*****Please note this thread is now locked. Volume 57 is now up and running******
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=26501
In this thread you may ask any question for which you need help, advice, suggestions or whatever.
It does not need to be motoring related. In fact, in this thread it should not be.
No Questions About PC's. They now go in another Thread.
No politics
No Speeding, speed cameras, traffic calming
No arguments or slanging matches
Nothing which I think is not following the spirit of the thread
Nothing that risks the future of this site (please see the small print for details www.honestjohn.co.uk/credits/index.htm )
Any of the above will be deleted. If the thread becomes difficult to maintain it will simply be removed.
However, as has been said a couple of times, there is a wealth of knowledge in here, much of which is not motoring related, but most of which is useful.
This is Volume 56. Previous Volumes will not be deleted,
A list of previous volumes can be found here:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=18847
PLEASE NOTE:
When posting a NEW question, please "Reply to" the first message in this thread, i.e. this one. This keeps each question in it's own separate segment and stops each new question from getting mixed up in amongst existing questions. Also please remember to change the subject header.
|
My employer has announced today that as xmas day and boxing day falls on Sat / Sun, they will be treating these days as the bank holidays.
Prior to this year's merger, if these days fell at the weekend, then it would be Mon / Tues as the bank holidays, which I believe is what most industries do.
I work for a food retailer.
Can they do this? As I said it was only announced today so haven't had any feedback from Unions etc yet.
Reason I am asking is we will obviously be open on the Mon Tues, previously we would have received a higher rate for working them but this time we won't.
Any advices would be appreciated.
|
There's an article in today's Daily Mail on this.
The gist is that there is no absolute entitlement to any time off on Bank Holidays, or to any extra pay on Bank Holidays. It all depends on your particular terms and conditions of employment.
Just because most employers are reasonable and do offer time off in lieu, time and a half, or double time etc, doesn't mean that your employers have to as well.
But ... (not from the Daily Mail) ... you mention a merger. If you haven't been told formally of new terms and conditions applying after the merger, you could be on strong grounds for claiming the old terms and conditions still apply.
Ian
|
|
Ian, where in the Mail was the article? I am looking on the net and can't find it?
|
Daily Mail, Wed Oct 13th, Page 52, MoneyMail, "Don't bank on any time off!".
It's actually talking about Halfords, but the comments apply generally.
Ian
|
Full text ...
----------
Don't bank on any time off!
I work for cycle and car accesory firm Halfords, which is ignoring the fact that this coming December 27 and 28 are Bank Holidays. As usual, when Christmas falls over a weekend, the Bank Holidays are awarded on the following Monday and Tuesday. Halfords says these days are normal working days with no extra pay, and any time off is to be taken as holiday. Are they entitled to do this?
D.J., Wales.
DECEMBER 27 and 28 have been declared public holidays, but whether you are entitled to take these days off without having them included as part of your annual leave depends on your contract of employment.
The statutory minimum holiday entitlement is four weeks a year. But whether that is inclusive of public holidays or in addition to them is at the employer's discretion.
If it has chosen to make your annual leave inclusive of public holidays, it can insist that you work on those days or that you use two days' holiday if you don't want to
work then.
On the question of extra pay for working on a Bank Holiday, I'm afraid that this again depends on your contract.
There is no legal entitlement to an increased rate of pay for work done on public holidays unless your contract stipulates this or there is a workplace agreement that extra money should be provided.
However, Halfords now says it will pay double-time to staff who are are scheduled to work on these days.
----------
Ian
|
Thanks for that Ian.
Our contract is that we have a certain number of bank holidays each year over and above our holiday entitlement and that we will get a premium payment if working on these days.
Sounds like, once again, this company is making its own rules up.
|
|
If there are unions involved they should know the answer, but a google search on TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment Regulations)might turn up something of assistance?
|
|
Afraid BobbyG was not TUPE'd. He was taken over.
|
|
|
|
Public Holidays are exactly that. If you have to work on one you are entitled to time off in lieu or extra money.
--
\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
|
|
|
|
|
|
I've recently bought a widescreen TV and have noticed that on lots of programmes there is a missing piece of picture down each side of the screen.(Numbers or letters cut off or people at the side of the picture only half in view). Have switched to 4:3 format and the missing pieces are still there (if you know what I mean). Anyone got an answer to this?
|
Does your TV not have an AUTO picture setting? This should detect what type of signal it is receiving, and set upm the screen accordingly.
Mind you, come to think of it, it possibly can only do this if the signal is coming through a scart lead...
|
This happens on our T.V. all the time - for example when commercials come on or certain Sky channels.
Doesn't really bother me but it's easily circumvented by pressing the "16:9" button on the remote.
--
Adam
|
|
|
|
Are you talking about sky?. some of their programs display in this way..Mostly as far as I am aware on football. Havent had this on other programs.its down to how the program is transmitted.
