We’ll need storage soon..heh. I’ve also mopped the bathroom twice (I like it clean), we’ve vacuumed like mad today (and upset downstairs who put their music on full blast, diddums), and yesterday I took the Astra to have the tyre repaired.

£12 later, I have a “mushroom patch” repair that looks good, and works well. It seems the tyre had a staple in it. It’s been there a while, as the handbook has it noted as examined 3 times in 2008. Heyho.

I’ve removed and realigned the back wiper as it was cutting into the window seal, I’ve boiled the wiper rubber and treated it, and now it should be good as new. Yes, I’m that tight.

I did the front wipers today, as it seems Astras are quite well known for the linkages siezing up. So off came the wipers, arms, scuttle panel and so on, and in I went with an old toothbrush and a tub of bearing grease. Bish bosh, job done. All greased up well and truly, and moving SO much better. I think I’ll do it yearly.

All in all, not bad.

Tiredness apart, I’m still fighting the car. I have a tyre with a slow puncture, and I’m SO glad I bought the diagnostic and reference kit, as I’ve had to use it to clear a few faults. The thermostat is working perfectly, the timing belt is good, the new water pump is also running in nicely. I’ve found out my 2000 X plate car is in fact an April 2001 car (ECU date), I know a hell of a lot about its data flows and sensor interactions, and that EGR valve fault has been sorted I think. I had to put the valve in a vice and use a pair of stilsons on it, then a hammer, a blowtorch, some carb cleaner, some WD40 and some threats, plus a 12v benchpack, but I seem to have revived it. I’ve blanked it on the engine with a plate, and just bolted it off to the side with the plug in.the engine seems happy enough. We’ll see tomorrow.

What else do I need to do..fix this tyre, get a front one replaced or swapped for the spare, new bulb in the boot light, touch in a few scratches, get some new wipers, get the wheelnuts airgunned off and retightened by hand (I HATE it when they’re that tight they don’t come off in an emergency), and for preference strip and grease up the wiper linkage, as it looks quite dry and judders a bit. All minor things.

One oddity is that on paper this Astra-G is a heavier car than the Astra-F..yet on the F I had a 2 week tank..same tank on the G, now a 3 week tank!

I’ve reprogrammed the dash panel as well to turn off the 20000 mile servicing..damn silly. I’ve set it to every 12 months.

Car apart, the cats are fine if a little odd at the moment..Jems still hurling every day..it’s all fairly normal here..heh.

May as well get it done, get the ’stat done at the same point (as they’re interlinked), and forget it for the next 6 years or so with luck. First price I got was £206…not awful. Then I had a thought - the excellent local garage I used for the old Astra when they transformed it’s roadholding! One call later, I got a full breakdown of parts and labour, and a quote for a full timing belt kit, rollers etc, and thermostat for £136, including VAT and fitting. That’ll do nicely!

I also called Vauxhall about the ECU light - “we need to connect it to our diagnostic kit”. erm, no. Sorry chaps, I did the self diagnostic mode. “What self diagnostic? Oh, right, THAT one.” I said “it’s a code P0400 EGR valve, on a 2000 year Z16SE 8 valve, I know the part is about £60, but I ALSO know about the Vauxhall Field remedy for it, and more to the point the ECU software update that writes the valve out of the management system. How much for that update?”

“Erm. You’d need to bring it in, and we can plug it in and check the software on the car, then if it IS out of date, we can update it in the price, which is £60.”

Not awful, either…first, I want to try cleaning the valve and resetting the ECU myself, and I’ve seen some inventive solutions to this EGR valve issue too. The £60 will keep.

EDIT: The fault light went out of it’s own accord on the run home from shopping..which is even better!

Then I get home, and we’ve got our quarterly gas and electric bills. According to my spreadsheet, it should be £206 on the gas, and £50 on the electric.

It’s actually £164 gas, and £43 on the electric! Rock on. About £5 a week power, bang on target.

As to the (assumed fake) e-mail username of “poorunfortunatebastard” - if that was aimed at me, you fail. If it’s a description of yourself, congrats - it’s accurate. Heh.

WHEN will people recall that I’ve worked in schools for years now, and that infantile and imbecilic behaviour like this fails to impress or affect me? I’d maybe expect this off a year 7..but even then I have my doubts. They’re more adult that that!

The thing is, and this is the main thing…I’m happy. Jem’s happy. We’re all happy, very happy indeed..this is a hectic time but..it will hopefully lead to a life-changing event, that all the money in the world could not buy. I’m 40% dreading it, 60% looking forward to it and all that it brings. It makes you take a long hard look at life, and yourself in relation to it. There are many things to worry and stress and get depressed at in this life right now..and then there’s this on the other end of the seesaw..and it wins every time.

Anyway, I digress. I have the Astra, the Golf went back..I will miss it, it was ace. Maybe when I’m older and willing to let go of a bit of my inner child, I will get a Golf. They’re just a tad serious for me right now.

I’ve had a £400 settlement on the old Astra..now, I paid £1700 for it 5 years back, it was immaculate, and it had a full fuel tank..so I’m not overly impressed with this amount, but on the other hand it was a 13 year old car with 117k on the dials..so…we’ll see. I’m sleeping on it.

