Wierd things I think of #1

Car ages:

I was thinking earlier, that the car I currently own is the newest I have owned. It is a 1997 P reg.
Or is it?
It is the newest in the sense that it is newer than the rest of the cars I have owned, if I still had them all. But is it the newest car relative to when I owned it?
No

My first car was a 1982 Austin maxi. I owned this in 1993. So that was 11 years old.
Next was a MK4 Cortina. 1976. It was 17 years old when I owned it in 1993.
Next was a 1983 Ford Escort MK3. I owned this in 1994. 11 years old.
Mk3 Capri. 1983 again. I had this in 1995. 12 years old.
Sierra Sapphire. 1987. I owned this in 1995. 8 years old.
Mk3 Escort. 1982. Owned in 97. 15 years old.
Peugeot 309GTi. 1988. owned in 98. 10 years old.
Mk2 Sierra. 1990. owned in 2000. 10 years old.
MK5 Escort. 1993. Owned in 2002. 9 years old.
Vauxhall Senator. 1992. owned in 2004. 12 years old.
Renault Espace. 1990. Owned in 2004. 14 years old.
LDV200. 1997. Owned in 2005. 8 years old.
Vauxhall Astra. 1996. Owned in 2007. 11 years old.
Suzuki Vitara. 1997. Owned in 2008. 11 years old.
Vauxhall Frontera. 1997. Owned now. 15 years old.

So the Sierra Sapphire, and the LDV200 were both 8 years old when I got them. So maybe they were the newest cars I have ever owned?

But there is one last thing to consider. I used to be the registered keeper of a van that the re-enactment group I am with once owned. We bought it in early 2000, and it was a 1997 N reg. So could that be the newest car I have owned?
We had it 10 years before we scrapped it in 2010. It did us well.

The naked Rambler.

RE: BBC News
I see nothing wrong here.
It is the prudishness of others that cause a problem. I reckon if the naked rambler was a woman, then there would be no problems.
Hiding the human body is a way of saying we should be embarrassed about our bodies. Well we shouldn't. Our bodies are part of who we are. No one should ever be embarrassed about who they are. Why should we cover up to spare the blushes of others. We come into the world naked, we create life naked and for the early parts of our evolution we were naked. Clothes are there to keep us warm, not keep us hidden. Yes there is an element of decency in wearing clothes, but this again has evolved from fashion. Not from necessity.
This guy should be left alone to do whatever he is doing in peace. He is harming no one except himself.

Another thought, by telling people that the body must be covered, you end up with people embarrassed about their bodies. I have had several partners over the years that refused to wear skirts, short sleeved or strapped tops, or even shorts on extremely hot days. Why? Because they were embarrassed about their bodies. I myself used to refuse wearing shorts for many years due to scarring on my legs. One day, it was just too hot to be wearing jeans so I cut the legs off. I haven't looked back since.

Enjoy your body. It is the only one you will ever have.

Royal photos.

So Prince Harry gets naked, with friends, at a private party. Photo's are leaked, and the publike are outraged at his behaviour.

Kate Middleton gets naked on holiday, a pervy photographer takes a picture, and the public sympathise with her.

What's the difference between the two?
Why is Harry being singled out here?
Why does the public hate Harry so much, when all he has done nothing wrong. I bet many of you have been naked at parties. I know I have.

My new car.

Well a few weeks back, I decided to part with my lovely Suzuki Vitara.
There was 2 reasons for this.
1. It was starting to rust badly.
2. Strange noise from transfer box.
I had been fairly lucky with this car. It had done me proud, lasted well and has been relatively cheap to repair. (compared to previous cars).
my new choice of chariot is a Vauxhall Frontera.
Even though it is not the best model of the group, it is still a very good car and I got it for a very good price.
However, it isn't without flaw.
The first flaw is that you only have 10 seconds from unlocking the car to turning ignition on. Which means, you cant unlock the car, put your shopping in, strap the kids in then get in and start it. Oh no, you have to unlock and turn it on within 10 seconds. This is a pain in the arse.
The second fault was that before I had it, it had to have a repair to the fuel line. Somehow, the repair had come adrift resulting in me using £60 of petrol in 70 miles. Trip back to garage fixed this in 2 minutes.
Other than that, it has been an awesome car so far. Nice to drive, comfortable to sit in, easy to control.  I have enjoyed every minute behind the wheel.
The only issue with it is me. I have spent the best part of the last 4 years driving a low geared car. Which meant I could go up hills in top gear, where most cars would have to change down a gear. Now I drive one of these cars, and I keep forgetting. So end up bogging down on hills.
Tis a minor inconvenience.

It's not f*cking PETROL!!

There is nothing worse, when outside trying to have a little 'quiet' time. I say quiet time, but what I really mean is taking 10 minutes out to play with my radio controlled model cars. Not toys, models.
They are mainly Tamiya, but recently I acquired a Haboa Hyper 7 .21. Where as all the Tamiya cars are electric, the Hyper 7 is nitro fuelled. But while trying to have quiet time, you get the local oiks coming up and giving it the 'wot you doin' mister?' or 'nice petrol car'.
What really pisses me of is when people call them 'petrol cars'. They aren't. They use a fuel called nitro so no petrol there. And the engine is basically a 2 stroke diesel engine. It has a glow plug not a spark plug, and the lubrication is supplied by the fuel.
It's a nice car, I got it second hand as 'faulty'. I was told the reverse doesn't work, and it cuts out on full revs. For a start, not many nitro cars have a reverse. And cutting out on full revs is a sign of poor tuning.
Once I got it home, I cleaned it and tried to start it. It was trying to fire, but it just didn't have the balls.
A quick visit by my brother in law, who has vast knowledge of nitro cars, and we managed to get it running. A few tweeks and I now have a working car.
It does need a stronger steering servo, but it is drivable. So all in all I am quite happy with it.
Not a bad car really.

