Goblin

I remember selling my French Horn not long after I started uni, I had no real choice as I had no where to practise without disturbing anyone, and I'd turned my focus entirely to Bass and Piano. Selling it did allow me to move into my lovely apartment though, so not all bad! I've always been pretty wise with my acquisition of gear. My most expensive bass is my USA G&L Custom L2500, but, well worth the money! Not all students are so fortunate though. Glad you sold it though, and that seems a fair price

Very nice indeed! As J0hn said though (as another music student I can vouch for this), most students can't afford to buy top whack gear. My loan only really just covers my rent, then any gigs and my part time job paid for my nice basses and amps. If it's not sold yet, have a look on the Facebook music gear pages. Gear comes and goes constantly on there and I've picked up (and seen) some cracking deals. And the best bit? Much easier communications AND no fees.

I did Rochdale to Barnsley with a brief moment of no cruise control (on the roundabout linking M62 to the M1), so I'm guessing that's about 50 miles? That was on Sunday night with practically nothing on the roads. I've not had the car long enough to take it on any really long drives, so that's the furthest I've managed as that's the furthest I've been :p

Leather feed?

22% :p

Yep that's about right!

Removed the window tints for my dad (new owner), he's not overly struck on them. Kudos to the company that fitted them, they were definitely well stuck! Nothing a heat gun and swiss army knife couldn't solve though

I'm in the avoid the 407 camp, my ex (well, her dad) had one, the 2.0 HDi. It was terrible, less than a year old it developed a cooling fault in the height of a hot summer, it ended up requiring a new engine. A year or so later, the turbo went, following that, ECU issues and various electrical gremlins. It ended up being traded for a same age Mondeo which has been much, much better.

I used to always park in gear and start with the clutch in, just natural habit... The Baby Benz won't actually let you take the key out if it's not in P, and if your foot is on the brake too.

I finish on Wednesday, then I'm back at some point in Jan... ahhhh I love being a student :p

Haha yeah it's addictive this place :p It has had a lot spent on it so fingers crossed I'll be the one who runs it into the ground. When it dies it dies, the car's not actually cost me anything so all I'm really going to be paying for it running it and any tweaks I do to it. It's the same power as the Fabia but it goes a lot better as it's got considerably more torque, so on the motorway with three passengers, it feels fine! It's the facelift of that model, so technically yes. However, and yes I've been sad enough to do the research before my dad bought the car years ago, there's actually reasons which the media DIDN'T state as to why the car failed the elk test. Basically, a Swedish motoring journalist who was starting out and making a name for himself got his hands on one, and and subjected it to the elk test (one thing to remember at this point is that many cars of that type failed this test, and some still do ). The very first W168 A Class didn't come with the ESP or ASR, and the standard profile tyres are 195/50/15. The one that this guy had tested had 185 winter tyres on (non Mercedes spec!), and when swerving, the rim dug in and low and behold, the car went over. At this point Merc took it out of production, firmed up the suspension (the Avantgarde is also lower), made some other adjustments, then ESP and ASR were standard across the range. However, others tested various of the first A classes with OEM spec tyres (195), and no matter how hard they tried the car wouldn't flip, but obviously the damage had been done. To be honest, on the twisty roads it's got much better road manners than my Fabia had! It is firm though...

I think the hardest part of the departure is getting used to driving an automatic :p And GentleGiant, it's not got the xenons so that's not an issue, that said, it's designed in a way where you have to remove the coolant or screen wash tank to change a bulb, and it's a bit of a ball ache to change the bulb once you're in, but I can live with that. I'll probably drop my MTECs in as they're H7s, I'm in the process of moving my LEDs over. We've had it a few years so fortunately I know the history of it...mainly that it's cost us a bomb with automatic gearbox issues and so on, but now it's had the work done by a Merc specialist, touch wood it should be okay! It's recently had a very comprehensive service, got a new set of Michelins on it, nice new reg plates (probably irrelevant as I'm putting my personal plate on it!). It's got a couple of bodywork issues, mainly some pretty nasty rusting of stone chips on the bonnet, but hey, £40 for one from a scrappy! It's nice enough though, it has a Bury bluetooth kit (courtesy of my father's employer), built in sat nav, full leather, cruise control. Oh and it goes like stink :p

Well I got myself a new (to me) car today, I love the Fabia but it just wasn't big or economical enough for what I want it for. Got myself a 2002 Merc A170L CDi in Avantgarde spec with all the bells and whistles. I'll still be hanging around on here though

