I always thought I'd be a grown up when I grew up

Gojyo's brain is broken.

As well as a new battery (and indicator & headlamp bulb), his ECU is faulty - hence it lighting the EMS light for catalytic converter problems when there wasn't actully anything wrong with the cat.

A new ECU has to be ordered in. A new ECU costs £760, plus half an hour labour.

*faints*

NEW CAR!

Picking it up ws a headache; the previous customer was late, then the invoice was wrong (I'd like to have paid £400 less, but not if it's going to need a warranty claim in 5 months & not be covered), then the checks on payment added another 15 minutes.

But despite all that, it's now mine and I love it. Will probably need a new exhaust in the next year, but given its age that's to be expected. Now I'm either going to lose my licence by the end of the year, or become the safest driver ever; it's so much more powerful than the 323 (and even the Astra).

And it's Biblically red :) Outrageously, enormously, excessively, extravagantly, colossally red.

Evans Halshaw Stockport Fiat / Alfa Romeo have, so far, impressed me.

Ok, I might have been able to save a couple of hundred by going to a small garage forecours dealer, but I don't trust them even as far as I could throw them. They're noticeably cheaper than the Toyota main dealer next door, stock older cars as well as brand new shiny Fiats & Alfas, and have an attached workshop.

I was initially irritated by being shadowed by the salesman, but when he found out what I wanted he checked all their other branches until he found one. Last night he was quite happy when I turned up early to see the car in daylight and (although he hovered for a while, left me to it when I slid underneath to poke the exhaust & took the cover off the engine to check for oil in the radiator water. He stopped trying to tell me stuff after that :)

I didn't end up haggling; the price is in line with what Parker's says (which is a surprise; according to most dealers, the part-ex prices are inflated and the buying ones too low...), they're giving it a full service (with logbook stamp) and 12 months MOT, and their warranty covers all labour & parts (because just parts would be "rubbish").

All in all, I'm pleasantly surprised. I don't feel cheated or patronised at all, and that's remarkable.

I've just sold my car, for cash!

This is very odd. The Uno & Astra, I traded in when they were about to die. I'm not used to giving away an actual working thing in return for a cheque. Now I'm terrified that it's going to explode & send nurse_liz's Dad up a tree, or into a passing Bugatti.

I don't own a car. This is weird.

Still, 21.5 hours to Toyota :) And, of course, I'm worrying that I'll hate it / it'll be duff / I won't realise it's duff & have it explode & send *me* into a passing Veyron / &c.

Last night, I got home from work, threw some food at the cats and a clean pair of pants at my overnight bag, then sat for 2 hours on the M62 thanks to an HGV driver trying the outside lane for size. The outside lane of the other carriageway, that is. I hope there aren't speed cameras on the bit of the M62 between that & Brighouse.

I had a lovely meal with snapesbabe and 18 of her work mates (who actually all looked like 2 blonde women, and indeed only took up 2 seats in the restaurant). I went to Walkabout and gawped at the young males in over-tight t-shirts, styled especially to display their man breasts, adn the females in a strange mix of 1950s-style shoes with 1980s lycra jersey skirts and batwing tops. Who decided that dropped waistlines were flattering? One poor girl appeared to be wearing a pillowcase, bloomers and leggings.

Got back to the last half of Shaun Of The Dead plus extras, woke up to an offer of tea and crumpets, then discovered that Yorksher's Finest had poured glue on my car...

Yes. A bottle of white glue all over the roof, which had run down the windscreen and over the bonnet.

First, I was glad it wasn't paint (as the previous week's entertainment had apparently been). Then I realised it was water-soluble while still wet, and peeloffable when dry. Half an hour of scrubbing later, it was off enough to get home & take it through Tesco's car wash; it's now back to normal, including the puddles that had formed in the grille at the bottom of the windscreen.

Considering the car needed a wash anyway, and there's no lasting damage, my FROTHING RAGE is having the day off. Instead, I'm rather in the mood for pointing & laughing at people (and I use the term loosely) who try to vandalise a car with Copydex. Perhaps they'd tried sniffing it & lost their rag when they realised their mistake?