--
Steve
|
|
If you've got Sky digital, the picture should be in widescreen anyway, if ti isn't you can change it in the 'services' menu.
|
|
|
|
|
Our widescreen TV (Sony) has a number of aspect ratios. One is called Smart which expands a widescreen picture to fully fill the available screen area. With this the extremities of the picture are cut off so sometmes we see the same effect you describe. Putting the pictrue on Widescreen solves this.
|
Haven't got a widescreen telly myself but have friends that do have one. It appears to me that the width to height ratio of their picture is invariably wrong. People look unnaturally wide and short ~ I'd rather have blank strips at the sides of the picture than look at an image that is out of proportion.
--
L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
|
Interesting point.
People look wide/short in widescreen and tall/thin in normal.
I have been wondering which is the more true to life, or is the truth somewhere in between ?
|
"I have been wondering which is the more true to life, or is the truth somewhere in between ?"
Depends on what part of your varifocals you look Mark.
|
|
how did you know I wear varifocals ? Is that really how you spell it ? Well, I know that really is how *you* spell it, but I'm not sure its right. At least, it doesn't look right. But then that might be a problem with my vari....va..vare... glasses.
|
|
|
|
Haven't got a widescreen telly myself but have friends that do have one. It appears to me that the width to height ratio of their picture is invariably wrong. People look unnaturally wide and short ~ I'd rather have blank strips at the sides of the picture than look at an image that is out of proportion. -- L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
That's because they're looking at a signal broadcast in 4:3 being stretched by the TV to fit widescreen.
In order to get the benefit of a widescreen TV, you need to be displaying a widescreen signal - in which case there is no stretching, and no distortion of the picture.
So that's DVD's or digital TV.
On the rare occasions where what I want to watch isn't broadcast in widescreen, I swap the ratio to 4:3. This puts black bands at each side of the screen, in much the same way as a 4:3 TV puts black bands at top and bottom when asked to show a widescreen picture.
|
|
Basically, if the picture you're looking at is dostorted in any way, then you haven't got the TV set up properly.
|
We recently purchased a digital 36 inch Panasonic TV and the remote has a button marked 'Aspect'.I only found out what it did a couple of days ago when SWMBO complained that the captions of the race leaders in the FI omitted Jensen who was in fourth place at the time.I managed to change the aspect so that she was happy.
However the TV is normally set to widescreen - Aspect also has a Zoom 1 and 2 facilty . Whats all that about then you experts in this sort of thing?
|
I think the Zoom settings are to deal with widescreen DVDs which don't use the industry standard widescreen ratio.
In the early days of DVDs there wasn't a standard, and 3 or 4 different ratios were used, I think no 16:9 has been settled on - in this country at least.
|
Widescreen TV has settled on 16:9 (1.77:1) and most new programs are broadcast in this...older repeats may be in 4:3 though, which can make figures look short and fat.
For widescreen DVD however the format depends on the orginal film, even recent films are more like 2.35:1 so even a 16:1 widescreen tv has black strips to top and bottom or compresses the picture so figures look tall and thin. Some films are as wide as 2.65:1. Examples of different ratios and formats include cinerama, cinemascope, panavision, vista-vision. Some of these are still used.
So the same 16:9 widescreen TV can either make figures short and fat or tall and thin depending on the picture source and format combined with the settings on the TV itself.
hth
StarGazer
|
|
|
|
Takes me back to my cinema projectionist days and forgetting to wind out the screen and/or swing in the cinemascope lens.
Boy, could those audiences whistle and howl.
|
|
When watching sports events that are being shown similtaneously on BBC/ITV and Sky or Eurosport, the Sky/Euro pictures are wide screen, but the Beeb/ITV are not.
|
|
|
|
Basically, if the picture you're looking at is dostorted in any way, then you haven't got the TV set up properly.
>>
bazzabear has got it in one.
on my sony set, the picture is automatically adjusted to suit the input signal. so i get some pictures with a full wide screen, some with vertical black bars, and even some with horizontal black bars where the picture is a cinema-wide foramt being broadcast in its original format (mostly on film4). the only time there is any distortion is when the cable input has gone awry and the set-box needs re-booting.
however, there are some tv sets which require the viewer to set the aspect ratio for each input signal from each channel/program being watched.
|
>> Basically, if the picture you're looking at is dostorted in >> any way, then you haven't got the TV set up properly. >> bazzabear has got it in one.
Hmmm.
Didn't do so well on the spelling of 'distorted' though. :o
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yes its true widescreen televisions were introduced to make images ore life like, but in most applications make the picture worse y distorting the proportions of the image.
