Cyclists waste petrol

"Jimmy Wilkinson Knife" wrote in message
news
On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 20:11:04 +0100, Rod Speed
wrote:



"Jimmy Wilkinson Knife" wrote in message
news
On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 03:13:46 +0100, rbowman wrote:

On 09/29/2018 03:48 PM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:

Finally, if you live in an RV you get to keep it. And modify it.
Lot
rent is quite a bit less than rental properties.

I take it RV means campervan? Those depreciate way faster than
houses.

If you don't plan on selling it who cares? Besides, as you argued for
automobiles, buy them used after they depreciate.

Still a lot of repairs to do, like rust, and the engine of course.

Aluminum doesn't rust. RV's also include trailers so there is no
engine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recreational_vehicle

My brother had a motorhome but he towed a Toyota yacht tender behind
it.
That's a very common practice so you have a vehicle smaller than a bus
to drive around. With the trailer, you can drop the trailer and you
have
the tow vehicle for driving around.

There are quite a few full-time RVers in the US. Some are retirees,
others are younger and find employment as they go.

https://www.outsideonline.com/185778...re-you-park-it

When I hit the road it was in a pickup similar to the 3rd photo, rather
than a van or some of the pickups with larger camper shells. It was
inconspicuous and could go anyplace. I wandered around the western US
for a year, going to Arizona for the winter months, and then spent a
year as a Forest Service volunteer. It's an interesting life; you learn
to travel light and improvise.

I don't understand why they're still using steel on any vehicle,

Because its much cheaper than the alternatives
and isnt hard to treat so it doesn't rust.

Yet all cars rust. After the warranty period though.

No rust on my Getz and it's a long way out of warranty now.

it's ridiculous.

You are.

Ner ner ner ner ner!

"Jimmy Wilkinson Knife" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 23:06:34 +0100, Rod Speed
wrote:



"Jimmy Wilkinson Knife" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 27 Sep 2018 03:24:35 +0100, rbowman wrote:

On 09/26/2018 12:47 PM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:
You currently have no dollar coin?!

Effectively, no.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar...(United_States)

I probably have one around here someplace. I thought I'd found it but
it
turned out to be a token for the carousel.

We also have a two dollar bill. I've got one that I'm using as a
bookmark. They never took off either.

We do not have a three dollar bill, leading to the expression 'as queer
as a three dollar bill'.

There is a 50 cent coin, again rarely seen. It's redundant since you
can
make any sum with 1, 5, 10, and 25.

We have 1,2,5,10,20,50,100,200 pence coins. They're all equally used.
Why use two 25 cent coins when you can use a 50?

Because that's what you happen to have, stupid.

Doesn't make the 50 redundant. We use 50s all the time, in fact I'd say
all coins are used equally.

You'd be wrong about that last.

"Jimmy Wilkinson Knife" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 22:59:20 +0100, Rod Speed
wrote:



"Jimmy Wilkinson Knife" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 27 Sep 2018 20:04:31 +0100, Rod Speed
wrote:



"rbowman" wrote in message
...
On 09/26/2018 09:02 PM, Rod Speed wrote:
One of the chain self checkouts used to just
dispense $20s here and I used that for that
reason instead of an ATM but they have
changed those now and they don't let you
specify what you want, it works that out
for you so you can still get $20s by specifying
you want $40, but you get $50s if you say
you want $50 or $100 etc. That chain has
now closed their store in my town now so
I have to use the other self checkouts.

I'll have to pay more attention the next time. I think you can specify
a
number but the selection menu is in $20 increments. The max on the
menu
is
$200, or sometimes $100 at the smaller kiosks in markets.

I've got the feeling if you said you wanted $57 the machine would make
impolite remarks. Maybe not, since the self service checkouts can make
change with smaller bills. I never thought about it. I just grab $200
and
go.

Yeah, I'm about to try them all now because I have always
preferred to have $20 notes for the garage/yard sales. $50s
can be a real hassle, particularly given that we show up
at the garage/yard sales before anyone else and hardly
any ensure that they have lots of change. I prefer to use
the self checkouts rather than ATMs just because you
don't normally have to queue for the self checkouts
and there is no chance of a skimmer on the self checkout.

You must have a lot of criminals over there.

Most of those skimming ATMs are tourists.

The problem doesn't exist here,

Wrong, as always.
https://www.google.com/search?q=atm+skimming+uk

you're doing something wrong.

Nope.

