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1

General Discussion Area / Re: Dead Person

« on: 07 March 2026, 10:48:05 »

Soham killer Ian Huntley age 52.

2

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: 05 March 2026, 21:18:00 »

………
They gave me a very nice 530e M-Sport ……..

I always thought it was a bit cheeky of BMW to name the 4 cylinder 2.0 litre plug in hybrid 330e/530e, which implied that it’s a three litre. I know they are fairly brisk but they are worlds away from a 3.0 litre, so why not just call them 320e/520e. 

3

General Discussion Area / Re: What has P*ssed you off today?

« on: 02 March 2026, 10:40:19 »

Driving out of the village tonight in the C1, avoiding the worst of the potholes, most of which have traffic cones sat in them to help with this.
Suddenly realised that the cone had gone missing from the last one, just too late and hit it so hard it burst the n/s/f tyre, which was brand new a month ago.
The state of the roads are a national disgrace, but the powers that be couldnt give a toss. 
Will need to check in the morning if anything else is bent / broken.   

Although there’s no guarantee of a successful claim, our council has been inundated with damage claims for pot hole damage. Anything ranging from a tyre to suspension damage. Such is the scale of the number of claims, the council have reported that it may take over four months before your claim gets dealt with. I’ve had to replace nearly new tyres due to pot hole damage, so has my daughter and son. I’d like to think that the more people that claim, the more chance that they may do something about it. 

4

General Discussion Area / Re: What has P*ssed you off today?

« on: 27 February 2026, 19:26:29 »

The drivers (well, one of the drivers) in front of me who were travelling at 60mph but decided to come to a complete standstill because an Ambulance on blues and twos was approaching from behind. With heavy traffic coming from the opposite direction, the Ambulance was stuck. Well, until a driver coming from the opposite direction had the foresight to give them space to continue. 
Why don’t drivers just keep moving and allow the emergency vehicle to pass when it’s safe to do so. At least that way, the emergency vehicle is still making progress, and my blood pressure wouldn’t rise due to screaming at the driver who stopped.
I honestly think that they should run adverts to publicise this more, as some drivers just panic.

5

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: 27 February 2026, 14:19:06 »

…………….
As to DG's comments about leasing/HP, as I've said loads of times before, it will work for some people.  Company schemes often make it a no brainer - like tunnie's EV tax avoidance scheme, or Mrs TB's old scheme when she was at Rover. ………..

It worked great for us for quite a few years.    No deposit, no tax or insurance to worry about, just chuck fuel in it. The price was reasonable and as I changed cars every nine months, I could work my way through the model’s catalogue.     My main stipulation was a big engine and black leather, as big engines went hand in hand with more toys. 
I’m certain that it annoyed some managers that a shop floor pleb was allowed to have a BMW X5 M50 and park next to the management 3 Series.    Anyway, they eventually reduced the choice of vehicles for non-management, as well as the prices going through the roof, so I decided to purchase them, using my company discount. I could buy a vehicle with discount, and sell it eleven months later for what I’d paid for it (we had to wait eleven months due to tax implications if we sold before the eleven months was up). Car traders get to recognise your number and phone you to discuss what spec sells well, so moving them on was never a problem. It worked ok but was obviously more hassle than leasing, plus you have to have the initial costs available for the first purchase.

As for new cars versus older models, we recently visited several dealerships (mainly BMW and Audi) with a view to replacing one of ours. I can honestly say that nothing took my fancy, and I never thought I’d ever say that. Ridiculous dashboards that extended to the passenger side and looking tacky did nothing for us, and most exteriors have gone weird, so I’m sticking with what I’ve got.

6

General Discussion Area / Re: Concrete mixer - sold!

« on: 25 February 2026, 13:57:12 »

Bought it in the UK , 1980. Simple German made standard electric mixer. No on off switch.

Served me well especially here where it regularly ran from dawn to dusk.

New owner is Dutch. I wonder if it will still be working in 2072 !

It may still be 'working' in 2072, but will you ?

I doubt many of us will be, and nor would I want to be. I mean, you yourself would be over 111 years old by then.   

7

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: 23 February 2026, 15:25:55 »

The *irritating noise* that my windscreen wipers made was getting on my nerves so I bought new wipers. I haven't fitted them yet as since I bought new wipers the old one's have been silent. 

**
I have short temper issues and many years ago, the windscreen wipers were grating across the windscreen of one of my mini's when it was pissing down with rain. The continuous irritating noise was driving me mad ........ so I punched the screen in anger ...... and smashed the windscreen.    So, not only was I angry,  I was wet as well. My Mrs was not impressed.    So, when the Audi wipers started screeching across the screen, she said "Let's go to Halfords NOW! 

Tell your missus she needn't worry. Windscreens are much tougher than they used to be, you are a lot older than you used to be, so you'd probably just smash your knuckles up a bit.........and cry like a baby 

Now you mention it, I am quite an emotional chap.     

