pmt853

Passat estate, 2013 Reg, 52,000 miles on the clock, regularly serviced and sensibly driven. Something in the clutch mechanism has broken off and damaged both the clutch and gearbox. VW main dealer charges almost £5,000 to fit new clutch and gearbox, but VW has agreed to pay 1/3 of this as a goodwill gesture since this should simply not happen to a well maintained car of this age. Has anyone else had a similar problem and, if so, do you know what caused the initial problem with the clutch?

I am a total sceptic about astrology and horoscopes, I believe they have no value at all other than a moment's fun, but I try to be open-minded and to respect the views of others, I know that many people I regard as otherwise sensible do believe in them and so I am trying to understand more. I would like to know how those who do believe in astrology believe that far distant stars and planets exert their influence on humanity. Is it based on a belief that we are influenced by some force like gravity or electro-magnetism, or the emission of particles like photons, protons or neutrinos? I've asked a substantially similar question in the past but didn't get any answers which helped. Just to be clear. Personally I do not believe in astrology in any shape or form, but am asking those who do believe how they think the stars exert an influence on us. So "it's all rubbish" responses are not informative.

On a recent holiday in Ireland we found that hotel swimming pools required everyone to wear a hat while swimming. We've never encountered this in any other country we've visited. We did ask why we all had to wear hats but they did not know! Any ideas?

I have not seen or heard any comments about their great performance in so many sports. They're ahead of the USA with 38 golds to the USA's 36 as I post this.

My local VW main dealer has quoted me some £110 to update the maps on my 2013 Passat's built-in satnav. I can buy a free-standing satnav and years of updates for that. Why is this update so very expensive?

I'm a regular leisure cyclist using cyclocross and hardtail bikes, but am now looking for a folding bike for regular commuting, no more than 5-6 miles a day, in town, mainly on the flat; plus occasional use on well-maintained cycle paths. Bike also needs to fold quickly and easily to fit into my estate car boot, and preferably into a medium hatchback boot too. A Brompton would be great but I think I won't use it enough to justify the cost, so have looked at Dawes, Dahon and Tern. Any suggestions on what to look out for and what to avoid?

I answer quite a lot of questions and get reported maybe twice a week. I usually appeal against these if I feel my response was reasonable. I'm used to not getting any sort of response to around half those appeals, but haven't had a single response for the last couple of months. It's no big deal, but I wonder what responses other people have had to appeals over the last couple of months. If you appeal what's your experience been, and any ideas why the response regime might have changed?

I am a total sceptic about astrology and horoscopes, but I try to be open-minded and to respect the views of others, I know that many people I regard as otherwise sensible do believe in them and so I am trying to understand more. I would like to know how those who do believe in astrology believe that far distant stars and planets exert their influence on humanity. Is it based on a belief that we are influenced by some force like gravity or electro-magnetism, or the emission of particles like photons, protons or neutrinos? I've asked a substantially similar question in the past but didn't get any answers which helped.

Just to be clear. Personally I do not believe in astrology but am asking those who do believe how they think the stars exert an influence on us. So "it's all rubbish" responses are not informative.

Based on the many, many, many short-lived posts on Y!A it's the world centre for callgirls. Is it full of such ladies and what else is there to see and do there?

Most cycle tyres now seem to have Presta valves. They seem less robust than Schraeder (car tyre style) because of the screw closure and are presumably a touch more expensive to make; both seem to hold air well. What's the advantage of Presta? I expect there is one, but I just can't see what it is.

My digital camera takes photos that take up about 5meg. I save these on my PC but then need to reduce these to around 300k each to send large numbers by email. How do I do this on the camera, on my PC or at the email stage? My camera is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ7.

I sometimes report Y!A posts, usually those that come from India advertising callgirls. The posts are taken down. If the poster appeals successfully, should I get a notification that I am reporting the wrong posts? I do usually get a notification of the outcome if any of my posts is reported and I appeal.

We had tuna steaks for tea last night, were they contaminated by seahorse meat?

We've been on a few cruises and found that the port talks vary considerably. P&O's give quite a bit of information about things like history, geography, art and architecture which we find helpful and interesting. Royal Caribbean and Celebrity have focused more on shopping and eating which we can manage for ourselves. What sort of things do Princess and Holland -America cover in their port talks? We fancy an Alaska cruise-tour next year so are considering the best line to go with.

Has anyone watched any of The Valleys and not thought it to be totally crass and an appalling waste of time? It makes Big Brother look like a renaissance masterpiece.

Can we rescue anything from this dire start? What would you do in Chris Coleman's place?

I am a sceptic about astrology and horoscopes, but I try to be open-minded and know that many people do believe in them and am trying to understand more. I would like to know how those who do believe in astrology believe that distant stars and planets exert their influence on humanity. Is it based on some force like gravity or electro-magnetism, or the emission of particles like protons or neutrinos. I've asked a similar question in the past but didn't get any answers which helped.

I'm looking for an extractor fan suitable for a small kitchen. Preferably a 100mm - 4" fan to fit an existing hole in the external wall. There are loads to choose from, but I'm looking for one that my father-in-law can plug into a standard mains socket rather than having to pay to get it hard-wired. Any information on suppliers that sell these would be great.

Two of us are doing a Canaries cruise with P&O in May, stopping in Madeira, Tenerfie, Gran Canaria, Seville (Cadiz), Lisbon and Oporto. We usually like wildlife, history, architecture, a bit of culture, scenery. Any suggestions for what we ought to see, and which places we should book trips for and which we can see on our own?

It's our fourth cruise so we have some idea what to expect, but haven't been to any of these destinations before.