Tuesday 7 December 2010

VRS

Last weekend began with a whistlestop tour of the North half of England.

Sheffield > Liverpool > Darlington > Leeds > Sheffield > Stockport > Home then on Monday a quick 1-2 back to Stockport to pick up our newest car:

Skoda Fabia VRS

Before this we had a little too much money tied up in vehicles with the Van and the Punto (which didn't seem to be attracting many lookers, none in fact). Thankfully they both sold, and fairly painlessly too leaving us room to economise slightly and be happy.
I have to say, I'm made up with this one. Like usual I spent an age trawling relative forums looking for the regular faults so that on inspection I knew what I was on about.

It was quite funny in some cases to see what some people considered to be 'Great' condition; I'd have said: parked repeatedly by a blind person in one case .'FSH' (Full service history), being a business card for a Skoda salesman who would "tell me what its had done" was another. Shame as the optional leather was rather tasty although not very grippy in the corners.

The one we ended up with I'd passed over on autotrader due to it only having three pictures, all of which were bad and showed nothing. After viewing the rest and a lengthy phone call with the backstreet dealer proved he knew a thing or two, we took a chance and slipped over the snake once more expecting disapointment. This one was perfect, gleaming bodywork, clean interior, smooth power, no pulling no torque steer (different engines in the '06 models producing a much smoother torque curve and 138bhp standard). The ability to remap these up to 170bhp without any hassle whatsoever has been on my mind and with my free-thinking insurance company it isn't a problem anyway but I honestly have to say this car doesn't need it and likely won't get it.

Already we're seeing 56mpg and I havent stopped using my heavy right foot despite the white stuff that seems to have stopped everything else. I feel a bit stupid that I discounted these when we bought the last Punto, they may have a few less toys but what they do have is so much better (side note: why on earth has skoda released the new VRS with a piddly petrol?) and thank f*ck its not a golf. Perfect as they are, unless its sporting a GTI/V5 badge (or upwards) Golfs are automotive beige.

Hopefully I'm on the money here and we can keep this one a while, I'm getting tired of buying and selling cars. 7 in as many years is a bit silly.

Nat was off the rest of the week and as I am snowed under with work (it isn't going well) we decided to stay around and sort out the many chores that are mounting up and finally sort the rest of the flat out. 20 ish litres of paint later and we've only got one more room to go.

My elbow started playing up before this week so I've taken some time off; this has done nothing. Tonight, after seeking the advice of someone qualified I think the prognosis isn't that bad. Pronator curls here we come!

...Furthermore, I have to say I'm blown away by Dave-wh0-isn't-a-racist 's latest ticklist. That man is on fire. I wonder if I buy some skull candy, start wearing camo and walk around with a questionable hand position whether I'll get stronger?

Thursday 2 December 2010

D.D.I.Y.

Dare I type? (well at least its now on this blog and not on the Boltfund website; fool)

I have to say that I don't think I've been this tired at midnight on a Sunday for quite some time. Last weekend, before heading out on the grit we decided to quickly strip down the bathroom to its barebones and re-grout the shower. Needless to say; heading out on the grit didn't happen.
There was obviously something up with the first pot of readymixed grout (I say this in hindsight) but to me, a newly inspired tiling DIY novice I didn't have a clue and merrily carried on spreading it between all of the tiles before returing for a pre-bouldering snack. On finishing (eagerly) I checked out my handywork and realised what an utter mess it was. Then began the process of removing it all, which took until about Sunday evening. At this point you begin asking yourself "What was wrong with the old bathroom?" and "How much is my time REALLY worth?".

Every night this week was spent in the (very small) bathroom, doing and re-doing everything from grout, electrical fittings, floor, paint and wall fixings. I managed a quick session on Tuesday night where even removing my weightbelt made no difference and I quickly scampered back home to do yet more DIY. This weekend the remainder of our flat/workshop (at this point) needed restoring to a habitable state BUT goddamit I was getting out on the grit! Well.. Not so much, as someone bought our van on Saturday morning, the new PC arrived, as too did the NAS. All bringing with them a new list of things to do. (Although to be honest shifting the van is a load of my mind, and a car will allow Nat to stop commuting by the godawful rail network that links Leeds and Sheffield thus buying us back around an hour a day!).

Its all setup now and I can't wait to get back to some kind of normal behaviour. I've got plenty of work to do but at least I've now got the tools to do it and its all laid out in front of me; do this, do that then write; a fuckload. Tomorrow I'm going to strive to learn LaTEX and see if it lightens or increases the load, then, and only then I might be able to climb although I'm not expecting much. I'm sure at some point my commitment will return fully (he says [types] sipping on Leffe).
Please disregard anything you read on this page. It's all just random thoughts and opinions based on very little. Therefore it's not worth getting upset about. In fact; just don't bother reading it, it'd make life easier for everyone involved.