Mondo

Mondo's not gonna swear at you at all... *looks at Block List* :lol: I certainly think it'd look better embroidered into the seats than airbrushed onto the new Zed's flanks or anything like that. Less is more, and all that :thumbup1:

This, for me, is the start of a side-issue. The facts of this whole ISIS matter are that people all over the world are killing in the name of Allah, which makes (in incredibly broad strokes) the religion of Islam the problem for a vast number of people worldwide. Dan is correct where he's said that, by and large, comparatively few Muslims are standing up denouncing this barbarism which leads to the question "Secretly, do all Muslims think the same way...?" There will be people out there who believe that the answer to that question is "yes" and that's going to cause a problem. Especially when a UK city is attacked. Paris is close enough to home that people in the UK are starting to properly worry. What happens when London is attacked? I'll tell you what'll happen: mosques will be attacked in "retaliation"... Muslim people will be attacked in the streets... and why? Because, as has already been said, there is no way to outwardly tell who has been radicalised and who hasn't. So the mob mentality will take over and any Muslim will become fair game. Groups such as the EDL are taking this opportunity to shout that we should've closed the UK's borders to keep ourselves safe from a similar situation as Paris has just suffered. In some respects, they have a point because ISIS themselves have openly stated that their people are hiding in plain sight amongst refugees and immigrants - I imagine a lot of people dismissed this as being propaganda and scare-mongering but, if the reports out of Paris are true and Syrian passports have been found where the suicide bombers were, then it's almost concrete proof that ISIS were telling the truth and that means that nobody knows who can be trusted. This whole situation is on the verge of becoming a global version of the Vietnam War; you have "super-powers" who are effectively useless because the enemy faction are scurrying around beneath their collective radars until they pop up, initiate a massacre, and then disappear again. There's no real way to fight that, except at true ground level. And that ground level combat is what will happen in the near future in this country. As soon as a major UK city is the scene of anything like Paris' recent trauma, people will start to take up arms against the people that they perceive as being "the enemy": Muslims. They won't ask questions - they'll simply go in for the kill. Could any of this be avoided? Possibly, if the Muslim community would stand up and denounce and wholeheartedly condemn the actions of ISIS. By and large though, they don't. Or, if they do, it doesn't get a great deal of press coverage. The UK is seen as an easy target - far easier than the USA or Russia, for example. In America, everyone over the age of 3 appears to carry a gun, which means that Johnny Suicide Bomber has only to reveal his explosive vest in a public place and he's likely to be shot before he can detonate it. Here though, we're so soft as a country that we will actively allow (and therefore be seen to condone) ludicrous things such as radical Muslim groups burning symbolic poppies during Rememberance services while they spout about how they despise the West and how all our soldiers should be executed. And what happens to these lovely people who do such things? Are they treated as hate crimes and punished under the full extent of the law? No. They get a bit of a chat from the police and sent on their way because it would be "racist" to actually punish them. As far as I'm aware though, Islam is a religion and not a race, so how can the racism card be played in a situation like that...? Should a white, UK-born person do something in a similar vein though - say, burning a copy of the Koran - then they're immediately arrested for hate crimes and racism and get the book thrown at them. This is why all these radical Islamic groups, both here and abroad, are wetting themselves laughing at us as a country. And that is why groups such as the EDL continue to issue these "calls to arms." The only logical outcome from all of this is going to be revolution. The politicians and governments appear to be doing very little to "keep their people safe" and so it'll fall to "the people" to do it for themselves, and that's going to result in a lot of needless deaths for innocent people. The world today is a genuinely scary place to live.... :(

The cruise control? The round-ish black thing? Mine doesn't have that so I can't help with that issue. It's a reasonably common strut brace though, so someone on here should be able to help :)

The throttle cable runs through the mount on the driver's side - there are two round holes in the sides of the towers, and the cable fits through that so you'll need to disconnect it under your throttle cover to run it through. For the passenger side, I only had to run the pipe coming directly off the fuel filter through the holes in that tower. :)

Ask Lee how he had the boot open :thumbup1:

How long now til London suffers a similar attack? Or another major UK city? The world is a horrendous place these days... :(

That's brutal to see, Lee! I'd expect it to be a write-off based on that shopping list. :( What was the wagon driver's reaction when you chased him and got him to pull over? And when the police turned up? You said he didn't speak much English, but was he in a foreign wagon?

