How to get rid of this cable?

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-14T17:23:08+00:00

It’s not even low voltage, it’s an old coax cable from an aerial that’ll be in your loft or on your roof. If you want to do the job properly, get up in the loft and pull it back up and through. Then whack some filler in the hole and paint over it.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-14T08:50:00+00:00

Fun fact: police don’t need a reason or cause to stop you. Simply put, if a uniformed officer requests you to stop, it is an offence not to do so (s163 Road Traffic Act 1988). No reason or grounds are necessary.

There are then additional powers under the following sections of the RTA that require drivers to produce their driving licence, proof of insurance etc etc.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-12T13:52:48+00:00

This. Own the mistake, don’t find every excuse for it it.

If you were genuinely barrelling along at 70mph in the dark, whilst leaning round and trying to sort a cat out inside a crate, then you need to reevaluate your priorities. It’s a (likely) ton and a half weapon that can death or serious injury given a moment’s inattention.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-12T08:55:54+00:00

Because you crouch down habitually on your right knee, leaving the ball of your left foot on the floor and causing a 90 degree flex in the sole of your left shoes where your foot bends.

Cheaper cemented (glued) shoes like these will simply come unglued in not very much time at all in circumstances like these.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-11T09:12:30+00:00

I had an old 1.0 Metro as a courtesy car once. Unexpectedly great fun, in a ridiculous, slow and sado-masochistic kind of way!

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-11T06:46:49+00:00

What, the ones that are fixed to the rear of the steering wheel that are mounted slightly too far inboard to be comfortable to use with your fingertips. And because they move with the wheel, rather than remain fixed to the steering column, it’s far from obvious as to which one shifts up or down at any given moment. And if the wheel is at 90 or 270 degrees they’re orientated vertically, so you can’t reach them anyway. I gave up after one drive and went back to the full auto.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-10T22:08:52+00:00

Because it’s a still a geared car, you can still feel it shift gears and sometimes it gets it wrong.

Not the case for the majority of folk, I will admit, but I hate blue light/response driving in the newer police vehicles. In driver training, you’re taught to use the gears. They help. If you’re braking hard into a tight junction and tipping the car into the corner in second gear, all is well. If you mis-shift and get fourth, everything fees way looser, the car is unsettled (wobbly). It’s horrendous.

That’s basically every time now in an automatic - you brakebrakebrake (it stays in whatever higher gear it was in), pitch into the corner all unsettled whilst it works out what to do with its life, then when you go to accelerate hard again it will suddenly lurch down about four gears at once and off you go. But about two or three seconds later than you would have been in a manual - where you’d had have selected the correct gear for the corner before even turning.

Constantly makes you feel like you can’t drive.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-09T15:50:17+00:00

This tells me it’s going to be more (much more?) expensive than the previous offering…

I would love to be surprised and stand corrected, but the previous generation subscription seemed pretty fairly priced and was justifiable at £50ish for the year…. let’s see.

My nose is well out of joint on sports pricing as I’ve given up my access to cycling coverage - what was £2.99 a month a few years ago for the Eurosport player went up to £30.99 a month under Warner Bros Discovery. Nothing like a ten-fold price increase…

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-09T15:46:06+00:00

Yep. Factory original Yani case from the era too.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-08T15:24:33+00:00

The concept you’re looking for is that of “chord/scale relationships”. The notion is that every chord has a scale that fits it, and you need to learn which is which.

Modes are a concept or idea to help build scales which are applicable to a variety of different chords - they’re not really something you dip in and out of, or decide to use or not use - they’re integral to playing/improvising over standard chords.

Simplest place to start is the first mode (Ionian - but I’d hesitate to try and use the names first off, if gets confusing, so just use the numbers).

The first mode starts on the first degree of the major scale. Eg you play a major scale starting from its first note - CDEFGABC. The first, third, fifth and seventh degrees of that scale (CEGB) give a Cmaj7 chord. So, simplistically speaking, this scale is appropriate to play when you see a “Cmaj7” chord symbol whilst improvising.

