Things have obviously moved on a lot digitally since I played. The Boss Me25 and a laptop and you have a home studio nearly. Will look into some software and see what’s about.

I’ll not worry to much at the moment about the toggle switch. I’d rather get a good strap with some lockable clips. The pocket pod is an awesome little bit of kit what a laugh. So many tones and effects, welcome to the jungle is my favourite so far. This hobby could end up costing me a little bit of money.

It has arrived and it’s lovely apart from some heavy handed nugget ( not me this time ) has stripped the threads on the toggle switch. So I’ll have to source one from the Internet probably cheaper and faster. It’s a 3.5mm cream or ivory knob (does any body know a good supplier of bits?) No fret buzz, action is not to high. It’s a full thickness body but I think it’s been pocketed because the weight feels fine. The neck is fantastic slightly flatter than a Gibson and So helps with bending. It’s got some D’Addario XL strings on it, needed a quick tune and a bit of time to settle down. It’s a far better guitar than I am a player at the moment. For £449 I am amazed at the quality. There has never been a better time to get a bargain guitar.

I have a mate who has a line-6 pocket pod for practice use that he never uses. May have to borrow that and give it a go.

I have managed to appropriate a Peavy Audition Trans-Tube 15W practice amp and a Boss ME25 that looks far to complicated for it’s own good. All I need now is a Guitar! Will look into the Korg. Hated to sell my stuff first time round got next to nothing for it.

I’m really out of touch with gear so any advice or opinions really appreciated. Ha the most modern stuff I did was Def Lep and GnR’s so that shows how long it is since I’ve picked up an electric guitar. I will see how my elbow holds out.

My Dad used to rebuild and fix old valve amps and still has an attic full of old valves! The Peavy I had was a great amp but bloody heavy. Not planning on going gigging or anything like that just want a nice sound with a bit of character for home use. Will look into the mustang series. The pick ups are meant to mimic the classic 57 spec gibson humbuckers so hopefully they will have a nice tone. Just hope the sound isn’t to metal if you know what I mean!
Can’t get over the price let’s hope it lives up to my expectations.

“The ESP LTD EC-401FMV electric guitar features a single-cutaway vintage-thickness mahogany body with a spectacular flame maple top for superior resonance and stunning beauty. The mahogany set neck has a thin U-shaped contour with a satin finish and 22 extra jumbo frets resulting in a perfect combination of ultra-comfortable feel, fast playability and outstanding sustain. The open-coil DiMarzio 36th anniversary pickups, which possess a soft magnetic field and sweet tone, forge a perfect balance between warmth and clarity and arm this guitar with the ability to go from clean to distorted by pick attack alone. The split coil feature on both pickups further expands the versatility of this beautiful instrument. The ESP LTD EC-401FMV includes a push/pull tone control for splitting both pickups.”

The above info is from musicians friend website.

An excerpt from honest John.

