2005-12-19
Well, once again there were many updates made since my last post here, but I kept waiting for something really
big before adding any comment to this page, only to find that now the time has come to write something and
I've forgotten half the changes that have occurred. One notable addition from today, however, is waiting to be
discovered on the Four on Film page in the Gallery. Here you'll find a couple of early Xmas presents in the
shape of two fab videos. These old Renault 4 commercials were sent to me over a year ago, but due to the many
problems I've had with webspace, spammers and the like, I've been forced to hold back on adding them until
now. They're well worth viewing - and hearing - so don't forget to check them out soon. They sum up everything
that is so charming about la quatrelle. Several structural changes have also been made to the
site, though most won't affect anybody directly. Various files have been reorganized in an attempt to reduce
unnecessary bandwidth theft from people with no genuine interest in the R4 or the site in general. Other news:
Recent voting resulted in the most popular view being that for the R4 to be declared unroadworthy worldwide
would be the worst thing that could happen to the car; quite a clear argument for that I suppose. The
next poll asks what activity you would most like to perform in the car? Also, don't forget that if you're a UK
R4 owner, the Links page contains a site called Renospeed, run by an enthusiast in London who is now
specializing in repairs and rebuilds of the R4; a miraculous occurrence that I thought would never happen. Do
check it out before sending any remaining UK Renault 4 to scrap! Hints have also been made of an R4 meeting in
the UK in 2006; watch this space for further details as soon as I receive them. Finally, an obvious wish to
all 4 fans worldwide to have an enjoyable festive season, at least for those who partake in such things. See
you in the New Year! (unless something incredible and R4-related happens in the interim, ho hum....)
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2005-10-15
This news update is a little late, so many of you may already be aware that a full report from my French
adventures has been added to the My Pics section of the Gallery. There are various pictures and tales of my
quatrelle in its homeland. Other photos from the trip are dotted around the site, including the Pets page in
the Playroom, and a few more elsewhere in the Gallery. Whilst there, you can check out a new Star Car, the
first update to that section for quite a while. Finally, don't forget that with Xmas and New Year looming,
special Renault 4 calendars are once again on sale with a new set of images for 2006. These are standard
calendars featuring a large R4 photo for each month, and boxes underneath for writing engagements each day. An
alternative year-to-view calendar is also available. Visit the Gift Shop for all your unique Xmas Renault 4
shopping requirements!
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2005-08-13
In view of the extended rants that I have achieved in previous postings below, I shall try and keep this one
relatively brief. A quick advisory note for anybody wishing to place a classified advertisement: please do
this before the 20th August, since I shall be away for three weeks thereafter and no updates will be made
during that time. The 44th anniversary of the R4 passed without incident on the 3rd of August, but perhaps
next year will see more indulgent celebrations. Anybody with knowledge of any plans please let me know as soon
as you can. In the last Vote 4 It! poll, you decided that the best thing that could possibly happen to the R4
would be for it to be remade in vast numbers; no real arguments there. The next poll asks the opposite: What
is the worst thing that could happen? Cast your vote now in the Articles section. General updates are
a little slow at present but I do still expect to see more happening on this site later in the year, and
throughout 2006. Stay tuned.
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2005-05-01
May Day, May Day! Or should that be M'aidez, M'aidez!? It depends in part on which side of the Channel you're
on (if any). My cries for celebration or for help are both relevant to recent events with Renault 4-Play. On
the negative side, the problems experienced earlier in the year (as detailed below) rather consumed my spare
time and were a frustrating obstacle to progress with other matters, leaving me rather too exhausted in
between my work travels to do anything very revolutionary with the website. I did eventually receive a verbal
apology from somebody high up at my webspace provider, along with a small financial offering, and the
situation with bandwidth overload has now all but gone away. On a more upbeat note (at last!), I have a couple
of reasons to be cheerful on this May Day bank holiday weekend, aside from the extra day off work and the
general pleasure of a warm, spring evening. A week ago (the 23rd of April - St. George's Day - to be exact)
saw the passing of the 5th anniversary of Renault 4-Play. Since I was spending most of the day flying
somewhere over mid-America, there wasn't very much I could do about it except hyperventilate on compressed air
at 38,000 feet and hold a short toast with my plastic cup of soda. In addition to the obvious drudgery of
being sent to work alone for three days in San José with all expenses paid, on a week-long trip otherwise
work-free, with a new Chevy to drive and cruise around San Francisco in before returning to my luxury hotel
with swimming pool amongst the palm trees, it was also an opportunity to pick up my long-desired laptop
complete with Linux specially installed. Although I shall now have to spend two months trying to figure out
how to use a lot of its unfamiliar software in between a rather tiresome office-only-based job in Brighton, I
do hope to get cracking on some new things and hopefully begin work on the new version of Renault 4-Play soon.