I’m now working on sorting the X reg out..it has a few scuffs, an iffy wingmirror, some faded trim, and the interior is a bit drab..but everything works including the aircon, and it’ll grow on me. Heatgun will sort the trim as it did on the other one, the mirror will be easy to sort, as will the scuffs (spraypaint FTW), and the interior..well…I’m SURE I can do a lot with it. It’s still very nice.

I’m also fully intent on purchasing a £30 OPCOM laptop based diagnostic/programming system for it..it’ll save me time and money if it plays up, plus it’ll give me an insight as to how all the onboard systems work together. I know this is not a cable throttle - it’s all drive-by-wire now. The MPi system is different to what I’m used to, as is the “auto-neutral” system on this AF13 gearbox (although it’s the same box as the old one, but it looks like the control logic has changed), and the Electro-hydraulic power steering is quite a fascinating idea too..we’ll see how it goes in practise.

15″ wheels and wide tyres take some getting used to as well..

Update: Whoops. First long run in it, and I have a failed ’stat by all counts..the engine only moves off “C” if I’m in traffic. Arse of a thing to fix. Also got an emissions warning light on the dash on the way home. It seems if you hold down the brake and accelerator on Astra-Gs and the like, then turn the ignition on, it’s electronics systems warning lamp flashes out any stored fault codes..I have a P0400 code, or “EGR valve” problem. Not uncommon, not expensive, not overly critical. It had the warning on when I saw it, but it got cleared. Looks like the valve’s a bit screwed!

MUST get the diagnostic equipment to clear the fault out..first things first, must find the warranty and get the ’stat done under it..and maybe the timing belt and water pump too for good measure. Nil desperandum.

The faults I mentioned have been rectified, one was due to a loose airbag plug (not uncommon), the other was a stored fault that’s been cleared.

The golf has been tidied out, washed, lint rollered, and I’ll see if I can give it a quick vac at work before I call the rental company and say “you can reclaim the vehicle”. I’ll miss it, it’s been brilliant. But, it’s not mine. I’m expecting the VX to arrive at lunch or thereabouts.

I really do like Astras. I know it’s sad, but they’re good solid cars. I always go for 5 door hatchbacks as well for practicality, which is VERY important from now on. As is a decent safety system. You see, it may well (fingers crossed) be transporting 3 of us in a few months, and I want safety for that very much.

Another cat? No..even bigger commitment..and one reason I could have done without the astra being killed…Jem is today officially 3 months advanced. The bun is in the oven. God help us both, if all goes well we’ll be parents. It’s been tense getting this far - we’ve had bleeding, sickness (still got THAT), tiredness and all sorts..yesterday was our..what? 3rd? 4th? scan.

Jem is full-on pukey and hypersensitive to moving/smells…so effectively I’m doing all the cooking/cleaning/feeding the animals/washing up, as well as keeping everything ticking over and providing transport where needed. Bloody exhausting. Dealing with the car issue is about the last straw I can take I think…I need to have things settle down a bit.

Fingers crossed, eh?

We went to look at a Mk4 that caught my eye this morning..in short, I’ve put down a deposit, requested a covernote from the insurance, and if all goes well I should be in possesion of my new car by Wednesday night.

It’s a 2000 X reg, same engine and gearbox as the MK3 (1.6 8 valve X16SZR and AF13), in metallic reddish brown. 53,000 miles, 1 previous owner, full history to date and all MOTs, lots of toys on it. EDIT: no, it’s not. It’s the last of the 8 valves - a Z16SE, successor to the X16SZR. Even more poke. Woohoo..:)

Looks in stunning nick…it had the airbag warnings lit up, and an engine management fault indicated, but this will be fixed prior to my final payment. Seemed to run nicely.

It’s going to cost £1995, serviced, valeted and delivered to my workplace for free. The MK3 cost me £1700 5 years ago - lets see if it can match it! This is it:

As to the Golf…well..what can I say? Stunning car. It’s been a joy to loan. The engine is stupidly rev happy and packs a punch, the DSG autobox is the BEST I’ve ever used, and the semi-auto mode is a hoot..it’s as happy under power on the dual carriageway as it is doing 20mph in 6th around town. Build quality is like granite - it feels incredibly solid and reassuring. I’d have one in an instant, but for the price tag - even a 2004 plate is about 5.5k. Insurance group 5 too - it’s shockingly low for a car of this performance/equipment level IMO.

I’ll be quite sad to give it back to be honest…but it’s not mine. One day maybe, but..not now. For now, I’ll stay with Vauxhall and be content.

I was coming home from work, the vehicle in front of me slowed to turn into a petrol station. I slowed as well, almost to a stop.

Looked in my mirror, saw a Ford Fiesta MK6 approaching at speed..I remember thinking “ohshit”, before there was an almighty BANG, and the car jumped. I shut it off, got out and went to see.

The Fiesta had hit HARD..the floor, boot, wing, lights and bumper were bent and broken, and when I went to open the doors on the passenger side, they were jammed, so I’m guessing the shell twisted too.

