One more bit of advice – go on ebay and do a completed listings search for your price range. That way youget a good idea of what's changing hands at good prices. Astras tend to go very cheaply, as do Rovers (but avoid anything with a K series rather than a Honda engine). And Audi A4s still look pretty decent and go go cheaply.

Seriously, I wouldn't recommend a Ka. Every one I've seen around a grand has been rusting like crazy. They go where the B pillars meet the sill, round the filler cap, in fact, everywhere the MK3 Fiesta they're based on did.

The old 1.3 Endura-E is rubbish. You get 13.4 seconds to 60 and do well to get 40mpg. And the thing has pushrods and tappets. Which are always noisy. A fair proportion of the Kas were also fitted with unvented disks – this means pad changes are incredibly regular, and the brakes aren't really up to stopping the car when it's full.

And the things aren't even particularly cheap!

But I can vouch that you can get a bike in the back of one. And they do change direction like a housefly. The downside is that mismatched tyres result in serious instability.

Again, superminis around a grand are overpriced – there's a lot of demand for them (learners, lots of people who won't drive larger cars, perception that they're super cheap to run), but the real bargains are in the slightly larger cars, which often have similar fuelling costs, and are a lot better fitted out.

Either a 1.6 MK3 Golf or a 1.9TDI MK3 Golf. The TDI's run at a fair premium, but both will do 40mpg easily – they were one of the first decent TDIs in a non-French car. The 1.6 will cruise at 80-90mph quite happily. £900-1k will get you a 1.6 with good history and no / very little rust (front wheel arches are first place to go, walk away from anything with sill problems). They also look reasonably smart if you don't get one in a horrible colour (not in an "ooh nice car" sense, but in a "not necessarily a pauper" way. A 6N Polo is also an option (95 on?) but I'd sooner have a Golf for decent mileage.

If you want to go really cheap, ZXs and Xsaras have decent diesel engines, will do 40mpg, and some will run on veg oil. However, the build & comfort is nowhere near as good.

Other option would be a Mondeo 1.8, which will just about scrape 40mpg (the 1.6 isn't worth having, engine's a bit too small for the car so it uses similar amounts of fuel), or the 1.8D, but the old Ford diesels are terrible.

Don't even bother looking at Fiestas around that price. They either wear terribly or are all clocked, the 1.3 engine is terrible (1.25 is good, but at a premium again). I expect you will find most small cars are similar in that regard.

Ultimately, good cars at good prices sell fast. I've found that quality has fallen a lot in the £1k car market since scrappage was introduced. I used to pick up reliable but tatty motors for £3-400, and nowadays there is nothing at that price range.

My advice is to check Autotrader's website regularly, as stuff goes straight onto it, and ring up quick. Quiz the seller – make it clear that you only want to go and see the car if it's decent. I find it's best to get them to quantify any problems – ie, rust bubbles in terms of coin sizes etc. Anyone who says "It's got a few bubbles" has something Lancia would have been ashamed of on their drive.

I would say that the Air Ambulance is going to become much more important as time passes. The trend is very much towards consolidation – larger hospitals with more specialist staff and equipment.

As nobody seems to want to build a decent road network, we're going to rely more on the air ambulance. As an example, we're 5 miles from the nearest hospital, but that's still going to be a 45 minute round trip if it's done at rush hour, even with flashing lights.

In fact, the other night in Nottingham, the air ambulance attended to someone at the playing fields just south of Uni Park. It's less than a mile to the Hospital (QMC), but the route is incredibly choked up in the evenings.

Cor, someone who's got a 135 with the proper canvas bits for the cab. Apparently kept your feet nice and toasty with warm air off the engine.

Sleeping in cars and vans not set up for it is a bit grim – you get condensation on a van's roof. Even sleeping for a couple of hours in an estate car, you find that the whole car and everything in it feels pretty damp. Ventilation and insulation is needed to make it bearable – maybe a basic ply line with insulation and some vents (police dog van type or camper type?) would be up to it.

Seems to be a common theme ScienceOfficer. Management were all technical experts at a guess?

I'm with Matt on this one. They cost a lot to run and a lot to buy – even driving a small car around France gets pricey quickly, I'd hate to think what it costs in a big camper at 25-30mpg.

Ahh, but if I file the chainring bolts down, then I'll be stuffed if I ever want to go back to 3×9. You have to plan ahead with these things 😆

The stack idea works. I was going to say that with one on a bolt, the bolt head is probably bigger than I want the washer to be.

Aye, it is a hassle, but I've got a second hand bash ring on the way, and I'm a student – a lot more time than money!

Get a new one,

You're almost suggesting that the old one breaking down was a good thing. Have a google of the broken window fallacy.

Honestly, I don't know how anyone takes pictures on a ride. I've taken the camera out a few times, I'm always concious of having it with me and the chance of breaking it. And I never feel like breaking up a good ride to get my mates to "ride over that right good bit" whilst I try and take a photo.

