Reorte

I agree with you about where it's going, and it's a very bad thing. It's reached the point where I think the government needs to step in and forbid things like parking payment by app only. It's fine as an addition, completely unacceptable as the only option, where it's merely being cheap and nasty.

Always left the bins out (at my old place, it's all rather moot where I live now) neatly, always came back to find the bin men had left them scattered half way over the road.

IIRC they weren't particularly adequate (at least the ones I travelled on weren't) for the numbers when first introduced. This was on the Manchester - Scotland route. At least they were better than the 185s that followed (1/3 2/3 doors and three carriages after Preston wasn't ever a good quality regional service from the off). At least they actually seemed capable of running up the hills even when jammed full of people though.

Never found the Voyagers to be too terrible (by modern train standards) if they weren't crowded, the problem with them is that they're frequently far too crowded. I do remember thinking of them as commuter trains with ideas above their station when they first appeared.

As someone without a mobile phone and with no desire whatsoever to get one I fully sympathise, and I get very angry about anything that worked perfectly well without one that gets shifted to needing a mobile. It's just a case of a provider trying to be as cheap and nasty as possible (if that's all there is, I've no problem with it as an alternative, nothing wrong with choice). That said, depending on your ordinary phone provider, it's possible to send a text message to it and it'll appear as an automatically read out voice mail. Still not really good enough though.

I've not had them repeating like that, weird. Might be some setting you've got that's only using locally-stored ones?

I've not had any repeat yet. The same one stays for a few days. I assumed it was downloading them in the background (not something I'm really keen on it doing unless I explicitly turn it on, but wouldn't bother me much in this case).

Always said that 3D printing isn't a replacement for anything but an additional tool in the box.

Thought there was a Windows 11 thread but I can't find it. Anyway, still not exactly overwhelmed with 11 but it's got one feature I really like - the pictures it puts up on the lock / log in screen. It's come up with a lot of really good ones.

There's no such thing as a "proper" modeller. There are people who are much more skilled than others (I'm both envious of them and appreciate what they're capable of), but that doesn't make them more "proper." I'm also happy saying that some models and some layouts are better than others. There's a large degree of subjectivity in there of course, but that's always true of the word "better." The only fact is that my better may well not be someone else's. As for disparaging remarks about hobbies and interests they're never worthwhile. There are things I'm simply not interested in, but the only ones I'll sneer at are those that are deliberately damaging (i.e. someone who's idea of a good way of spending time involves leaving a heap of litter behind, or smashed windows or painted scrawls on someone else's wall).

We're in no danger of making it uninhabitable (which isn't the same as saying no danger of making a big enough mess that'll cause a lot of loss, but as bad as that is it's still well short of uninhabitable).

No. Overpopulation is a bigger problem. A country that can't manage a steady population is doing things wrong anyway, and if it CAN manage a steady one it can manage a declining one, as long as it's not too rapid a decline. The "economic necessity" argument feels very much like trying to prop up a system that's fundamentally at odds with the actual practical reality of the country. The problem with the "we need immigration" argument is that it's usually arguing for a pyramid scheme. It's not steady they want, it's a level that leads to exponential growth. That might look appealing in the short term but long term it's a calamity. You can't keep growing a population (by any means) with enough people to fill a decent-sized city every year and say that'll end well. There's also the issue with the parasitic nature of some of it "let's save money by not training people but letting someone else pay for that, and then importing the people they need." This is all quite separate from balanced immigration, where it's easy to see plenty of upsides and hard to find downsides. The countries with rapidly declining populations may have short to medium term problems but they'll benefit massively in the long run (at least as long as they stabilise at a sustainable level).

I will rise above that!

First win for Carlisle last night since the 1st Jan.

Any particular reason why it was removed now? Siding needed (whether as a siding, or pulled up and replaced with something else)?

Arguably you're buying bits and putting them together regardless, whether it's bits of brass and plastic, or buildings and rolling stock. Do whatever you want to and don't let anyone sneer at you for it - Rule 1 applies!

Being a bit pedantic I know but the Highway Code technically doesn't apply to anyone because it doesn't define any (legal) rules, although it frequently references them (if it's saying must / must not then it'll be referring to a law). It's essentially a guide to good practice. That said failure to follow its guidance could be interpreted as careless or dangerous driving.

For all things fords http://www.wetroads.co.uk

Reverse and turn around.

Indeed, we're nowhere near it being available as an affordable, off-the-shelf product, or even something a competent electronics and computer amateur could build themselves, but the way such technology advances today's difficult, complex, expensive wow often becomes tomorrow's mundane, so it's not at all implausible that at some point down the line it'll be available. All technology is next level at some point. With technology a lot of the effort and expense goes in to developing it in the first place, once developed it can often become quite cheap and easy to reproduce, although that'll probably depend on whether or not a wider commercial use can be found for it.

Could've said the same sort of thing about the electronics in DCC once upon a time.

I do like the way they move though, any techniques we could adapt for layouts? The movement looks rather more natural than most vehicles on layouts I've seen.

I'll quite happily be labelled as "technophobic"! Nothing to be ashamed of there! The fact is though that there are some common traits that are different between different generations. There always have been and there always will be. Sure, there are also grey areas because you're putting somewhat artificial boundaries on a continuum, but that's the case with a great many things in life. IMO the complete rejection of the idea that some ideas or behaviours or issues are more common with one generation than another makes no more sense than saying it's a feature of everyone in it. Just don't assume they apply to any particular individual. The ability to make generalisations and to categorise is a basic component of intelligence. As you point out it's useful for things like statistical analysis, but it also means you're not working with a completely blank slate, but like any useful tool it can be misused, and it certainly can't be used as a cast iron guarantee that your assumptions are right. The only people I saw hanging around outside with bottles of beer during Covid when the pubs were shut were definitely not the younger generations...

Isn't a velodrome a stadium?

I've tried sim racing, with a wheel. I get a bit sweaty doing that. Personally I'd say in general a sport is a test of your physical ability as well as technical skills, although there's a lot of grey areas and I won't argue about quite a lot that don't really fit that definition but are usually labelled as sports.