2024 Rendezvous

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

John, do you manage to watch the series called the Supervet on C4, I think? It's about the pioneering veterinary surgeon Noel Fitzpatrick, who has created a leading practice in Southeast England. There is a series running at the moment, 20.00 hrs BST on Thursdays.

No, I haven't got any UK TV now, other than a BBC (fake)News Channel that I never watch.

The SPA that I mentioned is the French equivalent of the RSPCA but far, far better. No politics for a start, just care for & rehoming of animals, all of which they do superbly. So much so, they will be in my will.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

No, I haven't got any UK TV now, other than a BBC (fake)News Channel that I never watch.

The SPA that I mentioned is the French equivalent of the RSPCA but far, far better. No politics for a start, just care for & rehoming of animals, all of which they do superbly. So much so, they will be in my will.

John, if you've got a VPN, try watching Supervet online; some of the stuff he has done and is doing is absolutely incredible. In fact, some of his pioneering surgery and use of engineering/3D printing of orthopaedic implants are now being implemented in human surgery.

[John Elwin]

Thanks, Mike. Don't really know anything about VPN's but my internet provider is now offering them but perhaps I should look into it, especially now that 2TK's Stasi seem to be poking their noses in everywhere!

[Peter Mallett]

John, it needs to be an international VPN so you can appear to be logging in from anther country. For IPlayer and UK based TV you need to be viewing from a UK based IP. There are a number of them out there and they can be relatively inexpensive.

[John Elwin]

Thanks Peter. I am not terribly tecky on all this stuff but will investigate somehow, somewhere.

I went with Nordnet for my internet because I like to support local, and whilst I have had absolutely no problems with it, they are a bit slow & dozy when you want to change anything. It took them so long to switch my mobile to them i lost my number!

[Gerard C]

Yes many SPA centers are doing well, its all about the local stuff and region too. Since the Covid we have so many animals waiting for rehoming. And some dog species are an issue now like Huskies for example, they can be dangerous and can't be happy living in an appartement. One day or another, the regulation authorities will have to restrict the offer and be more careful about the two first categories of dogs and affiliated.

[MartinH]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

No, I haven't got any UK TV now, other than a BBC (fake)News Channel that I never watch.

The SPA that I mentioned is the French equivalent of the RSPCA but far, far better. No politics for a start, just care for & rehoming of animals, all of which they do superbly. So much so, they will be in my will.

John, if you want uk tv, easiest way is to buy a 2nd hand skybox & dish(£25) in the uk & as long as you can point it towards south east, you can get all mainstream channel plus about 30 others, all unscrambled, so not paying anything.

If you buy a sat-view (not free view) humax box you can even record stuff to view at your leisure !

Mind you, most of it is rubbish !!

[John Elwin]

Thanks for that Martin.

We actually brought our Sky box with us when we moved to France 20 years ago & it worked fine for years until. When fibre optic came along, I took a very good package here for internet/TV/telephone. There was only one British channel (BBC News) included in the package & to be honest I don't miss it. I was never a huge TV viewer anyway, & by watching French programmes it is helping me learn.

As you say, there is a lot of rubbish on TV anyway!

[Tel 911S]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

Thanks, Mike. Don't really know anything about VPN's but my internet provider is now offering them but perhaps I should look into it, especially now that 2TK's Stasi seem to be poking their noses in everywhere!

This link might help you figure out about VPNs .
https://whatismyipaddress.com/

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Tel 911S

This link might help you figure out about VPNs .
https://whatismyipaddress.com/

Thanks to Tel & everyone else who has been so helpful regarding VPN's. It is very much appreciated & I will report back if & when I make some progress.

[Mike Harte]

Can anyone explain why Highways England feel it necessary to reduce speed on virtually every variable speed stretch of motorway when traffic is fairly light and free moving?

I had to drive over to Cheshire last week, and in places on the M62/M60 they reduced the speed right down to 40 for no apparent reason, which then bunched up the traffic causing tailbacks several miles long. It made the use of of cruise control virtually redundant.

[Tel 911S]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Can anyone explain why Highways England feel it necessary to reduce speed on virtually every variable speed stretch of motorway when traffic is fairly light and free moving?

I had to drive over to Cheshire last week, and in places on the M62/M60 they reduced the speed right down to 40 for no apparent reason, which then bunched up the traffic causing tailbacks several miles long. It made the use of of cruise control virtually redundant.

Having driven more miles than most people , I have seen the effects of what a minor problem on the road can cause .
On dual carriageways / motorways , a slow moving vehicle or breakdown will often have a queue at the scene , but several miles back the traffic will be suddenly breaking hard because they were not looking far enough in front . So if the traffic controllers know what they are doing they might often be slowing traffic down many miles before the problem .

But the chance that the traffic controllers know what they are doing is often very slight , so you should expect the normal chaos to carry on .

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Can anyone explain why Highways England feel it necessary to reduce speed on virtually every variable speed stretch of motorway when traffic is fairly light and free moving?

I had to drive over to Cheshire last week, and in places on the M62/M60 they reduced the speed right down to 40 for no apparent reason, which then bunched up the traffic causing tailbacks several miles long. It made the use of of cruise control virtually redundant.

