Tuesday 19 March 2024

A complete move to the Darkside on the cards

 A little Background

The last time I owned an MX-5 it was circa 2005 and I purchased an NA (ie the 1st generation) reg /year ? I cannot recall now, but it was pretty ropey, with a roof that blew from shut to open at 70 mph on a Spanish Autoroute, mediocre handling from probable tired suspension, lastly a terminal issue when coolant disappeared, rapid overheating ensued, the car was towed to a Spanish garage never to re-appear. 


Story Continuation 

Following the miserable experience with the MX-5, a few years elapsed until circa 2016 when I decided to have another go to purchase an affordable convertible. This time I avoided MX-5, so the 'affordable' Roadster/Convertible category consisted of Fiat X1-9, Fiat Barchetta, BMW Z3 and Z4 , and finally my choice Toyota MR2 mk3 .

This Toyota had only 12k miles, silver with a hardtop, located in a different part of the country :- Edinburgh, whereas I live in Mid-Wales. 3 train journeys taking at least 6 hours later, I was met by the seller at a train station and after a few hours of checking the car out I was happily driving home with the hardtop on at a steady 75-80 mph. 

The MR2 was a source of great joy, but 2 factors combined to take away from the driving experience, namely I always ended up with quite severe headaches after a 1-2 hour drive, this turned out to be down to 2 factors :- cold on the forehead when driving with the roof off, secondly, lack of good sunglasses to reduce the glare. BUT I only discovered these were strong factors as I sold the MR2, and didn't replace the convertible until maybe a further gap year, and an Audi TT convertible bought.

The higher screen of the Audi took away any blast onto my forehead, also the wearing of headgear helped. . Quite a few Audi TT later of various guises of fwd/awd and from 160-300bhp varieties, I decided that although the cabin quality, general ambience, good paintwork it really couldn't overcome the lack of joy and fun that the TT gave to the driver . 

Further on again I decided to go back to MR2 mk3 , this time suitably attired to avoid the headache issue, I owned maybe 6-7 for various periods of time, indeed I was that besotted with how very good a mid-engined rwd could be, I ended up with four at once :- madness!! 

Story Conclusion

Full circle and back to the MX- 5 story 

Today, I bought an Orange 30th Edition with 15k miles on the clock, crucially it also came with a raft of BBR kit(s) 

220 bhp engine kit

Big Brake kit with cf pads 

Exhaust + manifold kit 

Ohlins suspension kit 

Great geo done by the previous owner 

This is just what I can recall 'off the cuff' . The upshot is though, its a wonderful relaxed cruiser , 6th gear at 70mph = ~ 2800 rpm and very economical at those speeds , maybe high 40's-low 50's mpg . 

But the car transforms into a supremely planted, very rapid sportscar, when the revs rise over say 5500rpm - I did see 7500rpm today , with a delicious accompanying howl . 

The car has exceeded all expectations with it's multi-faceted character , I travelled on a few well-known to me back-roads today, at a far higher speed than with any other vehicle I have owned previously, achieved without any fuss or drama, such was the excellence of the chassis/ride and roadholding . 

So what will I do with my existing MR2 mk3 (2 off) ? 

I'm very strongly considering selling both, as their virtues and strong points are at least matched by the MX-5

The MR-2 is a less common sight on UK roads, and just maybe the driving position is a tad more generous than the MX-5, but these would be the only area where my existing cars have any very slight advantage.

Maybe a Final Twist in This Saga though 

A friend who was a previous MR-2 owner purchased a well sorted and kept, but ancient 05 reg Porsche Boxster 987 2.7 engined car in mid Summer last year. I drove the car and was suitably impressed with the very solid nature of the car in terms of pedals, switchgear and so forth , maybe overly heavy in fact, but the overall driving impression was very positive. Little did I imagine less than 9 months later that the car now belongs to me. So as I was driving along today, did I need to also have the newly bought MX-5 as well. The previous owner of the MX-5 did indicate that he would like to have 1st refusal if ever I wanted to sell. So.....what to do? enjoy all of my crop of cars over the Summer and then see what to do for the best! 