I'd be very proud, Craig!!

To be honest here, and even putting to one side the "dead man's boots" feeling that pervades today, I'm genuinely a bit cheesed that I turned around to head home again. The traffic was lousy from almost the moment I left here and the sat nav was telling me an expected arrival time circa 1.30pm... when I'd spoken to Craig this morning, he'd advised me that there was a chance I might not even make it into the NEC itself if I arrived too late due to the arrangement of the stands - somewhat foolishly, it turns out, I turned around for home before I rang him to say I was doing so, and it was then he told me that our stand was right next to an access route so there'd be no issues with me getting in. Sod's Law in full effect there, I think! By that point though, I was halfway home and thought it'd be crazy to then turn around again and arrive in the middle of the afternoon. Hindsight's a wonderful thing, of course... Hopefully there'll be other occasions where I can help to bolster the Z32's public profile... it seems today just wasn't meant to be. And yeah, Donnington did have that detached feeling about it at times. :( My Zed's only little as well - it wouldn't have taken up much room at all! :lol:

I don't think I've ever seen you swear on here before... :lol:

Replacement rear quarter, rear bumper, replacement door, replacement wing... from the angle of that rear wheel, I'd say multiple new suspension parts and hope to God that the impact hasn't torn the subframe from it's mountings on the chassis! It's looking like a large and expensive repair at best, and that's just from those initial pictures. Sad day... :(

I can't believe that the driver who hit you had the sheer *****x to stop, ask if you were ok without disclosing his identity, and then drive off!! Un.Believe.Able! I hope he gets metaphorically raped and bulleted by his employer for this, I really do...!!

So damned sad, mate :(

I find it staggering that the lorry driver would continue driving after this! There's no way on earth (unless he was leathered or drugged up to the eyeballs) he could've missed an impact like that, so it seems it was a conscious decision not to stop. Thankfully there was someone who saw it all and was prepared to find Lee and then give chase to the wagon in question. I don't even want to imagine how anyone would feel if they returned to their car to find it in such a state without any clue as to what happened! I feel for you, Lee... truly I do.... :(

It was always going to be a close thing, Gaz. I have to say though, there are some maniacs on the roads today. I had a family in a Zafira cut me up twice on the A1, then jumping on their brakes for a giggle - I even got raised fingers off their damned children when I overtook them. Classy folks. A couple of lorries came close to me as they randomly veered out of their lanes too (including one pulling out into the "fast lane" for no good reason)... absolutely crazy, some people! Definitely been one of those mornings... :(

And Mondo's back at home again :( No issues with my car but the traffic was appalling from the moment I left the house, to the point where the sat-nav was saying I wouldn't arrive til 1.30pm. Having spoken to Craig first thing this morning and he speculated that there was a chance I might not actually get into the NEC itself (as our club were arranged to enter at 10am), I decided to turn around. Ironically, when I subsequently spoke to Craig, he told me that there wouldn't be any issues with me getting into the show. Sod's Law, really. A shame, as I'd have loved to be a part of something of this magnitude, but the far bigger shame is the horrendous incident that Lee was involved in this morning!! :(

Jesus!!!! Glad he's ok but all that hard work... :( Seriously glad that he's uninjured though - that's always the main thing. Lousy lousy news, this!

*looks at car* *looks at watch* :(

What on earth's prompted this, Ted...?! :ohmy:

I'm interested to see how this "partial 'tache" turns out! :)

So I'm now accumulating parts for a few jobs that I'll be tackling over the winter. This will hopefully include refreshing the interior, but certainly the brakes, Hicas, rear subframe and wheels should be seeing some nice updates and changes over the next few months. :) I foresee a couple of days on Lee Dent's lift in the not-too-distant future!

Checking my Magic 8-Ball on this one and the answer is "Outlook is bleak!!" :lol:

The damage I would cheerfully inflict upon someone like that...!! :gunsmilie:

Baz's old Purple one?

Good find, Ash! Another job ticked off the list :biggrin: