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I took lessons for a year, had a racist old instructor ("be careful driving in this area at night, there are Nigerians everywhere and you won't be able to spot them crossing the road"), got really good, failed twice because of nerves (they had to slam the brakes both times) and gave up. Then I managed to destroy my dad's car without being in the driving seat and now I hate the things and don't know why anyone would voluntarily want to drive one. That was ten years ago and now that kids are on the cards I know I'll have to suck it up and start learning again but it's not an inviting prospect.
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Mar 25, 2021 09:40
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Beefeater1980 posted:It seems virtually certain that I am coming back to the UK in May. I will be doing this to help a Chinese company get started in UK, which despite Brexit remains the biggest European market for what we do. Covid and the govt using them as a boogeyman for a few years now hasn't helped, but it's more of the racist 'industrious and communist but also very greedy' vibe as opposed to whatever the gently caress people think about Africa/Middle East, if that makes sense? I think other than hardcore racists who would've been a problem anyway it's not TOO bad.
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Mar 25, 2021 09:47
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bessantj posted:I was made redundant from virginmedia and decided to learn to drive. It wasn't that hard really. I think the first lesson gave me confidence because the instructor (who had been a colleague at virginmedia) took me to an empty car park and I learnt clutch control, then drove 5 miles home no problem. After that everything was pretty easy. On the day of my test I was driving down the "lighthouse road" and saw something in the road up ahead as I got closer it turned out to be a hedgehog and four baby hedgehogs I went from not driving a car to learning to drive in a few lessons, think the teacher had me start doing stuff like starting from a hill with a manual on the 3rd time or so. Everyone learns on a manual here. Since if you do you can drive both types later. I lived in the countryside and every teen here counts the day until they are 18 so they can drive, I was the odd one out because I didn't bother starting getting lessons when I was 17, so I could get my license on the very day I turned 18. I would have to get my rear end like 35-40km to the nearest town for lessons and in the autumn I was going there for school anyway and living right next to the driving school, so why rush it I thought. Many people thought I was odd already before that. I think I learned to drive in one of the worst towns in Finland, the teacher would have me drive south towards Kristinestad which is an old medieval style city with a lot of narrow cobbled streets, a lot of the crossings have mirrors so you can see if it's safe to drive out or not. I hated driving there but it prepared me for city driving, though I mostly drove on country roads for the next 5 years so I forgot a lot of it. Drivers licenses in Finland do take quite a long time. I wasn't that quick either and spaced it out over 3-4 months. And then you only get a temporary license, gotta come back in two years for a follow up, then you get your real license. You also have to do stuff like driving on iced roads and correct the car when it skids, and also one test you are put on a dark track and told a fake moose will be coming at your car somewhere on the track. All in all I don't mind driving, the downside is the cost of a car.
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Mar 25, 2021 09:55
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Beefeater1980 posted:What’s the sentiment these days toward China? In my mind there’s a kind of slider on how the general population sees other countries, which goes from (foreign but it’s not their fault -> foreign and therefore suspect -> basically The Enemy); where is China on that in TYOOL 2021? Still the first one. Chinese is still one of the two flavours of foreign food allowed, and as most people are hosed, we rely on cheap android based iWatch clones to maintain our air of superiority. Edit: Also the press has been talking about how rich some of these Chinese people are, which makes it OK for posh people to like them too.
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Mar 25, 2021 10:01
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His Divine Shadow posted:You also have to do stuff like driving on iced roads and correct the car when it skids, and also one test you are put on a dark track and told a fake moose will be coming at your car somewhere on the track. That sounds amazing. The equivalent here would be randomly throwing a pheasant at you, I suppose.
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Mar 25, 2021 10:03
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Maugrim posted:I did decide to go with an automatic and have no regrets, it's way easier to learn. I don't know why manual is still so popular in this country tbh. Cost, it all boils down to cost. An automatic transmission will always be more expensive than a manual gearbox. Autos are now the standard and increasingly only option available for high end vehicles and it’s slowly working its way down, but I expect most consumer vehicles will keep their manual transmissions until the demise of the ICE.
