Bellend Sebastian

There's LOADS of supposedly must see places around Crete (and the other Greek islands of course) but my favourite thing is just to find any village or town with a waterfront and and ideally a family run taverna where you can see the water and just let them look after you. Covers all my favourite things about Greece - the lovely people, who are just so friendly and welcoming (although my mate did find some "f*** tourists" graffiti in Heraklion), the ace food and how amazing the sea is. It's always crystal clear and just full of life, and even by busy seafronts is nearly always teeming with different sorts of fish including some excitingly large ones, in marked contrast to the grey, sewage infused murk around our own fair isle

Spinalonga's mad, isn't it? Fascinating place

Apparently the museum is very good. Our friends went on a trip to Knossos and they said that wasn't as good as they'd expected, and one of the reasons was that a lot of the "good stuff" (that the British hadn't nicked anyway) had been transferred to the museum in Heraklion

When does it fall next year? I've never been that early but from what I've read it can be alright in April (cool evenings though) but not guaranteed. I think the earliest we've been is May and that was great

Must admit, I didn't indulge in that this time because I went there to be a lazy sod and enjoy the hospitality, so left the hotel literally twice. Also, our kids are of an age where they're relatively hard to drag about without them moaning blind so it takes the fun out of it, and we've done a fair bit of it before anyway. But they are of an age, it turns out, where they can make friends and disappear off around the hotel complex having a grand old time and only briefly be banned from the waterslides. Meant we could actually talk to our friends a bit, great stuff

Just got back from Crete. Third visit, ever I mean, not this year, that would be insane. I do love it though

Some strength training wouldn't go amiss. A few lunges, squats, heel raises, that sort of jazz

It's such a relief isn't it? It's stressful enough when it all goes according to plan

GB News has employed Calvin Robinson, Laurence Fox and Dan Wootton/Martin Branning, so that's a pretty c**ty roster isn't it? Mind you, they've sacked the first two and suspended the third so maybe that's partial redemption

I see the death toll on both sides has reached parity overnight. Death, death, death, with no winners after all this time. It's such a grim mess

You often drive 600 miles in a day? That's like Penzance to Glasgow or something and would take longer than most people's working day - I hope you're taking place of breaks. Yes, you'd probably be better off with a diesel, but how many people are doing that sort of driving? The average car journey is apparently 8.4 miles. The point I was making was that if they stopped making diesel and petrol cars now, everyone would cope. There are hundreds of thousands of the things knocking about for those that really want them and will be for years to come. Car manufacturers are pouring billions into developing EV and hydrogen technology but (according to the boss of Renault, at least) development of ICE has pretty much stopped. Toyota are (perhaps overconfidently) claiming that they will be selling solid state battery EVs by 2026-27 that will have a range of 600-900 miles and do a full charge in around ten minutes. By the time 2030 (or 2035) comes around petrol and diesel is going to seem so old hat nobody will want them anyway. Diesel's pretty much disappeared from new car sales already

There can be a chain reaction in a battery fire and also they're potentially difficult to put out. I've not done a deep data dive but as far as I can tell less likely to catch fire in the first place than an ICE car

In answer to Jon The Hat's post in the now shut down forerunner of this lovely thread, Bedfordshire Fire Service have said that the vehicle that started the Luton airport blaze was a diesel, which they seem to have said in response to speculation that it was an EV. Do EVs catch fire a lot? Cars catching fire is hardly a new thing is it?

Preemptive maybe? I didn't see anything getting out of hand when I last looked at it. The levels of toxicity and crazy misinformation where it's being debated elsewhere might have caused concerns that it was a matter of time before it went pear-shaped and leave an actual mess to sort out. If that's the case it's a shame but I can sort of understand it

Mistakes happen and part of me doesn't give a monkeys - and of course people NOT attending appointments is a problem. It's a pain in the bum though as I now have to ring up to check they've actually updated my vaccination record properly and not added it to someone else's

It grates a bit as although the surgery is generally great they've got a bit of form in messing me about. They once badgered me about having a COVID vaccination when I wasn't sure I was eligible, I questioned it but they insisted I came, and when I did said I couldn't have it and made me feel that I was trying it on

Tiny in the grand scheme of things but getting the guilt inducing "you didn't come to your appointment thereby depriving Janine and her prosthetic head the opportunity to see her GP" text from the doctor's surgery when I did go to the f***ing appointment

A bit of fun or genuinely odd? Can't decide

I'd always say get your gait checked and buy something appropriate to you. What works for one person may not suit the next. I've only ever had New Balance and Adidas, and shoes from them that compensate for my over-pronation. If I'm honest I can't actually remember what that even means. Flat feet, probably

His AI chatbot girlfriend has a lot to answer for

My "special interest" in Penny Mordaunt has been well documented on here (too well? Not well enough? You decide) but that speech is going to make things VERY difficult between us

Massage the hell out of the back and sides of your calves

It feels as if we're days away from Tory messaging being a series of unintelligible grunts and squawks, which will be accepted by the party base provided they are accompanied by an assurance that the bestial sounds are simple common sense and very right wing. I know a lot of folk who vote Conservative who are small 'c' conservatives at heart and will always vote for them as they know no different but I do wonder what they really think about this lot because I don't think their actual values could be more different

Update: it was an absolute stinker, 26:30

Oh goodness, I'm really not the man to ask as I'm largely of the same mindset as you on this. I think it's probably a bigger thing in the States than here. I had a mate that lived over there for a bit and he came back wearing quite a bit of it