The gig was absolutely brilliant, and they did play The Ocean! 🤘

#weirdcarmastodon #qotd Introduce yourself with 5 cars you’ve owned. 1961 Land Rover Series 2a 1996 BMW 316i (E36) Compact 2002 Ford Ka 2004 BMW 318i (E46) Touring 2010 Porsche Boxster (987.2)

"In 1971, Led Zeppelin played one of the most iconic songs of all time, Stairway to Heaven, live for the very first time on the Ulster Hall stage in Belfast."

Looking forward to seeing my drums teacher tonight. I wonder will they do The Ocean or Fool In The Rain! https://www.waterfront.co.uk/what-s-on/the-answer-a-celebration-of-ze/

A new Croker vs Rover video! That's Friday night entertainment sorted then 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9BSkbxENXg #landrover

The Boxster calipers are looking much better now in these photos from Matthew at Rex Detail. Still a few more weeks to wait till before we get the ppf back onto it. and it's back on the driveway. #porsche #boxster

Fuc*ing lawnmower timing belt shredded itself again, mere minutes after fitting the replacement, suggesting buggered pulleys or similar 🤬 All this on what I hoped would be the last grass-cut of the year, long delayed as a result of all the damn rain. Considering one of: * sheep * a robot mower […]

Ah, living in Northern Ireland.

Do not eat yellow rain. Managed to avoid doing that, but did get utterly drenched by it.

Awesome start to the morning, digging channels in the ditches to alleviate local flooding. These are the hands of a software engineer!

I'm probably going to need a new Land Rover t-shirt at some point. #landrover

How much do we deserve fish & chips tonight? A lot!

Much heavyweight gardening today. Shredding remainder of fallen tree, with a bit of chainsawing for good measure, with excellent assistance from Bob. We are both now composed of 90% grime.

Yikes. I got this notification in the post today. I wonder how complex replacing f a starter motor is? BMW Recalls 196,000 Cars in U.S. Over Fire Risk — Starter Motor Defect https://www.bmwblog.com/2025/09/26/bmw-recall-starter-motor-fire-risk-2025/

I had a cracking time at https://www.supercarexperienceireland.com today. Highlights for me were the manual 997 Carrera and the 458 Italia. Along with time behind the wheel of an Aston Martin Vantage, a Mercedes AMG GT-R and a 991 GT3 RS, it was the perfect […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

50th birthday celebrations so far have included: - optician visit to get glasses adjusted - going to Lidl & Asda for sundry items - getting utterly drenched en route - short dog walk - burger in local indie food place - 2hr round trip to Belfast Intl to collect daughter - small amount of […]

Our daughter is home from uni for mid term, and presented me with this drawing of the Boxster in my birthday card. I love it. #porsche

Having to switch contracts for mobile phone providers, shopping around for insurance quotes, wasting time trying to avoid being fleeced by yearly price increases, because customer loyalty means nothing today. #oldmanshoutsatcloud

RE: https://infosec.exchange/@Landsil/115433992658045630 "My Land Rover isn't decomposing quite fast enough, is there anything you can do to speed the process up a bit?" Sure: https://mastodon.social/@[email protected]/115433992710399263

On lack of luggage space in sports cars, this is a gutsy response: "When pushed on the point, chief marketing and commercial officer Enrico Galleria doubled down by saying, ‘What is luggage space?’, suggesting owners buy a van instead." From https://www.evo.co.uk/news/ferrari-849-testarossa

I picked up new glasses today, the first time I've ever needed them (though have probably been in denial for the last few years) On the plus side, I was able to turn off the a11y "large text" option on the desktop and I can now fit *and see* a zillion terminal windows.

"The bug, introduced in build 26100.6899, has been traced to HTTP.sys, the Windows kernel component that handles local HTTP traffic." The *kernel* component that handles what now!? https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/16/windows_11_update_localhost/

Chainsawing and axing today. Too tired now to take photos, but since all limbs are still intact, so deciding to quit while I'm ahead.

I just made an optician's appointment, which I've been putting off for a while. 😞 Making it 29 years in the software industry without glasses seems like a reasonable innings. (I was needing to use A11y "large text" settings on this desktop, which suggested it might be time...)

Discovery of the day that made me smile timf@ohia grep U1F4A9 Compose <Multi_key> <p> <o> <o> : "💩" U1F4A9 # PILE OF POO Expect me to use Compose-p-o-o much more frequently now!

Axing old log store contents to make room for wood that's going to start drying for next year. #lifeisaseriesofcycles

More chainsaw devastation here today. Still at least I get to kick back tonight and... be on Dad-taxi duty till the wee small hours. 😑

It has been an automotive sort of day.

Boxster back from painters, and now tucked up for a few months at Rex Detail while the fresh paint cures in advance of ppf reinstall.

The G31 was in today for a scheduled brake fluid service, and left with new fluid and new disks and pads all round. That makes the decision to hang onto it for a few more years easier! I'd been toying with the idea of a G21 330e, but was uneasy about spending the money to upgrade into […]

Me to my wife this evening: "What's that yellow thing in the back seat?" Her: "It's a banana costume."

On the plus side, we have some lovely clear air here. (liichen, an indicator of that, I believe) #lichen

I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok^W actually pretty exhausted.

Er, I think you'll find...

Electricity back, still no broadband though.

There goes the electricity.

Lost broadband, 4g access is spotty, lots of trees down on the roads, and it's a matter of time before the electricity goes too, but our house had a near miss! #beingthankful

The irony of google sending me a popup notification about focusing on wellbeing and being good to myself. Look, not distracting me with your bullshit, google, would be a *great* start.

Action shots of the Boxster being prepared for a front-end respray.

Lol, I think this page is missing a big fucking elephant-in-the-room statement: "Don't allow AI tools that make shit up and frequently make incorrect assertions run anything on any infrastructure, ever. If fact, just stop reading right now, because this was a stupid idea from the beginning." […]

The only thing that avoiding tylenol during pregnancy prevents is the release of the Epstein files.

Critical media coverage isn't illegal yet, you orange gobshite. Maybe it's critical for a reason?

When I went to reheat my tea this morning, the microwave said "9:11" which I of course interpreted to be an exciting, but financially ruinous omen. Fast forward to the weekly Lidl shop, and this showed up, so all ends well.

From daughter at uni: "Im having to do a load of health and safety training and I think they think its my first day on earth..." And so it begins!

They don't really cover the "letting go" bit in parenting class, do they? 😪

"...This means bigger wheels to accommodate them and the bigger tyres necessary to deliver the grip and traction the car needs. This means beefier suspension to control the unsprung mass, and a stiffer, stronger body to locate that suspension… and that’s the vicious circle of weight increase." […]

"For years, new cars have got ‘bigger and better’, driven by marketing and the need to keep ahead of – or at least up with – the opposition. Bigger means heavier, and a heavier car that’s also been made quicker needs bigger brakes...."

I dropped the Boxster in today to get the calipers repainted, along with a bumper and bonnet respray, in a kind of "while you're there, you might as well" moment of weakness... (We spotted a manufacturing defect in the ppf film on the bonnet, which they'll […] [Original post on mastodon.social]

"But to me the most extraordinary thing about it is that body. The entire back of the car from the front of the doors rearward including the roof is a single piece of carbon because, as Mallock puts it, ‘I hate shut lines’. It is a vast work of art yet weighs just 19kg. ‘What if you damage it?’ […]