Sirbendy

another "eraser" vote here..

I agree that parents are getting worse...we see them here saying "just call the police - we can't cope with him/her either".. and so many kids getting kicked out by parents, or (not to put too fine a point on it) being shat on by them...it scares me when I hear what they've had to put up with, and the fact that some love school because it's so much better than home life...we even have some begging to come during the holidays.. My new place has a bit of a history by the looks of it..definetly had kids, at least one girl..I reckon 7-13ish. Her room (pinky/purple) had a big lock on the OUTSIDE, and the doors/walls have some holes in that look like they took a beating. Main bedroom had an inside lock to lock people out - nice. Then (and this scared me a bit), I was cleaning out the big under stairs cupboard, and there are times tables, stories, "it wasn't me, it was "x"", and "Our Hidey hole" right at the back...that door had a lock too. Even the landlord was a bit taken aback.. IF I ever have kids (and believe me, it IS an "if"), I'd hope that I would be able to raise them as I was raised, and never resort to anything like I see now. Jem's as "old fashioned" as I am, luckily.

google "room arranger" and see if that's any use. I'm using it to plan my house furniture arrangement.

At our "parent" academy, they have an ex-army (IIRC) chap who is the "enforcer"..and boy, does he scare the kids. We have an ex-copper, who did time in the army and has a polished up mortar sat on his desk..not quite as effective. But yes, we need to stuff the nicey-nicey approach, and flog the little barstewards..bring back the evil people. When we sit and tell then about our schooldays (the flinging of the boardrubber - felt side for minor, wood for major..the running round the sportsfield, the dragging round by the ears) they think that we're either: a) Making it up or b) From the dark ages. and it really annoys me. Then they say "I'd sue if they did it to me...". Oh, would you? I used to take what I deserved, and I'd be scared to go home after..as for parents evenings...I dreaded them. About the only teacher i've seen who the kids loathe due to his punishments here is the PE chap, who beasts them in the middle of the classroom..now THAT'S comedy. "YOU! Get down, 30 press ups, no lip"...then he tends to put books on them to add weight..

I've just initiated transfer of my phone from the Flat to the new place, for Saturday afternoon..I asked the woman "will this clear Tiscali's BB marker on the line? Only they're a sod to move from nicely...I'd rather yank the line from under them TBH and sign up for a new ISP on the new line ASAP..". She said "Oh, yes.".. So now I need to call Tisc and cancel - they'll take one last payment, and we're out of there..hurrah! I was dreading trying to get out of their grasp..

I'm 95% sure my '97 Astra is right on the borderline between OBD/ODBII, and it seems to be quirky..Tech1/2 works, but...

Is it a 514? I've got mine connected to home/MIL/Mum's/Works wifi fine...WEP all the way. Also had the mail setup as well. Need to redo it, TBH..I flashed the latest firmware update and it reset the unit. I've also got to get shot of the "plinky plonky" startup sound again. Does your Voice Messenger have a low battery warning beep? Mine seems to be missing one..

It bounced our mirror wardrobe doors around and woke us both up...what a horrible minute of utter confusion that was... "Which house are we in? Did we move yet? Which bedroom is this? Were those the wardrobes? WTF? Where's the bloody cat?".... Jem sat up and said, very quietly..."did I dream that?"... Quite surreal. Not helped by the fact that we live in an area renowned for land slippage..heh.

Same goes for my Ipaq Voice Messenger..most annoying.

It amazes me how many manufacturers don't list the autobox as a service item...best precaution there is for an autobox is regular fluid condition and level checks, and fluid changes. Nothing lasts forever without being looked after.. I change mine every 12 months or thereabouts with the engine oil. Dexron isn't expensive, compared to a new autobox. The last autobox on my rover reached "replacement" point when it couldn't change any more, and for the sake of £600 I decided to drop the bottom off and check it. The oil was burned and yellow, and the valve chests were full of gunk..the whole thing got washed out in petrol, dried off, re-oiled and refilled, and it ran for another 2 years before I sold it quite happily.

The fight is over... The 17070 trick got me a number for the line, I called BT and told them the number, and it resolved to the address. Seems the Previous tenant took it away from BT, but closed their account in January..and now with that number, BT have agreed they can move my number to the new place and have it running in 24 hours, at no charge! So, one less issue hopefully! Once again, many thanks to all who've assisted - I was dreading sorting that mess out..

