Tag: car

Saying goodbye to Kippy the Kia, hello to Margo

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Been a sad/stressful month as we had to say goodbye to our little Kia, who served us well since we moved to Switzerland. We knew it was going to need to happen this year, as we were facing some hefty bills for new brakes and an expertise service. That would have been throwing money down a hole, as it wouldn’t really have done anything to the trade-in value (especially with the visible bodywork needed).

When the brakes started squealing much sooner than anticipated coming back from a sledding outing in Marchairuz, we bit the bullet, shuffled some money around and took out a leasing on a much newer, bit bigger, Kia Niro hybrid SUV. The paperwork and process were a bit stressful, especially because the dealership’s whole European operations got caught in a ransomware attack and, for reasons unknown, the insurance transfer got me really anxious. Everything seems to be falling into place now.

Katy was a bit concerned about the fact that it would be an automatic, but she’s getting used to it now and says hill starts are much easier.

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A nice way to spend the day

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Katy and I went to Bury St-Edmunds yesterday to have the car serviced and MOT’ed. It cost us roughly double what we were quoted, but what can you do. At least we now have a new set of front brakes and a new pollen filter for the AC and the hand brake actually feels connected to something.

While the car was being worked on, we went walkies in the city center. Bury has a nice outdoor market that I could very easily see myself use and abuse if we lived there. We also bought yet more stuff for the nursery, though it was mostly decorations and cuddly toys this time. We’re horrible ;) We bought a bunch of short sleeved & long sleeved jumpsuits, a bath mitten (that Katy has waaay too much fun with in the store), a plush rabbit that just jumped in our hands and we couldn’t put back on the shelf (honest!)

We had lunch at Brasserie Chez Gerard and then picked up the car and drove back home. We had sloppy joe submarines for dinner and then spent the evening clearing out unused stuff from out kitchen and reorganizing everything. The house is starting to get to a point where it’s almost junk free (we’re giving away a ton of schmutz to charity shops). All we need to do now is to build the last bits of furniture and then we can start putting the final touches on the nursery :)

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The weekend, and then Belgium!

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Saturday was a good day, and it wasn't. The rover was booked for its yearly MOT so we drove in to Saffron Walden and, after a few turn arounds, found the garage. The mechanic had been recommended by someone at work and he was going to have a look at the brakes, which had been mentioned at the last MOT, and then test the car. While that was going on, we went window shopping in town and had breakfast at a decent little greasy spoon called Mocha.

The MOT didn't go according to plan at all. when we called the dude to see if he was done, he told us that the car needed work done. a lot of it. It needs a complete new exhaust, two back tires, break pads in the front and possibly shoes in the back. Parts and labour in upwards of 500 quid. That's the bad news. The good news is that he's going to try and give us a good price for all the work that needs to be done, as well as a full service and have it all done by next monday. [In retrospect, that was optimistic as hell as it turned out to cost upwards of 850 quid, which is probably more than the car is worth at this point in its life. Still, according to Katy, it's like driving a new car right now, so at least some good came out of it]

We had plans to have dinner with Phil and Caroline, but it was now rather difficult to get to their place. Being cheeky, I asked Phil for a lift so we were still on for dinner. It was a nice evening, with lots of food and lots (and lots!) of wine.

Another bit of bad news was that we found that it's physically impossible to get a taxi at midnight on a saturday night in the middle of nowhere, unless you've pre-booked it. We hadn't, so after a dozen futile calls, we resigned ourselves to sleep on an inflatable mattress in the middle of the sitting room and Phil would drive us home tomorrow morning in time for me to get my cab to Heathrow and for Katy to go to work.

The morning was rough. I did something incredibly stupid which was to go to bed drunk without rehydrating myself and my head let me know just how silly that was at 5am. Lots of water later and a few advil, my headache cleared and the trip to Heathrow and subsequent flight to Brussels was routine. Once we'd landed, we got our kit and took the train to Antwerp. Hotel check in went surprisingly smoothly and we went to get some food. We found an italian restaurant close by that had good food but a truly weird italian landlord that was just… well weird.

The food was good and plentiful and reasonably priced, so I'm willing to put up with eccentricities. We chilled at the hotel for a bit then went to the conference center to pick up our conference packs and get dinner. We actually skipped dinner cause we were too full from our late lunch, so we only had hot chocolates at a little cafe near the venue.

I'm looking forward to the conference as it promises to be really, really interesting. at the same time though, I wish I was back home giving comfort to the katylady. She's feeling rough physically and low mentally. Her job is stressing her our and putting her in a bad place. A hangover and a dodgy stomach really aren't helping today either. as much as I'm looking forward to the conference, I'm looking back to being back in cambs to be with her :(

The first day of the conference went well. I had a decent night's sleep, given the fact that the bed is smallish, and the duvet doesn't cover me completely. Still, it was ok. Had breakfast at the hotel and we decided to walk to the conference center. We thought it would only take about 10 minutes, but that turned out to be closer to 25. It was a miserable, grey day too. Fun fun fun. The good news though is that the pastries they serve for breakfast at the conf center are simply sinful. I mean… I had 3. I'm a bad bad man, but I couldn't help myself.

