WBMT.....What baffled me today

Nod said:
Well, there's some Japanese knotweed that needs some careful attention!
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I'm good but knot [sic] that good :D
 
Pound Coin said:
"Can we tell you the good news?!?!"

Me: Yes, please do.

"Stuff about creation, eternal life, and so on."

Me: Well, sometimes I come out of this door at night and look up. There's so many stars! And some of the light we see is billions of years old. It is amazing.

"Oh, yes, God is amazing..."

Me: and then I think - who'd have made all that, it is huge, so big! But then having made it, this glorious being waits around for billions of years, for us?
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Probably, the time was spent wondering if the project might go wrong....and sure enough....:)

To be fair there was no opportunity for consultation, though. :D
 
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Planning a trip out about 3 hours round trip I found that taking a taxi is significantly cheaper than the train for the two of us.

Just baffled at how expensive public transport is, assuming the powers that be want to get us out of cars. Or maybe the point is to stop the plebs travelling at all.
 
It isn’t public transport being too expensive, it is private transport being too cheap.
 
Pound Coin said:
It isn’t public transport being too expensive, it is private transport being too cheap.
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On your planet maybe. And this isn't exactly private transport is it? It's not my car, it's a taxi with costs and wages built into the price they charge. I was frankly amazed that the taxi there and back is significantly cheaper than the train plus it's quicker and we don't have to change at York.

I've never had a taxi ride this long before but it's something I'll now be looking at again.
 
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When oil is quadruple the price it is now, cone back and revisit your posts here. In the meantime, fill your boots.
 
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Whether a taxi is public or private is an interesting one. It is certainly a better use of resources than a private car.

But I’ve never hailed (or booked) a cab and found another family in it when it arrived. That’s probably a first world experience though?
 
Pound Coin said:
Whether a taxi is public or private is an interesting one. It is certainly a better use of resources than a private car.

But I’ve never hailed (or booked) a cab and found another family in it when it arrived. That’s probably a first world experience though?
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Because then it would be a Jitney ;).
 
Pound Coin said:
When oil is quadruple the price it is now, cone back and revisit your posts here. In the meantime, fill your boots.
Click to expand...

Deep sigh.

I have to ask, are you trolling or being serious? I'll assume for a moment that you're being serious and tell you that electric cars are available and some taxi companies and private hire operators are using them today. Even in the cultural wastelands of East Cleveland. So, if prices go as you think they will the number of alternatively powered vehicles will increase.

While you've got me on this it's just my own VHO and I hope to God I'm wrong but I fear that electric transport in its current form with current tech could be an absolute disaster for the planet at worst and a short time partial fix for a relative few at best, until something better comes along.

Aside from all that we and others have a couple of obvious choices. We can return to the days when no one went more than a few miles from their village and we had a life expectancy of 40 or so or we can struggle on and hope that technology saves us. Well, actually there's a third way, we could bar code everyone and allocate privileges based on a social scoring system. The privileged and those with the right connections and political views and affiliations will gain points and privileges and will be partly or even full exempt, of course, and will at one end of the scale continue to fly about on private jets and drive shiny prestige German cars and at the other just continue to endlessly virtue signal whilst being utter hypocrites in private. I'm sure this will all come to pass if we're not careful.

Until that happens taxi's will continue to operate in the real world as it exists today and the companies and individuals involved will have to comply with laws and pay certain costs and set their prices accordingly. Otherwise they'll get prosecuted or they'll go bust.

Me and the Mrs having our day out involves travel and therefore involves costs and as it's too far to walk or cycle and we don't have a horse we'll need to take some sort of powered transport. The choices being as follows...

Bus, there's no direct option and therefore this would take planning, a prohibitively long time and multiple changes.

Train, this is expensive. It's quicker than the bus, in theory at least but maybe not on the day (the last time we took the train our starting train was cancelled with no notice and we had to run out of the station and get a taxi to meet our connection) but still takes a long time and involves bus or taxi journeys at each end adding to the time taken and the cost.