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Mar 25, 2021 10:11
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Isomermaid posted:Is this just an inevitability of capitalism, or something particular to the UK? Cos its not like any European town doesn't have its share of chains but they'll have their own industry and small traders, and the villages will be actual communities rather than hollowed-out satellites for the rich. I'm trying to understand what they did that we didn't or if they're just going to go this way too, give it another decade Both, I think. Locally owned shops do badly everywhere, and all small towns are struggling to keep their city centers attractive. On the other hand, London has decided to go all out with building their business districts straight in the city, which is not something you really see in continental Europe. In France, people demand certain amenities that chains do not provide, for example kick rear end butchers and boulangeries as well as high quality restaurants and bistros. But France is also focused on Paris, and while the variety of good and locally owned things is arguably much greater in Paris than in London, this is in part because the French stubbornly refuse to consider an industrial bakery or butchery something where "one should actually go". When money is tight, French also just straight up go to Lidl or whatever. If they can, they spend their money (generally) on quality. Even down at the peripherique you'll still have one boulangerie per block that would qualify as "best bakery in the region" in other countries like UK or Germany. For small towns in France, as others have said, I am not sure it's actually going better than in the UK. In Germany, things are different again. Germany is not centralized. The largest city in Germany would barely register as a proper suburb in London. On the other hand, cities below 100k inhabitants are officially considered small, and anything below ~45k is a village. The two largest non-discounters are coops, which means that they are almost always locally owned. Outside touristic areas, restaurants are simply not prevalent. Germans don't "eat out" several times per week. So, each small town usually has a couple of options, but chains don't bother. Germans generally also spend less for food, and things must have a good value proposition. Several things I saw in London simply wouldn't exist because people would think you'd be stupid to buy packaged sandwiches or whatever. Germans spend their free time with "hobbies", usually things that don't cost a lot of money or are otherwise distinctly non-related to purchasing stuff of cooperations. In most parts of Germany, displaying wealth is also really frowned upon. Germans culturally are not used to centering their free time around spending money, because Germany was a poor as gently caress country for most of its history. Like, one doesn't go to a restaurant for "no reason", especially a chain. I remember when I was a student in the US, and we made plans on the weekend to go to a Applebees or whatever. The whole concept was completely foreign and weird to me. I am not sure if it's actually a thing in the UK, but you guys are typically closer to the US so Of course, things change as cultures diffuse. Also, all this doesn't mean that small towns don't experience their own Germanic-styled desolation. However, all in all, I think most towns and cities in Germany are doing better than in the UK or France, since there are no central cities and relatively little suburbanization. Most Germans simply live in their version of a small city anyway. Whether cause of effect, there are a ton of small to midsize businesses in Germany, especially industry. We are very bad at banking and never quite got the hang of it. It's a bit different in big cities like Berlin or Munich, where some parts are essentially expat conclaves. However, both Berlin and Munich are either built on a swamp, or simply don't allow things like skyscapers higher than the next local church. In fact, calling Berlin a city in the sense that other nationalities would understand is already misleading. It's an agglomeration of villages. This seems to confuse the hell out of international investors and bankers, because even though they always want to construct a capitalist hellhole in either place, it never actually materializes. You generally also can not build anything without social housing and provisions for the local community like shops or kindergartens, which further pisses off investors. Going to London for work is a little like going to the US, although a milder version of it. That feeling of harsh turbocapitalism all around you. Yeah it's worse in the US, but still. For work, you gotta stay in London, of course, and in one of the business areas, of course. That's why many people don't like London. These areas are full of chain stores and overpriced industrial sandwiche stores (you know what I mean) and people in suits. And come what, like 8-9 a clock, the sidewalks are put up and the entire area is dead. Like, literally. I have never seen anything like it in a big city. The areas of London where I have to go feel like "places with large buildings, where you rush through to go to work". So no disrespect, but it's probably my least favorite city in Europe by a mile. Though I am sure parts are actually lovely if you know where to go. In the near future I may have to go to London to live there, at least for a while, and I really dread it. Haramstufe Rot fucked around with this message at 10:30 on Mar 25, 2021 |
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Mar 25, 2021 10:19
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Settlements in Europe are generally tiny AF, the systems my company had classified anywhere with <5 million population as a “Town” and they had to create a new code fork to deal with our baby size populations.
