condensing boiler. I recon the money I've saved by being able to fix everything, except the boiler, myself far outweighs any saving in running costs.

PS Should have mentioned also that next door neighbour had their gravity system replaced with a Combi about 5 years ago and he's had considerable ongoing problems including some of his radiators not working since and no-one seems able to get it working right!

Service cost of the two year service for the Panda twin air.

I asked for last years parts back as only 2000 miles of local rural use. Air cleaner and pollen filter both mysteriously black. I shall stick to Desira in Norwich from now on as I would take a little convincing either of the service items were in fact replaced last year. I do trust Desira completely in this respect and only went elsewhere due to lockdown. Both the filters went in the bin as not fit for re use again.

As to the cost of plugs I am nearly speechless.

Pugglt Auld Jock said:

I'll just be sticking with my old gravity fed system thank you very much- although I do have a condensing boiler. I recon the money I've saved by being able to fix everything, except the boiler, myself far outweighs any saving in running costs.

Click to expand...

Seems difficult to find a good plumber, although we are well served here. When we bought the house, September 1995, it had a coal-fired heating system. There was a gas supply to the house, but not used, so we had a new gas boiler fitted, with the necessary changes to the system, all for around £1300.
The boiler is a Potterton, gravity fed system, and is still going strong, just over 25 years later, although a little like 'Trigger's broom'.
A few years ago, the inner flue corroded, allowing some exhaust to feed back into the intake. Plumber got a flue assembly, but just replaced the inner, as the outer is cemented into the wall of course. The pressure monitoring had got upset, causing it to pop on and off erratically, and the relays had been damaged, so a new relay block was fitted.
About four years ago, some time after the flue issue, the fan motor got sticky bearings. It squeaked a lot, but also seized occasionally. I replaced the motor, but a few days later, it would start up, then run for only a few seconds, and shut down again, repeating every few minutes. A websearch found an answer, seizing motors put stress on the circuit board, requiring a new one.
A reconditioned board was available, for about £50, but delivery in 5 days, with a substantial deposit, refundable when you send the old one back.
A brand new one was available, for about £120, about 15 minute drive away. (Plumbase have a distibution centre nearby, open to retail sales.)
This was winter. So off we went, and 40 minutes later returned with the new board. Took 12 minutes to fit, all working fine again, and soon warm and toasty. Still working fine now.

Can't see the need to replace it, with a combi, with so much replumbing to be done. Any money saved in using less gas would give payback some time after I'm dead.

The gas section we must not touch, but the mechanical stuff is separate, and can be fixed without disturbing the gas.

New and fancy, not always better.

The Panda Nut said:

Service cost of the two year service for the Panda twin air.

I asked for last years parts back...

As to the cost of plugs I am nearly speechless.

Click to expand...

£50?

Each..??

portland_bill said:

Seems difficult to find a good plumber, although we are well served here. When we bought the house, September 1995, it had a coal-fired heating system. There was a gas supply to the house, but not used, so we had a new gas boiler fitted, with the necessary changes to the system, all for around £1300.
The boiler is a Potterton, gravity fed system, and is still going strong, just over 25 years later, although a little like 'Trigger's broom'.
A few years ago, the inner flue corroded, allowing some exhaust to feed back into the intake. Plumber got a flue assembly, but just replaced the inner, as the outer is cemented into the wall of course. The pressure monitoring had got upset, causing it to pop on and off erratically, and the relays had been damaged, so a new relay block was fitted.
About four years ago, some time after the flue issue, the fan motor got sticky bearings. It squeaked a lot, but also seized occasionally. I replaced the motor, but a few days later, it would start up, then run for only a few seconds, and shut down again, repeating every few minutes. A websearch found an answer, seizing motors put stress on the circuit board, requiring a new one.
A reconditioned board was available, for about £50, but delivery in 5 days, with a substantial deposit, refundable when you send the old one back.
A brand new one was available, for about £120, about 15 minute drive away. (Plumbase have a distibution centre nearby, open to retail sales.)
This was winter. So off we went, and 40 minutes later returned with the new board. Took 12 minutes to fit, all working fine again, and soon warm and toasty. Still working fine now.

