Father-shaped-object had a Renault for ages, it kept having odd electrical problems – the best was when all four windows went down overnight and refused to come back up.

To be fair my dads Jag does the window thing sometimes. It also needs to be driven every few days or the battery goes flat; Jaguar have now told him this is normal and the electronics/security features are responsible. They have recommended a small solar panel/charger which seems to be stopping this happening.

My sons already stay in their high school until 5 or 6 o’clock some evenings to do homework, take part in school band/clubs and sporting activities. The school at this time seems to be quite heavily populated by teachers who are, in the main, happy to help out kids/offer small revision sessions etc.

It seems to me that they are already working these hours but informally as dedicated educators of children. They also arrange and support a lot of extracurricular activities, usually on evenings beyond 18.00 but also, occasionally. over weekends.

To formalise these hours then claw back nearly half the current holiday entitlement seems to be a pisstake to me.

Just eat with your fingers pictonroad, saves on two trips and on washing up. Wipe your fingers on the curtains.

What, and risk getting curry on his bellend after late night sex on the sofa?

FFS

****.. Arse!

I imagine running a website is like herding cats.

Strangely enough I was watching the Good Life (filmed in the mid to late 70’s) just before I came on here and Tom had just been to see the bank manager with a proposal that the bank would give him £2000 per annum once he retired and the bank could keep the house once the Goods died.

Bank manager pointed out that the bank would be putting out £80,000 against their detached house, in Surbiton like the one above, with a value of perhaps £27,000 that may increase over the 20-30 years to £40,000.

I think property values may have risen a little more than expected since then.

Also, in the series Jerry Ledbetter has a house of similar value (£27,000) but a salary package of ‘£18,000, an expense account and a car’ stated in one episode. Now I know it’s not real but I assume the figures stated were somewhere near reality at the time, again showing the growing disparity between house prices and pay.

All of them, I think.

Still don’t really get it but maybe I’m just thick.

As an example, I have been driving for 31 years (dear god am I that old?) and never had a claim or accident.

However this year there’s a freak accident where a front wheel detaches unexpectedly from a car after hitting a pothole 3 months previously whilst the driver was on a road trip to the Alps.

Everything would have been fine but a little old lady going home from her sisters takes a wrong turn due to her onset of dementia and ends up 100 miles away from home all lost and confused.

She takes avoiding action to miss the errant wheel and ploughs into my car which I have, for the first time ever, not put in the garage.

I claim on her insurance and when I come to renew I am an increased risk.

Taken to the nth I know but I am unconvinced that my risk has increased.

I tend to just swear a lot, hang on and hope. If it gets too scary I fall off towards the softest bit I can find.

I always find it odd that I could be in a stationary vehicle, be hit from behind and this fact indicates I am a higher insurance risk in the future.

Oy binners, I wont hear a word against ATOS – they kindly assessed one of my patients who has a moderate to severe learning disability, schizophrenia, scoliosis and rheumatoid arthritis as being fit for work – can obviously heal the sick better than the NHS.

home ownership is a modern invention, as a nation we’ve taken a step back to a time when home ownership was a luxury. simples. now we all moan cos we expect it, it wasnt this way until recent times. get a grip.

The only problem being that rents are based on a massively overinflated house prices.

Edit: I am agreeing with your sentiment in general though.

I’d give loco a call as he is likely to know why.

What was the definition of madness? Something about repeating an exercise, and expecting a different result?

I thought it was something to do with allowing savoury pastry products to go stale and uneaten.

Bugger. Was going to order 500 tomorrow when I had more time.

500 x £7.53 = Glee

So to clarify.

If any **** cyclist has the cheek to pull into the ASL in front of me I should pull around them into the ASL box, accelerate away when the lights change and smack him if he doesn’t like it.

Councils who, while claiming to be environmentally aware, refuse entry to those who choose to walk/cycle to the tip with a small bag of rubbish but will let you in once you drive the 2 miles there and back.

Me and Mrs Beans are both nurses so definitely not feeling better off but not destitute either due to changes in habits.

Cancelled a regular activity with a local business which cost £100 pr month; stopped shopping at local shops and now go to Aldi for a lot of the basics and other supermarkets for the rest; luxuries come from Amazon now not shopping in Halifax or Huddersfield; go out and to gigs less; those German on line suppliers for bike bits not the LBS.

Hence we are not really feeling it so badly but I reckon our local community spend is down by £600 per month at least which the local shops must be feeling.

What happens if you have an accident and can’t drive back?

It’s covered in my Green Flag breakdown cover.

jambalaya – I also suspect the worst part will be the M1/M25 for 5 hours or more.

We will be going with only one driver (me) setting off from West Yorkshire.

Decided to finish work Friday an hour or two early, drive to near Dover, night in a Travelodge, early ferry Saturday over to Calais then 8-9 hours drive to destination at a steady pace.

