JetSet

That's correct, I just looked up the requirements and she doesn't seem to meet them but I'm sure there are ways around it . Anyway it seems the drive would only be in Practice one, so 35k sounds reasonable, especially as they need every penny right now. Pete

Bernie's latest thinking. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116734 Actually, it's not a bad idea but I'd still rather see proper F1 cars. Meanwhile, back in the real world of F1, Caterham have raised 52% of what they need to race in Abu Dhabi but time is running out and unless a fairy godmother steps in it'll probably amount to nothing. News on The Marussia front too, they are in "serious" talks with somebody or other and hope to make the grid at Abu Dhabi too. They need £3 million apparently, would be good business for somebody as the prize money for finishing 9th will be forfeited if they don't turn up. Pete

December is a very quiet period for car sales so you can quite often get a good deal as the stealers have targets that they need to reach. It's worth keeping in mind though that a December 2014 car will have a lower resale value than a January 2015 car in a couple of years time, according to Glass's guide anyway. Pete

My Grandfather was an Orangeman in Liverpool, back then they had a marching season too but that ended during WW2. My Mother also held strong beliefs but my Father like me was an atheist. Caroline was brought up as a Catholic but I'd say she has no real beliefs as such. Interesting that some people have mentioned the Jehova Witnesses, somehow or other they found us and visit every couple of weeks or so. The guy who comes here seems a decent guy and most of the time we talk about everything but religion . They have some weird beliefs that completely contradict science but TBH they aren't pushy and I quite enjoy our chats. When it comes to life in general though I do to the main follow Christian practices and try to be a good person (just in case ). Pete

I used to do a lot of bidding on computer parts and just put in the most I was prepared to pay about an hour before the item ended. Of course sometimes I lost and sometimes I got a bargain. These days I just use the buy it now button, as long as the price is reasonable of course. Pete

Can I come and watch? Pete

It's very quiet around here and there are only 3 other houses within half a mile but I've heard fireworks pretty well every night for the past week. You can hear them through the double glazing, but for example you can't hear a police siren so I can understand how some people who live on top them get a bit frustrated. Despite my remoteness, last year or possibly the year before I found the remains of a rocket about 4 feet from my Zed . I also found the burnt out remnants of a Chinese Lantern about 50 yards away from our house in a small wood last year, a house about 3 miles away was gutted when one of these landed on its roof. Pete

I did have a set of these on mine, they're stored in the garage at the moment. Pete

That's just lovely. I wish I could have afforded one when they first came out. Pete

Yes, just heard the news live on Sky F1. Ferrari and Red Bull were the 2 teams mentioned. The problem as I see it is that we have one major team who are in the sport to sell cars. As Brundle says if that team decides they've achieved what they want then they could just pull the plug on F1 leaving the sport high and dry. F1 needs to find a balance between the major manufacturers and the teams that are run by F1 enthusiasts, the Saubers, Force India's, Caterhams etc. Currently its all about the grandee teams and that needs to change. Pete

The important thing is though.............did you manage to take a leak!! Yes, we did. Travelling around in remote areas of Utah, Arizona, etc you're always on the lookout for a suitable place . Not really a problem for me but Caroline is a bit fussy about where she goes . I remember once we found a suitable place only to be greeted by a "beware of Rattlesnakes" notice....straight back into the car . Pete

Welcome along Pete

Yeah, my cottage is old, originally built in the late 1860's and extended and almost totally reworked (some parts had to be left mainly untouched for planning permission regulations, in other words it still has at least one stone wall) in 1969 and 1970. I too have a very high water table and the damp course installed in 69 or 70 failed in the mid 80's. Only went about 18" high though and not every inside wall had rising damp. I did get a quote from Peter Cox but they were much more expensive than the other quotes I had and I eventually had it done by Rentokill. Peter Cox wanted to knock a metre of plaster off and leave it for several months to dry out but Rentokill said that the plaster was in good shape, just needed to dry out and then be treated and they were right.The problem is now cured but we get mould high up on the walls in a couple of rooms due to condensation and the fact we have very tightly fitted double glazing throughout the house. The mould usually requires some anti mould about once a year so it's nothing too serious. Pete

