Ian in Northampton

First: anyone who books a non-refundable ticket to Taiwan and then flies Easyjet in the year preceding the trip to Taiwan - let alone the month, week or, God help us, day before - shouldn't be allowed out unaccompanied. I can only believe that the programme 'Airline' passed you by? Anyway, enough of the high handed moralising. You could try Andy Harrison, Easyjet's CEO, at andy@easyjet.com.

The S-Max is a non-starter for me because, IIRC, it really one has five 'proper' seats: my understanding is that the last row of two would not be suitable for anyone to use on a long distance journey.

Have owned four Galaxies since N registration (whenever that was): 1. 45k, original clutch (3 years) 2. 45K. original clutch (3 years) 3. 20K, original clutch (a year) (got made redundant... :-( ) 4. 60K, original clutch (2001 2.3) (nearly two years- bought it second hand at 25K miles)

Matt: something that I don't think anyone has mentioned yet is that university can be the most fun three years of your life, if you choose the right university and the right course. I've never since drunk so much beer or played so much football - and yes, I came out of it with a bloody good degree. If you have the chance to go, I'd go just for that reason - yeah, you can go later in life, but the experience wouldn't be quite the same. Also, once you start earning, perhaps settled down a bit, you have to be bloody self-disciplined and motivated to go to university. And as I keep telling my son (I just wish the b****r would listen): life is about options: the more options you have, the better your life is likely to be. (Let's face it - money is about having options: the more money you have, the more options you have). A degree, as has been said, is a pre-requisite for a lot of decent jobs out there. Even if the degree subject isn't specifically relevant, it demonstrates an ability to absorb knowledge and to reason things out. (Note: this does NOT apply if you've done media studies at the University of Luton or a degree in gay/lesbian theatre groups in Croatia at the University of Shepshed. I'm talking real degrees from real universities, old-fashioned snob that I am.) I did my degree in English Literature, but ended up selling mainframe computers, then made myself a pretty good career in marketing. If, when you've got your degree, you think you have clearer idea of what you want to do, by all means go for an apprenticeship or learn a trade. But those who have pointed out that adegree on its own won't get you anywhere are absolutely right: if you're a twat to start with, the only thing that'll change is that you'll become a twat with a degree. It's no substitute for common sense and interpersonal skills, not to mention hard work and motivation.

OMG - the site is infested with bike riders, caravan towers and Wales visitors... :blink:

I had three Galaxies as company cars before my present one (which I had to bloody well buy myself) and ran two of them with the load covers in the loft. Forgot about them, handed the company cars back without load covers, cleared out the loft one day and took both load covers down the tip. I can't believe I did that...

Along similar lines... This woman's husband dies, and is taken away by the undertaker. She goes to see the body, and promptly bursts into tears. "What's the matter?" says the undertaker? "Well, it's just that he always wanted to be buried in a blue suit," she says, "but you've got him wearing a black suit." "Oh, OK," says the undertaker. "We'll see what we can do." The wife comes back a few days later to see her husband's body again, and this time she's all smiles. "That's wonderful," she says to the undertaker. "Thanks you so much. How did you do it?" "Well, we were really lucky," says the undertaker. "Not long after you were here, we brought another guy in. He was a similar size and weight to your husband - and he was wearing a blue suit." "Well, wasn't that lucky?" says the wife. "It certainly was," says the undertaker. "So then, all we had to do was swap their heads over."

Holy good thinking, Batman! Thanks MM. Off to Rutherfords in Wellingborough on Saturday, then...

Thanks MM. That's a good thought. Right now, though, I have one remote key and one regular key - the remote lives on my keyring, the regular lives on my wife's. To do as you suggest would really need me to get another key cut - which, IIRC from various other posts, is a non-cheap undertaking. Do you know offhand roughly what it would cost to get a 'regular' key cut? (And am I right in thinking, a duplicate remote will cost me of the order of a hundred squids or more?)

Too right. Easier said than done, though...

Thanks John. Yes, I think I knew about it locking itself again if you don't open a door - but now, it locks itself after I've opened a door (and then closed it again). So far as I can make out, there are no problems with the door switches - interior lights seem to work as they should... I'll double check, though.

For some reason, my Galaxy has decided that it wants to lock itself. Like this morning, I stuck my briefcase in the car, closed the door, then went to put the bins out - came back, and it's locked itself. Not the first time that's happened in recent days. The worrying thing is, if I open the car and leave the keys in it and then it does it - well, I'm screwed. Has it developed a fault, or is this a feature I've inadvertently turned on? And if the latter - how do I turn it off again?

In my experience thus far - two visits - I have to say, these people (in Olney, Bucks) seem pretty good. Unfortunately, I'm in no position to comment on their competence (although everything on the car that was working before they had it still seems to be working, which is often a good sign ;) ), but

seatkid: ironic is the new sarcastic... :rolleyes:

VR6: yeah, I guess... Matt: been there, done that, bought the t-shirt - and I didn't even have to have sat nav to enjoy the experience... :lol:

Not wishing to piss on anyone's chips, but I'm not sure that wearing headphones while driving is very safe. I think we underestimate the extent to which we rely on what we hear as well as what we see in order to avoid problems. Just a thought.

Well, I tried driving with the handbrake on sufficiently to have the dashboard warning light on, but no 'ping ping'. Hmmm...

Thanks Andy. I'll do that and see what happens. Matt: LOL!

Matt: I didn't know you knew her? :angry:

My wife just brought the Galaxy home. The handbrake warning light was flashing on and off and there was a warning 'ping ping'. What's that all about then? I couldn't find a reference to it in the handbook... (I subsequently drove the car and the problem seemed to have gone away.)

1. Ian 2. Northamptonshire 3. Galaxy 2.3 Zetec 51-reg 4. This one just under a year. Have driven a Galaxy for the last eight years. 5. Absolutely 6. Touch wood... Nothing. (Combination of previous cars plus this one being under warranty - otherwise I'd have had to pay to have the aircon replaced and the distance sensors sorted) 7. Public/media relations manager

One thing to watch out for: some Galaxy Ghias come with six seats, some with seven - depending on who/what you're planning to carry, that may make a difference. I can also confirm that the 2.0 litre is very underpowered - I embarrassed myself with one of those in the Lake District... From memory - someone else will confirm - the cambelt change on the diesel is at 40,000 miles: I think the belt change interval on the petrol is much longer (if at all?) DEFINITELY need aircon, but if you search this forum, you'll find that's one of the biggest sources of heartache for Shalaxy owners: if it's working, see if you can get a warranty on it anyway... Having owned both diesel and petriol Galaxies, I can confirm what people say about power and fuel consumption - both good on the diesel - but I believe servicing the diesel is more expensive (my diesel was a comopany car so I never found out... :lol: ). Judging by the number of TDi's you see on the road relative to e.g. 2.3s, you have to believe that the diesel is the much more popular option and therefore likely to hold its resale value better.

France is near Paris? How long's that been true, then? :D

I just heard about a little program that runs under Windows XP: run 'eventvwr' from the Run command. It'll scare you half to death. There's your PC, been working away quite happily, no problems at all - but you look at this log file and you're amazed you're not sitting in front of a useless pile of metal and plastic. Sometimes, you can know too much. On the other hand, of course, if you see too many "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk0\D" you may want to start thinking about backing up your precious files. I guess the analogy works...

Just to reinforce Ivor's point - we're avid exchangers of Tesco vouchers for 'stuff' rather than food (sad b****rs that we are). They're generally worth 4x of their face value - so vouchers with a face value of