Fozzie

Good morning, been an immensely busy couple of weeks. Now winding down as I go into the weekend, which I'm spending away in London with a friend. Due to a double booking by my friends partner, who has agreed to let a friend of hers stay on the Saturday night, me and my friend will have to share a bed. We are 6ft 2 and 6ft 3, both between 90-100kg in a small double pull out bed. 10 years ago this would have just been a funny anecdote that produced a number of gay jokes, pushing 34, it's a "we are too old for this sh*t" moment

I think I know what the deal is with smart meters, as I had a lot to do with industrial grade meters around the time they rolled out. The short of it as I've been told, there are limited suppliers of the types of smart meters, and they have a communications protocol that differs quite a bit as they had no idea on how to standardise. Everyone had their own idea on what the standard should be, and the protocol the meters use can differ by different versions of the same bit of kit. This meant that now they put these devices in and the equipment the energy companies uses to read their data is often mismatched. And they've not a clue how to figure out what you've got, or what they need to connect to it, the call centre staff effectively try to refresh a connection that will never work. Or at least, these are the details passed onto me. It's a problem that can be fixed, but as many people have smart meters that work, they aren't motivated to currently. Mine didn't work for 3 years, then seemed to spit into life one day.

I didn't know they did cruises to Alaska. I'd love to go to Canada or the Alaska area to have a chance at kayaking, and looking for Orca pods. Also try my hand at hiking and visiting one or two of the more famous glaciers. I'm currently losing the race with my partners body clock, so don't know if it will happen before kids come along, but a cruise might be a happy medium. A lot of the hotels in that area cost the earth for a good one, which is the limiting factor.

Happy birthday! Sounds very civilised... Unless you're leaving out one of the friends being a stripper or something?

Have a good one!

Never been a fan of these personally, I always thought they needed a bit more unique styling as it always looked like it was from the Honda VFR family, which had pointier looks. The engine could have done with about 20bhp more as well. Weirdly though, I loved the Tiger 1050, which has the same engine. That bike could do with a good stripping back that's for sure though. Hopefully it gets someone who treats it as a labour of love!

I did my grading last night. I felt a bit run down still from last weeks flu, my fitness had a big dent in it. My heart was pounding, and I was sweating like mad. But I did it, and I got my red belt The sensei who helped out and was the uki for the grading did say after I was run through my paces a lot more than the other two. And while I immediately took that to mean "they had doubts then?", he assured it is more likely they were pushing to test what I could do and how adaptive I was. The head of the club is a 7th Dan so I tried not to squander the chance to raise my profile with him. As I'd like to take this all the way through to black belt at the least!

I came to a similar conclusion, although with New Zealand. I'd live there quite happily. The climate is much more comfortable as well, and the terrain more varied... Oh and less in the way of bugs/reptiles that can kill you! The job market is a lot better than you have over here, the cost of living is high but the wages are more in line with it than they are in the UK. Around 2017, I asked a few questions and even had a job interview to discuss the logistics and sponsoring me for a work visa, but I had a lot going on at the time that made me park it. I've asked my Mrs if she'd like to go, but was a flat no, apparently her mum would have my head Oh well, no mountain roads and Polynesian spas for me...

I've been a couple of times, and did some touring (non motorbike unfortunately). The city areas are great for riding, and some of the local mountainous areas present amazing roads, but so much of Oz is just barren flat and arid land, I wouldn't do anything cross country. Australia is actually a country I once swore to never go back to again, owing to the fact I do not mesh well with long haul flights, and I blew up a sinus on the descent. I'd gotten ill during the flight and it sealed up, creating a pressure pocket that tore as the pressure changed on the way down. Now my sister lives there, I'm going to have to change that outlook

Good afternoon, Still recovering a bit from last weeks flu. Was up at 4am yesterday to take my sister to the airport, was a long drive to Heathrow, very teary goodbyes. She landed safely in Australia this morning, and has hit the ground there with a job and a place to live... Pretty good going, although I selfishly hope she doesn't love it enough to stay. Got my grading tomorrow at Jui-Jitsu, should be fun. I have the advantage that my girlfriends dad is a third dan, so I went over to his and did a bit of training with the promise of buying him a beer. Doing 2 gradings in one night, and I'm feeling good about it.

