samuri got closest to a possible option 4 – a promotion. Ok I know it's a long shot these days, but you never know…

good luck Clare, and all the best.

the extra distance you can see all things reflective up ahead on the open road with HIDs is really worth it.the best thing about them is that you can see the eyes of animals further away/sooner than normal lighting. for the money,they are a really good upgrade.

ok, I'll begrudgingly admit they may be a good thing. I still don't like being followed by someone who has them though. Especially when it's wet as well as dark

why do you need HIDs retrofitted on a car that the manufacturer didn't think needed them? Halogens are bright enough as is, and 90% of the time they're so badly set up they're just as blinding as HIDs anyway.

Real bugbear of mine. Why do cars need HIDs? They're too **** bright

some of you folks seem to have the rough end of the management holiday planner stick :-(

I'm a programmer, I work in the IT department of the UK arm of a pretty big manufacturing company. We have an IT Director, 1 helpdesk guy, 1 operations guy, and me & two other developers.
We make doors – in Europe, Israel, N & S America, S Africa and the far east; we also make cubicles here in the UK.

Our IT team covers the UK (2 factories & 1 sales office), Czech Republic (IT Manager only, 1 factory), Poland (see Czech Rep); coming on stream in the next 12 months we also have Hungary (2 sites) and Ireland (1 site).

We 3 UK developers do all software development and implementation work for all the European plants; the 2 French developers look after all the development work for all 8 of their sites, but we have to do Quality Control on their work.

We never struggle to get the holidays we want, aside from the helpdesk guy & the ops guy can't be off at the same time, and at least 2 of us developers should be in the office at any one time (although we can have 2 off at the same time for the odd day or two).

In addition we get all bank holidays off, all weekends and a complete shutdown from 24th December until the first working day of the new year.

There's a lot of work for us to do, but we do generally get the holidays we want (first come first served of course) and we don't need to plan 2 years ahead like some of you poor sods

Life could be worse

buy CDs from a traditional record shop then 'back up' to PC;
download tunes mostly from Amazon but other online stores have been used;
on my home PC I use either ITunes or Windows Media Player; work laptop does not get used for anything personal.
I burn new CDs to play in the car – either compilations, own compositions (yeah, I'm in a band: The Wick Effect) or copies of CDs wot I ave downloaded, innit;
download to mp3 player (NOT Ipod – function over form for me thanks) or mobile phone (NOT IPhone) to listen to on the go.

(NB I don't particularly object to Apple products, I just think they're overpriced & overdesigned for what they are)

New(er) car also has an Aux input for MP3 player, but I still like to buy the CD – I like to have the artwork as well as the music

Julianne Regan – All About Eve: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycqBM19-4fU&feature=related
Elizabeth Fraser – Cocteau Twins: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mUmdR69nbM

how about Malham > over Kirby Fell > Stockdale Lane > Settle > Gorbecks(?) > Malham Tarn & back?

Christmas advertising & sh!t that starts before 1st December

People to stop asking what I want for christmas. It's not f×××ing December yet

none yet, we don't have enough songs. but we're working on it ;-)

bauhaus
virgin prunes
southern death cult (only saw them as the cult, BOOOO!)
pre 85 sisters of mercy

saw Bauhaus on The Sky's Gone Out tour. dull as dishwater
never saw Virgin Prunes, wasn't a fan
Southern Death Cult – check, December '82 :-)
Sisters – yep, several times pre 85 and a few times since.

My list now:
The Clash – could've / should've seen them at Bradford St George's Hall, summer '82 but never got round to it
The Cure, Siouxsie & The Banshees – both played at Bradford Uni / St Georges Hall while I was a stoodent but again, never got round to it.

overrated sub-country dreary maudlin rubbish

I worked at a lot of crap gigs in the 80s, but the one that stands out is one that I actually wanted to go to. Gene Loves Jezebel, Bradford Uni, c1987.

I really like em on record but live they drove me to the pool table.