Is there anything on the screen at all? Is the DVD player attempting to read the disk, should be able to hear it with the engine off. Pete

Looking forward to this one . Williams are very close and shouldn't be discounted. Weather and tactics will play a big part. Pete

Caroline and I were touring around The States in a rental back in 2002. The car was a Stratos (not a Lancia sadly) some American mid size car. We were in New Mexico, somewhere near to a place called Window Rock, quite a remote and mainly unvisited area when it happened. We were both dying for a toilet break but the vegetation was sparse and after many miles eventually I spotted a couple of trees close to the side of the road with sufficient cover. I pulled over onto the verge which was mainly broken rock and gravel....failing to notice until the last minute that the verge wasn't wide enough for the car and that it sloped into a 3 feet deep drainage ditch. The verge was a bit wet from an earlier thunder storm and the rental slid into the ditch, the front end completely at the bottom of the ditch, the rear end about half way down. So there we are in the middle of nowhere with no mobile phone and no one to pull us out. After a few minutes panic I took a good look at the ditch and noticed that about 50 yards behind the car the ditch levelled out to just a few inches. So I clambered back in, shoved it into reverse and after about 20 minutes of sliding around extricated the car from the ditch. Didn't see a single vehicle the whole time we were there . The car was completely caked in mud but we were able to continue. I also managed,once again in a rental, to get bogged down in a sandy ford in Monument Valley, had to be towed out by a passing 4wd who luckily had a sturdy rope with him. Pete

Personally I'd prefer a full 26 car grid with 13 teams but that's unlikely to happen. There's much discussion about 3 car teams lately, something I wasn't originally in favour of. However to me it would be acceptable if the following rules applied. 3rd car should be in a different livery or at least different enough to tell it apart. Next, the 3rd driver should be able to score points for the drivers championship but not the constructors championship. Drivers should be under 26 and should never have had a podium position or previously driven in more than 10/15 GP's. Failing that, how about customer cars. Anyway, we'll be down to 12 cars soon unless something is done. Pete

Caterham have raised £502,040 so far towards their target of £2.5 million. http://www.crowdcube.com/caterham/ EDIT....Target is actually £2.35 million Pete

Yes, there's a thermostat in there that prevents the elements from overheating. Pete

This'll be my 8th winter with the Zed so I've had quite a bit of experience with this. Personally, I don't worry about the windows, the main battle is actually to get the doors open. They usually freeze in the area around the door handle/door lock so its O.K to use hot water in that area, as for the windows, they may or may not freeze, I don't really know as I don't want the windows down when its freezing outside .Be aware that in a prolonged freeze your headlight washer covers could pop out (both mine and my wife's did anyway). I don't know what other Zed owners do about this but I feel its best to fix this using warm water just in case the washer cover flies off when you're driving along. Pete

Anyone know if the double points is for this season only? Pete

Bank kept mine until I'd paid the property off. I did need to see them after I'd lived in the house for about 8 years as I knew there was a 25 year guarantee on the damp course which had failed. Sadly for me it didn't do me any good as the company that had done the damp course had been liquidated many years before. Actually thinking about it the bank didn't hold the deeds at the branch but at their mortgage HQ, I had to wait a few weeks and there was a fee too. This would have been in 1986, things may have changed since then. Pete

Weather for Brazil this weekend......Showery all 3 days. Pete

Yes, when we bought ours I wanted to see it working. Tried just the switch then called the salesman over who had no idea. He went off to fetch someone but was unable to find anyone who knew. This BTW was the main Nissan dealer in Chester . Eventually we had to refer to the handbook. Pete

Yeah I thought that, some really stupid professions on there. It's nothing too important, I'll tell her she will need to find someone else to sign - But I think it's a bit stupid with the occupation requirement as you need to know the person for min 2 years before signing - What if she doesn't know any of the above ? Most people in the uk will know either: A doctor, dentist or optician Doctors and some other proffesions usually charge. Pete