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Mar 25, 2021 10:24
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https://twitter.com/JohnRentoul/status/1375003297778634757?s=19 In my opinion its good that the political commentary class veiws good and popular things people want as illegitimate and just point scoring.
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Mar 25, 2021 10:32
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I saw this so you have to as well https://twitter.com/CJTerry/status/1374722114687754246?s=20
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Mar 25, 2021 10:33
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Lord Ludikrous posted:Cost, it all boils down to cost. An automatic transmission will always be more expensive than a manual gearbox. Autos are now the standard and increasingly only option available for high end vehicles and it’s slowly working its way down, but I expect most consumer vehicles will keep their manual transmissions until the demise of the ICE. The other thing with my current car is that if you jam your foot on the accelerator & try to fly off, the engine's just, like, "no". Idk if that's the transmission or just some safety feature. Doesn't accelerate nearly as fast as a manual in general, but my dad's fancy one is actually much better at it than a human if you put it into sports mode, and you can always flick mine into manual when you want to speed up fast (I actually quite like doing that, feels like you're switching into overdrive mode) It's the fuel efficiency that persuaded me to go automatic, but they're a lot more fun than I expected
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Mar 25, 2021 10:35
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Maugrim posted:I did decide to go with an automatic and have no regrets, it's way easier to learn. I don't know why manual is still so popular in this country tbh. I love driving manual, I feel like having something constantly to do keeps me more attentive than otherwise. Will be sad when every car is an electric car and none have gears any more.
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Mar 25, 2021 10:35
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Lord Ludikrous posted:Cost, it all boils down to cost. An automatic transmission will always be more expensive than a manual gearbox. Autos are now the standard and increasingly only option available for high end vehicles and it’s slowly working its way down, but I expect most consumer vehicles will keep their manual transmissions until the demise of the ICE. Yeah good point. When I chose automatic I had half an eye on the fully-electric future but the cost prevented me from actually buying an EV. I'm hoping by the time I'm next looking to buy a car there will be some good electrics on the second hand market.
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Mar 25, 2021 10:38
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Mebh posted:How on earth does one get over a crippling fear of driving and learn to drive anyway? I hate cars. I had about plucked up the courage pre covid but gently caress getting in a strangers car now. Or ever. For me it took about two years of lessons.
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Mar 25, 2021 10:39
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i don't like driving automatics. in the before times i had to take my ma's through the MOT centre every year because she and my sisters are scared of the place and the sense of loss of controls just freaks me out a bit. also her car is full of fluffy blankets and teddies and has stickers everywhere with cats and that on so i just try even harder than usual to not make eye contact with anyone while i'm there it's basically a plush motorised shopping trolley
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Mar 25, 2021 10:40
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ItohRespectArmy posted:why do you think northerners dislike london then? Jealousy, mostly
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Mar 25, 2021 10:40
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Borrovan posted:
EVs generally have really good acceleration and torque, so this is probably a throttling thing
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Mar 25, 2021 10:41
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Mebh posted:How on earth does one get over a crippling fear of driving and learn to drive anyway? I hate cars. I had about plucked up the courage pre covid but gently caress getting in a strangers car now. Or ever. Maugrim posted:I don't know why manual is still so popular in this country tbh. Necrothatcher posted:I saw this so you have to as well
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Mar 25, 2021 10:41
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Necrothatcher posted:I saw this so you have to as well She looks so angry in all those photos as if she's genuinely pissed off she has to be there.
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Mar 25, 2021 10:41
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Haramstufe Rot posted:In France, people demand certain amenities that chains do not provide, for example kick rear end butchers and boulangeries as well as high quality restaurants and bistros. But France is also focused on Paris, and while the variety of good and locally owned things is arguably much greater in Paris than in London, this is in part because the French stubbornly refuse to consider an industrial bakery or butchery something where "one should actually go". When money is tight, French also just straight up go to Lidl or whatever. If they can, they spend their money (generally) on quality. Even down at the peripherique you'll still have one boulangerie per block that would qualify as "best bakery in the region" in other countries like UK or Germany. France also does crazy poo poo like paying people a decent wage to maintain their roads & other public spaces, which probably helps.