Sunday 17 March 2024

Tangible Benefits of Social Drugs?

 A simplistic and relatively shallow series of muses here,  prompted by repeated commentary from naysayers, particularly in reference to nicotine.

Social Drugs I shall confine to just three varieties, although many more exist. I shall discuss  Caffeine, Alcohol, Nicotine but not include another very popular Social Drug :-Cannabis, for whatever reasoning. 

Caffeine 

A straight rip from Google yields this commentary 

''Low to moderate doses of caffeine (50–300 mg) may cause increased alertness, energy, and ability to concentrate, while higher doses may have negative effects such as anxiety, restlessness, insomnia, and increased heart rate. [2] Still, the cumulative research on coffee points in the direction of a health benefit.''  < via this 

So just maybe some Health benefits here! 

Alcohol 

again a Google rip 

''Moderate amounts of alcohol raise levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or “good” cholesterol), [37] and higher HDL levels are associated with greater protection against heart disease. '' via here  see Nutt et al here to put into context with other social drugs.

Nicotine 

Interestingly no Google rip is available here to post 

but a multitude of entries are shown via this link 

So can I make any conclusions whatsoever here, other than Google and hence TC Chan who provided the commentary on caffeine and alcohol are not predisposed to writing or recording anything positive about nicotine <Why is this??

I can still recall a commentary from a now retired researcher:- Robert West who I have admired for his published works and Tobacco Harm Reduction conference speeches, however he startled me when he stated there are no benefits associated with nicotine. 

I have no intention of regurgitating the Google link above, but simply refer any long suffering reader of this, to Safer Nicotine Wiki  namely this section here and from New Nicotine Alliance especially this entry 

Positive benefits of nicotine exist, but seemingly well hidden from the vast majority of the general public, who have been consistently and continually brainwashed for many years  largely because of the association with combustible Smoking. 

It could certainly be strongly argued that alcohol is way more dangerous than any of the safer forms of nicotine consumption, similarly are safer forms of nicotine equally as benign as caffeine, and arguably offer more tangible benefits ?

But of course the obvious must be stated that both Caffeine and Alcohol have far greater public 'acceptance' than nicotine, this is unjustifiable from a risk or benefit point of view, but changing public perception will certainly not happen quickly, if at all. This could be because caffeine and alcohol are used by significantly higher numbers in many Western and non-Muslim societies, compared to nicotine.



Friday 3 June 2022

Competing Interests for Nicotine

 As per usual, this is far from an in-depth analysis, but rather for me to attempt to assemble a few shallow thoughts into print. I shall write about Consumers, Tobacco Industry, Tobacco Control, Bloomberg, Government and hopefully see how each has an impact in relation to one another. 

Consumers

Nicotine vies with Alcohol and Caffeine as one of the three most popular ***social drugs of choice, but due to many years of negative messaging, has an undeserved awful reputation, widely held by the general public. Smoking has been increasingly vilified since the early 1960's following the Royal College of Physicians report into the dangers. However, since that time few attempts have been made by Tobacco Control to give a complete message to separate Smoking and nicotine in their communications. This lack of clarity is extremely counter-productive, but is increasingly a deliberate ploy in certain countries(notably in the US with the FDA and CDC) to deny safer nicotine products gaining acceptance, thus maintaining smoking rates. 

Consumers of nicotine are unwittingly caught up in this battle of competing interests, they simply wish to have access, but an overwhelming alliance of Tobacco Control, Bloomberg, and Government are making this problematic in terms of price and increasingly hostile messaging and restriction. 

In my personal experience, following 45years of Smoking 40 cigarettes per day, I was initially angry with the Tobacco Industry for having me 'hooked' for that period, but this ire was replaced with mild suspicion towards them over the next 9 years. My increasing anger and disquiet have now been directed towards Tobacco Control, Bloomberg, WHO, and Government who (with a few exceptions) have singularly failed to fully educate the public with full truthful information to allow them to make an informed choice regarding all nicotine products. 

