Real Handcooked Roast Ox, best I’ve ever had. Used to be able to get them in supermarkets but not seen them for aaaaaaaaaaaaages, but thanks for the timely reminder I’ll dream of them tonight……………

Also just found available on Amazon…….oh dear

I used to be really into F1, would watch every race live (inc Australia / Japan) on TV, then a few years ago the family went to Spa as we’d always wanted to, I flew in for the Saturday & Sunday.

Think I fell asleep after about 3 laps and woke up after it’d finished. And that was with the ‘loud’ engines. Only watched the odd race on to since but just find it a bit boring now.

I’m the opposite, hassle to get an answer from neighbours so wish they’d take it to the depot. These days get any non letter stuff delivered to work, much easier all round. Will be interesting in a few weeks when I get a sumo guard delivered for my car!!

I class it as a safety issue, as you don’t know what could happen to it if it was checked in.

I’ve not taken a bike helmet on a plane but taken my peltor crash helmet on way to rallies, of course this is in a padded bag with a HANS device etc. And then stuffed full with GoPro, and whatever other little stuff I can fit in. Nobody’s ever said anything to me about it.

meeeee – Is it 13mbar at the gas meter?

The network only guarantees 19mbar at the meter generally, and I don’t have detailed knowledge after that but the meter itself should govern the pressure to 19mbar anyway in case there is a spike in the mains pressure.

If it is lower than that, call the gas emergency line on 0800 111999 reporting loss of pressure, they will send engineer(s) to investigate. Could be a smaller than normal service pipe, could be a leak somewhere that you can’t smell, could be issues with the main in the street, blockages etc. Any of this (should) be sorted by the network FOC!

If pressure at the meter is 19, then it’ll be the outlet pipe work that needs looked at by your Gas Safe engineer. “quite a way from the gas meter” would suggest that is the issue to be honest…. but might be something as simple as having a dual service shared with a neighbour who has had new/larger appliances installed and the pipe now can’t support yours at the same time.

HTH. Depending where in the country you are I might be able to help further if you email me.

Rallying. If I’m not out filming for tv programs then I do some co-driving which I’m enjoying more and more. Got back the other week from doing the Safari Rally in Kenya, this weekend it’s a single venue event with a new driver doing his first ever rally, at Anglesey Circuit. Life could be worse!

If I had any sort of musical ability then I’d like to learn the guitar. Sadly never going to happen.

Due to various bad accidents over the past few years, rallying has been forced to improve its attitude to safety and limiting where spectators can go to watch. I really fear for its future as the future competitors/marshals/organisers turn up to the “excellent views of the action” which are actually pretty rubbish and it puts them off. A large percentage of people I know have given up with it.

I think all Motorsport will go this way in the near future and it’s only a matter of time before the TT etc is looked at in the same way.

I’ve always thought I’d like to give it a go, but not really being able to play the recorder at primary school always puts me off, I have no musical talent whatsoever p.

Obviously that doesn’t put a lot of pop stars off….

Maybe I will look back at this when the nights start drawing in later in the year.

I don’t carry anything daily, but have a multi tool in my bike bag, as you never know when it’ll be handy.

I did however last year find a small knife in my camera bag in Addis Ababa airport after arriving from London. Think maybe my GoPro power pack (large battery with lots of wires coming out of it……) might have distracted security and they didn’t check properly.

****, having started to thin out on the top over the past 2-3 years, now I have to worry about sunburn as well :roll:

There is an app called “What the Font” that is usually quite accurate.

I have a roadhawk as I’m addicted to spending money. Good quality video, hard wired to car battery and turns itself off it the battery starts to drop too much.

One thing I’d advise is if you are unfortunate enough to be in an accident that clearly shows the other driver is at fault, don’t jump out and shout “I got that on camera mate”. Keep it to yourself until you need to show the insurance etc. Have heard of at fault drivers grabbing the camera and making off with your vital evidence.

Maybe Laggan at end of April if it’s a bit warmer.
Week in Scotland at end of May, hopefully up to Torridon, Fort William etc then Tweed Valley on the way home the weekend after.

Well for starters chaps, there is no such thing as “the gas board” these days, it ceased to be a decade ago. The industry is privatised now (though heavily regulated).

If you’ve found a pipe, call whoever is the gas transporter in your area, they will get someone out to do a live/dead check and find out the status of it, and may even tell you what type of pipe it is.

It might be a main that feeds your street or the houses behind yours, or could be a service to one of your neighbours.

http://www2.nationalgrid.com/UK/Our-company/Gas/Gas-Distribution-Network/

I don’t trust valet parking. Off for 11 days next month and cheapest was long stay at a quite frankly ridiculous £95 :evil:

Ever so slightly cheaper deals with a hotel, but I prefer to keep my keys thankyouverymuch.

Feeder at the Caird Hall in Dundee, 2003. I only lived a few hundred metres away at the time. Was ok I guess.

I’ve got lots of people’s names and addresses, but pretty sure it would mean diddly as evidence if they were to get burgled?!

I have these rather than the standard candles in my shopping trolley, sometimes I have to dip the main beam as its too bright!

