[PlaneMan]

Bob, if you see the grim reaper, kick him in the plums and leg it!

Seriously though, I look forward to having you back and in better health.

[PlaneMan]

Depends on which mobile network you’re with, some are shocking at doing the updates.

Try the Android Auto app, I’ve been playing with it and it works great for me. You don’t need to be driving to use it but that’s the main idea.

[PlaneMan]

@Tippon

The Stratos is one of my all time favourite cars, as you say it just has that something about it, you just know it’s going to be amazing.

[PlaneMan]

All to play for, at the moment Ireland are doing Wales a favour.

Scotland were very lucky to scrape a win, felt sorry for the Italians as they deserved a win.

Wales v France should be one hell of a game, town was already packed when I was on my way home from seeing the out-of-hours nurse at midday.

[PlaneMan]

Damn cold here again, had some snow flurries but apparently it’s going to be tonight/tomorrow morning when it hits hard again. Amber warnings in force from midnight until 9pm.

[PlaneMan]

Tippon wrote:

My mother’s got an older Kia, Picanto I think. If I sit in the front, she has to push my leg out of the way to change gear. Funny if it’s me or my brother in the car, kind of embarrassing if she’s giving someone a lift…

A bit like a Lancia Stratos then. ?

[PlaneMan]

Dave Rice wrote:

It recognises my strong Welsh accent Don’t get a Google vacuum cleaner, the number of times I hear South Waleans say Tidy!

Very true Dave. My favourite is ‘now in a minute’. I have a badge on my rucksack that says ‘Apocalypse now, In a minute’

[PlaneMan]

The main road near me has a very busy school that is being expanded at the moment, it’s always been bad for idiots parking stupidly but now the builders are taking up the less ridiculous spots as they start about 7-7.30am. So parents park on the yellow hashes/on the humped zebra crossing, completely on the pavement, facing the wrong way on the small one way system we have (clearly marked many times) and even on the turfed mini roundabout near my place which is about 2 1/2 foot tall.

The main reason for this is they just don’t give a F**k about other people. The police come maybe twice a year, despite the many near misses and minor incidents. They let almost everyone off with a warning because as one PCSO put it to me ‘we can’t do the paperwork and still do other things.’

The school did employ a ex-copper for a while, waving big flags and telling people to ‘fornicate off’, that was axed after there was no money available any more.

[PlaneMan]

Could well have been covert types, the roads that the cameras were on are very busy routes, they were in odd locations though-not where you’d expect traffic cameras to be. One that sticks in my mind was pointed at the tiny parking area by the church in my mother’s village, it’s intended to be a drop off/turn around area as the proper car park is across the road. The land it was pointed at and situated on was all public so they’d done their homework.

As I said, very strange.

[PlaneMan]

It was the Ignis because it’s taller than the Up!/Citigo/Mii and easier for mum and (especially) her fella to get in and out of.

The car is a giggle to drive, not as good as a Swift because of the height and sorter setup but it’s still fun. The turning circle is even funnier, it’s tiny, The Twingo is meant to have an even tighter turning circle as there’s nothing up front to get in the way as the engine is in the boot. Everything works well, the touchscreen is responsive, everything works as it should and the ergonomics are great for me. The rear parking camera is a nice touch, there are red lines that act as a guide for when to stop but you can see the edge of the bumper so can literally get within a couple of mm.

Big problem is the width, it’s really narrow and I’m not a big bloke, 66kg and 5′ 10″. 2 large people next to each other would be very good friends very quickly. I honestly doubt that 2 rugby players would fit in side by side. For that reason alone mum said no.

The new Swift is a bit of an odd looker but it grows on you. The test drive of that was brilliant. The little 999c turbo is a beauty, revs like the 1.2 in my car and the Ignis but with lots more torque and about 18 bhp more, the power isn’t that noticeable but the torque is. 10 seconds odd 0-60 isn’t bad but it feels way quicker. Handles better than mine due to the extra width and the suspension tweaks.All I need now is the money for a lightly used one, they have 2 with under 4K on them, less than 4 months old for 10.5K

[PlaneMan]

Nope Ed, that would have been in the local media,this was very odd, no markings on vans, no emergency phone numbers on the devices. Very strange.

[PlaneMan]

Bob, nerds live on.

Take care of yourself and I truly hope it goes much better than we all fear.

Live long and prosper, or just be a stubborn git and say ‘It’s not my time’. That’s worked for me so far.

[PlaneMan]

No idea about the railway bridge bit but in December, the exact dates I’ve forgotten but it was very close to Christmas, 50-100 cameras were put on lamposts, trees, dedicated posts bolted into the tarmac and even bins. This all took place in about 24 hours, they were there for maybe 36 hours and then everything was gone.

This happened right on the edge of the County Of Cardiff and mostly in the Vale Of Glamorgan over a quite small area, maybe 9 or 10 square miles. To this day no one really knows what it was all about but they appeared to be networked. At the bare minimum ‘phoning home’ often.

I got stuck behind a van that had been stupidly parked and watched a bloke install one of the cameras, lots of wires that were seemingly electrical and what looked CAT5/6 cables which went into a box that he put, what looked to me like a Doro mobile, in.

All the numbers of cameras, time scales and so on are speculation, based on my own observations and those of people I know and trust.

[PlaneMan]

Usually the prime tick means it’s eligible for the prime delivery option, in other words sold by or fulfilled by Amazon. Usually next day but there are exceptions which are usually clearly stated.

The free (non prime) delivery will be the usual 3-5 working days, again exceptions will normally be clear.

There are a few prime only deals but they are marked ‘prime only’ or something like that.

[PlaneMan]

Thanks Richard

[PlaneMan]

After many dressing changes and a course of antibiotics the abscess is now getting better instead of not getting worse.

Instead of being 2cm deep it’s apparently now only 1.5cm deep and the edges are healing well, no further sign of infection, which is nice. Still have maybe 10 days worth of bi-daily dressing changes to go, next one is one Saturday at the out of hours GP service at 11.45 am, which if everything goes to plan means I shouldn’t miss any of the last games of the 6 nations.

[PlaneMan]

My father was a civil servant for almost all his working life. He used to get paid quadruple time for working weekends, 2.5 time for overtime and I think it was 5 time for major holidays like Christmas. The only ones that saw any of that extra money was the rugby club and local pubs.

Yes, he’s a wucking fanker, I believe in customs and excise at the time it was mandatory.

[PlaneMan]

Richard wrote:

(The one thing I really miss is fully functional hands-free calling on a mobile. The Google version is more miss than hit most of the time, though I have successfully created a few dictated e-mails.)

That can depend on your device. My Shield K1 tablet hates my voice, hardly gets anything correct. My OnePlus 5T phone gets about 97% accuracy apart from when I’m half asleep.

[PlaneMan]

Alan Wood wrote:

Best of luck Bob. Thinking about you at this stressful time.

 

That. ^

[PlaneMan]

We might get some snow Saturday/Sunday. More likely to be rain this time around but it’s getting colder without a doubt.

[Author]

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