Private car. This would be by far the cheapest option but it involves a bit of planning, very probably stress and very probably difficulty parking.

Taxi. This is more expensive than taking a private car but it is both cheaper and faster than the other options and very probably more reliable than the bus and train too.

The baffling part of all this for me is that some councils, groups, sections of society and individuals seem to be rabidly anti car (which is one reason why I wont be driving my car on this day out) without there being any effective local or national alternative service available at reasonable prices which would allow the trip to be completed in a reasonable time, but that may be the point. The plebs should be happy in their villages and overjoyed not to be travelling more than walking distance and should be seeing dying at the age of 45 as a privilege. It's their own fault for voting Brexit and believing that things called adult human females exist.

All this reminds me of a Top Gear episode in which they found it was cheaper to buy a car and dump it at the end of the day than go by train.

Also, as I said, looking into this has surprised me as to date I've only ever taken a taxi for relatively short trips of 15-20 minutes, something like that. However, after comparing train, bus and taxi options this time I will deffo now look at using taxis for longer trips in the future and that should tell us that there's something wrong with public transport.

Thanks for reading. All views and opinions expressed in this post are mine and mine only. Other views and opinions are available, just accept that they're wrong :D
 
woof woof said:
Deep sigh.

I have to ask, are you trolling or being serious? I'll assume for a moment that you're being serious and tell you that electric cars are available and some taxi companies and private hire operators are using them today. Even in the cultural wastelands of East Cleveland. So, if prices go as you think they will the number of alternatively powered vehicles will increase.

While you've got me on this it's just my own VHO and I hope to God I'm wrong but I fear that electric transport in its current form with current tech could be an absolute disaster for the planet at worst and a short time partial fix for a relative few at best, until something better comes along.

Aside from all that we and others have a couple of obvious choices. We can return to the days when no one went more than a few miles from their village and we had a life expectancy of 40 or so or we can struggle on and hope that technology saves us. Well, actually there's a third way, we could bar code everyone and allocate privileges based on a social scoring system. The privileged and those with the right connections and political views and affiliations will gain points and privileges and will be partly or even full exempt, of course, and will at one end of the scale continue to fly about on private jets and drive shiny prestige German cars and at the other just continue to endlessly virtue signal whilst being utter hypocrites in private. I'm sure this will all come to pass if we're not careful.

Until that happens taxi's will continue to operate in the real world as it exists today and the companies and individuals involved will have to comply with laws and pay certain costs and set their prices accordingly. Otherwise they'll get prosecuted or they'll go bust.

Me and the Mrs having our day out involves travel and therefore involves costs and as it's too far to walk or cycle and we don't have a horse we'll need to take some sort of powered transport. The choices being as follows...

Bus, there's no direct option and therefore this would take planning, a prohibitively long time and multiple changes.

Train, this is expensive. It's quicker than the bus, in theory at least but maybe not on the day (the last time we took the train our starting train was cancelled with no notice and we had to run out of the station and get a taxi to meet our connection) but still takes a long time and involves bus or taxi journeys at each end adding to the time taken and the cost.

Private car. This would be by far the cheapest option but it involves a bit of planning, very probably stress and very probably difficulty parking.

Taxi. This is more expensive than taking a private car but it is both cheaper and faster than the other options and very probably more reliable than the bus and train too.

The baffling part of all this for me is that some councils, groups, sections of society and individuals seem to be rabidly anti car (which is one reason why I wont be driving my car on this day out) without there being any effective local or national alternative service available at reasonable prices which would allow the trip to be completed in a reasonable time, but that may be the point. The plebs should be happy in their villages and overjoyed not to be travelling more than walking distance and should be seeing dying at the age of 45 as a privilege. It's their own fault for voting Brexit and believing that things called adult human females exist.

All this reminds me of a Top Gear episode in which they found it was cheaper to buy a car and dump it at the end of the day than go by train.

