I have seen “tap shaped” insulating covers in Homebase. Other DIY places have them I well I would think.

I’ve got Conti Sport Contact 3(245/45 R18)on my car and they are rubbish in this current snowy weather.
However they are excellent in the dry and wet.

Pity he didn’t issue an apology for all that awful music as well.

Yes, OK to freeze any food after a state change.

Ask for a complaint form at the garage. They don’t usually like the Ministry looking into things and you may find they become a little more co-operative.

Make sure you start the slideshow, I’ve seen far too many people present in Powerpoint edit view.
Don’t start with “I’ve got a lot of slides to get through…” or “this is not my presentation so we can muddle through it together…” All seen recently by me.

My daughter passed her test in April.
We had a highly recommended local instructor (not a franchise) give lessons.
I sat by her while she practised what she had learnt, the miles put in between lessons is really important IMO.
The only bit of “teaching” I did was very early on in the process. We went on a Sunday morning to a quiet industrial estate and I got her to accelerate hard, brake hard, circle mini roundabouts etc. so she could get a “feel” for the car. She experienced locking up under braking, under-steer, wheel-spin, we even did handbrake turns. She maintains it helped a lot with her confidence and car control.
I appreciate this may not work with all learners, my daughter is a bit of a petrol head (she did a young drivers session as a Christmas pressie when she was 16) so was up for it.
Its also stood he in good stead when she has to evade the coppers and is forced to dump the Subaru she’s just TWOCKed.

Expensive for what it is IMO, basically an iPod for people who don’t have computer.
Rips the CD to mp3 (by default) but has to have the CD database updated manually by CD from Brennan, at least it would be half-way useful if it connected to Gracenotes by the internet.

Project stuff is Ok, mate of mine has one. Not a stable (pitch/wow etc) as a SL1200 though.
Rega 2 is ok, again not as stable and solid as the SL1200. Looks good though.

On the subject of ATRAC, I was given a Sony demo Minidisc (Classical music compilation) at a pro audio show soon after the system was launched.
I found it not long ago and played it on my full sized MD unit, through my HiFi, the results were surprising, it sounded really good.
ATRAC is not that bad.
This is, though, a Sony MD and the recordings are Sony digital ones from their label so I would expect the mastering and encoding to be as good as they could get at the time (1993/4).
Apart from convenience though, why rip everything to mp3/iPod? If I sync up a CD and iPod with the same track and switch between them its easy to tell the difference.

Yes, done it a couple of times. Undertaker gives good advice.
Just don’t drop it.

Its a dog, they eat their own puke and other dogs poo, I’m not about to base what is edible on that information.

Your wheels are probably from chain reaction cycles or merlin I imagine

I had Merlin wheels (Shimano XT on Mavic) before the Dave Hinde ones, they were not as good, required re-tensioning by LBS.

I’ve got Dave Hinde wheels (Hope XC hubs and Mavic rims/spokes) and they are fine. What’s wrong with Dave Hinde wheels then?

Because the plywood is covered in a fine dust, wetting it damped it down.

Place some black of the desired length on the timeline. Use a title program to place your text and export as mpeg with Timecode visible (If your editing software has this option)

I recall when there were conductors on the buses and you could ask for a “cheapy”, usually whatever coppers you had on you and no ticket issued.
shared at the end of the shift between clippy and driver.

Edius Pro or if you don’t need all the hardware support Edius Neo.
Native AVCHD editing without rendering.
Bit of a steep learning curve but its a good editor.
PC only by the way.
Its not free either.

The reality is that within a couple of years they’ll be owned by VW and SEAT will be closed. Alfa is the new SEAT!

Alfa are owned by Fiat. Modern Alfas are just re-worked Fiats.

I think the likes of Clarkson and his chums are referring to the older “proper” Alfa’s, The Sud, original GTV, Alfetta, 33, Sprint etc. These were genuine Alfa’s, they were badly built, badly designed, and the dealer service was dreadful, but when working they drove so much better than any comparable car of the time.
Back in the 80’s/early 90’s I had three Sud’s and rebuilt two of them from the stripped body-shell up. It was worth it for the sound of the boxer engine near the rev limit, especially the Ti.
My brother runs a 156 Tourer, with the JTD diesel engine, its a lovely car but he’s had a few problems, mostly with the brakes.
As with any second hand car, the service history is important but no guarantee of reliability.

Anything by Joy division.
Everything Curtis wrote was a part of him.

Is it still very popular with hen and stag parties?

Yes.

Very nice city, lots of tourists but you soon get used to them.
Traffic pretty bad at peak times.
Good schools
Very good university.
Floods only really a worry if you live right by by the river.
Some very expensive areas, some not so expensive areas.
City centre still has shops.
City centre full of drunks every weekend.
We like it.

For video the advantage is FCP, nothing else as good for windows without paying AVID prices

Edius. Full res output, native AVCHD file handling with no rendering.