*** note Cannabis could well be replacing Nicotine in certain parts of North America as a more popular option, even as a very occasional user I find this 'concerning' see 


Tobacco Industry 

Rightly vilified for its past marketing and efforts to increase Smoking numbers around the World, viewed with suspicion by many ex-smokers, hated by Tobacco Control and Bloomberg but a lucrative cash-cow by Government(s). They are in the seemingly impossible position of trying to adapt to the requirements of nicotine consumers whilst at the same time receiving zero encouragement and outright hostility from Tobacco Control,Bloomberg and most Governments. The Tobacco Industry has attracted much anger from some nicotine consumers when they have tried to influence legislation to give themselves a competitive advantage over Independent sources as was the case in the EU with vaping. 

Giving a date to cease cigarette production are a frequent demand from Tobacco Control, but if any company attempted to unilaterally adopt this policy, their market happily taken onboard by a competitor and the management replaced by its shareholders. 

Despite the Catch 22 situation the Tobacco Industry seemingly finds itself in, it is an incredibly wealthy enterprise that has had many years to prepare for the inevitable changes it must face, thus very well prepared scenarios must have been well researched by them. Change will happen, but would it happen far sooner with a less confrontational approach from its vehement opponents? 


Tobacco Control 

Legislation to control the sale of cigarettes certainly was a  necessary success of the early campaigners, but increasingly the case in certain countries is a constant demonisation of Smoking that has morphed into all nicotine consumption. This demonisation of nicotine puts Tobacco Control into conflict with nicotine users, certain pragmatic countries such as the UK and increasingly the case New Zealand have a more liberal approach to aspects of nicotine use, but not all-embracing eg SNUS remains illegal in the UK despite its undoubted safety and effectiveness. 

Alarmingly, Tobacco Control around the World seems to be increasingly influenced directly by Bloomberg funded organisations or World Health Organisation (indirectly funded via Bloomberg)....this means that Bloomberg has an unaccountable unreasonable voice (see a recent article here )


Bloomberg 

Lazily I shall just leave this from Marc Gunther here 


WHO  here



Government 


Arguably the peoples' representatives have the greatest opportunity to rise above the various competing interests and to apply policies that can satisfy all quarters in an equitable manner. But, high tobacco taxes and excessive lobbying from everyone but Consumers result in stilted, poor policy making to suit the well-financed lobbyists. Few governments around the World seem to have got the balance right 


Lastly 

I should mention that certainly in the case of Vaping, the Independent sector represents the largest part of the market with approximately 75%, but unscrupulous opponents always portray the Tobacco Industry as the majority number.




Sunday 5 December 2021

A few muses about Vaping Consumer Associations

 I must state initially to professing to have very limited experience at either helping to establish, or belonging to a Consumer Association, so my commentary will lack expertise, but rather reflect a few of my assembled thoughts which are UK centric. 

Early Experience

My first encounter with a Consumer Association was in early 2013 when the now-defunct organisation ECCA was going through its 'death throws', if I recall correctly there was an extraordinary AGM organised in about April or May of that year, attempting to organise officials and policy for the upcoming year and beyond. 

The meeting was via internet link and was well attended, but rapidly became unruly, with anarchy setting in, largely instigated by an 'elitist group' who repeatedly caused chaos throughout 2013 onwards, 'agent provocateur was a label given to some of those. ECCA continued briefly but was increasingly beleaguered and irrelevant, despite the best efforts of those who were left in charge. 

Throughout 2014 a new organisation the New Nicotine Alliance (NNA) was in the process of formation, trying to combine Scientists, Academics, and Consumers alike to appeal to a far greater audience, and crucially to increasingly gain the respect of the key decision-makers and influencers. 

These efforts in the early days were certainly a result of the efforts of a few key individuals and were always on a threadbare budget. I briefly served on the Board for maybe about 6 months, but for a variety of reasons felt that I was unable to fully contribute so stood down. 

