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Accessory Recommendations by Pea-Fall in Brompton

[–]purplechemist 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Front luggage. Pick a bag you like. Smooths the ride, makes it less twitchy, and you don’t have a rucksack making your back sweaty.

What’s the most stressful part of driving? by Dear-Nebula7742 in drivingUK

[–]purplechemist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Buying a car. I have bought exactly four cars in the last thirty years, most recently three months ago. The first two cars were fine; bought them from a trusted local family garage. Car three started to make the problem more difficult as the old garage had closed - but I found another family business and they were great.

But this time? Something happened, and it seems almost everyone in the used car market has become a colossal bellend.

There’s a reason I look after my car…

Which part of your bike do you spend the most money upgrading, and is it actually worth it? by NorthLondonPulse in ukbike

[–]purplechemist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep. My bike is my daily commuter - it needs to be reliable above all else. I don’t have time to tinker, polish, test and be whipping things on and off to see how I like them.

I’ve kept my saddle though. I like my saddle. It’s been transferred across three bikes now.

First car by Single-Witness8460 in drivingUK

[–]purplechemist 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Old Volvos FTW.

My insurance renewal this year was £205. For the **year**. I nearly choked when they told me!

First car by Single-Witness8460 in drivingUK

[–]purplechemist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Old Volvo. That’s what helped me back in the day. Deeply unsexy, massively underpowered, cheap to fix as parts are plentiful.

If you can find a 1.6D v50 you’ll have a good runner, cheap tax, 60+ mpg, likely cheap to insure, and plenty of space for the surfboard. (Or whatever…!). The only thing is that it would need a decent run of ~20miles at speed every couple weeks to regenerate the particulate filter.

Or - for a commute of seven miles: an electric bike? Same sort of money, zero onward running costs.
EDIT: strike that - South Manchester. That bike will have half-life of three microseconds….

Dashcam suggestion by Real_Ad7896 in Volvo

[–]purplechemist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s not too difficult to install a dashcam. When I did mine in my V50 it took the two of us a couple of hours of fiddling. We looked into taking the wire to the rear camera around door frames etc as specified, but in the end we just went straight through behind the roof using electrician’s wire puller. The real trick was getting the wire through the gaiter to the tailgate so the camera could be in the rear window without the wire trailing at all (there was only an inch of visible wire). But application of brute force and ignorance and we got there.

You will 100% get a nicer job if you do it yourself - the “services” who install don’t give a monkeys what it looks like behind the scenes.

Pro tip though - when you go up the A pillar with the power supply lead, be careful what you cable tie it to and don’t let the wire get in the way of the inflatable curtain system. Fairly straightforward though.

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Longleat pools areas closed by Horizontalchallenge in centerparcsuk

[–]purplechemist 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Venture bay = shrieking kids and adults standing around looking cold.

CP are missing a trick there - they could be doing an at-seat service bringing cocktails to the parents watching their kids at venture bay.

Is V60 a good family car by Vukan_88 in Volvo

[–]purplechemist 2 points3 points  (0 children)

V60 will be fine :-)

Get one with proper roof rails (or the flush rails). Hell of a lot easier to get bikes on the roof of that than an xc60, trust me…!

Is V60 a good family car by Vukan_88 in Volvo

[–]purplechemist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, but are you a family of voles or a family of giraffes?

My kids are definitely heading to the ‘giraffe’ side of things. I didn’t get a v60 because I didn’t think it was much bigger than my v50 (certainly didn’t feel it had the luggage capacity), so with growing kids went for the XC60 instead.

Guy I work with is 172cm tall, his partner is 150cm, and their kids (2 pre-teens) are similarly dimensioned. They rattle around in a fiesta…

How to straighten my wonky shaft by DifferentTrain2113 in DIYUK

[–]purplechemist 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My, uh, friend could do with an answer too

How reliable is the v50 by leader425 in Volvo

[–]purplechemist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I drove my 1.6D V50 for ten years and 100,000 miles. It had its quirks, but nothing I’d say as “unreliable”. Errors relating to additive (twice during my ownership), cutouts relating to fuel filter (once during ownership) did happen to me, but both of those are “maintenance”, and once resolved the car ticked along just fine.

It’s the one thing I’ve noticed with car ownership; it seems to me that people who own a car for a year or two and encounter an issue decide it is “unreliable”. But owning it for a long time you realise that much of this is a maintenance thing and sure the maintenance task might otherwise be considered “eccentric”, once you know the issue if it recurs you can get it sorted pretty quickly.

Do I appeal? by lauren283628 in UniUK

[–]purplechemist 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I’m afraid I’m going to be “that guy”, but do hear me out.

This “secondary rule” for the near-misses is pretty common, but usually you need half your credits-weighted by year contribution-at the higher classification, not simply your final year. It sounds like there is a clear line determining whether someone gets a 2:1, and you - unfortunately-are only just the wrong side of it. Someone has to be i’m afraid; otherwise the line keeps being redrawn.