I've just done it several times – you take the middle ring off, get it over the inner, move it through 45 degrees or so, meaning that the tabs no longer line up with the tabs on the spider, and wriggle. You get one side over, then the other. It's not difficult to do, just needs a bit of patience and lateral thinking.

I found it easiest to do with the driveside crank pointing forwards, giving you plenty of room to wriggle the ring over the spider by the chainstay.

Can anyone translate what retro83 just wrote – is it Olde geekspeak?

Linux can appear, on the surface, to be fairly straightforward. However, you get dumped into the world of command prompts (MS-DOS is an example you may be familiar with), editing your own configuration files and things just not working for any apparent reason far too regularly.

I completely agree that Linux (particularly the Debian based stuff) is fantastic for hassle free computing – I set up a Debian machine for my mum to use, and it simply worked for years. XP, however, pretty quickly got fouled up with Virii.

On the other hand, half the stuff you want to do on a PC cannot easily be done on Linux. Last time I had a mess with it, there were no decent IM clients, you can't use Word (which rules it out for me), Flash was a fag to get going etc. Software is very much developed in the style of the average 17 year old's "tuned" car – the "cool" stuff gets strapped on straight away, so Linux had translucent windows, fancy themes and 3D interfaces when they were Tomorrow's World type stuff. Nevertheless, the boring stuff like tracking down the occasionaly misfire doesn't happen – new features seem to be added constantly in favour of properly fixing the ones that exist.

The worst part of all is the quality of the support – the average Windows / MS question has been answered in the MSKB or on a Forum. The average Linux question requires signing up to a forum and being upbraided by a bunch of geeks.

I found that Combofix sorted my PC out when it was infected with an infuriating google redirect system – half my results would go astray to Ask.com and a load of other gubbins.

Various AV kit – Microsoft Security Essentials & Malware Bytes found stuff and removed it, but the problem continued. PrevX and Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal tool both gave the PC a clean bill of health.

Combofix found the problem (a rootkit – to do a google redirect!) and cured it for me. Which was nice. And it scanned and fixed in 20 minutes or so. Which is much better than the 6+ hours some were taking.

I'm fairly sure the anti air loss stuff is aimed at not losing air when you disconnect from the forks. Filling the gauge and hose will always result in a reduced reading – TF agrees with me in the Fundamentals vid on fork tuning.

A Shimano chainring is tougher than a dremel multi. I wouldn't advise anyone to try filing steel chainrings by hand!

I could never get my Magura rotor straight enough to work well again. See how it goes.

File time then. Can't really be doing with sending them back and getting new ones from a different supplier etc.

From what I can gather, even the football fans hate Lovejoy.

I don't particularly dislike football. I just dislike everything that goes with it. Tim Lovejoy, people down the pub making noises like they're all being simultaneously pleasured etc.

how do you microwave a baby down a toilet?

More importantly, what tyres for microwaving a baby down a toilet?

My experience of soldiering on with ancient computers is that it generally isn't worthwhile. You end up spending loads of time to get something that is a bit faster. But still way behind the curve, and what any content you use expects to be running on.

If you have the cash, drop £2-300 on a new box. There are lots of websites that list Dell's special offers, which are generally unbeatable in my book.

I've got one from last year – not quite the same model as this one – I don't think mine has full HD, but I couldn't give a monkeys.

Ours is fine. The EPG isn't amazing, but it's a lot better than my Dad's JVC telly has, which only shows you one channel at a time and has no internal memory.

Picture is fine – blacks aren't as black as they are on a CRT, I've no idea if other LCDs are much better or worse. It doesn't suffer from the bizarre colour problems I've seen on some branded LCDs (ie, everyone looking very orange etc.).

Got deleted along with the majority of the people on my level at the front end of 2009. Then got hired back for a bit as a temp by the same firm for a while. To be honest, I'd had enough of the job so I was relieved to be out of it.

Went back to uni for to do a master's, sold some bits and pieces to fund it and met a load of really sound people at uni. The job market is still a bit flat (big firms are still cancelling entire grad intakes!), but I'll find something.

I've got all my limbs, a good set of mates and my bird, so I'm pretty happy.

That said, I hope I never see the inside of a dole office again. And that I'd not bought any bonds!

I'm fettling a bike for a mate. He dismantled it to save me a job.

Unfortunately, he removed every clamp bolt from everything on the bike, and chucked them all in a carrier bag…

From the way they describe it, it sounds a lot like silicone oil to me.

I do think there's another angle to the weight thing – as cars get heavier, they have to be more powerful to offer the same performance. As cars tend to bump into each other, the cars will tend to get heavier if some popular models do, in order to retain the same level of safety.

The end result is that even learner driver type cars will do 100mph, and everyone uses a lot more fuel than they would if we were putting modern engines in cars that weigh a tonne.

RR Sport is based on the Discovery, RR isn't.

