Lady Elanore

Maybe she was speaking some truth? I'd rather have spoken to someone with less accent though, I might have missed something as I kept having to ask the poor lady to repeat herself. You would think it would be easy as I live about 5 miles from one of their main offices in Manchester (unless they have moved into one of those cloud thingies and no longer have corporeal form).

So here is a question. My M4 will be disappearing in the next 5 months 😞 but I won't have a car to replace it directly. It may well be up to a year or so before that happens. I've just rang a very polite lady at 'Direct Line' (my current insurers), but I didn't quite get to grips with her accent, so I may not have understood her, but from what I think she said, I believe that after my policy runs out - 4 months after the M4 will have gone - I will receive a partial refund, then 2 weeks after the renewal date - August - I will receive a letter confirming my full no-claims discount which I keep until I reinsure a new car. This, she said, had no time limit on it. I said I was a little unsure that this was definitely true, as it's seemed odd to have an indefinite time of being an active 'full no-claims' discount ability without insuring another car. I asked if she meant I had perhaps one or two years when the no-claims was still acceptable, but she said at the moment, the no-claims would be active until I needed it again, without time limit and honoured upon reinsurance. Does this sound correct to you guys?? I've never been in the situation before.

There is a company that will send a potato (text a potato) to your chosen 'friend'. All very tasteful of course https://www.textapotato.com/potatoes-1

You could buy a Panasonic DVD player for £25 at Currys. They have them in stock and thy play CDs

Ah, I see you are a man who likes his 'Rock'

Interestingly enough, chip shortages may not be the thing that ends car production in the near future, for most manufactures. It seems to be going under the radar that we are running out of Magnesium and most of our cars require the stuff, you need it for aluminium parts as well as various alloys. As one journalist said "you can't build cars without aluminium and you can't work with aluminium, without magnesium". China, which is the world's main supplier of magnesium, apparently somewhere around 85% of it comes for there! The story goes that 35 of the 50 factories that produce magnesium have been shut, due to power shortages and the remaining 15 factories have had their output cut by half. The bottom line seems to be unless something changes pronto, Europe could run out of magnesium before Christmas. Sadly the stuff is incredibly hard to store too, owing to the fact it oxidises really quickly. America does produce a fair bit of the stuff, but nothing like the amount that China does.

That's beyond my financial resources, as I would want to spec the optional blinker fluid upgrade. Although, the chip shortage might mean that current BMWs will not be available with blinkers again. It was ever thus. Mind you, as we get a special pass to say we actually own the road, we don't really need blinkers. Update: Blimey! I just read the time stamp on that Sniff Petrol Post! 16 years old. Well done for the research. I wonder if my next car (Lada Riva probably), will have blinkers?

So I had my cars annual inspection service last week and spoke to a saleswoman about new cars. Turns out they can offer me a surprising amount of money for my M4, but don't want to discount on a new car. Sadly there are no pre reg cars around these days as supply of new cars in general is poor (not a BMW specific thing) and waiting lists are massive. The mad thing is, that cars that don't normally don't discount but have very high GFVs on their PCPs (that's people like Porsche) suddenly become almost obtainable! For not much more than I'm paying for my M4 you can get a new 4.0 GTS Cayman, you will have to wait at least 9 months for one though. I popped into Jaguar to look at the F type P450 (again, mostly tyre kicking, but it passed the time) and was told at least 6 month delay on orders. I had a peak at the Mustang as the Mach 1 looks terrific and was told order now for Christmas 2022 delivery! The world has gone mad. I made an appointment with BMW to look at the new M3 anyway and although I made the appointment over a week in advance, they somehow forgot to have a car to test drive (I was curious to see if it felt quicker than my old school car). They then left me alone for 90 minutes staring at the walls while they decided they could do a deal to get my business (they haven't seen my bank account ) and came back with a zero discount offer. They were keen for my business and I had already told them it didn't seem likely that they would be able to do me a price I could afford, so I thought they would at least make some financial effort. It seemed an appropriate time to leave and exited stage right. Always had great service from them, but they have all new staff now as they seem to have 'let go' all the older staff during the first phase of lockdown 😞 I've bought 3 cars from them, but their computer considered me a lost prospect?? I have my car serviced their regularly too 😞 It's the first time I've had poor service from BMW really, I'm disappointed, not just in their dealings with me but also in the lack of discount. As it turns out I made a call to a contact I know who said, if I wait 6 months I can have 10% discount without quibble. For the first time in decades, I am truly baffled by the motor industry. It's in a very confused place at the moment it seems, even if the manufactures are making huge profits currently.

