Our Mk2.5 has just passed it's MOT at 14 years old!

The tester actually commented that if he had a car in that condition he wouldn't be looking to change it any time soon. To be fair it is low mileage, just under 58,000.

I'm very happy with that .

12 minutes ago, mjt said:

Our Mk2.5 has just passed it's MOT at 14 years old!

It's a youngster 🤣 My MOT is in 3 weeks, at 19 years old (136,000 miles) - fingers crossed!

I knew that'd provoke a comment from you Stephen .

You do look after your car so hopefully you won't have any nasty surprises.

I do like surprising my friend yesterday at her house. 
It was her eldest sons birthday so I went to drop off a card for him (with a little something inside). 
However, that wasn't the end of it. 

My friend had an operation on her legs on Monday and should now be taking things easy for about 6 weeks. I know she won't be able to do that though having 2 boys and a toddler. 
I surprised her not only with my visit but also a get well soon card, some flowers and a box of chocolates. 
Then I also surprised her and the kids with extra gifts which included 6x packs of Haribo (2 packs of each type I could find), some biscuits (twin pack of Maryland cookies and a box of Family Circle), a bag of chocolate buttons for the baby and 16 pain-au-chocolate. 

Of course she gave me a massive rocketing for buying all that stuff for them but I told her to consider it a gift/care package during this difficult time. 
I think I surprised her even more by actually entering her house (with permission) even though a lot of the time my contamination/sickness OCD gets in the way. I was wearing 2x FFP2 masks though at the time but for some reason I ended up taking them off. 
Whilst I was there I watched her eldest open his birthday gifts and it put a smile on my face when he saw the presents he had received from the family (and even more so when he found £20 in his card from me). 
I also sort of looked after the baby for a little while and even cleaned her face after she'd got banana and flapjack all over her from breakfast. 

I only intended to be there a few minutes whilst I dropped off the gifts but ended up being there for 4 hours. 

Seeing her and the kids does brighten up my day when I'm able to see them. 

Like the perseverance of some folk. Got a 2 seater electric recliner that luckily is in 2 parts. Giving it away on Facebook market place. Woman wanted it . Eventually she turned up with her husband. Was expecting a van. Nope ,Merc estate with junk in the boot. No way he was getting it in his car . He said it wouldn't to his wife but she insisted on turning up to try. . Nope. 

So a phone call and her son turns up. ... On a push bike with little trailer behind. Really!! 

Managed to strap the first half of sofa on unbelievably. 

Coming back for the other half in 45 mins if he doesn't crash or it falls off. 

8 minutes ago, iantt said:

Coming back for the other half in 45 mins if he doesn't crash or it falls off. 

Should be just fine 🤣

Well he came back, managed the 2 mile journey to his mum's intact. . Said he had the trailer fish tailing at one point. 🤣🤣

Looks like the trailer may have started as a child trailer. He had bolted the body of shopping trolley to the frame. Got flashing lights on the back, satnav/phone on the bike handlebars and headphones at the ready for Bluetooth music . 

I did suggest a modification to carry wide loads that he  appreciated . 

I do like ...... Car Insurance!!!!!

Not many saying that just now, and I got a preliminary email from LV saying how all insurances were going up, with a list of umpteen excuses. So I was rather surprised when I got this from LV:

Just waiting for a "sorry, we made a mistake, it should be £700" email now!

6 hours ago, Tdci-Peter said:

I do like ...... Car Insurance!!!!!

Not many saying that just now, and I got a preliminary email from LV saying how all insurances were going up, with a list of umpteen excuses. So I was rather surprised when I got this from LV:

Just waiting for a "sorry, we made a mistake, it should be £700" email now!

Mrs Turvey got a renewal email over the weekend and hers has gone down nearly £40!

One of our sons has recently passed his driving test and got insurance sorted for his car, his twin brother is now taking lessons so he's been added to the policy, insurance has gone down nearly £100 🤷😀

2 minutes ago, Turvey said:

Mrs Turvey got a renewal email over the weekend and hers has gone down nearly £40!

One of our sons has recently passed his driving test and got insurance sorted for his car, his twin brother is now taking lessons so he's been added to the policy, insurance has gone down nearly £100 🤷😀

If they're identical twins then one insurance should cover both of them!

(Unless they're both out together lol...)

Up at our caravan in Wensleydale at the moment. Raining most of the day (a not unusual event here) but we were amused by the passage of The Carbage Run 2024. Mostly crazy Dutchmen in old wrecks (chiefly old Volvo estates) making a lot of noise and getting lost in the narrow cobbled streets, to the surprise of the more "normal" visitors!😀

https://carbagerun.com/what/

54 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

we were amused by the passage of The Carbage Run 2024.

Sounds fun, can't imagine it evolving with EVs...

