Gio

Misty-eyed nostalgia kicks in again - Guildford Civic Centre nineteen seventy errrh seven-ish but don't quote me. I was verryy verrryy drunk at the time. hehehehe And who let that young pedant on this thread (cough) doesn't he realise that if it wasn't for the sacrifices we oldsters made in the mud of Reading, the trenches of Glastonbury your young whippersnappers wouldn't know one end of a MIDI interface from another. Call it music? Cos I don't, not like the good old music we had in our day, oh no, that was proper music with a beat you could dance to froth gnash arkkkkk.

Warren has not had engine destruction. Warren will not have engine destruction. Warren has now already achieved engine perfection - apart from some technicalities. heheheh :D - Gio Al Watsit

Blimey - have you seen the wrinklies coming out of the woodwork this year? A rush of nostalgia and too much red wine has got me ordering tickets for Paul McCartney at Earls Court (ok ok ok you may say that Mark Chapman shot the wrong one but this might be my last chance to see a live Beatle). And Yes at Hyde Park in July. Now, can I get away with the Stones at Twickenham in September as well? hehehe - Gio

AndyP - ahh - the essential difference between a civilised nation and the yanks :D hehehehe When Ghandi was asked what he thought about western civilisation, he replied he thought it would be a good idea! ;) Gio

Not the dyslexic devil-worshipper who sold his soul to Santa, then?

Clair's got a point - I heard on the TV today someone read out the orders given by British offices to our soldiers back then, If anyone saw an Iraqi with a gun, they were to be shot and their family and village taken out (not the exact words I know). Not nice. And tooley's got some interesting points too. But there are lots of differences between the cultures and countries mentioned - and in the rest of this thread as well. No country is perfect - but democracy is probably the "least worst" of today's political systems (and actually, it's not US or UK levels of democracy, it's Greek ones!). At least we have the right to stand up and say Mr Blair is a liar and a cheat and should be voted out of office as soon as possible (not necessarliy my view - just an eg). If that was tried under Saddam or in N Korea or in Taliban-era Afghanistan, you'd be dead or worse. For me, that is the key difference. And if we leave Iraq and the Iraqis able to do that in future, than there will have been a positive result - even if by a not-very-nice method. Peace - Gio

Legally, plate sizes are here. They appear to relate to the number of letters / numbers you need (eg A1 can be a smaller plate than G10 XXX) http://www.dvla.gov.uk/vehicles/regmarks/reg_marks_current_requirements.htm#after2001 Also, if your import "cannot accomodate standard size number plates" you can have smaller letters / numbers: http://www.dvla.gov.uk/vehicles/regmarks/reg_marks_current_requirements.htm#import On the face of it, since there is no problem with attaching a normal size plate to the front like UK models, you cannot use the smaller letters on the front. But it would be quite OK to use smaller letters on the rear since J model plates are different size and the cutout in the rear bumper clearly "cannot accomodate standard size number plates". Aaaand So (legally) no slogans, no logos, no silly borders etc. And if you put the BS No on a plate which isn't BS you're probably breaking another law! So you can't lie. All the above is for one of two reasons a) to ensure that drivers are legally protected by the correct identification of their vehicle in case of theft or b) to make sure that number plates are easily readable by speed cameras, congestion charge cameras, the boys in blue and big brother. (tick box which applies) Cheers ;) Gio

There's a vacancy just come up, isn't there? Anyone know how to get a statue of AndyP done on the cheap? :D

I was just disappointed to read on the BBC site that as it means I can't make the crack about the Irish invading Bagshot.

