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Posted

Gained a new fun pet that appears to live in  my Garage.......

Hmmmmmm.....

20251016_194603.jpg.60f06ac17fd162dd858ebe4bca7a9288.jpg

Eeak!

Screenshot2025-10-168_20_50PM.png.1f5260aabbb56708043a4a9b1bf9367d.png

Its a European hornet, just what I always wanted.......

Thankfully its seems very dopey and its definitely not a spicey Asian Hornet as they travel in packs and are very bad news....

 

 

 

  • Sad 2
Posted

MK1 son has bought MK2 son a Scalextric Holden, because he's been driving him around to appointments following ear surgery.

It arrived today, it's an Oz only car, but we didn't realise it was still there on the auction. New South Wales to be precise. It's taken five days to get here.

Meanwhile an advent calendar I bought from Leicester last weekend wont be here until 11th November!

Confused?

  • Haha 1
Posted
4 hours ago, MrGTI6 said:

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by a friend who does property maintenance. He was asked by one of his customers, an elderly chap who has given up driving due to health problems, if he knew anyone who could assist with selling his car.

Unsurprisingly, 2 days later, I ended up buying said car; a Volvo V40 Cross Country. The owner bought it when it was a few months old and had owned it for just shy of 10 years.

He got it serviced every year at the local Volvo dealer but hadn't used the car since last December when his licence was revoked. The last service was almost 2 years ago, but it's only done 300 miles since then.

On arrival, as expected, the battery was completely flat. The car was driven nose-in onto his narrow driveway and there was no way of jump-starting it from my car. So I returned a couple of days later with a couple of small jump-starters and set about trying to open the bonnet, which was quite challenging considering a large bush had grown around the front end of the car. 

After a bit of a faff I managed to gain access. Hopped in the car, pressed the start button, and the engine spun into life immediately.

Upon asking how much he wanted for the car, his response was "whatever you think it's worth". I honestly think he would've given the car away for free. I'd looked up the WBAC valuation earlier that day. Not wishing to take advantage of the situation, I rounded the WBAC valuation down to the nearest thousand and offered that. He seemed taken aback with the offer. I feel like I got a good deal but also I can sleep at night because I didn't take the piss!

Paperwork completed, I then drove the car the few miles home. It's absolutely splendid to drive. It's one of the last of the 5-cylinder Volvos. It's got a proper slush-box too; no Powershift nonsense here. Big comfy leather chairs too. It might only be the baby Volvo but it still feels very much like a proper Volvo to drive. No sporting pretensions whatsoever, and all the better for it.

As soon as I got home I switched the car off and the whole dash blacked out immediately. Clearly the battery was knackered, which I'd anticipated given that it hadn't moved for months.

I ordered a new Yuasa battery which arrived the following day. It wasn't cheap but with winter just around the corner I didn't see the point in skimping. Buy cheap, buy twice, etc.

I've been using the car for the last week-and-a-half and I find myself in a bit of a predicament. It's a fantastic car, but the mileage is just 19k! If I keep it, I'll end up trebling the mileage in just a couple of years, which just feels wrong! 

IMG_20251017_133350551_HDR.jpg.8d6f42412e5b131b342a5e158c598e49.jpg

Looks great squire. Bonus that the old boy is happy too. Enjoy!

Posted
55 minutes ago, Marina door handles said:

Gained a new fun pet that appears to live in  my Garage.......

Hmmmmmm.....

20251016_194603.jpg.60f06ac17fd162dd858ebe4bca7a9288.jpg

Eeak!

Screenshot2025-10-168_20_50PM.png.1f5260aabbb56708043a4a9b1bf9367d.png

Its a European hornet, just what I always wanted.......

Thankfully its seems very dopey and its definitely not a spicey Asian Hornet as they travel in packs and are very bad news....

 

 

 

You need the patented post card and whisky glass technique ( courtesy of sir Terry wogan). Swig the whisky in the glass, distract it with the postcard and thump it dead with the empty glass.

  • Haha 3
Posted
2 hours ago, comfortablynumb said:

MK1 son has bought MK2 son a Scalextric Holden, because he's been driving him around to appointments following ear surgery.

It arrived today, it's an Oz only car, but we didn't realise it was still there on the auction. New South Wales to be precise. It's taken five days to get here.

Meanwhile an advent calendar I bought from Leicester last weekend wont be here until 11th November!

Confused?

It's probably that part of Leicester located in China.

Posted

Screenshot_20251017_175057_Chrome.jpg.da8b96351385b91bc4bf2c93981a9aff.jpg

Great success!

Screenshot_20251017_175109_Chrome.jpg.6266fbbf86c102ca3669743288a42ad2.jpg

Oh no!

