TonyGoose

15th April, 2003 In the face of industrial action by members of the armed forces, the government has announced that the Fire Service will, as an interim measure, carry out military operations in Iraq. The army, who have demanded a 40% pay increase on the basis that their job has become rather more technical since 1945, will begin strike action next Thursday unless a compromise pay deal can be agreed in the meantime. It is understood that they will spend their time standing around little bonfires, rubbing their hands together and waving at passing vehicles who honk their horns at them. Crack Fire Service personnel, highly trained in playing darts, brewing tea and sliding down poles, are understood to be on standby to take up front line operations. Using their "red goddess" vehicles instead of tanks,they will race towards Iraqi lines and attempt to annoy the enemy into surrendering by making a lot of noise and spraying them with water. Prime Minister Tony Blair has already stated that the Fire Service strike of last year proved that a vastly undermanned service with limited training and unsuitable equipment can perform the duties of a well-trained, well-equipped and well-manned professional force equally as efficiently and without loss of life. When it was pointed out to him that the bright red fire engines might make an easy target for enemy fire, Mr. Blair said, "Never mind, we've got too many firemen as it is... er, is that camera running?" Asked for his comment, Britain's partner in the coalition in the war against Iraq, US President George W. Bush, said "Ooh, can I have a go on the siren?"

It'd be rude not to ..

Huh ? Why not ? You can buy benelux, france, germany, auswit Cd's in the UK. So why not the other way round ? Dug out an old (Nov 99) German price list - all CD's (inc UK) at 152euro inc vat .. about 100quid. I think they've dropped a bit since then - as they have in the UK ... From 235quid a year or so ago to the current 160 - is that inc vat ?? doubt it :)

Hmmm, easy LSD explanation ... let's see ... Imagine one side of car on ice or similar very slippy surface. Other side on nice grippy dry tarmac. Now apply throttle ... Without LSD, your drive is lost. The wheel on ice spins but the wheel with grip goes nowhere. The drive goes out via the path of least resistance. With LSD, you're in luck. It makes sure both wheels still get drive ... so you can move. That's basically it ... A less obvious benefit given slippy conditions or sufficient power to do it in the dry... Makes gooning about tailsliding etc more errrrr fun ?? can burn up the tyres more evenly

To my mind the big difference between SE + Sport is Limited Slip Diff. If i could add 1 sport 'extra' to my se, that would be it. The rest of the stuff is just cosmetic. Oh and the SE is insurance group 12, sport is 13. My 2 penneth for what it's worth

That quote was from a Lexus dealer - they have a book on the subject ... It has pictures of various types of damage to help them. Dealers can authorise up to £300 of body / paint repair themselves. Above this figure, they have to clear it with Lexus.

Which parts of the body are galvanised as it's obvious the whole car isn't! I believe it's all galv apart from the roof. Not sure if that includes the pillars ... There's certainly grey under my blue A-Pillars which looks like galv.

Huh ? you can get flares for your guitar

Unleaded pencils i hope ... in these environmentally conscious times

I think the ciggy 'limit' is now up to 3200. And customs now have to prove whatever you bring in isn't for your own use. Previously it was for the punter to prove the reverse. I thought in the single market you could buy what you like where you like. So what business is it of customs how much booze etc i bring in ? I think they're actually flouting EU law by imposing any kind of limit at all. A forward thinking government would see all this as an opportunity. Slash taxes and reverse the booze cruise - make uk the destination. Lots of incoming dosh and consequent trade boost ... Less hassle for customs who could concentrate on more important things.

I wouldn't waste the effort ... Can just picture the next show. "Well i had a whole bunch of mails this week from Alan Partridges Lexi owning chums. They were really sore at the uncool rating of their pride and joy" Then will launch off into a 100 reasons why it's uncool. Beginning and ending no doubt with "Alan Partridge has one" Multipla ?? How can that word be used in the same sentence as 'car', let alone 'cool'

I suspect 'ouch' referred to Mark filling your large opening Nice kit ... That's one of very few styling sets for the IS that looks ... well, tasteful ... only in my opinion of course.

