Steve K

Something a little more down-to-Earth, but possibly even rarer than original Mini Coopers:

Could it be some kind of bonnet lock? Looks to be sitting over where the lever protrudes form the grille. The "strap" part could just be its shadow.

Those body kits are very good, but I can still see that that's no Ferrari! It is very well done, though... (not sure why the quoted photo doesn't appear without clicking the link - not to worry, to save everyone the trouble of clicking, the photo is of a Toyota MR2 with a very convincing F355-alike body kit)

Insert them in Donald Tusk's rear end? Sorry if that's getting too political... if it helps, I'd gladly insert them into pretty much any politician, of any party, these days.

Well, the argument seems to be that a stake in another club of up to 10% is OK, as long as it's just regarded as an investment. A fairly specific point of law, that, and one which is bound to arouse the cynic in many of us, I'm sure! However, if Oldham do play Salford next year, and Scholes happens to still be the manager, I bet he'd want to beat Salford, just to have the bragging rights over Giggs and the Nevilles.

I may be in the minority, but I hate it when players from "my" team - club or country - dive and cheat, probably even more so than when the opposition do it. It's embarrassing, basically, to see athletes (because that's what they are, like them or loathe them) fall around, feigning injury or otherwise cheating the other side. To take just one example - it was unpleasant to watch Diego Simeone fall over to get David Beckham sent off in the 1998 World Cup, but in the same fixture 4 years later, it was pathetic to see Michael Owen dive to get a penalty after Mauricio Pocchetino (yes, that one!) failed to touch him. That dive soured the result for me. That said, I've just re-watched some highlights from that 2002 game, just to confirm that Owen did dive, and some of the tackles flying in were fairly brutal! Proper competitive international football, not like the stop-start sub-championship rubbish* that passes for world class these days... *Disclaimer: other opinions about the relative standards of club and international football are available. Standards may go up or down. Your blood pressure may be at risk if you take anything I say too seriously.

It was entertaining, watching 2 teams not really mastering the art of defence. Honestly, a draw would have been a fair result (I say that as one of your neutrals, watching the highlights on MOTD). The offside law, though, is just one of the many things that baffles and annoys me these days - how was that 4th Wolves goal not offside? I realise that Jota wasn't strictly offside for the final pass, but he was a mile off on the previous touch - effectively, he was goal-hanging and avoiding having to run as far to get his final touch. Another bafflement/annoyance from yesterday's games: Mo Salah. Awesome player, but why was he not booked for the penalty-seeking dive when his team were 1-0 down? Mightn't have affected the result, but it would have helped fans think that top teams don't get all of the decisions their way!

On the subject of mildly obscure Scottish football, Fort William are playing Cove Rangers today. FW are bottom of the Highland League, Cove are top. FW's current goal difference of around -150 does not indicate that an upset is on the cards. I predict something in the region of a 12-nil rout. See you at 5 o'clock to review this forecast! Edited to add: the match has been called off due to a frozen pitch, but my prediction still stands, as and when this fixture is rearranged!

A bit harsh - I'd have struggled to do better in French!

BMW: Illegal number plate - check. Parked on double yellows - check. Stupidly large alloys - check. Total idiot owner - I think so.

I think you're right on both counts, Jordan. Peanuts is probably full of pathos, or bathos, or something, but definitely lacking in anything resembling humour - a bit like a Carla Lane sitcom, in many ways. Calvin and Hobbes I never read that much, but I've seen enough to get the cleverness of it. Better than that, it's funny, although the humour in that one reminds me of a darker version of Garfield. But that's a good thing!

That's nothing. I'm starting to think that I'll never win the lottery, but Sainsburys have got millionaire's shortbread in stock, just on the off-chance.

I've seen a few cars with plates like that, with UK reg and country-of-origin style plates - VWs with German-style UK plates, for example. I'm pretty sure they're illegal, but the police probably have bigger concerns. They don't seem too concerned about the current spate of illegally-spaced plates (I see dozens every day - if nothing else, they allow you to give the driver a wide berth, on the basis that they're almost certainly a selfish, egotistical prat) on cars up and down the country. On a related subject (though little to do with old cars - sorry), I've also started to notice a spate of cars in the UK with no front number plate, though if you look closely, the plate is usually on the top of the dashboard. I presume that the drivers, if caught, will say "honestly officer, it just fell off and I was on my way to Halfords", but in reality, these are simply arrogant lawbreakers who think that their car looks "cooler" with no front plates.

Whilst in the Highland League, Fort William are 10 points adrift, -7 points (yes, minus 7, they were docked 9 points early on) and goal difference of -118 after 18 games.

If you tell that joke to the presenter, and he says "I'm not happy", don't make it worse by asking "Which one are you, then?".

That looks really nice - as said above, almost cheap enough to tempt one into O gauge! Having said that, I've got a very similar-looking loco in HO which hasn't seen the light of day on a layout yet, so maybe that ought to be my priority...

Outstanding!

15? Blimey! How long have I had that HO stuff without building a layout?

Presumably, if he'd just let it roll in (rather than attempting to trap it and getting the tiniest of touches), it wouldn't have stood?

Blimey, that's bleak, not to mention potentially libellous.