Yup, same symptoms on a Saxo about ten years ago, took the garage aaaaaaaaages and multiple visits to figure it out.

Funniest bit though was I was sitting at traffic lights somewhere after picking a mate up. it’s sitting there revving a bit with me not doing anything, some bloke in an Espace pulls up next to me thinking I was a boy racer or whatever, he hits his rev limiter and starts shouting at me, I raised my eyebrows and lifted my knees up and he quietened down sharpish.

Probably my best ever getaway from a set of lights, to be fair…

I moved from Fife to Sunderland about 3 years ago, was made an offer with work that I couldn’t have turned down. I don’t have property or family to worry about, however. But I do miss Scotland a lot and think I will end up moving back at some point.

But agree about the school for kids, they may not thank you for it. But then it might be the best thing you and they could ever do?!

Just today after having had a 4g phone for the past fortnight, I have been thinking that I’ll probably cancel my broadband and landline when my minimum contract ends. Been really paying attention to how much I use it, and the answer is not much! 4g is faster than my BB anyway so am using that rather than BB on my phone, can let my iPad use the phone data, will see how much it uses in total. Will just have to put up with not downloading sky box sets at 2Gb per episode :|

So, in short, no, it wouldn’t put me off. As long as 4G is available…

Went on too long, predictable, caught myself falling asleep a few times, breathing on the camera….

And if he does get the Oscar, well I can wheeze just as good as he does?

Annoying, as I like Leo in most of his other things.

I just don’t get on with fountain pens, too awkward for me and asking for trouble with a white desk at work!!

I am on the lookout for a good quality ball point pen, ideally for co-driving as I find that most pens I’ve used stop working at crucial moments…. and up until reading this thought that the Parker I bought in Sainsbury’s for £10 was on the expensive side :oops:

I upgraded a while back, but quickly reverted as pretty much nothing worked, gopro studio even refused to load. No intention of upgrading again, can’t be bothered with the hassle. Use my ipad for most browsing, email etc these days, laptop is just for photo and video editing.

But still, found it very frustrating, and I keep getting annoying notifications that I can’t stop appearing again, only close.

http://www.linesearchbeforeudig.co.uk may be useful.

Most utility companies (gas, water, BT etc) will have a department that should be able to provide plans, try googling for plant protection or similar?

I work for a Gas Network and we provide maps showing mains and some larger pipes, but even we sometimes have to have a guess at where it should be…..sometimes we can’t find them, or find a pipe that shouldn’t be there.

Be careful before you let the JCB loose on your lawn :wink:

j4mie – Yes we did wait for you to “blast” past (6 hours in Dyfi in the constant rain). I seem to remember it was quite a spectacular overall time gap between 1st and last…..

Driving back to Deeside you went past on the road in the opposite direction (heading to Chirk I guess) – the Hyundai sweeper car looked to be going faster / chasing you hard

Ahem, yes *cough* and in the stages as well! If we didn’t hit you coming the other way then you must’ve got lucky – my driver wasn’t used to a LHD car and there were a few close calls and urgent shouts from my side!

He was on a (very) steady run to the finish and that was his aim since entering, and as it cost a LOT of money he wasn’t taking any risks at all. We still had a few issues and lost a lot of time in the dark due to lights failing, intercom not working and windscreen steaming up….. And on the Sunday the car fell off the jack when we were changing a puncture on the way from Brenig to Alwen…fun fun fun.

Well I am a rally fan at heart and love it, have tried and tried with other motor sports but they just don’t do it for me, went with my family to watch the Belgian GP at Spa a few years back and think I lasted about 2 laps before falling asleep only for my dad waking me up saying it was over! Been to touring cars, Porsche races, auto tests, sprints, time trials, etc etc just find it a bit boring at circuits really but not sure why.

Personally my biggest achievement to date was finishing the Safari Rally earlier this year (and somehow we weren’t last!), then I also co-drove on Rally GB (and did finish last!) mick_r I do apologise if you waited around long enough for us to go past! :oops:

Luckily I film regularly for a rally tv show so get out to quite a few events in a year, just wish I could afford to compete a bit more, it’s not easy with no spare cash!

Gary M – presumably you mean a proper, full on, unconscious and having a fit on the floor type of hypo? I’d just be aware of what to do, and when (not if, it’s not a perfect science and everyone makes mistakes) it does happen you should be ready. Don’t be scared to call an ambulance, my parents only did this once when they thought I was too far gone.

I am T1 and have had a few over the years, always with an explanation of what I did wrong to cause it/ not stop it, latest was during the night two months ago, I’d been playing tennis all evening and had a bite to eat when I got home, but crucially took insulin with it as that’s normal…. The worst was walking along Argyle St in Glasgow and suddenly realised I needed sugar NOW and didn’t have anything with me, staggered into Tesco looking for the sweets aisle and distinctly remember everyone (including the staff) laughing at me, as I was obviously pissed!!! As I get really confused when going hypo, I don’t really have a clue what’s going on or what I’m doing. So some sort of ID I think is essential (I use medic alert). Btw I came round hanging onto a bin in a street, not good…

It’ll keep him on his toes. But I do think I’m healthier overall than I would’ve been, that possibly goes for my whole family too as they are more aware of sugar etc.