Unhappy Landing

Please advise me where I stand in respect of my LandRover Freelander 2.2HSE Luxury that I purchase some 2½ years ago from the Lanchester LandRover in Reading. It was first registered on 27 December 2012. It had about 6,000 miles on the clock when I bought it and currently has just under 42,000. The 3-year warranty expires on 26 December this year. Until December 2014 the car performed OK. Then it broke down just before Christmas 2014, requiring me to call Land Rover assistance to get it running again. It was taken to the nearest LandRover dealer, Strathstones of Aylesbury who updated the software relating to the steering angle sensor as it was at the wrong revision level. I drove the car 10 miles home and an error message came up advising me of reduced traction and that special programmes had been disabled. It went back to Stratstones for several days but they could not find the fault and stated they would need the car for a couple of weeks to try to pinpoint it. I returned the car to Lancaster Land Rover. By then it had errored again so Lancaster suggested I called Land Rover Assistance asking them to confirm the fault and book it in as a warranty repair. This was done and it went into Lancaster for several days. Lancaster said that Strathstones had loaded the wrong software to the steering angle sensor and went on to check the revisions of all other software packages. The car was returned to me and failed again with the same fault. It went back to Lancaster who looked at the fault code and concluded that the throttle control module was faulty and changed it. The car was returned and it failed yet again with the same error code. Lancaster again asked me to contact Land Rover Assistance and the vehicle was taken back again. Lancaster told me the throttle control module was faulty. I pointed out they had already changed this, so they said, can we keep the car for an extended period to fault it. Additionally, all the steering wheel switches started to fail randomly. The car ended up in Lancaster’s workshop for over a week. They ended up taking the dashboard out and found that when they touched a control box that interfaces between the cars sensors and the computer everything went haywire. So they changed the box. Everything seemed to work OK, but I started to hear a transmission noise, very quietly at first. The car then produced another error message: ‘gearbox fault, reduced traction.’ Land Rover Assistance again came out and the car went back in to Lancaster. They said they did a software update to the diff control, which Internet research suggested was to extend the error code parameters on the Haldex pump. A few weeks later the same gearbox fault appeared and the noise from the transmission became louder. The car went back to Lancaster again (last week). They had it for 3 days and changed the Haldex Pump and the Transfer Box. Lancaster agreed to extend the warranty for another 12 months, although they wrote to me today and asked me to pay for it. I have just written back to them pointing out their previous agreement. I would like to understand my future options. I guess that whilst the car is performing correctly I have no right of redress. However, if it should fail again, is they anything I can do to reject the car and, if so, can I expect anything other than the current second-hand retail value? I have advised LandRover that I am very disappointed with the vehicle. My biggest concern is that if the car goes wrong it will be excessively expensive to put right. I have never owned a car that has had so many faults. Any advice you can give me would be most appreciated. I have deliberately written and emailed to Land Rover on each occasion the vehicle has failed and all emails are in a single chain.

JF, Aylesbury

Barge Pole springs to mind!

Don’t worry to much about sockets the circuit breakers will kick in.
For ours stair gates and a foam thing to stop the kitchen door slamming when the back door was open. That’s it!

This has inspired me to look for my old Sega Rally II Pc game. It was always more fun with the Stratos!!!!

My favouritise M3 rally car on my favourite Rally!

Frontline is the only tick and flea treatment I would use. Bob Martins stuff is rubbish.

Wife has one. They have driving lights on permanently so people forget to put their dipped or sidelights on. So they have no rear sidelights on! My Yeti driving lights are way brighter than the sidelights.

You can have Indian Thai Italian Chinese and Lebanese up by the Cathedral. There are some good real ale pubs dotted about just be careful of the locals coming in from the surrounding pit villages. They will normally stay in the market square and North Road area. Its a great place for a Stag Do.

In my opinion male cats are more affectionate but are more likely to fight and even ones that have been done still bloody fight like ours did for the first 12 yrs. Find a cheap vet who can stitch them up and administer a good dose of anti biotics. Did I mention male ones spray to mark territory. I hated that !
Our female cat never fought but good god could she hunt! Mice pigeons rabbits moles Koy Carp and garden birds to name but a few. Not as affectionate as the male but still enjoyed a cuddle till she had had enough then she’d take your arm off! I miss them both but not the hunting and destroying furniture and spraying! Our Son formed a very strong bond with Oscar our male cat and they were thick as thieves together.
I don’t agree with keeping cats inside, they will hunt and also have to take their chances with traffic etc but any Cat I believe would take that over being kept in 24/7!
Get a kitten if possible they are just the funniest things and you’ll remember them being lovely and fluffy as they tear your house to bits and destroy the wildlife around your house as they get older.

They did some tests on fitness drinks on the Beeb turns out water mixed with a bit of dilute orange juice a pinch of salt and 4 to 6 teaspoons of sugar is just as effective as any of the sports drinks on sale for re hydration.

The top of that seat tube doesn’t look too chipper just under the clamp?

If the fuel pump is knackered it will have filled the injectors full of crap. Sell it for spares or repair that’s what I did with mine.

2.7 Nissan Terrano tough as old boots very reliable nothing comes close in my view.

If I could find a well looked after ST 170 estate with some service history I would seriously consider getting another.