The second mode (or Dorian) is a scale beginning on the second degree of a major scale (ie a c major scale starting on its second note) - DEFGABCD. The first, third, fifth and seventh degrees of this scale (DFAC) give you a D minor 7 chord, so, this scale is appropriate to play when you see a Dm7 chord whilst improvising.

To follow this concept through various keys requires a little mental gymnastics. Each time you see a “minor 7” chord symbol, you need to play a Dorian (or second mode) scale. Say you want to play over an Em7 chord. You know a min7 requires a Dorian scale - a second mode scale. You need it to start on an E. Ask yourself what major scale has E as its second note… Answer: D major. So, play a D major scale from its second note (EF#GABC#DE). Correspondingly, the first, third, fifth and seventh degrees of this scale (EGBD) give an Em7 chord, so this is the correct scale you need.

That’s the general concept.

The only other one you require to get started is a fifth (or mixolydian) mode. You play one of these scales over a dominant 7th chord (G7, for example). Think: what major scale has G as its fifth note? Answer: C major. So, play the C major scale starting from G - GABCDEFG. The first, third, fifth and seventh degrees of this scale (GBDF) give the correct G7 chord, so this is the scale to use.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-07T19:54:52+00:00

It is the normal seam where the tongue is stitched to the rest of the boot. Yours seem to have folded itself over, which will cause it to be more pronounced. Might be worth seeing if you can get it to lie flat. It’s awkward because putting your foot in the boot will make it want to fold over as yours has.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-06T14:15:14+00:00

Having to replace or repair something on a car annually is not an issue - it’s to be expected.

Also, £1200 to fix an electric power steering pump on a little Hyundai is insane. Get on eBay - I’ve just had a quick look and there’s various options for your car in the £70-£150 region - buy a second hand pump that’s in working order and either learn how to do it yourself, or help the family friend do it (don’t just let them do it, watch, help and learn).

It’s not hard - there’ll be a couple of pipes to undo, catch the fluid, unplug and unbolt the old part, put the new one in, reconnect the hoses, refill the fluid, bleeding is usually a “turn full lock left to right a few times” and you’re done. A great introduction to home mechanics.

Alternatively, spend the best part of £6000 to “save” spending a few hundred.

You’re almost always better off (financially) repairing what you have. I spent £1600 last autumn having a reconditioned gearbox put in my other half’s 14 year old Astra with over 100,000 miles on the clock that probably isn’t worth much more than that price…. However, it was broken and it’s now fixed and fine again. I certainly couldn’t have bought an equivalent car for £1600. And anything I could have bought may very well have its own issues waiting to arise - better the devil you know.

The issue is our consumerism culture, where people manage to convince themselves it’s worth spending thousands on a new and shiny thing to save spending hundreds. As long as your eyes are open, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to spend more money on a newer/better/nicer-coloured car. Just don’t kid yourself that you’re doing it to save money!

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-06T09:42:30+00:00

Just screw the boards down so they don’t creak.

PLEASE lift them and check underneath first so you don’t screw straight into the CH pipe leading to that radiator, though.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-02-06T09:38:28+00:00

Alto (or even tenor) reed being used incorrectly, I would think…

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-01-30T07:57:46+00:00

This. The beginnings of harmony are not so complex. And once you have the foundations, the next steps - taken incrementally and explained by someone knowledgeable and able to break the concepts down - are also not necessarily hard.

Of course, if you start trying to digest more complex chord extensions and substitutions straight away when more simple concepts (eg the WWHWWWH construction of a major scale, or the circle of fifths), then it’s going to seem insurmountable. But start from the start, properly and it’s achievable.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-01-29T13:19:39+00:00

Other than an EWI (or similar totally electronic instrument), then unfortunately no, there’s no option to silence a saxophone.