As a wannabee buddhist-y thing, I've had - and still do - a big problem with war as a resolving force. Gandhi-ji liberated an entire continent (oh alright then, sub-continent) from us Brits by non-violence. Top banana. But the countries created in that turmoil haven't exactly been paragons of non-violence. What would have happened to the Buddha or Ghandi - or, come to that, the-alleged-Jesus or the-alleged-Mohammed - in Saddam's Iraq? Probably an instant of feeling good and virtuous followed by either a bullet (if lucky) or 5 years of 240v on the gonads. And no change to the regime. Ghandi's non-violence worked because (my guess) at that time us Brits were trying to be civilised. Not something Saddam gives two hoots for. Yes, war is probably wrong - but at the end of the day, I ask myself would I prefer to live in the US or in last year's Iraq? No contest. And no contest for the worldwide millions of Iraqi refugees. Just keep your fingers crossed for peace arriving as quickly as war. Peace to all - Gio

Took a while - caught it on Bill Oddie from The Goodies (showing my age yet again curses)

F! Mucho bizarro - so far it guessed General Pinochet and Jeannie. Good grief. :D Gio

I've found them fine but then I might well be the slowest driver on this forum! Certainly the Toyos have an excellent reputation. Cheers - Gio

Hi Dan, I got a pair of S-03s 225 rears (original Japanese size not 245 UK size) in Jan for £190.35 fitted balanced etc. Mobile bloke as well so will come out. At least he will if you are anywhere near Bracknell! Als Tyres 0771 432 7488 HTH - Gio

They could have worded that better, don't you think?

:D Bugger - had me fooled! ;) Boost looks strong and healthy, though. Cheers - Gio

Thanks Guys, I will try a gentle application of WD40 and if that fails, toddle off to Halfords. Cheers - Gio

:eek: just think, if you'd turned the aircon off, you might have bent the needle a little more! Cheers - Gio

My aerial just started to make grindy noises and hesitate a bit going up and down. (Just like me when I hit 40 ;) ) What should I clean / lube it with? WD40? 3in1? Does it matter? Thanks - Gio

'cos Alex Ferguson is a humourless Scottish thug, the rich bastards fleecing the fans can afford to throw gazillions at their team thus buying success and pricing everyone else out of the game, it's easy to be seduced by brand image so there are zillions of so-called fans who've never been near Manchester in their life who say they support Man U for much the same reason that charmless kids joing the biggest bully gang in the playground. No offence to those real Man U fans who can actually find Manchester on the map. :) Cheers - Gio

I was going to do this myself but got scared on the stories about how difficult they were to remove. IIRC several peeps here have even had to resort to pullers. So I would quite believe you that you are having a TOW. Cheers - Gio

Stuart's explanation sounds feasible. If there are any part numbers on the glass or if you want to check UK vs UK parts on different 300ZXs (eg Z31 vs Z32) try Mike Feeney at http://www.mjpauto.com Good luck - Gio

Who let Steve Burns on here? And why is he answering a question which asks "which model Z32 do you have?"? hehehehe (ducks) - Gio ;)

hahahahahaha bonk (Gio laffin his head off) Thanks

Being a satellite anorak with a 1m motorised (yah boo sucks mine's bigger than yours chiz chiz) there have been some strange viewings. For example, a couple of days ago, I was watching ITV News which was running the live TV feed from Abu Dhabi TV showing Baghdad. And a few remote clicks later, there was Kuwait TV which was also running a live feed of TV from Baghdad - supplied by Sky News. Sometimes you think there is just one TV crew being retransmitted and recaptioned ad nauseam (paranoia!). Most of Al-Jazeera were trained by BBC and were previously involved with a BBC / Arabic joint venture which got shut down. So their journalistic credentials are pretty good. Mostly. But it is clear that all channels are reporting from their point of view - as you'd expect. So they are all biased either deliberately or just by their culture. Iraq TV is completely off-the-wall and one of the exceptions that proves the rule. The thing that is "better" than before is that as technology develops, there is more and more info for you to choose and make up your own minds on. The downside of that is that it is easier for propagandists to spread their messages also. Lastly - and for true hypocrisy - the same organisation which is transmitting Iraq TV over Europe also sells shedloads of capacity to the US military to help them communicate from US to the Gulf. Cheers - Gio