Can't see the need to replace it, with a combi, with so much replumbing to be done. Any money saved in using less gas would give payback some time after I'm dead.

The gas section we must not touch, but the mechanical stuff is separate, and can be fixed without disturbing the gas.

New and fancy, not always better.

Click to expand...

We moved to our present house 36 years ago when our 3rd child was due and there was just no way we were all going to fit into our then wee end terrace.

The new house was actually a new build, on a small estate not half a mile from where we then lived, which we put a deposit down on before they even dug the founds! The build was quite advanced for it's day with ordinary brick outside but using heat insulating blocks for the inner courses (they are very light, almost like aero chocolate bars if you can imagine) with polystyrene sheets faced with heat reflective foil on one side fixed to the cavity side of the blocks - so we still have a cavity between the outer brick and insulated blocks/polystyrene sheets so air can still circulate. A number of people on the estate took up the relatively recent "craze" to have insulating material blown into their cavities for increased insulation and some are now having problems with damp patches on interior walls. I did think about doing this, so glad now that I didn't! - It, like you, had a gravity fed Potterton Netaheat boiler system. This proved very reliable and, no doubt due largely to the insulated walls, actually cheaper to run than our old end terrace (which surprised us as the new house is detached and quite a bit bigger).

After many years of very reliable service - and being serviced by a service contract with our "big name" gas company - the boiler failed. A faulty circuit board was diagnosed and replaced. A couple of years went by and the same board failed again. It too was replaced. Then one morning I got up to go to work and realized the heating wasn't on. The boiler was cycling through it's startup procedure - Fan starts and runs. Relay clicks (which provides current to the main gas valve) gas valve opens and lights pilot which then soon ignites the main burner - The fan was running and the relay was clicking but, after a brief run of the fan it was all shutting down again before trying again in an endless attempt to get going. I turned it all off and called the emergency line before going off to work. Mid afternoon Mrs J called to say they'd been but needed a part they didn't have with them and they'd be back tomorrow so she'd put the immersion on.

It took them two days to make contact with us just to tell us there was a shortage of the part needed and they'd be in touch when they'd got one. Unfortunately it was Mrs J who had answered the call and she hadn't thought to ask what it was they were trying to get. Several days went by and Mrs J started getting very niggly (you'll all know what I mean guys?) So I rang the emergency number and got passed around a few non technical people before managing to speak to someone who could tell me that the job card reported a fan failure on my job so new fan needed and there weren't any in the country. Damn!

This news caused Mrs J to go into semi meltdown - a condition which always, in desperation to restore normality and family harmony, brings out max effort on my part! So, more so it would look like I was doing my best, I took the casing off the front of the boiler for a look see (of course I'd never touch anything to do with the gas side) and it was as I was doing this that I had a "lightening flash" moment! - Hang on, I thought, the bloody fan runs though doesn't it? how can it be the fan at fault? - So i stripped the fan out of the casing, clamped it in my garage vice, connected power (mains, cringe) to it and, standing well back, flicked the switch. Fan ran perfectly. It wasn't until later that I realized the fan motor was uninsulated so the metal vice would have been live whilst I had the power on! Luckily I didn't touch it and the bench top is wooden - someone was definitely looking out for me that day!

Now, having had no working boiler for over a week and feeling pretty annoyed, I rang the emergency line to report my belief that they had diagnosed the fault wrongly. Incredibly they wouldn't believe me and chastised me for working on a gas appliance. I demanded to speak to a "technical" person who pretty much repeated the script to me whereupon I pretty much "lost it"! The voice then said, "look sir, I can see this is very upsetting for you and this is highly irregular but, although I'm sure our engineer will have correctly diagnosed your fault, just this once I'm going to authorize a second opinion so You can expect an engineer to call this afternoon.

