Big J
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Everything posted by Big J
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Aye, but you see, I'm a sci-fi lover. Being of that persuasion means I respect the ambition, even if most of the rest of it was forgettable.
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The Oscars. Now I'm a massive sci-fi fan. I'll watch almost anything so long as it's based on a good idea, even if the execution is poor. Everything, Everywhere, all at Once is a film I watched last year. It was OK. The idea was OK, the execution was OK. I considered myself moderately entertained. I can think of about 50 sci-fi films that were better. Without wishing to devolve the conversation into aspersions of forced inclusivity, is there any rational explanation for it cleaning up at the Oscars? I just cannot understand it.
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I very much agree. If a God existed and was all-powerful but allowed pure evil to continue, why would anyone worship them? If a God existed but was powerless to prevent evil, by what measure are they a God? Personally, I believe (like the Jatravartids of Viltvodle VI) that the Universe was sneezed out of the Great Green Arkleseizure's nose and fear the coming of the Great White Handkerchief
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The Cross Climates have really revolutionised all season tyres (as I understand it). Excellent performance in European type snow/winter conditions (as opposed to Nordic) with little compromise in summer performance. There aren't actually that many 4x4s here. The studded tyres make a massive difference and I guess so does having to drive in snow for 2-3 months a year (at our latitude - a lot more further north). I'm glad that your Panda is living up to the hype. They always make me smile when I see them. I just wish Fiat would put one through the photocopier at 125% and then I'd have a chance of fitting!
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You've got to think differently about it here. For a start, we have maybe 3% of the traffic you have. And on much bigger roads. 80% of people here have studded winter tyres. The other 20% mostly have full winter tyres, and a few all season (but Nordic rated). People are used to driving on snow. We're in the south and we'll still have had 8 weeks of snow cover this winter, in what has been a less snowy than average winter. In just over 2hrs on the bike today, I think I saw 10-12 cars in total.
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It sounds like a cliché, but the biggest difficulty with cycling in snow is learning all the different types. How cold was it when it fell? Has it melted and refrozen? Has it been ploughed or just driven on? Did it fall onto a frozen base or not? Is it tarmac underneath or gravel? What is the current temperature. All these things and many more affect the way it behaves. Next winter I'm going to shift more towards my mountain bike with much fatter tyres. The 35mm Schwalbe Marathon Winter tyres aren't really aggressive enough, especially for the gravel roads.
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If you like cycling and it's snowy you don't have much choice! On the right tyres, you're pretty secure if you are sensible. I reckon I've done a couple thousand kilometres on snow over this winter. Including 47km today.
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A fantastic photo from yesterday morning by someone else in the village. It'd be about minus 12-15 at the point this was taken. Extreme cold here really doesn't feel especially cold. It just makes you want to go outside, preferably on cross country skis!
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Brilliant car. Always loved Panda 4x4s. Being a bit skinnier now (with all the cycling) I might even have a chance of fitting in one. I know I bang on about winter and all season tyres, but come on! That sort of snow is an absolute and complete doddle for any 2wd car with the right tyres. The one you have to watch out for here is melted and refrozen snow on the gravel roads. That's nasty. It took me off my bike and onto my chin a month ago, and I was on studs! Lesson learned though. Avoid the gravel roads if there is any chance of ice.
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It's now a year since we lost Katie. She's left a big hole in our lives and our children still talk of her often. I'm glad they got to grow up with her, but by Christ, I miss her. We've been dogsitting a jack russell for the last 4.5 months for friends who are travelling. It's only served to reinforce how lucky we were with Katie. She was irreplaceable.
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Down by the lake on the way back from kindergarten. The lake is completely frozen, but where the river exits it's ice-free. It was steaming in quite an atmospheric manner this morning.
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Minus 21c here. A really beautiful morning too
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Mediocre. Had a couple of good sites and a couple of bad ones. You're very much at the mercy of the harvester operator and how well they understand the limitations of a smaller machine. Most thinnings harvesters around here are Rottne H8s, which have very clever self levelling suspension. It's great for them, but can be very troublesome for the forwarder that follows, as an inattentive harvester operator might not notice the side slope or the massive rocks that get in the way.
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All the forecasts said snow to start at 17:00. Right on cue, 17:05, starts to snow. I am looking forward to Wednesday night's skiing on fresh powder!
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Minus 11 this morning. Blue skies. The weather has been lovely for the last couple of weeks. We had snow 10 days ago, that's been very slowly melting each day as the temperature has been above freezing, but nights have been minus 4-7c. Clear skies throughout. The weather is to change this week though, with significant snowfall forecast and the possibility of minus 15-20.
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Bah! Cold spell? We've got minus 16c forecast for Wednesday (with wind chill, minus 27!) 😄 Quite a lot of snow forecast too.
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An individual idiot is easier to explain than the nearly 30% of the audience who also got it hideously wrong!
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That's not funny, it's just true! When we lived near Edinburg, some summers were lovely, but there were some years where we scarcely had any days over 20c. We used to swim a lot outdoors when we were there and on the worst summer, the water temperature didn't exceed 15c. It was like 3 months of autumn.
