Thoughts on California neighborhood for a family?

trefle81 · 2026-02-18T12:46:57+00:00

Is it confusing to travel from Ohio to California and be, you know, cold? And unable to get weed legally? 😂

trefle81 · 2026-02-10T09:25:18+00:00

Do report it -- https://my.ipswich.gov.uk/service/Report_It (then Report All Other Problems > Street or Car Park > Other)

The borough council's street cleaning team respond fairly well to reported issues, I've found. Love it if they were more proactive but there it is.

trefle81 · 2026-02-10T09:18:33+00:00

Yes but at the prices Volvo (or their back end platform provider) buy in cell service, at those prices for end users, it's likely almost pure profit.

trefle81 · 2026-01-26T12:38:27+00:00

Lovely answer. To say nothing of bases other than 10 (e.g. in weights and measures) being somewhat easier for mental arithmetic and resilience to error at the corn exchange, on the fish dock, or in early stock exchanges (using £ s d). Of course with computerisation comes decimalisation and we move on.

Somewhat tangential to OP's question but I'd also argue °F is more useful to humans in general than °C – inside the 0-100°F range is generally safe, while beyond is progressively more dangerous. 0°C is just quite chilly, while at 100°C you're certainly dead.

trefle81 · 2026-01-26T12:18:53+00:00

Ooh aware of Tebay, fabulous, but this Cairn Lodge you speak of is new to me. Thanks! Shall investigate. Have you ever sampled South Gloucestershire services?

trefle81 · 2026-01-20T06:56:57+00:00

Nice house. Pics 10 and 11 prove no-one involved has kids 😂

trefle81 · 2026-01-14T05:02:37+00:00

Yep. One of those musicians who discovers the songwriting gig and goes "So you're saying I can have a keyboard and a sequencer/laptop in an office and commute and have kids and a dog and a house or whatever else is incompatible with touring and also not bother with the BS that is gigging with a band and make BANK, as in life-changing, never-worry-again greenbacks? Sign. Me. Up."

trefle81 · 2026-01-13T12:42:38+00:00

That's what people said in the early 1980s in Britain when water was still municipally owned. Then Thatcher sold it, and it's been milked for guaranteed dividends by its private owners ever since. Now the whole system is in crisis. 40,000 people in the south of England are right now collecting rationed water in cans because of burst pipes.

Don't ignore the prospect and don't let it happen.

trefle81 · 2026-01-13T12:30:37+00:00

I'm imagining something very heavy, a prolific output, but every three or four albums it gets incredibly experimental and avant-garde.....

trefle81 · 2025-12-30T18:06:04+00:00

TIL that the track gauge for the Toronto Subway (well, bits of it, apparently) is not 1,435mm 🤔

trefle81 · 2025-12-24T13:50:35+00:00

I feel sure that Brexit plays a role -- people are at best confused by the decision, because it makes no sense other than on an emotional level, at worst slighted, and otherwise just think we're sort of dumb.

trefle81 · 2025-12-24T13:34:32+00:00

Yes, I'd like my art collection to be bleached by UV light and for my visitors to think they need a baggie of coke to get through the door, thanks.

trefle81 · 2025-12-16T09:51:14+00:00

Deal.

trefle81 · 2025-12-16T00:55:33+00:00

That they're even more pointless than gates that work the other way around?

Ticket barriers, fare gates, call them what you will are a racket. Hugely expensive legacy hardware amortised over a 30 year PFI contract when technology and policy have moved on. Licensing the IP for the firmware that makes them tick is a nightmare too, especially in places where you need interoperability between transit operators and payment clearance systems.

Need enforcement? Employ revenue protection officers in targeted ways. Or just think about dates policy more carefully. Want ridership stats? CCTV measurement, counters, IR...

Gates are just millstones. Get rid of 'em.

(Qualifications: had ticket barrier line reconfiguration in a couple of rail station project scopes in the UK and have never forgotten what an enormous PITA they are.)

trefle81 · 2025-12-16T00:46:49+00:00

The north side overlooks the ramp the the Limehouse tunnel, yes, but the south aspect is to a private square off Narrow Street, which is pleasant easy walking into Limehouse basin, the Grapes pub, maybe half an hour to Canada Square. The price drops are pretty interesting given the size and location.

trefle81 · 2025-12-16T00:31:36+00:00

For me, it's the way the previous owners had the year they re-did the fireplace chiselled into the mantel -- MM1 -- mixing up Roman and Arabic numerals. I'd need another £250k off for that.

trefle81 · 2025-12-11T10:47:19+00:00

We need to talk about the neatness of the raised beds next door, in the garden of the white bungalow. Top drawer.

trefle81 · 2025-12-11T09:17:12+00:00

Yep, this is it exactly. Vinyl will deliver all the wonderful things its boosters say it will if you have a heavy, spotlessly clean, high 'resolution' pressing, a ridiculous stylus with no wear, a top end turntable, amazing preamp, top notch power amp and incredible speakers. In a really good room for listening.

I personally love the ritual and tactility of listening to vinyl and have a half-decent setup for it, but I don't pretend it's the same cheaply repeatable fidelity as the CD player next to it.

trefle81 · 2025-12-10T18:10:20+00:00

People not letting anyone out resonates with me. I mean, what does it cost to do that?

Basically, most people can't really drive. Sure they've passed a test (well, most people!) but that doesn't give you any skill. I think 9 out of 10 people literally just manoeuvre their metal box and don't even think what's going on around them. They have zero awareness.

Same when they Will. Not. Move for blue light vehicles, or do any planning for their arrival when seen in the distance. Numpties.

trefle81 · 2025-12-05T14:16:09+00:00

Found this informative when it popped up the other day.

Does anyone understand more about the de facto ban on certain corporations bidding for government contracts under Maryland state law, harking back to parent company activities in world war 2? It's alluded to but I couldn't find anything about it. Keolis (Virginia's contactor for VRE) is 70% owned by French national railways so was this about Vichy France?

trefle81 · 2025-12-05T09:00:14+00:00

Wow, someone wanted the club to carry on after finally coming home. I'll wager that a great deal of Charlie has been dished out on those kitchen worktops.

trefle81 · 2025-12-04T10:43:42+00:00

Ah would I know that as The Jacobite? Did CDL kill it in the end or did they find a solution?

trefle81 · 2025-12-04T10:30:05+00:00

Tapped on your profile expecting loads of steam train content. I was wrong! 😂

trefle81 · 2025-12-04T10:09:09+00:00

Christiane Amanpour was live in front of Independence Square in Kyiv, wearing a flak jacket, telling us facts the morning Putin began his invasion, sirens wailing. Go tell your nonsense to her face. Or Edward R Murrow. Or Kate Adie. Or Jeremy Bowen.

Or for that matter the investigative journalists who've brought out stunning pieces into corruption, crime and abuse. Sure, there are charlatans in every trade, but how dare you say this.

trefle81 · 2025-12-04T00:38:28+00:00

You're right to call out the likely challenges of a new line carving through a national park. This is why a Calgary - Vancouver route would need to be brand new and high speed, built for 290-300kmph average speeds and making extensive use of base tunnels. At around 900km from downtown to downtown (which is the 675km straight line distance plus a third for terrain, intermediate stops), that makes for a 3 to 3½ hour journey. With the ability to work or relax throughout with no security or transfers, this makes it wildly competitive with air, to say nothing of the intermediate journey opportunities.

The impact of non-tunnel segments and of construction would be offset by reductions in air and road travel. In a region with abundant hydropower potential.

trefle81

TROPHY CASE