That afternoon the chap arrived and I showed him the fan running in my vice. he nearly had a fit, pointing out that the vice would be live, but agreed that it definitively proved the fan was absolutely fine! He reinstalled the fan and after about 5 minutes came into the living room and told us the main gas valve was stuck. Not worth trying to free it up/clean it out so new one needed - Oh dear God, here we go again, I thought. But no, "I think I've got one in the back of the van" and he had us all up and running again within about a half hour.

A few years after this Mrs J decided we really had to have a new kitchen - I couldn't see anything wrong with the old one, but have to agree that the new one does look great. Was it worth the cost though? - and part of that was to update the boiler (It was starting to play up again taking about 3 or 4 times longer to complete it's fire up procedure, I think due to the pressure switch which I could have replaced myself as it's electrical not on the gas side, but I went with the plan for a new, potentially more economic to run, installation.) Mrs J didn't want to loose the hot water tank in the airing cupboard and, after consulting my boiler friend, we settled on a condensing Worcester Bosch but not a Combi. So far, probably about 8 years or thereabouts after installation, it's going just fine and definitely using less gas although some of that is probably due to me doubling the depth of loft insulation - what a horrible job which I will never undertake again! The old Potterton must have weighed a ton. It took 3 of them to carry it out and they damaged the back door with it on the way! I noticed it's flue was, like yours, badly corroded.

It was shortly after this that I helped one of our neighbours get her car started and, chatting away as I do, mentioned our troubles. "Oh, my boyfriend's a gas engineer" she said, "you should speak to him" So, next time I saw him I did. Turns out he's a wee two man band specializing in "problems" others can't solve - a very knowledgeable chap. The outcome was I scrapped the maintenance contract and he's looked after my boiler ever since. Which reminds me it's actually due a service now.

Reminds me of a saga after we bought our first flat. Tiny flat, electric heating, but gas hot water, 'on demand' from a boiler made in France.
Soon after we moved in, there was a drip of water from it. I removed the cover, to see a water valve body below the gas valve, with water dripping from it.
Like a car water pump has a hole in the neck to the pulley, so coolant can leak out if the seals fail, this had a similar hole up the neck to the gas valve.
Not having had gas before, I just called British Gas (Yes, I know now).
Apponitment for 3 days later, 'afternoon', so anywhere between 12-6pm. Went to work in the morning, but left early to be home before midday. Around 5pm, a young lad arrived, in his own car, rather scruffy, both him and the car. He looked at the machine, borrowed my step ladder to reach the top screw to remove the cover, then stared at it with a look sugested he'd never seen anything like it before. Not a good sign. He pointed vaguely towards the whole thing and declared we need a new one of 'those'. And off he went, after saying BG would be in touch when the part arrived.

10 days later, a call from BG, part arrived, so appointment made. Again an afternoon.
Sat in all afternoon, then at 6pm, car drew up, then a few minutes later, off he went again. No door knock.

This flat bridged a gap between houses, so was all upstairs and the boiler was under the stairs, so accessible from underneath. Gave a big storeroom, so we'd plumbed the washing machine in there too. Too late to get an answer from BG.

Next day, on phone to BG, apparently they'd lost the part. Boy had checked our 'outhouse', but it hadn't been delivered there, so off he went. "What if it had been in the house?" Their poor apologies didn't appease me. Part would have to be reordered, so another wait.

The boiler did have the instruction manual, which included fitting instructions, and a parts diagram. The water valve housing contained a diaphragm with a needle attached, which pushed on the gas valve above. Above the diaphragm was a seal plate, with a tiny seal for the needle. (like a sewing bodkin, ask your gran) The manual also gave a number for the importer.

A call to the importer got a prompt answer, put through to a technical guy, who explained that this was common, and a simple repair, and could be done by anyone with simple skills, as the gas section was unaffected. Explaining my background, he was sure this was simple for me, and transfered me to the parts department. Parts ordered. Total time on phone, about 10 minutes. Jiffy bag arrived next day.

