The thing is, mental health has always been an issue and I - along with many others - don't believe it's any worse (proportionally) than it ever was in the past, it's just that we know more about how to identify different types of mental health issues and we're becoming a global community, so whereas in the past you might have only know about 1-2 people in your circle who may have had "issues" the circles are bigger now (whether we like it or not) so you see more examples. Autism has only fairly recently been recognised officially for example, but it's always existed we just weren't capable of diagnosing it, they were just labelled problem kids and the parents were scoffed at because they obviously did a poor job of raising them.

Really all the internet has done is made it easier for us to see the issues which were already there. Of course, what it's also done is given people with 'agendas' a big platform to push that agenda, and for whatever reason people seem to be incapable of filtering out the good from the bad and falling for everything they see/read. Again though, this has been an issue as long as we'd had the ability to share our ideas, thoughts and opinions - you wanna talk fake news, some of the oldest and most popular books in the world are still considered truthful despite the complete lack of evidence, or indeed evidence disproving huge portions of them...

My wife who is an expert in such matters would disagree. Also it's the web & devises that are causing the young problems. Nothing to do with problem kids Getting caught up with devises & not getting the feedback they want can lead to depression. May sound a trivial matter but as a care worker myself it certainly is a modern problem.

The thing is, not everyone can handle things appropriately . I don't "wunna" talk so called fake news, as a care worker I would like to be able to help, but that's a difficult task to say the least

jimboy said:

My wife who is an expert in such matters would disagree. Also it's the web & devises that are causing the young problems. Nothing to do with problem kids Getting caught up with devises & not getting the feedback they want can lead to depression. May sound a trivial matter but as a care worker myself it certainly is a modern problem.

The thing is, not everyone can handle things appropriately . I don't "wunna" talk so called fake news, as a care worker I would like to be able to help, but that's a difficult task to say the least

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I agree to some extent with what you’re saying and I also work regularly with people who fall into the trap of not getting enough likes. The other problems that exist are those who would use social media as a type of bullying in a thumbs up or thumbs down sense to attempt to make people feel bad about themselves or what they have posted. When I was a kid you had to call someone something to their face, where as now you can be a bully with a click of a button #progress

That said this is also only a small part of the mental health jigsaw, you can’t blame drug induced psychosis on social media for example.

Evolution is still in full swing even now and those who make the best of the tools available to them move forward, and progress, those who try to turn their back on anything new, will generally fall by the wayside as outsiders of society, because this is what society does, to turn your back on he progress of society is in effect to turn your back on society, and while it might feel fun for people to reminisce about the good old days, most of us generally do to want to go back.

Sadly the young today don’t know how to use the tools they have been given, while those who would teach them, didn’t have those tools when they were young. I grew up in the 80s I certainly wouldn’t go back. Those that never lived it probably see the romanticised version of events with electro pop and everyone rich on stock market money, well that wasn’t the 80s

AndyRKett said:

I agree to some extent with what you’re saying and I also work regularly with people who fall into the trap of not getting enough likes. The other problems that exist are those who would use social media as a type of bullying in a thumbs up or thumbs down sense to attempt to make people feel bad about themselves or what they have posted. When I was a kid you had to call someone something to their face, where as now you can be a bully with a click of a button #progress

That said this is also only a small part of the mental health jigsaw, you can’t blame drug induced psychosis on social media for example.

Evolution is still in full swing even now and those who make the best of the tools available to them move forward, and progress, those who try to turn their back on anything new, will generally fall by the wayside as outsiders of society, because this is what society does, to turn your back on he progress of society is in effect to turn your back on society, and while it might feel fun for people to reminisce about the good old days, most of us generally do to want to go back.

Sadly the young today don’t know how to use the tools they have been given, while those who would teach them, didn’t have those tools when they were young. I grew up in the 80s I certainly wouldn’t go back. Those that never lived it probably see the romanticised version of events with electro pop and everyone rich on stock market money, well that wasn’t the 80s

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I'm not suggesting for one minute that the web is the problem for everything that's wrong today, what I am saying it's the one thing that gets everywhere quickly & what ever message you have both good or bad, sadly the latter seems to out way the bad/scams & the people who are basically after your money, etc,etc. I grew up in the 60's & 70's in a wee North East village & all in all life was sweet. The swinging 60's didn't exactly swing for me but I grew up where people actually talked to each other, little trouble, little complications, good memories.

