st3ph3n

You're probably right Dale. I've never even looked!

Might give it a try. The one I used to play in isn't going ahead this year. Testing so far has been interesting. Some cars sporting rather interesting designs that people are speculating about.

I never run auto ISO when using the 350. Never run auto anything on that really. The wee pocket toy is different though - I assume I can turn off Auto ISO but I've not really looked yet.

HAppy birthday mate!

http://www.rsrnurburg.com/ - Try there Chris. I read a website that mentions them a bit.

Right - couldn't shift the pulley at all which I guess means that it's trying to drive the engine? Fluid levels look absolutely bang on too. Tyres - Front pax one was down at 20psi. Possibly a slow puncture maybe so will need to monitor that in the next few days. Put air in and checked the rest. Didn't appear to make a difference when I went for a quick spin but its not like the difference I'm feeling is a huge one anyway. Had someone turn the wheel whilst car was running with bonnet up. Certainly there's a noise being emitted when the wheel is turned. I've nothing to reference it against as I've never went listening to it before so it could just be the noise the pump makes normally or maybe it is louder. So either the pump itself is on its way out or there's something else wrong - the UJ was mentioned but I couldn't see much wrong down there when I had a look but I can't claim to be a reliable source of "yes that's fine".

I'll look down in that direction too. I'm assuming the belt should have little to no play on it as it's under tension? Where would one find it also I'm slowly realising the problem of practicing all my spannering on what is a tube frame with an engine strapped to it - the lack of auxillaries to fidget with and learn about.

Is pump or belt replacement a big job then? I'm guessing it'll be located in some sort of wholly awkward place! As I say - it's only in the last few days it's got heavier. It's not like it's driving as if there is no power steering.

I got from Larkhall to Lanark to Banbury and had about 10-15 litres left. 325 miles or so.

Mine is an MY05 WRX. Fluid check will be done on Saturday morning.

I do miss your old blue tinged shots Brian. Was that an old mobile or something?

It's all useful information!

I really didn't John. It went into light room and was resized down to 1024 by whatever down from the 10mp it came out of the camera at. No further processing. I might have set the camera to some sort of mode. I love how it decides on the ISO itself - the rather unusual ISO 84 popped up on one shot!

You've had more cars than Tiger Woods has had mistresses. Well done.

Any good "numpties" guides to the power steering system in a WRX? It's dark and wet when I get home just now so it's waiting until Saturday morning. The first thing I thought was fluid given the large number of properly cold to hot cycles my car would have went through in the last few months. Should mention it was MOTd in late November with no issues spotted.

Very nice John. Now for something completey different. Got a wee point and shooter for my birthday. A very pocketable simple no frills Nikon Coolpix S220. Gives me something that I can take anywhere as it is properly small which is exactly what I was looking for. Took this on Monday when I was out for a wee walk. Not a replacement for the SLR by any stretch of the imagination which I have to keep reminding myself of when I view shots in 1:1, but it takes MUCH better shots than my mobile.

In the last few days (hard to put a number on it) my steering seems to have gotten heavier when going beyond a quarter turn. At least I think it has and it's not my imagination. It feels the same in either direction too as far as I can decide. The car itself appears to be handling absolutely fine. I feel no vibrations and it seems to drive as straight as normal - usually a wee bit to the left on most roads but that's fairly normal when the roads are cambered. Tyre wear appears to be even across the two fronts which are 6 month-ish old Toyos. Pressures were checked fairly recently and were fine too. I will do them again when I get the chance. So what could it be - power steering fluid or pump perhaps? Anything obvious I'm missing out on? Thanks!

Thanks chaps. Only just spotted this just now!

Happy birthday mate.

You working the 30 day contracts? There's some cracking deals if you go through people like quidco for the longer contracts. I've got £25 from Plus.net waiting to be paid in pending my first 3 months passing by fine.

The box in the street is the "cabinet" where your house is connected to. Exchange for a BT line is the building in your town/village/suburb/wherever that your phone line goes to before being connected into the national network. Your average house in a built up area shouldn't be more than 5 miles from an exchange, but if you're rural you could be a lot more! The length of your line can determine what sort of speeds you get as the signal degrades over long distances. Where the differences really come in with Cable against ADSL is in the technologies used in the networks. Virgin are more agile as they have a smaller and more modern network than BT do. Where fibre optic comes in is that the link from cabinet back to some sort of regional hub. Ultimately a more modern network is going to allow for faster connections between you the end user and the point at which you are connected to the internet. BT have a network that has been in place for quite some time. It's being upgraded but it's a long process.

As StrikE said - Sam Knows. http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/ESKCA - that's your exchange there. No LLU providers. It's actually smaller than mine - http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/WSBOT - which also has no LLU, but has some cable coverage in the area. If BT is working for you then you might be best to leave it as it is. Maybe give them a call and see if you can get a better price?

Fibre has nothing to do with exchange distances. Works totally differently. Indeed it wont even be routed through that exchange. Unless you happen to live right next to the local virgin media hub. Annoyingly - I live about 2 miles as the crow flies from mine but my streets not been cabled

Paul, I assume you're on the Kincardine exchange, if you are then you've not got anyone in your exchange with their own gear so just watch some of the providers. o2 for instance - I was going to go with them but their ADSL Max service gets some quite dreadful reviews, but their LLU service is the polar opposite. Sky too - decent reviews but their max service isn't nearly as good as their LLU one. Sucks being on a small exchange.