I’m waiting to see the company car rules for my new job but these two are at the top of my wishlist.

The main thing the BMW has over the skoda for me is that BMW bother swapping the handbrake over for RHD cars which VAG don’t and it really pisses me off

Also, the company car tax on the skoda is about £30 a month less, but that handbrake, AAAARRRGGGGHHHHHH!

The handbrake initially pissed me off no end when I had a demo car for a weekend. A couple of hours driving later and it was okay. I still can’t say I like it, but it isn’t a deal-breaker.

What we’ll do with the extra 700 quid we pay now in three years I don’t know, but a new car will be top of the list.

Don’t kid yourself!

We thought the same – our two are 17 months apart so Nursery seemed to go on forever. We’re now skinter-er than ever before. :|

Yes Gravitysucks, it’s completely shit.

<man hug>

Pictonroad – I guess yours is the MKII Octavia? The MKIII’s are a quantum leap over them.

Although I am looking forward to taking delivery of my new vRS, I’ll be gutted to see my 320D (also an SE) go. I love it.

The reason I’m leaving BMW is purely down to cost. The company I work for changed the rules on our leased cars – they must now have a P11D value of less than £25K (which includes all optional add-ons) and maximum emissions of 139g CO2/km (I think – may be slightly less).

This ruled out getting another 3-series. I could have gone for a 1-series, but it’s not much good for a growing family – my current 3-series can just about cope with us.

I currently have a BMW320D – saloon though. I’ve recently plaved an order for an Octavia 2.0D vRS estate (arriving mid december – yay!).

Power wise, there’s nothing in it. If anything the new vRS engine slightly outpulls my 2009 320D.

Economy. New Skoda is significantly better than my current BMW but the more modern beemers are better still.

Build quality. The 320D is better – but not by much.

Cabin space. The vRS is a more comfortable place, particularly for rear passengers.

Load capacity. No contest, the vRS wins by miles.

Have a look at the 2.0D Elegance. More toys than the vrs and only slightly down on power (150ps vs 184ps).

Are you married to my wife? :(

I’m in an almost identical situation here. I’m not sure if I love her anymore – she’s certainly more like a best friend now. So I find the thought of walking away and hurting her impossible. We also have two kids under 8 – they are the most important thing in my life. Leaving them is not an option.

We just bumble along being civil to each other. It’s not ideal, but I can’t see any other way.

Thanks Tony. I’ll have a chat about that one with MrsG when I get home.

Thanks chaps – but a turbo trainer is not the way MrsG wants to go. I wouldn’t mind having one, but it’s not for me.

Holy crap!

I work for a “large company” as a senior consultant. I get £260 towards my lease car – I can only spend this with the corporate lease company – on a limited list of manufacturers. P11D of £25k max and emissions of <139g co2/km. 15p per mile.

Be aware that there is currently a 6 month wait for a vRS, maybe more if you have unusual options

This only applies to the hatchback and to the estate with certain options – panoramic roof and auto-cruise control being two I can immediately think of.

I had an Elegance on test earlier this year. It was a lovely car and I was very impressed (coming from a 59 plate BMW 320D SE).

I fancied a bit more poke, so ordered a vRS (white, diesel estate). It will be here mid December.

Another one here – severe Astigmatism in my left eye and a mild one in the right. I’ve never had any additional measurements taken either (wearing specs for 30 years).

I’ve got an eye test booked for tomorrow so will mention it to them.

+1

I have contributed earlier in the thread but have had a recent relapse. Went back to my GP and she’s put me back on Citalopram for a minimum of 2 years. She’s also referred me to a therapist for CBT as she’s concerned about my symptoms / behaviour.

I’ve been back on the Citalopram for a month now and am starting to feel the benefits. I can concentrate again abd am less anxious.

healing vibes to all.

Mmmmmm… bovril and fish. Nomnomnom.

So this evening, two days after the event, I get a voice mail from the other driver saying that the bumper will need replacing as it’s structurally damaged (my arse),

Unfortunately, it may well be structurally damaged. We were on the receiving end of a similar incident about 10 years ago. The bumper was marked, but nothing serious. When we took it to get the bumper sprayed, the chap had a quick look and asked if we were aware the bumper had been deformed on the inside – probably during an impact.

