LOL, great manufacturer name! Do you think the brother was called Ben and he also made stoves? ;-)
Our entire house is powered by solid fuel, we have no gas or electric cooker and no microwave. All cooking, hot water, central heating, clothes drying etc is powered by an AGA Rayburn (run mostly on anthracite rather than wood though) and then additional heat comes from the little woodburner in the lounge. In summer months we cook every meal on a gas BBQ in the garden no matter what the weather. Sadly our little cottage is surrounded by other houses which is why I’m so envious of your cabin in the woods. I’d love to live completely out in the wild, mile from anywhere, but sadly my wife and the kids like their home comforts…… ;-)
Now that you made me think of it, I’m wondering if it stands for “better half”, his wife. :)
Home comfort: that’s why I had to have the cottage. Mine like an even more urban setting, with attached houses and all. Cabin is my sanity, regained… Maybe. ;)
This isn’t really worth a post on its own, but here’s a 10 minutes drive video (791MB) in the Laurentians region. From the nearest village, to the cabin. Quality isn’t great (shaky), but the scenery is. And yes, that is a crack across the bottom of my windshield… After 14 years, it has decided to not take the temperature difference between the Quebec outdoors and the Land Rover’s climate control any longer… :p
WOW, Awesome footage. Many thanks for posting that.
1st off, how quiet is your Disco, I have forgotten the joys of the whisper quiet V8 as I’ve been driving diesels for so long. It seems wierd in your video that I can hear suspension creaks but no engine noise. In our diesel trucks all you would hear was engine and nothing else. (BTW what was the mouse click sound?)
2nd thing is that you are managing to drive on snow covered roads without any problems and we noticed a few other cars handling the conditions nicely too. While I’ve too have had no issues with snow like that in either of my trucks, you should see the chaos caused by even 1/2″ of snow on most of the UK road network. Most UK drivers are morons who drive on summer tyres on ice and drive too fast for the conditions which results in tens of thousands of accidents every winter. It amazes me that our government hasn’t mandated the use of winter tyres yet. Both our trucks run on winter compound tyres in winter and obviously both are 4WD so cope well with even quite deep snow but I’ve been stuck in huge jams caused by idiots on summer tyres struggling to climb a teeeny slope on a bit of slushy snow. Do they grit your roads at all or is it just ploughed? It looked like some of the slopes in your vid were gritted. Over here I prefer driving on ungritted back roads were my winter tyres get best traction. The main roads that are gritted often turn to wet slush which is lethal.
3rd is the absolutely stunning scenery. While it has always looked good in the photos, that video really brings it home as to how fantastic it is. I’m SOOOOO envious. My idea of a dream place to live. In fact even my wife thinks it looks gorgeous and is suggesting I get a job at Automattic and re-locate there!!! :-)
1) quiet: it is now indeed. Fixed the manifold gasket and tightened my exhaust just recently. The click is in fact the cheap iPhone stand used to record the video. The big “bang” towards the beginning was because I was carrying a set of cabinet doors in the trunk and didn’t spot the speed bump under the snow. :p
2) people are used to those conditions indeed. Quebec has in fact passed a mandatory winter tyre law a couple of years ago, because as per their stats, 38% of all winter accidents were in fact due to people driving on summer or even so-called all-season tyres (fine elsewhere, just not here). The only exception (until december 2014, at least) are true all-terrain tyres, which I’m driving on. The roads are not gritted. What you see is dirt and fine gravel, because those are in fact unpaved roads. Well, they might have been paved once, but it was a loooooong time ago. So when the municiplaity’s plow trucks pass by, they go down to the base and it semi-grits the road with debris.
Yes, really enjoyed it. I know some will think how boring, just a video of a vehicle driving along a road, but for us it was like actually being there. Often you get videos of the exciting places or the best scenery etc but for us we thought it was so nice to get a glimpse of a just ‘normal’ drive.
I don’t have true winter tyres either. I’ve got BFG AT’s on the jap pickup and BFG KM2 on the 109″ Land Rover but both perform OK in the ice and snow. The AT being the superior on ice due to its siping and the KM2’s being better in the really deep snow. They are both winter compound tyres though and I think that is clear when I can often drive in 2WD (both part time 4WD vehicles) on roads that many 2WD’s on summer tyres simply can’t get any grip on.
LOL, the advantage with the old Series Land Rovers is the small split screens. Only need to replace one half if it gets cracked and then they are only a simple flat bit of glass so quite cheap to replace unlike the large curved things on modern cars :-)
tekArtist 
looks inviting…
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Better ‘N Bens? Is that the manufacturer or a slogan?
I’m also sat in front of a woodburner at the moment with the snow falling outside :-)
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Manufacturer. This one is likely from the mid-late 60s, when our cabin was built by the previous owners and their dad/grandfather. :)
Enjoy. I already miss mine (downtown, at the moment). Can’t wait to go back in the woods friday night, for the weekend.
