Bockaaarck

marzman, it depends what you mean by cheap really, you are talking about New York after all I had a nose on Trip Advisor and the Candlewood Suites New York City-Times Square seems to rate ok as a 'budget hotel' You'd probably be looking at £580 for Saturday through to Wednesday and it's not that far from Times Square either. We always find Trip Advisor a good place to start then branch out from there.

Seen on Friday as I was taking some shopping to the car, very nice indeed, the Midnight Blue is lovely

Seen at the side of the road with hazards flashing about 1-ish, couldn't stop I'm afraid so I hope everything was ok?

+1 You my friend have hit the nail right on the head. Many companies now have huge pension black holes ever since the 'Brown Menace' stopped pension tax relief in the 1997 budget, costing 'savers' well over £100 Billion (possibly now more than £150 Billion). He also orchestrated the sale of up to 60% of this countries gold reserve between 99 through to 02, but only after he announcing to the markets he was going to do so! By a strange co-incidence the price of gold dropped and our bullion was sold near the bottom of the market....almost 400 tonnes of it, going cheap as chips. What an utter ***** What I'm so angry about is in his 2006 Manion House speach Brown, flattering business leaders, bankers and ministers all sat together, praised the light touch regulation surrounding the financial industry, raising it up as an example of how business should be done allowing room for innovation, growth, opportunity etc. It's exactly this 'light touch' regulation (although using that word in this context is a joke) and other 'comedy' proposals and approaches which has partially led to the near financial collapse of the western world, and don't get me started on things like credit default swaps I'm not Red, Blue or Gold, so I have no axe to grind or flag to wave. In my view Brown and his cronies, along with the totally incompetent political opposition at the time (and those in power now, except mybe Vince Cable) bear significant responsibility for the economic situation which has arrisen. That's not to say we didn't play our part, perhaps not individually, but as the great British public, spending money that wasn't there, on stuff we didn't need, having the time of our lives. The party is over and now the hangover is kicking in. I get so angry about it because it could have been prevented, if there was the economic wisdom and political will at the time. We may not have been in a position where Nurses, Teachers and the like were having to strike because the powers that be have already financially decimated the private sector *...and breathe....* All that being said the pension purse of the public sector has been a sword of damocles hanging over successive government for some time. I think it does need to change, mainly because there just isn't any money left, this country is effectively bankrupt. However is the method and the manner in which its done. If the government want to backdate these changes then I think that is totally undfair. Someone may have chosen a career and financial path which they believed would satisfy them professionally and provide for their lie after work. To suddenly change the conditions of the deal is wrong, that person, had they known conditions of their pension were going to change, may have chosen a differetn career path, gone for promotion over career satisfaction over financial security. I guess the only fair way to do it is to introduce a sliding increase in contributions, age group banded pension entitlements as to when you can claim, alterations to future entitlement in 5 - 10 years time, it's very difficult. Let's not forget that when Public and Private sector are compared in relation to earnings that the public sector doesn't include "shop assistant", "burger flipper", "toilet attendant" etc which we can realistically expect to be the least well paid jobs. A lot of public sector employees have degree educations, have professional qualifications and as a result that would increase their relative salary scale. The 'average' public sector doesn't get £50k a year and doesn't get a 'gold plated' pension, despite what we frequently believe. I have worked as a consultant in both Public and Private sector and I an honestly say the difference in the quality of people and their work ethic is negligable. What is different is the accountability, certainly in terms of management resposibility for budgetry and financial matters. Many parts of the public sector I have worked with are shafted by management incompetance rather than lack of worker effort. If the rot is set in at the top, it's very hard to change from the lower levels. They are also stimied by inefficient process and procedure which have often been put in place by management and senior management who have no concept of how things actually work, and they make things worse by introducing their 'blue sky thinking' magical concepts. I think we all have to face facts, the good times are over, austerity is here to stay for some time and we have to get used to dealing with it. I'm going to roll my sleaves up and do a Tom and Barbara....."Now where am I going to plant those spuds and beans and where can I keep me chickens?" EDITED TO ADD: Chesterfields figures and calculations are very interesting and tell the real story behind this issue. There won't be any money left unless change is made now, it's hard but it has to happen, even now it may be too late. Also, if I was a Teacher would I strike..... I wouldn't go in, but I would probably be at home marking, or doing lesson planning or something like that.

I'd be seriously tempted Rich

In the water somewhere Arrives next week I bet you're busting a gut to finally get your hands on her Ian, she's a beauty

Have to say, I've been tempted a couple of times by one of these Virages / Vantages. They're not the prettiest car but I kind of like them in the same way I like the Alfa Romeo SZ

He's talking about one tyre only, if I'm interpreting it correctly, so has 3 different types of tyres on, so in that scenario, never a good thing. v Ah I see, not good at all (only in my opinion of course)

Welcome aboard, looks like you've got yourself a really tidy Zed there

Glad you got it ok, and those threads will provide loads of info on tyres. There are differeing opinions on tyres, personally if it was me, I'd be going back to the dealer and get them to change it for matching tyre.

Welcome aboard Steve only a couple of hours to go before you pick her up I guess Get some pics up when you get a chance, we love em!

Ok, just over month ago (just before the Wales weekend) I took my Zed in to Abbey to get my JDM callipers, discs, lines and pads replaced for a set of refurbished and beautifully painted Brembos (thanks ZMANALEX). At the same time I also got them to replace my Y Pipe with a Stillen model which I bought from Tarmac (thanks!) and then fit a Motordyne plenum spacer and carry out an Uprev once all the new parts had been fitted to the car. Firstly I want to say that the guys at Abbey were really friendly, approachable and they clearly know their stuff. They were totally happy to answer any questions I had and let me know what they planned to do with the car despite being manically busy with customer enquiries and other work. It’s reassuring to know you’re dealing with people who are going to be very professional and respectful about the way they handle your car while they’re working on it. The difference in the car is very noticable; the immediacy of response in 1st, 2nd and 3rd is fantastic and makes the car much more driveable. It also makes the journey up the box (Ooer missus!) in to 4th and beyond a real pleasure. I think I gained about 18 BHP, although I'm basing that on a 2003 car having had no previous work being carried out on the engine that I’m aware of. To be honest I got the UpRev done for the improved responsiveness as much as any power increase and I have to say it really does the job. The car feels much ‘keener’ and it might just be me but the power delivery also feels smoother in some way. I would recommend an UpRev to anyone wanting to get a ‘relatively inexpensive’ improvement to responsiveness, drivability and power. The Service Abbey provided to me was excellent and I really would recommend them to any member of the forum and those just browsing this forum. Thanks Abbey (Scott, Will and Mark especially), top work fella’s

It's ALWAYS a school day. I thought you had a dentist appt on the afternoon of the 7th................ You're a bad influence .........although my teeth might need some fixin...

F*** my old boots

Very nice, just enough to make a difference

I'm tempted by this but it is on a school day, might have to wait until later in July when I think I may be able to sneak a day off

That's cheatin

Just spotted from my seat on the bus headed to Swindon train station

This is great news Mark, terrific opportunity for Abbey and Stillen obviously feel happy about setting up a relationship with you guys. Excellent stuff

Spotted you heading west as I was heading East about 7:15 this morning, probably 8 mile west of J16

good stuff, hope you get up there ok. Enjoy the drive back and take it steady if the rain sets in

Don't know If you fancy something 80's? What about an Opel Manta?

Very tidy, looks like a good one

Hi Greg, glad you're enjoying it

Cracking looking Zed, welcome aboard