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Our new MG5 will have all that assistance. However if I want to go back to basics, I jump on the bike. Manual gears, only 1 dial (speedo) and even the indicators don't turn off automatically. 😄

Good thing you got there early.

Tha car was parked outside in the rain. It's looking cleaner. I did have a clothes dryer, but haven't needed it for years. I've hung the clothes out under cover and they can drip dry.

Some things are good, like the block on the gear selector by the footbrake. A lot of things that are controlled by modules receiving data from sensors can cause difficult to correct faults. I'd say that alot of gadgets on the dashboard are marketing gimmicks. Remember when all we needed was a couple of warning lights, a speedo and a fuel guage? Cars got us fron A to B with those simple things.

If you want more rain, hanging washing on the line should do it. In your case, It might help to wash the car, just to be sure.

My 22 year old Astra is the most automated car I've ever driven, including later model rentals. It won't let you remove the key unless the transmission is in park. Won't move out of park unless the brake is being pushed. Beeps like mad if you open the door with the lights still on. Probably standard on most cars these days.

I got a further 12mm on Tuesday and then the clouds clared away. There's more cloud today, but I don't know if much rain will come from it. Just in case it does rain, I'm hanging my washing on the verandah.

Apparently the expansion of AI is making a massive drain on the ability of all forms of generation to keep up the electricity supply. The hardware side of AI is something that gets little publicity. Add to that the electricity required to run the Internet, and soon ther will not be enough left to run a 40W light bulb.

Bring back manual wind-up windows!

SA biggest penetration of intermittents and the price goes up compared to the other states with more synchronous gen. maybe there's something in that? The gap should be closing!

Hmm welcome AI

The indicator side problem is directly related to cost-cutting by car manufacturers. They refuse to manufacture a "mirror-image steering column" with the indicators on the RH side of the column, for RHD vehicles, they simply fit steering columns from LHD vehicles, so the indicators and wiper controls end up being reversed to normal RHD layout. It's good enough for the manufacturers to keep the A-B-C of the foot controls in the right order, in the switch from LHD to RHD, so the other controls need to be mirrored as well. Imagine trying to drive a RHD car with the accelerator on the transmission hump side, needing to use your left foot to alter speed! 🙄

Lots of brands have auto headlights and auto dipping. Mine has. When it is dark enough the headlights come on. Like all modern cars it also has daytime running lights. I can switch everything to manual if I want to but it is easier to let the car decide when to put the lights on & when to dip them or turn them off. It is way more conservative at dipping headlights than me so will do it a long way from an oncoming vehicle on a straight highway & often dips the lights when it gets a strong reflection from a large reflective road sign. One less thing to have to do, Works fro me.

It's the same size wheel as the An-225. They might want it back if they're going to fix the 225.

That first sentence on this subject was just that my daughter, only yesterday, told me that the transmission selector in the 2026 Ford Mustang Mach 1 which she is intending to order has that arrangement.

I know Teslas have auto headlights, and I believe this may be true for most EVs and modern IC cars, although I think it may be able to be overridden.

Willie, that's a great aviation start there! - you just need to hunt down the rest of the AN-124! 😄

It's a PIA, and standardisation of internal layout is sorely needed. If someone driving becomes immobilised (medical event, for example), and you have to jump in and move their vehicle, it should be easy to do - not become a 5 minute exercise in frustration, trying to find out all the control positions, while traffic is banking up. The worst piece of automotive designing is moving all the controls to a bloody great touch screen in the centre of the dash!! FFS!! LED screens crap themselves on a regular basis. So, you're driving down the road and the whole screen goes black, and you have to try and stop, indicate, and activate warning flashers! What do you do when the screen is black or blank? I see where more than one car manufacturer has admitted they "went too far" in putting all the vehicle controls into touchscreens - and they have stated they will return to basic buttons, knobs and levers. There is action being taken by licencing authorities in other countries around banning touchscreens for the major vehicle controls, and making manufacturers install buttons, switches and levers. https://www.autonext.co/news/europe-and-china-push-back-against-touchscreen-overload-in-cars-the-return-of-physical-buttons NEWS QUOTE: "The most notable admissions (to design failures) and rollbacks from major manufacturers include: Volkswagen: VW design executives publicly admitted their touchscreen-only push was a mistake. They confirmed that physical buttons are returning for the "big five" functions - volume, heating on each side, fans, and hazard lights - as well as on the steering wheel. As Design Head Andreas Midt bluntly put it: "Honestly, it's a car. It's not a phone, it's a car." Mercedes-Benz: After rolling out massive, dash-spanning displays, Mercedes acknowledged that consumers prefer tactile feedback. The company has been gradually reintroducing physical dials and rollers (such as in their latest GLC and CLA models) after executives admitted they sometimes needed to, "take one step back to take two steps forward." Porsche & Audi: Both luxury German marques admitted that removing essential controls in favor of touch-sensitive panels and sliders was overly frustrating, and have reintroduced more tactile, clicky buttons. Hyundai & Genesis: These brands admitted that their previous push for buttonless center stacks was a case of "style overrode safety". They have been reincorporating conventional hardware, as seen in newer models like the updated Tucson, Santa Fe, and Santa Cruz." https://www.drive.com.au/caradvice/why-car-makers-are-ditching-touch-controls-in-favour-of-buttons/ The simple fact that you see so many car drivers driving around at night with headlights off, is indicative that current vehicle controls and dash indications are inadequate, and they need serious levels of modification to ensure that basic controls are visible, immediately identifiable, usable without referring to operating manuals, and have clear indications of what that controls position is in. In recent times, I went to pick up an item of machinery that I purchased from a Shire Council via a Pickles Auction. After going to the Shire reception, and organising pickup and entry to their yard, I was told a young man would go with me to oversee the pickup. Said young man rolled up to the yard in his car, we went and found the item - only to find another Shire worker had parked a 5 tonne Hino truck directly in front of my item, at right angles to it. I said to the young bloke, "You'll have to shift that Hino for me so I can get my item out". He looked a little embarrassed and said, "I don't know how to drive a truck!" FFS! The Hino was nothing more than a big car! Luckily, having a heavy articulated licence and decades of experience with machines, it was easy enough to find the master switch, turn it on and start and drive the truck forward, so I could extract my purchased item. I often wonder about the future abilities of our nation.

Rear tyre for your rat bike?

I flew a Cherokee over the Liddell power station just after it opened. I can’t believe they just blew it up.

Father Hartigan was my mum's teacher in Narrandera.

SWMBO and I have a few cars so we have left and right indicators, and one on the dash! It isn’t a problem for us.

Since Australia is one of the few countries that drives on the left we have to accept that the majority of vehicles built worldwide are for right hand drive. It is annoying if you have grown up with the indicator lever on the right, but eventually you retrain yourself if your vehicle has it on the left. Can you remember the push-button gear selector in, I think, early Valiants?

I'm glad that you know and keep alive that bit of Australiana. Said Hanrahan published in the anthology Around the Boree Log by "John O'Brien" pen name of Monsignor Patrick Joseph Hartigan, published by Angus and Robertson in 1921.