Room 101 open for deposits.....

[GiveMeABreak]

I can understand how some people prefer to build up big credit balances for the winter months, but I'm not one of them. I'd much rather my money is earning interest in my bank account rather than theirs.

I recently read in the press of an OAP, lives on her own and they put her electricity up to £200 a month! She has the TV on for an hour and a half a night and an electric chair. She spends all day round her friends who look after her as she just can't afford anything else. That's why these energy companies should be shot.

[myglaren]

I put mine up to £200 a month when it all went weird, to get ahead of it. I am always in credit up to about £300.

A couple of years back it was almost £400 and they refunded it with interest, without being asked for it.

Currently almost £800 in credit.

[Gibbo2286]

I'm going to put electric vehicle naysayers into 101, can't believe some of the nonsense they still come up with.

[mickthemaverick]

I'm going to put electric vehicle naysayers into 101, can't believe some of the nonsense they still come up with.

I'm more of a 'nay for me' sayer really Gibbo. The fact is cars with sufficient range for me are way out of my budget at the moment and I'm still hoping to find a cheaper alternative!!

[Gibbo2286]

I'm going to put electric vehicle naysayers into 101, can't believe some of the nonsense they still come up with.

I'm more of a 'nay for me' sayer really Gibbo. The fact is cars with sufficient range for me are way out of my budget at the moment and I'm still hoping to find a cheaper alternative!!

If the London mayor spreads the net much further Mick you'll need a bicycle.

[bobins]

Pizza Express can pizz off. Received this in my inbox today

Bah humbug flavoured pizza

[CitroJim]

That's outrageous

[NewcastleFalcon]

Nice to see room 101 revived.

Prior to Bobin's post the last post on the thread was June 2023.

Unbelievable that nothing has got on the wick of the FCF faithful, until that Pizza Express flyer got the Bobin's Room 101 treatment.

Room 101 is an FCF Institution, with your own personal vault. Deposits in your own personal vault as always are beyond challenge. Its your Vault you can put in what you like.

The FCF Room 101 is a collection of these personal vaults. Some members may like Drum Brakes, think they are a piece of cake to work on. Irrelevant in Room 101 terms. They are firmly in my personal Room 101 vault and staying there as recently mentioned on Simon's blog.

..and bringing up the 200 replies.....

Drum brakes and all the silly springs, handbrake linkages, adjusters, and primus inter pares these ridiculous fasteners

Neil

[Hell Razor5543]

Badly designed vehicles with distracting 'Nanny State' safety features!

Please accept my apologies if this becomes a wall of text; it certainly is a rant. On Friday (04/04) I got my new company van (I will not publicly state make/model). Within 30 minutes I started to LOATHE it. After two days my opinion has changed somewhat; I FERVERENTLY loathe it. Here comes that rant.

The cabin space has very little in the way of useful storage. There is one medium sized glove compartment (in the usual place), and one minute glove compartment on the drivers side. There are a couple of 'oddments' holes around the gear lever, and one long open tray across the whole of the dashboard (which I cannot use; things will go rattling across when I go round a corner, and anything on display will tempt thieves). There is plenty of 'dead' space that could have been far better utilised (on my previous van the space above the sun visors had a full width shelf that was ideal for paperwork; this van could have the same, as there is plenty of headroom, but doesn't). I can get less than half of the bits in this cabin compared to the previous van. It has a rear view mirror, and the controls for a heated rear window, despite the fact the rear doors do not have any windows and there is a bulkhead between the cabin and the cargo space. It does not, however, have anything to do with front fog lights (almost certainly an expensive optional extra).