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LOL, great manufacturer name! Do you think the brother was called Ben and he also made stoves? ;-)
Our entire house is powered by solid fuel, we have no gas or electric cooker and no microwave. All cooking, hot water, central heating, clothes drying etc is powered by an AGA Rayburn (run mostly on anthracite rather than wood though) and then additional heat comes from the little woodburner in the lounge. In summer months we cook every meal on a gas BBQ in the garden no matter what the weather. Sadly our little cottage is surrounded by other houses which is why I’m so envious of your cabin in the woods. I’d love to live completely out in the wild, mile from anywhere, but sadly my wife and the kids like their home comforts…… ;-)
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Now that you made me think of it, I’m wondering if it stands for “better half”, his wife. :)
Home comfort: that’s why I had to have the cottage. Mine like an even more urban setting, with attached houses and all. Cabin is my sanity, regained… Maybe. ;)
LikeLike
This isn’t really worth a post on its own, but here’s a 10 minutes drive video (791MB) in the Laurentians region. From the nearest village, to the cabin. Quality isn’t great (shaky), but the scenery is. And yes, that is a crack across the bottom of my windshield… After 14 years, it has decided to not take the temperature difference between the Quebec outdoors and the Land Rover’s climate control any longer… :p
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Note: the big, white, tree-less expenses are all lakes (there are 85 within a 20 miles radius).
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Stephane, I can’t view that movie at the moment as it is too large for our 2Mb broadband :-) I’ll try and download it over the weekend.
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I’m uploading it to YouTube for you, so it’s easier to stream. Should be up in about 35 minutes or so. :)
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There you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a7HtHGwbts :)
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WOW, Awesome footage. Many thanks for posting that.
1st off, how quiet is your Disco, I have forgotten the joys of the whisper quiet V8 as I’ve been driving diesels for so long. It seems wierd in your video that I can hear suspension creaks but no engine noise. In our diesel trucks all you would hear was engine and nothing else. (BTW what was the mouse click sound?)
2nd thing is that you are managing to drive on snow covered roads without any problems and we noticed a few other cars handling the conditions nicely too. While I’ve too have had no issues with snow like that in either of my trucks, you should see the chaos caused by even 1/2″ of snow on most of the UK road network. Most UK drivers are morons who drive on summer tyres on ice and drive too fast for the conditions which results in tens of thousands of accidents every winter. It amazes me that our government hasn’t mandated the use of winter tyres yet. Both our trucks run on winter compound tyres in winter and obviously both are 4WD so cope well with even quite deep snow but I’ve been stuck in huge jams caused by idiots on summer tyres struggling to climb a teeeny slope on a bit of slushy snow. Do they grit your roads at all or is it just ploughed? It looked like some of the slopes in your vid were gritted. Over here I prefer driving on ungritted back roads were my winter tyres get best traction. The main roads that are gritted often turn to wet slush which is lethal.
3rd is the absolutely stunning scenery. While it has always looked good in the photos, that video really brings it home as to how fantastic it is. I’m SOOOOO envious. My idea of a dream place to live. In fact even my wife thinks it looks gorgeous and is suggesting I get a job at Automattic and re-locate there!!! :-)
Many thanks for that,
Ian
PS. You need to get that crack sorted!! ;-)
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1) quiet: it is now indeed. Fixed the manifold gasket and tightened my exhaust just recently. The click is in fact the cheap iPhone stand used to record the video. The big “bang” towards the beginning was because I was carrying a set of cabinet doors in the trunk and didn’t spot the speed bump under the snow. :p
2) people are used to those conditions indeed. Quebec has in fact passed a mandatory winter tyre law a couple of years ago, because as per their stats, 38% of all winter accidents were in fact due to people driving on summer or even so-called all-season tyres (fine elsewhere, just not here). The only exception (until december 2014, at least) are true all-terrain tyres, which I’m driving on. The roads are not gritted. What you see is dirt and fine gravel, because those are in fact unpaved roads. Well, they might have been paved once, but it was a loooooong time ago. So when the municiplaity’s plow trucks pass by, they go down to the base and it semi-grits the road with debris.
3) http://automattic.com/work-with-us/, that is all :)
Glad you enjoyed it. I thought of you Sunday while driving to the village, and thought I’d do that on the way back.
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Yes, really enjoyed it. I know some will think how boring, just a video of a vehicle driving along a road, but for us it was like actually being there. Often you get videos of the exciting places or the best scenery etc but for us we thought it was so nice to get a glimpse of a just ‘normal’ drive.
I don’t have true winter tyres either. I’ve got BFG AT’s on the jap pickup and BFG KM2 on the 109″ Land Rover but both perform OK in the ice and snow. The AT being the superior on ice due to its siping and the KM2’s being better in the really deep snow. They are both winter compound tyres though and I think that is clear when I can often drive in 2WD (both part time 4WD vehicles) on roads that many 2WD’s on summer tyres simply can’t get any grip on.
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And yes, I do need to get that crack sorted, indeed. My mechanic is trying to score me one on the cheap. :)
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LOL, the advantage with the old Series Land Rovers is the small split screens. Only need to replace one half if it gets cracked and then they are only a simple flat bit of glass so quite cheap to replace unlike the large curved things on modern cars :-)
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One day. One. Day… One shall be mine too. But for now, with 3 kids and a dog, they’re more comfortable in the Disco. :)
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