Naughty words here...I have a teachers Acer on the desk with that reboot loop now. And It's getting a reinstall, and stuff the thing. EXCELLENT OS, is Vista..really impressed with it..

Well, the 17070 gave me the test menu and a number for the line, but the line can't do outgoing or incoming, so it's a definite call to BT tomorrow! British Gas are in my bad books too..I put my new gascard in the meter, it took a few quid to replenish the emergency, and then a few more to "recover debt". The landlord did say he put a fiver on it..I was amazed it lasted 48 hours..that'd be why. The debt ate it, and the meter had been run down to 82p! Now, Debt...no, I have none of that.. British gas? Never been with you, ever. Never had gas before, either. Snotty call coming right up. I want my £3 back! Then my last call of the day will be to the gas engineer who's doing a fire fitment before we move in to say the 2 year old combi boiler is refusing to stay lit and goes into a "3 relight, shutdown, reset, reboot" loop, and the cooker doesn't hiss when you turn a knob, but groans and clicks very alarmingly instead.. To be fair, the landlord is a great guy and said "if the cooker is dead, I'll replace it for you. Call me 24 hours - I'm usually up at 5am.". As to the DIY..oh yes. I've got a giant tub of polyfilla and the old gascard as a spreader, 4 toolboxes of goodness, a HUGE tub of magnolia, 3 tubes of caulking, 3 of Silicone sealer, 2 lots of paint roller kit, 2 cordless 18v drill/drivers, 3 boxes of tiles, 4 spare floor tiles, and loads of adhesive and grout (left by landlord) and a large tub of axle grease with a big brush to grease up hinges, garage doors and anything else that can't run away. In one weekend we've filled all holes, fixed the garage, started painting all 3 bedrooms (got to love family), cut the hedges, tidied the garden and got most things ready to move in over the next fortnight. A nice break from the IT world indeed, but god do we hurt now..

It seems not..all I got is "line was ceased in 2000..doesn't say who to though, sir..looks like there is no line in there now - the copper will have been reused by now, and it'll need a new line."

Cheers guys! I'll give those a try. It's definetly a BT NTE5 master socket with the official BT piper logo. I removed the shredded remains of the extension from it...some tenants need shooting, they really do. It was the messiest, most badly executed phone extension I've ever seen.. I have water, power and gas bills..I know there have been at least 3 short term tenants before us, all ladies. The last was a family, who apparently did most of the damage to the house..tearing out walls, removing doors etc. Nowhere do I see a phone bill... It took me 2 hours yesterday to peice together and resurrect the garage door system - it looks like they were going to convert it to another room, and they had semi-dismantled it. They've also put a stud wall smack in the middle of the garage..that's coming down today. ;-) I'll tell you the worrying bit though...kids bedrooms, locks on the OUTSIDE. Holes booted in walls. The scariest bit is the under stairs cupboard..lots of kids writing on the walls...stories, times tables, "We Hide Here" etc...this place has a story.

I've just got the keys to the new property we're moving to..the gas/leccy is on Smartcard (sorted), the water is based on RV (sorted), and the phone is..live. As in, I have a dialtone, but if I try to call out, I get "the number you have dialled has not been recognised". I can 1471, and it sounds like BT to me..the same messages and woman as my BT line here...but BT state the line in the new place was ceased in 2000.. 9 years is a long time to leave a ceased line operational, isn't it? So..how do I find out who provides the line? I can't find the number - I can't call my mobile or anyone else..is there any code I can use on the phone to state my number or reach assistance? Cheers guys and gals...I'm going to go and scrub the silicone off my hands..

Weekly visual walkaround of the machines looking for physical damage to base/TFT/KB/Mouse. Summer term (and as in for repair or reimage), crack 'em open and blow the dust out with the compressor, wipe them down and make sure no fans are dying - fix any that are. Keyboards and screens given a wipe on half terms. Smartboards and projectors serviced, wiped down, cleaned out and reset/recalibrated on a monthly basis over a week at day end, split by floor. Laptops get cleaned up, reimaged or sorted when they come in...we have no rota for them. Aircon gets a service every 3 months, I run the diagnostics monthly and spray deodouriser/disinfectant into the intakes every 2 weeks or so. Can't hurt.

