Off Topic The Goodhand Arms

Completely forgot to post the old Stonehenge Solstice photo from Friday morning. My bio clock is still at sixes and sevens [sorry]. Here's a couple. The first one is sllighly more unusual. It's the setting sun of the 20th. Looks remarkably similar to the one below it. And with good reason. The only difference is the time and compass point. The sun is setting in the NW. Yes, north-west - 23+ degrees north of true west if I remember correctly.

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Have to say that the amount of light still in the sky nearly a coule of hours later was impressive. No light pollution.
Anyway, very early next day, in the NE:

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Thar she blew!

 

Very moving, and so frustratingly tragic that she and many other SOE agents were betrayed, not through malice, but incompetence on the part of the controllers back home. I simply can’t imagine the sheer courage those incredible people found inside themselves to do that job.

 

Glad you made it TSS, we decided to go to Stanton Drew this year, a lot fewer people! See my post a couple of pages previous.

 

Yes, it was reading that, that I finally remembered to post a couple of photos. One thing. There were at least 10,000 people at Stonehenge and surrounds and I can't remember a more likeable bunch, considering there were so many. The police, paramedics, security and attendants were friendly and excellent in their task. Some more views:

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Note the huge key stone on the left. The Sun rose over that one. The protest boards in the background are over the proposed tunnel. I'd thought that was dead and buried, but apparently not..

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The Stones and People just after sunrise.

 

Met Tom Daley’s husband, Dustin Lance Black tonight. Absolutely incredible, inspiring young man.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dustin_Lance_Black

 

I was getting my house decorated and I saw an advert for a handyman so I rang him up for a quote. When he arrived I explained that I wanted the kitchen painted a nice bright yellow. He made a note of it opened the window and shouted green side up. We went to the daughters bedroom and I said she would like it a nice shade of pink. He made a note of it opened the window and shouted green side up. We went into the bathroom and I said I would like it a nice shade of blue he made a note of it opened up the window and shouted green side up. I asked him why do you open the window and shout green side up every time I gave him a colour? He replied I have paddy on the other side of the road laying turf.

 

Damn You Ducati.

Ever since Tesla brought out the Model S, where they kind of proved that an ordinary electric family car would someday become possible, my interest in ICE vehicles has dropped away to zero. Even my VFR fails to inspire me, as it sits under its cover in the garage. Over the weekend I popped in the garage and lifted the cover slightly. It's OK sitting there, but I feel almost nothing. I'm happy that it isn't festering. Then going through my Google Photos I came across the picture of a bike which caught me unawares as I rambled earlier this year. I gave the title above. It's because I thought it was all over [it is really], but there is still the odd ICE vehicle which can stir my enthusiasm. It's probably the last, so I'm glad I recorded it:

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TSS.
Very interesting Top Gear on for you tonight.
I have to say, its educated me somewhat, even if I'm not sold as yet.

 

I saw it last night, the Tesla Model 3 is amazing, especially the dual-motor one!

 

Yeah, I was late to the party. Got home from work, F1 highlights then slept like a baby!
Full of beans today though.

 

Tell me what you're not sold on. Perhaps I can clear up a few doubts. At the moment, ticket price is the biggie, which I understand. That will change very soon. Couple of years tops.

 

I really do believe you would. So, if I get closer so it, be prepared to push me over the line!
As it stands, I changed cars in Feb, and its the most expensive new car I've ever owned, & I really love it! (so much so, that I check the condition when the mrs gets back each time)

 

Hehe, fair enough. You're possibly driving the last new fossil fuel vehicle you'll ever own.

Thank goodness for iPlayer, one can slide to the important bits, and Chris Harris's review was OK-ish. He tested the Model S P100D in mid 2017 and was blown away by it's speed and handling, but managed to find quirks he didn't like. He admits he's instinctively very anti-electric, which is a shame because he's a decent motoring journalist. He wants the smoke and noise. Most people want want a quieter, cleaner world.

I have seen 100% petrol-heads on YT become total converts because they suddenly get it. It's a shame that Tesla are at least 4-5 years in front of everyone else, because I'd like the FF fleet to be replaced asap, and Tesla can't do it alone. I think the Chinese will end up helping. They are starting to make some very impressive EVs, and in huge numbers too. BTW, Chris is so way off with his, 'the Germans will come and overtake Tesla' it's not true. And some of his general EV views are so out of date they need calendars fitted. The German car makers admit themselves that they are years behind, and even their Transport Minister mocked them [no, I'm not kidding] just a few months ago for letting a small US manufacturer be so far ahead. To say nothing of Nissan and Renault, Hyundai/Kia and even General Motors, a bit. The new entrants from Audi [etron - poor range, inefficient, overweight and draggy] and Mercedes [EQC - similar plus mediocre performance] have been disappointing so far. And the Audi has been recalled because of battery seal problems. The Polestar 2 from Volvo/Polestar looks like it might be a winner. The Jaguar iPace, although it has its faults, is a proper luxury EV alternative. If you like traditional plush interiors and Jaguar ride quality and handling, at the expense of a little bit of range and efficiency, you could do worse.
The killer from Tesla though is Over The Air updates. You buy a Tesla, and a couple of weeks later it becomes a slightly better car. They improve them all the time and it's an ongoing thing with every car that qualifies and that's nearly all of them. Nobody else does that because nobody else can. It's reported that Jaguar might one day, but everyone else is almost a decade behind. And all the real experts say that its software that will determine who comes out top. Traditional car companies have **** software. This is where Harris is so wrong with his traditional thinking. I see many of them merging or going under, if they don't wake up. He's right about one thing though. The change is coming really, really fast.

 

Marv's bad joke of the day
Paddy and Murphy were out camping in the jungle when they saw a fella being carried away in the jaws of a crocodile. Paddy says to Murphy look at that posh b**stard he's got a Lacoste sleeping bag

 

My biggest concern for EV vehicles is not range or initial cost, but longevity - specifically if a car has a range of x, how many recharge cycles before that becomes 0.9x, or 0.5x. Until the battery life is guaranteed to give you the range of greater than 0.9x for at least 6 years with annual mileage of 12k OR the manufacturers cost in replacement batteries if range fulls below 0.9x in some sort of lease scheme which is affordable, it will be hard for me to make the move to EV.
I think battery tech will get me there eventually but I don't think they can offer that to me at the moment.

 

My biggest barrier to EV is cost. I drive a car that cost me £2k, it's 13 years old. I couldn't find enough spare cash to finance the purchase of a new or even slightly new EV if I wanted to, regardless of future running cost savings and environmental impact.
Until I can go out and buy an EV for similar cost to an Ice car, I'll have to stick with what I currently do which is get 4 years and 60k miles out an older motor, sell on and repeat.
My motorbike is 38 years old and won't be traded in for an E model as the bike cost me £650 which probably wouldn't even cover the cost of a decent sized battery.
Plus I'm not giving up my occasional 2 stroke hit when I go green laning until I really have to.

 

I like how this issue has got people thinking. We know we can't solve the problem overnight, but people discussing it rationally means the pro electric vehicle has come on leaps in the last six months. Lets hope the industry helps us make those crucial decisions.

 

I'm a huge fan of EVs, just not in the position to make the change. I see no downsides to them, other than initial cost which will come down as they start to take a bigger share of the market.
Battery technology research will bring us cheaper and higher capacity batteries in time, which will do a lot to get costs down.

 

I work in a railway ticket office and a lady came in the other day and asked at what age do you start paying for kids? 5 I replied. Her young son then said I'm 6 my mum told me to lie

 

Not insurmountable but electric cars injure more pedestrians than average so I think they need a noise added. Like a bell on a cat.