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Post by dennisn on Mar 20, 2017 8:03:37 GMT
Ah. I got my present van brand new on 1st August 2013. Its speedometer now reads just over 168,000. I've done that sort of driving since 1999. That's why courier insurance is generally expensive - I have maximum no claims discount of eight years so it only costs me £1,500. I guess they price it in relation to risk.
I've had three accidents during that time, all not my fault - I was hit by a pheasant and a deer head on and by a "Traveller" with an Irish accent who rear-ended me when I was stationary at traffic lights.
Perhaps we can create a table to show how many miles we all drive and the ratio of miles to incidents? (Just joking).
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Post by balddave on Mar 20, 2017 19:28:17 GMT
I have driven 264 miles today checking on my lads on various sites in Lancashire,Merseyside and Cheshire. May not seem a great distance but I find it tiring, hats off to you guys who do many more miles,
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Post by cariad23 on Mar 21, 2017 6:50:21 GMT
Driving very tiring now days, so much traffic you need to be so alert ans aware.Speed cameras everywhere, i cant imagine how anyone who has to drive all day keeps points free. I do about 10.000 miles a year, its short journeys i hate popping to local shops etc by the time i can get out onto the main A6 then parking its often quicker to walk.its a delight when i visit the out laws in wales , no dual carriageways , no traffic lights, not much traffic it must be a doddle passing your test there
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Post by dennisn on Mar 21, 2017 7:05:28 GMT
Wales is where the speed camera tyrants live and Cardiff area is where they have accidents more than anywhere else.
Speed cameras? Get the database from PocketGPSWorld.com, the most up to date and accurate one available. Annual subscription £19.99, works on most satnavs (although not the recent TomTom ones) and best of all on smartphones and iPhones (free download the App [CamerAlert] and get the first update free to trial it).
PS Don't speed is the smart answer.
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Post by kevb on Mar 23, 2017 11:35:08 GMT
Currenty waiting for my 'third' : Cycling home from work last Fri, picked up a puncture on the route I don't use so much. Didnt cycle on Monday as weather was foul. Cycled in to work Tues morning using my more usual (less traffic) route mainly down a canal towpath and yes, picked up another puncture in same tyre. I could see they were trying to keep a straight face when I took the bike into Halfords yet again.
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Post by dennisn on Mar 23, 2017 19:39:04 GMT
Far be it for me to comment, but I never took my bike to anybody with a puncture! I had to learn as a boy how to get a tyre off (using just a single tablespoon - we couldn't afford proper tyre levers, so one spoon and really go at it to get the tyre off) find the puncture, then mend it. We had to do that away from home too, so carrying a repair outfit and finding a puddle for tracing the puncture came into it too. I've had punctures in car and van tyres mended by a man, but only AFTER I had changed the wheel at the roadside myself. Course, I'm a really fit bloke person, which helps.
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Post by balddave on Mar 23, 2017 20:00:13 GMT
Educated guess Dennis, you owned a John Bull puncture repair kit ?
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Post by dennisn on Mar 23, 2017 20:09:10 GMT
We weren't that rich. We had a strip of sticky rubber to cut to size, a matchbox to sandpaper the inner tube, a tube of glue and a lump of hard chalk with a filing thing to put powder over the finished repair.
My older brother went on a cycle tour of Europe and got so many punctures they wouldn't repair. They had funny metric size tyres, not inches, so he couldn't buy a new innerf tube and eventually came home riding a tyre stuffed with grass!
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Post by Woody (Admin) on Mar 25, 2017 9:24:17 GMT
A few years ago Dennis, I was taking part in a cycle sportive known as the Cheshire Cat and 19 miles in, my tyre split (about 3 inches long). The event mechanic couldn't help with a new tyre (a useless service) and in the end my friend and I scoured the hedgerows and found an old pizza box, which we ripped up and lined the inside of the tyre with along with a few cable tyes to support the split tyre. A bit of a bodge but it just about got me back to the start, but I did get through my 3 spare innner tubes I carry before we got back. A day wasted driving to crewe and back all for a 19 mile ride on the hottest day of the year!
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Post by dennisn on Apr 2, 2017 17:55:19 GMT
So today we came up against another set of threes!