1. Auric Goldfinger - Train Driver. 2. vrsadz - HGV technician 3. Ben90 - Arborist 4. fatwomble - Contracts Manager, Construction. 5. grr666 - multi trade builder/property developer/landlord. 6. SONICtheONE - PSV Technician. 7. ursus262 - Regulatory Auditor and Compliance Officer (Medical Devices) 8. LGM - Industrial Valve Technician. 9. king@rthur - Rope access/ NDT 10. Slider - Civil Servant - Agricultural Advisor 11. Llanigraham - Railway signalman of the old school type, pulling manual steel levers and ringing bells. (and a dinosaur according to a member here) 12. djswivel - IT Support Analyst (employed )/ Photographer (self-employed)/ PC repairs and maintenance (self-employed) / General electronic repairs & advice (self-employed) 13.Harvey1978 - PSV Technician. 14.LeePatrick01 - shoveller of ****, knocker inner of posts, hammerer of nails and screwer inner of screws. 15. V6TDI - Adult Social Care, Duty Worker 16. Seboni121 CNC programmer , gardener , support worker ( mental health) 17. mikejay Support worker 18. JoshH Charge hand of a team at a cement works 19. RichC - 44 tonne wagon ****** 20. Robshaw - Software Sales. 21. BJB540 - IT Consultant - SAP HR/Payroll Config 22. Glynn- Aircraft Technician Mechnical (Royal Air Farce) keeping old timmy tristar flying! 23. Vrs84 - Retail Manager 24 twasme - communications facilitator 25. Blackline Stu - RAF Aircraft Technician Mechanical. Working on a bag of bolts called Tornado but soon to be on Typhoons (or the F35 lightning if my application is successful) 26. Aspman - Information Security Officer 27. Littleade - one time BT engineer, now driver of a laptop and a desk. 28. fordfan - trainee teaboy 29. ChrisRs - Part time Teacher of Physical Education, Geography and History 30. Bian - Telecoms Engineer (Self Employed) 31. vrsohyes - Undergraduate Physics Student. 32. Deadmau5 - multi skilled engineer 33. Daz716- Highways Agency Traffic Officer 34. Mdk1 - Sales driver for Maidstone Audi, delivering new and pre owned Audi's all over the Country. 35. Lady Vienna - NHS Admin soon to be Student Midwife 36. Biodieselgangan - Self employed photon and electron transmission engineer. Landlord.Part time motorcycle spanner monkey . 37. D15VRS - HGV Driver - running time out day after day so busy 38. Matt1chelski - Lollypop lady 39. James I - Sales manager for a UV printing ink company. Flexo, Offset, Waterless and Dry Offset. 40. philmots - HGV driver, in the 38mph supermarket club though, no rush here! :-) 41 AndersNordh - Consultant Project Manager, IT Infrastructure 42 Bilbo Baggins- Pharmacist and NHS Manager 43 devonutopia - Chartered accountant by day, self employed detailing superhero by night, ahem. 44. Ashley600- Master tiler/ multi still builder. 45 Arsey -Airline pilot 46. Jane_10 - Qualified mechanic, now care worker 47. United 11 - Taxi driver (self employed) 48. Gallego1968 - Have my own plumbing & Heating company 49. Seanwinf - aerospace welder (Meggitt) 50.Theezenutz - Garage Equipment Engineer / Master Tea Maker / Destroyer of Worlds 51. Mdon - Police Officer. 52. Paul007 - Town Planner until recently (because Dave and Nick have destroyed Local Government). 53. Naths vRS - I.T Co-Ordinator for an Engineering firm. 54. Lee @ Preston Motors - Arthur Daley impersonator. Sorry Sales Manager for large vehicle retail group 55. Tam71 - Bus Driver. 56 VWD - Former GPO/POT engineer.Then self emloyed telecomms eng and Rail signal tech.Now retired 57. BossFox - Part Time Office Bod. 58. jerbear - Head Greenkeeper@Golf Course. Cutter of grass, filler of divots, repairer of pitchmarks. 59 Wet Kipper - Laboratory Data Analyst 60 Aveleydave - Fixer of choo choos on the c2c line. 61 Tempra007 - Hospitality Lecturer, external IV and part-time football coach (under 16) 62 dann2707 - Dirty, good for nothing, tax dodging Student (Final year Uni studying Automotive Engineering) 63 Kit - Legal Genealogist, I find people and give them money. 64. Lady E: Things with microphones and turning stuff pink occasionally 65. davidf - Lawyer 66. Cheeze - High Performance and Super Computer Systems. 67. Taylor93 - Electronics Technician Apprentice . 68. Lady E: Being in two places at once..........and doing the work of two people 69. Mikey vrs - Vehicle examiner/mechanic for the MOD. 70. tomwarner - Undergraduate Computer Science student 71. JerryT - Customer Stocks and Quality Assurance manager for a pipeline company 72. matt@theforce - IT Support Engineer, Unix & Microsoft platforms 73. CrazyDunc - Software Engineer (mainly Aerospace Stuff) 74. Flying Pig - Police helicopter crewman......see what I did there ;-) 75. Sparkly - Export Sales Manager, Commercial Flooring, Latin America/Carribbean/Europe 76. Kiddy1 - Credit Controller - mortgages and a BSc in Sports Management 77. Binzie - National Citizenship Service Manager 78. Hotbaws - Adult Entertainment Industry. 79. Whitep - Director of a EMI Shielding & Environmental Sealing Company 80. thesquiff - Lead Software Engineer 81. FUBAR - Nothing - as of 4 hours ago, new horizons and all that, my next career awaits me somewhere! 82. GrahamVRS - Cabin Crew Line Trainer 83. DGW - Retired RAF pilot - Now CEO Home Affairs 84. Hotrod - Software Engineer 85. RichardatWakefield - Gaining new supporters for Europe's largest wildlife Conservation charity 86. Agricultural Engineer (more commonly known as **** kicker) 87. Fin69. Qualified Crime Scene Investigator & Counter Fraud Specialist Investigator. Currently a pensioner! 88. Johnno92 - RAF Aircraft Maintenance Mechanic (I also get to wave at Tornados with mini lightsabers when it's dark..) 89. Goblin - Student (Final year Music)

