The people of Tanna worship their own god – Prince Phillip.

Now this sounds really bizarre. Surely these people are nuts, but at least their god is a real person.

Religion, yawn!

Ignore the doubters Rockplough … you can just about manage it for that price! Got a week in Austria all inclusive for £275 this year flying from Glasgow. Obviously lift passes are on top of that but the small area pass was about £150 I think.

!!!!????

I'd budget for £700 doing things on the cheap.

A run of the mill ski holiday in the Alps costs £1000 with equipment hire.

I have my own skis and boots and any regular skier would benefit having this kit, but you do now get stitched up for carriage by air carriers. Driving solves this, but it's a long schlepp down to the Alps in one day.

Servicing is easy. It takes me about 20 mins to edge, fill, scrape, wax, polish mine. I use an old travel iron and some proper ski maintenance tools.

Some people make money out of it, or it wouldn't be happening.

You just need to find your niche.

Shop around (got mine for £85 on eBay), but they have gone up.

Still worth the current asking price (all day long).

You will NOT be disappointed!

I thought truckers normally fantasize about such things not report them…

I think the clue is in that she dropped four dress sizes in the run up to the trial. Ewww!

Lay a scaffold board on the extension's roof tiles to spread you weight. The extension roof is at the level of the bedroom windows, so I doubt if you will need ladder (unless you are 5ft tall).

To stop the board slipping on the pitched roof, put a couple of beefy screws in the board and attach some adequate nylon rope. Better still, drill holes in the board.

Haul it up the pitch until it's parallel and a foot or two from the bedroom wall.

Feed these ropes, one through each bedroom window.

Tie the ends to a couple of lengths of timber too wide to pull through the openings and so they are held fast. Wrap something round these to protect your internal decor.

Then step out carefully and sort it out.

Guttering is cheap as chips and use a large trowel to lift tiles so you can see under them to check the felt etc.

Roofing work is pretty easy when you have gained access.

Make sure nobody is below you and breakables are out of the way.

If you are feeling worried about the unlikely event of falling off your shallow pitched roof, tie yourself to one of the internal anchor boards before you step out. Use enough rope to do your work, but keep it short enough to stop you falling off.

Also, move anything below the roof that could do you a nasty if you did fall.

A professional roofer would just step out of the window, no board, no harness, but they are used to chancing it and have the right footwear.

Jeez, you need advice from someone who knows the tax system – a good accountant!?

If you don't trust one accountant, see another to compare what they tell you.

My accountant is great and doesn't rip me off. He knows what he exists for – to save me money legitimately.

Some people!!

Can't beat a bit of narrowminded xenophobia!

Acoustic Energy Aego M – period!

However nothing beats coming back to the campsite after a long day out and cracking a cold beer from the fridge. Can't get that with a tent – the beer is always warm!

Yes you can! I always take a fridge when we go camping.

Been skiing 25 years now. It's not possible to go for a week for £400 including spending money and passes.

Passes are very expensive in many European resorts, so scope these out first. Don't go to France or Switzerland, they are more expensive than Austria and Italy. You might find a small local resort that is cheap, but you won't find many Brits. I know of one or two near Grenoble, but they so small that they are half day resorts for an experienced skier. This size of resort could be OK for you, but it could be limiting when conditions are poor. With a larger resort, you get the option to go higher/lower, or just elsewhere, to get the best conditions depending on the weather/temps.

As a beginner, don't pick a super resort (several valleys and a large ski area). All you will do is waste money on an expensive pass and an extensive area that you won't be able to access.

Many resorts have free lifts on the nursery slopes. These will suffice for the first day or two, saving you 30-50 Euros. So don't buy a week's pass when you arrive, buy your pass when you are ready. Selva Gardena and Canazei in Italy's Sella Ronda have huge easy nursery slopes. The lift for this was free when I last went there and a member of our party spent the best part of a week learning to board on these slopes.

Pick somewhere with lots of easy gradients and give yourself a chance, but my snowboarding mate reckons he prefers the steep stuff because it's easier getting up after a fall. I dunno about that, but then i'm a skier.

The other thing you need to avoid is resorts with a lot of level(ish) tracks, unless you like walking. You'll be frustrated by all the skiers polling past you.

Andora is probably your best bet. Much cheaper than the usual popular destinations. You can get full board packages including passes for close to you budget if you pick the right moment to book.

