Test Equipment Anonymous

bd139 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2025 6:56 pm
Very interesting indeed. I will have to try driving in Italy.

No, you don't. I've driven a large Volvo straight into, and out of the Spanish Quarters downtown Naples. I will never do that again. Trust me on this. No damages, but quite stressful.

Down to but not including Rome probably is fine. For the rest, there's trains.

mansaxel wrote: ↑Sat Jan 18, 2025 6:21 pm

bd139 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2025 6:56 pm
Very interesting indeed. I will have to try driving in Italy.

No, you don't. I've driven a large Volvo straight into, and out of the Spanish Quarters downtown Naples. I will never do that again. Trust me on this. No damages, but quite stressful.

Down to but not including Rome probably is fine. For the rest, there's trains.

I will pay the damage wavier and know the hand signals already

Fancy pickup trucks had a surge in popularity in the UK starting several years ago. However I can say with certanty that it will have died off this year.
It's all about income tax. Pickups were never that popular in the UK due to the weather. Farmers would have the option on Landrovers and some utilities used them but not much else. In the UK you get charged income tax if your company provides you with a vehicle. Long ago this didn't apply to vans so small vans based on cars were a popular "perk" for many years. Then they got a lot nicer, as good as cars to drive and there were "van" versions of various 4x4s. So the tax man put a fixed, low, tax on vans. Then the tax man upped it so the fixed tax on a van could be more than the tax on the car it was based on.
Then somone noticed that this tax didn't apply to pickups. So suddenly sole traders and managers were dring around in fancy pickup trucks.
Last June the tax man closed the loophole and pickup truck sales have dropped.

Robert.

mansaxel wrote: ↑Sat Jan 18, 2025 6:21 pm

bd139 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2025 6:56 pm
Very interesting indeed. I will have to try driving in Italy.

No, you don't. I've driven a large Volvo straight into, and out of the Spanish Quarters downtown Naples. I will never do that again. Trust me on this. No damages, but quite stressful.

Down to but not including Rome probably is fine. For the rest, there's trains.

Trains are great, but try getting one to this wonderful place Theater of Segesta
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ya7d5yBwZHKWtHns5

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Jan 18, 2025 10:47 pm
Trains are great, but try getting one to this wonderful place Theater of Segesta
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ya7d5yBwZHKWtHns5

There's a railway station 1km away.

mansaxel wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2025 4:23 am

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Jan 18, 2025 10:47 pm
Trains are great, but try getting one to this wonderful place Theater of Segesta
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ya7d5yBwZHKWtHns5

There's a railway station 1km away.

Is that railway open?

Openstreetmap doesn't show that railway. Gurgle can't find a way to get to Segeste (from Palermo) using public transport. Gurgle shows the line a bit further down the track https://www.google.com/maps/@37.9374855 ... FQAw%3D%3D

Gurgle maps marks the walk (from Stazione di Alcamo Diramazione) as 11km and 2.5 hours in each direction with "restricted usage or private roads".

bd139 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 18, 2025 7:00 pm

mansaxel wrote: ↑Sat Jan 18, 2025 6:21 pm

bd139 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 16, 2025 6:56 pm
Very interesting indeed. I will have to try driving in Italy.

No, you don't. I've driven a large Volvo straight into, and out of the Spanish Quarters downtown Naples. I will never do that again. Trust me on this. No damages, but quite stressful.

Down to but not including Rome probably is fine. For the rest, there's trains.

I will pay the damage wavier and know the hand signals already

We know... and we know you've already taught yer kids.

mnem

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2025 10:03 am

mansaxel wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2025 4:23 am

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Jan 18, 2025 10:47 pm
Trains are great, but try getting one to this wonderful place Theater of Segesta
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ya7d5yBwZHKWtHns5

There's a railway station 1km away.

Is that railway open?

Openstreetmap doesn't show that railway. Gurgle can't find a way to get to Segeste (from Palermo) using public transport. Gurgle shows the line a bit further down the track https://www.google.com/maps/@37.9374855 ... FQAw%3D%3D

Gurgle maps marks the walk (from Stazione di Alcamo Diramazione) as 11km and 2.5 hours in each direction with "restricted usage or private roads".

Italian trains are complicated I found.

Even if they do exist they are complicated.

This is often complicated by the fact they seem to operate in a different spacetime system to the rest of the universe.

Today's cultural visit. Not quite as exotic as usual. Took the kids out to see a famous stone (among other things)...

That stone is worth seeing. I also like the Sutton Hoo stuff

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2025 7:18 pm That stone is worth seeing. I also like the Sutton Hoo stuff

Yes that was indeed very interesting too. Good day out.

By the time it's done there could upwards of 10 inches (25cm) and then the bottom is going to drop out of the thermometer with temps all next week around 0 degrees F (-17 C).

mnem
a quick review for us poor plebieans...

MED6753 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2025 9:04 pm By the time it's done there could upwards of 10 inches (25cm) and then the bottom is going to drop out of the thermometer with temps all next week around 0 degrees F (-17 C).

Meanwhile over here, further north at the latitude of Hudson Bay, next week the temperature is expected to fall to +1C.

Went to store for soda for the kids... everybody is there stocking up on everything from milk to bread to yes, dozens of rolls of TP. Lines literally 3/4 of the store deep.

Why? 80-160mm of snow forecast over the next 2 days.

mnem
and so it begins...

MED6753 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2025 9:04 pm By the time it's done there could upwards of 10 inches (25cm) and then the bottom is going to drop out of the thermometer with temps all next week around 0 degrees F (-17 C).

No outside walkies for Harley then ?

