Pool, But Not As You Know It…
I invented a new game of pool the other day. I call it "Len always wins by default and not by actual skill", or LAWBDANBAS for short. Although the situation the title describes is also true of a regular game of 8 or 9 ball, they already have official names, and so I invented this game to call my own.
You need to set up the table as follows:
- The balls 1-6 just next to each pocket, in no particular order.
- The black ball, 8, on the spot
- The white ball in the middle of the D.
The aim of the game is to pot all the numbered balls in ascending order followed by the black. If you pot any of the balls out of order or pot the white, you lose and your opponent claims victory by default.
Yeah...
Why Work For A Living?
The income tax brackets for financial year 2006/2007 are as follows:
Tax Free: £5,035
10% tax: between £0 - £2,150
22% tax: between £2,151 - £33,300
40% tax: over £33,300
So, for example if you earn £12,000 a year, the breakdown would be:
£12,000 - £5,035 = £6,965
10% of £2,150 = £215
22% of (£7,185 - £6,965) = £4815 = £1,059.30Total tax = £215 + £1,059.30 = £1,274.30
Earnings after tax = £5,035 + £1,935 + £3755.7 = £10,725.7
Well, thats not so bad right? Well, hold on, I'm not done yet - we have to take off National Insurance! That leaves us with a nice £9,960.54 to take home.
Ok, well take another example. Take another example of say £30,000 pa. The breakdown:
£30,000 - £5,035 = £24,965
£24,965 - £2,150 = £22,815
10% of £2,150 = £215
22% of £22,815 = £5,019.30Total tax = £215 + £5,019.30 = £5,234.30
Earnings after tax = £5,035 + £1,935 + £19,059.30 = £26,029.3
Again, take away National Insurance and you are left with £22,020.54 to take home. Thats almost £8k in deductions!
I'll not do another example, but suffice to say, that when you break the 40% bracket, it starts coming off in large chunks. For the most part, its only either the low and high ends of the scale that benefit and those in the middle (the vast majority) are coming out of it with a bit of a bad deal...
Now, imagine you have your hard earned cash and you want to buy something. You go into the store and whats this?! You're being taxed another 17.5% in VAT ON TOP of your already taxed earnings!
Then you want to buy some petrol for your car, oh wait, there's a duty on that too. And you pay more 'Road Tax' or 'Veichle Duty'. What about the extra tax slapped on cigarettes? Don't even start with 'Inheritance Tax' ...
How much of every pound we earn is actually ours? I'd probably say approximately 40p (maybe less!) of every pound we earn actually goes towards buying products and things we want/need. The rest is blatant tax, but where does the money go?
Is this just all part of 'Rip-off Britain' or is it really worth working for a living?
Oil Change
Regular maintenance of your car's fluids is essential to keep it running as well smoothly as possible - as well as ensuring the engine has a long life.
Amongst all the regular fluid checks like coolant, brake and steering etc, the most important is the oil. The oil stops your car from grinding (literally) to a halt and making horrible screeching and sounds of metal against metal... As well as lubricating everything, it also traps road dirt and filters it out. Basically, its quite important.
The interval between changes will depend on your car (it is usually a good few thousand miles). On my 306, the interval is 6000 miles (diesels like to have more frequent changes - a petrol engine will probably have a longer cycle).
What you need
- Fresh oil. By fresh, I don't mean go and bore into the earth and refine your own, I mean go and buy some oil of the proper grade viscosity for your engine. The viscosity is denoted by the big writing on the side of the oil container in the form 10W40, 5W30, 20W50 etc. Find the rating for your engine by referring to a Haynes manual or your owner book. Also, make sure you get petrol or diesel oil accordingly.
- A new oil filter. These are smallish pot shaped metal containers (which come in various colours) and are screwed into the engine block and filter out all the crap the oil picks up through different grade filter paper within. The location of your filter may differ - the 306 filter was towards the front/bottom of the engine block shown below (its the white thing!):
- A tub or container. To collect the drained oil - make sure its large enough. The 306 takes 4.5 liters of oil.
Draining the Old Oil
It is best to do the change when the car is slightly warm - not too hot though as you don't want hot oil splashing everywhere. That would be bad.
First, locate the oil sump and drain plug under your car. It should look similar to the following image:
Find the correct size socket/spanner and undo the drain plug slightly. Get your container ready to catch the oil and remove the plug fully - it'll probably go all over your hand, but as long as you don't drop the plug in the oil container its ok....
Leave this to drain for a good few minutes, and in the mean time, remove the old filter - it should unscrew by hand but you can buy oil filter removal tools if you really need to. Some oil will fall from the filter once removed so make sure it doesn't drip on anything important. It's hard to imagine that this black stuff was once a smooth golden orange color....
Adding the New Oil
Once the oil has been draining for a while and has slowed to a slow drip or stopped altogether, you can replace the drain plug. It is good practice to use a new crush washer when tightening but it is not essential.
To fit the new filter, first rub some oil on the rubber seal washer which runs around the edge of the container (see image below), and screw it into place. Tighten as much as possible by hand - it should not move.
All that remains now, is to fill the engine up with the fresh oil. Locate the oil filler cap on the top of the engine (it is usually marked OIL or 710 *chuckle* I make myself laugh...). It best to use a funnel to prevent spillages and make sure you don't overfill!!!
Final Checks
Before starting the engine, check for any immediate signs of leaks and tighten the corresponding part appropriately...
Now start the engine and check once more for leaks while the engine is running. Stop and leave the car to rest for a minute, and ensuring it is on level ground, check the oil level using the dipstick. Top up if necessary, and you're done!