The 70's however were a different story for several factors Great times. Fortunately I wasn't part of the drug scene & things were happening, the music, the girls, having loads of mates.....ah good times.....:devil:

Funny that, went up the road for physio and at our local 9 hole there were son many flashing blue lights I thought Osma Bin Laden (wheelie bin joke) must have been found again. I hope no one was injured.

Still playing theoretical car bingo...

Possibly says something that the current idea I'm considering is...buying the C3 outright at the end of the 3 years pcp.

If you want a small family car the choices are so bloody limited. If I get a new 3...its not practical, the mk8 golf looks a bigger new Polo and a cure for insomnia. Perhaps the New Leon will save it.. The Focus is just malformed but it's no surprise the default choice is a fake off roader it's almost as though they've given up on ordinary cars. I'm actually looking forward to see the new Pug 308 (that in itself is sad and should be a sentence no one should have to type)..the 208 suggests it actually could be pretty cool and might even have a useful electric version.

I was looking at saving up a chunky deposit and getting a new car...but at this rate I'm probably better off using the money to buy about 75% of the C3 and get a 1 year loan for the rest so we have 2 paid for cars.

The Disadvantage of this would be that my new car would be a Kermit green Citroen with one previous lady test pilot. But the advantage would be she gets a car that can fit baby stuff and shopping...and I get a car with stop start that does 47mpg for my commute. It's about as manly as a set of hair straighteners but tbf my current car is the only car I've ever owned that actually had a bloke as the previous owner so wouldn't change the trend much

Yes we could keep our respective cars...but piling miles on the 9 year old car on the far side of 80k miles while the the 3 year old one which might have 10k miles by then sits around seems a bit arse over tit!

Are you and the wife going to swap cars then? As I know she was intending to drive the Mazda when you got a new car?

puntofan01 said:

Are you and the wife going to swap cars then? As I know she was intending to drive the Mazda when you got a new car?

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One possibility yes, though I'd be buying it out of the pcp so not so much swapping cars as buying it off the dealer. I mainly travel alone except weekends so for my commute the Mazda is unnecessarily large. She usually has the baby seat and pram in the smaller car..its all a bit backwards currently.

Main idea of the swap was that we reduce her monthly payments which this would achieve.

I must admit, I do quite like those C3s.

puntofan01 said:

I must admit, I do quite like those C3s.

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It's a nice thing to have around, not entirely sure how long it would run reliably but you never know with these. A mate of mine bought a 150 quid one as a stop gap after a perpetually broken 3 series and he's now had it longer than he had the 3 series. Its 14 years old with somewhere north of 120k miles on it, it's a shed but it won't die.

StevenRB45 said:

it, it's a shed but it won't die.

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A perfect description of my evo.

StevenRB45 said:

It's a nice thing to have around, not entirely sure how long it would run reliably but you never know with these. A mate of mine bought a 150 quid one as a stop gap after a perpetually broken 3 series and he's now had it longer than he had the 3 series. Its 14 years old with somewhere north of 120k miles on it, it's a shed but it won't die.

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The 1 thing that would bother me most, as with any current design, is having everything controlled by touchscreen. I'd much prefer to have physical buttons for the climate etc, and if I must have a touchscreen, then have that purely controlling the stereo. With regards to the C3, it's the only mainstream supermini that I find is actually good looking. Everything else is just meh. Sad times!

puntofan01 said:

The 1 thing that would bother me most, as with any current design, is having everything controlled by touchscreen. I'd much prefer to have physical buttons for the climate etc, and if I must have a touchscreen, then have that purely controlling the stereo. With regards to the C3, it's the only mainstream supermini that I find is actually good looking. Everything else is just meh. Sad times!

