OVER 2 YOU, 014 (25/01/01)

ON THE BUSES

Our charity runs three minibuses and we need a spreadsheet facility, which will record mileage (actually kilometres which can be changed to miles) fuel used (actually litres which can be changed to gallons) and costs. All of these need to be expressed on a monthly basis as mpg and cost/mile, then a rolling figures for a year to date has to be equated. If I was clever enough to use formulas for spreadsheets it would be simple but I need a ready-made program.

Don Baxter

A little while ago I came across a program called Car Clinic, which I believe may suit your needs. It keeps a detailed record of all the vehicles that you own, including a complete service history, and it will remind you when a service or MOT is due. It also keeps a log of mileage, running costs and faults and I believe that if it detects a sudden change in fuel consumption, it will alert you to a potential mechanical or performance problems. I haven't actually tried it myself but you can find more detail, including screenshots and examples and a link to download a trial version on the following web site: http://www.madforcars.com/data.htm

Mike Stanton, Reigate, Surrey

I have designed an Excel spreadsheet for Don Baxter (and anyone else who may be interested), which I have sent to him.

Brian Garnett

I don't know if it is any help but I came across a lot of links to fuel-management and route optimisation software at: http://www.mile.com/ It seems to be mainly aimed at American truckers but I'm sure that some of it could be applicable or adapted to Mike Stanton's purpose.

P. Willard,

There is an online fuel cost calculator at which might be of use, you can find it at the following website: http://www.fuelsaver.co.uk/

fuel_cost_calculator.htm

Mike Hutchinson, Tonbridge, Kent

THE POWER TO CHOOSE

Has anyone written an Excel spreadsheet to calculate which of the power companies will give the best deal for your area? What is required is a method of entering the number of units of gas and electricity used again the cost per unit of each supplier. This information is obtainable from the Ofgem.gov.uk web side. Standing order charges and direct debit discount also require taking into account

Peter Martin

If you want access to the same information that is used to produce the Ofgen fact sheets, you should go to www.unravelit.com.  The company behind this site gathers the tariff data for the regulator and makes it available via an interactive calculator.  I found the site easy to use. There is also lot of useful information if you want to find out more about switching energy supplier.

Amrit Bindra,

POETRY PLEASE

Is there a web site with a comprehensive directory of poems preferably listed by title, first line and author?

Vic Holloway

I found this site http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/intro.html You can also search by a keyword, I just found Jabberwocky by Lewis Caroll by searching for "brillig"
Andy Chard,

I have found a very useful listing of six comprehensive academic poetry databases, covering African-American Poetry (1750-1900), American Poetry (1600-1900), English Poetry (600-1900), The Faber Poetry Library, 20th Century African-American Poetry (1901-1998), 20th Century American Poetry. There are links to the sites concerned, where you can search by keyword, first line, title keyword, name, period or publication date, and gender. The address is:
http://www.davidson.edu/administrative/

library/columns/poetrydbs.asp

W. Poulton, Manchester

RETIREMENTWARE

I recently retired with a lump sum plus my existing savings and investments, and a pension.  I am trying to get a grasp on what my real financial position is, now and into the future. Does anyone know of a proprietary financial management package that can be used to project forward income and expenditure, but in particular to model investment income and growth performance? I have built my own model, with assumptions on stock market growth etc, and which allows me to move assets from shares to deposits etc, but I'd be happier with something less personal and more robust!

Alan Wood

I have written an Excel program, which may solve much of Mr. Wood's problem. Basically, it shows how much capital will remain after, say, 20 years, if an index-linked "x" pounds of capital is spent each year.

Initial input required is a) starting capital in various classes of investment, b) estimates for i) inflation for each year and ii) the annual return on each class of investment, either as a fixed %ge rate or relative to inflation. Sales, purchases and transfers between classes can be made each year and the effect is monitored by showing the ongoing proportions of "safe", "risk" and "cash" investments.

The main benefit of the model is to give confidence to spend capital. Hours can be enjoyed by making "what if" experiments but, unfortunately, the model will not tell you the year you will leave it all behind!

Anyone interested is welcome to a copy.

Graham Newton,

CAN YOU HELP?

I wonder if you could help me to find some simple music composing software. I do not need complicated orchestral parts, as I write part songs with up to four parts, sometimes unaccompanied, sometimes with a simple piano accompaniment.  I have a suitable MIDI keyboard and would love to find some software that will show the proper musical notation on the screen. And just as importantly, I would like to be able to correct the notes on the staves without too much difficulty. I have wasted a lot of time trying to write everything out long-hand, and a lot of money on software, which turns out to be intended for people who do not read musical notation - and I get completely lost trying to push black squares across a multitude of seemingly meaningless parallel black lines! I would then like to be able to print this out, preferably with the words to the songs.  

H A Kemmett

I want to be able to produce some fictitious maps for my website (a kind of hyperfiction effort), probably fine-scale, country walk type maps. I have the vague idea of getting hold of some real map files and doctoring them somehow, e.g. changing names, but I don't really know how to go about it. Are there copyright issues? Any ideas?

Stephen Longden
 

I have an extensive Access database of my CD collection. I am trying to produce small labels to stick on the CD covers with a four-letter ID (e.g. Arno, Beet, Chop, Zapp, etc.) using Word mail merge. I have developed an Access Query to give me the first four letters of each listed composer. I want to print the four letters normally at one end of the label and vertically at the other so that it can be read from my CD storage, which has both horizontal and vertical stacking. My difficulty is that I cannot find a way to print vertical text in Mail Merge. Can anyone help?

John Hart