Ahh - thanks for that.

Hi, thanks for that. It's pretty much what I thought. She hadn't mentioned no smoking to him, yet it was appararently a breach of the tenancy agreement which he was waiting for a copy of. What's a DPS by the way?

Yesterday, a friend of mine was forcefully evicted from a caravan that he was renting. He'd been there one night. He'd had 2 friends around as they had helped him move in, they had a few drinks into the evening and around 10pm a couple from another caravan came around and asked them to turn the music down - he apologised for it being loud (he swears it wasn't very loud at all, and I believe him as he is usually a very caring and responsible person) and then turned it off. Not down, off. He was at my place the next morning when he recieved a phone call on his mobile from the landlady, I don't know what was said, but she was clearly shouting as I could hear her. Then his battery died. He then said to me that he was going to drive down there and see what the fuss was all about, and would I go with him. I did of course. When we got there, the landlady was throwing his stuff out of the caravan and onto the grass outside. She was not, IMO, of sound mind at this point and even in between her screaming and shouting and swearing she was making little sense. Her husband instantly started threatening me the moment I got out of the car, despite his never having met me, or indeed, knowing who I was or why I was there. His 16 year old daughter was waiting in the caravan until the landlady arrived and threw her out. When we arrived she was sitting by the side of the road, shaking visibly. The landlady was screaming about the caravan smelling of smoke (I couldn't smell it when I entered the caravan) and how it was illegal to smoke in rented accomodation. The problem is that now she is insisting that the caravan be 'fumigated' and that he will not get his 500 quid deposit back. He was there one night, and he admits that maybe the music was a little louder than he thought it was and was prepared to apologise again to the couple that complained and even buy them a gift to say sorry. He had moved in while waiting for his copy of the tenancy agreement - so he obviously doesn't have a copy. Is she within her rights to do this? It does seem rather extreme. What recourse has he (if any) to get his 500 quid deposit back?

Thanks for the advice - it's working now - it still says I have 0.01 balance, but it's allowing me to make calls so their site must just take time to update. It was very confusing though - my nan would have no hope in setting this up.

Fair enough! It doesn't say much about the others in that case! In the box I had two cards with a top-up logo on them - I have no idea what these are. There was a little booklet in there too with the words "don't worry, I'll talk you through it" written on the front. It doesn't talk you through it. Very far from it. Is it just that it's pay as you go, and not on a contract perhaps? Maybe PAYG customers are seen as 'lesser' customers? I've now managed to get the voucher registered (apparently), but it still says my balance is £0.01 and I still can't make any calls. Is this usual? I think I was less stressed without a mobile phone to be honest.

Oooh, got the two text messages that they said I would get when it was registered - and........I still can't register the voucher. Madness. Methinks I shall take this back and try Vodafone or someone else; does anyone know the network with the least hassle? All I want is a phone where I can 'top up' and make and receive calls. I thought mobile phones were commonplace these days.

I finally got through to someone at Orange (had to use a landline ironically), and apparently, despite the website telling me that the phone is registered, it doesn't actually mean registered. Perhaps they should use a different word. Apparently it will be 'registered' within 24 hours. I'm not all that impressed I can tell you! ;-) Clicked on the link on their website that said "click here if you have problems" - guess what? "404 - not found" Nice!

I've just bought a cheap PAYG phone with an Orange top-up voucher. The phone is registered apparently, yet I cannot add a voucher to it. Everytime I phone 450, I go through the motions and tap in the voucher code - I then get a message telling me that it has not been possible. So, ok, I thought I'd do it on-line. Spent about 10 mins filling in the form etc... got to the bit where I put in the voucher code and.....it says it's not been possible, please phone 450 and speak to Customer Services. So, I do just that. Press 1 for this, 4 for this, 89 for this etc... until I finally get the Customer Services option....and......it says "Sorry, you do not have enough credit to make this call" ????? Duh!!! That's why I'm phoning! Is this what I should expect from Orange - 'cos if it is, the phone is going back to Comet in about 10 minutes time.

