Nice people thread part 7 - a thread in its prime

Generali

zagubov wrote: »

This site reminded me we used to know a bloke who worked for BR and had an encyclopedic knowledge of how to travel Europe. And not just by train, he seemed to know which parts of, say, northern Spain had bad roadworks. His idea of a driving holiday was to take a motorail to the south of France and then drive around. Brilliant fellow!

Whatever happened to motorail in the UK? I remember seeing terminals in Edinburgh or Glasgow where you could drive your car onto a train and have them carried 450 miles to London.

Surely that's a more carbon-friendly way to travel than burning petrol the whole length of the journey? Or did North sea oil turn us into a mob of complacent gas-guzzlers?:mad:

AIUI it's a myth that public transport uses less fuel than cars unless running near full capacity, i.e. at rush hour.

zagubov

Generali wrote: »

AIUI it's a myth that public transport uses less fuel than cars unless running near full capacity, i.e. at rush hour.

Well isn't that when most transport happens? despite the paradoxical name.;)

However it can use less fossil fuels if its e.g electrical as in streetcars/trams/light rail/metros/ trains etc or use more available fossil fuels like deisel vehicles/ autogas cars (or as lorries in WWII did).

With wind, tidal, solar, geothermal,and nuclear there's potential for improvement in the carbon footprint.

zagubov

michaels wrote: »

A quick google suggest that once you have 2 people in a small car or 4 in a large engined car then the CO2 per mile per person for the car and train are equivalent. So once google get the self driving cars sorted there will be no reason not to use them rather than the train as long as you are not travelling alone.

When I visit countries I like to read about them. I remember reading about Krushchev visiting the US and seeing a bridge with endless cars driving across it and when he was told that there was only one person in each car he shouted that that would never happen in the USSR. He didn't mean that as a failing of the soviet system, but as a credit to it.

I've read that that's generaly true- whenever anyone got in their car in the Eastern Bloc they always took passengers. In fact Poland famously had a hitchhiking voucher system where hikers handed over tokens for miles travelled and the drivers submitted them for rewards and prizes up to and including holiday homes.

Personal tranport needs to be sorted out and I'm glad to see things are moving that way at long last.

Generali wrote: »

AIUI it's a myth that public transport uses less fuel than cars unless running near full capacity, i.e. at rush hour.

I suspect that the motorail system only ran on certain routes that had demonstrated a certain minimal "critical mass".

Generali

zagubov wrote: »

Well isn't that when most transport happens? despite the paradoxical name.;)

However it can use less fossil fuels if its e.g electrical as in streetcars/trams/light rail/metros/ trains etc or use more available fossil fuels like deisel vehicles/ autogas cars (or as lorries in WWII did).

With wind, tidal, solar, geothermal,and nuclear there's potential for improvement in the carbon footprint.

It's when most travel happens but buses and trains run near-empty for much of the rest of the day too.

BertieUK

Generali wrote: »

They're very wasteful on water and if you don't use them for a couple of weeks the jets system fills up with mold.

I find them too noisy to be able to relax in too. The Generalissimos love them though.

I remember the one and only Spa Bath that I ever used was in the days when I took tour groups around the UK and this particular up market hotel gave me a room with a Spa Bath.

I looked at it and noticed the buttons that would power the jets that would stimulate my aching body after the end of a long day.

I filled the bath to the required mark suggested climb in and put my finger on the power button dreaming of the wonderful motion that was about to release itself upon my body and experience the luxury of what I had never been able to afford in my lifetime.

There was loud and noisy sound of the many pumps that had burst into life and a wonderful feeling of being transported into another world of exotic feelings and it was then I saw the mold that had been released from the pumps that had not been used for some considerable time covering my whole body.

Well I do not think that I have got out of a bath as fast in all my life as I did that day I must have gone into the afterburn effect that lasted for a few seconds and burnt of hundreds of calories in that time.

Every time I see a Spa Bath I remember that occasion.;)

mystic_trev

http://www.youtube.com/embed/hC3VTgIPoGU?rel=0

Fascinating!

Generali

mystic_trev wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/embed/hC3VTgIPoGU?rel=0

Fascinating!

I have now. I agree, it is fascinating.

I thought it was a particularly cruel trick of physics that the light from the meteor above Siberia arrived about a minute before the sound/shockwave thus giving people plenty of time to get to their windows before they shattered in their faces.

I had proper wagyu beef for the first time today. It was nice but TBH I don't see what the fuss is about. You can't have it rare which is hopeless for me. Thanks to my mates boss for paying, the wine was excellent too.:beer:

PasturesNew

Generali wrote: »

I had proper wagyu beef for the first time today. It was nice but TBH I don't see what the fuss is about. You can't have it rare which is hopeless for me. Thanks to my mates boss for paying, the wine was excellent too.:beer:

Never heard of it... is it a posh alert?

Only free dinner I'd get today is if I found a soup kitchen

Edit: Just googled it - I thought that was the name of the dish/recipe..... like a spicy beef dish or something. Turns out it's a type of cow I've never heard of. Looks like a posh alert.... BIG POSH ALERT in fact!

http://www.finefoodspecialist.co.uk/category/Wagyu-Beef/Wagyu-Beef/1.html

POSH ALERT

Generali

PasturesNew wrote: »

Never heard of it... is it a posh alert?

Only free dinner I'd get today is if I found a soup kitchen

Edit: Just googled it - I thought that was the name of the dish/recipe..... like a spicy beef dish or something. Turns out it's a type of cow I've never heard of. Looks like a posh alert.... BIG POSH ALERT in fact!

http://www.finefoodspecialist.co.uk/category/Wagyu-Beef/Wagyu-Beef/1.html

POSH ALERT

It's from a cow that gets massaged every day however it was free in that I didn't pay for it.

Does free food and wine get a posh alert? Seems a little harsh.

I hate to say it but I am starting to suspect that posh alerts are doled out on an arbitrary basis with no systematic rigor at all.

vivatifosi

Amazing video! Thanks Trev!