WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

I just want it safe, if that cowl dropped on someone's head they would know about it! I look forward to hearing from him later.

[Stanley]

I hate waiting for people to get back to me....

[Big Kev]

This picture, from David Whipp, on Facebook. Just needs a water supply now to make it useful.

Screenshot_20220126-114712_Facebook.jpg

[PanBiker]

Agreed Kev but apparently the H&S requirements rule that out? It has never been a public drinking fountain but was originally provided for animals. Can't see why it should be that difficult to provide water for dogs?
Makes you wonder how the Italians manage with over 1000 public drinking fountains in Rome. Very welcome when I was there and I never noticed all the folk falling over after using them.

[Stanley]

Must have a look at it.....I didn't do bookie watch yesterday! They must have sneaked in while I wasn't looking.

[Stanley]

We like 'spooky' on this site so have a look at THIS news about a massive spinning object in the Milky Way which astronomers say is impossible and spooky.

[Stanley]

I had a look at the lamp on the fountain. Looks very smart, I wonder whether it will last as long as the old one did?
No word from Matt at Mass roofing yet as to whether he's coming to my cowl. I shall have to ring him this morning to find out whether I am going to have to start searching again for a man with a ladder.

[PanBiker]

I do know he is very busy Stanley he came and did my job on a Sunday. Ring his mobile number not the landline.

[Tizer]

Failure to respond...there's a lot of it about - a pandemic perhaps...we need to come up with a name for the disease. What irks me most is that most often they don't even acknowledge having received your message or call, so you don't know if it got through or not. It seems that as the means of communication get better (email, smartphones, texts etc) people seem less able to communicate. Weird.

[Stanley]

I rang him this morning and he told me he is a busy man but will look at my description of the job tonight and let me know if he is coming. I'm not holding my breath and have opened up another avenue. You're right Peter, it's bad communication. If you say you are going to respond then do so.

[Stanley]

No word about my cowl and to complicate things we have at least three days of high winds. The gods are not helping me!

[Tizer]

This is an interesting video. GM designed, built and sold a good electric passenger car in the US ages ago. Owners loved it but GM then decided it didn't want to risk undermining it's commitment and investment in fossil fuel cars so it recalled all the electric cars and crushed them. You couldn't make it up!
`EV1: How General Motors crushed an electric car dream' LINK

[Stanley]

Matt has taken the job on but can't do anything until the wind drops. The cowl is still up there.....

[Big Kev]

Good stuff.

[Stanley]

It's not bugging me now that I can see a way out as soon as the wind drops and Matt is free...

[Tizer]

There's a lot of big trees blown down in Scotland judging from pics in the news.

[Stanley]

Two people killed as well Peter. This morning is calm, I wonder if Matt will have a trip up onto my roof.... I'll ring him later.

[Tizer]

I have a question. It's about those popular SUV cars that we see everywhere now, especially on the runs to the school and supermarket. They have very large wheels with big fat tyres, much larger than those standard on cars a few years ago. Compared with the standard ones, these tyres are very expensive, make a lot more road noise (more than the engine noise) and they give a less comfortable, harder ride. Why do SUVs have them when they suffer from these obvious disadvantages and, as far as I can see, no benefits other than perhaps for those who live on farms. I suspect it's pure fashion and yet another cunning wheeze by the motor industry.

Some drivers of fat tyre cars might say they need big wheels and tyres because they have to carry a full load of family and stuff. But if we look around at other vehicles on the roads we see thousands of large vans racing about carrying goods and they do it without big wheels and fat tyres! Next time you're out take a look around at the wheels and tyres on the roads and see if you agree. The people who own those vans aren't going to waste money on big wheels and fat tyres when it's unnecessary.

[PanBiker]

The fat tyres also are detriment in the fuel consumption of the tank as well! I noticed two such vehicles parked up yesterday in Burnley. They were parked a bay away from each other and were both wider than the standard bays they were in. Because of the overhang, the bay in between them was unusable for a standard vehicle as the space left was too narrow. Effectively two SUV's occupied three bays but neither had to pay for the one they rendered useless.

[Tizer]

Thanks for confirming the greater fuel usage. I thought that was probably the case and was going to look up figures but you've saved me the trouble. The size of them is probably another reason few people use their garage to house the car nowadays. Stanley could include parking your car in the garage as another Flatley Dryer example! And we all know that every time a new version of a car model is launched it's bigger than the previous version. But that's not new - I remember about 20 years ago a dealer telling me he'd got customers bringing their new cars back because they couldn't get them in the garage.

[PanBiker]

I'm making an assumption there Peter to be honest. Based on the extra effort required to propel a pushbike with knobbly tyres as against slicker ones. Stands to reason really there will be more friction created by the fatter tyres but as I say no actual scientific proof.

[Big Kev]

My 'Greenline' Yeti specifies harder walled low profile tyres, to decrease rolling resistance, so I reckon you're bang on with your assumption Ian. The pressures are 30psi in the front and 34psi in the back which makes a difference too.

[Wendyf]

When we had our Nissan Pickup the chunky 'off road' tyres soon came off to ease fuel consumption and only went back on to sell it.

[Stanley]

When I bought my Land Rover Safari new I specified changing the off road tyres for Michelin X large vehicle tyres, the ones with the plain zigzag tread pattern. Quiet and long lasting. Never bought another tyre for it.

[Gloria]

Rafael Nadal wins Australian open tennis, what a match, what a man.