[Dazzler]

@sundiz

  mostly 

[tohis]

Greetings from Tenerife!  I'm on my winter vacation, although at here it's +20 instead of -20 like in home a week ago. Unlike many, I'm not into frying my skin at beach or getting drunk in local bars. I have now a rental car, Seat Ibiza 1.2 TSI and will drive around with it during the week. The scenery and roads are very diverse, ranging from fast Autopista to very steep serpentines driven by 1st gear. I also booked a paragliding flight and that was amazing!

Later I will post more about the trip, some pics included, after getting back home and sorting out that huge pile of pictures and dashcam videos I'm making...

[Dazzler]

Greetings from Tenerife!  I'm on my winter vacation, although at here it's +20 instead of -20 like in home a week ago. Unlike many, I'm not into frying my skin at beach or getting drunk in local bars. I have now a rental car, Seat Ibiza 1.2 TSI and will drive around with it during the week. The scenery and roads are very diverse, ranging from fast Autopista to very steep serpentines driven by 1st gear. I also booked a paragliding flight and that was amazing!

Later I will post more about the trip, some pics included, after getting back home and sorting out that huge pile of pictures and dashcam videos I'm making...

Sounds awesome. Is there a MRS tohis?

[tohis]

Sounds awesome. Is there a MRS tohis?

If by "mrs" you mean Missus, nope, I don't have one right now. So it's a "first class" trip 

[Dazzler]

Sounds awesome. Is there a MRS tohis?

If by "mrs" you mean Missus, nope, I don't have one right now. So it's a "first class" trip 

Bit of a plus and minus isn't it. Sometimes I think of the possibilities if I was single but mostly prefer having a partner (only been single for maybe 6 months in the last 40 years..). 

[xiziz]

So I got out of a meeting an hour early tiday, sun shining and spring in the air(still 20cm of snow on the ground) I thought it was a good day for a car wash. Well, not alone in that thought, had three cars in front, all for the 10 or 15min programme. Chap in front was nice and talkative so the 30-40 min wait passed quick enough.

I decided against stopping after the wash to screw the antenna on again and just run the usb for music home. 55km later, I got home in a good mood, opened the door and see a 20cm gash of bare steel under the door, get out to inspect closer and see there is a huge dent also on the floor panel under the door.

Call down to the service station, the ask me to come down and show them the damage.

So another 55km back into town, some waiting and explaining and they of course deny that the was could have caused it at all. Another 55km home.
And in hindsight probably true, too much damage for beeing the wash, must have been a big lump of ice Ive run over or had thrown at the car from a lorry.

Winter takes its toll on the car. Guess this weekend is spent doing damage control, getting some primer on or something.

[Dazzler]

Jeepers Xiziz that's not good! I'm the master of understatement. ..

Any chance of a photo before you fix it? Could ice do that much damage!!

[xiziz]

@Dazzler No idea, I just can't think of anything else that would cause this much damage without scratching, the ding is what, 50cm long, 8cm high and 4cm deep. No scratching that would be the telltale of something hard crunching in like a log/rock/car, just a big wide smooth dimple in the side skirt.
I do recall going over some pretty large chunks of ice that had fallen into the road when the thawing started, but it was in the morning and -15c, so they were probably pretty solid - I would still expect that to damage to mudflaps or the fender/front area not to the side like this. If it was passenger side I could buy that I'd been to close to a curb or something going round a corner, but not on the drivers side.

Paint was probably loosened when the damage occurred, just that it stayed put until the high pressure wash blew it off. Service station manager pulled the video and the ding was present before the wash, it would have been nice to blame them, but it was pretty far off.

[CraigB]

That's disappointing xiziz I too would expect something of considerable size and weight to have pushed the skirt and floor in like that 

[Dazzler]

Thanks xiziz. Now I've seen a photo I better understand your reasoning. I didn't understand how a block of ice could take the paint back to bare metal but yeah, your explanation is logical. Not a good thing but better there than in a guard or door. 

[The Gonz]

Yesterdaý when I picked up Mrs G from work on our way to cadets, she was trying to tell me something or other while I was busy trying to work out why my cruise control wasn't engaging (I hadn't pressed on the brake pedal since starting the car) and she asks why I'm so distracted.

So I tell her about the old CC chestnut and she says "Why don't you marry your CC and her?" referring to Karen, the voice on my GPS.

I guess I do always use CC and GPS.

But I win. She forgot about the reversing camera.

[mickd]

Hi xiziz,
F me,  it's like you've come down onto something hard alright.
Hitting the big bits of ice is what you remember,  then that has to be it.
Hard to believe but at -15 , it would be dammed hard, lucky no more damage.

[xiziz]

Yeah, could be worse. My plan was just to cover it up with base paint and the coulour it black again and coat it with lacker in the summer. But when I looked yesterday I found a crack where its bent on the bottom side allowing water into the threshold/sideskirt so I think its just as good to have someone pull it out and weld the crack. Probably expensive, so good thing its on full insurance.

