LanguedocFox

I need a bit of advice for connecting my laptop (it's a Compaq Presario CQ56) to my TV, so that I can watch television programmes or DVDs on a big screen. The laptop doesn’t have an HDMI port, but there is a VGA port on both the laptop and the TV, so video is no problem. I’ve read that to hear the audio through the TV I need a 3.5 mm-to-RCA audio adapter, which should plug into the headphone jack on the laptop, and then connect the adaptor using a pair of RCA cables. I have a cable which has two RCA connectors (one red, one white) at one end, and a single jack which plugs into the laptop headphone socket at the other. However, when I connect the TV to the RCA/audio jacks on the TV, and the headphone socket on the laptop, I’m still getting no sound. Does anyone know if I need the 3.5 mm-to-RCA audio adapter?

Thanks for the congratulations. Speaking for myself, I'm originally from Loughborough in north Leicestershire, and I had mates at school who supported Notts Forest and County, and Derby, but most of us supported City. Over the years, I've met people from all over the place who support the City, either because their parents/grandparents did, or because they just picked us: I've a friend in Los Angeles who shares an office with an Arsenal fan, so he supports us - he's having the time of his life at the moment. For nearly 40 years, I lived closer to any London club than I ever lived to Leicester, but still maintained my support for the Foxes. You do, don't you?

It's just unfortunate that the forum is run by bigoted morons. Banning anyone who disagrees with the prevailing viewpoint. Banned me after one polite post, and wouldn't respond when I asked why. Pr!cks.

Could be me talking, Alf!

Only just picked this up. It sounds awful, and I'm sure we all hope your mate recovers fully. Take it easy.

Yesterday was a bit of a disaster. Really windy day, and my new satellite dish blew off the wall about two minutes after Nugent scored, smashing the arm which supports the LNB head! I managed to get a live feed on the computer so I saw the rest of the match, including Wood's cracker, but last night it was a case of watching DVDs, and no FLS - which is a bit of a booger. Today, I refitted my old satellite dish, which is too small to get terrestrial UK channels - so still no BBC - but it can get Sky. Somehow I got it working, so I am sorted for Friday. Also ordered a new LNB support, and bought new stronger bolts to refit the new dish when the support arrives. I also planted about 36 lavenders, and about 12 assorted shrubs making the garden look a bit tidier. So I am feeling pretty pleased with myself, although I am absolutely knackered. And I am about to have my first glass of red. Isn't it a wonderful time to be a City fan.

Enjoy the match and the bevvies - wish I could be there, but I'll be watching on TV. And best wishes for success with the new job, Col (you don't need luck!)

No. I can't say who the client is, but they are not really well known in the UK.

I'm a writer, and have been all my working life. I write all sorts of stuff, including brochures, press releases, blogs, websites - anything for money, really - and I'm pretty good at it. I've only got half a dozen clients now, mostly easy to deal with, but I've recently picked up one that is doing my bald old head in. One of their senior people insists on making semi-literate changes to my copy and then sending it off to the designers without telling me. Then they send me the proofs to check. So I get days like today when I've spent all soddin' afternoon putting right the mistakes that this guy has made. Like I say, it's doing my head in, and I am on the verge of telling them to go forth and multiply. Trouble is, it's not bad money, and I like the other people I deal with. I quite like the guy who's fvcking up my copy, to be honest, and I've tried explaining to him that he's wasting my time and their money. He just laughs and says things like "I hear you, and I know where you're coming from." Then carries on doing the same thing. That really grinds my gears, since you ask.

Thanks, Col. It happens quite often, but not usually on something new to me. So yes, well pleased!

