We went to a fantastic place called Celt Aventure – it’s in Brittany, near Vannes/Sarzeau

Was much better than ones we’ve done in the UK

Thanks guys, awesome suggestions. Lots to think about.

Thanks Finbar, he’s 7 (but 9-10 in size/height so not the smallest).

Cheers for the link – I’ll have a rummage through the site.

Thanks all. Wilkinson’s seems like a decent suggestion – I’ll give them a ring.

Great stuff chaps – lots to look at there.

GSK have ‘Execution Managers’.

I guess with all the shenanigans they (allegedly) get up to, that the occasional ‘offing’ of one of their own is to be expected.

I’ve been watching lots of Archer lately. Some of the insults in that are inspired.

My fave of late is quite simple though:

“Even your balls are made of pussy!”

Count me in please!

I’ll have turned the big 4-0 by then and I can’t think of better way to enter that decade by almost certainly smashing my face to bits.

Thanks again all.

The kitchen is a galley kitchen at the moment. Eventually we will knock through to the dining room to make a large kitchen/diner. The dining room has a double rad in it now, so it should be big enough to heat the larger room once we do it.

Thanks again all.

The kitchen is a galley kitchen at the moment. Eventually we will knock through to the dining room to make a large kitchen/diner. The dining room has a double rad in it now, so it should be big enough to heat the larger room once we do it.

So far, we have 5 rads, a towel rail and the offer of either one more radiator or a £200 cash refund.

It’s been a full install, all new pipework, new boiler and new rads.

It’s a 3 bedroom semi with two reception rooms and currently the hall and kitchen are without rads. (Kitchen wasn’t ever going to have one though).

I think we’ll just ask for the hall radiator and leave it at that.

In future, I’ll always be asking for itemised quotes though.

Oh, and they have fitted the boiler already

Thanks for the advice so far.

We went with these guys without getting other quotes as they were personally recommended by close friends.
We’re financing it through an interest free “energy efficiency improvement” scheme run by Manchester city council, and the company has already submitted the paperwork for us after we had agreed to the quote.

The whole job was costed at £5300 and they have offered us £200 back or an additional radiator. (We thought we were getting one in the hall, but they didn’t but still quoted for it anyway which is where part of the mix up came in). The other mistake was that our quote says 7 rads plus towel rail whereas they are now saying it should have been 7 rads including the towel rail.

Thanks all. On the phone to them now. My loins have been suitably girded!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeek.

Thanks for the info. Will call some builders asap.

Iain

There’s a guy in Manchester selling similar bikes on Facebook.
He calls them Kwikasfucki (sp?)

For a great non-fiction read, I recommend “The elements of eloquence”. Very funny and massively informative about the written language.

Chipsy Kings

in Amsterdam…

For reasons that I still don’t truly understand (well, maybe), my gran used to call the nougat wafers you can from the ice cream vans a “black man”. (this was in central Scotland in the early 80s)

Honestly, she used to send either my sister or me out to said ice cream van to get her a “double black man”…

I miss her. RIP Gran Barr.

Some excellent suggestions already. I love Lanark, but it can be a bit of a headfeck. One of the first “postmodern” novels apparently. I’d also recommend “Poor Things” by him too. I really enjoyed that.

I can heartily suggest:
Post Office by Charles Bukowski (low down Americana at its finest)
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski (scariest book ever written IMHO)
Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse (also look at Siddhartha by same author)
Pretty much anything by Haruki Murakami (The Wind up Bird Chronicle is my top pick)

Pie

I did think it sounded unusual so I went with ‘confidential between me and my employer’.

I offered to make my hard copy available in the event of a dispute/challenge but won’t email or photocopy it for them.

Thanks all, just needed a bit of backup before saying no.

House of leaves – Mark Z Danielewski.

Scariest book you’ll ever read…..

Thanks.

It’s currently SORN/not insured and is safely tucked away on our driveway.

I should probably just phone the garage and check with them.

Afternoon chaps.

Are there any slots left for BMX’ing tonight?

After nearly 40 years of investigating this very topic, the king of biscuits is most definitely the humble chocolate hobnob.

Thanks for all the advice.

I had considered cutting a channel and back-filling it.

Does anyone in the Manchester area have a stone saw they’d be willing to lend me? :D

wrightyson,

erm… :wink:

Ah yes, my electrician….

I have a friend who is an ex-spark. I think he might count as a qualified person to help do the install – then get building regs to come see it/sign it off?

Isn’t catenary a suspended wire? I’d rather avoid that if possible.

This is more what I was thinking about. Two of these will cover the full width of the drive and they can be permanently fixed.

Having read the collective wisdoms above, I think I might have calmed down enough to hold off till Santa can deliver it in person.

Thanks for talking me down. :D

Jambourgie

I’ll keep that one in mind for future trips, you can be sure. :D

We’ve had our 1984 T25 for just over a year now and I have spent more time under it than in it. This is not uncommon for these vans though.

When it’s running, it’s great, when it’s not it can be a money pit.

Are you mechanically minded? Are you willing to fix things yourself? If so, great; if not, it’s vital to find a mechanic who knows his way around these quirky vehicles.

In 12 months of ownership I have
replaced:
the exhaust
the exhaust mounting studs on the engine block
the radiator
the thermostat
the clutch slave cylinder and clutch pipe
the old wooden slatted rear seats/bed with a metal framed one properly bolted in.

fixed:
the carburetor
the cooling system (twice!)
some electrical bits and bobs

12 months ago I barely knew what an engine looked like. Armed with not much more than the Haynes manual and advice from the Club 80-90 forum I now feel I could tackle most issues without spending an arm and a leg on garage fees.

Do you know which engine it has? This is a major factor in terms of reliability and fuel economy. We’ve got a watercooled 1.9 petrol and they have several known issues. I’ve no experience personally, but I would look at diesel engine vans as they seem to be more reliable.

All that being said, we’ve just got back from camping at a family festival. The van behaved perfectly and it was a joy to drive.

As mentioned above, when it’s running, it really is fantastic!

Iain

(if you’re not 100% set on a VW van, consider looking at the Mazda Bongos. Every owner I’ve met swears by them – faster and more reliable than a T25)

There’s a certain Pharma company with offices in Shanghai on…..

Long Dong Avenue.

Hi eightyeight,

Thanks for the kind offer but I’ve just phoned Harry Halls and they’ve put one aside for me.

Iain

eightyeight – that sounds ideal.

I work just off Deansgate at Castlefield. Are you around today?

Went to the dealers yesterday. It was all frightfully civilised. We stated our case. He maintains his position that the car was fine when we bought it and isn’t in a position to repair/replace/refund. No big surprises there.

Now it all goes in writing and if no resolution can be agreed, citizens advice recommend speaking to my credit card company and opening a dispute through them.

It’s not likely to be a quick process. Will update as and when we hear more.

I guess it comes down to who can prove what.

The last MOT was done at 58,000 ish (so not many miles between that and us buying it). If there was oil burning at that time, would it have shown up on the emissions test?

I spoke to the dealer who can apparently 100% guarantee that the problem wasn’t there when I bought the car.

What do I do now?

Letter of rejection as a next step?

Dammit, I just sold my old bombers to a mate.