It turns out that it was structurally damaged. It was explained to me that it’s like a motorcycle helmet. It does its job once then needs replacing.

Get a “normal” hifi (amp, CD, speakers etc), and then connect this (clicky-linky) to it. This will then allow you to drive speakers in other rooms using your physical media as a source – or connecting to internet radio sources.

DaveP – Member
Somebody in work used one of the places On eBay for 40 pounds and said it worked a treat

Do you have a link? I’ve just cracked the screen on my three week old S4 :|

Don’t see the big deal really. He linked to a website

Well….. not really. He pretended to be a satisfied customer:

Hi all,

I have been looking for a business lease deal on an octavia for the last few months…

Managed to find an online retailer that offered an absolutely fantastic deal – service was great – advise and information on the website was second to none –

Have a look – they seem to offer all types of cars and vans

http://www.newvehiclesolutions.co.uk

The deal i had on the Octavia –

http://www.newvehicl&#8230;?model_id=17382

Lee

To some people, yes. We’re all different and find different things fascinating. Good isn’t it?

Wow, that’s amazing, I wouldn’t have thought there would be people out there so devoid of anything interesting in their lives that they would go onto a Skoda bicycle forum…

See what I did there? :wink:

Comfort food?

A steak and kidney pie from Thomas’s Bakery in Ulverston (eaten cold) is a wonderful thing.

Cheese with chillis

Chocolate flake dipped in Tartare sauce (it was a beer induced discovery)

Poached eggs – the fresher the eggs, the better

A tin of cherry pie filling and a spoon (another “late night” discovery)

-ditto- ambosia custard -ditto- (-ditto-)

Not far from Nottingham/Grantham.

How do you shave the bit under your nose?

Same as you would with a cartridge razor.

DE convert here too (thanks to a thread on here a few years ago) – Merkhur at home and a 60’s Gilette Tech from ebay for travelling. Feathers in the Merkhur and Gilette 7 O’clock blades in the Tech. It took a fair amount of testing different blades to decide on the right combination for me.

The final straw for me was when I was bought a 5 bladed thing as a gift. It was really very good for 1 shave. Half way through the second shave it started to drag and I had to change the cartridge. When I looked at the cost of replacement blades I was horrified and reverted back to my trusty Mach 3. The old thread on here inspired me to have a punt on the Tech on ebay – I got it for around £12. I think it is highly unlikely I will ever revert back to cartridge shaving.

The other bonus is that the missus likes it and the associated paraphernalia means She and the kids are never stuck for something to buy come Christmas / Birthdays.

I am sure I could learn to use it, but it wasn’t obvious.

Another one here too. I have a number of machines in my home office (I’m a geek) running different operating systems (Unix (AIX and Solaris), Linux (Ubuntu) and Windows (XP and Win 7)).

A couple of years ago I bought a second-hand eMac to have a play with. I found it counter intuitive and difficult to find anything I wanted to do. I even flattened it and rebuilt it from scratch (dead easy – a plus point) to try and get a ‘feel’ for it.

I admit it looked very pretty but just didn’t get on with it; it was really frustrating.

I set up a couple of accounts on it for the kids (aged 7 and 6) and gave it to them to do whatever they liked. They also didn’t like it and after a couple of days it was moved back into my office where it sits disconnected on the floor under the desk.

The kids share the Ubuntu laptop but still gravitate towards the Win7 machine.

Do Dell still do the Studio laptops? Last time I looked, you could get a really good spec for not a lot of money – they looked pretty too.

EDIT: If anyone wants it, they can have it for nowt, if prepared to collect. Along with a legit copy of Tiger, some other software (the music maker thingy plus others) and an external firewire DVD burner.

I agree about the contracting statement ^ Have done it on and off for a number of years. Recent difficulties in finding work (I didn’t want to work in that London) meant I rejoined the corporate world.

I’m 45 and have worked in IT for almost 25 years.

My happiest days were when I was hands on; now, I work for a large blue corporation as a “consultant”.

I really don’t like it. I wouldn’t say hate or despise it because of the client I’m working with; the people are great. However the corporate machine is very unpleasant. Like a poster on the previous page, I’ve also jumped from corporate giant to corporate giant after initially being Tupe’d into one. I’ve been unhappy since it first happenned. Maybe the previous poster is right. Maybe no-matter what job I do, I’m never going to feel fulfilled. Time to go and have a sit down and a good hard talking with myself.