Should ensure I’m not too tired for first day and ensures we do not waste 2 holiday days getting there.

Love the Renault 4, think Renault are planning a retro re-release in a year or two like the Mini and Fiat 500.

My dad had a Renault 5 Gordini Turbo when I was a lad and I fondly recall how fast it went; all my mates were impressed.

Bit of googling shows it actually did 0-60mph in 9 seconds and a top speed of 116mph so around the performance of a diesel Mondeo in fact.

Oh well, rose tinted spectacles I suppose.

So it reduces polution, reduces accidents and improves traffic flow, whats not to like?

I think it stops some people doing what the **** they like.

He didn’t make sure the roundabout was safe before entering it. Pretty sure that’s in the Highway Code somewhere. so, yes, he was going too fast

Clearly he didn’t ensure the roundabout was safe before entering it but I think that it a different matter to his speed.

Hw could ensure its clear and enter at 40mph safely or could enter at 5mph and hit someone.

I wasn’t trying to be awkward but you seem to be taking it that way so I will make this my last response.

Well done for apologising OP, this is an absolutely classic example of poor driving though. Why are people so desperate to go straight over a roundabout rather than slow down and take it safely?

So the OP was going too fast? He doesn’t mention it in his post.

I recognise you binners but whose the bloke with the hair and wrinkly forehead?

there is plenty of riding out there for hard tails including those blues

:D

If you smoke 40 cigarettes a day then this may cause serious illness and can even lead to death.

the three blues are the place to start (one has a 10ft+ gap on it too!).

I have just purchased a Marin Quake 7.3, im going with my mate who is on a Alpine 160.

Is there any riding out there for bimbling folk on hardtails whose limit is around red Scottish route standards?

Really fancy the Alps as a destination but any thread I read seems to suggest that if you can’t blast UK black routes and DH trail centres then there’s no riding for you in the Alps.

Merely commenting that I am getting this on a windows system and only with STW. Seems likely to me that a popup that only appears on STW and not on the 100’s of other sites I browse may be something to do with STW.

My laptop keeps blocking a popup today; this is only occurring on STW.

My dad is one of theses thieving oldies you are all referring to. He got brought up hungry in a small mining village and started work in a mill, moving on to the coal face when old enough. He still has his worksheets from this time and often did consecutive double shifts on the face for years – proper hard graft in the early 1960’s.

He became self employed when I was little and I can never remember him not working at least 6 days per week to pay for a biggish house and savings.

He retired at 60 and is not short of cash.

However, throughout his working life he didn’t have a Mac costing a months wages, a phone costing 2-3 weeks wages, a £25,000 car and a bike that cost in excess of 2 months of my wage. He also, for much of his working life, could not have afforded to have or run a central heating system, bought stuff with abandon from all over the world nor spent money he did not have.

It seems to me that if we actually only bought the goods his generation did then for many of us making provision for retirement would be more than possible.

However, our generation and the next now see ‘luxuries’ as necessities and are not prepared to do without them. Everyone wants to be middle class with the trappings that they think they deserve.

Is my dad better off than I will be when I retire – YES.

Am I much better off than he was through his working life – YES.

Maybe it’s me (and others in the same boat) who need to cur back a bit on luxuries now to have a better retirement rather than just blaming someone else.

Listened to Radio 4 for a short while this afternoon and a Government spokeswoman was on (didn’t catch the name as it had already started).
It was quite entertaining as, while she was talking about a decline in educational standards, she kept referring to the country of Shanghai.

:D

Cue criminals and insurgents buying pre 1980’s cars.

*runs off to arrange shipment of Austin Allegro’s to Iraq.*

Or you know, they could slow down/move for the cyclist, or are you suggesting that the car has some kind of priority? Because that’s where that attitude will eventually lead…

I think he’s suggesting it’s preferable to being killed or maimed which, with some drivers, is where you may end.

Johnny travels 15 miles in one direction; it takes him 1/2 an hour. Returning, he takes a longer route of 30 miles and it takes him an hour. What was his average speed?

There are a couple of options but this is the one I would choose.

Johnny travels 15 miles in one direction it takes him 1/2 an hour returning he takes a longer route of 30 miles and it takes him an hour, what was his average speed.

Looks like we are falling behind with grammar and punctuation as well. :D

WCA – lots of people park outside my house, it doesn’t really matter whether they work in a hospital or elsewhere or are visiting my neighbours, they are still parked there.

Yes I have. They didn’t build it after I got there though so it was my choice. I suppose you could feel aggrieved if someone built a hospital near you after you had bought a house, but I still don’t see why other council residents should pay for protected spaces they can’t use.

Personally think they should scrap all residents parking schemes.

Why should you have protected parking when someone else in your borough pays the same council tax but doesn’t get protected parking?

Would save the whining about how much it costs as well.

Alternatively just don’t buy one and park somewhere else.