42 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

can't imagine it evolving with EVs...

You'd need an adapter for that 😉

 

Our company did a similar thing a few years ago for charity. They bought  from auctions £500 ford bangers ,mainly Mk 5 and 6  fiestas,MK1 and 2 focuses, an old puma. And a couple of MK3 mondeos. We had to check them over to make sure they were road legal and mechanically okish.  Had a car that had MOT but was rotten so that one was scrapped and another one bought from auctions. Then had 24 hours to drive anywhere in UK  with various tasks to complete.

 

My front Wiper set arrived today, but I wasted my time leaving instructions to post through my letterbox, look at the size of the packaging🤣.

On a more serious note for anyone with a mK4 Focus, these are the only set I've seen that are the same size as the originals, the driver side is only 630mm not 650mm. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/385384312582?_nkw=ClValeo+577971&epid=4042571938&itmmeta=01J6YBBVMPAVFQT2QB8BV6ZXWQ&hash=item59bab1ef06:g:VZYAAOSwiJNl8b6t&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKkggyRxWUYVzUkTmKnrWzn%2FMinlgJae7GE84VhqbORcjL47Y4AdnJfSo%2FZmnIlLpKaDWffnsq6Fn2MOpojyVjcj2xADQc728%2B0Cq%2BAWbThm7FfK9%2FFIryoRzLY2tdElzsm8pkoJAvyzST11xSj%2FgpvH8L%2BptfddEEB%2Fvp8euh903jUQr%2ByR1nt%2BOGtI80eSnYu%2FNtahHmj0ZQd0yG3pt73xkOOG0AwVBbaXZ7QkVorE%2F%2Boka%2FekGBMpvdUh5gpi4ngnnEUuOLTyFvcP0DltXbKk4AmoQJWZJ0cgiFfHLdUjhQ%3D%3D|tkp%3ABFBMsrqvy7dk

 

allegedly replacement wipers are fragile things

 

I do like starting my new job last week. Have to do 1 year training on theory and driving the trains from around November December time. 

Have to go by bus and train though and feels like my car is getting little use now. I have noticed though I feel more awake likely as I'm walking and being more active when travelling.

I am starting to hate it though that schools started again and you now get jokers coming on the bus. The train station I get off at has a school just around the corner and as I finish at 3pm the bus stop gets busy. Just today had a group of school boys get on and start messing around on the stairs. Happily a lady started shouting at them. Noticed 2 more kids walking on and not tapping a card on casually 🙄. Wish I can drive to the training centre and not see this stuff.

My granddaughter out for a drive in her Focus RS 😀

Do like the Spanish interpretation of a single. 

Cointreau if your thinking it's cloudy lemonade. 

14 hours ago, iantt said:

Do like the Spanish interpretation of a single. 

Cointreau if your thinking it's cloudy lemonade. 

They certainly know how to pour a drink! 😃

Yep, and prices are good too. Even in the hotel it's €2.90(£2.40) a pint of lager. The Cointreau was €4 (£3.40) paying via a chipped wristband. We were given bands with €40 for free then load up as required. With this method there's no tipping by the looks of it. 

54 minutes ago, iantt said:

Yep, and prices are good too. Even in the hotel it's €2.90(£2.40) a pint of lager...

Those Wetherspoons hotels are just great! 😂

Spent the morning at the Historic Vehicle Rally at York racecourse. Great shame for the exhibitors who had no doubt spent ages preparing their vehicles for the show, as it was raining and everyone was soaked!

Enjoyable nonetheless** - I do like looking under car bonnets and understanding what everything does, unlike today! A good number of "ordinary" cars including many Fords - much more nostalgic to most of us who owned them back in the day, rather than the more exotic stuff, though there were a few tasty E-Types, XK 120/40/50s and Aston Martins, plus an Alvis.

Interesting Fords included 2 Mk 3 Escort RS Turbos, Capri 2.8 injection, Mk 1 and Mk 2 Lotus Cortinas.

Spotted a Mk 1 Fiesta 1.1L and had a good chat with the owner. Everything was exactly as I remember it from the one I bought new in 1980. He'd bought it over 20 years ago from the first owner who lived next door, and it's still virtually "as new" and still only done 34k miles now.

Great display of MG Midgets/AH Sprites including a Frogeye. A 1971 J reg took me back to the one I had in the early 70's.

**Hope it's better weather for next year's show, though!😀

 

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

Those Wetherspoons hotels are just great! 😂

If only wetherspoons did hotels , that would shake up the accomodation market. 😀😀

Just now, iantt said:

If only wetherspoons did hotels , that would shake up the accomodation market. 😀😀

They actually do LOL 🤣  Have stayed in one before, really good.

https://hotels.jdwetherspoon.com/hotels/