maz0

That is a fun stretch of road

I am in the exactly the same boat as you. Albeit not a teacher. There is about 15K of a difference in pay between my public sector wage and my mate who left our unit to work in the same job for a private sector bank. I'll never reach his wage as I'm capped about 10k away from it. If I were to look at other posts across the country which are the same as mine, I see that the average salary for this job is around 15k higher than me (private sector). Only reason I'm not on that wage is because I'm public sector. I was once told by one of our HR big wigs that I was to relate it to the Coop and Marks and Spencers, why does a Coop shelf stacker earn less than a M&S shelf stacker? But when I pointed out the end product quality of M&S compared to Coop, and asked if he expected me to work at a lesser standard than private sector seeing as I'm on the lower wage, he soon got the point. This thread has shown me that the problem doesn't lay with the majority of public sector workers, but with a minority who are abusing it, or perhaps not abusing it, but becoming a 'lifer' as Chesterfield put it. I should point out that even as a 'lifer' your not on wage rises for life, eventually you reach your cap and will only really get cost of living increases which are minimal. Many folk in Scotland recently got hit by the 'Cosla Job Evaluation Consortium' which I can't even express how much of a joke it was. But the jist of it was that majority got their wage cap reduced even further. And you say that we are exempt from the risky volatility of holding a job in private sector, but that's not the case, when my wage cap was recently reduced I was told sign the new contract and accept or your fired. I think the upset that most are feeling is that public sector has been targeted to foot the bill, when there are other areas that could be looked at. Look at the nuclear weapons program in place, 200 billion on these new submarines...or the war in Afghanistan. It was mentioned the countries debt increases at £10k a second, well I can bet a good chunk of that is thanks to the cost of running an army abroad with food, fuel, and ammunition. You might just say, well why not quit and go work private, well I actually really enjoy my job, and I'm sure rtbiscuit does as well. I just wished that the folk up top would some day get a grip and start paying fair wages in relation to the rest of the country, but my prayers were answered in reverse and I've now inherited a 2 year wage freeze. I suppose you should be careful what you wish for!

Came with mine free mate. Nothing special. I'll be replacing it eventually.

Thats me on a 2 year pay freeze. Sigh. I think this sums it up nicely. "Derek Simpson, general secretary of Unite, the country’s biggest union with two million members, said: "Where is the promised fairness in cutting the wages of needy households yet fighting shy of closing the tax loopholes which allow the wealthy to dodge their duty to this country?"

Welcome mate! Where in Glasgow you from?

On yersel

Haha, looked like the old boy was trippin out. I thought he was gonna fall over and die at one point.

I get this also. I thought it was the CV joint clicky thing, but wasn't sure. I'm fitting lowering springs shortly so I'll be able to have a look and see.

A friend of mine had his screen put into the cubby holder area, and the installer who done it, had the screen edges embossed in a nice soft black leather, which really suited the look of the interior. Was pretty sweet install. I dunno how one would go about getting this done though.

Am interested to know how they can 'check' your gearbox oil Dip your finger in and taste the oil? always works for me

You can alway's just drive your car up onto a few planks of wood to give it an extra inch or two, which will allow you to get the trolley under and get the car onto axle stands, I wouldn't stress too much about low profile jacks?

Yeah its a shame, you'd expect those mod's to squeeze a bit more out of the engine than that, but I guess that's why the best way to go is FI or Nos like yourself, you could spend thousands on N/A mod's and barely make another 50bhp. Keep us updated

Which do you have applied mate?

Would it put you off buying a car if it was not serviced at the stealer? It never put me off, as I'm sure most people are aware that the same job is being done at the end of the day. P1 = oil change and basic inspection if I'm correct?

Looks great mate, really like the colour scheme

Looks amazing mate

Great pictures mate, cars looking sweet

Had a look at both HEL and Goodridge kits while i was at alex's place. Although I havn't tried either, based purely on the aesthetics and feel, the Goodridge 'looked' better to me. I got a sense of cheap and cheerfull with regards the HEL and the goodies felt more solid and quality. I'll be getting the goodies, but im a sucker for presentation

Loved the Blur and Bryan ferry mix! Keep them comin guys!

Damn it! Not happy

Good stuff mate, this would be really helpful.

Just checking the possible upgrade contracts for o2 and it says 20p for picture messages. Is this new? I always thought it counted under your texts and if unlimited, was then free.. Hmm, don't think I like these new contracts.

Test drove a Scooby before buying the Zed. But it just didn't feel right for me. It was a quick car, but it was cheap and nasty inside. Some folk actually say the Zed is cheap and tacky inside as well, but with the Alezan leather, I think it's quite tasteful. The drive like you say won't be as thrillish without the turbo, but learn to appreciate it's own characteristics and you won't regret the decision.

Nice, I have the dogcam PV1000, stole it off my brother when he crashed his bike and gave up biking! I like the position you have, it's nice in the sense it gives a feeling of the cockpit and so on, but I agree with a little zoom in, it would be perfect!

Just checked with regards the upgrade, and by selling my 3GS for £221, I can buy out/upgrade for £320, which means a total cost of £99 for me. But what changes from that? does it mean I'm moving to a new crappy tarrif? I quite like the one I'm on at the moment, especially the unlimited internet