8

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: 23 February 2026, 14:22:02 »

The *irritating noise* that my windscreen wipers made was getting on my nerves so I bought new wipers. I haven't fitted them yet as since I bought new wipers the old one's have been silent. 

**
I have short temper issues and many years ago, the windscreen wipers were grating across the windscreen of one of my mini's when it was pissing down with rain. The continuous irritating noise was driving me mad ........ so I punched the screen in anger ...... and smashed the windscreen.    So, not only was I angry,  I was wet as well. My Mrs was not impressed.    So, when the Audi wipers started screeching across the screen, she said "Let's go to Halfords NOW! 

9

General Car Chat / Re: New calipers... What colour?

« on: 23 February 2026, 13:52:40 »

If you replace the smoky derv XJ with a last of the line XJ575 that won't be far from the truth.

I wouldn't mind one of them, but they command strong money still, and more than I can justify considering the car I have doesn't really get used.

I wasn't familiar with that model but a quick search shows two 2018 XJ575's, one at £35K and the other at £39,500. Quite a beast I must admit. 
Would I ever have the desire to travel at 186mph, hmm,  yes I probably would.    Would less than 20mpg annoy me since owning a diesel, yes it definitely would. So, based on those two answers it's probably best if I don't buy one. 

10

General Discussion Area / Re: They are watching us!

« on: 18 February 2026, 16:48:55 »

Until shop security is allowed to shoot offenders, no amount of technology is going to stop anything.

The above is definitely the answer.      

We know facial recognition is seriously flawed and there are plenty of documented cases where a completely innocent person has been arrested based on facial recognition.     If it worked it would be a useful tool to catch criminals but, there have been too many ‘false positives’, which seriously pisses off the completely innocent party concerned. False arrest results in a lawsuit, so the taxpayer has to cough up again.

“Several high-profile cases have occurred where facial recognition technology (FRT) has wrongly identified and led to the arrest of innocent people, highlighting significant flaws in the technology's accuracy, particularly concerning racial bias. These incidents often involve law enforcement relying on surveillance, leading to "false positives" where the system incorrectly matches an innocent person's photo to a suspect.”

11

General Car Chat / Re: The numbers in this article are staggering

« on: 16 February 2026, 17:34:58 »

“And we were like, ‘What’s a ghost plate?’”

Where has this guy been for the past five or six years.    I’ve seen youngsters selling them on markets.    No surprise that they appeal to the private hire sector, what with them going in and out of various ’zones’ all day long. Over 41% with ghost plates out of 1000 checked private hire though, that’s quite good going. 

12

General Car Chat / Re: E-Royal Mail Vans

« on: 16 February 2026, 17:12:17 »

………
It was my 'A' series engine that laid a real, thick, blue smoke trail, every time I deaccelerated then accelerated, until that uncle taught how to replace the very worn and broken valves!!

The problem here was that the valve stem rubber seals would become hard and would start riding up and down on the valve stem, instead of staying in the recess designed to hold them in place. On my van, I used to lay a smoke trail deliberately, by doing what you describe, if someone was sat too close behind me. 

Great for cyclists too 

 

Indeed. 

13

General Car Chat / Re: E-Royal Mail Vans

« on: 16 February 2026, 15:36:09 »

………
It was my 'A' series engine that laid a real, thick, blue smoke trail, every time I deaccelerated then accelerated, until that uncle taught how to replace the very worn and broken valves!!

The problem here was that the valve stem rubber seals would become hard and would start riding up and down on the valve stem, instead of staying in the recess designed to hold them in place. On my van, I used to lay a smoke trail deliberately, by doing what you describe, if someone was sat too close behind me.   

14

General Car Chat / Re: A simple disc and pad change...

« on: 16 February 2026, 13:09:19 »

………
Doesn't stop him driving a 17 year old S Class though ……

There’s a 1998 (W140 as opposed to W220 I believe) Mercedes Benz S500 around our way. I don’t know the guy but he doesn’t hang about in it, which is brave considering the mpg.    He drives like he’s racing someone and he’s clearly local judging by the lines he took on the B4011 when I tagged along behind him.    I was impressed. 

15

General Discussion Area / Re: What has P*ssed you off today?

« on: 16 February 2026, 12:43:00 »

Got back to a note on the windscreen.

"THANK YOU FOR YOU'RE INCONSIDERATE PARKING !
NEXT TIME ALLOW SPACE FOR OTHERS TO BE ABLE TO GAIN ACCESS TO THEIR VEHICLES....."



I wouldn't mind, but it is perfectly in the space... Centred and straight

Still at least they spelt 'their' correctly.

Oh, and definitely a girl from using a circle for the dot of the exclamation mark 

But then messed up on ‘you’re (you are) as opposed to ‘your’ (belonging to). 

Sorry, that sounds pedantic but is intended as tongue in cheek.