The organisation through that period is worthy of highlighting for others, there were formal titles for Chairman,Vice Chair, Treasurer, etc but by and large, the organisation was run by a small committee of about 7-8, with monthly internet meetings. Decisions arrived at by consensus. 

The NNA has now been successfully in operation for 7 years, with a few changes in the Board over that time frame, but remains an influential body in the UK, greater influence would of course be better still. 

Other Organisations and Other Countries 

Again, I was aware of well organised French and German Consumer organisations, following my switch to Vaping in 2013. During the EFVI campaign of 2013-14 it seemed obvious that both Trade and Consumer organisations in the UK, Europe and even more widely, needed to evolve and collaborate on a far more organised basis. Now a bewildering array of such organisations exist, as well as NNA models in some other countries.

One country however has seen the rise and fall of its Consumer Association(s), Australia. It would be presumptuous of me to offer remedies or any advice as I know absolutely nothing of the difficulties or the persons involved, but suffice to say I hope that they can rapidly overcome whatever obstacles exist. 

Thursday 23 January 2020

The Spanish Bank Card Saga and associated ramifications

This is a complicated story that as is usual in such cases commenced from humble,simple beginnings.It may provide entertainment, but far more skilled storytellers and wordsmiths would probably do a far better job of outlining this woeful tale.

Background

I have regularly travelled to Spain for the previous 20 years and 3 years ago decided a Spanish bank account would be a useful addition. I duly opened an account at my local branch of Banco Sabadell(from now referred to as BS) in La Jonquera and received a Visa debit card, usefully, this card was acceptable through the French autoroute tolls and at all petrol outlets en-route. The card had an expiry date of Feb 2020. In October 2019 I sent an e-mail to BS requesting that,when due, a new card be sent to my UK address, followed up by a visit into the branch in November to reinforce that request .....no problem was the response.

Unexpected Recent Trip to Spain 

Last Friday 17/1/20 I received the tragic news of the death of a dear close friend who lived in Spain, and that the funeral was to be on Monday 20/1/20 so with zero time to organise much other than booking ferry and hotels en-route using my BS card we set out virtually immediately, arriving at a hotel in La Jonquera on Sunday, close to where the funeral was to take place the next day. The BS card used without incident for tolls and fuel.
As I had not received my replacement card with less than 2 weeks before expiry I decided yet again to go into the BS branch on the morning of the funeral to reiterate the necessity of providing this replacement card in good time and sending it to my UK address. I signed a form and thought no more about this, but the ramifications were just about to begin.
Later that day following the funeral we called into a Spanish supermarket, filled a trolley up with vast amounts of Kas(Spanish soft drink), San Miguel (lager) and other delicacies. To our horror the transaction was refused, even removing the bulk of the contents the card was still refused. Luckily we still had some cash remaining, so purchased a vastly reduced quantity of 'goodies' and resolved to call into BS in the morning to sort the issue out.

Storm Gloria 

When we arrived in Spain on the Sunday it was a balmy afternoon of sunshine and 14 degs C, however Google and the local weather forecast was full of dire warnings for the next 3 days, again we were only mildly interested in this thinking it would have minimal impact. The storm seemed to commence just prior to the funeral on Monday am with torrential rain and high winds, by the time next morning when we wanted to go to the BS branch to sort out our card woes, the weather had continued to worsen and all main roads into and out of Spain( at La Jonquera) were closed due to snow,flooding etc. Our hotel had a power cut just about 2 hours before the bank was due to open and yes you have guessed correctly by the time we fought our way through the carnage of backed up lorries and cars....the bank was closed.
I could continue this horror story with further details where my partner Eirlys, given instruction to try the card in a BS card machine to see if 'active' put it into a non-proprietary machine and the duff card retained - after I went into this bank to ask for the return of the card, they gave the helpful(???) advice of going to BS and ask for a new card,and refusing to return my card.
We had decided at this stage that the only plausible way of escaping Spain was to travel via the tortuous coastal route, but that we would need some money for the journey. Combining the two requirements we travelled to Llanca where amazingly I went into a BS branch without card but showed passport and driving licence and after a little hassle secured 400 euro. This allowed us to commence our journey home.
A few minor dramas continued but we managed to get home at 04:00, 23/1/20

