rabbitstew

Except mc Donald's I went in for a Big Mac when we were there to see, and it was the same size as over here! I was not impress í ½í¸‚ I did exactly the same when I was at LAX once, for some reason I assumed a US Big Mac would be massive. As it was it wasnt even as good as the UK version.

Had some awesome very high intensity weight workouts over the weekend. Not sure why tbh as ive been up since 3am every day this week and am having very little sleep due to feeding the baby. Diet etc not changed, but for some reason I seemed to find extra energy/intensity. Strange. Still sticking to the dumbells for a while, and am noticing that as expected, they are hitting me harder as you have to control them more than a bar etc.

Brilliant! Keeeerrrrr cchhooow!

Fair enough on the looks point but for reliability Hondas will beat Peugeots into a bloody mess. When I got my 2003 CTR it had around 95K miles on it, ...I sold it 3 years later with roughly 115-119K miles on it and in that 3 years I never had to spend a penny on it other than for oil changes, some new tyres & brake pads. Good look with the Pug if you get one. My family seems to have had quite a few Peugeots over the years and they have actually been much cheaper to run than the long list of VW`s we have also had. Peugeot 205 Gti - 18 months of motoring, needed just 1 new handbrake cable. 130k on clock when sold. Peugeot 106 Diesel - Did 80k miles over 3 years. Needed 2 new ball joints, glow plugs & diesel shut off valve. Sold it with 160k on the clock. Peugeot 306 Dturbo - Did 70k over 5 years, brake light switch on brake pedal was replaced. Sold with 120k on the clock. Peugeot 307 HDi - Did 45k over 2 years, just needed new top bearings on front suspension (£10) and 1 new suspension spring (£30). Sold with 120k on clock and still returning 58mpg. Peugeot 206cc (2.0 Petrol) - Had it for 2 years, just needed 1 front CV joint, Coil pack. So all in all pretty cheap motoring really. Compare that to the VW Golf TDi I ran for 4 years. That needed new wheel bearings, new ball joints, new wishbone bushes, a cam belt every 20k (or something silly like that), the indicator relay went, the brake light switch went, the actual clutch pedal snapped in two, glove box catch broke, shocks went, dpf fell off (so just replaced with a bit of pipe in the end), electric windows broke, engine temperature sender went faulty, and thats just the stuff I can remember. Thats excluding "normal maintenance" of having new brake pad/disks every 80k.

Another vote for the clio 172 from me!

Wife had a 206cc a while back. Was the same engine as the GTi. Was loads of fun, but drank the fuel. Think hers was the 140bhp one.

I totally agree. In my (much) younger days I went to court more times then I can remember to try and contest motoring offenses and every single time the magistrate just looks at you like something they have stepped in and takes the police officers word as the truth. They then 9 times out of 10 give you a much much harsher penalty then had you just accepted the original 3 points. Classic example being when the 100 year old senile magistrate tried to give me 10 points for doing 71 in a 60 on a deserted road in the middle of nowhere. It was only after much intervention from the Clerk that they reduced it to 5 points and a hefty fine. I wish id had just accepted the 3 points & £60 fine. If you can do the driving awareness course do it. I did one last year. It was a hell of a long 4 hours with the teachers being very patronising towards you. They use all sorts of strange arguments and case examples to try and prove their point. Some people on my course tried to point out some inconsistencies with their arguments and got shot straight down as the teachers just dont accept anyone else might be correct. After 4 hours I walked away only having learnt 2 things. 1) Pigeons dont fly when its foggy (i kid you not) and 2) Dual carriageways can be more than 2 lanes each way. However, I could clearly see other people on the course did learn a lot of stuff which they didnt already know.

Spotted this morning at about half 9, cruising on the A14, roof down. Driver looked to be really enjoying himself. Silver 07 plate 350z Roadster, didnt look like it was the HR model though. ** 07 NPK

To be fair, most of the maintenance is easy to do yourself. I changed brake pads on my HR and the brembos were the easiest car pad change ive ever done. Oil, oil filter & air filters are all nice & easy also. Same goes for the drive belt on the front of the engine. 15 minute job.

There was a post on here about same thing happening to a zed the other year. Mechanic at garage stacked it, left it upside down in the middle of the road then put photos on facebook boasting about it. Cars owner saw it and wasnt happy.

Build threads are great for finding out stuff. A mate of mine was looking at an Astra VXR the other year. He found a lovely example of one for sale, low miles, history sounded good. However, through the powers of google he found a build thread on an Astra forum for a guy who had bought a written off Astra VXR and rebuilt it. Apparently it had to be rejigged and all sorts and the guy had endless problems trying to fix the car up and getting it working properly. Anyway, turned out it was the same car.

