What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread

[M'coli]

From the grumpy thread:

lol, I'm cheering up now. It's a shame they didn't have a camera crew actually..

 

"Tonight on Roid Wars, Wazza and Gazza stop two dodgy looking types in an old Sierra and get PWND...."

That made me grin!

[Minimad5]

Met 2 autoshiters today! Watanabe and Minimad. Great to meet you guys had a great chat and laugh

 

Sorry I kept on rambling on and on though, I kind of get a bit nervous with visitors sometimes, I dont know why Hope to meet you again soon and you are more than welcome to mine anytime

 

No need to appologise, we both enjoyed the topics that came into conversation and the hospitality

Also thanks to Pog for the cup of tea he made us !

 

Had a great day, met good people, drove something new and laughed my ass off

(All with fantastic weather cascading upon us)

What more could you ask for ?

 

"Woop, Wooop ..... Wat' ..... that's the sound of the police"

[myglaren]

disgraced robocop becomes disgraced mayor

bye bye

 

http://www.sundaysun.co.uk/news/north-e ... -28573732/

 

It always amazed me how he managed to get elected in the first place considering his trainwreck of a career in the police.

[Cavcraft]

Apparantly this car's been 'tastefully modified'

 

http://www.corsasport.co.uk/board/viewt ... 127&page=1

 

Have to love those wheels and the 'nice' seats and dashboard

[Guest]

Got a wave from some geezer in a TR6 today, a few smiles and a 'tidy car' comment whilst out and about in the Cortina. Even the missus enjoyed it.

 

Blezz down the unit if you get a chance man, would love to see apres work.

 

Is there a unit gathering soon?

 

SCTSH_ANDY is not keen on large gatherings at the unit.

[CreepingJesus]

Kay gets offered another uni place, right after interview. So proud of her, she's doing great!

 

Also, finding a 1996 copy of 'Trail Bike'; they don't write buyers guides like that no more!

[CreepingJesus]

Is that the riff to Gang of Four's 'Natural's Not In It' on the Xbox Kinect ad? Pretty sure it is. If so

[Cavcraft]

http://isthatcherdeadyet.co.uk/

[Guest]

Check out this crazy device I got stuck behind on the way home yesterday:

 

 

It's a moving vehicle rig, or at least I think it is. It was being towed by a massive GMC pickup truck, there was a reflection screen over the windscreen, it was all mic'd up, and the crew and director were all stuffed fore of the Peugeot. As you can see, there was also a minder in a Sharan who drove behind to stop plebs getting in the way.

 

Interestingly, the house they're driving past on the left belongs to Fred the Weatherman. I see his KR200 parked outside there sometimes. ITV do loads of filming around my parent's house. A lot of the exterior shots for Cold Feet was filmed near the church, and an entire episode of The Street was done on the Redrow estate behind me.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

That reminds me, I saw a mega towing rig the other day. It was a double-length car transporter trailer, with a (twin-wheeled) axle mounted at each end, rather than in the middle like a conventional trailer. the front axle was articulated of course. On it was a Merc W124 and a Daihatsu Fourtrak, presumably headed off for a new life in the sun, and the whole lot was towed by a Merc ML SUV-type vehicle. It must have been 4 tonnes worth!!!! HARDCORE SHITE SHIFTING SKILLZ!!!

[Guest]

Zenith H511 x 2.

 

[seth]

There's a house I drive past occasionally not too far from me. They're now up to three V12 BMW 7 series parked along the kerb. GR8 4 FULE BILLS Still, they might use less than the Ro80 owner a few doors away.

[Guest]

There's a house I drive past occasionally not too far from me. They're now up to three V12 BMW 7 series parked along the kerb. GR8 4 FULE BILLS Still, they might use less than the Ro80 owner a few doors away.

 

A bloke in Hale had one for ages. Then he changed it.

