Personal Thoughts

How to buy a used car

by Kev on 5 November, 2009

Somewhat off-topic, I’ll admit, but I’ve worked with Automotive clients for years helping to teach them how to sell properly so perhaps I’m well placed to help you get the right deal for you. Having just bought a used Toyota Verso, here are my practical observations:

Choose your car before you go to the dealer

Car sales executives will want to sell you the car that best suits them, whilst (more or less) meeting your requirements. This might be a car that’s been on the forecourt for a while or one that the sales executive has been incentivised to sell for whatever reason.

Use the internet and personal recommendations to select your car. Check out What Car and pay particular attention to the user reviews (whilst bearing in mind that reviewers are self-selecting: either gloriously happy or, more likely, bloody angry!). [click to continue…]

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The Bletchley Park Situation

by Kev on 27 October, 2009

I live in Milton Keynes and have been to Bletchley Park many time. As you probably know, Bletchley Park was the home of the “codebreakers” in the Second World War who cracked the various enemy codes (including the infamous Enigma Code) and are credited with shortening the war. The park became, by default, owned by BT but is now independent. It is, however, in grave need of preservation. I heard about an Early Day Motion in Parliament related to the park and asked my local MP, Phylis Starkey, if she supported it.

Here is her response:

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My letter to my MP

September 24, 2009

Dear Phyllis Starkey, In a letter from Ian Dalton to NHS Chief Executives published on the department of health site, he identifies the priority groups to receive the swine flu vaccination. From the list, it doesn't appear that school-children are going to be routinely vaccinated. Given that the swine flu infection rate goes down when [...]

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Livid with LloydsTSB

September 12, 2009

My 19 year old daughter has been into Lloyds to convert her under-18 account into a “proper” current account. To my utter disbelief, rather than the free Classic account, she has been placed on the “Silver” account which costs £8 a month and offers benefits such as: AA breakdown cover: my daughter hasn’t even learned [...]

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Blown away by Amazon

June 10, 2009

It was with great trepidation that I told Amazon that the Sony Cybershot camera I bought for my daughter last Christmas had broken (the lens cover wouldn’t open). I had read horror stories on the internet of their intransigence as soon as a product was more than 6 months old and I expected to be [...]

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Why I won’t be installing Windows 7 RC1

May 6, 2009

Microsoft has made the Release Candidate of Windows 7 freely available to download. It’ll work properly until March 2010 which is very generous. All I’ve heard about Windows 7 has been positive but I won’t be installing it. Why? Because once the Release Candidate expires, I will then be required to perform a “clean” install [...]

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Postal Ripoff

April 7, 2009

The Royal Mail has just raised the cost of sending a “large letter” up to 250g from 78p to 90p in one go. That’s a 15% rise! Absolutely outrageous. Use Facebook to Comment on this Post

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VisiBone

April 7, 2009

If you’re a web developer or designer you should get yourself over to www.visibone.com. VisiBone sell paper-based, cut down references for designers and developers including everything from colour charts to MySQL commands. I ordered the “Everything Book” on the 1st April, it arrived (from the US) 2 working days later and it’s one of those [...]

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Surviving Tooth Pain and an Extraction

March 16, 2009

Completely off-topic but these two issues have so dominated my life over the past three weeks I thought others might find my experience (and hints and tips) useful. Use Facebook to Comment on this Post

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Brighten up your Christmas

December 8, 2008

Totally off-topic, I know, but I want you all to experience the warm, fuzzy feeling of listening to Kate Rusby’s just released album of Christmas music: “Sweet Bells”. It’s her versions of the carols sung in Yorkshire pubs and they’re very different to those most of us are used to. It feels almost as if [...]

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