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It's got automatic climate control (all the touch screen C3s do I believe), you may use the screen for temperature once a month or so sometimes more sometimes less. Demist has it's own buttons, otherwise it's just a Nav and radio screen. Do prefer the Mazda set up I have now with a seven inch touch screen and climate control dials..but it's nowhere near as difficult as people may have you believe.

My main criticism if the car (other than wiring that looks terrible but has so far worked fine) would be that if you enjoy a spirited drive it's terrible at everything other than drag racing. But it's fun in it's own way it takes skill to carry speed on a twisty road in it without inducing sea sickness. Kinda reminds me of my old 55s mk1 a car which had no arbs and very low geared steering, but with twice as much power, grip and brakes that don't catch fire after 3 big stops.

Suicide is a huge issue for men, especially young men worldwide. And yet, Ulster University (representative of most of society) asks us if they’re doing enough to support the notion of 30+ genders .... interesting way to prioritise issues in or society. Sigh

Perhaps this should come under the title of "what's made me both grumpy and smile today"?

We've returned from our lengthy road trip down south to daughter and her family near Salisbury and Mrs Jock's sister in North Devon - been away best part of a month. We went in "Twinkle" our 2016 Ibiza ST 1.0 Ecomotive. "Becky", our 2010 Panda Dynamic Eco has been sleeping outside the garage (too much "stuff" inside for her to get in). So as both cars were looking pretty grubby I washed them today. Looking good?



Becky was looking shabby with lots of dark colored vertical water run off lines showing on her white paintwork. It all appeared to clean up nicely though except on the roof panel behind the glass roof, above the tailgate. Here there are a lot of little black spotty marks:







At first I thought it was atmospheric pollution - Any locals (Lothians) who remember "The Pumpherston Plague"? But closer examination would, I think, indicate it's some sort of organic (mould to you and me). Might try tar remover first and if no luck it'll be a good "T" cutting session and some polishing.

I'm interested to see what her battery is like so checked it before trying to start her, it read 12.02 volts. (That's better than I was expecting after almost a month of inactivity) She started after about 4 or 5 compression strokes and oil pressure built almost immediately - great! Battery voltage went to 14.7 volts within seconds so alternator obviously doing it's thing too! Another interesting thing happened. As I was reversing her out into the road and applying hard right lock, there was a definite wee creaky boing! noise from the near side. Pretty much a definitive example of the noise a corroded/partly seized strut top bearing makes. Then, going from full right lock to full left lock it did it again! Those who may have read other posts I made some time ago, when Becky was new to us, will know I've never been 100% happy with the feel of the steering - although Mrs Jock feels nothing - She feels a little "vague" in the straight ahead position with a very slight tendency to pull to the N/S - Becky that is, not Mrs Jock! - It's not pronounced and there is no obvious reason (worn ball joints, suspension bushes, rack, tyres, etc etc) although both strut top mounts look quite "tired" - Strangely the O/S looks worse than the N/S though. Anyway I'm going to do both and I'm expecting all my problems to go away (Ho Ho he chuckled into his hankie?)

Considering how much there's been on the TV lately about our insect population's decline I was surprised to see, on our journey south and then back north again, how many had met their end on Twink's front end. At least the Eco's, super aerodynamic, solid grill "look a like" is nice and easy to clean and I've got one of those "Bug Cloths" which help too. Coming from many years of Diesel engine driving I was nervous about buying this small capacity, quite highly stressed, turbo direct injection, petrol engined vehicle which is also an "Ecomotive". I still have reservations about the likely longevity of this quite highly stressed engine (it produces a most surprising amount of performance being not far off what the 1.9tdi Cordoba Vario I had before it could manage) The gearbox too seems a very lightweight jobbie by comparison. However we are just over 3 years in now with around 17,000 miles behind us and all seems well so far (there was a modified Turbo under warranty though at year 2. Failed wastegate. You can see the wastegate actuator arm is definitely different on the new one) She is more pleasant to drive being lighter and more nimble on her toes with the turbo giving enough shove to more than stay up with "the pack". - much more fun on fast country roads like the A702 heading back north from the M74/M6.