Meanwhile, Dad's celebrating selling a fly press on eBay to someone from York who intends to use it for making mediaeval-style armour, and trying to clean up a bag of pitch that fell over in the garage. Except he's heating up the bits he's managed to chip off in a large casserole dish, and it boiled over...

Is there anywhere / anyone that can make use of old (5-10 years old) PCs? Or how about stacks & stacks of computer magazines from the BBC B era?

I'm having one of those days where I wish I could just go back to bed & start again. Except that I had a nap on the sofa in lieu of a time machine, and it didn't work.

Sometimes, I'd like not to be proved right when I expect the worst of someone.

After a week of bright sunshine & heat, it started raining last night & hasn't stopped. My lawn is now cat depth all over.

Guess what? I still haven't got any thinner.

It's annual review time at work in 3 weeks. Nothing has changed sone the interim review 6 months ago. They're apparently desperate for staff, and yet at the same time seem set on keeping me poking numbers around spreadsheets and telling hopeless clients how to do double entry over the phone. I've given them a list of what I'm interested in; they say there isn't anything available in that area atm, then the weekly newsletters claim we're only not doing that sort of project because of being short staffed.

I really don't like my car.

I had forgotten how bad the traffic on the M6 can get on a Friday evening; it took 4 hours to get home. Still, I've found out (a) how to open my boot, (b) the 323 has the same gearing ratio as the Astra, and (c) the M6 Toll rocks.

Lillian's 80th was pretty quiet, but then she is the youngest of the grandparent / great aunt generation, so an energetic knees up was always going to be unlikely. I seem to have trained everyone not to ask why I don't have a Nice Young Man (or indeed, any other variety) as the usual flood of personal questions were absent. Chrsitopher (cousin no. 2, last measured at 6'3" before he got too tall for anyone else to reach that far) wasn't there, as he's just got into Southampton Uni's Second Eight and had rowing practice. Still, I have a picture of me standing next to Julia (cousin no. 1) and looking decidedly hobbit-like.

It's the first time I've driven the 323 further than the shops & back. It's - ok. Nothing special. It's more sensitive than the Astra, but that isn't surprising (being 8 years younger). It has better fuel economy and better visibility. It's still just a 5 door hatchback. The happiest it made me was seeing John's 5-series parked next to it and realising that (for the first, and probably the last, time) I have a newer car than him :)

I hadn't realised how relatively common Mazdas are up here. South of Stafford, I didn't see a single RX-8, and they're a 2-3 a day occurrence here. Mind you; house prices probably affect things quite a bit - I can usually rely on seeing a couple of 911 Carreras, a handful of Boxsters and a Bentley Continental in the average weekday, and (even at the London end of the M4 corridor) the Nice Car Count was one Noble & one Vantage, all weekend.

Dad & I went over the engine Sunday morning & I'm feeling reassured. However much I learn about cars, I'm always worried that I'll miss something I haven't been told to look out for - being persistently treated as a Girl by salesmen has had a lasting effect). All that needed doing was tightening the throttle cable a bit - the rest's lovely & shiny and in good condition.

Got home in time for Petrolheads - it was considerably better than the first episode. Neil Morrissey still needs a good slapping, but Ronan Keating's joined the ranks of Cool People in my world, for identifying an F430 from part of its front spoiler :)

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It's Not Fair (part 1). I have 7 years protected no claims, I've never had an accident, and I'm a 30-something chartered accountant (that's isn't the Not Fair bit). Why is my insurance still £500 pa, even after applying internet and AA membership discounts?

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It's Not Fair (part 2). If I'm going to have X-rated dreams about TV presenters, please can they be attractive ones next time?

Good news: The porsche is still for sale :)

Bad news: Porsche's owner is being sent abroad by his work for a few days, so probably won't be able to give me a test drive this weekend.

Good news: He asked where I live, in case he's ever nearby :)

Bad news: I woul have HEART FAILURE if he turned up on my doorstep.