The thing uses Android Auto, with a crowded touchscreen. It is very tricky to tap the right icon, especially if you are driving on a road with a rough surface. Most vehicle functions are though this system. If you need to phone somebody that is on the list of contacts you have to scroll down the entire list until you get to the one you want (the previous van would initially display letters; then, when you tapped an active letter, it would display all those whose surname began with that letter). Some functions will take a few seconds to respond (such as the CLIMA function). If you have forgotten to turn on the Wi-Fi in your phone the system will not stop PESTERING you to turn it on; tap the OK button and it will, after a short while, pop that same message up again, obscuring everything else on the screen. If you want to personalise certain settings you first have to REGISTER with the system; the first thing you are asked to do is to enter your email address! (I don't give my company email address to clients, why would I even consider the possibility that I might want to let a car manufacturer have that information?).

When you reverse the van the system will display the usual reversing sensor screen. However, once you come out of reverse it takes several seconds to realise this and put the screen back to normal (the longest so far has been eight seconds!).

If you are driving, once you pull over and remove the ignition key ALL doors unlock! On the previous van you had to open a door for the cabin doors to unlock, and you had to press the cargo bay lock button to unlock those doors. If you get into the van, lock the doors without putting the key into the ignition and turning it on, and then open a door, get out and close it THE DOOR WILL LOCK ITSELF AGAIN! Who thought that was a good idea? I wonder how many people will get caught out by this?

Now to the distracting (and, in my opinion, dangerous) 'Nanny State' features. It has a lot of safety features that initially appear to be a good idea, but have already shown themselves to be distracting and, on some occasions, dangerous. The lane monitoring system is, so far, the WORST. The van is 'watching' the road for the lane markings (and other roadside furniture), but does not have the ability to 'read' the road. I was on a dual carriage way, overtaking an oversized load that came into my lane by a foot or so (there was plenty of room, as other vehicles had successfully got past this lorry. There was also an escort vehicle.). I was close to, but not over, the line marking the edge of the carriageway/central reservation. The lane assist kicked in, flashing up the warning and TRIED TO TURN ME INTO THAT LORRY! It has also tried to turn me into vehicles that are turning right as I get close to the left verge. The city assist system also cannot 'read' the road either. I was following a vehicle in town that was turning left (and was indicating left). Suddenly there was a loud "BING"ing noise and the main instrument panel started flashing up red; it was distracting me to warn me of an imminent crash! The van also 'tells' you what the posted speed limit is, which would be useful except that it has got it wrong several times. I was on a fast road with a posted National speed limit. I went past a junction where there was a posted 30 limit. The van 'saw' this, and then kept telling me I was exceeding the speed limit ("BING"ing and flashing the instrument panel) until it eventually 'saw' a National speed repeater sign.

You can turn off certain features, but guess what happens next time you go for a drive. The system has turned almost all of them back on again!

If I am going to have an accident I want to know this was down to human error (mine or the other driver). I certainly DON'T want to have an accident because a bunch of jumped up useless electronics (using a lookup table) decided the circumstances are unsafe and its' selection is safer and puts me into the side of a lorry I am overtaking (for example).

[mickthemaverick]

I really think you should tell us the make and model James so that we can all avoid them!! In the meantime you might find this useful:

Spoiler: show

BFTW

[Hell Razor5543]

I really think you should tell us the make and model James so that we can all avoid them!! In the meantime you might find this useful:

Spoiler: show

That is my nickname at pool, because when I break the pack explodes! If the baize is good, and I cue just right, I can get the cue-ball to hit the pack twice; the initial impact and then a second impact as the cue-ball screws back off the pack, bounces off the baulk cushion and back into the pack. The most I have legally potted from a break was 6 balls; 3 red and 3 yellow. I have never come close to that since.

[Gibbo2286]

I had a brother in law like that, his ma bought him a small snooker table, she regretted it when he cued the ball so hard it shot off the table and bust the screen on her TV.

[quintet]

Never let anyone else work on your car!

[Rp0thejester]

This just really pees me off.

It's not the fact it's handwash, it's the fact it's VEGAN!! I'm washing my hands not eating the damn thing!!!! And let's be honest all vegans jump in their Mercs with leather seats.......

[CitroJim]

I really must introduce you to a very feisty vegan friend of mine Ryan... She'll put you right

She self-identifies as a 'Preachy Vegan'