Ok- standard terestrial broadcasts are usually either 4:3 or 14:9. The BBC do not broadcast 16:9 yet i dont think. For example, if you are watching Eastenders your televsion should be in 14:9 mode. If you watch in 16:9 mode the image will be distorted, effectively the piture will be stretched and everyone will look short and fat (and cat looks fat enough already).
Channel 4 however have been broadcasting true 16:9 pictures on selected programs for a while. Our Panasonic TV automatically switches and displays "WIDE" on the screen. The image is then full screen and not distorted.
Sky digital viewers will recieve pictures in 4:3 format (our sky digital box certainly outputs images in this format). However, some program material will be letterboxed within the 4:3 shape (not well expressed, but i hope you get what i mean). This is a 4:3 letter box. On this sort of image it is best to use the Zoom function if you find the picture too small. This just blows up the image without distorting it. However, you will loose deffinition.
Some televisions do have an AUTO mode; however, our relatively recent and not inexpensive set does make selections which distort the proportions of the image, so we manually select apect settings. My aunt has an early Sony television which does not have an 14:9 setting. It is impossible to watch bbc1 on this television with the picture in proportion if they are broadcasting in 14:9, as using the 4:3 setting the televsion effectively shoves a 14:9 width image in a 12:9 space. The 16:9 setting does the opposite. So you have to ue the zoom function, then the image isnt framed properly and bits of peoples heads dissappear form view etc. Very irratating.
So if you want to watch proper widescreen, get a dvd or watch channel 4!
|
|
|
|
I have a Nokia 3310 on a contract. I use it very little, my bill is practically all line rental. I have had the phone at least a couple of years, and now the battery is failing,my diagnosis The contract is with O2
I would prefer to keep my existing number and use Pay As You Go. Which limits me to O2.
I would also prefer to have a 3310 again.
From my tour of the local phone shops, I have discovered that the
direct route is to buy a O2 PAYG phone, with features I don't want,and not a 3310 and put my current SIM in it. Presuming I can remove the back from my phone. I have been trying for ten minutes so far. These phones cost about £50 cheapest
Is there an alternative. I can a battery on Ebay for about £8 and a PAYG SIM card. Although the O2 SIM cards seem a complex choice as well.
Any advice or information, including not to be so mean, would be appreciated.
|
02 simcard PAYG = ten quid but you wouldn't have your same number obviously.
I expect a 3310 battery is easy to come by.
--
Adam
|
|
Just bought a battery for a venrable old 3320 from a firm called http//www.mobilefun.co.uk. Ordered last Sunday arrived on Thursday. Genuine Nokia Battery cost £16.00 delivered. If you ask O2 nicely they may "convert" your account to a PAYG account.
|
|
|
|
I am on O2 PAYG. As long as you pay £10 a month, you get 300 free texts. Or, to rephrase that slightly, for every first £10 you top up with a month, you get 300 free texts.
Calls are 25p for first 3 mins to landline / other o2, 5p a min thereafter. Thoroughly recommend it.
Re your 3310, these phones are older than old, I have one that I keep as a back up but if you are determined to keep it, then I would suggest a note on your noticeboard at work / college or wherever and you will probably get offers from people who have these at the back of cupboards.
Do not, under any circumstances, buy a new one as they will be in effect 4-5 years old anyway and there are cheaper, better phones about.
|
Kerry - "I would prefer to keep my existing number and use Pay As You Go. Which limits me to O2."
Not so. You can keep your phone, your number and switch to Virgin Mobile PAYG for about £10. There shouldn't be any charge for leaving O2 since you've been with them for over a year (or just possibly a minimal charge if O2 isn't feeling helpful).
Other companies should have similar deals.
I'm with Virgin Mobile (surprise!) and consider it's got the best rates for extremely low users like me. There's no minimum spend, no expiry of credits, no charge for listening to voice messages, 10p fixed charge for the help line, 3p text messages to other Virgins, no charges of any kind if you don't use it. Probably a good idea to make a call every six months or so, so Virgin know you're still alive.
More details at www.virginmobile.com/mobile/switch/switch_intro.ht...l
Ian
|
|
|
Adski, Pugugly, Bobby G thanks.
Any recommendations phone/supplier for a cheap and simple to use
PAYG phone on O2 please
|
Do a search on the internet. It is teaming with internet retailers just eager to out do each other.
H
|
|
|
Any recommendations phone/supplier for a cheap and simple to use PAYG phone on O2 please
Kerry, Phone 02 and ask them to switch you over to PAYG. You'll be able to keep your existing number. If the 3310 is working and you're happy with it, then keep it and buy a new battery for it. Try and go for a Lithium Ion one, as they have more power than Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) ones, and tend to last a lot longer. To get the back off, press the different coloured button at the lower end of the back of the case and slide the case upwards. To remove the battery, press the 2 little arms either side of the SIM card outwards.
