Other What currently makes your life awesome?

Derailments, double-posting, resurrections worthy of the finest necromancers… All the heretical forum faux pas so frowned upon elsewhere are fine bit-tech traditions

I mean… you don’t get a forum to the grand old age of 23+ years old without doing a few things right along the way

Oof…

Git

 

Car insurance renewal up just a tenner and a damned sight lower than others we checked.

I'll take that as a win.

 

Reporting back from my trip:

Niagara Falls is pretty spectacular. In two to three days, you can pretty easily do all the big things you might want to do on both the US and Canada sides of the falls. My kids had a fantastic time. If you're ever thinking of going, feel free to tag me in a post and pick my brain for tips.

The weather was pretty great except for eclipse day, which was very very cloudy. But we did get some breaks in the clouds and, most importantly, had one during totality where we got to see the total eclipse for about 35 seconds. It was really spectacular. 100% recommend traveling or doing what you need to do to see one.

My ex moved out and I've been cleaning up and making my home my own. It's quite empty (she took a lot), but it's mine and I can finally feel comfortable at home.

 

Also, its just us oldies now, so does it really matter?

 

Pretty much, I think with most of us it is a case of came for the mods, stayed for the rest.

 

Only about 25 years overdue...



The examiner picked possibly the single most awkward test route she could have...

The reverse right observation was pure complacency. Of all the manoeuvres she could have picked, she picked the one that is by far the easiest and I still got a minor on it! I’ve been saying for a while that complacency was the biggest risk for my test, and… well… there it is…

One undue hesitation was I think for moving over and stopping behind parked cars to let oncoming traffic through, when there was actually room for traffic in both directions. I wasn’t sure when I approached, so I’d rather pick up a minor fault than drive into a parked car.

The other undue hesitation was after I’d dealt with a particularly nasty situation with a tipper wagon in a narrow country lane. After dealing with the wagon (that was inches from the car at one point) I held back to let the oncoming traffic through, but realised after 3 or 4 cars that there was actually room to get through - slowly. Even the examiner said that one is purely down to experience, it was a tough situation and many would have failed their test when dealing with the wagon unexpectedly emerging into those very tight quarters.

Stalled at one point as well, and I'm surprised she didn't fault me for that. The car I was using will automatically re-start itself after a stall as soon as you put the clutch down; I got the clutch down pretty damn quick when I realised it was stalling, so maybe the restart feature kicked in quick enough that she didn't notice. Or maybe I saved the stall, I don't know... Don't matter though, 'cos it's done now

 

Seems pretty harsh calling that undue hesitation, but forunately no-one cares about minors. Im pretty sure a 5 mins trip down the shops would get most people more than enough minors to fail a test, so well done for passing it.

 

Yeah, it was a pretty crappy situation to encounter on your test!

Just turned in to a country lane and it's immediately a blind bend leading to a really narrow stretch where there's just enough room for cars to squeeze past. Soon as I come round the corner there's a massive tipper wagon at a junction about 30-50 or so metres ahead. He sees me slowing down and takes that as an invitation to pull out, when in fact I was just slowing down 'cos it's narrow and there's oncoming traffic... So there's a massive wagon half out of a junction, there's some crappy clapped out old Clio right behind me, and I'm sat here on my test... The woman behind eventually reverses back a few feet, I move back, and the wagon can move forward... a little. By this point this wagon is now inches off the front wing, the parking sensor is going mental because it's so close, and this idiot behind me won't move back any further. I realised there's a little more room behind me so can drop back a touch, the wagon driver managed to get it round past me (just) so I held back to let a few cars come from the other direction before I realise that I can actually fit through... slowly... I've got the window open a crack and I can hear the muppet behind me shrieking at me to get on with it - she then proceeds to spend the next 10-15 minutes following so closely that she could reach out and hold on to my back bumper.

So... yeah. I'm not surprised a lot of new drivers would have probably made enough mistakes to fail in that situation: it's one of those things that you just can't practice in a lesson, and you've got the added pressure of being on a test adding to the nerves. Would have been nice to have zero faults like I did for the motorcycle mod2, but so long as I didn't pick up more than about half a dozen I'd have been happy.

Also yes, I'd say a fair majority of people out there couldn't pass their test if they had to do it again. In fact at least half of the people I see when I'm on the bike would probably do something so dangerous that the examiner would halt the test before they've been on the road even 5 minutes.

 

I think you’re right about not passing if one had to take the test again. The test now, is much more demanding than it was in 1983, when I took mine.

 

Switched over to Octopus energy which according to them should half our bills from 3k to 1.5k a year. We discussed switching last year but never actually got around to doing it.

 

I'm fairly certain the overwhelming majority of diickheads on the road that I'm shouting at from inside my own little box of anger are NOT new drivers.

 

Octopus are really good. Their customer service department actually does their jobs instead of playing "pass the hold message" with calls!

 

In 8 weeks time I’m going for a hair transplant in Manchester. Staying in the UK so it’s costing me 2.5-3x Turkey money but id prefer the local aftercare should I need it. Pretty much have the money now to pay cash up front over any finance options.

Noticed my hair slightly receding/thinning at 20, now approaching 32, and due to be marrried next year this just feels the right time to get it done.

Very lucky that I work in an environment with no dress code but sometimes I’d like to lose the hat at work. Told a few people about it and had mixed responses, a few people ridiculed me for it, some appeared supportive. Fortunately I wasn’t asking for opinions.

 

Joined them this week also funnily enough as they finally support my car/charger combo on intelligent Octopus, well sort of, its only half charging my car as it has a bigger battery than the car on their database but they seem responsive so reckon it'll be sorted soon.

 

If it makes you feel good and you can afford it then sod what anyone else thinks

 

Bloody good sort out in the spare room today. Tons of piled up “stuff” either packed away or chucked in the boot of the car ready for a tip run later, including a desk which I discovered is actually falling apart. Good thing I wasn’t putting any serious weight on it, like… oh I don’t know… a CRT TV and a CRT monitor at the same time…

Not quite done, but all I really need to do is vacuum and re-arrange a few things. Tons of room to get a treadmill in there now.

Also, had the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a very long time last night.

Ever since I got a new mattress a few months ago I’ve been waking up with stiff or aching shoulders and back. It usually goes pretty quickly once I’m up and about, but yesterday it was really bad; I ended up taking all the paracetamol and ibuprofen I could, just to keep it at bay. I got a new “top” pillow yesterday, one that seemingly supports my head & neck properly, and it’s made a world of difference. I’m still a bit sore after lugging crap around all afternoon, but I slept like the dead last night and didn’t feel so much as a mere twinge when I woke up.

After my other half’s bout of severe back/nerve pain, cauda equina syndrome, and emergency spinal surgery, I don’t tend to funk around any more when it comes to back pain.

 

I actually have my dental checkup at 2:30 today. This amuses me no end.

 

You booked that on purpose!

 

Ah hello, Doctor Chen will see you now.

 

As my usual trip to Star Citizen's "Citizen Con" will only take me to Manchester this year, I'm contemplating a couple of weeks in Japan late August / early September.
Especially since Expedia says it will only run me around £1500 for flights & a good hotel!