My ADSL connection has been flaky recently. It kept dropping out and I had to do some sort of strage Netgear voodoo to get it working again. My suspicions lay with either the ISP or the wireless router I use. I contacted my ISP to make sure it wasn’t a problem at their end, then I borrowed a USB ADSL modem off a colleague to try that. It worked flawlessly and I have just ended up buying a new Netgear router as a replacement.
It’s very nice, smaller than the old one and it’s white, to follow the iPod fashion. What’s even better is that it doesn’t require a reboot after every. little. change. which. got. to. be. quite. tedious.
We drove to the local service station in Basildon last night to get petrol and as I was screwing the filler cap back on I heard the sound of screeching tyres and a sickening thud. I turned around to see that one of those Honda CRV 4×4s had turned right out of the garage into the path of an oncoming Ford Mondeo. The collision badly impacted against the CRV’s driver’s door, throwing the driver sideways with a fair bit of force. The Mondeo driver was ok, largely thanks to his airbag going off. The Honda driver had this two young sons in the car and they were OK, but he was badly shaken and complained of neck pains. I saw something on TV about the compatibility problem between 4×4 vehicles and cars - the force of the impact severely damaged the front of the Mondeo and the Honda’s drivers door sill, bending the side of the vehicle right in. If the crash had happened the other way around (ie Honda -> Mondeo), the raised height of the Honda would have caused much worse damage to the Mondeo’s door.
Maybe the answer to the (IMHO) blight of 4×4s on our roads is to all go out and buy one. At least then we wouldn’t be at a life-threatening disadvantage in the event of an accident with one. Either that or we continue the “my vehicle is bigger than yours” willy-waving so eventually we all end up driving Hummers.