Tony_S

Perhaps you need to remove the Garfield from the iPhone screen? I hope you feel better soon. The current round of viral things seem to be deja flu, it goes and then you seem to get it again a few days later. Even my wife was ill for a few days and she is normally one of those people who is too busy to be ill. It is normally holiday time that germs catch up with her. I've just got back from shopping and the supermarket said my credit card was blocked so I came home and phoned the bank. Apparently my pattern of purchases was unusual. I'm not sure if it was the top up for Matthew's phone or the purchase from a well known model shop in Cornwall (I explained that it is a toy train shop and it should fit my profile!), or the fact that when my wife was in Marks yesterday she only spent Poundsymbol 13 that alerted their software. The purchase of stuff from a large railway emporium in Hamburg wasn't queried. Tony

There was a notice saying it was shut until 0800 GMT for file transfer. Hello. It is slightly misty here this morning but is clearing up. Matthew's college start half-term holidays today. My wife doesn't have half term at her college. Tony

Now that Mayor Boris has forbidden the consumption of alcohol on London Transport I'm sure we are safe from such criminals in our capital city!

I've never met Bo Derek. I hope she wasn't one of those people who talk through the film or eat pop corn.

No snow here now but the lawn (small piece of grass in front of house!) is still white from yesterday's light dusting. We spoke to my mother in law at the weekend and she said it is quite pleasant in Delhi at the moment. She is determined not to overwinter in Nottingham again. Until she sells it she is treating her Nottingham house as a summer only residence, she seems to prefer spending the winter in Enfield, California or India. I haven't been to the cinema this year yet. I thought perhaps Matthew would want to see Avatar and we could go but I think he wants to go with friends. My wife may go with me though! I think the last film we went to as a family was the most recent Star Trek. Tony

Morning all. It is rather cold and dry here this morning. The window cleaners are at work but it sounds as if they are scraping the window rather than wiping them. I've been out to transfer the crates with my wife's work stuff in from the Scenic to the Clio. Tony

Murmeltierfett seemed a very popular product in Alpine regions. I thought marmots were protected in Europe so I wonder if the pharmaceutical product on sale came from rendered down boodog dinners? We had chicken tonight. Tony

I have got my wife's car back. It did just need a new alternator belt. There was no charge (money not battery!) as they said it was covered by the 12 month /12000 mile guarantee on their repairs (they fitted the belt/pulley in July). They did suggest bringing it back in a couple of months and they will check the tension. I'm sure my wife will be happy as she doesn't really want a new car. Edit. I've just had an email from my wife, she is happy. Especially she said as it took 5 minutes to reverse the Scenic into her parking space at work. She used to have an easy parking space but had to swap as a colleague couldn't get her Range Rover into her allocated space. Getting a Scenic into a Clio sized slot is quite good I think. The Scenic is normally so muddy that people park well away from it. I'm sure the car cleaning people at local supermarkets have me marked down as "don't bother asking" as I always politely decline the car cleaning service by saying it isn't dirty enough yet. Tony

A former neighbour who worked in the used car business at one time had as his speciality restoring cars that had fatalities (mainly suicides) inside. I'm not sure his specialist cleaning stuff would have coped with the after effects of some of the security measures mentioned in recent posts!

A couple of years ago my Scenic was rear-ended. The other driver was at fault, was insured etc but my insurance company wanted to write off the car as the repair was about GBP10 more than the value. The repairer negotiated with the insurance company and the car was saved. I could not have found a Scenic like mine for the write off value. Tony

Good morning. Now that I've finished putting recycling out and taking the Clio to the garage in a mini blizzard it is now sunny. The battery charge the AA man did last night, was quite adequate to start and get the car to the garage. My wife drove off happily in the Scenic. Matthew is off college today. He has started coughing again and I think I may be about to. I suspect my wife brought some new germs back from her week away. Tony

We took out the joint person AA cover in 1981 when we had our first car and have never ever regretted the cost. We haven't had to make much use of it but when we have needed them they have been superb. If Matthew drove we wouldn't hesitate to put him on a family membership. He can't apply for a licence yet, he is old enough but has had some medication changed last year so he can't apply until next year. He doesn't seem too bothered about driving while he has parents to ferry him about or where he wants to go is accessible by bus or train. Tony

Mrs S is home safely escorted by a really nice AA man following in his van (he had fitted a spare battery to get her home). The alternator drive belt had come off. This happened last year and a new pulley was fitted. Perhaps one of the other pulleys has failed. Anyway it won't be too expensive (famous last words with cars!) Tony

There always seems to be a special tool required. My "security bit" set from Maplin has been useful. I don't know if it contains tiny Apple removers though. Matthew's PC has screwless disc change but it isn't as pretty as a Mac but with 750Gbyte basic storage it doesn't need to be pretty! Is the Garfield an approved Apple accessory? Tony