Also, as I said, looking into this has surprised me as to date I've only ever taken a taxi for relatively short trips of 15-20 minutes, something like that. However, after comparing train, bus and taxi options this time I will deffo now look at using taxis for longer trips in the future and that should tell us that there's something wrong with public transport.

Thanks for reading. All views and opinions expressed in this post are mine and mine only. Other views and opinions are available, just accept that they're wrong :D
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On your price comparison train vs taxi: it was for two people which I guess may have been to the advantage of the taxi/car. 4 people even better. Train prices do seem to have gone mad and only good if you can do advance booking, when there seem to be bargains.
 
sphexx said:
On your price comparison train vs taxi: it was for two people which I guess may have been to the advantage of the taxi/car. 4 people even better. Train prices do seem to have gone mad and only good if you can do advance booking, when there seem to be bargains.
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Yes I realise it's the cost of two people that makes the taxi viable but then again if I'd bought train tickets (on the pc and in advance, that's what I was doing) we could have turned up at the station to find that it's been cancelled and had to run out and jump into a taxi like last time and of course as this is a day out Mrs WW might have complained if I'd said I was going without her.
 
woof woof said:
Yes I realise it's the cost of two people that makes the taxi viable but then again if I'd bought train tickets (on the pc and in advance, that's what I was doing) we could have turned up at the station to find that it's been cancelled and had to run out and jump into a taxi like last time and of course as this is a day out Mrs WW might have complained if I'd said I was going without her.
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It's been 20+ years since we travelled by train in the UK. The last time we were on a train was in Germany in 2019 when we visited Koblenz.

Are you using the same taxi company for both legs of the journey (assuming you are going home), or different companies, and is the fare the same for each trip?

In the past I have occasionally found some city based taxi firms reluctant to take passengers too far away from their turf, especially if out into the countryside as they have to return to their patch empty.
 
Pound Coin said:
Whether a taxi is public or private is an interesting one. It is certainly a better use of resources than a private car.

But I’ve never hailed (or booked) a cab and found another family in it when it arrived. That’s probably a first world experience though?
Click to expand...


Is it? If we wanted to get a cab to town, it would be a private hire which would have to drive here to collect us and drive back to town after dropping us home, both (probably) empty, whereas using our car would be half the distance, let alone about 1/10th the cost, including parking. Busses here are supposed to be every 20 minutes and are supposed to start at 06:00 but rarely start before 07:00 and are as reliable as '70s Ladas during the day. They often run empty too - a fabulous way to save resources...

Frequently share cabs on holiday (well, before covid) with strangers.
 
broc said:
Are you using the same taxi company for both legs of the journey (assuming you are going home), or different companies, and is the fare the same for each trip?
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As I've noted previously, £5 one way £5.50 the other way same company, and the distance was about 1.5 miles.
Outrageous IMO.
 
Cheaper than the bus would be for 2 of us. Last time I used the bus (about 9 years ago) it was £2.70 each way, per person for a 1.5 mile trip. IF the bus turned up.
 
broc said:
It's been 20+ years since we travelled by train in the UK. The last time we were on a train was in Germany in 2019 when we visited Koblenz.

Are you using the same taxi company for both legs of the journey (assuming you are going home), or different companies, and is the fare the same for each trip?

In the past I have occasionally found some city based taxi firms reluctant to take passengers too far away from their turf, especially if out into the countryside as they have to return to their patch empty.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's the same company and the fair is the same each way. They have a table on their web site stating their standard charges for various point to point longer distance journeys but when I contacted them by phone they knocked £20 off each way for a £40 saving over their stated on line prices.

