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dave21478

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Everything posted by dave21478

  1. Throwing him off would probably be a hate-crime these days, Wooly.
  2. Years ago I encountered a self entitled slag-bucket with her feet on a seat on a busy bus. I gave her fair warning that I was going to sit down whether her feet were still on the chair or not. She got mouthy so I sat on her feet, which she did not appreciate.
  3. Probably the same place my will to live goes to when I have to deal with computers. Im not good with computers, but I can do the basics, am capable of using Google effectively and can follow instructions so that apparently makes me some kind of Bill Gates tier IT superhero by local standards. The neighbour came round a while back. They had bought a new printer and it wouldnt work could I have a look... I went over to find an older laptop that took a solid six minutes to boot up. Thats not an exageration, there is a clock on the desk. It finally loaded with Vista and it took a further 90 seconds to open a browser window. When Internet Explorer had finally ground into action there were 5 or 6 toolbars taking up the top quarter of the screen and the home page was some dodgy "search engine" I have never heard of. A quick look showed the computer was using the trial version of McAfee antivirus which had expired and not been updated since probably a decade ago. "Yeah...no...I cant help you." Which is code for "screw this..I just dont want to get involved in such a big and probably hopeless job". Anyway, they came back about a week later, having apparently been "pirated" and had several hundred spent from their bank account on online transactions all over the globe. The implication was that this was my fault for not installing their printer the previous week. No more favours for them. Personally, I have a laptop in the lounge and a wee netbook I keep in the garage for music and a few vehicle diagnostic programs. Most of these are....not legit...shall we say? and the Chinese like to load up their cracked copies with tons of spyware so any computer you use with their products should never be used for anything else. This thing died.....metallic grinder dust is bad for computers...who knew?...so I got another netbook, also running windows7 and swapped my SSD into it after cloning the old drive onto it. I have been installing various programs but have hit a snag with Autodata, which just refuses to work. It was a hassle on the previous computer but I managed it in the end by trial and error, but I just cant get it to work on this one. I have now screwed the netbook up to the point where it wont boot so needed to do a full recovery, except the recover partition has been screwed up at some point in the process of migrating to the SSD, so I had to take it apart, refit the old drive and re-clone it onto the SSD. I am back the square one with non-functioning autodata though. Why cant stuff just WORK?
  4. I am a bit of a technotard when it comes to this, so stand to be corrected, but as I see it, tethering is using the USB charging lead to connect the phone to the laptop. This means the phone uses its 3G or 4G signal to connect to the internet and share that connection with the computer. What I have just discovered seems to be called a wifi hotspot, which is the same principal but without the wire. The phone broadcasts its own wifi signal which the laptop connects to as it would the wifi from a livebox. Why this is faster than tethering, I have no idea....perhaps the limit is the USB data transfer rate? I have a Wiko Rainbow Up, but most Android phones should be similar. Hit "Settings", "More", "Tethering and Hotspot". You can then turn on USB tethering if the lead is connected. or turn on the hotspot. You will need to set up the hotspot, where you can define a password to prevent others accessing your phones broadcast. You will need to enter this password on the laptop so it will connect. EDIT - bluetooth tethering is also on that options list, but my laptop doesnt have a blutooth thing, so I cant comment on that. Just to add more confusion regarding speeds....I always use the speedtest.net website for comparisons, and while I am getting a consistant 4mb download speed on the laptop via the phone hotspot, if I just use the phone itself (still taped the the window, no other changes) and use Chrome on the phone to access the speedtest site, it give a slower connection.....To be honest, Its all just black magic weirdness beyond my comprehension. Wifi hotspot mode seems to flatten the battery in the phone pretty quickly, so I have it on its charge lead....still sellotaped to the lounge window to get a decent signal. One day I might get round to making a proper holder for it. Which means I probably wont.
  5. pate anti grippant. Its quite often aluminium based here in France for some reason, and not realy as good as proper copperslip. Also, you might need the exact opposite....threadlock....for some of the bolts...usually the caliper carrier mounting bolts that screw into the hub. Its called frein filet here and its so expensive it makes my pi55 boil.
  6. Dammit, why does nobody tell me these things? I have been using my phone connected to the laptop by USB and switching on "tethering" to connect via my mobile contract and it gets a reasonably solid 1.5mb, sometimes 2; While fiddling with the phone I found out it can be used as a wifi transmitter...ie it connects via my mobile contract and re-broadcasts via wifi which the laptop connects to instead of USB. For reasons unknown this is literally twice as fast...I now get a solid 4mb.