There aren't any fours in my wife's car registration but she has just phoned to say she is now sitting in the AA mans's van while he tries to see why her car stopped. She said every warning light came on so she headed over to the nearside (she now knows after the pre Christmas episode that the AA can't rescue you from the third lane). Until recently this Clio has been so reliable. Now that she is safe I suppose will will have to see if the repair is economical, if it is the ECU that is GBP800 on a car worth GBP 1200 or GBP2000 on a "scrappage scheme". However not every manufacturer does a small four door hatch on their scrappage scheme and we've never bought new cars before considering that the best value has been on nearly new. First of all though when she gets home I think a nice cup of tea will be wanted rather than talk of new vehicles. I suppose I'll be adjusting the seats so that Mrs S can reach the pedals in the Scenic (I believe some cars have a seat memory button for alternative drivers which sounds quite luxurious). I don't imagine she will take the travel by rail option tomorrow! Tony

I'm not sure 4 is unlucky in south Asian countries. My Indian relatives won't give round numbers of money as a gift eg they would give GBP21 or 101 not GBP20 or 100. This was described as "traditional" rather than "superstitious".

I suppose that is why "Hello Kitty" is so popular in Japan as it doesn't fit any of the above criteria!

Nothing too exciting here, we haven't got cables from Scotland (I think they are all French round here) whizzing about, no Mac drives coming through the letterbox. Stewart. My experience with employers occupational health people was varied but any that seemed to put my health first didn't seem to stay long. Fortunately my GP was (and still is) consistent and supportive. Excitement at last, parcel and package for me (train stuff) and courier package for my wife from Amazon. Her books will either be about education by some dead French philosopher or Scandinavian murder mysteries. She is onto the Norwegians now having read all those set in Sweden. Gordon, when my brother worked in Nigeria drivers frequently used to get their 4x4 stuck in mud. He reckoned a power winch was more useful in bad conditions than 4 wheel drive! Tony

Morning all. Equality Impact Assessment sounds dangerous. I haven't had breakfast yet but have made tea. I'll go out in a moment to get my wife's car out of the garage. I put it away last night in case it was frosty/snowy overnight. It seems cold and clear though. Tony

Hello. It is very quiet here this morning. I did see a brief flurry of snow but it is raining now. Matthew doesn't have to go to college until this afternoon as his geography teacher is in Scotland leading the geology field trip. They don't have cover teachers for A2 (what would have been upper sixth in the old days) so Matthew will be "working from home" this morning studying the "Cold Environment" topic. I suggested he could get first hand experience taking the dog for a walk but apparently he is too busy (Matthew, not the dog). It does look as if much fun was had at Alton (and I did see Jam's photographs). It would seem Gordon got an off road experience included in the price which made the entrance ticket really good value. Tony

In fact Mrs S does like jigsaw puzzles and did buy one (a jigsaw map of New England)while we in the US but she isn't going to start it until she has finished her doctoral thesis, retired and had the gap year she always promised herself. I think she wants to go on one of those Great Glaciers of the World Tours. I'm hoping that she will be content with the Glacier Express by then, or perhaps just jigsaws of Swiss Chalets (her favourite sort of cottage!) Tony

B&Q hasn't always been the easiest of places to shop when accompanied. When Matthew was little he made more fuss about going round DIY places than going to the dentist. I think Mrs S always went in assuming she wasn't going to like anything they sold. I was in trying to buy a jigsaw once and had chosen one but my wife objected that it looked cheap and I should get the more expensive one, ie the Bosch version as it looked nicer. We haven't even taken the dog out yet. I did take Matthew to the station but my wife is catching up after a week away and Robbie has had to wait for his walk until she has chatted to her sister and mother. My mother in law went to India (it is warmer than London at present!)last week. We didn't know where she was supposed to be today so we rang her mobile and had a chat. She is in her eighties but has become quite adept at putting local SIM cards in her phone. Tony

Hello all. I haven't done much this morning apart from drink tea. I'll take Robbie for a walk later after dropping Matthew at the station. He has decided to go to Games Workshop to play Warhammer today. He hasn't been for ages but some of his friends will be there. I did some railway modelling last night, digging holes for point motors out of the baseboard (easy when you use styrofoam baseboards). Tony

Hello The fog has now gone and it is sunny. I haven't done much this morning. Postman rang the bell early as Matthew's Star Trek game was too big to go through the letterbox. Tony

Matthew just got home to tell me he had got a really good grade for his philosophy essay even with the unfortunate typo he had included, he had typed an "i" instead of the first "u" in duck-billed platypus. I don't even know how a how any kind of platypus ends up in a philosophy essay anyway. Tony