Broithe

Travel was a factor in the Spanish Flu, perhaps for the first* large scale event that kind. It happened around the end of WW1, even precipitating the end, in part - then commercial shipping reemerged, as the U-boat threat disappeared, and large numbers of troops were shipped home, all over the world. Not as fast as air transport would spread things today, of course. In terms of the current situation, there's little point even informing 'us' that it's going on at the moment, but it's free news and they need to fill up their spaces with stuff that's 'different and interesting'. Every time there is a successful containment, it essentially just raises the scepticism that it will ever happen on a proper large scale and require 'us' to take difficult measures ourselves. * The bubonic plague was transport-related, I suppose, but much slower, of course.

Where I live, on the Big Island, there was an infected farm about a mile and a half away. There were no precautions of any sort anywhere that I saw during the whole event, apart from a feedstuffs yard that did have straw down at the entrance. I saw a bloke walk out of a field of sheep, swill his wellies in a puddle, then get in his car and drive off.

There are loads of these things out there - one day, there will be a Big One again. More people died from the Spanish Flu after WW1 than in the war itself. These days, though, we do have the possibility to recognise the first stages and react. People can get blasé about it when successful containments occur, one after the other, and usually a long way away. It can be like the Y2K computer bug - I know people who believe that was all a con*, because they are unaware of any problems resulting from it, largely because they were preempted. * I'm sure there were cons around that, but I do have an old (unconnected) machine that can't cope with the real date, but it doesn't matter, so I leave it alone in its own little time-warp.

1, @WRENNEIREshould be totally safe then... 2, Four masks and a bar of carbolic are already on order for IRM, surely?

Some people have been struggling with Corona issues for ages.

If we want to worry, there has been rabies in Co Cork. https://www.rte.ie/news/munster/2020/0125/1110841-cork-animal-rabies/ But, it seems likely to have been contained.

I would expect that the main means of transmission would be via the people travelling with the cargo, rather than contaminated items. Viruses tend not to last long outside a living host. But, if it gets going properly, it will certainly disrupt international transport to some extent.

Are you able to control her sound at all?

It's maybe less of an issue in Ireland than in many other, more urban, countries, but home-charging may not be an option for a lot of people, without an off-road parking space of their own. That introduces an extra level of inconvenience that many people wouldn't think of, if it doesn't affect them. There is a picture going round, purporting to be a generator that is towed out to charge up empty electric cars (I'm reminded by the humorous shot above) - intended to show the lack of practicality of EVs, I suppose - checking up on this revealed that it is actually a battery pack, mounted on a trailer, so that they don't need to be carrying it round all the time, just when needed. You will see this described as "a diesel van with a petrol generator..." - but it isn't. It's basically just like going out with a can to get you to a proper refilling point. I should have endeavoured to find the van's power source, but failed to do so.

For me, it is just a matter of when to go full electric. I have no interest in going hybrid and still carrying on with all the ICE complications as well. My Tesla-driving friend does loads of miles on the continent, pulling a trailer, and has had no range issues - it just requires a bit of forethought, as it used to do in the old days, anyway. We may start to see a time when filling stations that still have a liquid fuel supply start to become more scattered. There are a lot of things to consider when storing those sorts of quantities and reducing sales may start to make some wonder if it's worth the expense/bother. people will start to need something to do/eat for the few minutes that a quick-charge will take. On the subject of fire - I filled up in the Applegreen on the way out of Mountrath a couple of weeks ago - they have an LED advertising screen by the entrance door. Nothing exotic about that now? Indeed not, I was only vaguely aware of it - until it changed to a Bord na Mona advert, which I saw out of the corner of my eye, the other side of the pump, as I was firing petrol into the car - this advert was a five foot high moving image of a raging fire - I very nearly ran off...

Mmm, you can be banned for 'dangerous driving' whilst not actually driving and not even sat in the driver's seat... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-43937073/hemel-hempstead-autopilot-tesla-seat-switch-driver-banned

It can be interesting to wonder how things would look if it was moving in the opposite direction. If electric cars were the norm and somebody now suggested petrol/diesel cars could be introduced for half the selling price, but the fuel would be much more expensive, would continue to rise faster than electricity, plus the likelihood of punitive charges and restrictions in cities and ever more strenuous emissions tests, etc., would people be queueing up to buy them? I believe Toyota have already stopped making diesel cars. On the subject of sound, my Tesla driver also has an electric motorbike. People stepping out in front because they "didn't hear it, mate" is quite a problem, more so than with the car. The sounders that I have heard on cars are really just enough to be the 'alert' that they are meant to be, not an attempt to make the same sort of row that 'real' cars make. Beyond car-parks and shopping areas, tyre noise is a greater signal these days. It's going to happen. It's really just a matter of timing it for your own circumstances. In Ireland, renewable generation, so far this month, has been 39.5% of the total supply. Charging vehicles overnight fits in well with the evolving generation system.

OK, hassling a Tesla-driver friend has revealed that there has been some consideration of aftermarket sounds. Do be aware that this video contains an appallingly irritating 'presenter'. Although, it does seem possible that, in the future, the form of your 'warning tone' could become an NCT issue. Replacing it with a recording of 082 may not be acceptable...

I (still) heading that way - the car that I've had for the last ten years has never done more than 250 miles in a 24 hour period, so current ranges are completely realistic for me now. Discussing this in Ireland with a chap in his late 70s, I was interested to see him converting my miles into kilometres, so that he could visualise the potential... There are loads of advantages that start as soon as you've survive the initial purchase. Servicing is minimal - no engine, no clutch, no gearbox,, very lightly used (friction) brakes, etc. No penalty on idling, or banging the starter-motor every few yards in traffic. Range anxiety can be lived with, anybody who rode a motorbike in the 1970s will remember trying to keep it full on a Sunday, especially in Wales, and the 24 hour garage is still a modern thing to me I would feel rather less unhappy having a fairly solid battery on fire than 15 gallons of liquid hydrocarbons running about on the road. The heating/demisting will work immediately. There's no short/cold journey penalty. I like the idea of personalised sounds, there is an EU directive about making some noise below about 30mph/50kph, I believe. I have been nudged on the leg by a Prius that approached me silently. The current ranges would seem adequate for things like An Post vans, etc. You do need to remember to charge it, and we all know people who can't manage that with their phone and always have to put fuel in to go anywhere more than a few miles away...