Got a call last week from a retailer asking me to review their marketing communications and certify that it met some regulations. The deadline is the end of this month (ie, Monday). Not a thing I had done before, but I said yes, and they accepted my quote, so I had a go at it. As I say, I've never done anything like that before, but I wanted to do a good job and I spent a few hours working out how to do it (a lot of the time, walking with my dog, which is where I think best). I won't bore with the details, but I did a lot of research, wrote a report and sent in the first draft yesterday afternoon, saying "Let me have any comments/amendments/criticisms and I will do a revise with an executive summary, and let you have it first thing Friday at the latest." Got a call this morning saying they don't want any changes, it's exactly what they wanted, and can I send in the final draft. I'm seriously pleased with myself, despite the fact that I've got a stinking cold.

I happened to catch this in a column by Rod Liddle in last week's Sport section of The Sunday Times. He's talking about a guy called Ali Dia, who conned his way to a trial with Southampton when Graeme Souness was their manager, and what happened to him afterwards: "Dia played one game for Blyth Spartans Reserves and a few for Gateshead before giving up the ghost, his audacious con now common knowledge, so that even Nigel Pearson would have thought twice before signing him." In addition to the ST, Liddle writes for The Spectator and The Sun. I've read a bit of what he produces, and he seems to take pride in proving that he is rather less intelligent, contemplative and self-aware than Richard Littlejohn. He's also a lifelong Millwall fan, and has admitted to posting allegedly racist and misogynist comments on their fans forum. Even so, that really is a particularly twattish thing to say, isn't it?

Me too. And to be honest, I have for the past five years, apart from when Souza and Eriksson were in charge. Pearson is a fantastic manager, and on the way to becoming our best ever - and I've been a fan when Gilles, Bloomfield, Little and O'Neill were in charge.

Don't think you have mentioned your relative ages/status. If you are my age (68) and she's under the age of 30, she might think you're a bit odd - depending on how you said it. If you are both single and of similar ages, she might think it's a nice chat-up line. If she's married and you're single (or married), you could be getting into something you might regret. However, the fact that she smiled and said thanks (rather than said "Oh, what a strange thing to say") indicates that she wasn't offended. At least you didn't say, "I suppose a shag's out of the question?" Save that for later.

I offer this link with no recommendation whatsoever. Honestly, guv: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pirate_Bay

Look at us and Burnley: squads of 24 and 22 respectively, and 10th/12th in terms of squad valuation.

This has been the second-mildest winter since 1946, and apparently the Med is already easy to swim in. Might go down at the weekend - we're only 20km from a nice sandy beach.

Hard or what? Makes me feel cold just thinking about it!

My son was a surgical registrar at QMC Nottingham and said it was f***ing scary.

And what do you call a gorilla with a machine gun? "Sir"

Congratulations to her (and you, of course - she learned it all from your splendid example). As I said to both of my kids when they passed their tests, now she has to learn to drive, so be careful out there!

Not today, but yesterday, I decided to take a day off from writing and my wife and I drove to a ski resort in the Pyrenees. Neither of us skis, but she wanted to see the snow, and Barney the Lab enjoys running around in it when he gets the chance. So we left about ten on a gloriously sunny morning; it was hot all the way there, getting up to 23 degrees at one point. We got to this resort and had lunch in the open-air, surrounded by French schoolkids all kitted out with the right gear. A nice Croque Monsieur with a couple of glasses of red, then a bit of a walk, and back home. Not much really, but doing something like that on the spur of the moment is what it's all about. Mind you, my bald old head is a bit red today - forgot to put suntan lotion on again.

I'm one of the resident old farts, and occasionally I get caught almost-short (SystonFox's episode strikes a chord). In my case it is probably a combination of rather too much red wine on a regular basis, and the meds I take for diabetes. It's something I find personally distressing, to the extent that I now go for a prophilactic crap at more or less every available opportunity. Works for me.

Watching it now. TBH it's like watching City playing at Brighton early December (my only live match this season). Man U are really dreadful, but unlike us, I don't see them getting better any time soon.

Can't quite work out whether this stats site is a load of bollokkks or not, but it keeps saying good things about us. Latest is about Liam: http://www.squawka.com/news/2014/02/23/wins-more-headers-than-why-this/2014022373184 I do think he will be good in the Prem, if we get there.