In my defence though, it was a good thing because I had to skip lunch because they only served pre-packaged sandwiches with no ingredient labels on them. With all the sugar I had in the morning, I have to say that I really wasn't very hungry by lunchtime.

I managed to snag a Duke stress ball and a raffle ticket from Sun (it's a classic gimmick, they throw the stress balls in the crowd and the people who catch them can enter a prize draw – except that the speakers forgot to throw the thingies during their talks, so I just walked to one of the speakers at the end of the session and simply asked for one :D)

We got back to the hotel and chilled again before going to dinner. With my lack of lunch, I was feeling ravenous. The evening was a bit disappointing. Our guide was a typical man, who was convinced he was leading us to the promised land of good restaurants. After 20 minutes of walking in the rain, we settled for the first one we could find where we could all eat. It was ok. Decent food, but pricey and it took a solid hour for us to get the food after we ordered. When it was time to go back to the hotel, we decided to go for the cab option. It took another 20 minutes for the cabs to arrive. Sometimes, I really, really miss Taxi Co-Op…

Then there's the bank saga… I didn't have time to get any euro before I left the UK so I've been bumming off people here as I only have pounds on me. The night manager told me that there's an ING cash machine “nearby”. It took 15 minutes to walk there in the pouring rain for me to realize that it won't accept either of my cards. I was not a happy camper walking back to the hotel. My coat and jeans are currently hanging up to dry. They should be fine by tomorrow and I'll try again at other banks if I can find any.

I also found out that the hotel wireless network is extremely wonky. For some asinine reason, I can log on correctly the first time I get a new daily access code from the lobby, but if I hibernate my computer, I need to stop the DHCP and DNS client services on my laptop, flush my DNS cache and then turn everything back on before I can connect properly *. Still, it works – which is more than I can say for the wireless at the conference center, which was abysmal. It's almost pitiful, given the fact that this is an IT conference…

Ah well, off to bed now.

* Having said that, it might honestly be my laptop. It seriously need a complete reinstall. It's starting to act truly bizarrely at times…

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What to do when the people around you aren't feeling well

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Katy's not doing well. Her throat is giving her grief and the antibiotics she's on are making her feel queezy. I think she's caught my cold. She's had a rough day. Make that a very rough day. This was supposed to be her first day back at work but when she managed to get in, they turned her around back home. She feels bad about all the time she's been off work. The good thing is that though her boss is scary, she also has a good head on her shoulders and realizes that the leave is justified, not frivolous.

As if that wasn't enough for today, we went to get the damage estimated on the car. It's not looking positive. Since the Rover plant went belly-up, the car value dropped like a stone and parts are getting scarce. That means that though the damage isn't *that* bad (mostly scratches all along the passenger side) and some bodywork, it comes up to about 1500 pounds worth of work and parts. Since the car is now worth only about a grand, that means it's probably going to be a write-off, even though the car is still mechanically and structurally sound. This sucks the big, pus-filled, boily ass. What's worse is that her driving confidence got a beating along with her car :(

We just had a little conversation, and I have to agree with her, she's due a hell of a lot of good karma in the next year cause this last one has been crappy. She's convinced she's jinxed. I'm trying hard to make her realize that if you get into that sort of frame of mind, you'll always focus on all the bad stuff and overlook the fact that some good stuff has happened as well. Still, I don't want to make light of the fact that the last year has been really, really tough on her.

Right now, she's not feeling well and I don't know how to make it better, except to ply her with tea (which makes everything better), ply her with hugs and generally try and give her a hand wherever I can.

Cause I love her.

And I'm worried about her.

So *hug*

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Ho Hum

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Spending yet another weekend in Leicester. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against it†, but I just want to spend a relaxed weekend with Katy and that won't happen for another 2 weeks, and then it won't happen for another month or so. Blergh. Between her operation and my work trips, we probably won't have time to ourselves until the end of september.

Katy's gran is still in the hospital, though she's now on the upwards trail. She's going to be there for a week or two still, but hopefully things are going to sort themselves out. It's weird though. One minute, she's cracking lewd jokes, the next, she's in the middle of a coughing fit. I've been told I'm not to grow old…

And now for something completely different. Katy got a car this weekend:


Rover 414i

It's her parents' old Rover. Since the Rover plant went belly up a few weeks ago, their resale value plummeted. They were offered 300 quid for it, so they decided to give it to Katy instead. It's a bit old, but still in perfect working order. And it's free, so you can't beat the price.

Spent a large part of Saturday walking in town, while Katy and Rita were having a serious girl-talk. My plan was to go read a book I wanted to buy at Waterstones until I got called, but that went south when neither of the books I wanted were there. I ended up wandering for 2 hours, buying coffee and socks.

†Except for the fact that her bed is too small for two psople to sleep comfortably in. Hence, I'm tired and my back isn't really happy with me.

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