I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up, but I do know it isn’t working in IT. I’ve often fantasised about opening a little bistro (I love to cook) but it isn’t compatible with wanting to see more of my children.

:|

Really? Oh.

In that case, you are welcome to the £5.

You are cressers and I claim my £5

In an attempt to make you feel better, at least you got some riding in…

A few years ago I used to do a lot of scuba diving. The week before a much anticipated trip[ to the Red Sea, my Wife and I took all our kit down to Stoney Cove for a final check out before packing it up. The one piece of kit I used but wasn’t testing was my dry-suit. The auto vent failed shut (this is bad) on ascent from the dive resulting in a rapid ascent. I ended up with a mild “bend” and two days in Hull in and out of the decompression chamber. After which I was passed fit to fly (and therefore travel) but not fit to dive for a couple of months.

The result was the insurance company wouldn’t cover me (as I was fit to travel) so I spent a week sitting in a hotel listening to the epic dives enjoyed by the other residents, while feeling perfectly fit. Great.

Slightly off topic..

Having recently moved into a rented property with a wood burning stove, I have yet to purchase any real quantity of logs – a bag of kiln-dried logs from Booths is waiting to be opened when necessary.

This thread prompted me into looking for rough prices on-line; the prices seem to vary quite significantly.

Therefore, in your experience, what should I expect to pay for 1 cubic metre of kiln dried hardwood logs?

We don’t do this for socks, why do we do it for beer??!!

It’s easier as there is no concern about “rounds” then. One person keeps the kitty, they go the bar. However, we don’t tend to frequesnt bars where you have to fight to get served so being the kitty holder is never a chore.

Also, I don’t go out to buy socks with my friends. :lol:

Scrub the soil off.

Don’t peel it.

Cut into wedges / quarters.

Sprinkle a little olive oil, fresh thyme and salt.

Toss in a roasting tray and roast at 140 – 160 until done.

Skin slightly crispy, flesh soft and sweet.

Nice. 8)

If there’s a few of us on a night out and we’re buying rounds, I usually keep a running total (on my iPhone, or I pop the receipts in my top pocket) of total spends, then we can share the difference equally at the end of the night

Why don’t you all put £20 in a kitty? When it runs out, put a tenner in. And repeat. Or something.

Congratulations and Karma points! You are doing a good thing for the right reasons.

I recently attended a village football club meeting (I coach the U5s to U8s) wearing shorts, t-shirt & sandals…. I wondered what the giggles were for and realised the other coaches were laughing at my toes. My 6 year old daughter had painted them sparkly pink the previous day when I had fallen asleep on the sofa – I hadn’t got round to removing it. They stayed pink for a couple of weeks as I quite liked the confused reaction (and I felt a bit naughty!).

You’re in for some tough times but even more fun times. Enjoy them, they’re great creatures!

You need a 3D scanning service:

Clicky #1[/url]
Clicky #2[/url]
Clicky #3[/url]

£2.70 in North Leicestershire. Primary.

The cost has just gone up and the quality has seriously dropped off. I have had many a discussion with the local authority about this.

Pasta with chips anyone? Or how about yesterdays lunch: jacket potato with chips, cheese and beans. Grrr.

Whenever we can, we send them with a packed lunch but as I work away during the week and MrsG is managing the home/kids/part-time job, it’s not always possible.

I had a mk3 2.0D elegance on test for the weekend. I was very pleasantly surprised.

I was about to place an order for one when Skoda announced the vRS mk3. I’ve ordered one of them instead. Diesel estate.

Thanks DD – I was wondering about Sambuca – I wasn’t going to ignite it either so I’ll drop this.

Doesn’t Jaegermeister need to be served chilled?

Aramis

As despicable as these allegations are, why do the courts allow the publication of identities before any trail? Should he be found innocent, he will always have this hanging over him. On the other hand if he’s proven guilty, hang the b*stard.

camo16 – Member
[Kirstie Allsopp voice]

Melted vinyl records make great retro bowls.

[/Kirstie Allsopp voice]

My Mum did this to my Dads entire record collection of vinyl from the 50s and 60s. All mint condition. All tirned into plant pots for a school fete.

It was the only time I ever saw them have a real screaming match. :(