91
General Discussion Area / Re: Alvin Lee
« on: 07 March 2013, 20:14:31 »
not heard of his death and wasnt aware he was ill.One of the great British guitar players.RIP.
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92
General Car Chat / Re: active select
« on: 07 March 2013, 07:07:41 »thanks for the reassurance
You have just got a motability car? brave, very brave unless you are under about 50 years old.......
Actually its for our youngest as he now needs a wheelchair to get about and his AS makes using what little public transport there is difficult to say the least. We did keep the Estima as there was plenty of room but as all the other kids have flown the nest now we didnt really need 7 seats any more. Very sad to lose her as she was in very good nick for a 20 year old car but mpg wasnt good and the stuff that needed doing for the MOT , though not major, was really an expense we couldnt afford. Anyhow, went for the motability option as no worries about MOTs etc and SWMBO thought it would would be nice to have a "new" car for a bit having had a 20yr old one and a 15 yr old miggy for so long. Think she wanted something smaller until I pointed out that, quite apart from his wheelchair, if we went away anywhere, whilst I might get all my stuff in a carrier bag she ended up packing the kitchen sink
My concern would be that you are very likely to lose your high rate mobility allowance within the 3 years lease of the car......
Ah,now I see your point
:-\Thanks for the heads up. Weve only fairly recently had the higher mobility allowance and we used that to support running the estima. Our youngest has aspergers and dystonia (well, thats what his working diagnosis is but tbh ,whilst symptoms are same I dont think they really know for sure). In any event, his mobility has severely worsened over past year or so and whilst its sort of plateaued now the concern is obviously whether it will spread to other parts of his body. Working the hours I do, I need a car for work but SWMBO needs one too in order to take him to appointments etc that cannot be arranged for my days off. His aspergers makes any form of travelling hard enough and public transport (such as it is) virtually impossible. TBH Vamps , Ive always felt a bit guilty about the financial help weve recently had but as work colleagues have said, Ive worked bloody hard all my life, my better half has had to give up work to look after our youngest and our lives have -as I guess the majority of carers have-changed dramatically. Were extremely restricted now, financially worse off and dont really ever get any us/we time/respite. Weve both paid into the system, weve personally seen others abuse of it , so surely we are genuinely entitled to something back? See, must feel bit guilty or wouldnt be so defensive :-\Not, of course, that this will change any decision that this govts cuts will bring
93
General Car Chat / Re: active select
« on: 06 March 2013, 11:42:04 »thanks for the reassurance
You have just got a motability car? brave, very brave unless you are under about 50 years old.......
As luck would have it Vamps I am in fact (whisper it) over 50. Who would know?Actually its for our youngest as he now needs a wheelchair to get about and his AS makes using what little public transport there is difficult to say the least. We did keep the Estima as there was plenty of room but as all the other kids have flown the nest now we didnt really need 7 seats any more. Very sad to lose her as she was in very good nick for a 20 year old car but mpg wasnt good and the stuff that needed doing for the MOT , though not major, was really an expense we couldnt afford. Anyhow, went for the motability option as no worries about MOTs etc and SWMBO thought it would would be nice to have a "new" car for a bit having had a 20yr old one and a 15 yr old miggy for so long. Think she wanted something smaller until I pointed out that, quite apart from his wheelchair, if we went away anywhere, whilst I might get all my stuff in a carrier bag she ended up packing the kitchen sink
Lip on the estate is obviously lower too making taking the wheelchair in/out a lot easier. Chose the auto option because havent had a manual car for over 10 years now and,well, as I said, I am over 50 now 
94
General Discussion Area / Re: Horse meat............Beware a tad naughty
« on: 05 March 2013, 13:18:41 »
95
General Car Chat / Re: active select
« on: 05 March 2013, 13:15:23 »thanks for the reassurance
MArksDTM says it's normally just the actuator that fails ...... but there's often Easytronic Vauxhalls on eBay & a mate had expensive problems with his - far more than just an actuator
Oh dear
, just looked up several sites about the Easytronic system-not good is it? Ive driven triptronic cars before with no problems but reviews of this particular system do not fill me with confidence. On the other hand, the new "active select 6speed " is supposedly "all new" so maybe theyve overcome the issues and come up with a semi-automatic gearbox that works?(Please )
96
General Car Chat / Re: active select
« on: 05 March 2013, 09:05:23 »
thanks for the reassurance Luckily its a motability vehicle to replace our old estima so all parts/labour covered.
