One day at a time

 It's been a while since I last posted and in that time the last of my parents generation in my family has passed away. I don't feel like I have mourned their passing yet and it did take me a while to mourn the passing of my parents so I expect this time it will be the same. I'm more involved in looking after the affairs of their estate and together with my cousin we will need to deal with their estate. I think there are other changes come soon too, as I have started to think about moving out of my apartment and putting it on the market, but that depends on how much the real estate people think that I will be able to get for it. I have also been playing with the idea of changing my car, but the cars that I am interested in have long waiting lists, up to 12 months in some cases. Usually I would be looking forward to going away for my birthday, but I have nothing planned and on this occasion there is no public holiday around my birthday (instead it is the weekend before). The...

Three weeks with zero cases, that's good going. I've booked a weekend away in regional Victoria and I'm looking forward to the change in scenery more than anything else. I have decided to purchase a new car, I am staying with Suzuki but returning to their Swift model. The old car is being traded-in and I plan to pick up the new vehicle early in December. It's probably the most expensive online shopping I have ever done. As far as I can tell, my involvement in the budget product is almost at an end, I've been volunteered to be available when the budget is released to be on hand to answer questions, but other then that it all seems to be very quiet. Started working on the next two products (they tend to run into each other) and the information for these will be collected in 2021. Will have to see how that runs as a number of the businesses I deal with are going to close down between Christmas and New Year, but they are expected to respond to our requests very shortly ...

Took the car in to be checked for a oil leak. Took me over 2 hours to drop the car off, get to the nearest train station and into the city. Thankfully the trip back was a bit smoother even though the train was crowded at 4 pm. Then at work more requests came in to follow up issues. On top of that there was no leak just some oil from the service!

Picked the new car on Saturday. It all went very smoothly and sales person was very pleasant to deal with.  Bought car mats and a boot tidy, as well as trying to get to grips with the Bluetooth in the car. It's not the most intelligent, I can't find a way to get the car to pick up a call if I'm using an iPod through the USB port. 

Going to be saying goodbye to my traveling companion tomorrow, although we didn't get off to a good start and I may have lost my temper with him occasionally, I will be sorry to say goodbye.  My Polo has been a solid companion, reliable and if not exciting, something that you can rely on to get me around in comfort. I do hope he finds a good home. 

In the end, the car offered was a red one, but otherwise it's the same as the green one I thought I might get. If everything goes to plan I should be able to pick it up on Saturday.

I went car test driving and it was eventful (not for all the right reasons) but one of the positive things to come out of it was a good feeling about the new Suzuki Swift. Don't mind a red, blue or even the new green version.

You have 5 cars in your shortlist. 2013 MITSUBISHI, MIRAGE LS $15,490 Manual, HATCHBACK, 5 doors, 5 seats, 57kw, 1.2L, Origin: THAILAND, 3 Cylinder Dealer 2013 NISSAN, PULSAR ST $18,990 Manual, HATCHBACK, 5 doors, 5 seats, 96kw, 1.8L, Origin: THAILAND, 4 Cylinder Dealer 2013 SUZUKI, SWIFT GLX $18,990 Manual, HATCHBACK, 5 doors, 5 seats, 70kw, 1.4L, Origin: THAILAND, 4 Cylinder Dealer 2013 TOYOTA, COROLLA Ascent $19,990 Manual, HATCHBACK, 5 doors, 5 seats, 103kw, 1.8L, Origin: JAPAN, 4 Cylinder Dealer 2013 TOYOTA, YARIS YRS $18,990 Automatic, HATCHBACK, 5 doors, 5 seats, 80kw, 1.5L, Origin: JAPAN, 4 Cylinder Dealer

Everyone's to move their cars out of the apartment's car park. I've already put mine on the street, just hope it will be okay.

Washed the car for the first time yesterday and discovered its no longer in pristine condition.  Looks like some idiot has opened the door into the passenger side of my car and left a small dent. I knew this would happen one day but I was hoping that it would be several months before it did, not weeks has it turned out.  I don't know exactly who and when, but I have my suspicions.

It finally arrived and after the stress of the purchase, the ownership is initially proving to be far less stressful. I will be happier once I am more familiar with the interior of the car but I am not regretting deciding on the 3 door model (although I miss having a 1.5l engine!),

Ok it's actually just a car but I've had fun driving it, whilst keeping safe and dry, and its been very reliable. In fact it's been more of a "friend" than many of my human friends.

Faced a difficult decision today whether to go ahead with the car purchase and whether to trade in my current car. The additional pain of trying to fight to dealer and save $1000 was not for me, the only consolation is that I am getting a decent trade in value. Not 100% comfortable with my decision. I want a new car but I dud not originally want to spend this much of getting one. Hopefully I only have to suffer in the short term to enjoy something better in the long run.

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I had a problem with my car and called out a mobile mechanic. His advice was to drive the car more and this pearl of wisdom cost me $80.

After much consideration the next car is likely to be a Ford Fiesta. Had one for over a week while in the UK and enjoyed driving it around. They are more powerful and bigger, yet more fuel efficient than my old Swift.

Got behind the wheel of an i20 over the weekend and although it was a pleasant experience, I was not overwhelmed by it. It might be a step up from the Getz, but its a long way away from the joy of driving an i30. Will put my new car aspirations on hold for a while, maybe wait until the new Swift comes out in 2011 before changing over. It's a shame that my current car is so good, I don't feel the need to change that desperately.