Test equipment addicts, unite!
https://teanonymous.com/f1/
Urgh I'm not suicidal enough to get a train out that way on a Sunday
Yeah, fair enough. The tube doesn't go beyond the M25.
Glad to see you are thinking again about joining the motoring clan while you can before the C40 cities lot convince everyone in power that you do not need a car that can take you too far away from your 15-minute city area.
How far out does it go when its wacko? It might a good idea to give the input stages to the ohms a good thorough cleaning with some Isopropyl just to make sure you don't have any tracking etc going on in that area. I almost gave on Black Star 4503 DMM as I'd cleaned a good 12 times but it too would go wacko at times, BD139 convinced me to try it again a few more times, and it worked, it is now one of my best meters on the bench.
That 15 minute city thing is fine. I cycle, walk and use public transport all the time. As does everyone here, even if they own a car, thus busting the propaganda machine a little bit.Specmaster wrote: ↑Sat Jun 22, 2024 1:22 pmGlad to see you are thinking again about joining the motoring clan while you can before the C40 cities lot convince everyone in power that you do not need a car that can take you too far away from your 15-minute city area.
I did consider it. Believe me. And double up the day with another round of dragging shite back from the uncle's house.tggzzz wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2024 10:32 pm Yeah, fair enough. The tube doesn't go beyond the M25.
I believe there are companies that enable short-term use of horseless carriages, some requiring belonging to a club, some allowing you to walk up and present the appropriate papers, and drive out.
Perhaps Dunstable Downs Sunday week?
Sane, for someone that lives in a big city. (But need to go to a rally/TNMoC? Was your mouth out!)bd139 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 22, 2024 6:07 pm That 15 minute city thing is fine. I cycle, walk and use public transport all the time. As does everyone here, even if they own a car, thus busting the propaganda machine a little bit.
I really I don't actually need a car. It'd just be burning money every month for no reason. I really don't need to go to a radio rally either at the moment. The only times I've needed a car are in the last year was when my uncle dropped dead and I needed to go to the funeral and loot his house. And I just hired one! Polestar 2 EV hire from hertz was 150 quid for 5 days.
I just have a decent old 20yo car. I get it serviced once every 5 years (change oil myself more frequently!). The only non-standard expense in 10 years was a partial exhaust replacement.This year I've managed to get to The South Downs, The North Downs, two gigs, two museums, into the city about 6 times, Malta (via Gatwick) and Suffolk trivially without one. What I haven't had to do is burn £350/month approx on vehicle TCO (tax, insurance, fuel, maintenance, depreciation, repurchase, repairs) which has been invested in other more interesting things.
If you become too dangerous to drive, there is a significant probability you won't be fit/safe enough to use public transport on your own. Being able to walk to shop/post/quacks might be the best you can hope for. (Get your finance/health LPAs in order!)The problem with car ownership, which is worth bearing in mind, is that as per my uncle who dropped dead, when he needed mobility the most they took his driving license away because he was dangerous. Better have a plan B then or welcome to isolation. He lived not far from you as well Specmaster... (Bishops Stortford). This is why I am lining myself up somewhere either ground floor, or with a lift and decent public transport connections for my future in a place where they spend the money first.
Only fill up your house with other people's stuff that you want to keep, or are prepared to sell quickly on fleabay.bd139 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 22, 2024 6:13 pmI did consider it. Believe me. And double up the day with another round of dragging shite back from the uncle's house.tggzzz wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2024 10:32 pm Yeah, fair enough. The tube doesn't go beyond the M25.
I believe there are companies that enable short-term use of horseless carriages, some requiring belonging to a club, some allowing you to walk up and present the appropriate papers, and drive out.
Perhaps Dunstable Downs Sunday week?
Yes working on that now. It's all being pipelined into eBay carefully at the moment or disposed of. Nothing is worthy of the auction house as such.tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Jun 22, 2024 7:10 pmOnly fill up your house with other people's stuff that you want to keep, or are prepared to sell quickly on fleabay.bd139 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 22, 2024 6:13 pmI did consider it. Believe me. And double up the day with another round of dragging shite back from the uncle's house.tggzzz wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2024 10:32 pm Yeah, fair enough. The tube doesn't go beyond the M25.
I believe there are companies that enable short-term use of horseless carriages, some requiring belonging to a club, some allowing you to walk up and present the appropriate papers, and drive out.
Perhaps Dunstable Downs Sunday week?
Everything else should be taken by a decent auction house that describes stuff decently and will ship it. It took about 5 man days to catalogue my parent's treasures, plus time taken to shift it, photograph it etc.
So... West London -> Luton -> Bletchely -> Bishops Stortford -> London. You're young and fit, so that should be a nice day's jaunt.
