Fozzie

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.

The old paper license would show you had a motorcycle licence (albeit restricted) from a certain date. For me that was October 2008. When they shifted to the new format, I replaced my license for a new one as I'd changed address and I noticed the new license said October 2010, in line with when the 33BHP restriction ended. My old plastic license showed I had a full license with a <25kW condition next to it. I sent my insurer a copy of the old paper license, the plastic counterpart and my test certificate. And argued that I had held a license from 2008, not 2010. The license is full as I required no re-test and the restriction automatically expired after 2 years. It was a temporary condition of the license, not like the new 15/47bhp license types where you require re-test to move up a size. My insurer said they couldn't take my invalid license types and that they'd trust the new plastic license I had over the test certificate. The DVLA were even more unhelpful... Who basically said "You've held an unrestricted license since 2010... It's technically correct. We can't do anything". I wrote back with examples where people had the 25kW limit removed 2 years later, and the date on their license did not change, so I was being held to a different standard that was causing me a financial burden. They wouldn't budge. And I know what the problem was, they moved to a new system, and had no f**king clue how to account for anything outside of its new rules. My insurance premium went up from £800 to £2000. I was so angry (and poor, as I was like 21), I cancelled the insurance, and sold the bike I had for something much cheaper to insure. They knocked 2 years off my experience, and then didn't see the contradiction that they'd insured me for the 2 years previous before I apparently passed my test... Still boils my blood a bit today.

Happy (as much as it can be) birthday. Sounds like you need no excuse to have a stiff drink today with the day you're having. Hope all are healthy and well soon!

Did my CBT in August 2006 to get on a 50cc to college, 2 years later when the CBT ran out and I wanted something bigger than a 125cc 2-stoke. I did my restricted 33bhp test in 2008 after a 3 day intensive course for about £400. But my license today says I have held a license since 2010, because when the format changed it didn't know how to interpret my 33bhp restriction. That really stung as it effectively deleted 2 years off my license holding history, and insurers interpreted me as a new rider... Even though I had the same bike insured with them for over a year already.

My day job is in engineering so I'm quite technically minded, so I might have an advantage there. Haggling can get a bit interesting, as I have zero tolerance for pushy sales tactics. And I'm fine with little errors, but if I feel it's too much I can ask pointed questions already knowing the answers. A chap at Ford told 3 or 4 pretty bad lies about a Puma we were looking at, and if I really want a car, I'll stay polite and level but I can speak quite bluntly. And it's hard to recover from that, and I've walked away from deals I was silly to turn down really. Even if it's a point of principle, it has cost me a lot over the years Thanks for the info! I noticed the sharp clutch on Hyundai's, which I believe shares the same parent company so I guess they share a parts bin. It was like a switch more than a clutch! When I took the Xceed for a spin, it didn't have the same issue. Does need a bit of gas to get it off the line though, after which it pulls quite hard. But nothing a race chip module won't sort out if it bothers me, usually they add a good chunk of torque to the turbo engines

Good afternoon! Car shopping went well on the weekend, I went around a few garages. Ford, BMW, Kia, and Hyundai. The one me and my good lady agreed on was a Kia Xceed. It's everything I should need for the next 10+ years, and deals with the possibility of kids, and all sorts. Just hashing out final details as there's a few in the trim and price bracket I like. On the upside, I've been told I can have my girlfriends car to trade in for something I like down the line... When I've recovered financially...

I’m very similar, I bought a new car once and had huge buyers remorse. 20% of its value vanished during its first drive. I said never again, and only buy 1-3 year old cars in the spec I like. I suspect this next car will be my last petrol. As in a decade or so I imagine electric cars will have moved on a bit, and the infrastructure there to support them.

Good morning! Off car shopping today. Boring as it is. Getting to the time I get rid of the quick 3 door hatch and get something more practical. Something that I can reliably run for 10+ years, and can potentially throw a couple of kids in the back of if they happen. It just needs to not bore me to tears. It’s probably going to end up being Kia… What have I become?

At one time I would, but I've had a few confrontations in this Asda car park about this same roundabout. And "Confidently wrong" doesn't describe these people well. One I had to slam on as he just veered over the lanes, I gave a quick blast of the horn. He must have thought I was following him through the various bends to the petrol station, and he stopped in the lane just ahead of the fuel station, got out, and came to confront me. I just drove around him shaking my head, and went to fill up, and it was awkward after that. He went from ready for a scrap, to refusing to make eye contact. I assume he felt a bit daft. Another actually confronted me in the Asda carpark, older chap and his wife told me to hand my license back. I was calm, but very blunt when I said "I will take you around right now, and if I was in the wrong lane, I will pay for your weekly shop. And if I'm right, I don't want anything". Seemed to baffle them more than anything. The roundabout was a crap design, but they tweaked it so the lanes are now really clearly marked. I felt smug when it was first built, whereas now it's more despair

The other day, at a roundabout coming off the motorway, 3 lanes go into 4. The outside lane is for those joining the motorway, and for people who took the wrong exit to rejoin. All 3 lanes go right around the roundabout, clearly marked. I'm in the left most lane, and a guy behind me goes into the outer lane for the motorway, tries to go around me and then beeps at me for being in the lane he wants to be in going around the roundabout. He got the wrong lane, but thinks I did. I raise my hand in a gesture of "what's your problem?". Go around the Trafford centre, get to a roundabout where the tram cuts through. This always causes problems, as people just ignore the sign posts and road markings. They've even painted X marks on the road to guide people. They still f**k it up, those in the middle lane just beeline for the outer lane as if it's their right. It isn't. Of course this driver has positioned to me on my left, glaring at me, girlfriend too... I just pull an incredulous look. The lights change, and I nip off the line, but follow the lane markings. And the inevitable happens, this car wants the lane I'm in again, and this time is flashing and beeping. I assume they think I've cut them up on purpose. The girlfriend has her head out the window screaming something. I get to Asda, park up. And they stop behind me to shout at me. Seeing the guy is built like a pair of skinny jeans is a loose fit, I feel confident walking up and just saying "you were in the wrong lane for both roundabouts". Que instant shrieking and various accusations. I just said "go back around both, look on google maps, and check the road markings and sign posts". Got told to f**k off before they sped off, to the Costco next door.

I did a light resto one one of these last year, although it was a 1996 model. Generally speaking they are good to work on! You've got the best bodywork colours in my view, so that will really help sell it when it comes to that time. Another good thing is they come apart quite easily, you don't get the same fight with crusty bolts that I've had on some Kawasaki's and Suzuki's that I do with Honda's. So you could drop the engine and get the frame properly treated, and powder coated perhaps? Or you could probably treat the rust and paint yourself and get a good result, especially if keeping it the same colour. The only issue with these old steel frames are they do corrode quite badly if just left. From memory as well the swingarms are really prone to corrosion, which can make them a bugger to remove.

It's not legally enforced, but the guidance is 16 degrees for office work, 13 degrees for physical work. If it gets to 13 degrees, I reckon you could make a case to go home. If a few of you do the same, you'll see just how urgently a business fixes problems when it hits their productivity!

Morning Did a very cold, but sunny hike over Dragons back this weekend. Got half way until the more rookie members of the group couldn't make one of the climbs. To be fair, it was slick and steep. One fall and you'd have had time to call your life insurer before you hit the bottom. Got us into a nice warm pub that bit sooner anyway.