Insurance is closed over the weekend for this type of errands so have to wait for monday.

@The Gonz my wife says the same about CC. So many times I got angry at it before figurin* out that it needed a tap on brake to engage

[tohis]

^ Yikes!  That needs to be fixed professionally, otherwise it will rust and expand for sure. While small stone hits at the engine hood are easy to fix with a paint and lacquer pen, such a big damage at a place which is vulnerable to flying ice and gravel needs proper attention. Let's cross the fingers that it'll get fixed good and the insurance is willing to cover it. 

[meehalych]

+ I am back
+ we have finally moved to our new home
+ since the renovation in my new home is over I do have more money to pay for mortgage (I hope it will take me a year or two more to finish with it).
- Tapatalk refuses to log me in here
+ flying to Frankfurt in the end of April for one week course (difference to A320NEO with Leap engine).

[Dazzler]

  

[tohis]

A week ago I was cruising in conditions like this... 




Well... home sweet home!  At Thursday we got 15 cm more snow... like we didn't have it enough for this winter! Going to work via this back road, because the other road there is often even worse in winter.




After the evening shift, this rural road wasn't plowed during my work time and there are some places which are prone to snow drifting over the road, like sand dunes in Sahara! You could easily get stuck or swerve to the ditch by hitting these. My workmate drove ahead of me by his 4x4 Nissan Qashqai, so there were fresh tracks for me to get through this. Otherwise I would have needed to turn back and go to the another road, hoping it wasn't blocked too.




At Friday (yesterday) the sun shined beautifully. Despite temperature being -5, summer is approaching and sunshine melted the ice on the road, which then refroze after splashing against the car. Also, shady areas of the road were now very slippery.




My car looked like this after driving in these conditions:

[Asterix]

We haven't had as much snow as you got in Finland, but road conditions have been similar. The snow is now gone and we're getting positive temperatures, but where is that global warming when we need it... 

Picked up my new (used) car yesterday, the i40 is a very nice ride... 

Because I was too busy last spring with the house renovation I forgot to empty the water system in the caravan so the water boiler in my caravan had cracked during winter due to the below zero temperatures so what happens when you fill up the water tank and open the kitchen tap... f**k, the carpets were so wet I had to take them inside for the the night to dry them up on the heated floor.

[meehalych]

tohis
Well... home sweet home!  At Thursday we got 15 cm more snow... like we didn't have it enough for this winter! Going to work via this back road, because the other road there is often even worse in winter.

The same here . The spring seems to have lost its way to us.
It was -17 degrees today in morning while I was driving to my work.

[xiziz]

@tohis yeah, I figured as much too when I inspected closer too, the crack is no fun at all. Crossed fingers for monday.

Yeah, winters been bad here too, they more or less closed my commute road over the hills, thawing damage have left holes and racks and bumbs so big they are a real danger. Started with them putting recomended speed 30kph signs(70kph road, 30km long). Last week the ambulances said there detouring to avoid the road because its unsafe. I started detouring two weeks ago. Bummer to have to drive around the hills, but better than crawling around at 30kph.

[eye30]

- Tapatalk refuses to log me in here

My TT won't log but TT are on the case after i emailed them.
Waiting on update as there is a coding issue with android v4

[The Gonz]

[PhireSideZA]

+Had a good Easter weekend on the farm. Was time well spent with family
+Serviced Hippo; just spark plugs, the oil filter and some oil this time around
-One spark plug costs more than the oil filter. Quite expensive this side of the pond
-Some dastardly cricket team tried to meddle with our balls...
+Took the pushy for a spin, and it felt really good getting back on two wheels (unpowered)
-I forgot that the modern bicycle seats are hard as bricks, and aren't so easy on one's backside
-I was gnawed on by some ticks, and I am hoping that I bypass rickettsia this time!
-Back to work this week...
-Spending so little time on here lately

[The Gonz]

+ I supervised a guard of honour for HRH the Earl of Wessex today.
+++ The venue, the Park Hyatt Hotel, served us a first class meal afterwards.

[Shambles]

HRH the Earl of Wessex

Excuse me. That should be Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, KG, GCVO, CD, ADC

[The Gonz]

HRH the Earl of Wessex

Excuse me. That should be Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, KG, GCVO, CD, ADC

[xiziz]

Should be obvious, new summer tires on new rims! 

I know it looks like its in need of a wash, it always is!
Also booked in damage repairs, so in two weeks car will look good again, except for some small scratches my daughter put on the car last fall that I'll try to fix up myself this summer.

[Dazzler]

 

[meehalych]

+/-  4 hours sleep for last three days - the summer hasn't begun yet, but we are overwhelmed with work (I am a bit different to others, for I am the only one here holding B1 for E170)
+ 3 more hours at the airport and I am going home
 

[Dazzler]

  Hope they are paying you well Misha!

You could be at home not getting sleep with a crying baby .