Greetings from Bristol

[shinny]

Hi all,

I thought I'd introduce myself - I'm Mark and I live in Bristol. I passed my IAM Skill for Life about 18 months ago, which transformed my driving, although I haven't really stayed in touch with the local group. Prior to taking my test I came along to an ADUK day in Shepton Mallet which was a good experience and helped me understand that there are other schools of thought beyond the IAM (not that the IAM is bad, mind you). I can't promise my driving is still at test standard, but Skill for Life gave me an attitude of critiquing my own driving with a view to improving my anticipation and planning for potential hazards. Whether I can make any further driving days remains to be seen (not Banbury, unfortunately), however I thought I'd try to pop in here every so often to pick up some more tips and maybe ask the odd question or two.

I'm a staff member on an MR2 club / forum and as such I know that no introduction thread is complete without pictures. So below are a couple of shots of my turbocharged pride-and-joy; someone you may recognise it from Shepton Mallet. I've also got an E46 320D Touring as a daily hack / winter car, but that doesn't tend to get photographed

[martine]

Hi Mark - good to see your maintaining your interest and desire to learn more....but...

...which transformed my driving, although I haven't really stayed in touch with the local group.

Why not?

We have monthly meetings with interesting speakers. We will be running a 'Further Advanced Driving' course later this year. We do 3-in-a-car events most months for a chance to drive with fellow IAMers. What's not to like?

[shinny]

Hi Mark - good to see your maintaining your interest and desire to learn more....but...

...which transformed my driving, although I haven't really stayed in touch with the local group.

Why not?

Life got busy

My other snag was when I came to renew for the local group, I simply couldn't find my cheque-book to pay! I'm from the generation that doesn't understand cheques

I keep thinking of reconnecting though, as I know there's always room for improvement.


Edit: Just seen you've got AutoGlym coming in this month; that's tempting enough to ditch my normal Tuesday evening activity. Time to sign back up I think...

[martine]

Hi Mark - good to see your maintaining your interest and desire to learn more....but...

...which transformed my driving, although I haven't really stayed in touch with the local group.

Why not?

Life got busy

My other snag was when I came to renew for the local group, I simply couldn't find my cheque-book to pay! I'm from the generation that doesn't understand cheques

That is perfectly timed...we are debating in the Bristol Group Committee about signing up with a system to allow members to pay by card online. I will pass your comments on to our treasurer.

You can pay by BACS transfer of course if you've got online access to your account. Look forward to welcoming you back!

[shinny]

That is perfectly timed...we are debating in the Bristol Group Committee about signing up with a system to allow members to pay by card online. I will pass your comments on to our treasurer.

You can pay by BACS transfer of course if you've got online access to your account. Look forward to welcoming you back!

Haha, perfect!

I don't know about other people, but I'm very happy to do paypal, google checkout, online credit card, BACS etc. Just don't ask me to find a cheque book with unused cheques in AND a pen AND an envelope AND a stamp AND a post box all at the same time, because literally nothing else in my life asks that of me now-a-days

In fairness, I didn't reply to Pam's communications because I was always planning to renew and send off a cheque - it just never quite happened

[shinny]

Well, that was all the nudge I needed to renew my IAM membership and request details to renew with the local group too

[jameslb101]

Hi Mark, you probably won't remember me but we spoke after I was admiring your MR2 after one of the SfL seminars. Still working for Nokia?

[shinny]

Hi Mark, you probably won't remember me but we spoke after I was admiring your MR2 after one of the SfL seminars. Still working for Nokia?

Hi James, I vaguely remember a conversation, but not much more than that. Does that make me a bad person?

I'm no longer at Nokia Siemens Networks - I now work for a high performance networking company called Gnodal. Are you still involved in the Bristol group after completing your SfL?

[jont]

Hi Mark,

welcome to ADUK. Shouldn't really gatecrash your thread, but I do remember my MR2 fondly.


Hopefully meet you at a driving day later in the year.

Jon

[jameslb101]

Hi James, I vaguely remember a conversation, but not much more than that. Does that make me a bad person?

I'm no longer at Nokia Siemens Networks - I now work for a high performance networking company called Gnodal. Are you still involved in the Bristol group after completing your SfL?

You're fogiven

I went on to observe for Bristol group and took an associate through to test where she achieved a F1RST. Having moved to London in September I've had to put my local group activities on hold, but am still active here and elsewhere. It's a shame you can't make my event on Sunday but MrToad (also Bristol group, you've probably met him) is running a day on 20th April where I hope to see you.

[shinny]

MrToad (also Bristol group, you've probably met him) is running a day on 20th April where I hope to see you.

Annoyingly I'll only be a few miles down the road - however I have some good friends getting married that weekend and have already cancelled a trip to Israel and the Palestinian West Bank so I can attend the wedding. The connected stag-do also made me pull out of a rolling road day, meaning after 4 years I still don't know what power my engine's running at. Awkward friends