I can't really complain. Five years ago I celebrated the launch of Renault 4-Play late one night whilst sat at
home on the eleventh floor of a high-rise block on a dodgy council estate in Britain's second-poorest city,
drinking a cup of tea and wondering if anybody would ever bother reading anything I sent out into the greater
cyber-world. It's as good as I could have hoped for that not far off 100,000 visitors have since passed
through, several hundred have contributed with emails, photos, videos, stories and more, I've made friends and
met up with people elsewhere in the world and acquired two further Renault 4s as a consequence of making the
effort. That I should be unable to contribute as often myself these days due to flying off around the world
each week is a small price to pay, I think. So I have enough reasons to be chuffed and slightly annoyingly
boastful. 'But what do we get as a result?' I hear you all cry. Well actually, I must be somewhat deaf since
I'm not aware of receiving any such aural antagonisms, but I can offer a few more rally pictures for many of
you to goggle at, courtesy of supreme rally driver António Pinto dos Santos, no less. He contacted me recently
to provide some photographic thrills for the precious audience of 4-Play, and you can find his offerings in
the Your Articles section (number YA18). In the last poll, you decided to flatten Jacques Chirac before
steering onwards to George W Bush; perhaps a small surprise. The latest vote is asking, 'What is the best
thing that could happen to the Renault 4?' To give your opinion in a simple poll, visit the Vote 4 It! page in
the Articles section. This has become probably the longest entry ever on the History page, so I shall just
wish everyone a further 5 years' happiness in their 4s, and I hope to provide further entertainment throughout
via this site. Enjoy the spring!
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2005-02-20
I'm rather fed up with having to make continued explanations here as to why this site has vanished from the
Internet so many times of late. Despite my best efforts last weekend to sort this matter out (as noted below),
my Internet and webspace provider, PlusNet, have proven to be useless beyond belief in 'resolving' the
problems. In effect, they have totally ignored all the information I have supplied to them, and in fact done
the complete opposite of what I have advised, causing excessive, undesired traffic to be routed back via this
site and resulting in its continued closure. I can no longer offer any guarantees that they won't utterly cock
up everything and cause this site to disappear again. An official letter of complaint is on its way to the
Director of the company, because they couldn't have handled this matter worse if they were staffed by a troop
of baboons. In today's other news: Further additions to the Pets page in the Playroom, and the People's Pics
in the Gallery.
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2005-02-13
This is an update on the recent problems which have affected the availability of this site. Sadly, the
measures taken previously to counteract the excessive and deliberately destructive traffic being directed
through this website did not prevent a huge overload occurring a couple of weeks later, resulting in further
down-time for Renault 4-Play of approximately two days. I have instigated new measures which should put paid
to these problems once and for all. On a lighter note, I also completely forgot to mention previously my
recommendation for seeing the film 'Team America', which I had the good fortune to watch on its release
weekend in Galway back in mid-January and which, alas, may now already have disappeared from cinema screens
around Europe. Not only is it one of the funniest films I've ever seen, but it features a model Renault 4 in
the opening scene!
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2005-01-23
January hasn't quite provided the happy new year that I had hoped for on this site. Unfortunately, the
activities of a small minority of sad individuals has caused some problems, resulting in Renault 4-Play
disappearing completely from the Internet for a period of ten days. This occurred at the most inopportune time
as I had just left home for another week working abroad, so I was unaware of the issue until I returned,
whereupon it took a few more days to resolve it with my webspace provider. There are some rather miserable
people in the world who, out of jealousy and resentment, object to anything more clever than themselves. Since
their lives are so pitiful, they sit behind their computers night and day fiddling with things to try and
create mini disasters out of bitterness and hostility to others they know nothing about. It is in part for
this reason that over the previous year, upon regularly observing some generalized statistics for this
website, I have discovered that undesirable, malicious activity is occurring and being directed on occasion at
Renault 4-Play. This comes in the form of repeated requests for particular files, intended to overload the web
server. Sometimes known as a DoS (Denial of Service) Attack when applied to larger scale operations, some
similar but scaled down activity is regularly being targeted at my website. This normally has a negligible
effect, but a combination of such problems recently caused an automated system to shut the site down. The
rather abrasive message left in its place by my web provider didn't help matters at all. Subsequently, and
with the site only just up and running again, some genuine postings on web forums then caused a massively
disproportionate number of hits to some files on my site, which threatened to bring about another closure
straight afterwards. For these reasons, some temporary measures have been taken to resolve the problems, and a
few files have had to be removed, so apologies for any inconvenience if you notice anything missing from the
site for the meantime. A more suitable resolution will be achieved in the future when the site is fully
overhauled. Renault 4-Play version 3, which I began talking about a year and a half or more ago, is still
planned for a future date. Other news: Well, not much actually, but the calendars are reduced in the Gift
Shop, so it's not too late to prettify your bedroom or kitchen wall with one. Whilst there, you could also
order some of my lovely postcards, which feature Renault 4s in the flags of all 25 nations of the new European
Union. They're perfect for sending from any European destination when you go off on your travels this summer,
and a pack of eight is available for just $6.99 (about £4). Many other great products are available, so go
take a look (and if I hassle you about it again, tell me you're 'just browsing thank you' and slip out the
shop door when I'm not looking).
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