The AA

Burrt does seem to be quite familiar with the AA! ;-)

After loosing a condensor on my car and ending up having to sit on a very busy road outside a police station (at the very start of the month when i hadnt got round to buying my road tax yet) for 45 minutes or so until i managed to get it to start (it needed to cool down and a gap in the traffic for a rolling start), I now carry a spare!

On Mon, 15 May 2006 20:56:55 +0100, Tom Woods scribbled the following nonsense:

don't all 101's?????

I used to carry ignition spares when I had the S3, but got lazy with having diesel engine vehicles.... Have now ordered some new igintion spares!!!!

I "sold", or at least caused to sell three 101s to the RAC man that came to fix Bob last week.

Honest ! But the RAC man didn't fix mine :-(

Steve

I am glad someone gets a good service.

I got a call last Wednesday night from a lady customer who's Defender had just lost all drive on an almost single track road whilst towing a horse trailer. It was half 9 when she called me and asked if she could have it relayed back to mine.

Because I did not want to wait up all night for her and trailer to be recovered in, I went straight out to find her and tow her trailer in and let the AA relay in the Defender.

As she was a woman on her own the AA sent out a patrol man who got there before I did, which is all very good. But he stuck his head under the car told her it could not be fixed then jumped in his van and drove off, leaving a now hysterical woman on her own in a very dark country lane.

I turned up five mins later, got underneath, removed broken front propshaft put the diff lock in and sent her on her way, all in ten mins..... OK the patrol man knew nothing about 4x4 transmissions fair enough... but what is really bad is that she never got a call from the AA regarding relay etc. they just left her there.

On or around Tue, 16 May 2006 17:49:09 +0100, Marc Draper enlightened us thusly:

sadly, the AA has gone down the tubes since wosstheirnames bought it. I have to admit that I took the bribe and voted for the sale, too... But then again, at the time, it was going to provide a New Revenue Source to Improve Things and Make The World A Better Place. heyho... cynicism spreads another step further... bloody sad, I call it. The AA and the RAC used to exist to serve their members, now their both just profit-and-return driven to hell with quality of service.

I reckon the heyday of Motoring as opposed to mere transport was probably in the inter-war years - enormous technical advancement (for the period), and provided you had the money (which of course not many had) you could really enjoy driving, romance of the open road style of fing. It's fecking frustrating having a fast car these days (and mine, by modern standards, ain't even all that fast) as the roads are all clogged up with boring types who simply bible from place to place, happy to sit at 40 behind a lorry and incapable of spotting an overtaking opportunity until it jumps up and slaps 'em round the face, wherefore they miss most of 'em altogether. I honestly believe that some people only realise they're driving on a straight bit when they've not turned the steering wheel for more than about 15 seconds.

I used to be ultra-polite on overtaking in traffic queues, and always let the chap in front have a chance. Nowadays, the chap in front gets about 2 or 3 seconds, and if he's not got his arse in gear by then I hammer past both him and the lorry, if it's safe to do so, with hand poised on the horn button for when the moron suddenly notices the road's straight and tries to sideswipe me.

If I could choose, I reckon I'd like to go back to about 1920 or so and be of "independent means" as they used to say and have the money to buy cars and possibly invent new stuff like 4-wheel brakes. I would, of course, take back with me the knowledge I have now... mebbe I'd invent the Land Rover about 20 years early...

that or go back to about 1870 or so when engineers were really respected, and become an engineer in the age of steam, Brunel-style. Again, I'd want a private income, though.

seems to me that mechanical engineers are increasingly sidelined in the modern world, and the trade, once respected, is becoming distinctly second-class. Perhaps I'm just in the wrong country - are there any countries still where a good general engineer is respected?

Blimey. There's a lot of maudlin crap. Result today though: inner joint and track rod (integral) for the tranny plus water pump ditto, 42 quid inc vat and delivery to the local tyre place where I could pick it up.

|| bloody sad, I call it. The AA and the RAC used to exist to serve || their members, now their both just profit-and-return driven to hell || with quality of service.

I've only used the RAC once in ten years. The S2a gave up the ghost near Brighton. I called the RAC, described the problem and told them the water pump had failed. They accepted my diagnosis (amazingly) and sent a flat bed to recover me to Pembs. I was home before I would have been, had I made the journey in the Series. Can't complain really.

|| distinctly second-class. Perhaps I'm just in the wrong country - || are there any countries still where a good general engineer is || respected?

Italy, where we will be in a few weeks. A country where people often have brass name plates on their gates, especially in the towns, and where "Ing." as a title is seen as often and as proudly as "Dott.". If you have ever driven down the Autostrada del Sole from the French border past Genoa and on to the South, you could not doubt the magnificence of Italian civil engineering. The bridges, viaducts and tunnels are utterly fantastic.

(Incidentally, the signs for turnings off the autostrada which occur immediately after the end of a tunnel warn you that the turning comes "at the end of the tunnel". Unfortunatlely, to British eyes, this just says "A Fine Tunnel", which it is.)

On or around Tue, 16 May 2006 18:49:22 +0100, Austin Shackles enlightened us thusly:

fecking spell checker. what's wrong with "bimble" I wanna know?

Have you got it set to U.S. dictionary? That'll change just about every mis-spelled word to "bible", and replace "abortion" with "roast in hell pilgrim!".

Nothing, I read it as "bibel" anyway. B-)

On or around Wed, 17 May 2006 08:16:47 +0100, Ian Rawlings enlightened us thusly:

nah, my news dictionary has all sorts of odd words in it. it's actually next-to-useless for most purposes, 'cos it's been taught shed.