But I’d stress that he can’t just ignore it. Until the cure arrives, it’s a life long situation, there’s no getting away from it sadly. I kinda ignored it a bit when I was at uni but it’s fine now.

I am even enjoying going rallying which I thought would never happen (just co-driving, can’t afford to drive). Don’t let it stop him doing anything he wants to do!

And I gladly inject in the middle of restaurants etc. you don’t know what you’d catch in a toilet!

I’ve given up, took me months to find the guts to ask out my last victim the last girl I liked from my tennis club and she said no and laughed a lot.

It’s not worth the hassle.

It’s as if putting the nations energy supply into the hands of private business has failed to produce a long term energy solution even with incentives, subsidies and tax brakes.

If privatly owned energy companies are failing it is time for the industries to be taken back and the public’s needs and interests to be put before those of “the city”.

Quite.

It’s almost as if the general public doesn’t even know that a lot of gas/elec/water infrastructure is foreign owned already. Then we just need the Chinese to build a nuclear power station, that’ll mean that we’ll be ok for a few more years.

Or as above, they invade as it’ll be less hassle for them.

I check in online or on an app, then collect the boarding pass at the airport, has never failed*

*until I flew recently with Ethiopian Airlines, who don’t let you check in online leaving from London, very frustrating when I was trying to get someone else to do it while I was fighting my way through traffic to get there anything like on time….luckily the flight wasn’t full and I could move out of my middle seat!

Battle Los Angeles is the only film I’ve ever left a cinema from. And I’m a very patient and tolerant type.

I have recently taken to Banana Weetabix, love it.

I have two at a time. Twice if I’m not running late for work.

But only if I have remembered to get milk in, which isn’t that often sadly.

Just when I started working for my current employers, they had discovered that someone who had walked out 2 years previously was still getting paid – their manager had left the day after and they hadn’t filled the correct form in.

I live in hope…..

Good luck with your decision, hope it’s the right one for you!

Avoid metal valve caps for this reason, I found out about a year ago when I could only get one of the four off to check pressures. Tried all of the above but they wouldn’t budge. Took into a tyre shop and they managed to get one off ok but had to get two new valves fitted.

Richard Burns Rally. I believe the company folded as the game was a total flop (far too difficult for casual gamers). But it’s the best game I’ve ever played.

Can’t do Dirt as I only use a PC at work these days.

So, surely he can self certify if it was only the one week?

Case closed?

Fair play to him anyway.

Doesn’t go anywhere near Builth, Jim!

Thursday evening, ceremonial start in Llandudno, starts at 18:30 but all cars have to be there by 17:30 latest.
Friday – regroup in Newtown starting 11:56, followed by a tyre change zone just round the corner at 12:16
Service at Deeside at end of day, at 17:58.

Saturday, regroup at Corris (west of Dyfi) for 30 mins starting 8:41
Service at Deeside starting 15:42
End of day service starting 21:17

Sunday, regroup in Llandudno starting at 10:31 (just after doing the Great Orme).
Final service starts 13:41, followed by the podium.

I am in no 106 – a Renault Twingo R1. Entry list is here

Interesting McRae & Burns is mentioned, there is Kris Meeke and Elfyn Evans (son of Gwyndaf) in top cars for the past couple of years and am sure that will continue for longer, as well as Seb Marshall co-driving for Kevin Abbring in a Hyundai.

Of course it’s not like the old days, it never will be again sadly, but the cost in organising and taking part is already massive, and would be a heck of a lot more if it was to move around the country every day.

It could be argued that it is just as tough as it was back then due to no servicing being allowed outside the service area, and especially the guys at the top are pushing the limits. Whereas back in the day they would have chase cars following them after (most) stages.

Day 1 of the rally there is no service until the end of the day, only a short tyre change area in Newtown after the first loop.

Woody21 – there is usually evening highlights on Motors TV which is on Freeview these days I think?
BT Sport might show something as well, but I don’t have access.

And totally agree mick_r, it’s a sad reflection of the way things are these days that a lot of people don’t clean up after themselves :( As if most organisers aren’t already up against it with most people not wanting to be disturbed by noisy cars being driven past (one day a year), I’ve seen some total idiots at events and as it’s the biggest it generally attracts the worst of them. I’m sure there will be lots of Poles this year to cheer on Robert Kubica, so imagine the vodka levels will still be quite high….

But whatever you do, try to stand somewhere sensible, but above all, enjoy!

Had my Panda in a t the local Fiat dealer a few weeks ago, they had wanted £246 to replace a wishbone, but I got one from ECP for £42 and as I couldn’t get the bolts undone cost £72 for them to fit it.

They also did a health check, and recommended the other one was changed along with the drop link (to be fair I suspected that), but also said discs/pads 90% worn, three tyres needed, a sidelight bulb (£18!), wiper blades…. £680 in total.

Another wishbone, drop link £13, £108 to fit.
I already had a set of pads, fitted them myself, wipers £6.93 off ebay, two tyres £75. Sidelights working fine!
Service and mot today for £150.

Should be ok for another year.