When Vera went to put the washing in, she found the washing machine already half full of water - so it's letting water in when it's switched off and it's just 20 days old. So off to the shop where I expected much unhappiness and dissatisfaction - we never take on these aftercare plans, so I expected they'd hum and ha and do everything to take their time. The receipt does say change your mind within 3 weeks for refund or exchange PROVIDING you bring it back in its original unopened packaging! But I found another one which said if it goes faulty within 30 days they offer a replacement, full refund or repair and in my gloom I expected they'd offer at best to get a man to come look at it before Christmas, so I was ready to ask if I could bring them today's washing this afternoon.
However, the young woman asked for loads of details and scanned the receipt, name, address, inside leg. What's the serial number? Ugh. Anyway, if I can give her the serial number (and because I'm an elderly she told me that's a number on the back beginning with S/N, or if I brought it in she'd get the number off it for me) she can phone a man and get a returns number and we can have a new one (if it's in stock. And it WAS in stock). She actually confirmed that if I went home and brought it in, she'd give me a new one to take away today.
So back home, I have a van filled to the gills with a consignment I have to deliver to Stevenage by 9am tomorrow. And the washing machine is megga heavy. So, empty the van and call son-in-law and got grandson to come and help with the strong stuff. Which he did and all went well (it was quicker said than done).
The next part of the set was I connected it all in (and that's so much easier said than done!) and Vera set it going with an empty wash as per directions. Not long after it started she called me that it had a funny tap symbol, which was telling me that if I had connected the water pipe, I hadn't turned it on! So pull all the stuff out of the built in cupboards for the second time today and turn the tap on.
And all is well - well, it is after I've reloaded the van. All I have to worry about just now is whether my back will last tomorrow and what else is coming my way to finish off the third (or is it the severalth?) set of three.
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Post by Tre on Apr 2, 2017 23:01:01 GMT
Dennis you make me ! Just have to ask! Currys by any chance??
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Post by dennisn on Apr 3, 2017 15:19:11 GMT
Yes, Tre, it was indeed Currys. And I was astounded that it (exchange) worked so well. During the question and answer session I kept getting the urge to say something deprecatory in the expectation that they were going to turn me away, but they didn't. The only time difference between having a dud washing machine and having a new working one was the time taken to go through all the palaver of uninstalling, driving there, getting the new one, driving back, getting the new one into the house and installing it. It was a lot harder than saying it, and today I have backache so bad I can't stand up straight, but it was successful. Yarooo!
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Post by Tre on Apr 3, 2017 20:05:31 GMT
Had to ask. Glad you got it sorted. My husband, John, managed a Currys megastore until he retired last year. He worked for the company for over 43 years!
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Post by dennisn on Apr 3, 2017 20:32:51 GMT
Right. Can I borrow his discount card for a new iMac?
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Post by dennisn on Apr 9, 2017 17:22:53 GMT
Well, here's another new third thing.
My fishpond filter looked a bit wet on the outside. So the joint to the pipe to the waterfall was leaking and when I looked, it had split. Ugh. Question - can I find a new joint thingy or am I into a few hundred quid for a new filter? I had to go out anyway to pick up a load for delivery to Newmarket tomorrow morning, so I mentioned it to the load bloke and he said you'll get one at the big shop just up the road, you could walk there. At my age, I don't do walking just up the road, so I drove there. And they didn't sell them, they've stopped doing fishpond stuff and now only do fishing stuff. Back at the fishpond shop on the way home, they did have one - at £7 a considerable saving on the price of a new filter thing! I got some fish food whilst I was there and the tub I had last time was £22.99 and now it's £32.99. I wonder if carp taste good enough to do away with feeding them and eat them instead?
Another third thing was the brand new washing machine did exactly the same filling up whilst off. Sad, innit? The fourth is that try as I would, I couldn't start my strimmer to do the grass round the pond. Fifth is that the electric rotovator isn't tough enough to chew the veggie plot in its current rock hard state, so it's spade time (nearly - maybe it'll rain and make it soft).
On the positive side, the butternut squash seeds saved from the last one we dined on have started to germinate, so maybe we'll have a free one later this year.
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