Had the mk1 lx estate 1.8 petrol face lift with alloy wheels added as an upgrade. Aircon heated screen front electric windows. Great bike car. Probably the best car ever designed at the time. Light years ahead of VW stuff.The Golf has only really caught up now dynamically to the Mk1 focus.Thats how good it was back in the day.

Ok then it’s the best of what’s available if you are new to Landrover ownership. I would also fit a tracker. For what it’s worth it’s also worth painting a non standard colour so it stands out. Thieves don’t like things that stand out!

Disc locks easy to get off if your a dedicated land rover thief. Pedal box is the only secure method of keeping your Landy. Don’t waste your money.

It’s OK to be offended!

As said above you must fit a pedal box lock. You are mad but think of it as a hobby rather than transport.Good luck!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/uk-weather-cause-flooding-government-7078739
Interesting article, wonder what the collective make of this?

Most pallets are softwood full of resin and sap. Doesn’t the sap and resin become acidic and damage the burner over time? Lads at work only use the pallet wood for kindling to get the fire started so they can put seasoned logs on. We are even thinking of moving so we can have a log burner, crazy I know!

Skyrim on Xbox 360 is still my sons favourite game.

We had a turner at work who started his life as a fitter down the mines. On one shift a piece of machinery had broken down on the pit face and he was sent down to try and repair it with a supervisor. This seam was about 18-20 inches high so they used to tie their tool bag around their ankle and drag it behind them along the seam. This day luckily for him he’d left his bag back down by one of the main shafts. Just as they got out of the seam to walk back for the tools the seam collapsed and the air pressure blew them like rag dolls back along the shaft 20-30 yards. Several broken ribs, collar bone, ankle etc later when he recovered they tried to make him go back down. He never went underground again. They tried to finish him but luckily he got a job in the workshops.

As said above 1.8 petrol Avensis Tourer. Nothing else will come close for reliability. Not bad to drive, people will let you out at junctions! At your budget you could go pre DPF diesel 2006 or earlier but I would stay with petrol.
Accords are reliable but the petrol ones are really thirsty however you drive.

70k for injectors is poor in my view. I would want the pump checking to make sure it’s not braking up and damaging or blocking the injectors with debris. The pump is normally after the fuel filter so any debris goes straight into the injectors. Crappy diesel with poor lubrication kills fuel pumps. Supermarket fuel is not the same as Shell or BP in my view. No point fitting new injectors with a pump that’s breaking up!!

If you do get one can I advise you to get a pedal box lock. It’s about the only thing that will stop one getting knicked. Even crappy ones are getting knicked for parts these days.

Yes you are mad. The Shogun will be 90% as good as the Landy off road and 100% better on the road. If you want a hobby get a landy but keep the shogun for when the Landy breaks down. As I’ve noted before a mate of mine trials a V8 90. His everyday runabout is the 3.2 shogun. He would never run one on a day to day basis as his only car and he is Landrover mad!

City to City. Gerry Rafferty
Rumours. Fleetwood Mac
The Wall. Pink Floyd
A Night At The Opera. Queen
Nevermind. Nirvana

Pretty bullet proof if you get the cambelt and waterpump done. It’s the 103bhp so not going to set the world alight but a solid commuter with decent economy. As for price who knows what people will pay for a VW!

We had a brief look at the yaris but it was quite expensive. Going to test drive a few today and see what she thinks of driving an auto. She always hated driving mine and felt she wasn’t in full control. She does sometimes drive up the wear valley over the tops so is a bit reluctant to trust fully electric I see your point though! I think the Fabia with the 1.2 110bhp dsg is the best car for her but she still sees a bit of the old skoda stigma even though we have a Yeti as the main car.

I remember watching Chris punt a Mclaren round a track then a Honda civic touring car. The Honda destroyed the Mclaren on the track. Horses for courses.

I had one of these a silver over grey face lift. By far the best car I’ve ever owned or driven. Wish I still had it. Had to get rid when my better half became pregnant. They go for silly money now if you can find a good one.