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oldgregg

Tech Team
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Everything posted by oldgregg

  1. Everything I've heard about the NDR from people in infrastructure seems to suggest that the Western Link was always planned, but that the council knew they'd never get the cost approved to build it in one go so they split the project into two. The overall cost of doing so (allowing for inflation, analysis etc) is almost certainly going to be more but that's public sector procurement...
  2. Take this with a massive pinch of salt because it's from those talented folk at Archant. https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/local-council/20769218.controversial-175-000-bat-bridges-ndr-work-surveys-reveal/
  3. Gotta love 'Stives'. We've not been since autumn 2020... At which point any sort of holiday anywhere felt like an absolute luxury. A sunny week in Cornwall even more so. Only the other day we were saying how we need to get back there. Time for a pint in the sloop, and lunch at the Seafood Cafe .
  4. I think that's the sweet spot. The post-2011 cars have more power but way more problems. I'm 6'2" with fairly long legs so a lot of cars don't fit me properly.... Z4's are better than most, though.
  5. It's surprising how many low-mileage examples there are out there, even in the first gen. They do seem to be a car that people keep a long time and cherish. I'm guessing you went for a pre-LCI with the N52? I test drove an LCI (I think it was a 2013 car) 20i at Inchcape and it was a lovely car in many ways, but without the six pot it didn't really 'feel' like a BMW roadster. I think the 23i and 30i are probably the ones to go for. 24,000 is properly good though! If you do ever think about selling, I could be interested.
  6. I think he's got one with the M54 though.... That and the N52 are pretty solid. It's the later turbocharged stuff with direct injection that is troublesome. I'm currently trying to work out which Z4 to buy. It's a bit of a minefield, but generally DI and turbo(s) = trouble - NA and port injection = reliable.
  7. Well... Blue Mist had a go at an alternative during lockdown
  8. There's a few Supreme Commanders floating about... One has been ruined by some idiot painting the blue gel white, but plenty still around these parts.
  9. Yeah they're very good for the money. I've hired Major 2 a number of times and she's hard to fault. In 2020 I had her booked for my usual "boys weekend" in September..... Lockdown meant we couldn't all go together, but I kept the booking and Mrs OG and I had the boat instead. They're an excellent boat for a couple, tons of space and with no-one sleeping in the aft cabin it becomes a wonderful lounge/diner. Not many boats handle like them, either. I think the Pearl provides a more modern take on that design, with a bit of a layout re-jig and better stern and sidedeck access.
  10. Tideway is lovely, I went onboard the previous one but this looks to have been done to a similar standard. I like a Pearl and I know Clive does too.
  11. If only there was some sort of social network dedicated to the Broads, which didn't sell your data or use it to profile you for advertising and monetisation purposes and which wasn't run by some greedy global megacorp...
  12. The pun is that the Nag is Sat next to you.
  13. There's some pretty good pictures here too, you'll need to click/tap to make them bigger. Norwich Castle Mall Development (georgeplunkett.co.uk) There's also a (paid) article about it at the Institution of Structural Engineers. I have no idea whether it's any good...
  14. It's awesome isn't it. I have also wondered where the rest of it is! There's a documentary about the building of Castle Mall, it really is a fascinating project as it it woven into the fabric of the city centre like pretty much no other shopping centre ever has been. I was fairly young when it was being built, but I remember standing on the temporary bridge to the Castle circa 1990 and looking into the massive hole and seeing the decks of the structure being built under Castle Meadow and Farmer's Avenue. Such a complex and clever project. It will be an absolute nightmare to demolish, I suspect they might not do it as a whole.
  15. If that's your mileage, you're best keeping those cars until the wheels fall off. There's no real need to replace cars that aren't causing trouble. I think @BroadAmbition would approve of those numberplates....
  16. Given that the other rumoured sale appears to have fallen through, you'd have to wonder who else would take the site on.
  17. Just be really careful with bundled or 'affinity' insurance as it is known in the industry. Those policies seem really cheap for a reason - There will be a list of limits and exclusions as long as your arm. I spent a fair amount of time in the insurance industry and those schemes were seen as a good money maker, you can guess why. You can imagine how much the bank is paying the insurer for that cover (and how much commission they earn on it) and you can see how cheap it is versus a 'regular' policy.
