Technocarbollocks, Agreeable grey, a ceremony and some other gumph

When I was a young knobhead...around 18 years old, I blew up the engine on my little black mini and had to get a new car. For about  £ 100, my dad helped me get a 1980ish blue Ford Escort...It looked like a more shitty and rusty version of this beauty...

I remember back on Sunday 28th Jan 1990, I was in the Nags Head Pub in Urmston, Manchester, having a fun evening out before heading back to Catterick for my army training. I didn't want to drink too much before driving back, and as Man United were playing in the FA Cup against Hereford and back then the game wasn't on TV, I ended up sitting in the Ford Escort outside the pub, listening to the game on the radio.

United was pretty bad at that time and when they scored a winning goal in the 84th minute, I rushed into the pub to tell all my mates! Leaving my car keys inside the car!

When I came back outside, I tried to open the door, but it was locked! Bugar. 

So I looked around and found some bent metal and managed to bend and wedge the car door open enough to get my hands in and pull the old-fashioned pull-up door lock, before climbing back into the car to start the drive back to Catterick.  What I didn't tell you earlier is that one reason the car was so cheap is that the ignition on the steering column was busted and to start the car you just used a flat-bladed screwdriver in the broken ignition - one turn and off you go. To facilitate this, I kept a handy screwdriver hidden behind the sun visor!

So what any observant bypasser would have seen is a good looking fit young lad, run out of a pub, picking up a crowbar and wedging open the car door, before clambering inside and starting the car with a screwdriver and then driving off very fast with a big smile (United HAD just won!)  

I was stopped by the police about 3 minutes later. 

Even more unbelievable, is that the police listened to the same story you just read above and let me go, without even taking a breath test! 

How times have changed!

Now you are probably wondering what the hell I am telling you this story for? Well, last week I went to start my 2022 Kia Seltos and it would..not...start. It would turn over and fire once and then stop. I thought it was probably something to do with fuel and opened the bonnet to take a look at the engine, but couldn't see anything out of place or any leaks, so ended up calling in a tow truck and it went off to the Kia garage to get looked at. 

Side note, our back gate is frozen to the ground and can only be opened 3/4 of the way, so while pushing the car out of the garage I smacked right into the gate and then had to help the tow truck driver manoeuvre it around the burden. It was a freaking cold day and not nice. Although the kids loved watching the tow truck load the car onto the flatbed with a winch. It was all pretty good fun really. 

A couple of days after getting to Kia they called and told me what the issue was. 

An antenna!

A freaking broken antenna means my car wouldn't start. This antenna is the antenna that the car has inside somewhere and recognises the radio signal that the key sends to the car so that you can start it. That's great for security I suppose, but can't we just go back to a normal key that starts your car - or a screwdriver maybe? It feels to me that there is just a little toooo much technology in today's cars and that causes more hassle than it's worth. If there wasn't so much technology, then when our old Yellow Kia was smashed up 2 years ago, maybe we would have got it back instead of it being written off, because fo the cost of sensors and microchips!

It all bollocks and is pretty annoying. 

In the old days, I remember Dad removing the front of the engine out of his car to replace the clutch plate and he did it by himself in the garage in a few hours (another side note - I then took the car back to Catterick and blew the clutch again on the way. This was between me blowing up the mini and stealing my own Ford Escort) He would use pretty basic tools to fix anything wrong with any of his cars. I wish you could do that with today's vehicles. 

Anyway, at least it's a good story! Here's a quick look at the car and the kids enjoying a cold morning!

 

Since the last post, the new house has started to feel a lot more like home. We arrived back from Florida with a wonderful new paint job to enjoy as we had the paint in while we were away (hee hee. you know what I mean!) The person who had done the renovations in the house had not done a great paint job - everything was very white and the same paint had been used on the walls ceiling and all the wooden bits, so it looked a bit flat. So we had a little bit of natural colour added and even got the baseboards and doors, frames and bannisters painted as far as the first-floor landing. It looked and smelled great when we walked back into the house from holiday and we have continued to improve things. 

There are 2 little 'caves' for the kids to play in. One under the stairs in the basement and one in the kid's closet under the stairs to the 'tippy top' room. So we carpeted them both and added some lighting so that the kids have two little nooks to play and read and do whatever they want. 

We also spent last weekend finally painting their bedroom walls - Hannah's wall is pink, with Unicorns, rainbows and lots of stars. Olivers is orange with diggers, rockets, aliens and astronauts, They both seem very happy with them!

This was before the decals were applied!

A few days after that we went into the city early on a Monday morning so that I could take part in my Canadian Citizenship ceremony - Yep, I am now a Canadian Citizen (I will always be English first!). 

It was a fun morning and the kids and Buffy were lucky enough to come along and watch the ceremony from the side seats! 

The kids have also been enjoying the new house and the last few weeks of winter. They have been playing a lot of Lego, building things with magnet blocks and lots of music and dancing with friends too - Ollie particularly loves to dance at the moment and even wears Hannah's old dress from her dance recital last year!

They also had their last two weeks of Gymnastics, which was a little sad as they both really enjoyed the lessons and learned a lot! I hope they decide to go back again someday! Here are both of them doing handstands and having fun on the trampoline and the bars!

There's been board games, museums, days out, days in rides in the car and lots of reading books. In fact, there has been so much going on it's too hard to list it all, so here are a few photos of what we did this month!

Now, the end of winter is in sight. There are just a few more days forecast to be below zero and soon the cold windy days of winter will be a distant memory. 

We will finally find out what the garden at the new house looks like when the snow melts and the kids will be able to run across to the park just down the street. That will be nice. 

We are planning on getting them a trampoline for the garden and there are days booked off work, for trips away in the summer! Its 'hopefully' going to be a good year!