3 hours later...

mnem
It's beginning to look a lot like...

mnementh wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2025 10:23 pm Went to store for soda for the kids... everybody is there stocking up on everything from milk to bread to yes, dozens of rolls of TP. Lines literally 3/4 of the store deep.

Why? 80-160mm of snow forecast over the next 2 days.

Panic buying is a strange mentality. You'd think folks would keep a few cans, things in the freezer and dried beans, enough to last a few days.

We haven't seen six inches of snow here for years. It would definitely bring things to a halt.

tautech wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2025 11:58 pm

MED6753 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2025 9:04 pm By the time it's done there could upwards of 10 inches (25cm) and then the bottom is going to drop out of the thermometer with temps all next week around 0 degrees F (-17 C).

No outside walkies for Harley then ?

-Pat

Zenith wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2025 1:35 am

mnementh wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2025 10:23 pm Went to store for soda for the kids... everybody is there stocking up on everything from milk to bread to yes, dozens of rolls of TP. Lines literally 3/4 of the store deep.

Why? 80-160mm of snow forecast over the next 2 days.

Panic buying is a strange mentality. You'd think folks would keep a few cans, things in the freezer and dried beans, enough to last a few days.

We haven't seen six inches of snow here for years. It would definitely bring things to a halt.

I remember the winter of 81/82, when it was exceptionally cold[1] from early December to mid/late January. I had just moved into my first flat, and couldn't get any coal since the coalyard was frozen solid. Things went on, including my push-biking along a snow-covered back road to get to the train station. Easy cycling on unpacked snow; cars avoided going along that road.

But here the problem is that usually that the temperature cycles above/below 0C, leaving everything covered with sheet ice. Can't cycle in that, and even walking is treacherous.

[1] the coldest December of the 20th century.

tggzzz wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2025 11:03 am

Zenith wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2025 1:35 am

mnementh wrote: ↑Sun Jan 19, 2025 10:23 pm Went to store for soda for the kids... everybody is there stocking up on everything from milk to bread to yes, dozens of rolls of TP. Lines literally 3/4 of the store deep.

Why? 80-160mm of snow forecast over the next 2 days.

Panic buying is a strange mentality. You'd think folks would keep a few cans, things in the freezer and dried beans, enough to last a few days.

We haven't seen six inches of snow here for years. It would definitely bring things to a halt.

I remember the winter of 81/82, when it was exceptionally cold[1] from early December to mid/late January. I had just moved into my first flat, and couldn't get any coal since the coalyard was frozen solid. Things went on, including my push-biking along a snow-covered back road to get to the train station. Easy cycling on unpacked snow; cars avoided going along that road.

But here the problem is that usually that the temperature cycles above/below 0C, leaving everything covered with sheet ice. Can't cycle in that, and even walking is treacherous.

[1] the coldest December of the 20th century.

I remember that winter too. there was a guy named Paul Harvey who had a daily national radio show......he went on and on about how the top weather scientists were predicting it was the start of the next ice age. it left me very skeptical about the news in general. (but I did stock up on extra firewood for the stove for a couple of years)

tggzzz wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2025 11:03 am
I remember the winter of 81/82, when it was exceptionally cold[1] from early December to mid/late January. I had just moved into my first flat, and couldn't get any coal since the coalyard was frozen solid. Things went on, including my push-biking along a snow-covered back road to get to the train station. Easy cycling on unpacked snow; cars avoided going along that road.

But here the problem is that usually that the temperature cycles above/below 0C, leaving everything covered with sheet ice. Can't cycle in that, and even walking is treacherous.

[1] the coldest December of the 20th century.

That was a wicked one. There must have been over a foot of snow, but it was hard to tell because it drifted so much. I went to see friends in Cardiff and was snowed in for a couple of days. I went to work on the Wednesday and found loads of people hadn't been in until then. The boss had been snowed in in Ross-on-Wye.

Zenith wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2025 12:53 pm

tggzzz wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2025 11:03 am
I remember the winter of 81/82, when it was exceptionally cold[1] from early December to mid/late January. I had just moved into my first flat, and couldn't get any coal since the coalyard was frozen solid. Things went on, including my push-biking along a snow-covered back road to get to the train station. Easy cycling on unpacked snow; cars avoided going along that road.

But here the problem is that usually that the temperature cycles above/below 0C, leaving everything covered with sheet ice. Can't cycle in that, and even walking is treacherous.

[1] the coldest December of the 20th century.

That was a wicked one. There must have been over a foot of snow, but it was hard to tell because it drifted so much. I went to see friends in Cardiff and was snowed in for a couple of days. I went to work on the Wednesday and found loads of people hadn't been in until then. The boss had been snowed in in Ross-on-Wye.

I also remember the winter of '63, the third coldest since records began in 1659, and which continued until March. Since I was a child it was just fun.

Just before going out to play in the snow, a young cousin asked if it was safe because of wild animals. That was a very sensible question: he had just come back from Northern Rhodesia. He knew it wasn't unknown for pet leopards to be on a veranda. One on occasion a visitor had petted the leopard on the way in, only to discover the pet was on the rear veranda

No, I don't remember the winter of '47.

I was going to college in Bristol in '82. First week of January saw me flying in on a Dan-Air aka Dan Dare HS748 (G-ARAY, the second prototype) into Lulsgate. The pilot must have been on a promise because unlike all the other aircraft he wasn't going to divert to Cardiff. On the third go-around I spotted a hanger through the snow. Knowing the airfield (the college ground airframes were there) we must have only just missed a a lighting tower
He made it down on the 4th attempt. It than took over five hours to get from the airport to the city centre.....
I have had other "encounters" with G-ARAY over ther years both as a passenger and an engineer.

Robert.

I would like to interject with a comment: fuck Dan-Air!