2015 — 30 July: Thursday
Well, with luck1 I'm a man on another mission, or maybe two, or more, this morning. And the sun is already shining. I've just spent 10 minutes grooming all the water off the Yaris after its night on the tiles drive. I didn't forget to put it into the garage yesterday; instead I deliberately parked it to leave room for a visitor, and then to enable me to access the garage unhindered later this morning for a longer-term "visitor".
I don't know...
... if today's the day "the teddy-bears have their picnic" but it's certainly the day I'm due to collect the Mazda2 and thus become, temporarily, a two-car "family". How bizarre is that? Before that awesome task, however, I still have to nip out on a minor supplies run to top up cow juice levels, and after it, I have a lunch date. So that's my morning and a chunk of my afternoon pleasantly, but essentially, blown away before I know it. How the heck does one ever get anything done?
In fact, reading the overnight email reply from my chum in Bordon regarding my next intended visit, I'm left wondering how does anyone ever get anything done? Still, at least he admits he's finally had to contemplate "improving" the entrance in which I nearly stranded my poor little Yaris a couple of visits ago. Even his Volvo 4WD has to cross it with caution these days. I have been duly warned.
I was delighted...
... to swap recent news with my ex-IBM ex-Lab Director chum, Geoff, in Waitrose a few minutes ago as we both temporarily halted our domestic duties for a catchup quite near the ketchup. Not least because he reminded me I'd yet to snaffle the recent radio profile of that comic master Gerard Hoffnung. Safely snaffled now, and leaving just about time for my breakfast before I am conveyed in luxury to my date with a new era in my motoring history.
On the history front, I can also deduce — from the current discrepancy between timestamps on the Raspberry Pi2 server upstairs and those on BlackBeast down here — that yesterday's mains spike seems to have left a 40-minute gap in the Pi's stream of consciousness. Most odd.
I've just driven home...
... in my new flivver (which had an initial 35 miles on its clock) after first being given a quick recap of its (some of its) various controls and systems. Despite spotting the grievous error in the owner's manual regarding the direction / turn indicator control I'm not being given a discount for my services to poof-redding... So — having first rung my grocer to make doubly sure my new insurance has kicked in — I'm now heading back out for a bite of lunch. Colour me (Arctic white) gone!
And I'm back again...
... with said flivver tucked into its garage — after the lightest of contact with a sacrificially-bendy bit of wood at the extreme front — and with the garage door safely locked on it for the night. Plus no need to remove the radio aerial first. Widthwise, there's no issue, either, though my instinct was to drive in too straight and too central. This made getting out a slightly undignified wriggle. I must "recalibrate" the optimal approach angle to get far enough into the garage, and far enough over to the left to clamber out.
This initial "shake down" cruise was to assure myself that I could be trusted to play nice with other road users. The psychic cloak of invisibility I had long become used to in the Yaris has clearly not been carried over into the Mazda2. But, compared to driving up to Birmingham nine days after passing my test in December 2007, this afternoon's gentle toddling around was a complete picnic. I had been kindly lent a Blu-ray of "Guardians of the Galaxy" to soothe any frayed nerves, but my next cuppa will suffice.
The engine has an unaccustomed surge of mid-range acceleration when requested. The six-speed automatic gearbox is very smooth. I have to remember to disable the "intelligent stop/start" behaviour every time I first start the engine. I forgot that on my little expotition, decided to see how I managed, and was actually only caught out by it when stopped back on my drive.
As 1998 wound down...
... the BBC transmitted a fascinating geology series called "Earth Story" hosted by Aubrey Manning. Christa watched it avidly. Naturally, I bought her the sumptuous £20 book that accompanied it at the time. Today, I've just snaffled...
... a 2xDVD set of the original TV programmes for £6-49 and will re-watch them most happily. [Pause] As for "Guardians"? Well, I thought I did quite well to last for 36 minutes.