Some auction houses will take just about anything; they just make larger lots (i.e. many boxes, bigger than a palette!)bd139 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 23, 2024 2:20 pm Yes working on that now. It's all being pipelined into eBay carefully at the moment or disposed of. Nothing is worthy of the auction house as such.
As for the jaunt, I'm trying to trade it off against jumping on a plane somewhere more interesting for the weekend for about the same price before it gets too utterly hot to bother travelling until October
So does the southern hemisphere where the cooler months are to come.tggzzz wrote: ↑Sun Jun 23, 2024 7:30 pmGo north, young man. Iceland beckons.bd139 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 23, 2024 2:20 pm Yes working on that now. It's all being pipelined into eBay carefully at the moment or disposed of. Nothing is worthy of the auction house as such.
As for the jaunt, I'm trying to trade it off against jumping on a plane somewhere more interesting for the weekend for about the same price before it gets too utterly hot to bother travelling until October
Iceland: been there done that. Tromso is a possibility but quite frankly it's too heavily traversed at the moment. Actually looking at the Azores archipelago which is far enough off the coast to have a lower temperature than anywhere else on that band. Also mountain to climb, boats to skip around on and lots of nice scenery too.tggzzz wrote: ↑Sun Jun 23, 2024 7:30 pm Some auction houses will take just about anything; they just make larger lots (i.e. many boxes, bigger than a palette!)
Go north, young man. Iceland beckons.
Local airport will be having direct flights to Tromso in the winter, to cater for people wanting to gaze at the Northern Lights.
Yes plenty of Island hopping opportunities. As for the humidity yep. Was pretty high in Malta as it was early season. Dries out a bit later on. I am mostly immune to it though. Well I am since I lost a lot of weighttggzzz wrote: ↑Mon Jun 24, 2024 8:16 pm I'd forgotten you'd been to Iceland.
Azores sounds different and IIRC there are some interesting features. Are there any opportunities for impromptu island hopping? I certainly enjoy that in the Adriatic and Cyclades.
I'd watch out for the humidity (and "wet bulb" temperature), and how much wind there is.
Faroe Islands are on my list.
I wouldn't want to drive anywhere interesting in Iceland: too dangerous. Well, it was in '84 and '90, but they appear to have sanitised the place somewhat since then - safety barriers by large drops FFS.bd139 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 27, 2024 9:26 pmYes plenty of Island hopping opportunities. As for the humidity yep. Was pretty high in Malta as it was early season. Dries out a bit later on. I am mostly immune to it though. Well I am since I lost a lot of weighttggzzz wrote: ↑Mon Jun 24, 2024 8:16 pm I'd forgotten you'd been to Iceland.
Azores sounds different and IIRC there are some interesting features. Are there any opportunities for impromptu island hopping? I certainly enjoy that in the Adriatic and Cyclades.
I'd watch out for the humidity (and "wet bulb" temperature), and how much wind there is.
Faroe Islands are on my list.
Iceland was "ok". The scenery was spectacular and there were some very nice day hikes but it was pretty damn hard work due to the extreme distance we needed to cover (drove 1800 miles in the end), everything was priced as high as they could get away with (hospital included) and it felt more like it was a large theme park than a real place. I'm still on the fence on it. Also company wasn't great. The people there aren't that great either and seem to be a combination of pissed off with being there foreign workers and natives who assimilated the worst of all surrounding cultures (Scandinavian, American and British).
Had a lot more "fun" in Malta ambling around with a camera and hanging around in museums and cafes.
It's probably nicer now but every few miles there's a wrecked rental 4x4 held together with tape and what I assume is an Icelandic sticker on it saying "police already aware of this one".tggzzz wrote: ↑Thu Jun 27, 2024 10:36 pm I wouldn't want to drive anywhere interesting in Iceland: too dangerous. Well, it was in '84 and '90, but they appear to have sanitised the place somewhat since then - safety barriers by large drops FFS.
Dangerous: being in a large 4WD coach, fording a river to get to the Þórsmörk campsite, and being pushed sideways by the water that came up onto the side of the coach body. Then there's the tyre-shredding glassy roads in the Sprengisandur that see vehicles very occasionally; the farms are
150km apart so you are on your own. Here's the single road junction on that main "F26" route: https://www.google.com/maps/@65.0154707 ... &entry=ttu
I really ought to post a couple of pictures.
Well, yes, but... I didn't see many cars, let alone wrecked cars. Not so many people went 35/40 years ago. It hadn't been featured on Top Gear and the like. Reykjavik wasn't yet a have-a-party destination, Hells teeth, the first time I went beer was illegal, but spirits were legal (go figure!). Beer became legal in, IIRC 1989.bd139 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 28, 2024 8:02 amIt's probably nicer now but every few miles there's a wrecked rental 4x4 held together with tape and what I assume is an Icelandic sticker on it saying "police already aware of this one".tggzzz wrote: ↑Thu Jun 27, 2024 10:36 pm I wouldn't want to drive anywhere interesting in Iceland: too dangerous. Well, it was in '84 and '90, but they appear to have sanitised the place somewhat since then - safety barriers by large drops FFS.