  18. I did think it would come back to bite them.... They're a company that clearly spend a lot on marketing but they seem totally unable to understand that keeping customers happy is much more likely to lead to repeat business. I had a run in with them a while back now over their 'Low deposit' BS. I booked with a £50 deposit (as I did with Ricko's at the time) and later needed to cancel / reschedule as we had other plans. To cancel would have cost another £100 as the 'full' deposit was £150, apparently. I suggested moving the booking back a year as that's what I actually wanted to do, but they said to do that I'd need to cancel and make a new booking or take the holiday in the same year. I didn't have enough leave left to reschedule in the same year so it would have needed to be the one following. I asked if they'd waive the £100 if I re-booked for next year and they said no I'd still need to pay it. Bear in mind this was some months before the booked date, and the booking was for a Silverline boat in june so there was no way they'd have struggled to re-let it. In the end I said okay, I will pay as contractually I have to. But I made it clear that they took the payment on the understanding that I would not be re-booking for the following year with them and would not use Hoseasons for boating again.
  19. I think those establishments are for a certain demographic who consider a plate piled high to be the ultimate holiday dining experience. Personally, I don't really like that sort of eatery but have been to a fair few of them in my time (the Wherry included). When you're out with a boat load of mates and everyone is enjoying a few liquid accompaniments then I guess it kind of works, but it wouldn't be my choice if just out with Mrs OG and actually when out with the lads we tend to go for something else. The Indian in the old station building at Oulton Broad was great last time we were there, and I know the Commodore has changed hands but that was a decent meal.
  20. The frustrating thing is that insurance is now supposed to be the same price for a new customer as it is for existing. But that's blatantly absolute nonsense, unfortunately. Mrs OG's renewal has come up, last year was £100 less than the renewal quote. A quick look with the Meerkats and we're getting quotes for £150 less. Not really a shocker, but not how things are supposed to be.
  21. There are SO many videos around of Range Rovers on fire, due to failed turbos dumping oil everywhere, electrical issues etc etc. And there's a video of the initial Range Rover on fire in the Luton airport car park. A lot of lobbyists want you to believe that electric = bad, because the oil industry is in serious trouble if we stop burning the stuff. A lot of the legacy car industry is also going to be toast in the next ten years, so you can be sure they're not helping things. We're talking multi-billion dollar corporations that know they can't change quickly enough. Are they just going to idly sit there and do nothing or are they going to try to delay the shift to electric so that they might have a hope of competing? Yes, some older EV (and hybrid) battery technologies are unstable. The LG Chem batteries used in the Jaguar iPace (again, JLR cutting corners) can be particularly troublesome and that's one of the reasons you can now buy an iPace for a third of its original list price. There are certain brands and models of EV that you really shouldn't buy because they will be trouble, but that's due to corner-cutting based on sloppy engineering and products being designed by accountants. It does not mean that the technology itself is fundamentally flawed. Newer battery tech is better, and it doesn't use anything like the amount of rare metals that people think it does and it's much more thermally stable. All of the information is out there (in credible places) if people care to look. It gives me a good laugh seeing such uninformed nonsense in the mainstream media, but I do think those funding it would be better placed investing in getting their industries into this century. They'll regret not doing so, I suspect. JLR really need to hope that Tata sell them to a large chinese outfit. I don't think India has the right mindset for quality high-tech manufacturing. I suspect the Chinese will wait until they're bankrupt and then hoover up the rights, though, as SAIC (indirectly) did with MG. With the cars being uninsurable in some parts of the UK (even now there's in-house JLR insurance) due to the amount of total losses, they can't carry on like this. There's a lot of smoke and mirrors (and a lot of the former) because they're seen as a prestige brand.
  22. But.... Number 2 is a major reason that boats have warm air heating rather than rads.
  23. That's a really good shout Pete. Now I'm thinking heated helm seats and saloon cushions
  24. They won't be the solution for all boat berths because of the shape / size, but electric blankets are very low power consumption and there's nothing like climbing into a warm bed.
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