Luckily its a motability vehicle to replace our old estima so all parts/labour covered.
97
Omega General Help / Re: could this be wheel bearings?
« on: 05 March 2013, 01:00:32 »
will look at this tommorrow Chris 
Cheers for replies guys
Cheers for replies guys
98
General Car Chat / active select
« on: 05 March 2013, 00:59:13 »
we're getting an astra sports tourer 2lt CDI auto which, I believe, has active select. My current auto miggy has a sports button and snowflake button. Does the auto select system replace any of these functions or is it something totally different? (I know I can ask dealer but just wondered if anyone on here knew)
99
Omega General Help / Re: could this be wheel bearings?
« on: 05 March 2013, 00:03:25 »
Whilst whine is there on the straight, I havent noticed it change pitch when turning the wheel. Are there any other things it could be? (Im hoping here it isnt something too expensive! Only had the MOT 2 weeks ago too )
)
100
General Discussion Area / Re: Wealth distribution stats for America
« on: 04 March 2013, 23:59:49 »
The vid is hardly a surprise though is it ? Its all about power. Money is power and certain people want not only to protect their power but increase it. And power, in any form, will corrupt. It doesnt matter whether its a capitalist society like America or an old Communist one pretending to embrace democracy and free markets like China or Russia. Its the same people running things and desperately trying to keep it that way. Whether you believe in the conspiracy theory of the "illuminati" or not , its there. It isnt right, it isnt morally just but its human nature. BTW-the last time when the gap between rich and poor was at its lowest in this country ? Under John Major.
101
General Discussion Area / Re: Wealth distribution stats for America
« on: 04 March 2013, 23:43:38 »I read recently that 0.6% of Britain's population own 69% of the land, most of which are same families that owned it in the 19th century!
I forget where I saw it now, but the article went on to say that in Spain a larger proportion of land is in the hands of smaller percentage of the population and this dates from land grabs in Franco's time and has never been rectified!!
Blame Harold for losing the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and William rewards those around him with large tracts of land and they have owned it ever since.
But who would complain if they were one of the lucky ones with land and old money?
In all societies you end up with a small percentage owning much wealth as there are many self-made people. The good thing about capitalism is that if you want to be rich and successful, the biggest thing stopping you is you.
Hey, according to some family tree research I'm apparantly a pretty much direct descendant of William Conqueror but think I missed out on the whole wealthy landowner bit
. The line moves through the de Vernon and Brereton families of Cheshire and then it seems one of my Brereton ancestors married into the less noble sounding Smith family and the money bit seems to have gone South from thereon .(Oh, and before anyone slates my French connection, the line also has sound good old Anglo-Saxon pedigree as it stems from an alleged liason between William Conqueror and the Saxon princess Maude Ingelrita). Its great this family tree lark because you dont have to go too far back to prove that youre related to anyone
102
General Discussion Area / Re: Only in Bradford
« on: 04 March 2013, 23:32:08 »
pretty cool and nice sense of humour
103
Omega General Help / could this be wheel bearings?
« on: 04 March 2013, 23:29:20 »
As per normal, excuse my ignorance ( 
),but just noticed tonight a whine that seems to come from front o/s wheel. Its only intermittent and dont think its caliper as doesnt seem to happen when I brake. Could it be wheel bearings? Acceleration/deceleration doesnt seem to bring it on. Any ideas?
),but just noticed tonight a whine that seems to come from front o/s wheel. Its only intermittent and dont think its caliper as doesnt seem to happen when I brake. Could it be wheel bearings? Acceleration/deceleration doesnt seem to bring it on. Any ideas?
104
General Discussion Area / Re: Next week I will mostly be driving.....
« on: 03 March 2013, 20:48:15 »
might just be me, but whilst electric cars may be "cleaner/greener" than traditional petrol/diesel vehicles as individual cars, surely,as a concept, they are not much better in as much that they use electricity that is still produced from depleting and non-"green" origin? The technology to harness wind/solar/wave power to produce the amount of electricity nations such as ourselves consume is still many years away and, from what I understand, the current position is for the UK to invest further in nuclear generated electricity? If every car on our roads was to be electric, how much extra demand would that make on our electricity producers? And how "green" are the battery units? Probably just me being ignorant so just asking. as for the car itself, well certainly looks OK but nothing really special TBH and styling is much like so many more. Guess the driving experience would be pretty wierd though, not least the quietness of it all