The going rate for a Clooney is... 1 x Clooney = 1 x Dino 246GTB + 1 x Lancia Stratos + 1 x 911 GT3 + a big bag of jelly snakes

It was a fascinating series. He certainly seemed to make some of it up as he went along, fashioning it to his will. His Dowsett is up for sale at the NEC Classic car show next month I read somewhere.

You can use a saturated brush to remove colour from the bits you want B&W (Move slider to the left in the 'saturate' brush page) and leave the can alone (or using the same brush with it's slider to the right, saturate the can's colours and luminance further etc) If you make a bit of the can go B&W with the brush, you click the brush to become an eraser and simply remove the B&W-ness from you over brushing of the can. Hope that makes sense?

"Are you saying Gasly will push Ocon out? Doesn't speak too well for Ocon if that's the case regardless of whether Gasly can bring big bucks or not. I'll have a virtual wager with you, of a virtual 'pie and chips' (with gravy) that Russell will get the seat over Gasly " and I wish to exercise this clause... "Virtual peas and carrots are optional" Nom nom nom nom

They do a very nice fridge, with weighted and realistically moving knobs https://marshallfridge.com/products/black-edition-4-4-marshall-high-capacity-bar-fridge

Nobody spent this kind of money on cables and interconnects when recordings were made, that's pretty much a guarantee

If I wanted to listen to some music it would be cheaper to hire a band than buy one XLR. I'd need 2 cables for my amp anyway, so I could hire a support band as well!

What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! https://www.fanthorpes.co.uk/cables/audio-cables/xlr-cables/atlas-mavros-xlr-interconnect/ £2,600!! for an XLR! .

It says something that they offer trade-ins against a cable!! Perhaps there is indeed something to commend yesteryears hifi over this modern Emperors clothing

Further to my mini rant over cost of things like cables, I found this.... (and its a special offer price) https://www.richersounds.com/-1623776428.html If only people realised that the stuff they listen too wasn't recorded using cables as (allegedly) good as these. Sometimes it's battered mics and bell wire (and yes this is proof that everything is better when battered...or is that a different thread?)

I think it might be a teeny bit too big for your needs It's probably bigger than your microsystem. But on a positive note, it's quite heavy

I've got a nice Onkyo TX RZ800 I'm going to be selling soon, that would be perfect for you needs, you wouldn't notice it's even there

Still, it meant they didn't forget me (and I was tying to get a spot in OBs so it didn't do me any harm) and as I bought the crew some beer afterwards to make up for my faux pas, I think it helped me fit in with them. Even if they did give me stick for it...for several years!

Yes I agree. I have a pile of Neutrik Quad XLRs and they take some beating...in every sense of the word. Huge prices for digital cables are just ripping off HiFi junkies who can't help themselves. I consider it very cynical and more than a touch of Emperor's clothes to the whole thing. I'm not endorsing buying the cheapest bit of crud, but there is a sensible balance that can be achieved and I reckon most people instinctively know, roughly, where that is. Many years ago at the start of my career I wanted to impress the crew I was working with, so collected a drum of starquad and a pile of XLRs from our operational stores. I sat at home in my own time, and started to make up around 30 XLRs. 5-10 meter lengths in general. I stripped the ends etc, laid everything out and figured I would be done in no time thanks to my efficient and systematic preparation. Unfortunately, I had been slurping the odd spot of alcohol to help with the tedium... The next day I present my cache of beautiful. newly made cables to the crew and wandered off to complete my duties on site. After a short while I got called back by the boss. "Excellent work Amanda, I commend you for your abilities and great work ethic", at least that's what I thought he would say. Actually what he did say was "why the hell have you made up 30 odd, various lengths, double males and double females" Yes, I had made 30+ gender bender cables! .

Amen to that I was looking at some short XLR interconnects on a website the other day, £125!!!!!! I've got dozens of them (admittedly not oxygen free copper) lying about and I doubt you could hear the difference. I am pretty sure I couldn't hear the difference and it's sort of my job to hear stuff Mind you, it helps to be realistic about your own hearing and at my age (not telling) I have undoubtedly suffered some hearing loss, especially at the top end.

I must admit I'm still attached to my M22s, but the top end of the MA100s has made me realise that the M22s don't quite have the same control at higher frequencies (and thats with the new tweeters I fitted recently). Bass extension is obviously better than the MAs, but I value the MAs clarity and control of mid and high frequencies over sheer bass. This is why I would like my accountant to let me buy the 200 Golds (and lend me the money too )

I thought the MA Silver 200s & 300s were getting pretty rave reviews? At the moment, there are a huge number of hifi outlets doing deals on ex demos of these. Richer Sounds amongst them. RS doing the 200s for £675 down from £1,000 Just seen Sevenoaks doing them for £600 I'd like to hear the Silver 200s beside the Gold 200s but suspect the pleated tweeters (or tweeter accordions as I like to call them) of the Golds would win me over.