The Virgin network is the same network as T-Mobile, and IMHO is not as good as the other main networks, namely 02, Vodafone & Orange. Virgin / T-Mobile are alright in towns, but if you ever go out into the sticks, you'll find yourself climbing a tree to get a signal.
|
You may have to buy an O2 sim card.
As for the battery. Take a look on Ebay for some cheap ones.
H
|
|
|
|
|
|
I would prefer to keep my existing number and use Pay As You Go. Which limits me to O2.
I know others have mentioned that this is not so, but they haven't mentioned how you keep your number when you change operators.
You call your existing provider and ask for a PAC (Porting Authority Code?). When you sign up with a new provider, you give them the code and your number is transferred to the new network. Some providers let you transfer a number in at any stage while others only allow you to do this when you first join them.
Incidentally, number portability means it's not possible to tell for certain which network any given number belongs to.
Virgin Mobile is a good bet for a light user. If you decide to use them, set up a direct debit so that you don't have to keep buying vouchers. The only real drawbacks are the relatively low number of Virgin customers (so many mobile to mobile calls will be charged at cross network rates) and the relatively poor T-Mobile coverage.
If you decide to go for O2 pay-as-you-go, you can sometimes get the SIMs for free. Every so often they have special promotions where they give them away on their web site. This is inevitably followed by chancers selling them on eBay.
At the risk of adding to your confusion, have a look at www.users.totalise.co.uk/~lauriem/bargain_basement...l where you'll find some outstanding deals. You might be surprised to discover that pay-as-you-go isn't always the cheapest option for a light user, especially if you fancy a new (subsidised) phone.
|
|
|
|
Just had a cheapo carpet fitted, and it's held down with adhesive around the edges. Unfortunately (but probably inevitably) the fitter got adhesive (together with carpet fibres) onto the white painted skirting boards. What's the best thing for removing said adhesive? The adhesive is some sort of solvent (it has melted my recently-applied paint in places!) based rubbery stuff.
(You can't win. If you paint the skirting board after the carpet has been fitted, you get paint on the carpet. If you paint the skirting board first, the fitter gets adhesive on the paintwork.)
--
L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
|
For future reference, lay the carpet first and then stick packing tape all the way along under the skirting but over the carpet.
As long as you\'re not too generous with the amount of paint or too forceful in your painting, that\'ll do the job.
|
|
|
Watching a recent rerun of Mark Evans building his Cobra replica, he got contact adhesive all over his carpets while fitting them. IIRC, he used a light machine oil to remove it from the carpets and his hands.
|
Try carefully applying WD40 on a control patch.
It shifts glue residue left when you peel stickers off glass
etc.
DVD
|
Can't help thinking the next question on here is going to be:
I've got WD40 all over my new carpet, and tips for removal? ;)
|
A good, general adhesive remover is baby oil. I use it when a pan or whatever has a label on it, so I'd expect it to work on adhesive on a skirting board.
V
|
|
|
|
|
I'm off for a drive around bits of N Europe at the weekend.
Does anyone know which country has the cheapest UK fags (JPS) - Belgium or Holland? If so, how large is the difference?
I went to tobacco city (Adinkerke) a while back and that didn't strike me as much cheaper than France...
|
Belgium is definitely a lot cheaper than France now.
JPS are £23 for 200 at Adinkerke, about £10 more in France - not sure about Holland.
Cigars are even better value - small ones I smoke are 4 euros for 20 in Belgium, 5,40 in France and over £10 in Britain.
www.day-tripper.net/zxo/zxo1tobaccostopshop.html
Prices in France have rocketed in the last year or so
|
|
|
|
I have a leak...
Top floor of the house. Where the bottom of the radiator valve attaches to the copper pipe of the central heating system. At the bottom of the valve, there is a bit of a dribble coming out. How can I fix this?
Obviously the joint needs undoing & redoing, with doubtless generous quantities of PTFE tape.
However, how can I switch off the water supply to this? I have taken 2 or 3 pints out of the bottom radiator in the house to stop the leak from leaking.
Is it now safe just to undo it, & do it up again?
Grateful thanks in advance, as ever, to the BR Central heating team!
|
If this is a low pressure system, ie it is filled from a header tank, you are going to have to drain the system. Or in your case half drain the system (the top half). Then undo the nut holding the compression fitting to the pipe, and I use silicon sealant ( a tube of fernox silicon leak sealant) around the olive and then tighten up again. Refill system and bingo.
I don't see how taking three pints out of a radiator at the bottom is relevant?
If you can work quickly, you can turn off the heating, freeze the pipe to the rad using a freezing kit, undo the nut, seal it and do it up again
|
Thanks for the instant response, RF!
I'm not sure I have a header tank.
This is because, when the system loses pressure, in order to put it back up to pressure there is a valve on the bottom of the combi boiler which can be opened to allow water to flow in to the system.