"Jimmy Wilkinson Knife" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 29 Sep 2018 22:57:44 +0100, Rod Speed
wrote:



"Jimmy Wilkinson Knife" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 26 Sep 2018 22:45:11 +0100, Rod Speed
wrote:



"Jimmy Wilkinson Knife" wrote in message
news On Wed, 26 Sep 2018 20:59:41 +0100, Rod Speed

wrote:



"Jimmy Wilkinson Knife" wrote in message
news On Wed, 26 Sep 2018 15:29:04 +0100, rbowman
wrote:

On 09/26/2018 07:05 AM, Rod Speed wrote:


"Jimmy Wilkinson Knife" wrote in message
news On Wed, 26 Sep 2018 04:20:42 +0100, rbowman
wrote:

On 09/25/2018 09:25 AM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:
We just changed recently. Annoyingly they also changed one of
the
coins, so they're slightly bigger and no longer fit in any
machines
until they're all changed over at the shop's expense. Clueless
Royal
Mint, they do that every 5 years.

At least you don't have Loonies...

Who?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loonie

We do in fact have both a gold colored $1 and $2 coins and they
work
fine
except for the terminal stupidity that the $1 coin is bigger than
the
$2
coin.
And the 50c coin is bigger again, but is silver colored and not
gold
colored.

And we don't have 1c and 2c coins anymore, the lowest value is 5c.

I misspoke. I was thinking of the toonie..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toonie

I don't know if it was just an urban legend but there was talk that
the
manufacturing process wasn't ironed out for the first runs and the
core
would fall out leaving you with a $2 washer.

I liked going to Canada. In the '90s the exchange rate was
unfavorable
to the Canadians and they used different colors for their paper
money
with bears, penguins, or whatever in the designs. For $100 you got
a
wad
of multicolored Canadian bills. It was like Monopoly money.

What screwed me up was liters for gasoline. Between the exchange
rate
and trying to do liters to gallons in my head I always assumed I
was
getting screwed at the pump where the former Imperial gallons
seemed
like a bargain.

Our Aldi supermarkets, being a German company, like to make
everything
metric, hence they sell litres of milk instead of the pints I get
everywhere else,

Ours are all metric, and that's the law.

Do your lawmakers have nothing more sensible to do?

They do them all.

What? I asked why your lawmakers don't do more sensible things, other
than making everything metric, which nobody gives a **** about.

it makes price comparisons annoyingly difficult. They also do weird
**** like putting the prices above the shelf instead of on it, I'm
always looking at the price for the wrong thing.

They don't do that here.

In every supermarket but Aldi here, the price is on the shelf which
the
item is sitting on. In Aldi however, it's on the shelf above, or for
the
top shelf, way above it on a vertical bit.

Like I said, Aldi does it the same way all the other supermarkets do it
here.

They do however have a nice tactic of speeding things up by letting
you
just put one of everything on the conveyor belt, then telling them
how
many you have left in the trolley. Sometimes I guess you might feel
the
need to er.... tell them the wrong number :-)

Ours counts them even when you tell them.

Try filling your trolley to the brim, they can't see them all then :-)

I did that at one time, they required them to
all be on the belt so they could count them.

They did that to me a few times, then stopped again, it was slowing down
the queue. It seems they'd rather take the risk of some cheats than
have
everyone take longer to get through the checkout and employ more staff.

Our old silver dollars were large. The latest attempts to float out
a
dollar coin have been barely distinguishable from a quarter (25
cent
piece). They never have taken off.

You currently have no dollar coin?!

Yes they do. But for some reason most don't use it presumably because
they didn't crap all the paper $1 notes when they introduced it. Its
now
not even minted for general currency use, just for collectors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar...(United_States)

$1 US is worth even less than £1. Our £1 notes fell to bits through
overuse, I dread to think what theirs look like.

That comes down to how soon they pulp them, not how much use they get.

But they can only pulp them when they are handed in to a bank.

Commercial operations do that all the time. Do you seriously believe that
they stuff the money they take under the mattress ?

When we still had £1 notes, I saw them in a terrible state, and the date
on them was well in hte past, like 10 years. If you're correct, then
surely in that 10 years a bank must have seen them?

Corse they did, and didn't bother to pulp them.

On 10/02/2018 04:42 PM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:
On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 20:37:49 +0100, rbowman wrote:

On 09/30/2018 11:08 AM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:
Yes. Generally called spark plug wires in this country. They may be a
thing of the past. My Toyota doesn't have any but I don't know how
common that is.

It will, but they're concealed in one tube.

No concealment on the Toyota. It has Coil-on-Plug ignition.

https://troubleshootmyvehicle.com/to...nition-coils-1


Why do they tend to put the coils on the plugs now instead of having one
big coil?

The last car I inspected may have had that, I'm not sure, all I know is
there was a bar that clipped over all the plugs, with one thick wire
leading to it.

It eliminates the moving parts of the distributor and the high tension
wires. Even without the old mechanical points, that is still a couple of
areas of potential failure. The ECU is capable of delivering a timed pulse.