Dangerous: being in a large 4WD coach, fording a river to get to the Þórsmörk campsite, and being pushed sideways by the water that came up onto the side of the coach body. Then there's the tyre-shredding glassy roads in the Sprengisandur that see vehicles very occasionally; the farms are
150km apart so you are on your own. Here's the single road junction on that main "F26" route: https://www.google.com/maps/@65.0154707 ... &entry=ttu
I really ought to post a couple of pictures.
And more if you venture further. E.g. walking under a glacier, with your feet in warm water. Or seeing realistic remains of trolls that got caught out.You can get plenty of interesting places on foot in under an hour from a non F-road. A good day hike was the one attached below which was a 10km walk to the foot of a glacier which is actually not sexy and blue but post-nuclear armageddon.
Pairs of people in case of accident is obvious to everybody. Pairs of cars is obvious to anybody that has been to such places - to help you pulling out of rivers.The risk of course was falling rocks and slipping and breaking something. Travel in pairs, just not with a German psychotherapist who would tell you a broken ankle is all in your mind.
Ah. My experiences were different.Main driving risks are fuckwits who drive F350 trucks in the middle of the road and companions who don't drive often and can't quite work out the gears. My poor anus was destroyed by that level of puckering.
. Now with railings of course. Not very high wire ones!
(I too had problems, until I enabled cookies)
I suspect it was more than £550 c1990!I may go back but I'm buying a Duster 4x4 and going the long way round. Easier now. The ferry is £550 return which is not the end of the world. The lack of parking everywhere is a problem. There are only camp sites and they are around £20 a night.
I've uploaded photos to the post this time. Resized them. Cookies still required but at least not so many horrible ones. Image quality will suffer as a result.
There is lots of erosion indeed. A few remaining signs of where the path was to your second vantage point now lead pretty much off the edge and to your demise now.
They do indeed have railings up. I did get a shot of it going off though. Annoyingly it was pretty busy.
Very cool. Still around but unfortunately deep in F-road territory and the vehicle we had wasn't up for that
Well it was camping but we did have a roof over our heads. We spent nearly 2 weeks there in the back of a Dacia Dokker kitted out with camping gear. Two Rab sleeping bags, Trangia gas stove and way too much merino. And yes we were supermarket hopping, which was pretty expensive. They don't have individual potatoes now but they do have a large selection of things which are beneath them I suspect. Including an endless supply of hobnobs, which due to the extremes of temperature during day and night had to be chipped at with a swiss army knife to consume.tggzzz wrote: ↑Fri Jun 28, 2024 4:41 pm From your complaint about campsites I can deduce two things:
- you didn't go and look at the prices in main supermarkets (i.e. the same size as UK convenience stores). If you had you would have seen individual medium potatoes each with their own barcodes
- your idea of a campsite reminds me of the last line in "A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush" by Eric Newby.[1] See picture below for a campsite I remember: a disused sheep pen. "Just put your tent anywhere you want among the rocks".
Bugger that. I liked my van!
That's pretty funny. But I like some luxury.tggzzz wrote: ↑Fri Jun 28, 2024 4:41 pm [1] ... because I recently re-encountered that wonderful incident Newby tells against himself where they happen to meet Wilfred Thesiger, the legendary solo explorer of the Middle East; and I’d recently read in Among the Mountains that Thesiger wrote of the same incident (and how very English for the two to meet like that!)
Thesiger invited them for a meal and to spend the night in his company. They were rather overawed and wondered what Thesiger thought of them, being so callow and inexperienced. They found out when they unrolled their mattress pads: Thesiger, who probably just hollowed-out a depression in the gravel to sleep, observed contemptuously, “God, you must be a couple of pansies”.
That just says "Little Geysir", so not really a warning sign per se.
But I'm afraid that while Ófærufoss is still there, its best feature isn't: the natural bridge is goneVery cool. Still around but unfortunately deep in F-road territory and the vehicle we had wasn't up for that
Good discretion, and one of the reasons a 4WD coach is useful - another being that you can sit back and enjoy the scenery.
Yeah, that was character forming. As is putting up a ridge tent in a howling gale
Yup. "Bittersweet" is a good concept.Happy and sad to look at the photos of that trip. But that's life!
Make sure you check that her future research reports/case notes are appropriately Bowdlerisedbd139 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 01, 2024 7:12 pm Yes looked it up. That's a bit sad but that's change for you. Added it to the list of things to go and see when I have F-road capability.
Character building is spending two weeks in a tent in Central Asia then two weeks in a van in Iceland with a psychotherapist. Neither a gale or impending armageddon-level event even raise an eyebrow now.