Saying goodbye to my sister, who is moving to Australia to start a new life with her fella. I am both extremely proud, and devastated at once. I'm one of three, and we are very close.

My family has an old king Charles spaniel, who has been deaf for the past 3 years or 4 years. Weirdly, he needs to be kept on a lead at all times now as he lunges for other dogs and tries to bite them. As a younger dog, he was terrified of everything and stayed away, so he was off lead, and while he couldn't bite through a stick of butter, he could set off a bad situation with the wrong dog, so he stays on lead at all times. Not sure what caused the personality shift, age? I love animals, but pets aren't compatible with me. Part of it is long hours working, and often away, but the main thing is I am very allergic to most dogs. Cats I can manage, I've had a fair few. And a lot of small animals, as well as fish. I'd really like to keep birds, but my girlfriend has firmly said no so consequently there's no plans to have pets anytime soon . My girlfriends mum always adopts her dogs from abroad, which obviously live in horrible conditions, her most recent came from Cyprus. Little fella, no idea what breed, but very clearly had a rough life. I understand her thinking, as a few years back I visited Turkey and there were thousands of strays, and often treated like vermin, seeming to rely a lot on tourists to feed them.

Good afternoon, I think I've got the flu. Night time fever and hallucinations, next to no sleep, temperature all over the show and a throat that feels like it's full of razor blades. Seem to be turning a corner now but I had to stop work yesterday and take the day to just lie down and recover. On the upside, my car has been fixed, and is all sorted. So that little drama is over. I'm desperately missing my old car though, impractical as it was. I don't usually attach to my cars the way I do with my bikes, but I did love hooning about in it.

Good afternoon! Took the car back to the garage, and it was confirmed quickly to be the rear wheel bearing on the left side. Guess is a defect at manufacture caused premature failure. Got a courtesy car, it should be back to me by the end of the week. The salesman was very apologetic, and to be fair to them, it got bad very quickly so I believe him when he says he didn't hear it, so I didn't give any of them a hard time over it. Chalk it up to teething issues.

Kia Xceed, a repetitive crunching/grinding noise that is irregular at lower speeds, and becomes regular at higher speeds. Like a badly warped and corroded disc, but the brakes being on doesn’t quiet the noise as would usually happen. Front wheel drive, so I’m guessing a bad hub on the back.

Good evening, Just back from a weekend away at the Cotswolds, a surprise 60th present for my partners dad arranged by his partner. My girlfriends sister, husband and 2 kids were there too, so a lot of the weekend revolved around keeping the little ones entertained. Went swimming, played games, and did a nature zoo/park type thing today. New car was picked up on Friday, but it's got a grumble coming from the back, which has suddenly deteriorated over the weekend. Sounds like a wheel bearing is failing quickly, unusual for a 1 year old car with 9k miles... Anyone else have anything like that on such a young car? But the dealership are prioritising it so it hopefully gets fixed tomorrow, hopefully just a small teething issue. Serves me right for test driving another one thinking that was enough to put money on another in the trim and colour I liked. Niece fell asleep in the back of it when she wanted to tag along for a drive out, so that's a plus for it.

I was thinking about this recently and speculated on it. Over covid, a lot of people got dogs, in addition to kids and all sorts. Outside activity was suddenly held in a very high regard. Now we are a few years down the line with the "new normal", which involves a lot of people working from home and can take on more responsibility like a dog. I think this has caused a surge in bad behaving owners, there's a lot more dog muck on the pavements and parks now. Unfortunately the impulsive types who went for the dogs often end up being the lazy ones too, which courts challenge from the "serious but sensitive" types. This jogger sounds like he has it in for dog walkers, to the point the police know it. Wouldn't be surprised if he outright tried to ensure it happened. It'll be bad eggs on either side causing trouble for all in the middle, and influencing others as well. I've also seen a large amount of dog walking and day care businesses open up around my area too. I imagine keeping track of 6 dogs at once is hard, and a lot of dog muck is missed. They are often lethal on the roads, I guess being distracted by the multiple over stimulated dogs in the back. It all leaves a bad impression on other people. I don't think the police have enforced anything on you, it's just a polite request. So I suggest just carrying on as you were, especially if the dog is good on recall and doesn't fuss others. I'd have a big dog, but I'm very allergic. Doesn't stop me wrestling my friends Alsatian though

