patham

Took a break from the trails and went city-slicking for a change to spot the new Brisbane bridges. I think times are getting tough even in first world nations though. The cycle paths by the river are becoming a homeless shanty town in places - that just reminds me of the Spruit.

Yep, no daylight savings time in sunny Queensland. Because of cows (well the farmers actually, but they say it’s because of the cows. I think it’s just cos they like to be the first ones up and don’t want us plebs up at the same time. And no-one really knows why the middle (of the continent, but also no-where) wanted a shift of 30 minutes- that’s just silly.

Be like the USA and try to pass laws that make daylight saving time permanent, I.e. year around. Seems contradictory, but that’s the US of A for you. I also have Monday Binday, which I address by taking the bins out the night before. The recycling truck comes by at a respectable time, but it’s impossible to rise before the garbage truck.

Who would have guessed? Oh wait, I think we all did.

Congratulations and strap in to enjoy the ride. Hopefully she learns some better habits over the next 18 years, but with teenagers - no guarantees!

I can confirm. Son ate like a bird for the first 14 years. Over the last few months it’s supper, second supper, first snack, second snack… The calories are all getting converted into height, growing 1cm per month. As a result he has plotted his forecast growth so that his dream forever bike can be ordered so it arrives just in time for it to fit him. A Propain Tyee Al 6. Bye bye money indeed, but it’s the last bike we ever plan to buy him.

Yes, came across a post about Mark on my LinkedIn feed. He was a VoW DJ from a few years before I studied there. I think I have one of his compilation CD’s in my racks still. He had a good taste, and a calm yet engaging style that was pretty unique.

You too huh? But even more weird is the fact that the radio stations now play crap music by people I have never heard of- where has all the decent 80’s& 90’s stuff gone. That’s only like from 10-15 years ago…..tops!

Direct is the only way for sissy not-so-old timers like me. I will rather wait and earn more cash for the direct flights than save a few hundred and suffer extra hours. And those last few additional hours in the metal tube drag on forever….. However, there is an exception I will make for the ultra long-hauls, I for one will never fly on Project Sunrise! Way too long in that same seat…

Some good points made, we are just back from 3 weeks there. I will add: Loadshedding is indeed a pain. The upper middle-class to wealthy seem to tackle it by adding back up solar, battery and inverter solutions to their homes. I am very grateful that the relative we stayed at had just installed such a system, never even noticed the switchover. Funnily enough, even though traffic lights in Joburg are never on, or just flash, the quality of driving and navigating these hazards has improved over the years (lots of practice). I never felt there was an accident waiting to happen. Much better than Aus drivers at broken lights. Food- also thought was expensive, and did not consider the restaurant prices were discounted relative to the prices we pay in Aus. Might reflect the quality of places I go to though. Umhlanga may have been quiet but all the Vaalies were in Salt Rock. That was as busy as ever. G-wagons and even a Ferrari on Ocean Drive! Salt Rock is also on an essential service power grid so we had no power issues. Mask up for Covid at airports and flights- too true. One confirmed case in the family here as of this morning- let’s see who else will get it.

Ta. Saw my first C40 last week. Looks more attractive than the XC40, but possibly less U in the whole SUV equation with the coupe style roof line. The petrol XC40's here are retaining really high second hand values - so maybe its not too late to change. I now understand the smugness of some EV owners - when in good weather I just top up the electron tank from the sun - that's (near) priceless.

She is finally here (refer back a good few months in this thread). Now I just need to find a buyer for my second kidney so that I can get the towbar to put the bike rack on.

Moving back to Schwalbe after a stint with OEM Maxxis. The Magic Mary in 2.6 is probably way-overkill for both what I ride and how I ride it, but figured I would give the newish trail carcass build a try. Loctitie is for my son's bike - his jumps give it such a thrashing the bolts work loose pretty quick.

Yep, first few minutes are like learning to drive a manual all over again, with the car running on kangaroo juice. But it gets smoother with practice.

Only when I get it ! I agree the P8 is something else. On my testdrive there were the usual numpties (they are all over the world) who would not let me merge into the highway from the onramp, so I just put my footdown and scooted up to 100+ kays in what was left of the onramp merge, got ahead and left them all behind. And the best thing about it - the loudest noise during this manoeuvre was the air-con fan blowing air into the cabin.