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Mar 25, 2021 10:42
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bessantj posted:She looks so angry in all those photos as if she's genuinely pissed off she has to be there. i'm guessing she's outraged about the easter eggs for some reason
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Mar 25, 2021 10:42
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Necrothatcher posted:I saw this so you have to as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtaEwAP4Ok4
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Mar 25, 2021 10:44
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i've actually said to my ma about the teddies so many times, i've said if ever - god forbid - you're in an accident and that car catches fire it's going to go up like dresden 
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Mar 25, 2021 10:46
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My pharmacist has just told me to go and book my first vaccine "because I'm acting as a carer so I should get it ASAP". I've followed the link he gave me but it is covered with warning saying IF YOU ARE NOT OLD ENOUGH AND DON'T HAVE AN INVITE LETTER WE WILL SEND YOU AWAY. He says it will "be fine" but I'm worried about being thrown in Covid jail. Does anyone have any advice/experience on this point? This vaccine centre (in Chesterfield) seems to have hundreds of availabke appointments over the next few days so it doesn't seem they're overwhelmed.
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Mar 25, 2021 10:48
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Tesseraction posted:TBH the yikesness of her past seems more about people in her periphery rather than herself so I hope things work out for her and also causes a bunch more transphobes to get so mad they die of brain cancer. As though that wasn’t the sole reason to hire her. As though it wasn’t the sole reason she got to be a political candidate. Your recently married husband is not in your periphery. serious gaylord posted:What a surprise a bunch of tory mps are now saying their Labour councils are bad and perhaps they should be taken over too. Honestly they can have Birmingham if it means we get funding for stuff, as opposed to cynically underfunding the whole region. We already have a Tory Mayor about to get re-elected. Bobby Deluxe posted:Yeah, there are a ton of people - notably sex workers - who've had their subs closed or quarantined without warning or justification, and have either recieved no response from the admins or outright unhelpful bots autoreplying and closing their queries. They definitely don’t have any problem with hosed up fetish subs at Reddit. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Mar 25, 2021 10:49
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Jakabite posted:I lived in London for a few years, one of them during covid. I liked the feeling of being at the centre of things in terms of politics (while also being annoyed that I had to be there to feel that), and it undeniably has an insane array of Stuff To Do. I didn’t like the -vibe- of the city though - it felt impersonal and cold, like always being on holiday despite living there. I like the north because it genuinely is easier to meet people and have small interactions with others that start and end in the context they’re formed. That just isn’t really a thing in London and I think that’s sad. I lived most of my adult life before that in Manchester and it quickly felt like home - London never became that and I don’t know if it ever would if I went back. There’s very little sense of a shared identity or common experience which exists in smaller places. I have lived in London for about 20 years, in the same house for the past 13. Our street has a WhatsApp group where people borrow things, give them away, ask for help, we arranged to have lights strung up pretty much the whole street from Nov-March, etc. I knew all our neighbours prior to that. I know our pharmacist, the people who work in the two excellent local shops, the dry cleaner, the alterations guy, the woman who runs the Thai restaurant, the man who owns the Italian restaurant, etc. It feels a bit like a village although it’s definitely London (Stroud Green/Finsbury Park)? learnincurve posted:I bought an E bike. I’ve got a cargo bike I use primarily for school run. It’s not electric because of cost (it was expensive enough) and I wanted the exercise. An e-cargo bike would be an amazing thing to have. Incredibly useful. Before he outgrew it I used to take him in a bike trailer, which was absolutely brilliant. I miss that. I don’t know why bike trailers aren’t more popular, both fir kids and for cargo. I’ve seen them for kids every now and again but not cargo. Noxville posted:I love driving manual, I feel like having something constantly to do keeps me more attentive than otherwise. Will be sad when every car is an electric car and none have gears any more. Automatics still have gears.  Current car is automatic as it’s a hybrid. I thought I’d miss a manual but I don’t.
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Mar 25, 2021 10:49
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I first went on the roads on a motorcycle and considering when I first did it the CBT was a guaranteed pass, the fact I crashed the bike on my training course still meant I could ride the bike away with my certificate. Then I spent the next 17 years riding motorcycles (I did get my full test done) but having the experience on the road meant that when it came to driving a car I had the confidence in driving on public. My biggest issue is that I was taught to drive a car by a police response driving instructor. He taught me all manner of things that you should absolutely not do while driving. Shockingly I failed my first examination for driving too quickly. My second examination was cancelled before it even started because the car I turned up in was pretty much a wreck. The third time I passed. Not sure why as during the test I was coming up to a set of traffic lights, they turned yellow and I accelerated to get through them in time. I was certain I was going to be failed for that, specially when the tester brought it up at the end.
