Good to see a lurker come out of the shadows

That proves speed cameras are not there for safety and you would/should win in court. By warning people, they slow down and achieve the alleged aim of the camera to slow people down.

Unfortunately that's very true :-(

Thanks for that.

I really need to do my valve checks at some point, as well as a bunch of other stuff, so I might as well bundle the radiator in with the other jobs.

Of course I am not talking about a free for all  - I am talking about a law change requiring new bikes to be fitted with the pink colour DRL then all older bikes can add the CORRECT colour LEDs if they like.

You might have said that in your original post, then.

For a number of cars you need to take off the front bumper, in order get at and change a bulb 

Yeah, I've heard of nonsense like that.

There again, according to the Hayes manual, to change the plugs on an FZ6 you've got to take off the tank, airbox, battery box, drain the coolant and remove the radiator...!

The car has separate headlight and beam (the headlight is an H7 bulb) and it got through an MOT before I bought it, so the lights must be properly aligned.

It's not a spring clip like on my FZ6, so it is a twist out one, but it's probably not been moved for ages. I just don't want to risk damaging something by using brute force unless it's absolutely the last option.

Here's a picture of the inside:

I assume you didn't get an owners instruction book with the car? They usually show you how to change bulbs. Otherwise why not try you tube? I have always found it useful for "how to" advice.. Good luck!

I've downloaded the manual and looked at YouTube, as mentioned, but the holder just doesn't want to move

A few days ago was the first time I'd driven my car at night and whilst that holds few problems for me, I did feel that the headlights on my car were a bit underpowered.

On checking, I found that a) the car uses the same bulbs (H7) as my FZ6 and b) due to a mis-reading of an advert, when I thought I was buying two replacement bulbs for the bike, I didn't realise I was actually buying two *pairs*.

The new bulbs are Osram Nightbreaker 200s which are brighter and give a longer "light path", so they seemed to be an ideal choice to switch for the existing ones.

According to the videos I'd seen, it was a simple matter of opening the bonnet, removing a rubber cap and twist to remove the holder to replace the bulbs.

Except, twist, press or turn as much as I was able, I couldn't get the damn holders to come out and I didn't want to start using excessive force in case I damaged something.

Also they have little sharp edges at certain points, but there wasn't enough room to get a gloved hand in there to protect my fingers

Ok, it's not vital, but I can't get a clear enough view of the mounts to see where I might squirt a bit of lubricant, WD40 or contact cleaner spray to help things shift and I really don't want to pay a garage an hourly rate for a job that will probably take five minutes...

Anyone got any ideas on how I could proceed?

Thanks for that,  I needed a new set of speakers for my Bluetooth headset and you've just saved me £10

Whilst driving back from picking up my partner today, there was a point where we got to a give way T-junction going up what was a pretty steep slope.

I stopped us at the top, put the handbrake on to wait for a gap in the traffic, and then was somewhat alarmed to find that the car was starting to roll backwards! I managed to pull another "click" on the handbrake, but it still didn't stop us moving entirely.

Fortunately I managed to cover the foot brake, then effectively do a bit of heel-and-toe so I could keep the clutch at the bite point and get us out without the car rolling back again, but I'm going to give the Dealer a call tomorrow, because I'm pretty sure that's not supposed to happen... 

My cousin was at Camber Sands a few days back, where the beach car park charges £30 for the day, or any part of the day

Ouch! That is ridiculous... 

Well, I'm back from my holidays and I've found the biggest PITA with driving is definitely being stuck in a queue of traffic for half an hour that, had I been on my bike, I would have filtered past in a few minutes! The result was that a journey that would have taken four hours on the bike ultimately took five in the car

Still, at least packing is easier, there's no need to have a  list of "That goes in the top box, that goes in the left pannier, those need to be put in the tank bag", just chuck it all in the back and you're sorted.

Also, because of the windy conditions, I did my first three days of surfing at Putsborough (better shelter from a southerly/ south westerly) because I could take my board with me. this also gave me lots of practice of navigating along narrow country lanes and reversing into passing places...

Unfortunately I also discovered what an absolute rip-off parking could be! If you want to use the beach car park, it cost £12 in the morning!!!

This is supposed to be an "all day" rate, but if you only want to surf for an hour or two, it's utterly exhorbitant.

Fortunately, after that, I found there was a place at the top of the hill which while technically a passing point, traffic usually only comes one way along it, and, if you get lucky and there's a space, you can stop there for free.

There was one lovely moment when I was waiting for some waves and a dolphin cruised past about 50 yards away  :

So now I have my boards with me in Portsmouth and I can go down to East Wittering or Bracklesham if there are waves there (just not for the next couple of days because I'm knackered )

Magnetic key box maybe, have them on Amazon.

And videos showing how easy they are to pick are on YouTube... 

I've bought an "Aquapac" which is a clear plastic pouch on a lanyard that you wear around your neck and store under your wetsuit.

As mentioned above, I'm also going to put the key in a freezer bag first which should give a bit of backup protection too.

Yesterday I spent an hour or so sitting in the car reading through a copy of the manual on my phone to get familiar with all the controls etc and tomorrow I'm driving the 180 miles down to Croyde (although not all in one go!)

Hopefully there'll be no problems and I'll catch up with you all in 10 days when I get back