I don't think it's a big deal. It's certainly not a difference you can tell when you're driving – perhaps a 1-2% increase in power? One thing I have noticed when looking at cheap methods of getting more air into an engine is that the entire range of a model often has the same air filter and air box specified, say from the 1.4 to the 3.0 Golf. If the filter you have can flow enough for a 3 litre engine and you haven't got one, you haven't got great chances of making a difference.

There can also be issues with some types of sensors in the inlet being screwed up by the oil from the K&N I believe.

Personally, my attitude to tuning is mainly one of chip it if it's got a turbo, or buy a faster car. They're the cheapest routes to more speed.

That said, I would do an engine swap to my Golf if I had the cash 😆

There's also much more of a chance of a K&N / exhausts making a difference on a really old car (ie, 1970s or earlier) when one of the main methods of quietening an engine was to strangle it a bit with narrow intakes and exhausts.

My view is that your next employer will always tend to base your salary on your previous one. I'd take the pay rise then leave in 6 months – you've got a fair chance of being 10K better off every year for the rest of the time you're in work.

Perhaps they think he's a Tory MP?

I'm moderately geeky – have been messing with Linux from the days of Redhat 5.2.

I found MythTV to be a complete nightmare. Even GB-PVR is a pain and that runs on XP.

Eventually a Humax came up brand new second hand – a PVR-9150T. Interface is pretty good (EPG etc. is better than Virgin, perhaps close to being on par with Sky), and it seems reliable enough to me, and the remote is good too.

I'm sure that someone showed a BB they'd fitted into a Ti frame with copperslip – the threads had pretty much disappeared.

We used to have some special grease for steel fixings on alu greenhouses – I seem to remember it's green. But it's also probably from the 1950s or 60s, so it'll most likely be banned by now.

Righto, looks like I'm after a cheap set of forks too!

The V-posts are missing, so it seems a bit daft to go buying them, then some v-brakes. Will end up costing almost as much as a second hand set of discs.

Get rid of the thing. I'd bet 50p it was the BSI that went wrong – multiplexed body computer. The electrics on the multiplexed PSA kit at the moment is a joke.

I used to do a lot of wandering around in ponds in my old line of work.

The big problem is silt. You can look at the bank, look at the pond / lake bed and it'll appear to be fine. Take a few steps in and you surprisingly often drop straight in up to your waist or chest as the ground underneath you gives way.

Every time you drop into cold water, you involuntarily take a BFO breath, and so it wouldn't be too difficult to envisage a situation where one might drown.

I am a VOLUNTEER sustrans ranger in the adjacent area to you (assuming you are talking about the sherwood pines area)
I have passed your concerns on
if you could tell me what route it was in particular it may help?

NCN 6 I believe. Comes out of the back of Sherwood Pines and heads off towards Blidworth, Ravenshead etc.

There's a bridge over the road at Rainworth – old railway type and it's quite elevated. Someone's stolen all the weldmesh off the fence, so there's nothing to stop the wobblier cyclist falling down the embankment / onto the road.

There's also a section that crosses the main road in Blidworth – signage as you head towards Ravenshead is dodgy. We're talking the signage within 100yds or so of the main road – there's little indication that the white road you end up on is actually part of the NCN.

Signage either needs to be bigger, or more shaped (so it's really obvious which way it's pointing). With the current stuff, you can make out that it's an NCN sign, but not which way it's pointing. My eyesight is fine, and I found them difficult to read without slowing down even at quite a slow pace – 10mph tops.

In my view, the TPT between Renishaw and Rother Valley show how a recreational cycle route should be done – good signage, looks pretty much like standard country road sign sized. Best bit is that the route goes places – there are pubs about, cafes and so on. The result is that it's pretty well used and fly tipping doesn't seem to be a problem.

I personally can't see what the NCN project is about from what I've seen – it doesn't seem like a serious effort to provide an alternative to the roads, and it doesn't seem like a well planned recreational route.

Granted, you could ride it on a folder, a CX bike and probably even a road bike if you were really determined. But the casual cyclist will think "Mountain bike", and go and buy something they aren't likely to use for their day to day business – not neccesarily Sustrans' problem, but not helping the wider idea of getting people on their bikes on a more regular basis.

I appreciate that Sustrans is a charity and that a lot of the work is done by volunteers, and so they can't do everything they might wish to etc. Nevertheless, some of the stuff they've done seems very odd to an outsider looking in.

Because it seems to be fundamentally wrongheaded organisation.

The system doesn't come close to providing an option for sustainable transport as their name suggests. Nobody is going to get to work on the Sustrans system around where I live, unless they happen to work at Sherwood Pines Café.

Even if it did go somewhere you needed to go, you need a mountain bike to ride it, whilst a road bike or hybrid is far better for making a decent pace.

From the point of view of the leisure cyclist, the National Byway seems to make a lot more sense as it goes through places of interest and eases people into the experience of cycling on quiet roads.

I know what the signs are. They're just not a great deal of use to anyone as they're a) too small and b) don't tell you much.

As for the path blockers – if I can get my bike through, you can get a motorbike through.