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Mar 25, 2021 10:50
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therattle posted:I thought I’d miss a manual but I don’t.
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Mar 25, 2021 10:52
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what's the point of this vaccine certificate for pubs when all the bar staff are <40 and won't have been vaccinated anyway?
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Mar 25, 2021 10:53
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therattle posted:
EVs don’t!
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Mar 25, 2021 10:54
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Borrovan posted:The other thing with my current car is that if you jam your foot on the accelerator & try to fly off, the engine's just, like, "no". This is generally a problem with any small-capacity engine with a modern sequential automatic - a manual, or a traditional torque-converter auto, lets you get the engine right into the power band, which in a small engine is up towards the redline. Modern autos don't slip the clutch anything like as much as you can with a manual, so maximum power is never available off the line, a big torquey engine can get over that because maximum power (or at least enough power to spin up the driving wheels) is available at much lower revs. (Also it's a Polo, what were you expecting?)
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Mar 25, 2021 10:54
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Tsietisin posted:I first went on the roads on a motorcycle and considering when I first did it the CBT was a guaranteed pass, Not sure I'd ever want a licence that much
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Mar 25, 2021 10:54
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crispix posted:i've actually said to my ma about the teddies so many times, i've said if ever - god forbid - you're in an accident and that car catches fire it's going to go up like dresden I'd be more concerned about looking like I was tootling around town in the paedo mobile. Bonus points if the bumper stickers are religious. Actually, thinking about it, by avoiding eyecontact and not favouring them with a toothy grin is denying yourself fun.
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Mar 25, 2021 10:54
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goddamnedtwisto posted:(Also it's a Polo, what were you expecting?) 
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Mar 25, 2021 10:56
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Haramstufe Rot posted:*stuff about germans* That german stuff really vibes with me and a lot of the culture here too.
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Mar 25, 2021 10:58
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Borrovan posted:My Corsa zoomed & was my first true love Mine does that it just still doesn't go anywhere quickly, in part because the wheels would rather spin than the car go forwards.
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Mar 25, 2021 10:58
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crispix posted:i'm guessing she's outraged about the easter eggs for some reason Joe Swinson has an annual crusade about easter egg packaging being excessive and wastful. It's very Lib Dem, in that it's the most middle class whiny bullshit possible while still being technically correct. wooger posted:Are you sure you’re not thinking about all the feminist / Lesbian/ Women’s Health subs that were straight up deleted, or else had the mods forcibly replaced by Reddit insiders, who are all oddly enough transwomen? So you're an anti-trans bigot as well as an anti-traveller bigot. What a delightful human being. Got any opinions about BLM you'd like to share?
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Mar 25, 2021 11:00
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Sanford posted:My pharmacist has just told me to go and book my first vaccine "because I'm acting as a carer so I should get it ASAP". I've followed the link he gave me but it is covered with warning saying IF YOU ARE NOT OLD ENOUGH AND DON'T HAVE AN INVITE LETTER WE WILL SEND YOU AWAY. He says it will "be fine" but I'm worried about being thrown in Covid jail. Does anyone have any advice/experience on this point? This vaccine centre (in Chesterfield) seems to have hundreds of availabke appointments over the next few days so it doesn't seem they're overwhelmed. Yup and at the both winding wheel and Charlie park they want to see an invitation letter or text from the doctors, the booking text won’t be accepted, sorry.
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Mar 25, 2021 11:08
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Wolfsbane posted:Joe Swinson has an annual crusade about easter egg packaging being excessive and wastful. It's very Lib Dem, in that it's the most middle class whiny bullshit possible while still being technically correct. Yeah mean she’s right but why Easter eggs and not virtually every other food item?
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Mar 25, 2021 11:11
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wooger posted:
I don’t have any gently caress you and gently caress off TERF pictures on this iPad so this will have to do.
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Mar 25, 2021 11:12
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