Couldn't leave as I was working on the stage crew (unload truck, chuck it all on stage; wait around for a day & a half; rip everything off stage & chuck it back in truck) and had to be around after the set

Easy.

The Sisters Of Mercy + New Model Army + Skeletal Family, Huddersfield Town Hall, c1983/4

poor thing

we lost 2 within 10 days of each other 2 years ago :-(

we have another one now, who doesn't go out

Lost In Translation – that was a waste of a Sky Box Office £3.50
more recently The Boat That Rocked – mildly amusing I suppose, but again a waste of SBO money.

I tend not to go to the cinema so don't get the option of walking out, but as mentioned above, anything with Nic Cage in is going to be poor.

Mrs_drummer's sister bought us a DVD copy of Mamma Mia. That has to be the worst thing I have ever ever ever seen. I hated Abba beforehand but now, jeez…

I normally wouldn't recommend Argos for musical instruments, but…

how about this: http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5450411/Trail/searchtext%3EGUITAR.htm

actually I nearly mentioned a ukelele but thought better of it :-(

being another drummer (no!) I'm not too well versed on stringed things, but I would say nothing bigger than 3/4 size, and even that might be too big for a 6yo.

Do you think she'd have the patience to learn it properly at this age?

FFS it's only f***ing November!!!! Give it up with the Christmas sh!T, at least for another 3 weeks, please

very good but he needs to lose the old-man specs

It's never too early.

yes it f***ing is

not a squeak here in West Yorkshire. A tad wet, yes, but there's more wind in my guts

I had a few days in Vancouver this summer. I'd go back. But it's said to be pricey to live there.

no I didn't, but I have now. Very good

I'll let you off this time ;-)

Sharkbait – that depends if my heart ptroblem could be fixed by simply wearing glasses or contact lenses

Not bloody likely. I've only got one pair of eyes.

please don't mention the C-word again until at least 01/12/09

thank you

http://www.amazingunes.com

and blowing my own trumpet, http://www.myspace.com/wickeffect. Well Somebody's got to ;-)

http://Www.amazingradio.co.uk

yeah. New Model Army on The Tube, January 1984. I'm down the front right at the start. It's on YouTube somewhere

depends what you mean by 'plenty of space'

granted mine was the old shape, but I had a 320d Touring & the boot is seriously limited for an estate car – too small really for all my kit. The wheel arches really do encroach.

I could just about get my bag of stands in the boot, but there was very little room for anything else; by comparison, I now have a Saab 9-3 Sportwagon. The bag of stands, snare, cymbals and 4 rack toms all fit in the boot & I can still see out of the back. Kick & floor tom still have to go on the back seat but to get all that in the back I'd probably need a van (or a Volvo V70)

this is the kit I'm talking about:

However, if the boot size isn't that important then yeah, it's a good car.

actually, any Aagrah will be good. But especially the Shipley one, as that's where they started. It's opposite Thai Fever on Saltaire Road.

Jani's in Baildon is nice too. my local.

done my research now. I played at the 1in12 4 times in the 80s:

16/10/84 Mass Of Black / The Rejuvenation
07/08/86 Beat Of The Beast / The Jackals*
12/07/88 Heart Of Darkness / Seven Dead Americans
25/10/88 Seven Dead Americans / Death By Milkfloat

* I'd forgotten about that one – The Jackals didn't last long

Thai Fever in Shipley or The Royal Thai in Harrogate if Thai grabs you

What's Best is a very subjective question.
Perhaps "What's your favourite?" might be more appropriate

New Model Army – Live 161203
The Sisters Of Mercy – Wake
Fields Of The Nephilim – Forever Remain

now you see, to me those three are 'the best' and Jamiroquai wouldn't even be allowed in the house, but there you go ;-)

I played there at least twice with SDA 86-90 and once with The Rejuvenation 84ish.

Batley runs its near neighbour Dewsbury pretty close.

my main form of downtime is music. playing, practicing, recording, listening. And I ride a bike once or twice a month too.

I watch very little TV – except right now I have a New Model Army DVD on. Is it music or is it watching TV?