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Please note that this procedure is definitely not for those that have never wielded a spanner before; if you are in any doubt whatsoever consult a qualified mechanic. This procedure involves disassembling part of the suspension, which is absolutely safety critical. If you break it, it’s not my fault.

I recently did the 50k mile service on my 2007 Jetta and noticed that the wheel and suspension components were covered in grease. Closer inspection revealed that this was leaking out of the CV joint boot around the larger metal clip. The CV (Constant Velocity) joint transits drive from the engine to the wheels and has to deal with the fact that the wheels aren’t in a constant position due to moving around on the suspension. It consists of the joint itself, on the end of the drive shaft, which is covered in grease — with a large plastic boot over it to keep the grease in, and water and dirt out. The boot is kept in place with a small metal band at one end, and a large metal band at the other end.

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The pollen filter filters air coming from outside the cabin via the ventilation system. As it’s heavily used throughout the year, in winter for demisting the windscreen, and in the summer for running the air condition, it can get dirty quite quickly.

Faults that can arise from a dirty filter include bad smells, lack of air flow, windscreen misting up.

Removal and replacing of the pollen filter is very easy, and is done entirely from the cabin. The only tool that is needed is a T20 torx screwdriver.

The part number for my Jetta 2.0 FSI is 1K2 819 653 B and should be obtainable from the parts desk of the VW dealer for around £15; check with the dealer for the correct part if you’re not sure.

Start in the front passenger footwell by undoing the three screws along the top of the picture, on the line just above the light.

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Whilst out walking in Snowdonia recently I noticed this pill box/bunker on the shore of Llyn Ogwen, Snowdonia – on the other side of the lake from Tryfan and the A5 road. It is located at OS grid ref SH 655 605 (latitude 53.125115, longitude -4.010738).

It is constructed from concrete  and stone, and was presumably fairly well camouflaged, with a layer of soil and grass/moss on the top.

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I run my own private Asterisk system for the house. This is in conjunction with a Linksys PAP2T (which is cheap, supports SIP, and you can plug two normal BT phones into), and Sipdroid running on my Android phone.

Although, this might sound a little over the top for a house, it does have a number of nice features. Like being able to make persistent nuisance callers go away.

As an example:

I edited /etc/asterisk/extensions.conf and found the section relating to my incoming call provider.


[draytel]
exten => xxx,1,Dial(SIP/chris&SIP/mobile&SIP/flat,25)
exten => xxx,n,Answer()
exten => xxx,n,Wait(1)
exten => xxx,n,VoiceMail(1001&1002)
exten => xxx,n,PlayBack(vm-goodbye)
exten => xxx,n,HangUp()


This code rings the two SIP extensions for 25 seconds, if there is no answer, answers the call, waits a second, before leaving the message in mailbox 1001 and 1002.

I modified it as follows:


[draytel]
exten => xxx,1,GotoIf($["${CALLERID(num)}" = "01252555029"]?monkeys,s,1)
exten => xxx,n,Dial(SIP/chris&SIP/mobile&SIP/flat,25)
exten => xxx,n,Answer()
exten => xxx,n,Wait(1)
exten => xxx,n,VoiceMail(1001&1002)
exten => xxx,n,PlayBack(vm-goodbye)
exten => xxx,n,HangUp()

You’ll also need to add the monkeys section:


[monkeys]
exten => s,1,ringing
exten => s,n,Wait(10)
exten => s,n,Playback(tt-monkeysintro)
exten => s,n,Playback(tt-monkeys)
exten => s,n,Playback(tt-monkeys)
exten => s,n,Playback(tt-monkeys)
exten => s,n,Playback(tt-monkeys)
exten => s,n,Playback(tt-monkeys)
exten => s,n,Playback(tt-monkeys)
exten => s,n,Playback(tt-monkeys)
exten => s,n,Playback(tt-monkeys)
exten => s,n,Playback(tt-monkeys)
exten => s,n,Playback(tt-monkeys)
exten => s,n,Playback(tt-monkeys)
exten => s,n,Playback(tt-monkeys)
exten => s,n,HangUp


This will ring the phone for 10 seconds, answer, and then play monkey noises, then hang up.

So, now, if the incoming caller ID matches “01252555029″, they are taken away by monkeys. The phone doesn’t even ring.

Bliss.