On 10/02/2018 04:44 PM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:
On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 20:27:05 +0100, Rod Speed
wrote:



"Jimmy Wilkinson Knife" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 10 Sep 2018 05:45:16 +0100, rbowman wrote:

On 09/09/2018 01:08 PM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:
I really ****ed off a horserider once. I was driving a very old Range
Rover automatic which had a conversion to LPG. It very often
misfired,
made loud bangs, and changed gear without warning. I managed to
cause a
small explosion and a loud revving of the engine just as I passed a
horserider coming the other way along a narrow country road. The
horse
**** itself, and so did the rider.

I did better than that... I was coming down a narrow road that went
past
a dude ranch on my Harley. Coming the other was was a herd of dudes on
their docile refugees from a canning factory led by a genuine wild west
cowboy. ****head's horse had a nervous breakdown while the guests' nags
barely roused from their stupor.

it doesn't take much to set them off. I've worked with horses enough to
know most of them are a neurotic bundle of nerves. If the horse can't
handle public roads, trailer it to a nice quiet horse trail someplace.

Indeed. Horses on roads were fine, before the invention of the motor
car.

They weren't actually, lots got killed by them bolting etc.

They're not the brightest of animals.

A common description around here is a cowboy is the third dumbest
critter riding the second dumbest and chasing the first dumbest.

On 10/02/2018 04:55 PM, Rod Speed wrote:


"Jimmy Wilkinson Knife" wrote in message
news
On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 20:27:05 +0100, Rod Speed
wrote:



"Jimmy Wilkinson Knife" wrote in message
news On Mon, 10 Sep 2018 05:45:16 +0100, rbowman wrote:

On 09/09/2018 01:08 PM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:
I really ****ed off a horserider once. I was driving a very old
Range
Rover automatic which had a conversion to LPG. It very often
misfired,
made loud bangs, and changed gear without warning. I managed to
cause a
small explosion and a loud revving of the engine just as I passed a
horserider coming the other way along a narrow country road. The
horse
**** itself, and so did the rider.

I did better than that... I was coming down a narrow road that went
past
a dude ranch on my Harley. Coming the other was was a herd of dudes on
their docile refugees from a canning factory led by a genuine wild
west
cowboy. ****head's horse had a nervous breakdown while the guests'
nags
barely roused from their stupor.

it doesn't take much to set them off. I've worked with horses
enough to
know most of them are a neurotic bundle of nerves. If the horse can't
handle public roads, trailer it to a nice quiet horse trail someplace.

Indeed. Horses on roads were fine, before the invention of the
motor car.

They weren't actually, lots got killed by them bolting etc.

They're not the brightest of animals.

They're actually quite a bit smarter than most, just a
neurotic bundle of nerves. They basically evolved that
way because they are prey to stuff like lions and tigers etc.

At one time I worked on a Forest Service ranch that was the winter home
for about 250 head of saddle and pack stock, both mules and horses. I
preferred the mules. The only problem is a mule is smart enough to look
out for number one while you can coax a horse into doing stupid things.
otoh, most mules aren't afraid of a length of rope laying in the trail,
running water, tree branches blowing in the wind, llamas, bicycles, elk,
deer, shadows, or whatever else will trigger a horse.

I've packed with llamas and they are equally neurotic. More cowboy humor:

Q. How do you pack a llama?
A. Quarter them, just like an elk.

On 10/02/2018 04:47 PM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:
On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 20:26:26 +0100, rbowman wrote:

On 09/30/2018 10:00 AM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:
On Tue, 11 Sep 2018 03:12:20 +0100, rbowman wrote:

On 09/10/2018 12:53 PM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:


Are your roads littered with speed bumps? I go over perhaps 200 a
day.

That cinches it. No trip to the UK for me. Some of our dirt roads have
speed bumps, aka small boulders, but I've never seen them other than on
private roads.

Round here they put them in the stupidest of places, for example 10
yards from a junction, where nobody could possibly be speeding anyway.

And apparently they cost £10,000 each to install including paperwork.


We have various 'traffic calming' schemes like roundabouts and bulbouts
but speed bumps would really **** off the snowplow crews to say nothing
of the cops.

Even some of the semi-private areas are getting rid of them. I hit one
of the damn things on my bicycle. The sun was in my eyes and I didn't
see it coming so I taco'd my front wheel and did a face plant. I was not
happy.

You should have attempted to sue the council (or whatever you call them
over there). Causing injury to a cyclist can't be allowed surely?

I'm not big on lawyers... The counter would be that I was on private
property.

On 10/02/2018 05:01 PM, Rod Speed wrote:


"Jimmy Wilkinson Knife" wrote in message
news
On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 20:26:26 +0100, rbowman wrote:

On 09/30/2018 10:00 AM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:
On Tue, 11 Sep 2018 03:12:20 +0100, rbowman wrote:

On 09/10/2018 12:53 PM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:


Are your roads littered with speed bumps? I go over perhaps 200 a
day.

