GMB

I was with them and they refused to insure my lexus regardless of cameras and trackers. Good news with the dashcam, they can only rob you of £400 extra instead of £450.😔

Amazing. Can you get me on my insurance at a fair price?🤪

I will let you know if I find somewhere suitable☺️

No, the insurance companies just want to cheat and rob you. It's obvious innit?

The gov't will not intervene because they don't give a toss about us. It is gradually dawning on me that I should leave the country ( after 20 yrs in France one gets a better perspective on different gov'ts ). I just read today that Labour intend to tax us even more now that they are confident in winning they don't need to hide the bad news anymore. The only choice is to get out and live in a country that will not fleece ordinary working people - Maybe Portugal? Must do some research before we leave.

I think the Honda deal is better value😁. But hang on, the wild flower seeds offer sounds eco friendly and they might not be weeds? Hmm... it's a difficult choice. 😴. After thinking very hard ( it hurt a bit ) I think the solution is go for the Honda and buy your own wild flower seeds from home bargains for 99p.

Those were the days! I used to get free wine too. I had to sample the offerings sent by producers in the hope that we would buy them and stock them. 9 out of 10 bottles went straight down the sink. But the odd good wine went down well with dinner.🤪. The income tax tried unsuccessfully to "get" me for taxable advantages but failed in their endeavour. It was agreed in court that it was all tax free because it was a job function!😁

Yes the insurance company shafted me too.

I can't afford the really nice quality wines that I used to drink. Two reasons: The price of fine wines has gone crazy and secondly the buying power of my pension has gone down year on year despite our lovely gov't telling us how good they are to us. ( Think inflation and frozen tax allowance ) So, it's back to Aldi for some Assyrtiko or Primitivo for now.

Lovely! Properly cellared and a decent cork will do wonders. I had the pleasure of sharing an 1898 Brunello di Montalcino many years ago with the vineyard owners and although the cork was like putty and it was brick red colour It was fantastic. Within 30 minutes it had faded to almost nothing but woody dullness. I will never forget that complex flavour. It's nice when things work out OK.

Here's a similar video of the 300h for comparison. Just not the same is it?😒

How unusual --- Here's someone actually having fun in a 200t!!! It's interesting how the car does not spin the engine up very quickly. Almost lethargic in its revs as can be heard in the video. I wonder if Lexus put an overweight flywheel in it for some reason? Smoother running??

If you want a quiet peaceful (some would say boring) life go for the 300h. If you like a bit of a challenge and a bit more fun get a 200t. In fact the turbo rush in sport/kickdown at 60 plus is quite a hoot, although not as violent as my old Audi 2.3 5 cylinder turbo. Horses for courses I suppose. It's such a shame that some folk don't appreciate the qualities of the 200t. It has its issues but it is still a very good car. Try one after you have had a go in a 300h, if you are still awake after the experience.🫢 BTW One big incentive for the 200t is that it does not have the dreaded mind-numbing CVT, instead it has an "interesting" automatic gearbox with the soul of Adolf Hitler in it. Over to you Linas - come on admit it, you like them really because they are strange individual beasts.

2 punctures in the last 6 months. Both were screws. The punctures coincided with some people on our street having re-roofs or work done on their houses.😔 Luckily they could both be repaired.

Oh well, let us know please, and don't forget to keep a spare bottle of something else and some paracetamol and rennies handy.

I like my 200t despite what anyone else thinks. It is quirky yes but it also has character. 100% reliable, 28mpg🤔, quick enough for most folk (when it feels in the mood or decides what gear it wants to play with - what do you fancy? 8th or 7th or shall we stay in 4th because you pressed the throttle a bit harder, no we will go for 5th or 6th and then change up to 8th at speeds over 40mph, but not uphill..... and so on...... ). A very nice cruiser at any speed. The funniest bit is that it is called an F sport. It is neither an F or sporty. I love it. I am sure that it is female.

So, was that 2004 Ramon Bilbao wine drinkable or what?

I remember taking my car to a main dealer and I had just topped up the washer bottle to the max. When I got the bill there were lots of boxes ticked ( work really done? - Who knows? ). On the bill was £2.95 for washer bottle windscreen cleaner fluid. I asked how they could fill it up when it was already full. They just knocked it off the bill. Gotcha!😙

Anyway enough of this girly " I've got a sports copulator" malarky. Have you seen this dramatic world shattering news in the Daily expressrag this morning. Forget Gaza, forget Iran, look at this headline today - it's absolutely terrifying. What an awful thing to do and with cheese as well! It does not say what sort of cheese it was but it was probably French. Angry driver throws cheese on neighbour's vehicle from balcony in epic parking row A road user has opened up on a dramatic parking battle between two neighbours which quickly escalated out of control.

Just jealous 'cos you ain't got a Kia C'eed 2010 nutter edition.🤤 Yes Kia c'eed3 SC nutter edition - this is the sports coupe model that Kia imported in June 2010. Only 3 were made and this is the only survivor as the others crashed and burned due to the well known enormous torque steer issue. There is a review in the japanese magazine - "Banzai up yours Tommy". It did the Fuji race circuit in 58 seconds on 3 wheels when one fell off at the first corner. Here's one below. ( A wheel coming off - I mean ) Kia c'eed racing nutter edition

We did NW UK to Portsmouth - Caen - Loire valley - S France - Catalunya - Zaragossa - Andorra -Logrono- Bilbao - Portsmouth - NW UK in a 2010 Kia Ceed. It never missed a beat despite being backed into a concrete column in an underground car park ( no damage to the car! ). Gave 55 mpg average and 130 kph on autoroutes. Over 2000 miles in 10 days. The damn thing is still going very well despite being thrashed daily by my son.

Used to be very reasonable price at Oddbins - no idea now, not seen any in the shops here recently

While you are down there see if you can find some of these -

Yes, Eagles and buzzards are quite partial to a bit of roadkill. I saw an eagle ( I think, because it had about a six foot plus wingspan ) trying to pull a dead deer apart at the side of a road in S France.

Found a good one this time!