Things I do like

[williamweb]

5 minutes ago, Wino said:

All depends on peoples individual fitness levels. It's been almost 5 yrs (2017) since I did anything of notable effort but my last full 12 months was back in 2016......

Thinking of starting up again as I have more free time nowadays to fit the sessions in.

That 13.24 is a bit suspect, there is no way you would be overtaking me on my bike ha ha 👍

[Wino]

 

12 minutes ago, williamweb said:

That 13.24 is a bit suspect, there is no way you would be overtaking me on my bike ha ha 👍

All legit. 

More than likely an interval session or perhaps an indoor treadmill workout.

Outdoor interval session on the local TPT ( Trans Pennine Trail) with the look of it.

[iantt]

Like laughing at my partner with her choice of viewing tonight. She lined this evening's viewing on TV. She found something on amazon I think. We sat down to start to watch and we were a little confused at the plot but picked it up slowly and still it wasn't clear really. I paused it after 50 mins of 60mins just to see how long it was. Mmm ..... Season 1 episode 10🤭🤭🤭🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬😂😂😂.

Missed the last 9 episodes then. 

She is such a **** sometimes. 

[BigLen]

this morning was just like a childhood Christmas morning for me; 

as I awoke for the fourth time throughout the night in an empty king size bed at 6am not feeling great as my beautiful wife had departed at 5pm last night to attend a house party where she had planned staying over. 

i got up at 6am and had a shower; then returned to the room; opened the blind to see the car she chose to take; parked on the driveway 🤗 suddenly the roller-coaster inside my mind vanished and my mood increased; 

i went downstairs to find everything i ever wanted; was asleep on the sofa; and recommended she went up to bed; to which she responded with an artistic array of specially selected words which i cant quote any of them on here or i would be banned. 

however; my response to those were "Goodnight Dorothy, there's no place like home" 

she couldn't let that one go neither 😃 she hung over the stairs at me asking Who D F was Dorothy 🤭 gotta love the fighting irish her name is vick but she wasnt in the mood for humour. 

 

[BigLen]

wont be long until Christmas, 7 weeks 

Len... I've been a good boy 🤣

[anon]

The reverse crease on the Mk 8 Fiesta bonnet. A nod to the Edge Design of the first Ka.

[BigLen]

Got our eldest daughter interested in car mods now; 

she's 15 now and excellent at arts & crafts, as well as dress making, has a dyno labeller and hot glue gun which have been useful in adding a 12v socket sized USB power supply to the dashboard of the Hyundai ix20 and labelling the piggy-back fuse. 

last weekend; we jacked up the car and changed the front fog lights to a set with DRL section, were still waiting on some P13W loom plugs to arrive from AliExpress to finish that install, 

today were changing the steering wheel as the existing one has had some harsh chemicals spilled on the leather of the wheel, were also installing a reverse camera while the weather stays clear over head, 

next weekend we will be taking out the factory head unit and replacing it with a double din Pioneer with DAB+

currently waiting on the correct ISO adaptor to arrive from eBay, which will be here Tuesday; but I'm working six days per week,

we walk the dog for two hours in a forest every Sunday morning and then feed him a Gourmet wet food dinner comprising of rice, vegetables and duck or rabbit; to simulate a successful hunt. 

so while the dog is then star fished out on the sofa; 

were on the driveway with the Hyundai ix20, 

so far we fitted front footwell lighting, and the DRL units, its useful to have a second pair of hands and also nice to pass on some knowledge of how things work in the car, showed her how to jack it up, where the jack points are and to put the spare wheel under the car next to the jack before getting under the car, encase the jack fails. 

her initial involvement was mainly to take pictures for me as my phone is useless; but now she's asking if I'm doing anything to the car this weekend, and if i need a hand with it, so ill keep this going for the next two weekends anyway. 

ill then teach some computer skills by creating guides on fitting the items which we have installed. 

