Preparedness for when

maryb

Didn't Siclist buy a couple of electric assist bikes?

maryb

thriftwizard wrote: »

Good golly, that's scary. :eek: If I were of a suspicious cast of mind, I might be thinking that the banks could arrange to - ahem, remove - any employee who fails to toe the line or invent enough "money" then collect a massive payout for doing so... very glad none of my offspring have gone into investment banking! But some of their friends have...

Slightly strange that when I clicked on the link I could only read it by accessing a cached copy. However.

I don't actually find it too odd that they have 'key man' life policies on senior employees, they are commonplace throughout business. In fact, they are even more important in smaller outfits where particular individuals are hard to replace and their sudden death could cause the business to fail. But the policies usually terminate on cessation of employment so the reference to them collecting on employees who ceased employment a long time ago is surprising. But maybe that's the way insurance works in the US.

I could also understand why they would regard the amount of cover as sensitive - after all, it would be giving competitors useful information about who to headhunt

[Deleted User]

Check this out.

No, it's not a moped.

It's an Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycle.

muffin_man_7

Bet that'll cost a few bob

[Deleted User]

£999.

Mind you, you do save on Tax, Insurance, MOTs, petrol, etc.

GreyQueen

I think the replacement batteries on those can be a bit steep, though?

Here's a linkie via ZH about those bankers http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-04-28/guest-post-suspicious-deaths-bankers-are-now-classified-trade-secrets-federal-regula

[Deleted User]

GreyQueen wrote: »

I think the replacement batteries on those can be a bit steep, though?

OTOH, 5p for 30 miles.

Put aside some of the money you are saving on petrol (even at 100mpg, you are still saving over £6 per 100 miles), insurance, road tax, MOT etc., and that should cover a replacement battery.

Perplexed_Pineapple

pineapple wrote: »

A sobering thought and not much you can do except lock yourself up in your house and hope that your supplies last till the air clears
http://blueandgreentomorrow.com/2014/04/28/supervolcanoes-the-biggest-threat-to-the-uk-cabinet-office-report-warns/

That's a bit scary and actually one quite realistic scenario that might end up in a "Survivors" type scenario where a large proportion of the population was wiped out. Not terribly likely to happen in any particular time period but a near certainty to happen eventually. I guess prepping for that would involve the same kind of thing as prepping for a nuclear disaster where there is widespread air carriage of radioactive particles. I've read articles about taping sheet plastic over your windows and doors and other air inlets to keep contaminated air out. There is no way I can think of that you could maintain that over a several month period though which would be the worst case scenario. A brief search suggests the main toxic fumes are heavier than air, so tend to cling to low ground, so this would be one scenario where the traditional bugging-out strategy of "head for the hills" might be the best thing to do

ivyleaf wrote: »

pineapple I read this thread regularly but don't usually post - but had to comment on that article. I disagree with the final sentence - I don't believe climate change is "within human control".

We may or may not be able to lessen its effects a tiny bit, if all the countries in the world work together, which isn't going to happen.

Sorry to jump in, it made me cross. (Not with you, pineapple, obviously!)

Welcome ivyleaf, always nice when lurkers contribute. I'm interested in your comment, there is always a lot of smoke and noise around any political discussion of climate change, I honestly don't know what to make of it. Do you have any specialist knowledge here to inform your opinion?

Si_Clist

Frugalsod wrote: »

Mopeds are also a great alternative to a car. Plus relatively cheap and very cheap to run. Though you have to allow for road tax and insurance.

You also have to wear a helmet.

Si_Clist

maryb wrote: »

Didn't Siclist buy a couple of electric assist bikes?

Yes he did, and The Lady Wife bought one as well. So we have two. I'd better explain ...

As lifelong cyclists (as opposed to Cyclists, who wear Lycra and a Magic Hat and teararse all over the place and jump red lights and so on), we'd always aimed to give up the motor car as soon as we didn't need one for work. The problem was that we live in a relatively hilly area, so getting all the shopping in and towing the bike trailer with a couple of bags of potting compost or whatever in it would be seriously hard work with our "proper" bikes, especially as we get older. So we started doing a lot of research into electrification.

For various reasons we wanted a pedelec (bicycle with electric motor to assist with the pedalling) as opposed to an electric bike (which you can just sit on and go like a moped), and we determined that the make to go for was Kalkhoff.

I duly bought one secondhand off Fleabay for £700, rode it for a few weeks, then sold it on Fleabay for £800 and ordered a new Kalkhoff Agattu for £1600. The Lady Wife then bought the identical bike but with the smaller frame size.

Two years later (and coming up to two years since we got shut of the car) hers has only done around 1000 miles due to various health problems, but I've done 3420 on mine, a proportion of which has been spent towing the trailer. Both are ridden in all weathers, and neither bike has ever let us down. All we've done to them is replace the brake pads and the tyres and I've put a new chain and back sprocket on mine.

Ours are now out of guarantee on both bike and battery, but the latter still seems to be performing very much as it did when new.