new car

The Secret Car

2 Comments Posted on January 30, 2017January 29, 2017 by Snoskred

While we were on our big adventure trip back in October/November, a thing happened with The Other Half’s car. The airconditioning stopped working. Of course, it was 38-40 degrees C at the time (almost 100F).

We had been talking about what to do with his car for over a year. It was reaching odometer readings that mean you need to do some work on it.

I still loved his car. He was not so much in love anymore. When he told me that – and he told me he often preferred driving MY Volkswagen Polo instead I said well I think it is time we figure out our finances and start looking at other options.

So one Saturday morning we dropped by our local VW dealer and had a chat. The Other Half was unsure about the new auto gearboxes and whether or not he wanted to stick with a manual car, so the awesome bloke gave us a Golf with the same gearbox we would have in a new Polo and we went for a drive.

About an hour later we’d put in an order for our new car. And about a week later it arrived. This car, you guys. This car is AMAZING. It can do things I would never have imagined, and things I actually cannot quite describe. For example –

– When you stop the car at the traffic lights, it automatically turns the engine off. Once you lift your foot off the brake, it turns it back on again.

– It can follow other cars. No, not like a private detective. It will match the speed and brake when that car brakes, so you can drive through city traffic without having to touch a pedal at all – accelerator OR brake..

There are so many awesome features I cannot even begin to type them all out.

I’ve been keeping it a secret from you for nearly two months now, and I am sorry about that. You are not the only ones. My parents found out when they discovered it parked in our driveway as a surprise, about a week after we first got it.

Ford XR5 Turbo, new car

The Ford XR5 Turbo – All The Big Cats Rolled Into A Car.

3 Comments Posted on September 24, 2007February 28, 2015 by Snoskred

This morning I had to drop the other half off at the airport in Wollongong, he’s gone to Melbourne for some training. This meant I had to drive the car back here. We got the car on July the 9th and since then I had driven it twice. Every time I drove it was a huge adrenalin rush, because this car has some serious power. To let this vehicle loose on the roads with a teenager would be asking for trouble, I think.

The XR5 is like a growling, snarling, hissing, spitting, ready to rip your face off with extended claws, big cat. The moment you turn on the engine you feel that this is a car of a different breed to your everyday car. Out of all the big cats it is most like a cheetah because it has the ability to get up to high speeds very quickly but you can see elements of all the big cats in this car.

So, I guess the question is – why haven’t I been driving it more often?

– I like to sit back and watch the world go by while the other half drives, letting out the occasional wheeeee when the G forces kick in.
– I sometimes feel like this car needs more from me than I am bringing to the party. I would like to do one of those driving courses where you learn what your car is truly capable of.
– Over the past 8 years I have not driven much because The Other Half is a much better driver than I am.
– I can’t see well at night, so I never drive at nighttime.

Just last week we were driving home and a kangaroo hopped out in front of us. The other half shocked me by aiming straight for it even though it was on the other side of the road. You can’t be sure which way it will hop so it is better to aim for where it is right now in the hope it won’t be there by the time you get there. It worked. I’m not sure how I would deal with that situation myself. The brakes are fantastic on this car. It is truly amazing how fast it can stop.

So many times since we bought it I’ve said to The Other Half that we made the right decision buying it. We did. The car fits him like a glove, and he does the majority of the driving. If you get stuck behind a slow driver on these country roads there’s not always places to overtake, but the XR5 can get past another car much quicker and more safely than our old car did.

It still puts a major smile on my face just to sit in it. And I still won’t leave it alone in a carpark. :)

Ford XR5 Turbo, Happy Snoskred, new car

Apollo 13 – Friday the 13th..

5 Comments Posted on July 13, 2007February 28, 2015 by Snoskred

Yesterday I took a rare couple of hours off to watch Apollo 13 again – one of my favorite movies. Can you imagine just how disturbing it must be to everyone involved with these early years of the space program that the “America never landed on the moon” conspiracy theories exist? Many of the people involved were working 60-70 hour weeks for years and years, some people for decades. All that work, all that *team* work!

I was going to do a movie review on it. I sat down with my notebook and pen but every bit of this movie is so good it is impossible to pick things out from it to highlight to you. I just love it. If you haven’t seen it, you should.

My copy of the movie has two commentary tracks, one by Ron Howard and one by Jim and Marilyn Lovell. I have listened to both tracks and enjoyed every minute of the commentary. I’m planning to do a movie review soon, now I’m just not sure what movie it will be.

In other news, we picked up the car this morning. You know when you look forward to something and then it happens and it isn’t as good as you hoped? Well, that’s not what happened. If possible it was even better than I’d hoped. I’m counting down the minutes until the other half knocks off work and brings it back here so we can go for a drive. I was tempted to take it for a spin myself while he was at work but that would have been cruel. Pictures, maybe tomorrow..

However given I watched Apollo 13 yesterday, and today is Friday the 13th and we picked up the car.. superstitious anyone?

cars, new car

A case study in negativity..