I've also picked up these factory fitted ix20 switches from a breakers in Lithuania for 10 euro   Used car parts, car equipment and accessories online | RRR.LT

 

the surround doesn't fit as its from a LHD model, but the switches do, and there's a loom in the car for front parking sensors, although the car doesn't have them fitted; and we wont be fitting front parking sensors; were going to do one better than that, I've got a front parking camera on order which is designed to fit in to the front Hyundai badge, nice James bond style; it connects to the aftermarket head unit; and i hope to wire it in to the factory fit switch. 

so when parking; push that button and the head unit will display the front camera, switching to the rear camera when reverse is active.  

updates of progress will be on the ix20 progress thread, I'm finding a combination of work six days per week and doing things to the car being great distractions for me at the moment; as things are quite difficult with the wife whom has requested space, so I've dived deep in to car modification in search of some release. 

 

[Tizer]

1 hour ago, BigLen said:

Got our eldest daughter interested in car mods now;

That's kind of how I got started taking an interest in fixing cars.

When I was young my father had a Black Taxi that needed serviced every 3000 miles including about 20 Grease points, 3 of them on the Propshaft, which had to be in the right place to get the gun on them. He realised that I was small enough to be able to crawl under the Taxi without jacking it up/moving it to line things up.

Things progressed from there and I was the only kid in school that smelled of Diesel and had lungs full of asbestos from the Brake dust😀

[BigLen]

4 hours ago, Tizer said:

That's kind of how I got started taking an interest in fixing cars.

When I was young my father had a Black Taxi that needed serviced every 3000 miles including about 20 Grease points, 3 of them on the Propshaft, which had to be in the right place to get the gun on them. He realised that I was small enough to be able to crawl under the Taxi without jacking it up/moving it to line things up.

Things progressed from there and I was the only kid in school that smelled of Diesel and had lungs full of asbestos from the Brake dust😀

Cool man, 

Was my older brother whom got me interested in cars the poor fella, I didn't have many times with my dad back then; he was an only child; profession was a techer, also registered plumber and electrician, 

Needless to say his parents were severely hard on him; to me he was an alcoholic and a fear every time there was a school event which involved the attendance of parents, I spent most of my childhood alone in the country side of co.louth, there were four other kids in my class within a school of 50 pupils, 😂 my mai ln pass time during the summer was trying to taim cats, 

But my biggest thril was when my older brother Jason whom is a very hard working electrician currently wiring 12 houses per week but I say poor as unfortunately the poor fella has become a prisoner to acohol just like our dad was, 

But anyway; not looking to delve too dark here 😅 he used to take me for a drive (spin) to the shop for sweets, 

Picture a hot summers day, in the middle of nowhere in the country side; heat melting the tar on the horizon, fastest thing you've ever been in/on is your 5 speed BMX, then your brother invites you in to the passenger seat of his ST204 Toyota Celica, and you get in to the passenger seat; first nothing the smell of alpine fresh 😂 mam's car never had that; then the side boulster of the bucket seats pressing against your waist and thighs, 

Followed by the loud music; and feeling of your stomach bouncing off your kidneys as the vehicle lifted off the road on the horizon of hump back bridges where you always took the opportunity to pop a Wheely on your BMX 😅

Then getting out of the car at the shop shaking with an adrenaline rush; before you even got in to the shop for penny sweets nevermind consuming them and going for a spin on your bicycle.

The poor fella made an ever lasting impression on my life; I sometimes scandanavian drift the Eibach lowered focus; throw the rear of the focus out on roundabout's with my kids when it's wet; in an attempt to relive that ever lasting impression.

But my main intention for now is to encourage her creativity and consume her mind with things other than me and her mam; 

As her mam and my beautiful wife has suddenly grown very disconnect with our marriage and is running away to partys every weekend; that's the girl which I met at 17 and ran away from home to be with forever; 

Together 20 years now; and at the moment best way I can describe it's like she's gotten a huge ice-cream scoop and scooped out my chest from my neck to my stomach feels like there's nothing there man, 

So we're going heavy on the upgrades to the car as it's the only thing I have left these days to make me feel complete aswell as getting a few laughs out of our eldest; she doesn't need any problems at this stage of her life she needs confidence and encouragement; so improving a car to look premium factory standard takes skill; so I tell her.