6 tiny 3mm screws, with 6mm heads, 4 corroded in, took a bit of time to undo without damage, then bottom of housing came off, needle and seal pulled down, new ones in place, and bottom refitted. All good, no leaks, total cost less than £10. Total time, about 90 minutes, 75 of which were freeing off corroded screws.

Called BG next day, to cancel the order. Lady on phone was stunned that repair was simple, and more so at the cost. I got the impression that the boy had ordered a complete water/gas valve assembly, costing hundreds, one of which they'd lost, and another on the way. Lucky escape for my bank balance.

Only other time I've used them, apart from gas supply, was when we moved in here and got the boiler fitted. Got a quote from Bg for comparison only. Three times the price of the local one-man band.

GREEN NEWS..

Airships are our future..city hops could use 85% less energy

Where do I start..
Typical 'Internal Flight'.Bristol to Edinburgh as an Example

Probably @1.5hours in a widebodied Jet
So typically 80/150 people

Car @7 hours 4 people

Commercial flights are virtually 'all weather'.. car journeys similar

An airship..?? Probably not
Passenger capacity...100max I suspect

Journey time 4 or 5 hours..in perfect conditions

Last time I saw Airships in the news..
@20 years ago a German company were joing to use it like an aerial crane..

A few years later it became this

tropical-islands.de

A Centerparks tropical themed holiday park in a disused hangar

Time will tell

A research centre south of Oxford has been working on 'green'..er airline propulsion for 40 years.. a bit like electric cars its not going far until some proper cash gets sent its way.

varesecrazy said:

GREEN NEWS..

Airships are our future..city hops could use 85% less energy

Where do I start..
Typical 'Internal Flight'.Bristol to Edinburgh as an Example

Probably @1.5hours in a widebodied Jet
So typically 80/150 people

Car @7 hours 4 people

Commercial flights are virtually 'all weather'.. car journeys similar

An airship..?? Probably not
Passenger capacity...100max I suspect

Journey time 4 or 5 hours..in perfect conditions

Last time I saw Airships in the news..
@20 years ago a German company were joing to use it like an aerial crane..

A few years later it became this

tropical-islands.de

A Centerparks tropical themed holiday park in a disused hangar

Time will tell

A research centre south of Oxford has been working on 'green'..er airline propulsion for 40 years.. a bit like electric cars its not going far until some proper cash gets sent its way.

Click to expand...

The technical definition of a “wide bodied jet” is having 3 rows of seats internally so something like a Boeing 747, 777 or 787 as well as the Airbus A380 or A350 typically a internal flight or short haul would be more like an Airbus A320 or Boeing 737. Which are not wide bodies. (Some of the engine cowlings on something like the 787 is actually larger in diameter than a 737 body.

Everything else is true.

I don’t see anyone wanting to get on an airship and taking 2 -3 hrs to travel from one city to another when a 737 will do it in 50 mins (actually I once did stanstead to Edinburgh and I think the total flight time was only about 50 mins)

The other issue is how are you going to justify massive airships when there is already a problem with a shortage of helium (we all know how big a bag you get with hydrogen) can anyone really justify filling a massive airship with helium if just to fly a short haul flight when there is a shortage of helium for use in medical equipment

Was out with a mate and his wife yesterday, on the strength of the Mazda he actually bought a brand new CX-5 few years ago. Parked up in the car park end of the day with the 3 and the CX-5 and it's basically a car from another time and looks so much more of a quality item than mine. It also does 45 to the gallon despite being a petrol automatic in an Suv so witch craft is occurring.

With new job etc. Standing thinking hmm...maybe I could re-instate new car plans..then my son decides while we are standing chatting that today is the day he is going to learn how to put himself in his seat. Clearly bored of us chatting on, lovely moment as my mate visibly winces as a toddler first steps on the side skirt..then on the the sill (carefully avoiding the standard plastic kick plate) and finally on the seat before flopping into his seat.

At which point I remember why I've got a bit of shed car..dust the foot prints off the upholstery and carry on chatting.

One day..I'll get a nice car