I was expecting not to get anything even close to the claimed fuel consumption figures but I've been surprised. I think I remember the salesman saying that, on the open road, she might achieve mpg figures in the low 70's? I don't record my fuel use just dodging around at home - I recon it's somewhere in the high 30/low 40 mpg range though - but on long journeys I zero the trip as I fill up and fill to the second click. I record all fuel used by the "second click" method and work out the MPG when we get home. I just filled up today and this time the overall figure was 62.4 mpg - The old Cordoba consistently did almost exactly 60 almost every time - this is the best yet and may be partially due to the car being now nicely loosened up, partially due to absolutely no holdups (heavy rain on the journey south though) and partially due to extended 30mph roadworks on the M6 on our way back north. We go Edinburgh A1/M1/M40/A34 to just north of Salisbury. Then Salisbury A303 (terrible traffic jams out of Salisbury on the Thursday before Easter with some very interesting and dodgy driving observed!) M5 North Devon Link road to Barnstaple. Some local trips around the Devon lanes Then back along the Link Road/M5/M6/M74/A702 and back through Edinburgh to home. I cruise on the cruise control at 70mph (yes honestly) whenever possible and obey all speed restrictions but enjoy a wee bit of "chucking it at the corners" when safe to do so on windy country roads so we're not creeping along like an old Grandad (even if I am one!). Barnstaple to Home in nine and a quarter hours (including a few "wee" stops).

PS - So that was the whole journey on less than one tankful (45 litres) with enough left for a journey next day (stating from cold) across the city to pick up our grandson from school and take him home before returning home ourselves with still one "pip" showing on the fuel gauge. That'll do me!

Pugglt Auld Jock said:

PS - So that was the whole journey on less than one tankful (45 litres) with enough left for a journey next day (stating from cold) across the city to pick up our grandson from school and take him home before returning home ourselves with still one "pip" showing on the fuel gauge. That'll do me!

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By which I mean the journey Barnstaple to Edinburgh. Not, obviously, the whole holiday!

From Salisbury you'd have no choice but I avoid the A303 like the plague. It's rammed full of pinch points that turn it into a car park to rival the M25 at school chucking out time. A 35 is better but too far south to help you very much and even that gets clogged at the Devon end.

StevenRB45 said:

It's got automatic climate control (all the touch screen C3s do I believe), you may use the screen for temperature once a month or so sometimes more sometimes less. Demist has it's own buttons, otherwise it's just a Nav and radio screen. Do prefer the Mazda set up I have now with a seven inch touch screen and climate control dials..but it's nowhere near as difficult as people may have you believe.

My main criticism if the car (other than wiring that looks terrible but has so far worked fine) would be that if you enjoy a spirited drive it's terrible at everything other than drag racing. But it's fun in it's own way it takes skill to carry speed on a twisty road in it without inducing sea sickness. Kinda reminds me of my old 55s mk1 a car which had no arbs and very low geared steering, but with twice as much power, grip and brakes that don't catch fire after 3 big stops.

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I'd still rather not have a touchscreen tbh. The set up I'm used to is old, but works perfectly: the climate control has it's own physical controls, and the stereo can be controlled by the steering wheel buttons.

And I don't think that the handling would be a problem for me, it sounds like it's good fun at legal speeds: perfect!

Pugglt Auld Jock said:

Perhaps this should come under the title of "what's made me both grumpy and smile today"?

We've returned from our lengthy road trip down south to daughter and her family near Salisbury and Mrs Jock's sister in North Devon - been away best part of a month. We went in "Twinkle" our 2016 Ibiza ST 1.0 Ecomotive. "Becky", our 2010 Panda Dynamic Eco has been sleeping outside the garage (too much "stuff" inside for her to get in). So as both cars were looking pretty grubby I washed them today. Looking good?

View attachment 199972

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Of course the Panda looks good! Not sure about the seat though. [emoji14]

puntofan01 said:

Of course the Panda looks good! Not sure about the seat though. [emoji14]

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But of course, that's why I put the Panda (Becky) in front of the camera!