 

Two things became apparent when I actually clicked through:

- there are in fact two people in Fife running hedgehogspitals from their homes

- the hedgehog who died was actually an innocent bystander who wasn't even a patient.

  • Sad 1
Posted
8 hours ago, MrGTI6 said:

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by a friend who does property maintenance. He was asked by one of his customers, an elderly chap who has given up driving due to health problems, if he knew anyone who could assist with selling his car.

Unsurprisingly, 2 days later, I ended up buying said car; a Volvo V40 Cross Country. The owner bought it when it was a few months old and had owned it for just shy of 10 years.

He had it serviced every year at the local Volvo dealer but hadn't used the car since last December when his licence was revoked. The last service was almost 2 years ago, but it's only done 300 miles since then.

On arrival, as expected, the battery was completely flat. The car was driven nose-in onto his narrow driveway and there was no way of jump-starting it from my car. So I returned a couple of days later with a couple of small jump-starters and set about trying to open the bonnet, which was quite challenging considering a large bush had grown around the front end of the car. 

After a bit of a faff I managed to gain access. Hopped in the car, pressed the start button, and the engine spun into life immediately.

Upon asking how much he wanted for the car, his response was "whatever you think it's worth". I honestly think he would've given the car away for free. I'd looked up the WBAC valuation earlier that day. Not wishing to take advantage of the situation, I rounded the WBAC valuation down to the nearest thousand and offered that. He seemed taken aback with the offer. I feel like I got a good deal but also I can sleep at night because I didn't take the piss!

Paperwork completed, I then drove the car the few miles home. It's absolutely splendid to drive. It's one of the last of the 5-cylinder Volvos. It's got a proper slush-box too; no Powershift nonsense here. Big comfy leather chairs too. It might only be the baby Volvo but it still feels very much like a proper Volvo to drive. No sporting pretensions whatsoever, and all the better for it.

As soon as I got home I switched the car off and the whole dash blacked out immediately. Clearly the battery was knackered, which I'd anticipated given that it hadn't moved for months.

I ordered a new Yuasa battery which arrived the following day. It wasn't cheap but with winter just around the corner I didn't see the point in skimping. Buy cheap, buy twice, etc.

I've been using the car for the last week-and-a-half and I find myself in a bit of a predicament. It's a fantastic car, but the mileage is just 19k! If I keep it, I'll end up trebling the mileage in just a couple of years, which just feels wrong! 

IMG_20251017_133350551_HDR.jpg.8d6f42412e5b131b342a5e158c598e49.jpg

My dad had a similar one except it was a 67 plate 2.0D auto on 39k and had a lovely pan roof. Had it from brand new, lovely solid car. A 5 pot petrol must be superb.

He passed away last year and Arnold Clark offered me £10k which seemed on par with the market value of about 10 or 13 and way out my budget so I had to let it go 😞

Posted
31 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

My dad had a similar one except it was a 67 plate 2.0D auto on 39k and had a lovely pan roof. Had it from brand new, lovely solid car. A 5 pot petrol must be superb.

He passed away last year and Arnold Clark offered me £10k which seemed on par with the market value of about 10 or 13 and way out my budget so I had to let it go 😞

I remember you mentioning your dad's V40 on here at the time. Mine doesn't have the pan roof unfortunately!

The engine in mine is actually a 5-pot diesel, confusingly badged as a D3. Basically a 2.4 D5 with a shorter stroke bringing capacity down to 2.0 litres, apparently to circumvent engine-based tax thresholds around Europe. It was also offered in the S60/V60.

The 2.0 5-cylinder diesel was then offered as a D3 and D4 with differing power outputs, mine being the de-tuned 150bhp D3.

About a year later an all-new 4-cylinder diesel came along and replaced it, also a 2.0! Given that your dad's was a 67-plate, I would assume his had the newer engine. More powerful/frugal, but no longer a 5-cylinder.

Posted

Yeah just a 4 pot! He did have a lovely S60 for 9 years which was a 5 pot diesel auto, a great combination in my opinion. It wasnt a D5 though so just 163bhp but it was ample!

Posted
10 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Yeah just a 4 pot! He did have a lovely S60 for 9 years which was a 5 pot diesel auto, a great combination in my opinion. It wasnt a D5 though so just 163bhp but it was ample!

Your dad had excellent taste! This isn't my first Volvo, but I think I've reached a point in my life where I can appreciate them a lot more now. 

The 5-pot diesel and slush box is a lovely combo. It somehow makes the V40 feel like a much bigger car if that makes sense. You forget you're only driving something with the footprint of a Golf!

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