We've been using the train for longer journeys as it theoretically saves the hassle and stress of driving to unfamiliar places and finding somewhere to park but trains are subject to delays and cancellations which bring their own problems and there's the potential issue of trouble on the train. We were once on a train coming home from a city in northern England which shall remain nameless for now and it was just bedlam with train staff / guards doing their best and calling ahead for transport police help. We thought it was a one off but others tell me it's a regular thing on that train at that time. Mrs WW had never encountered anything like it in her life even though she took part in demonstrations in her home country :D It did put her off :D
 
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Cobra said:
As I've noted previously, £5 one way £5.50 the other way same company, and the distance was about 1.5 miles.
Outrageous IMO.
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But is it the same distance from A to B as it is from B to A?
It is not as far from Christmas to Easter as it is from Easter to Christmas :confused:
 
Cobra said:
exactly the same route, but in reverse.
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I think I incurred a 50p ‘extra’ when I put something in the boot, maybe you were charged for you shopping bags ㋡. But seriously, I don’t know how they calculate it but if it were in 50p ’jumps’ it may just be a sampling error,

The only taxis I’ve paid recently have all been fixed price 24/7 between two towns, apart from the aforementioned surcharge.
 
sphexx said:
I think I incurred a 50p ‘extra’ when I put something in the boot,
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Outrageous !
And I had no shopping either ..
I'm sure they make it up as they go along :(

Yes they have a meter but that's on their phone app.
 
Cobra said:
Outrageous !
And I had no shopping either ..
I'm sure they make it up as they go along :(

Yes they have a meter but that's on their phone app.
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Ah! Clever! The taxi driver spotted you had no shopping and thus had more cash to fleece.

Think this through... Take some bags with empty boxes in them next time.
 
woof woof said:
Deep sigh.

I have to ask, are you trolling or being serious? I'll assume for a moment that you're being serious and tell you that electric cars are available and some taxi companies and private hire operators are using them today. Even in the cultural wastelands of East Cleveland. So, if prices go as you think they will the number of alternatively powered vehicles will increase.

While you've got me on this it's just my own VHO and I hope to God I'm wrong but I fear that electric transport in its current form with current tech could be an absolute disaster for the planet at worst and a short time partial fix for a relative few at best, until something better comes along.

Aside from all that we and others have a couple of obvious choices. We can return to the days when no one went more than a few miles from their village and we had a life expectancy of 40 or so or we can struggle on and hope that technology saves us. Well, actually there's a third way, we could bar code everyone and allocate privileges based on a social scoring system. The privileged and those with the right connections and political views and affiliations will gain points and privileges and will be partly or even full exempt, of course, and will at one end of the scale continue to fly about on private jets and drive shiny prestige German cars and at the other just continue to endlessly virtue signal whilst being utter hypocrites in private. I'm sure this will all come to pass if we're not careful.

Until that happens taxi's will continue to operate in the real world as it exists today and the companies and individuals involved will have to comply with laws and pay certain costs and set their prices accordingly. Otherwise they'll get prosecuted or they'll go bust.

Me and the Mrs having our day out involves travel and therefore involves costs and as it's too far to walk or cycle and we don't have a horse we'll need to take some sort of powered transport. The choices being as follows...

Bus, there's no direct option and therefore this would take planning, a prohibitively long time and multiple changes.

Train, this is expensive. It's quicker than the bus, in theory at least but maybe not on the day (the last time we took the train our starting train was cancelled with no notice and we had to run out of the station and get a taxi to meet our connection) but still takes a long time and involves bus or taxi journeys at each end adding to the time taken and the cost.

Private car. This would be by far the cheapest option but it involves a bit of planning, very probably stress and very probably difficulty parking.

Taxi. This is more expensive than taking a private car but it is both cheaper and faster than the other options and very probably more reliable than the bus and train too.

The baffling part of all this for me is that some councils, groups, sections of society and individuals seem to be rabidly anti car (which is one reason why I wont be driving my car on this day out) without there being any effective local or national alternative service available at reasonable prices which would allow the trip to be completed in a reasonable time, but that may be the point. The plebs should be happy in their villages and overjoyed not to be travelling more than walking distance and should be seeing dying at the age of 45 as a privilege. It's their own fault for voting Brexit and believing that things called adult human females exist.

All this reminds me of a Top Gear episode in which they found it was cheaper to buy a car and dump it at the end of the day than go by train.