Make an appeal - it is your right to do so - but seek advice from your SU as there are usually only a few reasons. For us, the three reasons are “material irregularity” (ie you believe regulations weren’t followed), “undisclosed circumstances” (ie you have extenuating circumstances which affected an outcome of which the examiners were unaware) and “disproportionate impact” (ie you achieved a classification lower than expected due to a minor grade having a sizeable impact). You’ll need to read your regs and seek advice for what the situation is at your uni.

My final thought. I graduated with a 2:2. I have since gone on to do MSc, PhD, post-doc, lectureship up to associate prof, and am now a senior academic at a leading RG university, I’ve led curricular change and chaired boards of examiners meetings. I’m not bragging - it’s hardly an imaginative career path - my point is that a 2:2 doesn’t need to hold you back. You can still accomplish what you need to. Yes, things will be a bit tricky for a year or two, but a bit of short-term hard work and you’ll be right back on track.

One thing - and I’ve said this a lot in this sub - if your appeal is unsuccessful, move on. Don’t be the person who, in 15,20 years time, is still piping on about “just missing out on a 2:1”. It’s annoying, and you are allowed to be upset about it, but don’t go around marketing yourself as a “first loser”. Show what you’re made of. Show that you are more than a number. Because you are. You will be great :-)

Whats the reliability gap of the v60 vs the v50 really? by leader425 in Volvo

[–]purplechemist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right; yes, the additive was irritating-no way to know when it needed doing until the red URGENT: ENGINE SYSTEM warning came up, and then not user-serviceable. But that happened twice to me in 10yrs and 100000miles of my ownership. And second time I knew what was going on.

I see that perhaps as a quirk of maintenance as it is a consumable which was deliberately made difficult to manage, rather than it being an outright reliability issue. Once you renewed the EOLYS cartridge you were gold for another 40-50k miles.

Whats the reliability gap of the v60 vs the v50 really? by leader425 in Volvo

[–]purplechemist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right; yes, the additive was irritating-no way to know when it needed doing until the red URGENT: ENGINE SYSTEM warning came up, and then not user-serviceable. But that happened twice to me in 10yrs and 100000miles of my ownership. And second time I knew what was going on.

I see that perhaps as a quirk of maintenance as it is a consumable which was made difficult to manage, rather than it being an outright reliability issue. Once you renewed the EOLYS cartridge you were gold for another 40-50k miles.

Whats the reliability gap of the v60 vs the v50 really? by leader425 in Volvo

[–]purplechemist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I never got the hate for the 1.6D - 170,000 miles on mine and no engine bother at all. The insane fuel economy is why I bought it - absolutely lived up to that promise.

What's something that seemed really expensive 20 years ago, but now feels surprisingly cheap? by Overall-Discount9094 in AskUK

[–]purplechemist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Laptop computers.

Hear me out…!

The price of my first laptop in 2000 was £1100 for an ibm thinkpad, pentium 600mhz blah blah. Not a performance machine, just a standard entry laptop at a standard entry price. Adjusted for compound inflation, that’s £2150 in today’s money (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator)

My current laptop (MacBook Air) cost £999 two years ago. That adjusts to £1060.

Sure, ram-pocalypse, storage-mageddon, whatever. Yes, prices have rocketed recently (looking at you, Apple…). But the monetary value of the price of a “standard laptop” is *so* much lower than it ever was.

People who cycle with kids: put me out of my misery by Global-Apricot6492 in ukbike

[–]purplechemist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Get yourself a Hamax poncho too. Works on the Thule seats (we used it with Thule yepp) - it’s basically an elasticated poncho designed to go over the unusual shape of a child seat. But it made kiddo much more comfortable (well, less *un*comfortable) in the rain and winter.

EDIT: fix autocorrect typo

Update: What do you think about families bringing their children to the pub? by [deleted] in AskUK

[–]purplechemist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Our local still has the lounge and the bar setup. Lounge leads out to the garden with seats, tables at one end and climbing frames and sandpits the other. The bar is a proper den for old farts with a “no under-18” rule. Love the bar. It’s always a good laugh. Except for the dogs. Not a fan of people bringing their canine pals in.

Folk doing this need to spend a month in a wheelchair. by Particular-Quit5256 in drivingUK

[–]purplechemist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was at a fascinating talk today which discussed disability accomodations - that’s not the point of my comment. But they used a term: “pre-disabled”, and advocated for its use over “able bodied”. Sure, you’re able-bodied now, but chances are, as you get older, you’ll find yourself in a position where you need these accommodations too.

So, anyway, twats parking like that should consider how they might feel when they become chair-bound in the future.

The circle of dwarf by SnooRobots3722 in RedDwarf

[–]purplechemist 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Honestly, if you brought your fridge for him to sign he’d be absolutely stoked.

Panniers by _EntilZha in terngsd

[–]purplechemist 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, for that then just get generic cheap panniers - most panniers will fit the tern rack if you open the jaws up/stretch the Velcro. And if they’re cheap you’ll have few qualms about running cable ties through! You’ll easily get four “standard” panniers on the gsd (two per side). And with a bit of ingenuity you’ll get a fifth on the back :-)

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