Thread 6 - TalkExiles: "Yup, still round."

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous threads (thread 5).

Gather here all ye refugees from the JTT Flat Earth Society, welcome to the reassuringly oblate spheroid of MN! Ye all already know the answers to the questions "How the heck do I format my post?" "Why can't I edit my typos?" "What do those acronyms mean?" and most importantly, "Where is everybody that I used to know?"

So really we're all here just to chat randomly.

This is awesome:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/15/students-solar-powered-camper-van-turns-heads-on-1800-mile-road-trip

It’s a solar powered camper van designed by students at Eindhoven. Two days sunshine to charge fully but 600km range.

I have camper van envy! How long before they are commercially available at not insane prices I wonder?

Me too! Just watching the video.

Well my 17-year-old car passed its MOT this month! A miracle to say the very least. Vauxhall Corsa. I think they last forever. Just go on and on. Mind it helps that I hardly ever go anywhere but that's not the point. I couldn't imagine life without a car.

I'm planning a visit to ThatLondon in a couple of weeks to see my son, and Jeez, the trains are expensive these days. It's a decent service from here, but 108 quid return! And that's with an old git rail card.

Yes I've stopped going to London for that very reason. Wasn't that long ago I could go down and come back (from Stoke to Euston) for about £60 first class! I really miss Virgin Trains. It wasn't perfect but it was usually very good and the staff were always lovely in my experience.

I could put up with the expense, it's the sheer unpredictability that gets me.

Sometimes it's a beautiful, on-time, smooth, effortless journey, zipping effortlessly past all those poor motorway drivers into the heart of the mighty metropolis.

Sometimes it's a complete and utter shitshow of cancellations, overcrowding, lost seat reservations and standing on some godforsaken freezing cold platform in the arse end of nowhere hoping that you'll be able to get on the next passing anything that will get you a bit closer to your destination, while a drunken racist yob shouts hilariously "A Number 22 and a Flied Lice!" at you.

That van is marvellous!

My brother comes down from Birmingham for about £25 return (with old gits railcard) on the Chiltern Line. It seems to be less crowded and more reliable than many lines as far as I can tell.

Isn’t it though: it’s certainly an impressive student project!

Avanti trains have added a new wrinkle to it all by making weekend tickets near impossible to book more than a fortnight in advance, and random other week days (regardless of strikes or planned maintenance).

Makes planning ahead and getting a deal near impossible for leisure travel.

I'm having a bit of a moopy phase at the moment, not super happy about anything and little things are becoming bigger deals. E.g. Watched Next in Fashion on Netflix and then was a bit sad because since the jtt relocate, I haven't seen the poster 'Foxybrown' around, and she was one of the few people who would talk about such pointless shows to me.

When Igot my retirement lump sum I thought “ooh! I could buy a camper van!” but had no idea how expensive they are, even much “pre-used” ones, so that didn’t last long. But the one above is amazing, I love it, it’s going on the lottery-win list!

I had forgotten all about Next in Fashion. I watched it once a few years ago and liked it. I should watch more.

I don’t watch that one kittyk, but know exactly what you mean about how having a partner in crime viewing makes shows more fun. Posters come and go though - so maybe Foxy will re-emerge after a break.

I've got used to not having partners in crime for a lot of the programmes I watch and I have multiple partners in crime for Strictly here, so I'm pretty much okay. Ish.

I loved Next in Fashion. I watched season two first and after bingeing that I binged season one. There was a lot more talent in the first season but then they got their talent from people who were already working within the industry and who were properly talented. I liked the camaraderie in that series too. I surprised myself by liking Gigi Hadid in season two though and it made me want to be good enough to be a part of it. That is unlikely to ever happen.

At the risk of being shot down, a bit of music. Just been listening the wonderful Amy Tuttle and her great band breathe new life into this:

Molly Tuttle.

The train thing is a bit of a circle that cannot be squared. Lovkdown absolutely screwed trains and WFH/hybrid working continues to do so. TfL eas days away from bankruptcy during lockdown.

It didn't help that Grayling moved more of the burden of funding trains from taxation to fares. Which is fine, until your fare payers auddenly reduce by 75%.

If we want better, cheaper trains I think the state just needs to put its hand in it pocket and fund it as a public good.

NotDrowningJustCrowing I was surprised how good Gigi Hadid was as a presenter - she may eat babies off camera (unlikely with those legs) but she did seem really natural at just speaking to people.

There was definitely a shift in the type of designer on the show between Season 1 and 2. Season 1 was quite a few semi established people, whereas Season 2 had a lot more scrappy underdogs who had a brand, but maybe nothing bigger than Instagram. I think the shift makes sense, the quite dull Amazon fashion programme is really geared towards people who have a brand already (and maybe even a few failed ones) so they need to pick from different pools of people. Next in Fashion is starting to feel more like a successor to Project Runway/Catwalk without the predatory thirst of Michael Kors. Though Tan did seem to have a bit of pash on 'Nige'

Excellent version @duc748

I have just heard about the Great Molasses Flood 😱 and didn't know where else to share it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood

@duc748 brilliant. Molly Tuttle is, for my money, the very best flatpicker today. There's a super clip on yt of she and Tommy Emmanuel, a long-distance duet. I think I may have already posted it?

Here it is anyway!

It's fast and uplifting, but it's her wonderful melodic sense that I love. Modern female alt-country players are just wonderful. These three women are sooo good. A song that seems to make me well up every time.

“There was definitely a shift in the type of designer on the show between Season 1 and 2. Season 1 was quite a few semi established people, whereas Season 2 had a lot more scrappy underdogs who had a brand, but maybe nothing bigger than Instagram.”

From this description, I’m guessing I saw season 1. Must watch more.

@Kucinghitam Apart from the casualties, the Great Molasses Flood sounds kind of awesome.