  7. You can download a certificat de cession online from here..... https://www.formulaires.modernisation.gouv.fr/gf/cerfa_13754.do Bear in mind there are three copies that need filled out - so maybe get a "real" carbon copy one to save time from the prefecture...my local mayors keep them too. Buyer gets a copy, you keep one and you send one to the prefecture. You might need to send a copy of yours to your insurer to cancel the policy, but generally not if you are just changing to a different car. The buyer might want a certificate de non gage to prove no finance or other problems preventing the sale. Get one online here..... https://siv.interieur.gouv.fr/map-usg-ui/do/csa_retour_dem_certificat When the sale is definite, write diagonally across the carte gris "VENDU LE...." with the date and time of the sale and sign it. Buyer takes this away. Insurance....up to you if you want to let the new buyer drive home with your insurance. Personally there is NO FUCKING WAY i would let this happen, so make sure to remove the carte verte and the green square from the windscreen .....up to them to insure it or take their chances. Anything that occurs after the time on the forms is their problem. Cash is king...any kind of cheque de banque or even a personal cheque I will only take during banking hours and pay in the bank before the car leaves. if they use a cheque I take a copy of their ID card too, just in case. Merely asking for this once flushed out some guy who suddenly didnt want the car and left quickly...... If I have any doubts I discretely try to snap a photo of the buyer and note the reg number of the vehicle they arrive in.
  8. [quote user="Chancer"] Can I send you a car question by PM? [/quote] Yeah, dont hesitate.
  9. Thats the offer I tried from Free, but didnt get a good enough signal. Depends on the phone I suppose, mine has a wee 3G or 4G icon next to the signal strength bars depending on what its receiving. If you log into your espace perso on the Free website, it tells you how much of 4G and 3G has been consumed. There are roughly 1000 megabytes in a gigabyte, so 50Mo is a drop in the ocean.
  10. Thats grand if you break down in or near a town with a reputable contractor, but I wish you good luck with those figures if you break down in the middle of nowhere where the only hope if the local wee garage run by a sour-faced twat who wont start his truck for less than 100 euros and will teach you all manner of new swear words if you try to get him to work out of hours on a sunday. As for storage costs, thats fine for your car sitting in a towing yard somewhere....give a main dealer a call and ask them what their storage costs are. I personally know two people who ended up losing their cars due to excessive storage costs after breakdowns far from home.
  11. quote by nomoss..... Within a 90 day period away from home, this covers breakdown repair or delivery to a garage anywhere in Europe, with a limit of 138€ in France and 230€ in other countries, car return (after repairs) of up to 80€, repatriation in the event the car is unrepairable in a foreign country up to the value of the car in its actual state, cost of gardiennage up to 153€ while awaiting repatriation, and refund of charges for breakdown repairs and delivery to a garage in the event of a breakdown on a motorway. Thats REALLY bad cover. 138 euro towing limit? That is likely to get you a couple of miles at best. Car return up to 80 euros? How can this be less than the pick-up limit? Do they just take it two thirds of the way and then shove it off the transporter? 153 euros limit for storage costs? Thats maybe a day and a half. I had a breakdown in UK a couple of weeks ago and used my UK RAC cover. A fifteen hour relay through the night on three different trucks for me and the car. Cost me nothing. The drivers suggested the bill would be well into four figures.
  12. Its all a load of bollox. I sacked off the Free 4G sim card as it wouldnt get any kind of decent 4G signal, and if it reverts to a 3G connection the offer is terrible (19.99 per month for 3gb) I am back to the mobile phone taped to the lounge window and my Sosh 3G contract and I guess its going to stay that way until they install fibre/hell freezes over. Whichever comes first. Probably hell freezing. The website I linked to earlier with the map of transmitters suggests there is an SFR 4G antenna somewhere in the local village only 7km away. I dont know how accurate that is as I have no idea where the mast might be - its a tiny wee town. I need to find someone who has an SFR mobile and see if it gets a signal in my house.
  13. You need to upgrade to the gold card, which as Chancer rightly says will cost you more per month. 500 euros per day limit via cash machines and as far as I can tell no limit to shop spending.
  14. Could you tell me what model of router you have ordered? I have found this site.... https://www.antennesmobiles.fr/ ...which you can use to find your nearest mast. Surprisingly there is a 4G antenna operated by SFR only 6km away from me. Looks like I need to look into that. Just my luck to find that AFTER I signed up to the wrong operator.