4 Comments Posted on July 3, 2007February 27, 2015 by Snoskred

A photo of the moon rising over the lighthouse at Point Perpendicular, Jervis Bay.

What is the worst thing that can possibly happen to a positive thinker? To be partnered with a master of negative thought. The Other Half is not negative all the time, but certain situations are bound to produce pain for all. Today has been quite a painful day.

When we left the car people last night, they told us they would call “by lunchtime today”. Having been in sales myself I know that if you give a customer an expectation like that, you better follow through and deliver. Having the partner I have, a helpful note for the future is – tell them if they don’t call, it’s going to result in a horrible chain reaction of doom and gloom in my household, and I’ll call off the deal just because of the pain I have suffered due to them telling The Other Half they would ring, and then not doing it.

So here’s what happened – it’s been a day of The Other Half making stupid assumptions and me wanting to beat him up because of his negative thoughts.

Just before we left at 11am, The Other Half discovered a funny icon on his phone. When he checked out what it meant, it seems his mobile phone had disconnected itself from the network. For all we know, it had been like that all morning. There was still an hour till lunchtime and no message on the phone, so The Other Half assumed they had not called. We drove off to Jervis Bay to see the real estate people and how is this for ironic? The house we’d pretty much decided on renting was rented yesterday. So had we not gone car shopping.. clearly it was not meant to be.

But another house we’d driven past before but crossed off the list because it was for sale was now off the market and rental only. This house was just seconds from the beach and backed onto a reserve with trees and wildlife. I would be able to put out a bird feeder. We arranged a time to go see it in a couple of hours, and headed off to drive past it one more time, check my PO box and have lunch. When we drove past it looked small from the outside but we figured we’d take a look because the location was so great.

As we were driving back from the PO box, it was now mid-day, and the other half said to me “It’s lunch time and they haven’t called”. I could hear the negative thoughts in his head – things like “the finance has fallen through and they don’t want to call and tell us” “they can’t find us a car” and various other negatives. I said “maybe they have lunch mid-afternoon” and told him to quit doing that negative self-think that he always does, and why doesn’t he just call them himself?

We went back to look at the house. Everything about it was perfect, except for the fact that it was too small. For two people we have a lot of stuff. I could see my dream of living close to the bay slipping away.. for today at least. We went to see the other agent and they have a couple of options, I’m waiting for a phone call to line up times to see them. I can’t explain this urge to live near this bay to anyone but it’s like a silent screaming inside of me.

That’s where I have to be near. ;)

So by this time it’s almost 3pm, and The Other Half complains of a headache and that he was feeling like he was coming down with something and he just wants to get home. By the time we got home his mood had gone from not feeling well to complete doom and gloom. Still no phone call. In his mind the deal has completely fallen through, and to make matters worse I’m mad at him because I know what he’s doing to himself. He knows it, too. He knows I get pissy when he does this dance of negative self talk. I say “Just make the phone call already!” He prefers to sit and dwell on how things have all turned to shyte. He does this for an hour.

I am sure I have mentioned before that The Other Half suffers from Call Reluctance. That’s when you don’t want to make a phone call for fear of hearing what they’re going to tell you.

At 4pm he finally makes the call. What do you think he was told? Everything is fine. They think they have found a car but they have to wait till tomorrow for confirmation. The finance is all approved and it was yesterday when we left, it’s just something the finance guy had to sort out on his end. No doom, no gloom. Just his negative self talk doing his head in – and mine by proxy. Of course he feels better now and the headache miraculously vanished as soon as he got off the phone. If he’d made that phone call earlier, think of all the suffering he would have missed out on!

This post got in the way – I was going to write about Feng Shui and Aromatherapy. I’ll take a bit of time to put that one together now because I’ll try and put in a few easy Feng Shui basics ;) and tomorrow is Hump Day Hmmm..

negative thought, new car, no doom happened, photos

What happened today..

7 Comments Posted on July 2, 2007February 27, 2015 by Snoskred

You may recall that I said we had a few tasks on the plate today. None of those tasks involved what we ended up doing. We bought ourselves a new car. *SHOCK* it’s not a Toyota Corolla. It’s a

Only not quite that color.

How did this happen? Well when Dad picked up the new car I spotted the current model XR5 in the yard, and I thought it looked cute. We’ve always liked the look of the Focus and it was one of the cars we considered buying, only The Other Half sat in it, and it just didn’t suit him. This version is completely different, the seats sit much lower and OMG they are so comfortable. When we looked at it today I fell in love with it pretty quick but then the other half took it for a drive and that was it for both of us. We did look at the Toyota but it didn’t grab us like this car did.

So a bit of retail therapy and now we’re both sitting here freaking out about it. My opinion is, we’re here for a good time not a long time. Smoke ’em while you got ’em. My Dad is going to be thrilled. ;) He’s such a Ford man..

cars, new car, shopping