My Vitara

I would like to tell you about my Suzuki Vitara.
It is quite possibly the best car I have ever owned. I have no idea what the Suzuki Vitara insurance group is, but it only costs £280 a year to insure for me. It's fuel consumption is in around 25mpg which is quite high for a 1600, but reasonable for a petrol 4x4.
It is a reliable vehicle, and apart from consumables (tyres, fluids, filters, etc) the car has cost less than £500 in repairs in the 4.5 years I have owned it. And as it only cost me £500 I think that is quite a bargain.
It is my first 4x4 vehicle, and I quite enjoy using it off road. As a four wheel drive vehicle, it is more than capable on most terrain. It's only downside is its low belly. But hopefully, in a few months, I will have sorted this problem.
As after the next MOT, I will start beefing it up in earnest to create a nice looking, capable 4x4 car.

Hamster

Today I aquired a pet hamster.
Purely by accident, I didn't go out to buy one. I didn't buy this one. But when you go round someones house, and they laugh and joke about getting a hamster by accident, and how they are waiting for it to die, even naming the hamster 'not dead yet', I just had to step in.
Yes it's a hamster, yes you can get them for a couple of quid. But still it's an animal. A living and breathing creature.
So they gave it to me, along with a massive bag of sawdust, and a tiny bag of food.
I got it home and after seeing the kids off I cleaned out the meagre little cage that it was calling home.
There was dried in shit covering the built in wheel, they had used the cotton type bedding which is dangerous for hamsters. And the plastic was filthy. So I sat the now renamed hamster (Pepper by the way, as she is pure white and my daughter said she looked like the mints I ate. (peppermint imperials)) into the bowl of a salad spinner, and got to work with some hot water and a rag. By the time I had finished, the cage was much cleaner, but in my opinion it is far too small for the hamster. So maybe tomorrow, I will go into the loft and dig out my small aquarium and convert it into a habitat for the little mite. Will also grab some measurements from the aquarium so I can fit a table in there.
No idea how old she is, but a rough guess would put her at 2. She will enjoy whatever life remains in her.

Rain

Why do people always complain about the rain?
I welcome it.
I love the way the world looks under the silhouette of the cloud and with the glisten of the moisture upon the greenery which becomes so much more vibrant and alive with the help of a bit of rain.
I love the freshness of the air after a good storm. The smell of the fields accentuated by the damp air that surrounds me.
I love being in the rain, feeling the droplets of life excite my skin as they gently fall upon me. The pitter patter of the drops on leaves, on the window, on the car and especially on the canvas of my tent while camping. I find it relaxing like natures rhythm, telling you that the world is alive and growing. Each little drop eventually gathering to sustain the life of millions of creatures.
I love rain and I really can't understand why people hate it so much.
So you get a little bit wet?
Be thankful for the rain. The day it stops, will be the greyest day of all.

Jimmy Carr and taxes.

OK, my first rant.

I cannot see why Jimmy Carr had to apologise and stop his completely legal tax avoidance scheme.
Source
I think it unfair that he was singled out in this way.
They are on about prosecuting him, and forcing him to pay back the unpaid tax.
Why should they?
About a year ago, UK ministers were criticised for wasting taxes on stupid expense claims. Ministers claiming for second homes, staff that didn't exist and in one case, a house for ducks. Many of these claims were for over £50,000 in total. And were any of these people prosecuted? No.
So I think that before these ministers complain about Jimmy Carr's tax avoidance, perhaps they should look at themselves for wasting taxes.
All these ministers that stole all this money of false expense claims, not one was prosecuted. Yet the total bill was several millions.

Fair play to Jimmy Carr for finding a loop hole.

Introduction.

I always wanted to start a blog. Never knew how to get into it. But after some reseach and a desire to share my wealth of knowledge on other subjects, I started on. Now I know how easy it is, I thought I would start another one for my own personal musings.
So here it is.
Come on in, sit yourself down, and read about the storms that rage in my mind, or the things that get me asking why? how? what? when? where?

About me.
My name is Jason Stokes, and after googling my name I am not the American Sportsman. Thus trying to get jasonstokes as a blog name was nigh on impossible.
So I tried my initials. J.L.S. But apparently there is some child boy band with that name. I am currently suing them for using my name.
So I had to call myself jasonstokescouk which was ok as I already owned the domain www.jasonstokes.co.uk so that sort of worked.

Anyway, my name is Jason. I am a single parent currently out of work, and trying to find work at the mo that fits in with my kids.
I live in the North Wiltshire area.
Hobbies and interests include, but are not limited to:
Radio Controlled cars,
Computers and gaming,
Drumming,
Model making (to be fair, I haven't done this properly in over 15 years)
Walking around,
and exploring abandoned mines.

I am the sort of person that will look at both sides of an argument or dispute, and will rarely take sides unless there is evidence to support one being a stronger candidate. My blog will often contain these sort of views.

I know it's early days, but I hope you enjoy reading that which I choose to share with you.

Jason.