Seconded. I got one cheaper... http://www.energyoptimizersdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Energy_Devices.html £23 delivered. Damned useful at home as well.

BIOS - drop the CPU speed to manual and turn it down, go into drive controls and knock them down to the lowest PIO mode they can do, turn off any ROM shadowing, knock the video memory share allocation up...that should make a dent. If it's a P4, disconnect the CPU fan and let the thing thermal throttle to the nth degree..also good fun. http://www.geocities.com/kulhain/ any good?

I was going to say, don't forget AC..or lighting, or heating loads. When we had our 2 newer suites built in here, we had to have a new power feed brought in from the substation, and that had to be upgraded as well...we were overloading frequently and popping the thing yearly. Get companies to quote for AC loading based on your estimates there..it's what they did for us. Calculation software to figure out likely need unitwise, and from that they could give a ballpark figure.

Hah! We've been, done and beaten that..I'll see if I can find out how tomorrow...it'll mean asking NGfL though, but..I'll try..

No, nor me. Last tractor I drove was (IIRC) a MUCH modded MF "tractor puller" special at the Shukers agriculture dealer where I used to work fixing agricultural machinery and tractors. Beast of a thing it was, too.

My aunt/uncle came up VERY big on the pools a few years back...they paid off their mortage, bought another couple of houses (rented to the kids..heh), and did some home improvements..the rest in the bank, and both continue to work. I'd have to say I'd look at buying a house/bungalow (no stairs! Perfect for me), and paying off mum's mortgage. I don't want much - I can't think of anything I need/want, TBH..strange but true. Cars are a waste of cash..I'd possibly get the Astra a new engine, maybe buy myself an E-Bay 2.0 Turbo Rover Maestro (stop laughing) to restore..that's it. Vauxhall for day to day, Rover for fun. Everything else - bank. No debts to pay off, so it can sit and be useful. Can't speak for the missus, mind you. and Yes, I'd keep working..I can't sit all day..it drives me dotty. One of the reasons I'm so pleased to be moving on Friday to somewhere with a garden! Lots of things to do.

Oh, mine is more than an A to B thing too..it's a project, an amusement, and I like to spend my time diddling with it.. Mine is also shiny..not that I've been able to wash it of late, mind you. It's where I contrast with my brother..he buys new Hondas, Volvos and VAGs...I buy "knackered old heaps", sort them out and have fun with them until they drop, then while he whinges about depreciation etc, I can just go out with a 2k limit, and take my pick of the "older" machinery. Mercs have never "hit the spot" for me...I looked at a nice Audi A4, fully loaded in black for £2k when I was looking last...and at 120k on the clocks it would have been a fun motor for a few years, but then I found the Astra with FSH, Ex-Motability etc, bit less money, missus liked the colour (Ceramic Mica Blue Met), large boot, nice and practical.. and went for it instead. Next, I may go Astra again..either Mk3 or 4, or maybe Corsa C..or I may change again, depending on what's out there. Maybe a Metro/Mini...if there are any autos left out there!

Psh. I'll go Astra over Merc..heh..servicing and repair costs are nice and low.. All parts are available from most factors (NEVER go to a stealership), and they're just so much less "OMG, I'm going to ding it..".. Mine has grey plastic bumper - impossible to kill. In a recent spat with a Focus, mine came off with no damage - his lost a fair bit of plastic bumper paint.. I've had Renaults, and never again..too costly, too buggy. I've had Rovers - good, but rusted too fast. The Arsetrap has been almost 4 years of "not thinking about it" motoring, with the only things going wrong being the front dampers (at 98k, cheap, blame Ironbridge roads), Headgasket (100k, my fault), exhaust (90k, £22), and the autobox selector (written a fix guide for that). I got the disks/drums/pads done when I bought it as they're cheap and it's silly not to.. Not bad for a £1600 11 year old motor. Still get 400+ miles to a tank, it gets a full box/engine service every summer, and it's got NO rust at all.. The TD's are nicely tuneable as well...look on Migweb/VXoN and search for "white ring mod"..