BS seem to have angry disgruntled customers with a very poor rating

https://www.google.com/search?q=banco+sabadell&oq=banco&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l7.7019j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#lrd=0x48760352a11eec1f:0x6ecf35a2e217468,1,,,


Monday 17 June 2019

Stupidity:- Yes totally guilty



A really silly tale here, something we all may have done at some time or other. I was unaware I had left a drivers door window slightly ajar just over a week ago, a neighbour remarked that it was open and unthinkingly at that stage I went out and closed the window.
Later, upon reflection I was a little more concerned as we had experienced(along with many parts of the country) much heavy rainfall. Next day I started the car, and my attention diverted by operating a powered roof that was 'playing up' and operating sluggishly, when I looked at the dashboard it was to my horror still lit up like a Christmas tree of warning lights.
So, even though the floor and seats in the car were bone-dry, rainwater had clearly got into/under the dashboard and some damage the result. The ECU, ABS lights were just 2 of the warning lights that warned me to stop the car and get to a garage or auto electrician asap. Last week was abysmal in terms of weather and this caused me to abandon all thoughts of attempting to limp to a garage, my rationale was that a damp atmosphere would exacerbate the situation.
As happens in Beard life, my thoughts turned to potentially swapping the car, but fortunately this came to nought, the car in question is relatively worthless, but a gem (27k miles 2010 Audi TT convertible, Autotrader value < £6k)
To end this tedious tale ... GOOD NEWS...

Exactly 1 week after last trying to use the car I had to move it a few yards, lo and behold NO warning lights were on the car, and after using it on a short journey stopping and starting it a few times the problem seems to have gone away.

Trivial stuff I know, nothing profound, but a very timely warning of what could have been a major expense , fuses,relays,ECU ....£Hundreds even Thousands and lingering doubts about future reliability.

This blog post is a carry on from here, for those who may not have read it!
https://alanbeard.blogspot.com/2019/01/unashamedly-cars.html

Thursday 4 April 2019

Agggh Brexit!

No, I am far from bored or disinterested in this ever-fascinating subject. I will state from the onset I was and remain a Brexit supporter.

I don't propose to do a highly detailed account charting such things as a seeming May/Robbins betrayal of the work of Brexit Ministers David Davies and Steve Baker arriving at 'her deal' with the contentious Irish backstop.

The whole negotiating process was deeply flawed from the outset and well argued here  that the EU had outmanoeuvred the UK even before the Referendum results were announced, by contrast we had done zero preparation.

On a personal level the level of demeaning,bitterness and bile hurled towards folks who supported Brexit has been truly galling, Lorien summarises this phenomenom very well - here 

So, I have set the scene somewhat.

$64k ?  Where does this now go, with Parliament in turmoil ...a multitude of options exist BUT

I am not a defeatist by nature and do not give in readily to bullies .... the various options leave me with a measure of distaste for all . The only one that has any appeal is the EEA/EFTA option, if we are not able to manage a purpose made option that avoids the Irish border difficulties.

So ...... I think that, heaven forbid, we should simply revoke Article 50 for now, settle in with the EU again for at least 1 EU Parliamentary term of 5 years.  STRONG well supported Brexit parties  need to emerge.that learn from this whole debacle. Clear policies and negotiating positions need establishing well before any repeat of triggering. This sadly though is probably a pipe dream, the 1st past the post system ensures the domination of the 'big-two' parties.

In conclusion, it's fairly clear to this author where HMG and Parliament should be moving to, but up to date revoking Article 50 seems to not feature in any Parliamentary debate, so is an unlikely option.