I always like to look at the Highland League scores, not least to see how many Fort William have lost by! It must be a great league for the statisticians - you'll see that last season, 4 teams scored over 100 goals, and another 4 let in over 100. Just look at the goal difference of the top and bottom finishers: I also like to follow the Lowland League results - though they're not half as entertaining - as that is the current home of what's left of "my" Scottish club, Gretna. After reaching the dizzying heights of European football earlier this century, they've reformed as Gretna 2008 and are now a distinctly average Lowland League side.

Hi Katy To the best of my knowledge, the gearbox and clutch are exactly the same as for the manual version, the only difference being the method by which the gears are selected. It's a bit confusing at first glance, because there's no clutch pedal, and the throttle is of the fly-by-wire variety, not a direct mechanical link from the accelerator pedal. This US review from the time the car was new gives an overview of the differing driving experiences between the manual and SMT versions better than I can: http://www.superstreetonline.com/cars/new-car-reviews/0206scc-2002-toyota-mr2-spyder-smt/ Even though it's not "old" as such, a few of you seem interested in the tech side of this "future classic", so I'll be extra careful to check my facts before any further replies! I may even post a couple of pictures if I get around to cleaning it...

I knew there was something else I should have mentioned! As it happens, the clutch is just beginning to slip if I try to accelerate too hard at lower revs. I've been quoted £400-ish by my local garage (and well north of £500 from the main dealer) to replace it, but I'm going to hang fire until it becomes a nuisance and/or I've got a load of money I longer need. Joking aside, it's perfectly driveable at the moment, but it's a job that will need doing this year, I guess. I don't think I've seen any old bills for a clutch change, but I don't want to blithely say "theyall last 140,000 miles", either. However, it looks like mine probably has... You'll no doubt have picked up from the picture of my dashboard that mine has the SMT ("sequential manual transmission") gearbox, the sort that Porsche would call "tiptronic". This is great fun - you can either change gears using buttons on the steering wheel, or knock the gearstick back and forth to change up or down. It's not an automatic, as some people think - the only gearchange the car will ever do for you is to change into first as you pull up to a halt. It even blips the throttle during downward changes if you're getting a shift on - what larks! When I was looking for a car, I knew I wanted to try the SMT version, so I sought the lowest-mileage one I could find at a sensible price. I needn't have worried - it's not low mileage now, not by any standards, and it still works fine. The gearstick is sometimes a little stiffer than it used to be, particularly in cold weather, but not enough to make it hard work, and once or twice, it's got stuck in "drive" and needed a little assistance to get into neutral (which you have to do to get it to start). Note to prospective owners of SMT MR2s: keep small flat-headed screwdriver in glove box! To confirm the answer to your last question - I've always felt I didn't have the time/space/skill to service the car myself, so I had it looked at by Toyota main dealers up to 100,000 miles, and then my local garage after that. But if you have the necessary knowledge, I doubt whether the MR2 is any harder than other cars of that age to work on - apart from everything being a little cramped under the bonnet. A good sets of ramps would be essential, I think. Final top tip - Toyota main dealers (or at least mine) might be expensive as far as hourly rate goes, but they are ridiculously cheap for tyres. I had all 4 done (2 x 15", 2 x 16") earlier this year, and got change out of £200.

(For the benefit of others, replying to a query about early Toyota MR2 roadsters) Hand on heart, the rear subframe issue wasn't something I was aware of. Googling, I see that it's a popular topic for discussion, but this area has never been even mentioned after any of the many services and MOTs that it's gone through since I bought it. In fact, hardly anything ever gets mentioned at the MOT - either I've been incredibly lucky, or Toyota make quite good cars... ! The pre-cat problem I was aware of - I bought my car at 10-years-old with pretty low mileage, but as it approached 100,000 miles, I had my local garage hack all of the pre-cat matrix out of the exhaust, so stop it being sucked back into the engine. Many miles later, I've had no issues with the engine, and no problem meeting the MOT emissions requirements, even without the pre-cat honeycomb. The only expensive and unexpected bills that I can recall in 7 years and over 100,000 additional miles - the steering went very tight about 4 or 5 years ago, and necessitated the replacement of one CV joint, and on another occasion, one headlight became rather hazed and yellow and had to be replaced (the other one is on the turn, but I've now got some paste that I apply with a drill & mop!), and I honestly can't think of much else. Yes, of course it's gone through the usual amount of tyres, pads & discs (but no more than any other car would), and I had to replace the 2 rear calipers some while ago. It's had a new radiator, but that was stone damage, as I recall, and not some inherent fault. The roof is starting to fray a bit, but it's still air- and water-tight, although I did buy a patch repair kit on Amazon to fix a couple of tiny holes that would have grown if left alone. One other thing which does need occasional attention is that the drain holes which carry rain from around the soft-top do eventually get clogged with leaf matter, leading to overflow into the passenger compartment. I didn't realise this until I had to start mopping large amounts of water up from behind the seats! Fortunately, the fix is quite easy - whip off the air intake covers, and the drains can be rodded fairly simply. The resulting "splosh" sound, followed by a litre of dirty water on each side is very satisfying!

Starting with the low-hanging fruit.