Excellent, its good when you start seeing some results as it motivates you! My workouts are still a bit limited due to time and new baby which arrived 2 weeks back. 2hr feeding cycles for the new born means very little sleep, but it does mean I can knock a protein drink or 2 back during the night which I find helps with recovery. Still lack of sleep means lack of energy so ive been hammering the energy drinks. I decided last week to switch to using dumbells a lot more - just to mix things up. Ive enough plates in my home gym to make up a couple of 120lb dumbells, so figured that should be plenty for me atm. So had a couple of really good workouts last weekend and another on Wednesday. My god, my chest was killing for days after incline dumbell presses. Not to mention all the other muscles you employ in getting the weights up there in the first place then trying to stablise them. All good stuff.

Brilliant, they must be 350z experts then!

Its just not worth the hassle these days as insurance companies can easily check things. When I renewed the other year I had a call shortly afterwards from my insurance company, and they had DVLA conferenced in on the line asking if I would be happy to have a "random" check done to see if I had been telling them the truth. I said sure, no problem and gave them permission. DVLA then checked with the insurance company that I did infact have a valid license, and (at the time) told them I had 3 points. Fortunately I had been honest and already told the insurance company about these 3 points. Had I not, then I would have been in trouble. My 3 points increased my premium by 30% so I can see why some people might not want to tell the insurance company about them. With exhausts & other such things. Some companies charge nothing or next to nothing for them, so you may as well tell them. Others charge a fortune or wont touch you. If your cars worth any money then its just not worth the risk of the insurance refusing to pay out if you make a claim. There was a huge debate on here a while back as to what actually is classed as a "mod" or "aftermarket". If I go to kwik fit (not that I ever would) and they fit their own cheapy brand of exhaust to my car, whilst its not a "performance" one, its an aftermarket one and not OEM so should I declare it? Who knows if it gives me 2bhp more or 2bhp less, but its not standard. Same with brake pads, air filters, even tyres. Then again, you are also supposed to declare any options on your car which werent on the bog standard car. So if you opt`d for uprated stereo, or optional wheels or anything extra when you bought the car new, then you have to declare that, as some companies (like admiral) will only give you the money for the bog standard car. If you bought the car new you`d know what you spec`d , but if you bought 2nd hand it can be very hard to know what was original equipment on your car for that year.

Mine failed one year because the beams were too low. The next year it failed because the beams were too high. Very strange stuff!

I know what you're saying but the thought of being a learner again and putting myself through all that is really off putting. I know what you mean, I hate being a learner but its all pretty easy. One of my mates passed his the other year and did some sort of 1 week intensive course. As your a car driver your already got a head start in that you know the roads etc, its just a case of learning how to ride a bike which is pretty straight forward. Then once you pass your other half can go out with you and teach you how to ride properly!.

Hmmmm.. clearly the bible bashers who I had assumed were JW`s who live in the house behind me are not JW`s then as they let their kids stay up until all hours of the night chanting & singing hymns whilst the mother plays the piano. I think they clearly are not allowed a television as the piano seems their only form of entertainment. Very annoying for us neighbours though this time of year when you have to have your doors/windows open to try and get some fresh air and all you can hear is them. Sundays do seem to be the worst though as they all get dressed up, off to their church, then all their fellow bible bashers all come back to their house for a mad party until 11pm.

Another vote for doing your bike test from me. That way you & the other half can go for rides out together etc. Bikes are cheap as chips these days so you could pick up a sporty 600 for hardly anything. Mate of mine, his missus passed her test after years of being pillion on the back of his. Now they hire a babysitter to look after their 2 kids whilst they both go for rides out. He`s got an R1 & she`s got an R6.

Jesus!!!!!

All true. I used to work with a born again Christian and he was constantly trying to convert anyone who would talk to him. It was quite amazing how he could turn any conversation around to "god". You`d start off talking about working out in the gym etc then within 5 minutes he`d have turned it to how he use to workout all the time but now he has given his body to god and gets fulfillment from worshiping etc. etc.

Mirrors my experience when I first got my zed although I was nearly 40 and had about 20 years NCB. All the specialists came back at silly money, and the reason/excuse they gave was purely because I hadnt recent experience in a high powered RWD car. Id had loads of quick cars in the past and also had various high performance superbikes in my garage which I was currently riding, but that didnt count. I was really surprised, as it seemed to be purely down to the zed, as I was getting quotes of something like £400 for a BMW M3, £500 for a Porsche Boxster and even £600 for a NIssan GTR or a Lambo Gallardo, and yet the 350z was coming back at well over £1000. I think the cheapest I found in year 1 was Adrian Flux at just under £1000, then for year 2 I moved to Admiral at £700. Annoyingly once I sold the car, every man & his dog were then quoting me £300 to insure one. Insurance logic eh?