  15. Poor service? - Daily. Exceptionally poor? The "Faulty deep fat fryer" incident with Geant still makes my eye twitch when I think about it and that was about 8 years ago. Nearly killed on a road? Does that mean I have been nearly killed? if so then daily, again. Or is it have I nearly killed someone....Once. He was an older British guy and if I hadnt been in a hurry I would have happily smashed his window, dragged him out the hole and beat him into a coma at the roadside in front of his family. Dog poo in Paris? Confession time - I have never set foot in Paris in my life. Unless you count changing flights at CdG airport. Surprisinly there are not many dog logs to be found in my local cities. Shot by the Chasse - a real possibility here. I avoid the woods in hunting days. Michelin resto....nope. McDonalds is more my style. Fight with the neighbour.....eh, not fisticuffs, but there have been some strange occurances. Baguette vending? I dont eat much bread. As for other suggestions, how about waiting all morning in the prefecture only for them to close for lunch just before you get your turn? Had a "computer says no" moment at the hotel d'impots? Been stranded by Ryanair? Been turned away from an eaterie for daring to want food after 1.30pm?
  16. I am trying to get this to work right now and its all a MASSIVE pain in the scrote. I have a sosh ADSL landline setup which I think might actually be powered by smoke signals. 0.5mb down, 0.01 up internet is a good day. Its a complete farce and it infuriates me to the point of apocalyptic rage. Yes, I get it....I live in the middle of nowhere and the areas landline infrastructure is completely ruined and never going to be fixed, so I accept that internet will be slow, but why in the name of the Gods I dont believe in should I have to pay the same price for this miserable service as the folk living in town and getting at least 20 times faster speeds? In fact, I believe I pay MORE than them due to some "degroupage" system which translates as "because FCK YOU, thats why". Anyway, my mobile is also via sosh and I get 40gb of data per month. A while ago I discovered mobile tethering, where I connect via the USB to my laptop, turn on tethering in the phone settings and I get internet via the mobile. If I use Scotch tape to stick the phone to the lounge window I get a 3G signal. This gives the heady speeds on average of approx 1.7mb down and 0.8mb up. Its quite variable though and I have seen it as high as 3mb down very early in the morning. Its dependant on weather and load on the local cell network. It has also been as slow as the ADSL at times. The talked about 40-odd mb speeds is the 3G networks theoretical maximum under perfect conditions - ie never. ever. Happy enough with this, I continued for several weeks, although it was costing me a lot in Scotch tape to keep sticking the phone to the window and unsticking it when I want to go somewhere, so I decided to get another phone and look at maybe a different offer. While fiddling with the telephone settings I discovered I could make it scan for all networks and it said it was getting a Free 4G signal. 4G! wow. So I signed up to a Free sim card which arrived today. Guess what. no, go on....guess.... Yeah, 4G my hoop. It gets a decent 3G signal, but only gets 4G for a fleeting instant if I force the phone to use it, and then reverts back to 3G. During a brief 4G connection I got a dowload speed of 7mb; Hot damn, if I could get that to work reliably I would be a happy bunny. So tomorrows task is to get up the ladder and see if there is a better 4G signal to be had higher up, and if so I need to find a 4G receiver with an external aerial that I can mount on the roof. Otherwise, the Free sim will get sent back and I will cancel the offer - no point in keeping it if it doesnt work here. And I am typing this now via the ADSL because in all the fiddling and swapping SIM cards back and forth in the phone it is now flatly refusing to make any data connection at all with either card at any speed.
  17. It doesn't, actually. In ten years, Three times I have tried and three times I have been stuck with the barrier down between vehicles, alarm sounding and eventually a grumpy employee turned up and told me I was breaking some law or other. Playing the "ignorant Brit abroad" card got me sent on my way with some new insults for my vocabulary.
  18. And dont even consider using one in Spain - despite what any laws may or may not state, they WILL have your trousers down with an exceedingly heavy fine. They are 100% intolerant of them there. I believe Germany are not keen on them either, but have no experience myself. Other potential problems - the Peage in France. The system is not sophisticated enough to see the A-frame, it just thinks there is a second car trying to tailgate you through the barrier and will trigger an alarm.
