Rabbers

As my waistline attests…

The different ways in which rice is cooked in various culinary traditions could well be a useful subject for a PhD thesis. Suffice it to say, in the present context, that connoisseurs of risotto consider dishes like paella, pilafs, pulau/biryani and the like, in which the rice is left to take care of itself, to be barbaric. As regards MrsT’s observation, it could be said that her tendency in late career to use metaphors rather than direct statements to explain non-actions marked, alas, the beginning of the end of an otherwise glorious reign.

Tut-tut, Len. Paella should never be stirred but, as any (pedantic) valenciano will tell you, merely shaken using the paellera’s side-handles.

Not a question of right and wrong, but rather of gastronomic and cultural purity. VFR got it right in his first post about baked beans on toast (although, if I think about it, the connection with Heinz might well introduce an element of doubt as regards national identity).

After reading this thread I concluded that Mrs Beeton must be turning in her grave. Whatever happened to good old traditional British fare?

Don't know the place but it sounds nice - the sort of place, in fact, where you'd expect to see at least one Lexus in the car-park!

Not entirely devoid of wisdom and good sense.

I don’t know about Lexus’ older models but I believe the windscreen and side windows have a hydrophobic coating which might be negatively affected by the use of potent glass cleaning products.

I test-drove an AWD LBX the other day and, although I tried to keep an open mind, I quickly came to the conclusion, fully aware that I was comparing apples and pears, that I wouldn't want to replace my ageing 2019 RC300h with one. The LBX is quiet and comfortable, pretty rather than handsome in appearance, fairly nippy in town traffic, very well appointed with an excellent infotainment system, and feels sturdy and firmly-planted - but it is not a car I would want to use for motorway drives of any great length even though I personally undertake these less frequently than I once did. I was offered a hefty discount off list-price for immediate delivery from stock of a top-spec Original Edition version, which, added to a generous trade-in valuation for my RC, was tempting. But not tempting enough. In short, I reckon the LBX would be an absolutely perfect second car for anybody wanting or able to afford one, but only if its main use is in and around large cities.

I once had the same problem with a nail in one of the front tyres of an IS250, which was particularly upsetting because (a) it happened when I was more than 1500km from home, and (b) I had been planning to trade the car in for a new one and was therefore not enthusiastic about laying out money for a new tyre (or probably two). In the event I was lucky to find what turned out to be an honest workshop that put in a plug with the assurance that it would not only get me home but would last the life of the tyre, which had then done about 14000km. The first assurance proved demonstrably correct, though I admit to having being nagged by worry during the long drive home, albeit without any justification whatsoever seeing that I subsequently got another problem-free 7000km+ out of the tyre before taking delivery of the new car.

Before setting out on long drives that include stretches of autobahn I add 0.2BAR to the recommended pressures. This follows the advice I got several decades ago from a trusted BMW mechanic, and it became a habit with every car I have had ever since. Supposedly one gets better high-speed fuel consumption (something to do with reduced surface attrition?), but if so, I must admit I have never been able to quantify it. On the subject of autobahn speeds, it should be borne in mind that speedometers overstate actual speeds by a significant amount. In my present RC300h I have calculated the overstatement to be as much as 10-11% with an average of 9% in my normal everyday driving mix. The car’s electronic limitation is 190kmh, although on occasional drives on the autobahn I have seen the speedometer touch 215kmh on fairly gentle downhill stretches and maintain readings of 205-210kmh for long stretches on the flat.

When it’s in the kitchen?

I see what you mean. There are some quite potent premium cleaning/conditioning products out there, including Angelwax ones, and I find it best to go easy when first trying them.

Sounds good, but I don’t quite understand the ”maybe too well” comment.

That’s also what I would have thought but I suspect they were either too proud to ask for help or figured it would take too long for any colleagues to arrive.

A neighbour of mine tells the story of how he was recently pulled over and breathalysed (with a negative result) by police who didn't believe he had been swerving in order to avoid potholes and the occasional loose kerbstone on a road near where we live. Driving back along the same stretch an hour later, and suppressing his instinct to honk and wave in recognition, he saw, to his joy and delight, the same two policemen replacing what looked like a burst tyre on their car.

Personally I’ve never been in the market for an NX but, in general chats with my dealer and some of his sales people over the years, I have several times heard that owners have almost invariably been disappointed by the fuel consumption, so much so that the substantial improvement offered by the 350h has become the main element in the sales pitch to prospective repeat customers. It appears, however, that there continue to be less repeat customers for the NX than first-time ones.

The OEM rims for the RC300h F Sport are 19”. Two of the maybe seven or eight other RCs I have spotted over the years have had 20” rims. Oddly enough both had Swiss plates, leading me to suspect something of a trend among local owners.

Try Angelwax Enigma Interno. It will remove stickiness and most surface marks and, unless the damage is deep, bring back something like the original mat factory finish on all the cabin plastics.

I have always preferred the F-Sport version because of four main features specific to it: * The superbly engineered moveable instrument cluster. * The design of the seats, which are more firmly padded with no loss of comfort, and are, in my experience, less prone to lateral creasing because of the stitching pattern. * The 19" rims (and fatter though, alas, costlier rear tyres) which, in both the original and facelift models, improve the car's appearance with, IMO, no loss of ride comfort. * The AVS (Adaptive Variable Suspension) system, which gives an appreciably firmer ride while providing better handling, especially in cornering.

Or maybe the guy on the bike had his headphones on ….

Stephen & Gray & Anybody else interested: I'm not really a connoisseur of cobblestones but I thought I'd share some pics of those I face every time I drive out from my house (downhill, first photo, and uphill, second photo). According to local parish records they date from c. 1400 almost certainly using materials recycled from a few centuries before. So, excellent choice if you're looking for durability. They are probably less affected by car tyres today than they were by cartwheels in centuries past, so maintenance is low. A few stones occasionally lift after heavy rain and frost but not dangerously, and the local road people promptly hammer them back in place. Having said that, I think I can safely say on behalf of my car and my back that a smoother surface would be preferable if less picturesque.

Episodes of road rage of a level where anger and violence overlap or threaten to overlap as distinct from remaining suppressed or confined to verbal or manual gestures of displeasure have become so frequent (especially in northern Europe and the U.S. according to my own observations, though I would be reluctant to make too many distinctions) as to be a societal problem without a solution. This is because it is simply not human nature to acknowledge personal incompetence or error or proneness to error and forgive these things in others, especially when the scenario, as in the case of public roads, is one of equalised privilege. The only protection is the avoidance of physical confrontation, and if one feels the onset of potentially excessive anger and frustration in oneself, the best course of action might well be to get off the road as soon as feasible.

Or just pop the fob into a blocker pouch kept for that specific purpose.

If you want a nice smell from your windscreen fluid (as well as effectiveness) pop into your nearest BMW dealer and get a bottle of their winter or summer strengths as necessary. I drove BMWs before converting to Lexus nearly two decades ago but I still use their windscreen wash. The stuff has occasionally been reformulated but the smell has remained basically unchanged - mildly antiseptic with a hint of violets, my nose tells me. Not that I’ve tried, but It would probably work as an after-shave.