Gyms are great place to go if your incredibly vain and want to get the “toned” look.

Then you picked the wrong gym.
“Toned” is a phrase used to get people into gyms, telling them they are going to build muscle puts a lot of people off, especially women.

I recommend getting at least a proper induction (not the 15 min run-through used in most gyms to satisfy H&S regs) before you start. Tell the instructor/PT what you want to achieve and if they are any good they will advise accordingly.

And of course if you want to loose weight then cut out Alcohol.

1)Warm up for 10 mins on running machine, cross trainer or rower at RPE of 5/50% or max HR.
2)Dynamic stretches
3)perform 3 sets of 10 – 15 reps with a weight that leads to failure on the last reps of the final set. Rest 45 secs between each set.
Shoulder press
chest press
Pec flyes
Leg press
Lat pull down
Sit ups
Warm down on cycle for 10 mins starting at RPE 5 gradually reducing effort.
Static stretched, hold each one for 30 secs.
Re-hydrate.
If you are returning to the gym or starting out, use the machines for the weight exercises, moving onto free-weights when strength is built up. Free weights will use Stabilisers and Fixator muscles, leading to a better workout.
Increase intensity/weight as you see fit. Get coached in the proper technique for Olympic squat.

If you can, put a female driver on the policy as a named driver, usually knocks a bit off.

Latest version is the first Hammer film for 30 odd years.
Not the usual Gothic velvet and heaving breasts though apparently.

Technics SL1200. Rock steady.
Had Rega, Linn, Thorens and they were fine until I compared them with the SL1200, after which they sounded slow and unstable. To get similar stability from a Linn will cost loads.

There too much rubbish and myth attached to Rega and Linn turntables perpetuated by middle aged men in slippers who don’t get enough sex, avoid getting sucked into it like I did.

The Project stuff is OK, but there is no Quartz lock so the speed stability is variable. Their Phono Pre-amps are OK though.

Video Editing.

I’m not sure that’s really of any use though.

No, its not really.

It was just a thought.

The Insignia manual makes no mention of postcode entry at all, and I was furious when I thought it would not take a postcode directly!

The sat nav could be better (no post code entry)

Have you tried entering in a postcode where it asks for City?

Insignia Sat Nav has no postcode entry either but the above works fine.

My Ford Fiesta had a camchain, it failed. Wrote off the engine.

Cam belts are fitted for good reasons, they are generally quieter than chains, require no lubrication and are lighter.
Camchains can stretch on high mileage engines leading to noise. Also the tensioners can fail leading to the same result as a failed cambelt.

Basically don’t forget scheduled maintenance.

Loakes are good, the Badminton is a nice everyday shoe.

Trickers are heavier built and take longer to break in.

A decent brogue looks good with formal and casual dress.

As its an estate can it be presumed that its carried a few heavy loads?
If so then 80k would be about right for some new shockers. The rubber bushes should be replaced at the same time.

Glengettie – lovely almost “peppery” taste. Glengettie Tea[/url]
Panad Cymreig – Nice and strongPanad Cymreig[/url]

Yes, OK to mix oil.
Japanese cars are generally built for worldwide markets so can take pretty much any oil.
An awful lot of bollox is talked about oils.
If you are really worried take it to National Tyres and get an oil and filter change for around £25, much easier than doing it yourself and probably cheaper as well.

That’s probably the main reason that independent schools produce better results (as well as having on average a brighter set of pupils).

Disagree on the brighter pupils.

More likely conscientious parents who demand more from the school and care about their child’s education is the reason.

My daughter went to a state primary very close to a University, the school was full of kids whose parents either worked or studied there. The results were excellent due mostly to their backgrounds not the amount of cash their parents had, as your statement implies.

The low impact fat burning theory is based on some studies done in the US back in the 1950’s IIRC.
Basically some fella (I can’t remember who I’ll have to check my notes) put a load of GI’s on treadmills and measured the % of fat they used whilst walking.
Then he did the same whilst they ran.
Those walking used a higher % of fat than those running so he concluded that more fat is burnt with low impact exercise.
However what he did not measure was the calories used, those with the higher impact exercise used more calories.
Burning calories makes you loose more weight providing, as has been mentioned already, you don’t consume them all back again.

The low impact story is still used today as its a way to get people to start exercising – as they think its not too hard, once they are started on a programme its easier for their trainer to increase the intensity.

The faster you go (intensity) the more energy you use (fat).
However best not to consume more than you need in the first place.

No Alcohol
Yogurt for breakfast
Apple for lunch
Decent meal in the evening (without any processed stuff in it and lots of veg)
Get down the gym four times a week for an hour or so and lift some heavy weights and Kettlebells.

You’ll drop 2 stone easily.

but exercise is still not as important as diet

Agreed, so many people say they exercise but its not shifting the weight and while they are telling me this they are munching on cake and biscuits!