I Read once that the foundations of a Civilization could be reduced to the protection of pregnant women, of the education of the young to their civil duty and the protection of the aged and disabled.... what kind of a thing (I do not honour them with the title of persons) is it that preys on the old and the infirm.... hell has not a circle low enough for them

and that all the disarming of the law abiding public has caused is a situation where only the slime are armed and they know that they have nothing to fear when they use a gun... how much has gun crime climbed in the UK since Dunblane? how much has it increased in say Belgium over the same time frame...

Rant mode off
~R

From the Evening Standard
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Gunmen rob disabled man

Two teenagers robbed a disabled man at gunpoint and stole his car, police said today.

The 35-year-old man was parking his car in Clapton at about 9.30pm on Monday when two youths opened the door and held a gun to his head. He was pulled out of his car and left on the ground.

The two attackers removed his wheelchair from the silver Vauxhall Zafira before speeding off.

The man tried to climb into his wheelchair twice but fell to the ground.
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Considering purchase new, one of the above.

Any warnings, known problems or failure items please ?

Any input much appreciated. Thank you. Read more

All

Thanks for all your inputs re the above recieved in my previous post. I will follow up with the local garage first.

Calling in at Halfords, Chichester, today and noticeing a range of alloy wheels they were promoting, I posed the question of tyre removal/replacement and the potential for rim damage. "Follow me" said the helpful gent, and I was escorted into their workshops and shown their specialist m/c for alloy rims.

There were two tyre remove/refit m/c's in the workshops. The older one I was familiar with, but the shiney new unit was a different design altogeather. It employed two 150 mm plastic wheels to break the bead and a range of plastic clip on devices to refit the tyre. The whole m/c was about 20% larger than its older neighbour. The m/c was not in use at the time so was unable to witness a demo.

My message is that specialist tyre remove/replace kit for alloy rims does exist, and given the cost of rims and their repair, they are worth finding.

Regards,

Julian L Read more

I would like to thank everybody who replied both on the webb site and pprivately.
I have very good friends in the UK and there are I believe honest and hardworking population let down by politicians of all parties.
I was glad to get back to Dresden where most things seem to work including a report from my local police station to say that they have observed my empty property and had kept a special lookout and if there was any problems please call them,but then again we have ten times the police per head of population than the uk.
By the way although everythink in the UK was expensive(eating out),you have the best supermarkets in Europe the service and quality was on the whole was very good Read more

My daughter today shut her thumb in the car door. A common occurrence, all children do this at some time, one just learns to be careful.
But why are car doors made with such a powerful closing action, and why do they have to be slammed shut?
The Triumph Roadster I owned years ago had beautiful doors. They closed with a gentle click, and if I didn't want to make any noise at all I could turn the handle, close the door gently, and then release the handle. Just like doors in a house in fact. No slamming, no bruised thumbs.
So why do car doors have to be so shoddy and noisy? Read more