Go early/late in the season. Check resort websites to get tariffs, but expect a shorter ski day at the beginning of the season and slush at the end. Snow cover is potentially an issue, although the late season is frequently much better than people imagine.

I haven't been to Slovakia or Bulgaria, but from what i've heard, it is cheap and basic. Lifts aren't great and these resorts fall below par. Again, this is not such an issue to a beginner.

If you want a reliable source of information on ski resorts worldwide, you must buy a book titled "Where To Ski". There is also a website if you google it. This reference has been spot on accurate for me every time i've used it in the past seven years.

Make sure you always wear a helmet and proper wrist guards!

I cracked my Foretrex 201 screen and Garmin replaced it for £41.50 incl. postage. Bargain!

Not the first experience i've had with Garmin service.

They are 1st class in this respect.

Their products ain't too bad either! 😆

People who finish a sentence with the word "innit" ! 😆

It's flippenheckler's money and his opinion, have some respect for that!

Get a pair of those mains plug ethernet extenders.

You get two mains plugs with ethernet connectors and data is sent over your ring main.

I think you can get these for around £45. perhaps less.

I'm curently cabling out my house with CAT5e. A proper inconvenience now, but very convenient later down the line.

rickydisco – Member

check this badboy out – Ural 4320 Russian Military Truck Motorhome Conversion

Guaranteed to get you banned after you chew up each campsite, but make sure you get an HGV license first! Camper fail!

WTF is that yunki?!? 😆

Don't get me started on boats! 😆

Someone will ALWAYS be able to go one better!

Blazin Saddles – How much did the conversion cost?

How much was the new one Epicsteve? I'm liking it!

First off, get an ethernet cable and connect the tv directly to one of your wifi router's ethernet ports (if it has any). If you get a service, try setting up the wifi link using the USB adapter you bought.

I wouldn't expect a steady uninterupted performance over wifi, much better to use a hard wired configuration.

Your iMac has nothing to do with getting the TV attached to the internet, but you may want to stream to the TV. You will have to read the TV instructions to see if it will recognise streaming feeds from Mac's or PC's.

Have fun!

The Great Jam of China

What are the Chinese authorities doing about the huge increase in cars?

Answer: Nothing!

What difference will switching to biofuels make?

Answer: Zilch!

Set a reserve of £250 and list at 99p or you will pay a lot more to eBay.

Also encourage the buyer to pay you cash to swerve the 3-4% Paypal fees.

Check the eBay terms as fees can be quite high.

Combined fees can be as high as 14%, but this reduces for more expensive items.

You would be better off if you can sell it on STW frankly!

Yes, any historical event described in the present tense is annoying.

The people who make those tacky police stop, or crime investigation programs have a habit of doing that.

I've got the same brakes as the A6 on my Skoda, and can tell you that after 10 years, the rear pistons do not want to go back into the caliper easily.
I've tried the g-clamp with pliers and wrenches with no luck at all.
I spent an hour on one side without budging it, so have just ordered a wind-back kit from ebay:

Mine rotated with ease, but they were wound back two years ago. The first time, they proved stubborn.

The pads aren't worn out this time, but the disc is badly scored and there's a significant portion of the disc's surface which doesn't appear to be contacting at all. This is probably due to the infrequent use, the short journeys I make and the light braking I subject the car to. 10 years and 76k miles is a good innings for a set of discs.

I'm replacing both discs and pads so I don't wreck the new discs.

Hire one for about that if not less with all the gear, you'll get through a lot quicker and easier.

I tried to find a company that would hire me one and failed. All the people I spoke to said they didn't hire these out due to safety concerns.

So I borrowed a cheap one from a mate which was infact brand new. Going very gently at a tree trunk no more than 8" thick, I blunted the chain. So I went and bought a needle file and resharpened it. This lasted another 10-15 mins. I re-sharpened the chain and returned it telling my mate about the problem. He experienced the same issue, so bought a new chain. The guy in the shop said the chains on cheap chainsaws are rubbish and matey confirmed that he cut loads of stuff before the new chain needed a resharpen.

"Big time" used in place of an exclamation.

Dragon's Den when they say "Now let me tell you where i am". You're in the **** studio you numpty!!

"Ahead of the curve". I have no idea what that means!

"in the ball park". Oi mate, why not use a simple, single word like "roughly"??

Grrrrr 😆

"Blown to Smithereens"

Where the **** is Smithereens????

"everything happens for a reason"

is a saying bandied about by religious/supersticious types.

Totally irrational thinking and most unhelpful!