Therefore taking out 3 pints reduces total system pressure and eliminates the weeping joint.
Does that make any sense?
Otherwise it's the freezing kit (but i'm too stingy to use my emergency pipe freezer uless I absolutely have to...)
|
|
Right you have a pressurised system! Makes the answer very simple then. Get the freezing kit out you stingy mapmaker you. Oh and the tube of Fernox leak sealer will cost you a fiver. Painful I know but I wouldnt rely on PTFE tape given you have one chance to get it right.
|
RF's option may solve the problem medium term but the problem I suspect lies in the overall condition of the joint.
As it's a combi system I would advise the following approach:
Drain the system to below where the leak is. It is not imperitive that you drain the whole system.
Fix the joint properly. Personally I would advocate replacing the compression joint with a ring solder fitting (unless it's a valve joint of course where I would advise redoing the joint with a new olive and new pipe jointed onto the existing).
Ring solder joints are very easy to use and must not be confused with end feed that even I cannot master, and I'm supposed to be competent at this! Go into any B and Q Superstore and ask their resident plumber exactly how to do it.
You should not have to use PTFE tape on a compression joint. The olive between the nut and the body of the joint should compress sufficiently to give you a watertight seal to several Bar of pressure. However don't overtighten it as several people do when assembling them to begin with. Just nip them up to noticable tightness. If they continue to weep after the system is pressurised nipping them up again usually works. Overtightening compression joints cause problems with over compression of the olive and the pipe that it is wrapped around. Ultimately the copper pipe will collapse and it will be impossible to get a good seal. This is especially true when using those soft copper tails supplied with monoblock taps.
PTFE tape is really only for HW cylinder and RAD valve tail joints and the like. Many people have used it to form a seal in place of a fibre washer on a tap connector. If I come across this I usually clean the seat of the joint down to the brass and use a fibre washer designed for this purpose.
Once the joint is fixed, re pressurise and bleed the system and check for leaks.
H
|
Mapmaker, Hugo is dead right.
If you have a pressurised combi system the only real answer is to remake the compression joint on the bottom of the valve as he describes. To bodge it means you will run the risk of a catastrophic failure involving lots of water and Sod's Law being what it is, the leak being upstairs and all, it will almost certainly happen on a Friday night just after you've gone away for the weekend so you'll come home to your personal version of Niagara Falls!
Sometimes you will find that you can get enough slack on the rising pipe to cut the pipe with the olive off, fit a new olive and remake the joint, otherwise do as Hugo suggests and cut it low enough to let in a new piece of pipe with a straight Yorkshire fitting.
Cockle
|
Many thanks, chaps!
I drained a couple of pints off, so I could undo the joint. Bought a new olive & some fermox.
Mapmaker Towers is currently devoid of central heating... whilst I strip the paint round the joint etc. etc.
Hugo: When you write '(unless it's a valve joint of course where I would advise redoing the joint with a new olive and new pipe jointed onto the existing).'
The pipe is quite badly painted up. Am I therefore best off going under the floorboards & cutting the pipe before the bend (using my brand new snazzy pipe cutter - what a tool that it!) & putting a joint in?
|
"Mapmaker Towers is currently devoid of central heating"
"strip the paint round the joint"
"pipe is quite badly painted up"
"going under the floorboards & cutting the pipe"
"putting a joint in"
Rf looks at perfectly waterproofed joint, and sits down with paper and cup of tea......... "Good stuff that Fernox leak sealer" he muses reveling in the heat wafting from his radiators.....
|
|
|
Hugo: When you write '(unless it's a valve joint of course where I would advise redoing the joint with a new olive and new pipe jointed onto the existing).'
Mapmaker
When I read your original posting and replied to RFs I couldn't remember which joint it was.
If it's the valve joint that is leaking then I advocate removing the section of pipe that had the olive and making the joint either lower down the pipe if there is enough movement in the pipe to do so, or joining a new piece of pipe onto the old.
If you can go under the floorboards easily then do that. Otherwise clean off the end of the pipe with a sraper or similar to expose plenty of copper to make a good joint, then join on some more pipe to bring it up to the valve.
If you do go under the floorboards be careful not to cut the pipe too close to the bend from horizontal to vertical, otherwise you may have trouble getting a good joint. Unless of course you have an elbow rather than a formed 90° bend in the pipe.
Another option, especially if you can get access under the floorboards is a speedfit connector. B & Q will sort you one out for around a couple of quid. These simply push on and are locked by a twisting action. Once this is made, cut the new pipe to length and refit valve using new olive. Money for old rope!
H
|
|
|
|
|
As the season of poor weather and power cuts is looming, my thoughts are turning to having a small (e.g. 2.5 KVA) generator to keep the gas central heating and fridge running and light a few lights. The simplest way to power the house would be to have a lead from the generator to a socket in the porch or garage, turn the mains off so I don't back-feed the whole street and tape up the power-hungry appliances e.g. water heater and hob. I've no doubt that the simple solution is probably illegal and possibly dangerous, but what do other folk do?