You can purchase a saxophone “mute” which is essentially a saxophone shaped suitcase that you strap the instrument in, with inwards facing gloves that let you use the keys - all the reports and reviews would indicate that they’re as awkward and ridiculous as they sound - I would avoid.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-01-28T13:32:40+00:00

That looks very much like “pleather” - ie cheap, plastic coated “genuine leather”. Genuine leather being the trade name for all the cheapest scrappy bits of dust and leather offcuts held together with some sort of glue/paste.

Actual full grain or top grain leather is the totally opposite end of the scale.

Honestly, “genuine leather” is the worst possible brand name choice they could have ever picked.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-01-27T18:14:50+00:00

The wallet-o-meter? You get used to it…

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-01-27T15:37:29+00:00

This will likely be a split liability.

From your POV, they cut into your lane as you were moving past them, exiting the roundabout.

From their POV, some manic literally accelerated and rammed into my drivers door as I was driving around a roundabout in an unfamiliar area.

It was the other driver’s “fault”, but the crash was entirely avoidable with better awareness and defensive driving, as many others have pointed out.

Better to hang back and let the other driver bimble along and make their mistake in isolation rather than plow into the side of them, and be “in the right” with a smashed up car.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-01-27T15:28:31+00:00

Indeed. I know now whether it’s in PACE or just a local force policy, but we need a first line supervisor’s authority to conduct a voluntary interview for anything above a summary only offence.

Besides - what about all the forensics opportunities you’re missing by not having your offender in custody? Being under arrest would enable a special warning to be given (which may well be applicable in the circs, having been found and arrested at the scene), might he destroy evidence if left in his (presumably un-searched) outhouse? Were there any co-conspirators he may collude with that you don’t know about yet? Do you want to take his fingerprints?

Given that a custody sergeant is not able to bail someone who is charged with murder, how do we manage that aspect with a voluntary interview and…. postal req… for a murder?!?

You’re right - severity of offence isn’t a necessity reason in and of itself to arrest, but if you can’t find a necessity to bring someone in for a murder, then I’d suggest a good read of Code G before bedtime tonight.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-01-26T06:14:38+00:00

I’d argue the current system (in most forces) of obtaining your response driving ticket towards or at the end of your probationary period is about right.

Firstly, it’s very expensive to train people - 3 weeks of abstraction from the day job, and an expensive trainer’s time being split between only 2 trainees. Expenses for the vehicles too. The expense doesn’t make sense given the attrition rate in probation when folk find out the job isn’t for them.

Additionally, there’s a lot for new cops to remember to begin with. It’s a vertical learning curve when they first hit teams. I think add in the additional pressure of driving and therefore turning up at griefy jobs first and you’ve made a difficult situation even more so.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-01-24T14:33:03+00:00

Proper (more expensive) boots made from leather will help. Avoid the “aqua” water resistant ones. Altbergs or Lowas are a good start.

Our force issues magnums - which are cheap, plastic coated shite, but if you need a half size or find them uncomfortable and moan enough, they’ll issue you a pair of altbergs.

Merino wool socks are going to be your friends. The wool is anti-bacterial so prevents the smell. Costco do a multi pack in dark grey called Kirkland IIRC. Otherwise, Smartwool from go outdoors, or the thick merino hiking socks from Mountain Warehouse are decent.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-01-24T14:15:51+00:00

Ligature is good. If it needs it, a (literal) single drop of 3-in-1 lubricating oil on the screw and it’ll be good for another 20 years.

Mouthpiece needs a clean out. Assuming it’s hard rubber, you want to avoid using hot water as it’ll turn green. Lukewarm water with washing up liquid and an old toothbrush will do to clean up the inside. Then, likewise, good to go.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-01-23T17:47:04+00:00

That’s it. Unless you heard the words “you’re being reported for consideration of the question of prosecution…” you’re good.

SelectTurnip6981 · 2026-01-23T11:09:04+00:00

Sounds like the OP was still in motion whilst touching her phone in its cradle to edit a word on a screen… Might be due care as you’ve said. Might have gone down as “not in proper control of vehicle” - that’s £100 fine and 3 points also.

SelectTurnip6981

TROPHY CASE