Sorry for creating a free counselling session out of your post mate 😅 but it's all true and relevant to the point of how Lenny came to be on here atall. 

[Tizer]

52 minutes ago, BigLen said:

Cool man, 

Was my older brother whom got me interested in cars the poor fella, I didn't have many times with my dad back then; he was an only child; profession was a techer, also registered plumber and electrician, 

Needless to say his parents were severely hard on him; to me he was an alcoholic and a fear every time there was a school event which involved the attendance of parents, I spent most of my childhood alone in the country side of co.louth, there were four other kids in my class within a school of 50 pupils, 😂 my mai ln pass time during the summer was trying to taim cats, 

But my biggest thril was when my older brother Jason whom is a very hard working electrician currently wiring 12 houses per week but I say poor as unfortunately the poor fella has become a prisoner to acohol just like our dad was, 

But anyway; not looking to delve too dark here 😅 he used to take me for a drive (spin) to the shop for sweets, 

Picture a hot summers day, in the middle of nowhere in the country side; heat melting the tar on the horizon, fastest thing you've ever been in/on is your 5 speed BMX, then your brother invites you in to the passenger seat of his ST204 Toyota Celica, and you get in to the passenger seat; first nothing the smell of alpine fresh 😂 mam's car never had that; then the side boulster of the bucket seats pressing against your waist and thighs, 

Followed by the loud music; and feeling of your stomach bouncing off your kidneys as the vehicle lifted off the road on the horizon of hump back bridges where you always took the opportunity to pop a Wheely on your BMX 😅

Then getting out of the car at the shop shaking with an adrenaline rush; before you even got in to the shop for penny sweets nevermind consuming them and going for a spin on your bicycle.

The poor fella made an ever lasting impression on my life; I sometimes scandanavian drift the eibach lowered focus; throw the rear of the focus out on roundabout's with my kids when it's wet; in an attempt to relive that ever lasting impression.

But my main intention for now is to encourage her creativity and consume her mind with things other than me and her mam; 

As her mam and my beautiful wife has suddenly grown very disconnect with our marriage and is running away to partys every weekend; that's the girl which I met at 17 and ran away from home to be with forever; 

Together 20 years now; and at the moment best way I can describe it's like she's gotten a huge ice-cream scoop and scooped out my chest from my neck to my stomach feels like there's nothing there man, 

So we're going heavy on the upgrades to the car as it's the only thing I have left these days to make me feel complete aswell as getting a few laughs out of our eldest; she doesn't need any problems at this stage of her life she needs confidence and encouragement; so improving a car to look premium factory standard takes skill; so I tell her.

Sorry for creating a free counselling session out of your post mate 😅 but it's all true and relevant to the point of how Lenny came to be on here atall. 

No problem. If all the problems help your daughter develop her creative and technical side then at least some good will come out of your present predicament, which hopefully is just temporary. 

 

[TomsFocus]

I didn't have any relatives really interested in cars.  I'd never held a ratchet until my first day on work experience at Honda MD aged 16...you never know who's working on your car at a garage!

Always remember one thing my Grandad showed me on his FSO Polonez though, I was probably about 8 at the time.

Showed me how to check the oil and said 'if anyone calls you a dipstick, this is what it is'...  Not sure if that was meant to be a hint!

My Dad had several cool bikes & cars when he was growing up (many Farst Fowds), he used to go to drag runs at Silverstone, was a rocker on Southend seafront...but he'd grown out of it all by the time I was born. 

[TomsFocus]

Happy Birthday @zain611

Hope you have a nice day!!  

[zain611]

On 11/6/2021 at 12:47 PM, TomsFocus said:

Happy Birthday @zain611

Hope you have a nice day!!  