Hawkeye
-----------------------------
Stranger in a strange land
|
Must admit I've never done it, but have given it some thought in the past and came up with the same conclusion.
:
:
Who am I? Where am I going? Will I be able to park when I get there?
|
|
|
|
You are supposed to use a change over switch so there is no chance of back feeding the mains,its too easy for someone to accidentaly switch mains back on ,it might be easier to make up an extension cable with sockets fitted along it so they were handy to the things like heating ,tv,plug in lamps etc,its also worth remembering that many cordless phone base stations also need power.
|
|
That's what we have in PU Towers,,,far easier and safer than any switching device.
|
|
|
|
|
Think I may have asked a similar question before and done nothing since, so apologies in advance!
The job I'm doing at the moment, basically everyone's getting a bit twitchy about names being in the public domain and the wrong people being able to find out where we live. Can't be more specific than that, sorry.
I'm still registered at my parents' address down south, although I haven't actually lived there for over 3 years now. I need to come off there, but I don't want to be registered here for the reasons I've explained so badly above! I seriously doubt that anything bad would happen, but I'd rather not be registered up here if that was possible.
Typical apathetic young person comment here, but I'm not bothered about being able to vote. Question is, do I HAVE to be registered somewhere, or can I just remove myself from my parents' address and not transfer myself to anywhere? I've had a look at the relevant websites but can't find the answer.
Thanks
|
Presence on an electrol roll is a primary requirment for a number of things including Credit Checks. There are two ways to register there is a roll that goes into the public domain that you can exclude your details from (bit like being ex-directory) whilst being visible to those that count.
Use your vote though a lot of people suffered for you (a female especially) to get it and keep it.
|
Agree with PU, the cut off date for the elecoral roll for this year was 15th October IIRC. Just filled this in for Mr and Mrs StarGazer, most details can be removed from the publicly SOLD electoral roll but not sure if the full version is still available for personal inspection at county offices or similar.
hth
StarGazer
|
IIRC, completion of Electoral Roll information is a legal requirenent, with penalties for not complying.
Apart from securing voting eligibility, it is from this information that individuals, who are not exempt - (few are) - are selected for jury service!
--
Roger. (Costa del Sol, España)
|
>>>IIRC, completion of Electoral Roll information is a legal requirenent, with penalties for not complying.
Apart from securing voting eligibility, it is from this information that individuals, who are not exempt - (few are) - are selected for jury service.
Interesting one Roger, especially as like you I am an expat. I have never voted in my life (and before the PC types start on, principled abstaining is just as valid a vote in itself. I do own 2 UK properties but I pay no UK taxes (legally, according to my accountant). I have the written agrteement from the Revenue that I do not have UK domicile.
If Electoral Roll information submission is a legal requirement, then what for us self-imposed exiles? I know the local Brit Embassy would like to have me on file "in case of emergency" but having seen at first hand how useless HMG is protecting its citizens in the Iran Revolution and other minor skirmishes, forget it.
This issue will get some profile when these wretched ID cards are introduced. I understand I will have to buy one when I renew my passport whether I want one or not and be charged for the privilege despite the fact I don't live in the EU.
Time to visit again www.escapeartist.com methinks.
|
|
|
|
Why does the UK seem to be at odds with the rest of Europe when it comes to pronounciation of the letters V and W?
For example, most English people would say "Volks Wagen", but continental Europeans would say "Wolks Vagen".
As another example, other European countries such as the Czech Republic have adopted the English work weekend, but pronounce it "veekend", even though still written as weekend.
Just curious how this happened in the depths of time, despite usually common latin ancestry.
|
"For example, most English people would say "Volks Wagen", but continental Europeans would say "Wolks Vagen". "
Not quite so. What they say is something midway between V, F and W. Thus, when you're expecting a V, because it's just off you hear a W and vice versa. Try listening very closely and you'll hear it.
V
|
And my Austrian friends do not say "Vee double U" - they say "Fah Vay" when just saying the initials.
|
And perhaps we should also point out that perhaps Europe is "right" since they pronounce "Volk" as folk - which is what the word means!
|
|
|
|
|
A colleague has a DVD player which has suddenly started playing back only in black and white. He has checked all the scart leads, but is technologically inept and can't figure out what's wrong! He has cable, video and DVD through one TV. Anything obvious he should check?
|
Take out, and reconnect the scart lead from DVD to TV if its direct, or DVD to video to TV or whatever combinationt they are. The connectors can get tarnished. a quick in and out cleans them off.
Check the settings for DVD to ensure its PAL, and the same on the input for the TV. On my Thompson TV you can set NTSC/PAL/SECAM on each input.
