funinhounslow

Two things that strike me when watching Minder, Sweeney, The Professionals - the lack of cars and how slim everyone is. Wonder if they’re connected…

Indeed and for good reason - there are benefits to restricting car use Southbank 1970…

Rather than spend £20,000+ on an electric car, keep the ICE, run it into the ground and meanwhile buy an ebike or two. This solution isn’t for everyone but if you’re fairly fit a 10 mile commute is perfectly feasible on an ebike. All the “traditional” objections to cycling fade away when you try one and grasp the potential of these things. My mileage plummeted when I bought one and it “paid for itself” in a year I’ve seen a gardener hump his gear round on a Tern GSD and trailer and also seen toddlers transported in an Urban Arrow. Not for everyone but these remarkable machines merit consideration. They make far more sense than a Range Rover for the school run at least.

There’s a tube strike today and a 3.8% rise in rail fares has just been announced. Luckily I can cycle to work. Hoping that the ridiculous opposition to building more cycling infrastructure in London fades away as people realise is the fastest cheapest and most convenient way to make short trips. And longer ones with an ebike…

You could do an awful lot worse than open an ISA with Vanguard and drip feed into a couple of index trackers every month…

Not telling us anything we don’t know but nice article from Bloomberg neatly summarising the mess we, and other countries, are in… https://apple.news/Ak7FRU51DQZG6KU4md4TWXQ

AFAIK nothing in that article is incorrect.

If you’re referring to DoE I suggest you read this... Prince Philip: How the Royal Navy shaped the Duke of Edinburgh https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10266717

£419...

Yep.., https://www.apple.com/uk/privacy/features/

IOS14 due out later this year will run on the 5 year old iPhone 6S - so that’s potentially 6-7 years’ use out of the same handset... How long will that £200 Android device be supported with updates? You also don’t have to spend “£1,000” on an iPhone. The £400 iphone SE has the same internals as the 11 and will last just as long

In all fairness I don't think anyone saw HTB coming...

That eBrompton has the potential to be a game changer by raising awareness of ebikes. I have a Gocycle. Like the Brompton it has an upright stance which makes filtering through traffic a doodle. Small wheels also make it very nippy. It's great fun! People wince when I tell them the price but then I tell them it paid for itself after a year (public transport savings). Also my humble 1 litre city car cost my the best part of a grand earlier this year - insurance, service and cam belt. Of course bikes and ebikes can't replace the car. But they have a valuable role in reducing car use in cities and easing pressure on public transport. But the infrastructure needs to come first...

I think this casual dismissal of the potential of the bike is an example of the sort of thinking that has got us into our present mess. A 5 mile journey is nothing on a bike. A 10 mile journey is nothing on an ebike (I have one). OK some patients will need to be transported to hospital, but what about hospital workers and visitors? How many of those who drive to the hospital live locally and could have used a bike for that trip? Putting segregated bike lanes around hospitals would encourage those who can do so to ride rather than drive - good for their health and easing congestion making it easier for ambulances to get around. I regularly see my local gyms/sports centres with full car parks and empty bike racks, which is absurd when you think about it. No-one is suggesting the bike can replace all car journeys, but short intra-city hops with one person in a car (whether ICE or EV) is an incredibly wasteful use of precious roadspace. There are countless examples in European cities that show if you build segregated cycling infrastructure, people will use it. Instead (in London at least) we are installing bulky EV chargers on the pavement, robbing pedestrians of their space, and creating trip hazards. I don’t follow the logic of giving a £4,000 bung to someone buying an electric car but buyers of ebikes get nothing. It just shows the bike is still seen as a recreational instrument rather than a serious mode of transport. An ebike is an EV just as much as a Tesla is...

??? Bloke finds himself at a loose end after retiring so gets himself a dog and finds walking it in the park has given him a new lease of life. Osterley Park is wonderful btw... Trivia: The "breakout" photo from Band on the Run album cover was taken as Osterley Park.