I remember reading a suggestion regarding (so called) 'Smart Motorways' that lowering the speed of the vehicles is a way of reducing the speed limit. The theory being that, due to reduced stopping distances, more traffic can be packed onto every mile (for example) of the road. I've never taken the time to sit down & do the calculations, but would have also thought that the benefits would have been outweighed by the fact that it then takes these vehicles even longer to cover that distance, but hey, what do I know?

[morninggents]

Originally Posted by Tel 911S

But the chance that the traffic controllers know what they are doing is often very slight , so you should expect the normal chaos to carry on .

I think it's because said traffic controllers are too lazy or incompetent to monitor these situations when the so called 'incident' or 'congestion' has cleared.
As has been mentioned, the 'congestion' has been caused by the stupidity of the traffic controllers.

[VIVA GT]

I've just fitted two new front tyres to my car and have left the stickers on so I can pretend they're qualifiers (like I used to in the 1980's)!

[Gerard C]

About taffic, two days after the mess we knew in Paris area could it be worse? Yes, of course, tonight we have a concert given by AC DC right in the middle of bois de Boulogne!

Viva you shound now have a ROPS as we had in the ' 70s, some lenghts of water hose and some foam around to hyde it from the scrutineers!

[Tel 911S]

Originally Posted by John Elwin

Thanks, Mike. Don't really know anything about VPN's but my internet provider is now offering them but perhaps I should look into it, especially now that 2TK's Stasi seem to be poking their noses in everywhere!

It does seem that the internet is a lot more obtrusive lately .
Ran my " Spy Bot " program today . Usually do it every week and it gets rid of cookies and other spying hang ons .
Today it dumped 328 small programs which had hooked up onto my computer .
I always go incognito but it does seem that a lot of stuff still gets dumped on you now .

[grantp]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Can anyone explain why Highways England feel it necessary to reduce speed on virtually every variable speed stretch of motorway when traffic is fairly light and free moving?

I had to drive over to Cheshire last week, and in places on the M62/M60 they reduced the speed right down to 40 for no apparent reason, which then bunched up the traffic causing tailbacks several miles long. It made the use of of cruise control virtually redundant.

You need "smart" cruise control, Mike. It can cruise adaptively and then manage everything for you in stop-start traffic.

Allegedly.

If I ever have the opportunity to drive without management as a passenger in a situation that allows me to fully test the theory I'll come back and post an update.

Locally to me they have severely restricted lanes on the M1 whilst they retrofit so called "Safety Refuges" that they should have provided a decade ago when they upgraded the entire section.

At the same time the Gas people as closing a main alternative A road for 6 weeks, next to a busy Airport in mid holiday season, in order to do some work on the pipes that run under the road.

And, of course, there are a number of other "local" maintenance works that are active at the same time.

I'm ever more convinced that the "Only EVs by 2030" message is really code speak for "Give up all expectations of effective travel by 2030 in preparation for a total ban on travel by 2040". Unless your travel is State mandated.

[Gerard C]

Originally Posted by Tel 911S

Today it dumped 328 small programs which had hooked up onto my computer .I always go incognito but it does seem that a lot of stuff still gets dumped on you now .

Same here, incognito and auto cancellation of traces and navigation, cookies and other stuff mean nothing now. I wonder if the situation is not worse on smartphones.

[midgetman]

I've had a rubbish weekend at work, thoroughly contradicting MG David's strap line *A bad day at the track is always better than a good day at the office."

I got chatting to a guy next to me in the paddock. I was about to bemoan my bad luck when he said "Sorry, I've got to sit down. This is the first time out with my son since I had a brain haemorrhage and a stroke."

I shut up. Its all about perspective, isn't it? Well done sir, that your first thought was to get your son racing again. I salute you.

Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

[justracing]

Originally Posted by midgetman

I've had a rubbish weekend at work, thoroughly contradicting MG David's strap line *A bad day at the track is always better than a good day at the office."

I got chatting to a guy next to me in the paddock. I was about to bemoan my bad luck when he said "Sorry, I've got to sit down. This is the first time out with my son since I had a brain haemorrhage and a stroke."

I shut up. Its all about perspective, isn't it? Well done sir, that your first thought was to get your son racing again. I salute you.

Sent from my AC2003 using Tapatalk

Well said, sure puts things in perspective.

[GORDON STREETER]

I notice that a cycle race in Wales was postponed and rerouted because the support vehicles would have to break the road speed limit to keep up !! I know it sounds like a joke but it's true in this crazy country we are living in !! I'm just glad that we only spend 6 months a year in it

[John Elwin]

I'm just glad I don't spend any time at all there - in fact I haven't been for five years! However, I expect to go at the end of September so will be on the look-out for a dinghy & a free hotel...

[bauble]

The state of England as a nation is at risk from the very people who are elected to care for it, this has been the case for many years, the current Social Elite put me in mind of President Reagan's joke about the Soviet Union;

Two Russians are talking, one asks; "Is this it, have we reached a state of perfect Communism at last?"

"Oh, no." replies his friend, "Things have got to get a lot worse yet."

Being a Pensioner, I expect to be worse off financially, but at least, as I can no longer drive, I shall miss motorway travel, something I did a lot of. Some you win, most you lose.

Book your place on a rubber boat heading for Afghanistan. It must be better over there.

[bauble]

Oh dear! I have just realised my last post could bring the law down upon me.