Check he is not watching a black and white film!
|
|
Our flippant response to his predicament was to stop watching Laurel and Hardy and put something more modern in the machine! He assures me it was a colour film he put in there.
|
|
|
|
DVD video feed must go direct to the television, not via the VCR (assuming that he's using standard kit).
Loose or damaged video/scart leads will certainly affect the colour.
Changing the television menus from PAL/M/R/whatever to NTSC or vice versa will usually cause loss of colour and perhaps some "interference" but usually not affect the sound.
A new VCR operating on an interfering channel can affect the picture, but normally not on the DVD because that feed usually bypasses the tuner.
Checking with a different television would make sense. Cutting the VCR out of the loop would make sense.
Lastly, of course, one of them could be b*******
|
PAL is the standard in Europe.
What I suspect is happening is that the DVD player is only outputing S-video or component signals (Red, Green, and Blue [RGB] on different wires), when his TV can only handle composite video (R, G, and B scrambled together on 1 wire). When a TV gets an RGB signal that it knows it can't handle, it displays it in black white instead.
Tell his to look through the menus to see what the output is. If he has the option of having RGB/S-video or Composite out, it should be set to compostite.
It might be that anyway :-S.
Mike Farrow
|
I agree with a point Mark made..Scart leads that come with any video/dvd player are not the best of quality. And very often suffer from bad joints. ie cable connection to pins. My BIL is a TV Tech. His company carries spare leads as they are often the cause of picture probs.
--
Steve
|
I'd go with the dodgy leads theory; if buying new ones don't pay over the odds for pointless gold plating; although having individually screened leads within the cable is worth having.
I'm assuming that incorrect PAL/NTSC/SECAM setting wouldn't suddenly happen unless either the TV or DVD player was switched off / reset.
|
I won't lie to you - I know about as much as DVD players as I do about cars. If it has a shiny finish and makes toast then I'm happy.
Has he tried playing a DVD that has previously been played in colour? I only ask because a good film with Bobby De Niro in will only play in black and white yet every other film is fine.
Now that either means that
a) I'm right
or more likely
b) I need to do all of the above that everyone has suggested!
--
Adam
|
Also, if the DVD player isn't multi-region and the DVD isn't region 2 (UK), then it might end up playing like this.
John M
|
|
Certainly I had a SECAM (French) video that would only play back in B&W on my PAL video player.
|
|
|
Google some of the DVD recoding tips sites. I successfully recoded my daughter's DVD player in UK so she can play pirate Asian DVD's I send her. She and I quite rightly refuse to pay the grotesque UK prices for something you watch only once or twice.
As for the TV, I thought all came with auto sensing of color system these days? I've got 3 JVC's and they work with any format automatically.
Otherwise buy that DVD RegionFree software on the net and play your discs on your PC.
|
|
|
|
|
>>don't pay over the odds for pointless gold plating;
Sorry what makes you think so??
reason it was introduced gold plating prevented severe corrosion of joints. common on scart leads.especially the cheapo version..Granada whome I worked for a while replaced standard oem cables for this type of cable.Due to connection probs.It solved any connection prob except when the scart plug was not inserted correctly ie offsett.seems to be common problem.
--
Steve
|
Well yes I suppose it is possible to make connectors so cheap and nasty that they corrode in a domestic environment (maybe they use the 'metal' my wife's Metro was built from ;-) ); but I still don't see 1 atom thick gold plating as a 'magic ingredient'.
Yes they will give a lower contact resistance, for a while at least, but I wouldn't think any electronic equipment designed in the last 25 years should be particularly sensitive to input / output reistance changes of this magnitude.
Having said that it seems to be becoming difficult to but a reasonable quality SCART lead without gold plating, so i guess I'll just have to go with tyhe flow :-/
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Odd one, this.
What's the name of the music that plays over the closing credits to "Bottom" (Ade Edmondson and Rik Mayall), while Ade Edmondson dances in silhouette? I heard it for the thousandth time tonight and decided I'd ask those in the know.
Ta,
V
|
|
Can't remember the name of the tune but i'm fairly certain it's performed by "The bum notes"
|
Can't remember the name of the tune but i'm fairly certain it's performed by "The bum notes"
As is so often the way, a little information was all I needed to find it on the web. It's "Last Night", by the Mar-Keys, if you're interested.
V
|
|
To cut to the chase, I have 23 monthly payments remaining on my new van - each of some £370. This equates to a total debt of £8510
I asked Nissan Finance about any benefit available to me if I paid it all off in one go. They advised me that I would save some £300.
Now it's easy to do a percentage calculation of £300 over £8510, but these are monthly payments, interest free and after the first year the debt is halved etc.
I would very much like someone to tell me please how I can calculate the benefit in terms of a percentage. IE if I 'invested' my money in paying off this debt what interest rate would I be getting.