Reminds me of this one... "Female motorist ploughs into back of van while using Rampant Rabbit" http://www.mirror.co...ploughs-6056180

I remember when about 32 years ago when I was 11 seeing a lad at school (who was only a couple of years older than me). He had 2 or 3 quite big "professional" tattoos on his arms already he`d got at some fairground he went to. I thought they were awesome and from that moment on I wanted to have tattoos. The kids on my school bus used to give each other tattoos with a bottle of ink and a compass, but I passed on that idea! For me it was all about being different. Noone in my family had any tattoos, except one of my Uncles who was a lorry driver. Tattoos had a great mystic about them as they were fairly rare & unusual. Back in the olden days it was only people like sailors or prisoners who had them. The problem I had was trying to find designs I really liked. However much I wanted tattoos, I didnt want to get something for the sake of it or some flash art of the wall. So it wasnt until I was in my 20`s I started getting a few tattoos once I found some designs I liked. Even back then it was shocking the difference in quality of tattoo studies. You really had to shop around to find the best, and it was shocking some of the work I saw. I remember at the time, I really wanted full sleeves done, but because of my job I couldnt have anything visible as tattoos were very much frowned upon - so I could only stick to upper arms so I could hide them if I rolled my shirt sleeves up. However nowadays, it seems every man & his dog have tattoos and for me the mystic and magic around them has vanished a lot. I still love the old classic designs and appreciate any decent art work, but its now no longer something rare which you seldom see. Its now become the norm and nearly every other bloke you see seems to have full sleeves. So whereas when I was a kid you`d get a tattoo to be different, now you really have to not get one at all in order to be different! Im not saying thats good or bad, just my view on it. Quite funny how public opinion & interest in them had changed over the years.

I pretty much always use cash when I buy a car/motorbike, but when you start getting into serious money its not convenient so bank transfer is better. However, as others have said check your daily limit. When I bought my 997 turbo it transpired my daily limit was 25grand, so I just arranged with the dealer that id spread the payments over 3 days to make sure it was fully payed ahead of pick up. When threads like this come up I always remember sitting on the train from Kings Cross one day, and opposite me there was a bloke on his mobile phone, holding onto a rucksack, chatting loudly to his mate like he was the only one in the whole carriage. "Im on the train" "Going to buy an Audi A4" "Yeah got a good deal" "8 grand in cash" Pretty much everyone in the whole carriage looked at each other as they now all knew that the guy probably had 8 grand in cash in his rucksack.

Must be the week for it. One of our cats was run over 2 days ago. Bit upsetting really as im the one who has to feed/clean them every day. Id fed them at at 6am as always, it went outside for its wander about then get a call from the vets a couple of hours later saying it had been run over on the road behind my house. It was a quiet 30mph road. At least someone had the decency to take it to the vet and get them to scan it, else you end up never knowing whats happened to it. Our other cats are all a bit lost now, not daring to go outside - so whether they witnessed it I dont know. Anyhow, onto relationships. Whilst its hurting atm, and it will for some time, I think you made the right choice based on what you have said previously etc. Otherwise you end up running about like a lapdog not daring to say or do anything in case its wrong. The biggest problem I found when I went through my last split up was the sudden amount of extra spare time you have. You go from not having any spare time at all, to having all the free time in the world. And so you end up spending every spare moment thinking about everything which makes it worse. All the thinking "what if and what that" wont change anything and you know that but you cant stop thinking. Your aiming in the right direction though, keeping yourself busy, gym, 2nd job etc. you need stuff to just take your mind off things. One thing I found helped me no end, is that I re-ignited friendships with some old mates and started hanging out with them. Just to take my mind off things. One mate in particular I had only just helped him through his own breakup, and then 2 months later I was in the same boat and he helped me through it. Knowing that you are not the only one going/been through this and having an ear to listen was a really great help. We were also able to have a laugh about old times, back before our current failed relationships etc. I also was able to start doing hobbies id really enjoyed but had to put on hold, such as shooting, running, playing guitar, motorbikes etc. after a while it was actually quite enjoyable having the freedom to do what I wanted when I wanted. But always in the back of your head there is that loneliness, missing someone to cuddle etc. Now, I wasnt sure whether that was me actually missing the ex, or just missing being in a relationship and cuddling someone. A lot of people move on quickly to someone else as having someone else about helps you get over the ex quicker. But then if you do that on the rebound it can end up just making things a bit worse later on as your feelings were confused etc - so you end up just hurting someone else. Id steer well clear of places like match.com for a long time. After I split with my ex, about 5 months later a mate suggested I should go on there just to get a few dates and see women as "nice people" rather than evil old cows. I signed up, had a look and one of the people match.com "suggested" was a perfect match for me was my ex. !!!! The profile picture she was using was one I had taken, and all her hobbies/interests she had put down were basically the same as mine. After the sick feeling had gone, I had to laugh as she put down stuff like she "loved romantic walks".... the only walking she ever did was from the sofa to the fridge & back. Did feel like a bit of a kick in the teeth as she had said to me that she wanted some space to be single etc, and here she was on a dating site. A dating site it had taken me months to pluck up the courage to join only to have her profile picture grinning at me.