Sudden

7 maj 2010 17:15

Hej Sven! Här i Stockholm är det också kyligt och blåsigt och i morgon skall det bli regn. Då skall jag åka motorvagn (Y6 -Y8-typ) upp till Hallstavik från Stockholm C via Uppsala-Örbyhus och tillbaka. Se http://www.smok.nu/swedish/travels/Hallstavik_med_dieseltag_2010.html .

Vi tar pendeltåget in till stan från Handen. Bäst att ta ett litet tidigt tåg, ifall... Är litet ångestfyllt med publika kommunikationers tidtabelluppfyllande. Kompisen Kjell kommer med pendeltåget från Nynäshamn, så det "segmentet" skall klaffa också. Men han har bilen som fall-back.

Fick bilen godkänd av Bilprovning i går. Eufori. Jag lär mig aldrig att ta dessa kontroller med lugnt sinne.

Som du förstår är jag typen som oroar sig...

Sudden

Erik

7 maj 2010 18:34

Hi there all of you who complain about the weather and let me join the club.

I live not far from Coimbra, Portugal's answer to Uppsala, in the mountains SE and some 45 minutes drive from this beautiful city. After a few, and I underline a few, warm days last month the weather has gone cold and wet again. Like we didn't get enough rain last winter and spring. We got more rain than any winter before according to the official reports. This time of the year we use to have bar-be-ques on the decking every evening and flush down the food with some refreshing local red. Not this year.

I do not think that we will see snow but I have put away the shorts and short sleeved shirts for the time being. A log fire would not go astray. The weather forecast tells us that we have at least five days of rain in front of us.

What happened to that global warming everyone was on about last year? We could do with a bit of it here and now.

As it happens, Lars, I took my Ford Escort through the annual technical test last week too. No problems at all and, although I like Lars, worry a bit when the inspector's do their bit, I am happy that they have a good look under the car to make sure that I am safe when I drive her. She is a grand old lady, my Escort, 26 years and some 260.000 kilometres on the clock. With the much thicker metal they used in cars in 1984 I think I may be as safe in my Escort as in the latest Volvo.

Our house took a lightning hit last week and I lost my computer, the external drive, the printer, my UPS (that the salesman told me would protect me from lightning strikes), the modem, the telephone and the telephone/fax as well as the motor operating the garage door. I lost quite a lot of data but the most important work was properly backed up so I am in business again.

Den gamle emigranten

7 maj 2010 20:46

Min förra bil var en Ford Escort. Jag gillade den skarpt, men på slutet blev reparations och underhållskostnaderna ohållbart stora. När slutligen bromsledningen sprack på motorvägen och jag bara hade handbromsen att ta till, beslöt jag mig för att det var dags att byta. Nu har jag en Ford Focus, men jag saknar den lilla pigga Escorten.

Erik

8 maj 2010 14:30

Hej Sven et al,

After the house, the next most expensive thing you purchase is your car. People tend to look after their properties quite well but the car.... When I lived in England in the late 80s I found a book in the library giving you the approximate value of your car. Just for the fun of it I looked up Ford Escort 1984. Instead of the tables showing the values for a car in good, medium, or bad condition, there was a comment saying that there were no 1984 Escorts in existence as they had a bad reputation for rust. Allowdale Hereford faecal matter!

I think you know that I have spent my life in aviation and I mind my cars as I minded the aircraft I was responsible for and I drive them the way I used to fly. A little love and basic care goes long way, and I am now not only talking about cars.

By the way, my wife and I have decided to have a log fire tonight. Howzat? We and the house need a bit of warming up. I am just looking for a dry patch at the moment so I can take my dog out for our daily walk in the forest.

If anyone knows what happened to summer, let me know.

Says Erik who likes war and sunny weather. And a drop of red.