The Fiesta looked superficially damaged..bit bent, one door wouldn’t open, and water was running out. The couple in it got out to check on things. We exchanged details, I spoke to both of them and the female rear passenger, and to be honest I was just glad we were all OK.

Apparently a foot slipped off the brake and hit the accelerator, hence the impact. It looks like I was hit on the passenger side, so I’d hazard a guess they tried (intentionally or not) to take to the verge and avoid me.

I said to both of them - “it happens to everyone - it can’t be helped, and it’s only metal at the end of the day..we’re OK, that’s all that matters”…in the end they were able to limp their vehicle away to the parents nearby house. I had to pull the Astra onto the grass.

I then called the Police for advice, as it started and ran, moved and drove, but..well..I wanted them to OK me repatriating it home. An officer was sent, he said “no can do, your lights and bumper are stuffed. Get the stuff out, I’ll drive you home.”

So I grabbed my stuff,locked it up and he drove me home. He gave me all the details I needed, a reference number, a collection company and made sure I was OK..a total star.

I was straight on to my insurer - the other party admitted liability, so My vehicle is being collected on Tuesday and probably will go to salvage, as it’s extensively damaged and it’s 13 years old, so probably not economic to repair.

In the meantime, they delivered to my work at 11am today, one VW Golf on a 57 plate. It’s a 1.6FSI Petrol, all the toys, and a 6 speed semi/full automatic gearbox - I can either let it run the show, or I can shift up and down at will myself for extra go.

VERY nice…bloody sharp brakes, traction control and Stability programme, and it just…well..goes. Like poo off a teflon covered shovel. I’d be tempted to buy one..

We’ll see where we go…Still mobile, still walking, could have been worse. Astra will be missed though, very much so.

I’ve got an 8gb SD card in the storage expander, giving it a flash based storage capacity of 16gb, and a 2gb card in the flash reader, hosting a windows XP VM. I’ve even stripped it and done the RAM upgrade, so it now has 1.5gb of RAM. I have Virtualbox, Pidgin IM, OpenOffice 3, VLC, WINE, a few windows work apps that run fine under WINE, and for everything that doesn’t, the WinXP VM does that.

To be honest, I’m finding it easier and more productive to work with the pint-sized PC than with my work desktop! The temptation is there to get a USB Keyboard/Mouse/Hub and make it my “main” system, fixed to my 19″ TFT. The Intel Atom CPU is a stunner!

Easily pleased? Maybe..but it IS a nice little system..;)

I need that for work, as we use Virtual Windows machines to connect to our network. Anyway, in short - after a lot of swearing, I’ve reinstalled Linpus Linux.

Only to find that it’s a PITA, certain bits just don’t work without updates, and the media player is basic to say the least.

Now installing VLC. Gah. The machine is lovely..the OS, not so much. Heyho, I’ll keep beating it.

I’ve ordered 1gb of RAM for it, so when I feel brave I’ll max it out to 1.5gb..it’s a total disassembly job! Mad.

What else? Hmm. We’ve settled into the flat, sorted 98% of it to our satisfaction, mastered the combi-boiler, fixed the leaky sink, shower and bath, adapted to the auto-emptying loo, put up curtains and all the other piddly crap that needed to be done. I shall be blitzing the bathroom with a new paint job soon too.

That said, Jem HAS just broken the cold tap in the kitchen…again..it was fixed a week or so back. Cheap plastic crap. Meh. The cats are loving the bay window, and the warmth - both are currently asleep. The guinea pigs seem quite taken with it as well!

All in all, I’m not missing Clarendon that much…time will tell.

If it snows on Friday when we get the keys, I will be unimpressed in the extreme, even more so if it doesn’t pack it in when we’re actually moving stuff.

I don’t mind if the roads are at least mostly clear..but down our little lane, there’s NO treatment at all. We were closed on Thursday, and on Friday I drove to work thinking I’d traded the Astra for a sodding bobsleigh. Then it clears, now it’s back again. Our councils are incapable of keeping the roads in good order, and quite frankly this weather is pissing me off.

That apart..where are we now? Semi packed. I’m 99% ready to shift the upstairs rooms - I reckon 1 day tops. If that. Ground floor also easy to shift. Gardens 80% cleared, garage not even looked at. The only things I think that will present issue are possibly the freezer, the washing machine and the sideboard. The Sofa is hopefully being moved by Zafira.

Mums been down to help clear the oak half-barrels and garden bits - she’ll make more use of those than I can at the moment. She’s also taken away the dead fridge for me, so I no longer have to take it to Halesfield. Thanks Mum!

Got to do the “emergency box”..the one with a loo roll, kettle, UHT milk, teabags, some cups and the cleaning stuff..that’s traditional. First box over the threshold, that one. Still unimpressed that I’ll be working Friday, but..it’s Friday. Early bath at 3.30. Watch me leave as fast as the tyres can go.

There’s a slight possibility we’ll be closed tomorrow..I’ve prepped the website and we’re monitoring it. I hope not…I want it to be a nice day - our new lad starts tomorrow! Can’t start on a closed day, can you!