In person the green looked ok, but the “blue flame” was the best colour. A big positive is my mrs says I can part ex her car for anything I like… I had a crazy moment where I thought “project car” like an old MR2 that I could turbo charge, I love the old Jap coupes. But I’m supposed to be reducing the amount of projects, not increasing

Kia Xceed, but I'll be getting one in blue, or black. Hoping it does everything for the next decade. Gives time for electric cars to develop and the infrastructure for them to be rolled out... Or they crack synthetic fuels. I think there's not too much point investing in one at the moment, unless you've got access to cheap charging.

Good afternoon, I sold my car today. Absolutely loved it, and will be sorely missed, but onto something a bit more adult. On the upside, I got about £3k more for it than both garages I spoke to offered in part ex. That took the sting out of it.

I did this once, I accumulated 4 bikes in various states of project/repair. Kept 2 in a friends garage, who I later moved in with after breaking up with that partner. He joked when I came through the door "I'd say welcome, but half your sh*ts already here".

Good morning! Fairly chilled weekend, although I've just seen the locked thread on this section that some folk had little else to do with their Saturday. January isn't half dragging on for me this year, I feel like the end of this week ought to be Feb, but it's a week on Thursday. Mrs was meant to do dry January, she's so far failed to make it a single weekend without having a drop

If you're cleaning up your diet, I can help here as I tweak macro's all the time based on what particular training goal I have. I was scared into it when I tried to get more into bodybuilding for a while, as my gym took blood every 3 months and it showed a quickly escalating situation with my cholesterol. The big targets are removing processed foods, added sugars, and limiting things like alcohol consumption. It's surprisingly little known that alcohol can essentially switch off your bodies ability to burn fat for a duration after it is consumed, due to its effect on the liver. Look at good "fakeaway" recipes, I did some of those via slimming world when a previous partner was using it, but I just jacked up the portion size. You can keep meat in the diet, but scrap beef and lamb for the time being. I eat a lot of pasta dishes with vege based sauces, stir fries with shrimp/prawns (really good with a little bit of sweet chilli), chicken gyros type dishes with and without the pitta/wraps. And where you do eat carbs, switch to wholemeal variants. I walk somewhere in the region of 30 miles a week, mostly going to the gym. Just put your music in and zone out for 45-60 minutes. If you feel like going further, I highly suggest adjustable dumbbells, a bar bell, an EZ-bar, and resistance bands. You can just about hit every muscle group with those, and sore muscles consume more calories to repair. You'll find what's right for you when it becomes second nature to do it, and you're seeing results, but it can take a while to find the right strategy, so I suggest switching things up every 6 weeks and keeping track of what works.

My girlfriend has a twin sister who has two kids, and her car has been great apparently. I've seen them loading prams and all sorts into the back, and the rear door swing was good. It's a compact SUV so I used that as my reference, and the Kia has a slightly larger boot, a lower boot lip and the rear doors are fairly similar in the size of opening. I'm careful with comparing to others, as some people consider a 1 litre fast enough. So that's why I had a big emphasis on not being bored by the engine. I buy my cars outright usually, sometimes with help from a personal loan, only done PCP once and while I see the advantages to it in certain cases, it's not for me. With the Kia, I'm going approved used so I get the full 7 year warranty, which I'm pleased with. As I intend to run this thing into the ground, unless any major issues pop up that make it more economical to replace. But you're right, could have kids in a couple of years, and end up with a lot of envy of friends who have the Sportage. A bigger SUV type. But I can blame that on the mrs, as she didn't like the interior of that model

I probably shouldn't have laughed, but I did! There was talk of some threatening legal action against the DVLA from those who suffered the same thing. I just admitted defeat and cut back for a year or two to get that very high risk insurance claim year out of the way... Again.