XC40 recharge is available here (managed to get a testdrive) but at an even longer delivery period. The C40 I think can be pre-ordered, but who knows when it would arrive. In QLD, the labour govt has decreed that they won't help people to buy a Tesla, so incentives stop at about the MG electric level price tag, after that the buyers are on their own. The XC40 Recharge is a really great vehicle, and you will not be disappointed. But driving the Polestar felt like an event. As we already have a larger SUV, the sedan style is just right. As this is a mid-life crisis purchase, dual motor all the way ! In for a penny, in for a pound, full speed ahead and damn the fines. I have pointed out to the Minister of Finance that I saved about 5% by following the forums and ordering just before they closed out the MY22 order book and applied the MY23 price hike, but I don't think that line has been accepted. At least I have solar panels at home, so the electrons are cheap. I just need to run it for about 10 years for the spreadsheet to balance !

Very Nice Patches. I was doing some cross-shopping with the XC40 earlier this year, it's a great car but in the end went for the same vehicle, but just wearing a different skin (test drive image below). Although as delivery is only meant to be in September, I should maybe post in the "Boast about your latest future purchase here" thread. And the towbar for the bike rack is also ludicrously expensive, so still debating my options.

Thanks for the heads-up. The set on YT is great from start to finish (an official video of the set, not some-ones shaky mobile recording).

Good share - thanks. Looks like they had a lot of fun on stage and it's always good to see Dave back on the tools.

Cool experience. But looking at the seat covers, was there a pair of dice hanging above the windscreen windows ?

To paraphrase the Smash Mouth All Star song when it comes to relocation to this side of the world; "Well the years bills start coming and they don't stop coming........" Good work on getting through MIQ so far.

Because real coffee afficionado's drink it black - that's why. Ergo - the frother is not essential as the true addicts don't need one in the first place. The one thing that grates me about coffee-culture in Aus, is that the coffee snobs all have their best local, whom they claim to have the best beans and roast etc. When you ask how they take it, and they reply flat white - what they are really rating is the damn milk and not much else!

The cross -rates may still be relatively OK. The AUD and NZD have also dropped recently versus the USD.

I think I would be too squeamish to self-inject. However, having had one excruciating gout experience (ankle & below but mainly the big toe) I would have had no reservations in doing so. I reckon that if I had Patches' level of home DIY woodworking gear I would have just amputated the offending limb at home with only a disprin- it could only have felt better. I sent the Mrs off to get emergency steroids, but in the rush she locked herself out the house. I think it took me 10 minutes to walk the 10 steps to let her back in. I have huge empathy now for anyone who has experienced that - its no joke. And I have sworn off the offending dietary item - fresh OJ. A colleague had a gout episode when he was in the middle of nowhere QLD, on a cattle station which was base camp for studies for a green fields mine site development. The horse steroids the owners scrounged for him worked a charm !

Could well be true, although as time goes on you have less and less interaction with real humans in the Aus airports. Its all self-serve biometric scanners, and you only see a real person when the scanner refuses to accept the passport. But the queue managers who are the only BF staff most people see do seem to be the shouty ones. My last Zim passport had barely perceptible (by eye) printing error in that the left hand side of a zero in the biometric number was printed marginally thicker than the right. Unfortunately when run through the Australian scanners, this digit would be scanned as a "1" 9 times out of 10, and then the check-sum algorithms would flag a data inconsistency. So I would first get called up by the duty officer, and then get accompanied to the forensic focussed office, with the magnifiers, super duper scanners and other CSI paraphernalia to be checked out. Luckily the first time this happened I was carrying a whole ID file with me, so had reams of old passports going back to childhood, birth certs etc. so I was able to convince them I wasn't a forger, together with all my bank cards, drivers license etc. Learnt that these secondary ID was essential back-ups to be carried on international flights! Long story short, these interactions were always pleasant enough, and it was just a delay to allow for in layover planning. The TSA in the US have staff that really span the spectrum from amazingly friendly/tolerant to those with pent up aggression that is just searching for an excuse for an outlet. Never make the first joke with a TSA person.