It reached Christmas number one a couple of years ago

I'm getting a Mercedes A Class on Saturday, nothing wrong with my Fabia and I'll miss it, but I need something bigger and more economical. I'm getting an A170L CDi Avantgarde, all the bells and whistles and getting it as a straight swap

Hi guys I'm getting a bit confused with what to do here. I'm swapping cars with my dad, and I have a personal plate which I'd want to move from the Skoda to the Mercedes and I'm trying to figure out the best way to go about it. If I swap car first and then move the number plate, we'd both have to pay extra fees, first for changing car as I'm getting a higher powered car, and then again about a week or so later for the admin of swapping registration plates on the policy. If I'm right in thinking so, could I get the plate transferred, and as soon as the plates are swapped over, ring the insurance and then reinsure the car in my name? The only issue I can see is that I'd have to wait for the V5c to come through, and then we'd both have to send off the new keeper supplements.

That's not bad! I predominantly play 5 but for the times I need a 4, I've got a CIJ Jazz and a Wal Mk1. I had a 5 string Warwick Corvette (German one) but I struggled to gel with it and wanted something with humbuckers. I considered a ray but didn't really find any I liked within budget. G&L USA models are definitely hard to come by though, bass direct only have a couple and the last 2500 I saw in my finish and spec (Blueburst over Swamp Ash with a maple neck) was getting on for £2k. They're certainly cracking instruments though.

By a previous owner, premium finish L2500, 90s USA.Bugger I've just noticed I typo'd it! I was supposed to put 1 not 2! 1k is much more realistic :p

I use a Hiscox for a lot of my gigs too as it's a very strong and versatile case. I'm off abroad for new year, possibly with a bass, and if I had to put my main bass in the hold in a Hiscox (which is over £2k worth of USA G&L!) I wouldn't worry too much about it. I'm after the Mono for day to day use, I have to carry a bass on a day to day basis, and most of the time it's not in the car, so I need something light and comfortable which still offers good protection. My leather gig bag offers two of them, but sadly the instrument and bag combined weigh an absolute tonne!

A Mono M80 / Vertigo bass case (which I bet means nothing to a lot of people on here :P )

I prefer estates, didn't really need one when I got my Fabia though, and now can't afford to upgrade to an estate. Quite tricky with being a musician, I can get my bass rig and small PA rig in for pub gigs and some functions, but I've got some big gigs coming up over the next couple of weekends, and yep, I've had to hire a VW Caddy, just to get everything into what I could get into an estate. Ho hum :(

That sounds like a good price for a car of the size, we've got a classic VW camper and when we had that restored, the spray job alone was £2500.

Probably not much use in today's society, but one my grandfather taught me is that if someone gets me down, also make sure they go down, but don't get back up again... The best thing to do in this instance is persistently be onto the school's case, report every issue your nephew has. At the end of the day, if he doesn't feel safe because of some other gobs**tes, the school should be taking the correct steps to rectify this. If the school doesn't do anything of significance, there're ways of speaking to OFSTED...no school would like them on their back.

Yep it's not been good around here, I've now got some dents on the roof and bonnet from the hail :( Nipped into Bury too and quite a lot of it is under (fairly deep) water!