 

For a Lancia Flaminia Zagato

[Jon]

Hey Wat, I've been involved in rigging some cameras to a couple of those low-loaders round Leeds way and they usually come from this Nottingham based company:

 

http://www.actionvehiclesuk.com/

 

Anyway, in other towing news I'm now shacked up in our new gaff and am enjoying being (finally) on the property ladder. Who needs removals companies when you've got a borrowed horse box and a tow car with a combined age of 67 years?

 

 

 

 

 

Best of all though is that I now have a double garage with a remote leccy door and a workshop/office are at back - w00t!

 

 

Also a good time to confess to joining the Autoshite Peugeot 205 Love Parade at this point. Ignore the Sirion, which isn't mine but seems very capable for a 1.3 modern. And it hides a skip well in that photo!

[wuvvum]

One of the things that's giving me this nagging urge to move to the antipodes is that I could probably actually afford to buy a respectable house there.

[scruff]

Nice house! And top 205age.

[RedSparrow]

That looks like my idea of heaven cav-estate.

 

I'm off to Finland tomorrow, for 5 and a bit weeks, to see if I can set myself up over there. I don't think I will sleep tonight!

[trigger]

Jealous.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

One of the things that's giving me this nagging urge to move to the antipodes is that I could probably actually afford to buy a respectable house there.

 

Cav-estate's house (and especially the garage) is indeed marvellous...HOWEVER, if you can work from home and/or the web, you can probably have something similar/even better in Poland/Slovakia/Hungary for less money. Outside of the major cities (and when I say "outside", it could be as little as 30km out of the city centre), prices have barely moved since the early post-communist, grab-what-you-want days. Or, if you're feeling really adventurous, there's a law in Greece that allows you to build anything up to 200 sq. metres as long as you own 4,000 sq. m. of land (which, in the more remote areas, doesn't really cost anything).

 

I've been to AU/NZ and I thought they were pretty depressing places. The nature's great, but (with the exception of some central bits of Sydney) I just got a really backwards vibe- including some really nasty customs (not even immigration!) officials in AKL airport who'd happily interrogate me, in public, about my income or whether I had a girlfriend.

 

I can see the attractiveness of the place(s) if you're seriously into nature and associated sports and/or have kids that you want to become really friendly with nature (which is a problem in most of Europe- my mom had a colleague whose kids once asked her "from which tree do meatballs come?"), but it's way too one-sided to me.

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

I bet the locals will appreciate you driving up the house prices, continuing the need to own and make money from property TV-driven bollocks all over the world.

[Lord Sterling]

Wow Cav_Estate your house looks wonderfully picturesque. Love the garage aswell. What I wouldnt give to have my own storage space for cars and collectables and maybe a little flat above for me to live in. Too much to ask in these modern times.

[seth]

Can I have a house and double garage for the same money here please! Love the moving combo.

[eddyramrod]

Here's the back view of the three-bedroom bungalow I'm renting in a suburb of Paphos...

And here's my "garage" space, in one corner of the huge yard!

All fencing and temporary structures provided by me, using secondhand materials at every opportunity.

[Jon]

Good luck Red Sparrow - keep us updated on how it all goes!

 

Hey luxobarge, can't say I've ever had any problems with the airport security over here but I must admit that an experience like yours would be sure to put you off a country pretty easily. Can't say I find it depressing being here (or I wouldn't have bought a house) but I know what you mean about it being retrograde in may aspects, certainly affordable technology. But then, so long as you're happy to forego an I-phone (or are prepared to pay collosally for one - nothing's 'free' here), it's all pretty good.

 

Wuvvum, you may be able to afford a better house if you live outside the major cities but you certainly wouldn't be able to have such a fantastic turnover of quality chod on your driveway, unless you seriously upped your budget and thus ran the risk of losing more each time you sold on. That and being away from friends and family are the only downsides really.