But at the end of the day, you're still using the same BT infrastructure with its 50:1 contention at the exchange (20:1 on business tariffs) - unless you move to cable, satellite, wireless etc. So, unless slow response is due to bottlenecks at your ISP, switching from one reseller to another will make little difference. There's potentially some improvement to be had by changing mtu size (that's the maximum number of data bytes you send at once). BT have a network wide problem of packet fragmentation and by reducing your packet size (ahem ) you can prevent your packets being fragmented

Is your climate control in 'recirc' mode ? That would make it more foggy inside ...

Barely anything in it mate. Any increase i would put down to driving 'differently' Having got the blower, have to use it

Yes - Mondial Assist, that's the one ... And yes i agree with Nick ... If buying abroad, be thorough with your research. Compare like with like to make sure it's worthwhile.

This is misleading ... You get 3yr assistance with euro supplied cars too and it's MORE comprehensive than the RAC cover provided in the uk. Things like business class air or first class rail to continue your journey in the event of breakdown .... In fact, the whole EU gets this cover except the UK which gets RAC instead. All rather superfluous though coz as we all know ... Your Lexus just isn't going to break down anyway

This is dead spooky but i also picked up a nasty chip on the passenger side A pillar recently. Taken the paint off down to 'grey' ... galvanise i assume ?? Even so, going a bit orangey ... Now, using Lexus own guidelines for what is a paint defect ... which say ... "If the colour coat has been removed over an area larger than 2mm in diameter and the middle coat has not been damaged" Yep - got that, diameter of about 4 or 5 mm so i should be able to get it repainted. But, obviously to paint this bit properly, need to have the screen out ... so do i just make do with a touch up ? Should hopefully be getting front bumper repainted soon. May have to insist on a full front end paintjob - bumper, bonnet, wings, pillars ... all chipped badly. This really IS getting beyond a joke. Lexus should acknowledge this fault - for that's what it plainly is, and put it right before the many IS200's round here reach 2 yrs old - Can you say JD Power :( Also notice the deafening silence in threads about how crap the IS200 paint is from the lexus people who look at this site. In the meantime, i'd recommend not sneezing, shouting, or talking harshly near your paint - it'll just leap off the car if you do ...

Until just before the engine stops ??

If the car was correctly ordered as uk spec from the factory then it will be identical to a car delivered to lexus gb. The only differences will be what lexus gb do before passing it to the dealer. Things like ... Locking wheel nuts, window etching, ecu cover ... and 'sports' up to 2001, boot spoiler, exhaust trim, 'sport' emblem in rear door windows. Mine's a danish supplied uk spec SE and has the correct alarm / deadlocking.

Just out of interest, which bit of the date are you trying to set ?? If you just need to jump the date on 1 or 2, can prod the recessed button on the left of the watch as you look at the front. If you're thinking the right hand dial should show the month, it shouldn't - it's hours for the stopwatch .... Now, where's those instructions :duh:

If it's the EBEL watch which loosely resembles the IS200 guages, I've got the instructions somewhere .... It's a bit of a faff to get it all right with the moon phase etc. You'll get sore thumb + finger from all that winding :) I'll look them out ....

Or order it from mainland europe for about 1/2 the price !!

But we have nothing to worry about .... We have a referendum to decide if we have euro or pound. Now just watch us vote for the pound ..... So we'll have another referendum, and another, and another .... and keep having them until president bLIAR gets his way .. Democracy my fat hairy butt

I vote we get out of the corrupt, ill conceived mess which is the EU altogether .... Why couldn't they just leave it as a 'common market' At least that was a half sensible idea ..... There's too many jobs for the boys riding this particular rich gravy train for any sense to come of it now. Damn that makes me MAD .. Grrrrr