Charcoal without a doubt. I have a charcoal one, my sister and mum both have a gas one. The gas one is easier, without a doubt, but it takes away a man's primal instinct to light fires! ;-) Bugger throwing petrol on it though - I've seen that nearly go bad on many an occasion. The easier (and safer) way is to use a hair dryer on it. Turns the coals white in no time. Usually we use those 'light in a bag' ones just to get it going (they're soaked in parrafin so they burn far too quickly), then add lumpwood. Also, chicken is a bit funny, so we always microwave it first so it's cooked right through, then put it on the bbq to add the bbq taste.

Boom boom!

I do pay for it out of my own pocket - but to be honest, I'd more or less given up with it on here - too many people complained about the adverts (like 95% of websites in the world don't have advertising or something!??!). I just got fed up with the arguing over it - it was meant to help people.

I did at one point, then people complained that there was advertising on the rest of the site - like it somehow pays for itself without it?? ;-)

Indeed, and one that I tried to implement a while back (not just for banks, and not just financial status, but ALL status, and a register of their cock-ups). cidb.co.uk - Consumer Information Database

A bank being 'economical' with the truth? I don't believe a word of it!

Rug rats are welcome - in the day at least. There's plenty of other kids coming - not a problem for us.

Notice? Whatever would you need that for? I didn't have much notice myself to be honest, got a call on the Wednesday, and we were moved out on the Friday, and we wanted to have the housewarming before we get decorating/sorting the place out, if you catch my drift.

...well sort of. It's a housewarming party from about 12 onwards on Saturday (10th May) in South Kent. Anyone welcome, anyone wants more info/map etc... just email me at [email protected]

Thanks for those - I already checked on Misco for them, a pair is about 30 quid dearer than PC World. I know it's hard to believe, I could hardly believe it myself, but I suppose PC World MUST be cheaper for some things!! Overclockers are a tenner cheaper, but then I can just pop round the corner and pick them up in time for the weekend, so it might just be worth doing. The other thing is, I have no bank account, so paying for things on-line is a bit tricky. We deal with Misco here at work, so we have an account. I can buy things and have the money taken straight from my wages. I can't do the same with overclockers sadly

That was a matter of emergency! ;-) I had no phone line, no TV, no mobile signal etc... Wasn't very fast though - I have thought of doing the same where I am, but I only have until next Tuesday and finally BT are coming out to give me a phone line.

I didn't have much trouble getting the wireless to actually work, just connect at any reasonable speed. Sometimes the router wouldn't even be seen, and othertimes the signal was so weak (or so it reported) that it was just easier to plug an ethernet cable in. It was better in Windows, but not a lot. If I was right next to the router, it would fly along, but then the garage gets a little cold in the winter ;-)

Wireless just doesn't cut the mustard I'm afraid. I have a usb dongle, pcmcia cards etc... My router is an 'N' generation, so should provide 270mbps for 100mtrs (trust me, it doesn't!), but I was looking at repeaters - but it seems like an expense that I don't need. When the kids are watching a film in the living room, and I'm downloading something as well as playing music and the misses is watching something in the bedroom, the network starts to stutter as it is, and that's over 100mbps wired. Wireless just isn't good enough to compete just yet, plus I have had trouble getting it to work under Linux (I had trouble under Windows too) and what with upgrading very soon to gigabit, I'd like to find a way to take full advantage of the switch - presently only possible with cat-5 (or 6), so was just looking at those plugs as an option really - if they really can provide 200mbps, then I'll gladly take the hit and use those instead.

Exactemondo!

...also, while we're on techie stuff, does anyone know of a system where I can convert a 5-lever mortice-locked door into a camera entry system? I'm getting fed up with running up and down stairs all night, and whilst I have the camera system sorted, I still have to either throw the keys over the balcony or get off my sorry a**e and open the door!

Yep - they were the same ones as the ones in PC World. I was about 20 quid short at lunchtime or else I would have bought a pair. Still, there's always tomorrow. Personally, I'm more than happy to run cables everywhere as I intend updating my switch to gigabit very soon and these are only 200 mbps, but I'm not 'allowed' to ;-)

Thanks for that, I'll have to give them a go I think. Just been looking on the Internet and the 200mgbit ones are about 100 quid. Walked round to PC world at lunchtime expecting to see hugely inflated prices and they are 89.99.