  19. Oh dear. They are NOT legal in the UK. Exactly the same regulations apply. As I said for the braking requirements....auto-reverse, over run brakes applying equal force to all roadwheels......literally impossible on a car no matter what system is used to emulate the pressing of the brake pedal. Firstly mechanical auto reverse is obviously not possible to achieve with a cars calipers/drums. secondly equal force to all wheels is also impossible to achieve as cars have a large bias to the front, with very little braking effort on the rear. Also the efficiency values required are way above what a car brakes (especially rear drums) can produce. I can guarantee you that every single manufacturer / seller of these A-frames will have a "legal" blurb in their advertising somewhere and it is full of phrases like "we think that...." and "in our opinion.....". I used to be one of those sellers. There is an official .gov web page on the subject and if I remember rightly, even that starts with "We believe...." and ends with something like "Only the judge can decide." It states that trailer brake requirements must be met, but doesnt list those specifically, you have to go digging through a nightmare of Construction and Use regulations to find the specifications required. As I said though, there are thousands sold every year and on the roads every summer. They get away with it because to be honest, most police officers do not know the full extent of the applicable laws. It all comes down to how much personal risk you are willing to take. 99.9% of the time you will be absolutely ok, but its that one time you encounter an over-zealous VOSA inspector at a motorway checkpoint, or have a serious accident involving injuries or fatalities where you find yourself in potential trouble. I am not saying Dont Do It, just be aware of what the situation really is and make your choice. By the absolute letter of the law, they are not legal, but the exact law is so difficult to find and can be interpreted in different ways depending on your agenda...ie selling A-frames.....that its enough to confuse even the police.
  20. My local dump is sickening. It used to be an old-fashioned place where you could dump pretty much anything and take anything too. Now, the local dump literally has better security than the local bank. Electrified fences topped with razor wire, cctv everywhere, nightshift gaurds.... Anything that goes in stays in...nothing can be removed so now I get to look at the piles of old mowers and bicycles in the metal bins, vacuum cleaners, tvs and laptops in the electronics containers etc and can take nothing. I pointed out that me repairing or repurposing something was better than it being shipped to China to be melted down to make more cheap toss, but nope....interdit. Coincidentally* these changes happened when it was taken over by Veolia and it became less about disposing of rubbish and more about making money.
  21. Definition problems - A device that lifts the front wheels is a dolly. A device that leaves all 4 wheels on the ground is an A-frame. Neither are legal in France. Full Stop. Although thats with an exception I will get to at the end. Motorhome dealerships and the places that manufacture A-frames to allow you to tow a wee car behind one will tell you they are legal, but they are wrong/lying. Not exactly in their interest to tell you its illegal is it? Any towed vehicle with a GROSS weight over 750 kgs needs to have inertia activated, auto-reverse, over-run brakes on all four wheels that provide equal brake effort to all four wheels. Its literally impossible for this to apply to a car. A frame manufacturers have various systems usually involving a cable fitted to the towed car to pull the brake pedal down or yank the handbrake cables or something. These are hopeless and nowhere near to complying with the trailer laws. The exception is a towed car with a GROSS weight under 750kgs. Note thats not the kerb weight, but the gross weight....car, full tank of fuel, maximum number of passengers and luggage etc as stated on the chassis plate. Good luck finding any car under 750kgs gross, with the possible exception of some buggies and maybe those sans permis deathtraps. I think even a basic classic Mini is over 800. That said....You would probably get away with it as long as your outfit looks reasonable....ie you are not towing a transit van with a 206. During tourist season you will see dozens of such moterhomes on the roads. I have an A-frame myself that I still use a lot despite also having a proper transporter trailer. An A-frame is an actual joy to tow with and inherintly stable at any speed, unlike a trailer. In my personal opinion, dollys are a lot less stable, harder to use and have no real benefits over an A-frame. In use I have passed many police and never been pulled up, except once when I got bollocked by the cozzers who didnt seem entirely sure what to bollock me for, but did so anyway. Most people are not even aware of the existence of A-frames and when I use mine I get asked about it pretty much every time. Last vehicle I bought and collected with it, the seller was so gobsmacked he insisted I give him a demo round the block with him sitting in the towed car. He asked where I got mine from so I told him what to search for on ebay UK.
  22. Its hot as balls here and as a fat Scotsman in bad shape, I am not doing well. Has anyone got one of these "portable" aircon units? Any recommendations? Apparently extending the exhaust ducting to the outside makes them work a loit better.
  23. BricoDepot seem to be the only place that reliably stock 20l drums of bleach. Cany help with the rest, sorry.
  24. I had trouble many years ago on a car forum where I used my real name. This culminated with a man on my doorstep with a knife, and he wasnt there to cut the ribbons on my birthday present. So, IMO its best to keep things anonymous. On the other hand, people are willing post every tiny detail of their tedious lives on facebook for the world to see, and willingly have devices in their homes that make George Orwells two-way televisions seem primitive, so maybe dont worry?
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