That cinches it. No trip to the UK for me. Some of our dirt roads have
speed bumps, aka small boulders, but I've never seen them other
than on
private roads.

Round here they put them in the stupidest of places, for example 10
yards from a junction, where nobody could possibly be speeding anyway.

And apparently they cost £10,000 each to install including paperwork.


We have various 'traffic calming' schemes like roundabouts and bulbouts
but speed bumps would really **** off the snowplow crews to say nothing
of the cops.

Even some of the semi-private areas are getting rid of them. I hit one
of the damn things on my bicycle. The sun was in my eyes and I didn't
see it coming so I taco'd my front wheel and did a face plant. I was not
happy.

You should have attempted to sue the council (or whatever you call
them over there). Causing injury to a cyclist can't be allowed surely?

I hope I one day catch an old lady tripping over one on my dashcam.
I've seen it happen before, a pensioner crosses the road and trips on
the stupid thing. But I need proof.

Further north, they have bollards on the narrowing things (we call
them chicanes,

Nope.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicane

I assume that's what you refer to as a bulbout).

Nope
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curb_extension


https://missoulian.com/news/local/bi...cc4c03286.html

These are the worst of both. The theory is pedestrians will be out in
the street, visible, and have a shorter path. They suck for bicycles
since you're forced out in the traffic lane, and are difficult for
trucks and buses to navigate.

There are also micro-roundabouts. Basically you take a 4-way
intersection of residential streets, build a little round island in the
middle, and plant flowers. The first moving van in the area runs over
the thing since it's impossible to navigate around it with anything
bigger than a mini-van.

"rbowman" wrote in message
...
On 10/02/2018 04:55 PM, Rod Speed wrote:


"Jimmy Wilkinson Knife" wrote in message
news
On Sun, 30 Sep 2018 20:27:05 +0100, Rod Speed
wrote:



"Jimmy Wilkinson Knife" wrote in message
news On Mon, 10 Sep 2018 05:45:16 +0100, rbowman
wrote:

On 09/09/2018 01:08 PM, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:
I really ****ed off a horserider once. I was driving a very old
Range
Rover automatic which had a conversion to LPG. It very often
misfired,
made loud bangs, and changed gear without warning. I managed to
cause a
small explosion and a loud revving of the engine just as I passed a
horserider coming the other way along a narrow country road. The
horse
**** itself, and so did the rider.

I did better than that... I was coming down a narrow road that went
past
a dude ranch on my Harley. Coming the other was was a herd of dudes
on
their docile refugees from a canning factory led by a genuine wild
west
cowboy. ****head's horse had a nervous breakdown while the guests'
nags
barely roused from their stupor.

it doesn't take much to set them off. I've worked with horses
enough to
know most of them are a neurotic bundle of nerves. If the horse can't
handle public roads, trailer it to a nice quiet horse trail
someplace.

Indeed. Horses on roads were fine, before the invention of the
motor car.

They weren't actually, lots got killed by them bolting etc.

They're not the brightest of animals.

They're actually quite a bit smarter than most, just a
neurotic bundle of nerves. They basically evolved that
way because they are prey to stuff like lions and tigers etc.

At one time I worked on a Forest Service ranch that was the winter home
for about 250 head of saddle and pack stock, both mules and horses. I
preferred the mules. The only problem is a mule is smart enough to look
out for number one while you can coax a horse into doing stupid things.
otoh, most mules aren't afraid of a length of rope laying in the trail,
running water, tree branches blowing in the wind, llamas, bicycles, elk,
deer, shadows, or whatever else will trigger a horse.

I've just been to this one again and was again reminded that quite a few
of them were kept where they were wanted to be when not actually doing
anything by just a line of white plastic cord keeping them from wandering
around.

Same with the bullocks, fascinating watching them being run up the dirt
loading ramp into the B double at the end of Sunday with just another
line of that white cord between the yards, what you lot call the corral
and up the side of the loading ramp.

http://barellanclydesdales.com.au/

They had a drone over the grand parade, but they did last year too
and that footage didn't make it on to their web site last year. Must
be a different operation that was running it.

The 25 Clydesdale team pulling the massive great wool wagon that
you can see on the web site was pretty spectacular. Took a good
hour to get them all harnessed up and connected to before dragging
it around the main parade ground. They had the bullock team pulling
another. Last year it was the biggest bullock team seen in the entire
world this century which doesn't really prove all that much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh9u7vD6yq8

I've packed with llamas and they are equally neurotic. More cowboy humor:

Q. How do you pack a llama?
A. Quarter them, just like an elk.