Thank you Tom. Feels scary turning 24 😬.

Have to say also yesterday the fiesta got sold. The guy travelled 200 miles to see it and didn't bother bargaining with the price with how good it is.

Will miss it and would want to get an upgrade but first I think it's sensible to save for a property first before dishing out on an expensive car

[StephenFord]

13 minutes ago, zain611 said:

Thank you Tom. Feels scary turning 24 😬.

 

24, OMG, some of my watches are older than that - I'm away for a lie down LOL

[TomsFocus]

1 hour ago, zain611 said:

Feels scary turning 24 😬.

Could be worse...Facebook said you were 29!! 👴  

[Wino]

16 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Could be worse...Facebook said you were 29!! 👴  

What is this book of faces you speak of...........

[Eric Bloodaxe]

1 hour ago, Wino said:

What is this book of faces you speak of...........

Changed their name to "Meta" I believe. Unfortunately it seems that name belongs to someone else:

https://www.msn.com/en-in/money/topstories/meta-company-sues-facebook-for-allegedly-stealing-its-name/ar-AAQrBxM?ocid=uxbndlbing

[StephenFord]

3 hours ago, zain611 said:

...but first I think it's sensible to save for a property first before dishing out on an expensive car

 

I genuinely feel sorry for people of your generation trying to buy a house. In my day, I had MIRAS (Mortgage Interest Relief at Source), and every bank/building society was falling over themselves to lend you money, and 120% mortgages were not uncommon. No deposit was needed! No wonder the older generation are often detested by the young..

[Eric Bloodaxe]

13 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

In my day, I had MIRAS (Mortgage Interest Relief at Source), and every bank/building society was falling over themselves to lend you money, and 120% mortgages were not uncommon.

Lol, that must have been a different day to mine. I'd saved with a Building Society for years to build a deposit (at least 10% requred) and they still turned me down, as did every other bank/BS I tried, despite me and my then wife both having what were regarded as "good jobs". In the end the only way we got a mortgage was by buying a new house and getting one via the builder, who had an allocation for customers.

[StephenFord]

3 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Lol, that must have been a different day to mine.

Mine was obtained in the late 80s, bang in the Thatcher era. You could get a mortgage of up to 4 x times annual combined salary - no wonder the system eventually crashed!

[alexp999]

3 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

Mine was obtained in the mid 80s, bang in the Thatcher era. You could get a mortgage of up to 4 x times annual combined salary - no wonder the system eventually crashed!

It's still worked out on roughly 4x salary (as maximum lending amount, they'll also do an affordability check on the monthlies).

Problem is that wages haven't kept pace with house prices.

4 times salary doesn't go anywhere near as far as it used to. I bought my first place 5 years ago and basically stuck with 1 bed flat in the South, I can't afford anything bigger, or with it's own land. I'd love a house with boundaries I could call my own.

[StephenFord]

.

[williamweb]

I bought my house when I was 23 yrs old, when interest rates were changing nearly every month.I think I was paying around 15% on a variable at one time.With a 25% deposit I had no problem finding a mortgage.Those were the days.

[Matthew McGuinness]

I'm on the house search now. I'm 22, i'm very glad i will be applying with my Girlfriend as it should make it easier.

[Wino]

Bought my first house in 1991 with no deposit ( borrowed the deposit from the mortgage lender) Credit agricole IIRC a French subsidiary of "The Pru". £19k for a two bed terrace at the time.

Moved to a 3 bed ex council semi 4yrs later paid £29k and part exd that for £46k towards a new build 3 bed detached for £70k in 1999/ 2000.

Part exd that in 2010 for a new build  3 bed detached show house on a corner plot for £150k. Sold that for £175k in 2014. Moved to two terraced houses knocked into one which needed a refurb. Paid £115k for that sold it in 2018 for £165k and bought a 3 bed semi for £95k that again needed a refurb. Sold that this year for £145k and bought our current newish 3 bed semi in September 2021.