HossC

Belated congratulations to Jamie Chadwick who won both of the final two races in the W Series championship at the weekend to clinch her second title. She beat fellow Brit Alice Powell to victory in a couple of great drives in Austin as the W Series concluded its season supporting the F1 race at COTA. As well as the prize money, she also gets super-licence points which could help her get into F1. Down in 13th place was another British driver, Abbie Eaton, who you may have seen as the test driver in 'The Grand Tour'.

I keep getting scam text messages giving me websites to track my parcel deliveries or some variant. There seems to be a lot of them going around. The fact that I don't order online kind of gives their game away.

ECTO-1

Here's a look at the PS2 version. I know that Edward Mulhare (Devon Miles) died in 1997 (five years before this games was released), but they don't seem to have licensed any of the original actors to provide voices (unlike the Dukes games).

Danica Patrick conducted the post-qualifying interviews at the US Grand Prix today. It's the first time I've seen her in a while - is she still racing in any series now that she's no longer in NASCAR?

Chase The British (original) version on the quiz/game show 'The Chase' ends with a potato (I think it's the production company). Don't believe me - you can see the video here. (I thought I'd avoid any Irish stereotypes about potatoes!)

It's not hard to see why most gas stations have added convenience stores, delis and coffee shops to supplement their income from the fuel. I was watching the video below about that very subject last night. A car that had been involved in a crash and then cheaply and very badly repaired. Some of the comments suggest that this is now common practice in some dealers.

Someone sent me a video last week of an independent TD (member of parliament) giving a speech to Dáil Éireann (the Irish parliament) about the breakdown in fuel prices. He said that out of every €100 of petrol (gas) sold, €39.92 goes to the manufacturer, €3.08 goes to the retailer, and €57.00 goes to the government, despite the government not having any involvement in the manufacture or selling of the fuel. Added to that is the way they try to tax older, less economical cars off the road. The other day I was reading YouTube comments about what a bargain E39 5-Series BMWs are a the moment.

I don't have much sympathy - I filled up with unleaded last night at €1.67/litre. If my sums are correct, that's about $7.33/US gallon.

True

Judy (Punch & Judy is a traditional puppet show, often found in little booths at the seaside. I don't know whether it transferred to the US) Tracey Ullman returned to Britain with her own sketch show on the BBC a few years ago, but I don't remember it containing any ground-breaking cartoon shows.

Kangaroo D'oh = Homer Simpson DoH = Dukes of Hazzard I hope than clears things up.

Ireland (Southern Ireland is another name for the Republic of Ireland or Eire) You threw me with the reference because I thought you were talking about 'Speed Buggy' which I think was shown in the UK during school holidays around 1980. I haven't seen it since. The quote is from less than 10 minutes into 'One Armed Bandits' while Waylon is still setting the scene: Balladeer: "Bo and Luke always have breakfast with Jesse, except on Saturdays when they eat at the garage, on donuts and beer." Hobie, I'm not Irish, I just live in Ireland!

I finally let Windows install its update tonight. I'm not sure exactly how long it took because I left the room, but it was under 10 minutes. Maybe I've still got the big one to come.

I've finally had to resort to Google to understand the "Let's go Brandon" memes I've been seeing for the last two days!

That's certainly happening to some extent here and in the UK. I don't know how much people are getting in the UK, but higher earners here have been getting €350/week (roughly $405) if they're unable to work. That compares to just over €200/week ($230) if they were merely unemployed. The authorities are finally looking into the payments, and have found that quite a few recipients weren't eligible to receive them for various reasons. The situation in the UK is, despite what the government says, complicated by Brexit. Many mainly European workers have left the country, leaving gaps in the em

It's that's silly situation where hoarders and panic buyers screw things up for everyone. If no one told them there was going to be a shortage, there probably wouldn't be one! It's happening with fuel in the UK at the moment. People are queuing for hours and gas stations are running dry because they heard that there aren't enough tanker drivers to deliver the fuel. From Monday, the army are going to help out with deliveries. Luckily, we don't seem to be having the same issues here.

It's nothing new here. The UK has a chain called Poundland where (nearly) everything is £1. Over here the chain is called Dealz, and most things are €1.50, despite the exchange rate being nothing like that bad. Hopefully the shortages will be restricted to things we want rather than thing we need. I'm not sure how many of my Christmas necessities are made in Asian factories.

Mine might be pending (I paused it for 7 days). I'll wait until the weekend. The last big update screwed up some of my programs on the start menu. I see that Windows 11 is starting to get mentioned - I still vividly remember the bullying approach to upgrading that they took last time! I generally feel that it's best to leave your computer on the OS it was designed to run.

I know someone who's told some of her vaccinated friends that they'll be dead within three years. She's also stopped talking to her adult son after he got vaccinated!

Both drivers wanted to stay out. Mercedes over-ruled Hamilton, but McLaren didn't over-rule Norris. In the end that made the difference. I'm sure it won't be long before Norris gets his first win.

Lewis Hamilton claimed his 100th F1 victory today at the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi (the previous record was 91 by Michael Schumacher). It wasn't his easiest win - he started 4th and slipped back to 6th for a while. Lando Norris looked to be on course for his first win, but when rain hit a few laps from the end, Hamilton pitted for wet tires and Norris tried to stay out on slicks. Norris eventually swapped tires, but finished 7th. The rain allowed Hamilton's title rival Max Verstappen to score an unexpected 2nd place after starting from the back of the grid due to an engine change. Win seven

He was in 'Granny Annie' in season 2.

In the Cast/Characters forum there are threads for General Discussion and Other Actors/The Townsfolk.

I watched quite a few episodes back in the '80s, but haven't got around to revisiting it yet. It was definitely groundbreaking in terms of style and use of color. The night scene with the black (fake) Ferrari backed by 'In The Air Tonight' by Phil Collins is probably a stand-out memory.