Cable tie an old windsurf mast to a gazebo.

We did this for the last world cup 4 years ago. We took a projector with us and put an aerial on the mast (which also had a large England flag flyinf from it). Proper chavvy stuff, but the whole site came to watch the game on the 14ft screen.

That's exactly why the Qashqai has been a huge success. Cosseting ride, decent boot space, 2WD or 4WD depending on preference, very similar footprint and price to the typical Golf/Focus/Astra hatches.

I know, my wife has had one for 3 years.

It's a rather gutless 1.5Tdi 2WD variant which is rather mediocre on fuel.

It rattles like a bag of bolts and clunks over bumps like it's about to come apart, even after we got the rear shocks replaced under warranty (a widespread Qashqai fault). Took ages to get them to sort this out too.

The servicing cost make a Mercedes look cheap to run and the dealership experience has been truly painful! Wifey booked it in for it's first service at 12 months and didn't ask the price. We got a bill for £330!? Daylight robbery, but this was the official Nissan service cost for that interval.

It also eats front tyres, probably due to the high centre of gravity/body roll.

Buying this vehicle was a BIG mistake!

I'd chance a Toyota, Honda (these are great), Mitsubishi, or Suzuki, but never another Nissan!

Out of interest, can any bike be chipped/detuned?

I did my DAS three years ago, rode about 35k miles back in prehistoric times, but never bothered taking the test. I did the DAS for commuting flexibility, but no need has arisen yet, so still no bike. 😥

At the time I read about a few bikes which can be bought with reduced power output. I can't remember if this was to take a mid sized bike below a certain output to enable younger intermediate license holders to buy these particular vehicles, then get the restriction taken off when they qualify.

If there was a way of taming the huge power of your mate's new bike, would he consider having it detuned for the first few months until he's got his eye in?

On of my mate's employes had a similar bike and wrecked it. All he did was give the throttle a quick blip. The wheel spun out on the straight and he slid, expensively, down the road. Fortunately there was no oncoming traffic!

Personally, I can't see the point in having such excessively powerful bikes available to ride on public roads!

How do they test for Menigitis these days?

I had viral Menigitis 27 years ago, along with all the symptoms you describe.

To my recollection, the only test was a Lumbar Puncture – not nice!

However, if you did have Meningitis, you would almost certainly have been too ill and hospitalised by now.

My sister used to get migraines. It turned out to be an intolerance of caffeine.

I'm sure you have been round and round in circles and are feeling anxious for some answers.

I would recommend going to a nice pampering spa for the day and have some relaxation treatments. This might just help, but if it doesn't, at least you will have had a nice day out.

Good luck with the scan and I hope you get better very soon!

Don't forget to sprinkle fresh rosemary on the meat before it goes in the oven.

I'm not a fan of garlic on lamb though.

Keep your backs to the wall. 😆

Using the phrase "big up……", especially when said by posh middle class TV presenters.

A2's hold their value because they are excellent cars! Made from aluminium, they were very expensive to build and this was the principal reason why Audi pulled production. I have read unconfirmed reports that the frugal diesel variants can achieve as much as 124 mpg, but i know 70mpg is achievable, even by the most leaden footed drivers. I wish i'd bought one instead of my A6 as the A2 would be worth more now.

The A2 never got the promotion it deserved and some totally miguided motoring journalist unfairly slated it. If launched in these times of high fuel prices, it would be an instant success.

Years ago I drove an A2 whilst my own car was in for service and was very surprised at how good it was to drive. My surprise was entirely due to the negative review I'd foolishly believed.

It comes as no surprise the review was wrong as I have known reviews of other cars to be very biased and misleading. Also, these points of view often do not take into consideration, model variants or model updates.

Many years ago I met a motoring journalist. He was quite frank: If a company was prepared to fly him out to somewhere exotic to try out their new cars, whilst being cossetted in luxurious surroundings, he wasn't going to write anything negative! He ended up working for one of them!

So based on how some companies literally bribe the motoring press, it's no surprise that the reputable firm's products don't get the credit they deserve!

My advice is to try out anything you like the look of and only use reviews as an additional point of reference after you have had "hands on".

I'm really sorry to hear your news! Not good at all mate!!!

hora – Member

I'm patiently waiting for these to be launched in the UK. Not brilliant clearance but very very basic and cheap

http://www.lincah.com/2010-dacia-duster

You have been watching Top Gear! 😆

But seriously, we need more utility type vehicles at sensible prices.