nelmo

Don't tell the Daily Mail - they'll have a full campaign going with dire warnings of global meltdown...

I did my 'knight in shining armour' routine yesterday on my way home from work - stopped for petrol and there was a bloke in a Caterham on the forecourt, with his bonnet off. Turned out his battery (one of those small, Banner ones) had gone flat a few days before (despite being on a trickle charger all winter) and despite a complete recharge the night before, had only lasted half a day. I drove the guy to the nearest Halfords to see if he could get another one but they didn't sell them (I did try to call rather than drive there - they didn't answer). But the guy in Halfords (not the usual spotty teenager but someone who seemed to know what he was talking about) said Banner batteries were not much good - too little lead, too strong acid. I was always under the impression Banner were a good brand - was Halfords man talking rubbish, does anyone know?

I've not done this before but can we not just meet up in the town centre? We may not be parked together but we can arrange to meet at a suitably obvious location on foot (wearing pink carnations, obviously )? Otherwise,, I'll try to make it for that time but my planned 'fun' route to the start from home ie. non-motorway, is telling me 4 hours (that's a lot of fun So, don't wait for me but I'll try be there... . I'll definitely see you for food later...

The difficulty with IVA advice is that no 2 test centres do it the same, despite the huge manual. So all I can say is what happened for me (in August last year)... I don't think you have to worry about your wiper stalks - I left my wiper button on my dash (no stalks for me) and it was never mentioned. If the wipers existed, then they would test them but as they're not there, no problem.

I got this from Halfords when it was on sale at £25 - http://www.halfords.com/workshop-tools/tools/tool-kits/phaze-95-piece-tool-kit Added some cable ties, gaffer tape, fuses...

Just as a counter - I used them as well and it went fine. They came out to me a couple of days after I called them, picked up the frame and came back about a week later (can't recall exactly), all for £90 which seemed pretty good.

Bloody hell!! Carnage....

The concern over phones is all BS anyway - they're far too low powered to be any risk. Starting your car in a petrol station is far riskier...

Apologies for the late reply (been on holiday in the wild and WiFi-free bits of Cornwall) but I'd just like to add my congratulations to Derek on a great issue, as always. Just to clarify that I am only nominated for editor so far but, if I get the role, I'm really looking forward to it and I will hope to keep to the spirit and ideals that Derek, the committee and predecessors have all encouraged over the years. And if I balls it up, I blame Derek... :-)

Ditto - although we're going to Cornwall and the weather forecast is utter pants :-o

While browsing wikipedia, I came across this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Upham Now that is one brave man...

I didn't realise there was a tool you can buy to do that I used the 42mm socket I bought for the wheel hub nuts (which was about the same diameter as my exhaust), 2 slots cut in the exhaust and a hammer

Passed IVA in August and got a Q plate...

Thanks for the offer but I really can't face 3+ hours on the motorway (I've got a roof but no doors yet). I'll have a play on Tyre and see if I can make the route more interesting...

I'm considering going to this but I want to avoid the motorways (apart from the M25, no real choice there). Anyone know what the A10/A1 route is like, up from North London? I'm sure there are nicer routes but I don't think I'll have the time if I want to get there before all the cake is gone Or anyone done a similar route before and has a GPS route file they can send me?

My roof came from SoftBits and although they don't like to tell you, this is the material they use: https://www.attwoollsmanufacturing.co.uk/fabrics/acrylic-canvas/ I've just bought some to make my doors with...

A boat cover maker? In Leicestershire?! About as far as you can get from the sea in this country? No wonder he had time to do your doors... :-)

Unfortunately, there are no such things as 'cheap seats' if you want new. When I was looking, I saw one set on eBay for something like £160 but they looked rubbish quality. Everything else was £500+. I eventually went for Intatrim seats for £520 and they're lovely (pics in my blog) and you can really go to town and make them multi-coloured etc...

Hi Derek, OK, booked in but just for me - wife doesn't want to leave the kids alone for so long (bless!). For food: No starter Roast Beef Apple crumble Thanks for doing all this and hope the op goes well...

Using the self-tappers in the supports and the 2 angled ones at the bottom is exactly how the GBS factory still advise to do it. I agree, it didn't feel strong enough to me either but mines been in for 2500 miles without a problem so far...

Hi Derek, wife and I are booked on to the run but I'm not sure how long I can hang around for afterwards (kids aren't quite old enough to leave them overnight so we've got to get home and it's quite a drive) - what time are you expecting to have lunch?

There's freedom of speech and there's making a mountain out of a mole hill. I'm sure someone can arrange for you to get your £20 back and you can leave us old fogies to our old-fashioned ways, which we are all perfectly happy with...

Seriously?! Have you never been a member of a club before? Pay up and you get privileges - I'm a member of my local rugby club, I get to use the bar and I get occasional first access to international game tickets. I'd be pretty annoyed if someone could walk in off the street and get the same privileges. Every one else is being too nice - if you don't like our rules, don't join. Or join, come to the AGM and make your point. But please, enough with the 'it's unfair' tantrum. And invest in a spell checker, I can hardly understand your posts :-)

I know what you mean - just got my bill through... Difficult to know what to say - despite every public service always complaining about cuts, a mate of mine is a policeman and he worked overtime last weekend, not because it was needed but because his force had spare budget left over and if they didn't use it, they'd get a lower budget next time. Taxes are never popular but how else do we pay for all these services? We could privatise everything and then you would need to book a binman to come round every week and a road repairer to fix the pothole in your road. If your car is nicked, you'd have to pay a policeman to investigate. Obviously, you'd have to buy health insurance or just pay every time you went to the doctor (my brother lives in America - that system isn't great). Would it work out cheaper? Maybe, if you didn't get anything nicked and were very healthy. In reality, crap as it feels, other systems have been tried and nothing is perfect - and, sadly, moving isn't going to help. You'll just swap one load of poo for another load of poo Go for a drive - that'll improve things