 

Anyway, this is Autoshite so here's another pic of Mrs_cav's 205:

 

 

It's a 1.9 GTI, though a Japanese import so possibly a little below par on bhp according to some internet pages. Not as much as the automatic ones, thankfully! Has paint issues from sun damage but it's very solid so hopefully a keeper for a while. And a case in point Wuvvum - we paid just less than £900 for this and it was a complete bargain over here, though of course more popular Aus/Jap cars are more affordable.

 

Oh yeah, anyone know any significance in there being a Martini badge on the front wing of our Pug?

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

I bet the locals will appreciate you driving up the house prices, continuing the need to own and make money from property TV-driven bollocks all over the world.

 

if anyone expects to make any money on property in rural Slovakia or whatever, they'll probably die waiting (although I do think there is some potential in the REALLY long term).

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Hey luxobarge, can't say I've ever had any problems with the airport security over here but I must admit that an experience like yours would be sure to put you off a country pretty easily. Can't say I find it depressing being here (or I wouldn't have bought a house) but I know what you mean about it being retrograde in may aspects, certainly affordable technology. But then, so long as you're happy to forego an I-phone (or are prepared to pay collosally for one - nothing's 'free' here), it's all pretty good.

 

The security people are alright, even immigration were quite good (despite my convoluted itineraries which are often sure to raise an eyebrow or two). It's just the customs pricks who think that they are made important by the mere fact they need to keep plant/animal diseases out of the islands.

 

It's hard to exactly define "backward". It just feels really weird to be in a country like NZ where most restaurants in the biggest city are closed by 10pm...My uncle supposedly lives "in Melbourne", but he's like 50km from the city centre and has a garden that's big enough for him to keep beehives! I'm not bothered about things like the iphone, but I like my mineral water, for example, and I remember that costing a fortune in Australia. Small things like these, really...

I can see how a lot of people wouldn't mind such little things, but they cumulatively would make my life miserable!

[TimothyClaypole]

Slovakia is stupendously expensive from what I've seen.

 

http://living.spectator.sme.sk/offer_835726_plots-for-sale

 

Perfect for the folks there involved in shady activities driving about in Cayenne's (their car of choice) but absolutely mental for your average wage earner.

 

Having said that I'd have my name down tomorrow if I had the cash, it's stunning in Devin:

 

 

[eddyramrod]

stupendously expensive

 

Perfect for the folks there involved in shady activities driving about in Cayenne's (their car of choice) but absolutely mental for your average wage earner.

 

Isn't that the same everywhere though? It certainly is in Cyprus, and as far as I remember, UK too.

[Jon]

It just feels really weird to be in a country like NZ where most restaurants in the biggest city are closed by 10pm...My uncle supposedly lives "in Melbourne", but he's like 50km from the city centre and has a garden that's big enough for him to keep beehives! I'm not bothered about things like the iphone, but I like my mineral water, for example, and I remember that costing a fortune in Australia. Small things like these, really...

I can see how a lot of people wouldn't mind such little things, but they cumulatively would make my life miserable!

 

I totally agree with you on the pubs and restaurants thing, which was a real eye-opener when in Wellington. Also, cost of living such as food prices and phonelines/internet are a bit silly in comparison but NZ doesn't have the economies of scale that the UK population does (and ergo is one of the attractions - i.e. having a bit of space) but others are cheaper, such as petrol and diesel. A lot of this price comparing of course comes down to the current £/$ exchange (which right royally tigerbummed us when sending funds for our deposit over) with a high dollar at the mo, so yeah it's no idyll but then we didn't really emigrate to run away from anything, we just fancied a change.

 

Plus, if you're an HGV driver you'll appreciate the logbook system here which I assume was more akin to the UK up to the 1980s. It's so easy and saves so much time from the tacho system (and it's myriad ways of trying to trip you up on a technicality) that it makes the whole process grin-worthy.

 

Funnily enough seth, I was thinking about your fabulous Minx/camping trailer combo when moving house, so am glad you approve!

[Alexg]

Best of luck Red Sparrow