Thanks in advance
Hugo
|
What APR are you paying ?
|
What APR are you paying ?
0% interest loan, so 0% APR? No?
The total payments on the van including the deposit is the same as the negotiated price. It was a 0% finance deal with 30% down.
I can only think that Nissan Finance see some mileage in getting their money early so they offer a small incentive to me to pay up now.
Hugo
|
|
If you have the cash to pay this off, keep it in a deposit acoount and use the capital to pay the monthly payment, or use the capital sum to pay off the mortgage if you have one.
|
But it's worth some £300 for me to pay it off. I just need to know whether that is a good deal or not.
Hugo
|
> just need to know whether that is a good deal or not.
PU has just answered this question.
Keep the money on deposit, earning interest, and use it to pay the loan, or potentially a better idea, the mortgage.
As I see it, if you have one, a repayment mortgage will probably have the longest period of any loans you have left to run It therefore has the most to gain by reducing the capital amount outstanding, even though you won't see the benefit 'now' the same as a cheque for £300.
So, to answer your question based on these terms, no.
|
|
|
Sorry Hugo,
Been sitting on the fence all day today - Mission Creep into my private life. Pay your Mortgage off. That is the best deal ever bearing in mind the only way rates are goiong to go are up and the zero is fixed.
|
|
|
|
using www.yourmortgage.co.uk/money/calculator/calc1.htm
23 payments of £370 into a savings account paying 4.75% would build up to £8917, £407 more than you have outstanding. Nissan are offering you £300, i.e. £107 less than the regular payments are worth (assuming you could get 4.75% on your cash). I understand this isn't the exact situation you're in, but the maths works the same.
If you think you could get a higher rate of interest, it might become a bigger difference, but I'd suggest that at this level the difference is small enough that it's probably up to personal preference, namely do you prefer to have loans outstanding or not?
Pros of loan outstanding: More good credit history with longer payment period; you might die before the loan gets repaid, etc.
Cons: Loan hanging over your head, if that's the way you see it.
V
|
I agree with Vin and would just add that it may be worth keeping the payoff amount in a high interest account rather than paying off the existing loan since, if you paid off the existing loan and required funds for other things and could not ahieve a loan at the same rate (0%) then effectively repaying the van loan would have cost you the whatever rate you get on the replacement loan (if you see what I mean).
I would also suggest that the best course of action for you should also depend on how disciplined you are with money.
Some friends of ours extended their mortgage by a considerable sum to build an extemsion and then decidede not to proceed with the building works so they spent the money on a new car and a Carribean cruise! If you think it might bleed away then better to use it to pay off the loan!
|
So the effective interest rate is 4.2%, as calculated above.
If a lower rate taxpayer, you would have to find something yielding over 5.5% in order to benefit. If a higher rate taxpayer, then something yielding over 7%. Not a hope! and in order for it to be worth the hassle of doing the 'investment', it probably needs to be yielding twice that. Can you *really* be bothered to open an account for a hundred quid; spread over 3 years????
Just pay it off. (Alternatively, if your mortgage is at a higher rate, pay that off instead.) Not worth faffing!
|
>So the effective interest rate is 4.2%, as calculated above.
Oh dear. Not reading the question properly! Never mind, I won't be very wrong. Once you bring the tax in, you have to have a very high-performing investment.
ring Nissan and see if you can get them to agree to a greater discount off the loan for paying it off up front. Remember, they need the money so have contacted you and offered you a carrot, there might just be something more in it for you!
|
hugo -
using all figures in round rough terms, and in simplistic terms:
the short answer to your question is that you are better off paying a lump sum to reduce your mortgage debt - assuming you have a flexible mortgage that allows this without penalty. (if your mortgage rate is say 6%, then reducing the debt is equivalent to 10% income gross interest for a high rate tax payer )
as for your specific example, the question boils down to this - what is better :
a. pay £8210 ( £8510 less £300 cheque back ) now
or
b. pay £370 x 23 months.
this can be calculated using excel finance functions such as "irr" and "npv" and "rate".
depepnding on whether you use beginning of month, or end of month as the time when the payment is due , then
using these formulae, the £300 cash back implies that the dealer is valuing the notional interest at 0.3% per month compound, equal to aprox 3.67% per year or 7.16% over 23 months.
as i always say, there is hardly anyone with a mortgage who would not be better off in the long term on an offset/openplan/oneaccount type deal.
|
Thanks guys, some different opinions here.
FWIW My Mortgate is fixed at 3.99% until 1st Feb 2005, when I will be free to pay all or some of it off with no penalty. I will probably pay it off anyway come this date as funds permit. I need to speak to my IFA wrt to my options here.
I haven't made any decisions yet. I need to have a good read of your responses this evening.
Thanks again.
Hugo
|
|
|
|