Also, as I said, looking into this has surprised me as to date I've only ever taken a taxi for relatively short trips of 15-20 minutes, something like that. However, after comparing train, bus and taxi options this time I will deffo now look at using taxis for longer trips in the future and that should tell us that there's something wrong with public transport.

Thanks for reading. All views and opinions expressed in this post are mine and mine only. Other views and opinions are available, just accept that they're wrong :D
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As long as you accept that everyone else is wrong, that's fine! :D

There is no easy answer, but there will have to be answers. Oil will run out, or become impossible to justify in the context of global climate change. The privileged few will be the ones in the future that still have access to afford private transport.

It is glib to suggest that I am trolling - and your long answer seems to show that you don't think I am!

There is something wrong with Public Transport, but that is because of private transport (once we have all made decisions to live and work where we can, public transport no longer works, because all our journeys are individual) and possibly because of ownership. If a public transport operator has to make a profit for its shareholders, then it is difficult to justify non-profitable routes/times of day, etc.

Private car. This would be by far the cheapest option but it involves a bit of planning, very probably stress and very probably difficulty parking.
Click to expand...

I assume you mean that the cost of the journey in fuel, rather than the total cost? When you go in a taxi, bus, train, you are paying for the maintenance, insurance, depreciation, of that mode of transport. For a lot of people, ditching the car and going by taxi and public transport is cheaper than owning a car. If you already own a car it appears cheaper for a journey - but owning a car is expensive, and often justified by decisions already taken - decisions that rely on and continue the need for car ownership.

Private transport has given us a view of what is 'reasonable' in terms of journey times and journey costs. I think it is likely that our view of 'reasonable' will change significantly as the oil increases in price and then runs out.
 
WBMT was listening to the news on R4 and the shortlist of nominees for the Turner prize, one was introduced as "The Non Binary artist Sin Wai Kin". I cannot see why someone's gender is relevant to the art they produce?

Will this now be a requirement for photo competitions on TP that we have to state our gender? ;):D:runaway:
 
Baloo said:
WBMT was listening to the news on R4 and the shortlist of nominees for the Turner prize, one was introduced as "The Non Binary artist Sin Wai Kin". I cannot see why someone's gender is relevant to the art they produce?

Will this now be a requirement for photo competitions on TP that we have to state our gender? ;):D:runaway:
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None of my smilies or other symbols appear to be available, so I'll have to write my answer to the second paragraph. Nooo, please Nooo, every competition's comment section will end up in Hot Topics.
 
Baloo said:
WBMT was listening to the news on R4 and the shortlist of nominees for the Turner prize, one was introduced as "The Non Binary artist Sin Wai Kin". I cannot see why someone's gender is relevant to the art they produce?

Will this now be a requirement for photo competitions on TP that we have to state our gender? ;):D:runaway:
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By The Non Binary artist I think they meant his/her/it’s work is neither good nor bad, or perhapds neither art nor not art. :)
 
Baloo said:
WBMT was listening to the news on R4 and the shortlist of nominees for the Turner prize, one was introduced as "The Non Binary artist Sin Wai Kin". I cannot see why someone's gender is relevant to the art they produce?

Will this now be a requirement for photo competitions on TP that we have to state our gender? ;):D:runaway:
Click to expand...

Don't give them ideas. Before you know it we'll have to describe it (for those who don't know what some genders are, including me) and then maybe later we'll have to provide pictures.
 
Baloo said:
Will this now be a requirement for photo competitions on TP that we have to state our gender?
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Everyone is / will be treated equal,
except a T-Rex. (y)
 
"Doctor, is it a boy or a girl?"

"We're not allowed to say, but it's got a c***."
 
Too many letters!
 
Coat. As in...

You've got your coat.
 
I dropped an open tin of beans today, from waist height. It fell onto the tiled kitchen floor and remained upright too :D and only about half a dozen beans jumped out but the sauce went off like a volcano and just about every surface within a couple of yards got splashed including about six foot up a door behind me.

How? HOW???

Never mind Putins oil and gas, I think there's a new power sauce there!

See what I did there? :rolleyes:
 
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